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Downtown, period. Younge st. is dull and scummy. Stacks of highrises by train station and the cut off from the waterfront. There are a lot of seedy areas in downtown. Dundas Sq. is a Times Sq. wannebe and is blighted with electronic lights on buildings facade. The financial district is meh and bland. It seems it's a poorly planned city! I went to Downtown last April to visit my old buddy.
Downtown, period. Younge st. is dull and scummy. Stacks of highrises by train station and the cut off from the waterfront. There are a lot of seedy areas in downtown. Dundas Sq. is a Times Sq. wannebe and is blighted with electronic lights on buildings facade. The financial district is meh and bland. It seems it's a poorly planned city! I went to Downtown last April to visit my old buddy.
Agreed. I'm always amazed at how Americans generalize places so much. A good amount of people in the US say "oh Toronto is so sterile and clean" due to the fact that Americans just view Canada as this clean, safe, socialist country lol. Toronto is not clean, it's actually really gritty and reminds me of Queens or Parts of San Francisco.
On the plus side, for me, the prettiest neighborhoods in Toronto will have to be areas directly north of Yorkville, along with parts of King St East that have lots of character.
- Yonge St. Claire
- the areas surrounding Avenue Road directly north of Bloor - very very pretty drive with lots of cool architecture, old mixed with new, and also newer boutique condos that actually look well-designed and not some glass match box.
- the stretch of King Street East directly east of St. James Cathedral - many row lofts, former industrial buildings converted into cool tech offices and some newer boutique condos here and there and many restaurants and shops at street level.
But of course, all of the above come at a large premium if you want to rent or buy in those locations, sometimes twice the price of comparable dwellings in "less pretty" areas (think Gardiner, Etobicoke, Scarborough, and the all that crap that they build along the waterfront)
As a side note, I really wish the city put a temporary stop on all new condo high rises over 15 floors in certain neighborhoods. Downtown core is fine, but outside of it, we should do everything we can to encourage mid-rises like those you see on Queen, King, the Annex, St. Claire, etc. because those buildings actually contribute to urban integration with their less imposing, more intimate feel at the street level. Often times, tall condo towers do the opposite and actually alienate the urban experience for their residents and pedestrians.
The area at the extreme western end of St. Clair (Weston/Keele, etc.) isn't overly attractive.
Dupont near Dufferin/Lansdowne/Christie etc, isn't either.
If we are talking in Old Toronto i'd have to say St Jamestown.. Its pretty unappealing though the level of diversity of its inhabitants and their stories are truly inspiring. A building is just a backdrop - its the people that make a place. Regent Park is a great example of ugly urban blight being transformed..
Toronto and its metro areas have lots of ugly and unattractive areas and lots of attractive and urban parts as well ie just like pretty much any large city in the world....
If we are talking in Old Toronto i'd have to say St Jamestown.. Its pretty unappealing though the level of diversity of its inhabitants and their stories are truly inspiring. A building is just a backdrop - its the people that make a place. Regent Park is a great example of ugly urban blight being transformed..
Toronto and its metro areas have lots of ugly and unattractive areas and lots of attractive and urban parts as well ie just like pretty much any large city in the world....
I was only there for a short period. I just thought might as well extend it for the whole summer
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