[King of Kensington]

Uptown doesn't have to mean northernmost section of the city.

Did Central Park cease to be uptown after the creation of Greater New York in 1898?

 

[junior43]

Why would Midtown necessarily be between Downtown and Uptown? It can be mid-town in relation to Toronto's borders.

In regards to Uptown, it is more a state of mind than a name indicating location. The Bloor-Yorkville shopping area is what makes Uptown uptown with all those upper crust types shopping away behind the glass you're peering through.

As confusing as it may seem, I like this description best.

A friend got me thinking about this this week when she emailed me saying she was Uptown and wanted to meet. Confusingly, what she meant was York and Wellington, but she was from out of town, so you have to give her some slack. She thought above the rail corridor was uptown, south of them as downtown.

 

[bleu]

Apparently, North York is not part of Toronto.

North York is the suburbs.
Scarborough is part of Toronto too, yet nobody considers it downtown/midtown/uptown, right? It is just a suburb.

 

[bleu]

I'm not sure if the downtown/midtown/uptown thing really "works" that well for Toronto. Yonge and Eglinton is for instance often referred to as "uptown" or "midtown" but while it does sort of serve as a satellite CBD, it doesn't really have a downtown-ish feel at all - just venture not very far east or west of Yonge and you're in quiet, leafy, outer-city area (i.e. Davisville, Chaplin Estates, Sherwood Park) that feels much more like High Park than say, Yonge and Dundas.

It works much better in Manhattan where it is a very narrow island that you can designate dt/mt/ut without having an extra "west side" or "east side" (OK they do exist but they're not separate from dt/mt/ut).

I agree with this.
When we refer Y/E as midtown, and Yonge/ sheppard-Finch as uptown, do we realize that these "towns" are not really towns per se, but just a very skinny strip along Yonge st? Like King of Kensington mentioned, in the so called midtown, 3 minutes into east or west of Yonge/Davisville, you are essetially in the burbs more like High Park than a vibrant city. Does a single commercial street makes it
"midtown".

On the other hand, south of Queen St, vibrant street life extends from Parliament all the way to Dufferin st. Between Queen and Bloor, probably between Jarvis and a bit east of Bathurst. North of Bloor st, more like between Avenue and Yonge. It gets more and more skinny the northern you go.

So does a narrow 400M largely quiet residential strip wrapping around Yonge st constitute a midtown or uptown? I don't think so.

For myself, downtown is roughly south of Queen St between Sherbourne and Strachan-ish. This can go as far as Dundas st between Spadina and Church.
This is where most of the "actions" happen: the tourists traps, department stores, office buildings, tons of restaurants etc.

North of Queen st (or Dundas St between Spadina/Church), retail declines and you see more and more old condos and apartments. There are much less large retail or office buildings. So I would say this is our midtown until Yorkville between Spadina and Yonge. There is basically very little east of Church st.

As to uptown, who cares. Anything north of Yorkville is uptown. What's the difference between Y/E and Y/Sheppard anyway. They are just semi-suburbs with a couple of busy streets with retail (Yonge, part of Mount Pleasant, Eglinton etc). To me, they are all residential, and if one doesn't leave there, you hardly ever need to go there for anything.

 

[someMidTowner]

bal-eu:
Why bother with a 300 word essay when "derp" would have been a sufficient summary of your statement

 

[JWBF]

All the classic names are based on business districts surrounding Yonge st. in the Old City of Toronto, the "Inverted T". For example, St. Clair to Eglinton is considered "North Town" or what I prefer, Nortown.

Approximately what they are now:

South of Front St.: Harbourfront/Waterfront
Front St. to Queen St.: Downtown Core
Queen St. to Bloor St.: Downtown
Bloor St. to Lawerence Ave.: Midtown
Lawerence Ave. to Steeles Ave.: Uptown

 

[junctionist]

All the classic names are based on business districts surrounding Yonge st. in the Old City of Toronto, the "Inverted T". For example, St. Clair to Eglinton is considered "North Town" or what I prefer, Nortown.

