Tsundoku, on 30 May 2023 - 12:44 PM, said:
So, would our Torontonian members agree? Would the other Canadans agree?
The big thing everyone gets wrong about Toronto
The charms of Ontario’s capital can be more elusive than those of its showier counterparts, but when you know where to find them, it completely changes your experience.
https://www.escape.c...a70ff0d3ffdb4bb
Ooo, I'll bite since this is my city and I've lived here for more than half my life now.
I'll chime in with quotes from the article for ease of reading/rebuttals.
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One thing you often hear people say about Toronto is it’s “like a cleaner New York”. I’ve always thought this was a strange claim. For starters, if your city’s top selling point is its cleanliness, you might be in trouble.
Accurate. And frankly, Toronto is not THAT clean. It's cleanish depending on the area....but it can be terribly messy in other places.
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It has no attractions that come anywhere near the bucket-list status of the American Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Statue of Liberty, Broadway or the High Line.
The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) is probably one of the better attractions to see in Toronto, but I would be kidding myself to put it on the spectrum of size and enjoyment of some American Museums. I like it, we had a membership for all the years the kids were little-little as they got a kick out of it...and there was usually some bigger exhibit to see depending on the month. We have something called the Beltline and that's similar to the High Line...but in a VERY minor way. There are no views or anything like that to it. It's just a bike/hike path that happens to be nice and frequented by many.
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In fact, if you’re a sightseer, it’s possible to wonder what there actually is to do in Toronto. The CN Tower is quite impressive
It's really not. It's expensive AF (($50 per person), and you either stand around and look out across the city for 10 minutes, or you eat in the UBER expensive restaurant section that costs you triple the price for a basket of chicken fingers. NOT worth it.
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Things don’t improve as you go down the list – the Art Gallery of Ontario
It's fine, but it's not world renowned and feels a little too cliquey for the Toronto Design Students if you go there...
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As said above, worth it. Probably the most worth it venue for the buck in the city.
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It's fine, but it's VERY expensive, and they let way too many people in per time-schedule hours so that it's almost always uncomfortably packed and you have to stand around till people get out of your way of the aquariums to SEE the things you went to see. It's fine, but it's not worth $40/person to stand around with hundreds of other people...
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Ugh, I don't know how this EVER made the list and always seems to...it's a terrible useless 'museum', and a scam. Unless you have some weird affinity for shoes in general...this is a waste of everyones time and I wish it was not a thing.
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Nobody would dispute they’re very nice places to spend a day, but they’re not exactly the kind of thing you fly halfway across the world to see.
Agreed.
That said, there are SOME venues missing from this list that are good and fun to see that didn't get a mention.
Casa Loma is a Beauty & The Beast style mansion/castle in the centre of Forest Hill Neighbourhood. Constructed by Henry Pellat in the early 20th, it's a lovely venue. They do escape rooms there too, which is super fun. We did one in one of the tower turrets that was WWII spy focused...a blast to do an escape room in a castle turret.
Roy Thomson Hall is a great concert venue with probably top 5 acoustics in the world for classical and score-type concerts. It was built by an engineer to be exactly that. I've been to the Boston Pops....RTH is 100% better. So if you are into the Classical scene, nowhere it better to catch a show. And if you time it right they do movies throughout the year that feature the Toronto Symphony Orchestra doing the score while you watch, which is a HELL of an experience.
Same goes for our Opera venue (which is newer than perhaps the article author is aware. The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (home of the Canadian Opera Company) is a WONDERFUL upscale venue for opera. I have seen both the Nutcracker, and The Magic Flute there, and both were exquisite. Again, if you are into the scene for going out, you could plan and time a show on your trip.
Now, none of this is to say these things are worth a flight to visit this city. They aren't. But if you happen to be coming here...there are things to do and things to see, you just need to plan.
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So what are those pleasures? Meandering down leafy streets through neighbourhood after neighbourhood, each with its own unique character and charm. Spring and summer afternoons in the city’s enormous parks and by Lake Ontario, when it seems like every man and his dog (and his dog’s dog) is out soaking up the sun. Taking your pick of hundreds of cocktail bar and craft brewery patios and settling in for drinks until the sun sets at 9pm. Gorging yourself in a dining scene that encompasses everything from First Nations-influenced fine dining to glorious street food from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and beyond.
Meeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh. Meh. These are the words of a young person enamoured of the Instargram life....the REAL shit in this city along these lines are usually dumpy (the greasier-seeming the Chinese food place in Chinatown the better the food; even better if you don't speak much English), the best patios aren't the ones anyone talks about as the "next thing"...fancy restaurants like Planta, and Eately are garbage compared to some fo the smaller mom and pop owned places. the best sandwich shop in the city is a tiny place north on Yonge owned by a younger greek couple who only make like 8 different sandwiches, they are not overpriced and they are top shelf delicious.
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I’d start on the city’s Eastside. Cut off from downtown by the Don River Valley (and the giant expressway they built inside it), Toronto’s eastern neighbourhoods feel like a whole different city. Riverside and Leslieville are the coolest of all: a long strip of trendy shops, breweries, restaurants and cafes centred on Queen Street East.
