dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
I argue that Yonge Street is not Toronto's "Main Street" or even "Toronto's main street". It seems to still have a mythical importance to some by virtue of it's historical status as the city's main street and it's centre of the map location. Those factors are years, possibly decades removed from relevance.
People's tastes changed and new entertainment areas flourished closer to where they lived or had a more trendy status. Their sucess came at Yonge's expense. Now, Yonge actually has very low pedestrian traffic at night, leading to the strange situation where the dozens of restaurants north of college are mostly a day/evening operation and the street is dead by 11.
I think the street is approaching the critical mass necessary to transition into a destination again, especially given the imminent local population increase. Those who will lead the renaissance of Yonge probably won't even remember it's heyday (I don't,) which is probably how these things normally happen anyway. At some point in the next twenty years, it could be downtown's main street again.
Talking Yonge Street downtown south of Bloor I'll argue again that it's pretty much dead to pedestrian traffic (save for Gerrard to Queen) as most of the late night attractions are gone. No more club destinations, and no more movie cinemas. Those establishments used to feed the smaller pubs and restaurants which used to keep Yonge Street hopping well into the morning hours. Compare just ten years ago to today and it's very dramatic how pedestrian activity has changed late at night.