Approximately what they are now:

South of Front St.: Harbourfront/Waterfront
Front St. to Queen St.: Downtown Core
Queen St. to Bloor St.: Downtown
Bloor St. to Lawerence Ave.: Midtown
Lawerence Ave. to Steeles Ave.: Uptown

I agree with this assessment, even though no one refers to North York as "uptown". I think these labels work best within the old city of Toronto. The identities of North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke have proven quite durable, while York and East York are falling into obscurity in the megacity era. The only change I'd make is that Harbourfront/Waterfront south of Lake Shore for the most part. Between Lake Shore and Front Street is the emerging "downtown south" area.

 

[CDL.TO]

I'm skeptical of any definition that puts a break point at a major intersection. When it comes to density/activity, the districts should be defined by the "peaks" and the divisions should be at the "valleys".

I've seen a bunch of definitions that suggest that north of Eglinton is uptown and south of Eglinton is midtown. In my view, Yonge/Eglinton should be the "centre" of one (be it midtown or uptown). Good division points could be Hogg's Hollow, the CP tracks in Summerhill, or Ramsden Park.

 

[Solid Snake]

Downtown
College to the lake

The "Yonge Downtown" brand on Yonge Street starts at College St.

Midtown
North of College St. to St.Clair Area
See reasons above and below





Uptown
Eglinton-Yonge area to York Mills area

The sidewalks with the branding of "Uptown" starts at the corner of Eglinton and Yonge

 

[doady]

North York is the suburbs.

What exactly is suburban about North York Centre?

Scarborough is part of Toronto too, yet nobody considers it downtown/midtown/uptown, right? It is just a suburb.

Scarborough does't have anything resembling a downtown.

Plus, Yonge Street doesn't go through former Scarborough as far as I know, so any "Downtown/Midtown/Uptown Toronto" moniker there wouldn't make sense anyway.

 

[junctionist]

Scarborough City Centre is Scarborough's downtown. It has office and condo towers around a formal public square at its civic centre.

 

[toraerach]

Do we really need to use the words "Uptown" or "Midtown"? There's so much confusion about what they mean that they're pretty much useless for everyday conversation. It's far easier to use intersections or established neighbourhood names (i.e. Yorkville, Forest Hill, Yonge and Eglinton, &c.) as people generally know what you're talking about without further explanation. Other areas with vague definitions - like the West End, East End, Downtown or even North Toronto - seem to at least have a working consensus behind them. Dufferin and College is definitely in the West End, Carlaw and Queen is definitely in the East End, and Yonge and King is definitely Downtown. Where is definitely Midtown or definitely Uptown? And if we can't all agree, are these terms at all useful in this city?

 

[TOperson]

Do we really need to use the words "Uptown" or "Midtown"? There's so much confusion about what they mean that they're pretty much useless for everyday conversation. It's far easier to use intersections or established neighbourhood names (i.e. Yorkville, Forest Hill, Yonge and Eglinton, &c.) as people generally know what you're talking about without further explanation. Other areas with vague definitions - like the West End, East End, Downtown or even North Toronto - seem to at least have a working consensus behind them. Dufferin and College is definitely in the West End, Carlaw and Queen is definitely in the East End, and Yonge and King is definitely Downtown. Where is definitely Midtown or definitely Uptown? And if we can't all agree, are these terms at all useful in this city?

This. We already have good names for the different areas of the city, we don't need to shoehorn Toronto into the NYC down/mid/uptown template. Doing so just screams second-tier city.

 

[bleu]

Doing so just screams second-tier city.

We ARE a second-tier city. Just because we pretend NYC is not something we admire or want to emulate doesn't mean people will automatically think Toronto as a first-tier city.

 

[junctionist]

We ARE a second-tier city. Just because we pretend NYC is not something we admire or want to emulate doesn't mean people will automatically think Toronto as a first-tier city.

We are a first-tier city. Our standard of living is among the highest in the world, and we have some of the best urban amenities. I think we can use downtown/midtown and not be imitative of NYC because those geographic designations are used in various cities in North America.