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Montreal's probably perceived as more "Euro", if that's synonymous w/anything "artistic"...
 
Given how so many people will drop extra bucks when the prefix "Euro" is added to anthing...
 
Having lived in both cities I would say Montreal certainly has the artistic edge (on the surface at least). I’m talking about fashion, independent music, photography, modern art....There is an overwhelming urban boheme vibe in that city that is unmatched elsewhere in Canada. I don’t expect Montreal to hold onto the undisputed lead forever though. Unfortunately that bohemian vibe is accompanied by a superiority complex and I think that’s why people in Montreal have a hard time appreciating Torontonians very different lifestyle.
 
Toronto is a larger employer of people working in the cultural industries than Montreal is. Because of our larger population we're a more significant consumer of the "product" as well.
 
Having lived in both cities I would say Montreal certainly has the artistic edge (on the surface at least). I’m talking about fashion, independent music, photography, modern art....

I also lived in Montreal for a long time, and feel the opposite. But for me, that does not diminish the good qualities of Montreal one bit.
 
I think one of the reasons Montreal appears to be more art-conscious is because its downtown is so much more concentrated and lively. I think because there are more functioning artistic districts and streets downtown, Montreal showcases its artistic side more.
 
Montreal's downtown is definitely more concentrated and compact than Toronto's downtown. However, it's definitely not more lively (nor is it less lively). Toronto's downtown, especially in the summer, is incredibly lively. Take a stroll along Queen, Bloor, Spadina, Yonge, Kensington, College etc and the streets are packed, as are Ste-Catherine and Saint Laurent.
 
I guess the point is that Toronto has lively streets but they are all isolated from one another, whereas Montreal has a farely solid core
 
Generalize-a-rama.

Ste-Catherine, which is very lively for half a dozen blocks either side of Peel, becomes a dump either side beyond that. If you go east to Berri, it picks up again to the east through the village. Cross-street St-Laurent is lively for blocks north. There is that gap though.

A good but not exact comparison would be Queen West, which is lively for many blocks either side of Spadina, but then gets quiet while it passes by more institutional areas on its way to Yonge. Yonge is lively, obviously, for blocks north. So there's a gap there too.

You'll always get livelier areas, and gaps.

I'm not so sure that Montreal's core is more solid. I just think it's smaller.

42
 
My company's head office is in Old Montreal (St. Jacques St) so I travel there about once every three weeks for a 1-3 day period. Over the years I have gotten to know Old Montreal quite well, and I must say how surprised I am at how dead this area gets at night, even in the summer. Just past Old Montreal is the business district (ex. Boulevard Rene-Levesque) and this area is pretty quiet as well.
It certainly picks up on Saint-Catherine, Sherbrooke, and Saint-Laurent, as well in pockets in neighbourhoods such as the Plateau, but my impressions of Montreal is hardly this teeming metropolis a la Manhattan.
 
I don't know if this has anything to do with the perception, but there are many more students in downtown Montreal. UQAM, University of Montreal, McGill, Concordia, Dawson College... just to name a few.
 
With regards to the visual arts I think there is more going on in Toronto in terms of number of artists and contemporary galleries. Certainly for art museums and cultural facilities in general there is more here in TO. However, as mentioned ealier, there is a sense that Montreal is more culturally conscientious than TO- but whether that is perception or reality I don't know.
 
I agree. I think a lot of this perception is fuelled by history as well. For so long, Toronto was definitely second-rank to Montreal in many areas, but especially so in the arts sector. Clearly, a lot has changed in the past 30 years, but sometimes mass opinion takes times to catch up to reality.
 
I don't know if this has anything to do with the perception, but there are many more students in downtown Montreal. UQAM, University of Montreal, McGill, Concordia, Dawson College... just to name a few.

Personally, I think this is *the* key factor wrt perceptions of Montreal's alleged uber-bohemian-ness. The entire downtown feels like a campus. A great deal of what some perceive as 'artiness' seems to me more like just starving-student-ness in unusually extreme concentration and dominance.

Clearly, a lot has changed in the past 30 years, but sometimes mass opinion takes times to catch up to reality.

Ain't that the truth.
 

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