Toronto vs New York: Some Observations

Toronto, Travel

Toronto (TO) is surpassing New York City (NYC) in dirt. While TO is still quite clean (I’d eat a pickle slice off the ground in the TTC over the NYC Subway) the actual “feel” of TO is becoming less than stellar. This morning I saw a lot more random garbage during my walk to the subway than I did in my 4 days in NYC.

NYC is friendlier (or, “getting” friendlier?). In NYC, ask anyone for directions and you’ll get a straight answer. Except for people on 9th Avenue for some reason. In TO, people don’t make eye contact so finding someone to ask a question becomes hard.

Taxis. Without a word of a lie: A 10 min cab ride in NYC is equal to a 10 second cab ride in TO, price-wise. NYC cab drivers know how to drive and will drop you off two blocks from your destination if they think they might get into some kind of jam, costing you money. In TO… Fuck. Where do I begin? $4.50 just to get into a cab? The driver we had last night decided that Parliament Street was “…not good! Not good!” because the street was closed to one lane (aren’t most streets in Downtown Toronto one lane these days?). And then proceeded to rack up a $16 cab fare to $25 (no tip) by going up a street with one lane.

Kelsey Grammer can fill a musical theatre venue. And can do it with the shittiest singing voice I’ve ever paid $75 to listen to. And thoroughly enjoyed. I doubt that if Jesus was a Canadian, and he came back to life, and he starred in “Godspell” at the Royal Alexander on King, and the tickets were free, the show would shut in two weeks. One thing I should mention: while Kelsey was the big name, the real star of La Cage Aux Folles was Douglas Hodge, whose edification of Albin won hands limply down over Nathan Lane’s in “The Bird Cage”

TO’s Dundas Square over NYC Times Square? I’ll take TO’s. It’s less crowded and less kinetic. While Times Square is breathtakingly bright and energetic, it gets tiring after 10 minutes trying to rest your eyes on something that doesn’t want your money. At least in TO you can look at Kevin Frankish.

Food? Hands down NYC. Travel to Food? NYC. TO is still young and is still compartmentalizing it’s ethnic diversity so if you want good Italian one night, it’s a streetcar ride over to College and Bathurst, another streetcar in the opposite direction for an hour to get great Indian. NYC is blurring these kind of lines as space becomes more and more expensive. In one block you can get Mexican Fusion, hi-fashion fried chicken on a waffle (I did!) or the latest in hip trendy sushi styles. You can get fried endangered Galapagos turtle on the streets of NYC. TO can’t even manage a good (edible, safe) hot dog.

Apple Store. TO’s Eaton Centre is far less frustrating than 5th Ave’s outlet. While ours smells like wet sock on a good day, at the NYC store, you could get knifed over a Mac Book Air and a Specialist would not even notice you until you bled out and fell hard onto the floor. Maybe.

Museums, Art and General Culture. NYC wins this by default – duh. How do you compete with the culture capital of North America? Besides, TO will soon be abandoning any semblance of intelligent art/culture endowments, replaced with corporate funded pap, thanks to Rob Ford’s proposed money cuts.

I know it’s not fair to compare TO to NYC. TO is an embryo compared to NYC’s maturity. But we’d be wise to look up to our older sibs if we want to be world class.

Couple more pics for you. Be sure to follow my photo updates on my NYC Set on Flickr

8 thoughts on “Toronto vs New York: Some Observations

  1. thejtree

    After living in both places for 3+ years, I’d agree with your assessments… I’ve been saying for years that NYC people are generally nicer than TO people. I’d add that not only are Taxi rides in NYC cheaper and more effective at A-to-B routes, the subways are superior in every way… financially, access, locations, regularity, and “excitement.”

  2. Patrick

    Great post and simply beautiful pictures. Compare TO to Dublin, and well, TO is an example of a well run first class city. NYC will always stand out, there isn’t really anywhere else like it nor should it be copied.

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