Hah! Sure, but only in patches. Largely east of Yonge is a crapshoot of other trendy places or homeless encampments rife with Methheads doing the Tweaker tango on any given day and threatening you with violence and death with whatever makeshift weapon they are wielding. Riverdale park is lovely, and as long as you stay in that area of cabbagetown, you're fine...but jump too many blocks south and you take a BIT of your life in your hands. So yeah, you could find some stuff out that way to enjoy...but Queen Street East is not really known as a place you want to hang out or walk through....you drive to where you're going, and get in your car to leave after. Go north to the Danforth if you want the east end "walking" enjoyment....in Greek Town and Little India...lots of great stuff there and very little of the Methheads.
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The coffee at Boxcar Social is up to Australian standards, so that’s a good place to start.
Trendy and shit. Overpriced, Long lines of hipsters who think it's "the best". It's not.
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The best brunch in the whole city is at Maha’s – a seriously trendy Egyptian joint
It's decent, and it's interesting....but "best Bruch spot" is pushing it. And if you're looking for Egyptian food, the Sultans Tent is way better. Best Brunch is The Hothouse near St. Lawrence Market.
The next three paragraphs are basically an "influencers" guide to East Toronto that ignores the deep poverty and mental illness that permeates that whole selection of blocks. So yeah, the vibe is get is hipster who likes hipster places that allow him/her to take photos strategically so the methhead harassing patrons is not in the shot. At a venue that's 3 times the price it should be while pretending to be "worth it".
Then they jump to the West...and ugh...right out of the gate they are wrong.
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There’s Kensington Market with its weekend carnival atmosphere
Oh fuck no. You know what? 20-25 years ago Kensington was a off the beaten path fun place to be....but at some point the artsy hippies and goths who kept it down to earth moved out, and the dregs moved in. You are more likely to be harassed for cocaine or meth while trying to get into the Global Cheese house, than you are to have a good time. There used to be a Chinese restaurant Called The Boat that became a nightclub after 9PM, but it's gone. There used to be a few great cafes to sit on the patio and enjoy...all gone...and the park/square in ten middle? It's a drug encampment now...you would not sit there at all.
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Little Portugal’s bakeries
This was the neighbourhood I first lived in when I moved downtown. It was always just "fine"....the bakeries are fine. Nothing special. The Portuguese locals who live there keep to themselves and do not care much for interlopers. And during the World Cup it became a cacophony of noise that made me HATE it and everyone who lived there.
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Little Italy’s restaurants
Largely overpriced. I wish this were not the case, but the best Italian restaurants in the city are all up on St. Clair now...not down on College in Little Italy.
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and The Annex’s odd mix of hippy charm and Korean culture.
Little Korea and Chinatown are the ONLY and I do mean ONLY cultural sections of West Toronto that are worth your time and oh boy are they worth your time. Hundreds of great restaurants and shops in both that have served people for decades and usually owned by the same families that started them. GREAT places. I have been to about 10 different Korean restaurants in the Annex and NEVER had a bad meal.
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But my pick has to be Trinity-Bellwoods, the well-heeled but trendy suburb around the park of the same name. On a summer’s day, this is the place to see Toronto being most itself: shirtless bros playing Spikeball, immigrant families picnicking, young lovers making out. Grab a mixed pack of cans from the incredible Bellwoods Brewery and go soak it all in.
It's EXACTLY how they describe it....but your mileage may vary on whether you think that sounds like fun, or a nightmare....I'm the latter. The green spaces I frequent in the city limits are all much less trendy and busy and 100% more picturesque.
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When you’re done, Ossington Avenue is a street away. Routinely listed as one of the world’s coolest streets, it offers a heady mix of urban fashion, trendy restaurants and cool bars. On a hot day, it’s hard to go past an ice-cream sandwich at Bang Bang, and Sweaty Betty’s is a great old-school North American dive bar if that’s your thing (and you didn’t already quench your thirst in the park).
Place EVERY overpriced trendy Instagrammy "cafe" on the same street and you'd get Ossington in 2023. This is not the flex this guy thinks it is. every time I've gone to one of these spots I've been disappointed.
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My penultimate Toronto tip would be this: leave. Not because there’s nothing more to do, but because there’s so much natural beauty just out of town. If outdoorsy stuff is your thing, a canoe trip through Algonquin Provincial Park, a vast expanse of lakes and forest, is a must-do.
Best advice in the whole article. If you come to the GTA, don't bother with Toronto at all....go to the umpteen places within a 1-3 hour drive from the city and you will find a million better things to see and do and experience. Rent a car, and make a list of places to go see and hop on the 400 and go...The best things to see and enjoy in my province are NOT in the city of Toronto. They are around it in other places. Green spaces, waterfalls, glassy lakes, ect. Just drive a bit and see what Ontario has.
TL;DR: Toronto is shit (unless you like instagrammy type overpriced nonsense), but Ontario is really wonderful.
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