The New York Times does Toronto (the 8th most popular story at the Times as I write this):
As one of the planet’s most diverse cities, Toronto is oddly clean and orderly. Sidewalks are spotless, trolleys run like clockwork, and the locals are polite almost to a fault. That’s not to say that Torontonians are dull. Far from it. With a population that is now half foreign-born — fueled by growing numbers of East Indians, Chinese and Sri Lankans — the lakeside city offers a kaleidoscope of world cultures. Sing karaoke in a Vietnamese bar, sip espresso in Little Italy and catch a new Bollywood release, all in one night. The art and design scenes are thriving, too, and not just on the bedazzled red carpets of the Toronto International Film Festival, held every September. Industrial zones have been reborn into gallery districts, and dark alleys now lead to designer studios, giving Canada’s financial capital an almost disheveled mien.
And Pittsburgh:
I always thought you were meant to be disquieted by other people’s cool, but that is not the formula at Brillobox. The place is a hipster pub, which is not an oxymoron in Pittsburgh, whose alternative paper last year named it both Best Overall Bar and Hipster Bar. The props of Gen Y irony are everywhere: Home Depot chandelier, chili pepper lights, the D.J.’s cool segue from Foghat to the ‘‘Willy Wonka’’ soundtrack, a lavatory that is an anarchist collage of decals and ink. (‘‘It looks like Rosemary’s Baby was whelped in there,’’ my friend said.) But the ambience lies deeper. ‘‘I walk in on a Saturday night,’’ the novelist said. ‘‘It’s shoulder to shoulder. They’re playing old-school funk — nothing cutting-edge. And everyone here knows my story. They know what happened to me that week.’’
May 18th, 2009 at 10:46 am
and the locals are polite almost to a fault.
True, the locals are polite. But I’ve never seen anyone get out of their car and assault the driver in front of them, and I’ve seen it happen twice in Toronto. What’s the deal with that? Gun control? In the US, you’d get shot doing that. In both cases it was a white guy assaulting an Indian, in one case a cab driver.
My other negative “Toronto Story” was from the late ninetees, I was driving through and stopped for dinner in one of the ‘burbs off the 401. A guy and his girl come in and sit at the next table. Almost immediately, he starts berrating the woman, how she’s useless, he ought to slap her, etc. etc. etc. He was being quite loud about it. Seemed like a typical domestic violance situation to me.
What ticked me off the most was that those gutless Torontonians were just going to sit through their dinners and not say anything. Well, that’s not me. I personally threw the guy out of the place after I told him to keep it down and watch what he said to the lass, and he continued to berrate her.
I’d say that “polite to a fault” is an excellent description.
May 18th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Until I saw The Score I thought all of eastern Canada was sort of Lake Woebegone North. We’re going to be outside Quebec this summer, is Montreal worth visiting? What’s worth seeing? Probably too far to Toronto.
Buzzcut, have you ever been in the rural West? Getting out of your car and assaulting another driver is a common sport, like shooting the O’s in roadsigns.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Regarding Buzzcut’s comment, I think you did truly something exceptional in Toronto, as everyone does mind their business. Mind you, I had a dispute with some retarded racist redneck (from some BC backwater place) on the bus in Vancouver, which could have turned really ugly (i.e gone beyond trading verbal insults into a fight) , but I stood my my ground amid a crowd of silent Asian Vancouverites. However Toronto is no different to Vancouver, generally people dont want to get involved in anything that may bring harm to themselves, so they dont intervene or help others, shame but thats reality, so expecting anything is wrong !!!. Given my robust defiance and challenge to the moron, still I could have been stabbed and nobody on the bus would have done a thing to help, but I knew it anyways and depended on myself. Anyways Toronto is a cold city without heart and soul no surprise about that (lived and worked long enough here to know), it lacks the creativity and vibrance that is abuzz in a place like New York or London, even though it tries to sell itself as a Canadian version of either, it doesn’t come close at all. Whoever said the transit system is clockwork like and everything is clean, is deluded, or has never been abroad and seen better, and /or hasn’t observed how Toronto is falling apart or crumbling infrastructurwise (since last 35 years or more). Just take a look at its ridicolus subway system and the dangling wiring, lack of renovation that is a permanent feature while TTC fat cat bosses jack up price for consumer so they can ramp up their own wages happily. The roads and highways are in very bad shape (try Gardiner Expressway to get a taste), and you’d be lucky to find any that haven’t got potholes or dont need to be tarred again, whats so cool about it ? This is not Switzerland. Where is all the tax going, into some black hole in the galaxy or what ? Go to New York and London, and you will see what turnaround these cities had and how they invested regenration wise (i.e. Harlem in NY or London’s East end) and its ongoing there, Toronto is static, people in this city dont embrace change, are dull and full of themselves and believe they are the epitomy of the universe. Torontonians and friendly ? Joke of the century eh ? Try again. Coors had it spot on dude, yes anyone who can dig a bit deeper than the superficial hype of place marketing, will know Toronto in no way mirrors the cooked up image it tries to sell abroad, instead it as like in the funny Coors Ad (which ran in BC) ” Coors beer is Colder Than Most People from Toronto” ha ha , that the best!!