Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
BY KERRY DIOTTE
I just returned from a vacation split between Toronto and New York City.
Curiously, Torontonians like to think their burg is Canada's version of New York.
I overheard that very sentiment last week in T.O. while kicking back on a sliver of an outdoor restaurant patio on a busy street.
"Yes, Toronto's amazing," one man enthused to another. "We're basically the New York City of Canada. There's so much going on here. It's incredible."
Well, having just spent five days in both T.O. and the Big Apple, I'd say Toronto, as a city, couldn't carry New York's jockstrap.
Compared to New York, Toronto feels about as big-city-like as Saskatoon.
Hogtowners who believe they're at the centre of the universe need a sharp dose of reality.
Granted, Toronto is big, busy and there are plenty of things to do.
While I was there, the Blue Jays were on a homestand. There was a small blues festival in the Annex area and a decent soiree in Little Italy.
By contrast, New York was absolutely jumping. There's an indescribable energy to the city, particularly in its best known borough, Manhattan, the most densely populated place in the U.S. where 30,000 residents share each square kilometre.
Sure, it can cost $14 for a half hour of parking there, but most people don't drive. They use one of the best transit systems in the world.
While Toronto's subway system is extensive, it can't hold a candle to New York's that boasts 468 stations, 26 lines and 1.5 billion annual riders.
As for entertainment, there were dozens of Broadway and off-Broadway plays running, countless high-calibre live musical acts ranging from k.d. lang and Lyle Lovett at Radio City Music Hall to B.B. King at a blues bar.
There are a host of cool sites when you hoof it in Toronto, including the CN Tower, St. Lawrence Market, the Hockey Hall of Fame and Ontario Place, among others.
New York, though, is mind-numbing when it comes to world-famous sites, stores and attractions.
In just one day of walking in Manhattan, I eyeballed or checked out Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Madison Square Gardens, the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Trump International Hotel Tower, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Central Park.
That's the incredible thing. New York's attractions are embedded in all of us through popular culture. Turn one corner and you're at Grand Central station. Turn another and you're outside the CBS location of the David Letterman Show.
I'd bet about a third of the TV shows and movies we watch include scenes from New York. Sure, Toronto's called Hollywood North. The big difference is movies are shot there and then passed off to audiences as being scenes from New York or from other U.S. metropolises. So, Toronto gets to be a stand-in for the Big Apple - which is fitting in a way, since T.O. is clearly the inferior burg with a strange superiority complex in Canada.
Now if I was doing this column as a Letterman-style Top-10 list (Toronto broadcaster George Stroumboulopoulos doesn't do lists on CBC, right?), I'd rank the sheer character of New Yorkers as the No. 1 reason why that town has it all over Hogtown.
Despite the stereotype of rude New Yorkers, I found them far friendlier and more helpful than the average Torontonian.
That's a telling sign of superiority in itself , since it truly is the people who make a city great - and New York's got that all over Toronto too.
I just returned from a vacation split between Toronto and New York City.
Curiously, Torontonians like to think their burg is Canada's version of New York.
I overheard that very sentiment last week in T.O. while kicking back on a sliver of an outdoor restaurant patio on a busy street.
"Yes, Toronto's amazing," one man enthused to another. "We're basically the New York City of Canada. There's so much going on here. It's incredible."
Well, having just spent five days in both T.O. and the Big Apple, I'd say Toronto, as a city, couldn't carry New York's jockstrap.
Compared to New York, Toronto feels about as big-city-like as Saskatoon.
Hogtowners who believe they're at the centre of the universe need a sharp dose of reality.
Granted, Toronto is big, busy and there are plenty of things to do.
While I was there, the Blue Jays were on a homestand. There was a small blues festival in the Annex area and a decent soiree in Little Italy.
By contrast, New York was absolutely jumping. There's an indescribable energy to the city, particularly in its best known borough, Manhattan, the most densely populated place in the U.S. where 30,000 residents share each square kilometre.
Sure, it can cost $14 for a half hour of parking there, but most people don't drive. They use one of the best transit systems in the world.
While Toronto's subway system is extensive, it can't hold a candle to New York's that boasts 468 stations, 26 lines and 1.5 billion annual riders.
As for entertainment, there were dozens of Broadway and off-Broadway plays running, countless high-calibre live musical acts ranging from k.d. lang and Lyle Lovett at Radio City Music Hall to B.B. King at a blues bar.
There are a host of cool sites when you hoof it in Toronto, including the CN Tower, St. Lawrence Market, the Hockey Hall of Fame and Ontario Place, among others.
New York, though, is mind-numbing when it comes to world-famous sites, stores and attractions.
In just one day of walking in Manhattan, I eyeballed or checked out Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Madison Square Gardens, the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Trump International Hotel Tower, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Central Park.
That's the incredible thing. New York's attractions are embedded in all of us through popular culture. Turn one corner and you're at Grand Central station. Turn another and you're outside the CBS location of the David Letterman Show.
I'd bet about a third of the TV shows and movies we watch include scenes from New York. Sure, Toronto's called Hollywood North. The big difference is movies are shot there and then passed off to audiences as being scenes from New York or from other U.S. metropolises. So, Toronto gets to be a stand-in for the Big Apple - which is fitting in a way, since T.O. is clearly the inferior burg with a strange superiority complex in Canada.
Now if I was doing this column as a Letterman-style Top-10 list (Toronto broadcaster George Stroumboulopoulos doesn't do lists on CBC, right?), I'd rank the sheer character of New Yorkers as the No. 1 reason why that town has it all over Hogtown.
Despite the stereotype of rude New Yorkers, I found them far friendlier and more helpful than the average Torontonian.
That's a telling sign of superiority in itself , since it truly is the people who make a city great - and New York's got that all over Toronto too.
