Let’s be realistic about this subject matter up front. In the English-speaking world, at least, there is no place on a par with the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.
But in the course of my job, I’ve been to major cities throughout North America and the city that comes closest to having the same vibrancy, and this has become truly observable only during the past decade or so, is Toronto.
In my wanderings across America, I’ve observed that most large population areas are suburban-centric for shopping and amusement.
I remember watching one time, having trouble believing, as skateboarders assumed free rein over the sidewalks in the heart of Dallas. In many U.S. cities, when the downtown office buildings empty out, there’s a shortage of after-hours focal points.
That’s not the case with Toronto, where many of the streets stay alive long into the night.
Toronto has become a behemoth within Canada.
Its all-encompassing population is about the same as for Montreal and Vancouver, the nation’s second and third largest cities, combined. Its annual housing starts are likewise nearly equal to the next two biggest contenders.
When construction crane count statistics are published by the real estate consultancy firm, Rider, Levett, Bucknall, the leader among U.S. cities might have a figure as high as in the 40s. Then Toronto will be mentioned in the same press release, almost as an afterthought, and its number of cranes, sometimes exceeding 200, will blow every other location out of the water.
Toronto’s radius of influence extends beyond Hamiton to Niagara Falls in the southwest, as far as to London in the west, north of Barrie to Midland in the north, and further away than Oshawa, touching on Peterborough, in the east and northeast.
I personally know individuals, hard as it is to credit, who make daily commutes to Toronto proper from places beyond those outer boundaries.
People are selling their high-priced homes in central Toronto and finding somewhat cheaper accommodation in such communities as Thornbury, Meaford, and Owen Sound, while still allowing them to stay within the urban giant’s orbit.
It used to be the case that driving from downtown Toronto to cottage country around Wasaga Beach-Collingwood, taking back roads rather than Highways 400 or 404, would convey you through large swathes of farmland and treed properties. Not so anymore.
Those previously empty pastoral spaces have now largely disappeared to be replaced mainly by townhouses.
Navigating around downtown Toronto and its environs is when the similarity with Manhattan really strikes home. The core is comprised of a canyon of commercial and residential skyscrapers. Super tall buildings are also interspersed at major intersections for an extended stretch heading up Yonge Street from the Lake Ontario waterfront to north of Highway 401.
There are also nests of ultra-high buildings near the Scarborough Town Centre, west along the shoreline in the direction of Mimico, and in newly awakening Vaughan.
Plus, there’s Mississauga appearing on the horizon as a separate urban entity all on its own. The next wave of subway station openings guarantees more high-rise building at transit hubs.
A chief characteristic of Manhattan is how much easier it is to travel from A to B by one of the city’s ubiquitous yellow cabs, rather than struggling to find parking.
In Toronto, a former vast array of ground-level parking lots has all but vanished, in the quest to build vertically. If you’re on your way to a sporting event or music concert, it’s far less stress-inducing to walk, even a considerable distance, or dial up a route-knowledgeable Uber driver, than to be stuck for ten traffic-light changes at a single intersection.
This is not a lament for the Toronto of old. I’m simply pointing out that if you’re a newcomer, or you have not visited Toronto in quite a while, be prepared to be shocked.
I’d also underline that Toronto has some of the best educational facilities in the world. U of T consistently ranks high among public and private universities globally.
Also, almost the entirety of Canada’s formidable motor vehicle industry is situated in a ring around the city. There’s also the matter of the great deal of construction that has taken place in the city to house artistic activities within an entertainment sector that is growing exponentially worldwide.
Continuing with that last theme, there is one thing that Toronto lacks, a great anthem like when Frank Sinatra croons about making it bigtime in New York, New York.
My wife, Donna, reminds me that her moniker does sort of rhyme with the way locals pronounce the city’s name, Turonna. Lyricists out there in my reading audience please take note and let’s see what you can come up with to make me a husband hero in my little corner of TO.
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