Ugly Toronto

[lawsond]

ve always thought that the Sears building was more of an inverted ziggurat than a pyramid. Also, ziggurat is fun to say.

which i guess would make it a "taruggiz".

 

[Urban Shocker]

Though, as Freud said, sometimes a ziggurat is just a ziggurat.

 

[Canuck]

Nice concept - more power to him.

Not sure I'd buy it, but if there's a market I don't see how anyone could be against this idea.

 

[adma]

In its populism, a throwback to this

 

[Hydrogen]

...or this:


http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=6625

 

[lawsond]

God knows some of us have gone on here at length about what is ugly in this city, all the while recognizing that it is a great place to live in.
Reply With Quote

as my mother used to say about poor little gail next door....
she may be ugly but she has other redeeming features.
so stop calling her names.
like gail gail the garbage pail.
same for toronto...

 

[Zephyr]

TORONTO Love It or Leave It!!!

 

[CDL.TO]

You hoping for a mass exodus or something?

 

[Zephyr]

TORONTO Love It or Leave It!!!

You hoping for a mass exodus or something?

I know you are kidding CDL.TO, and I did laugh, but just to avoid those who will take this exchange literally - and unfortunately there will be a few - this is a variation of place in that slogan of the right wing in the USA that goes 'America, love it or leave it!' Call this a type of intolerance regarding anything being criticised on your turf.

 

[CDL.TO]

It usually feels like loving Toronto is the dissenting view in this town.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's gotten a "are you crazy?" response when declaring one's love of Toronto.

 

[Zephyr]

It usually feels like loving Toronto is the dissenting view in this town.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's gotten a "are you crazy?" response when declaring one's love of Toronto.

Earlier in this thread I contrasted what Torontonian's typically do and how I interpret it, versus what we find ourselves doing on this thread if we are not careful. I'll edit that earlier post and leave it below:

Why is this book a problem?
...
I don't know if you have ever read Nelson Algren, or haven't read him in a while. He savaged Chicago at nearly every turn - its ugly elevated trains, its flop houses, its corruption, its poverty, its racism - and yet there is no doubt he loved that city. His metaphor was falling in love with a woman with a broken nose.

Some have noted elsewhere outside this world of the internet, that self-deprecation is a Torontonian trait, a counter to outright boosterism found in other cities, and other places, but no less a sign of wanting the best for their city. ,,,.

 

[Archivist]

Hate it

Frankly, I hate this idea and the website and the book. I agree with CDL that finding beauty in Toronto by Torontonians is usually a dissenting position. I loathe the Puglys as well, just for the name and the initial tendency towards criticism implied by that award (which I think they've tried to back off of).

What I think is irritating is that Montrealers, Haligonians, Vancouverites, etc., frequently will state that their cities are "beautiful" - I think perhaps what we need is a website for Torontonians to highlight deficiencies in other cities! Imagine a website where we could point out what we loathe about Kingston or Vancouver or --- well, Mississauga!

One other small point is that it isn't only buildings that make cities visually unappealing - if the authors of this website were imaginative they could have opened it up to any part of the built environment and that would have been more interesting.

Crotchety complaints about buildings - this we hardly need more of.

 

[adma]

I loathe the Puglys as well, just for the name and the initial tendency towards criticism implied by that award (which I think they've tried to back off of).

Thanks for raising that point of reference within this thread. (Oh, and "backing off of" is why they're now called the Pugs.)

 

[Zephyr]

if the authors of this website were imaginative they could have opened it up to any part of the built environment and that would have been more interesting.

Crotchety complaints about buildings - this we hardly need more of.

Could you expand on this? At this point I can guess what you mean, but perhaps a few more examples would make this complaint more plain, or at least more specific.

 

[Archivist]

Zephyr, I am thinking of things that get some scorn here, like wooden telephone/electricity poles throughout the city, and also of some specific things like the concrete and rust-stained streetcar podium that runs through the middle of Harbourfront (it improves out by the Music Garden).

One (very specific) thing that never fails to irk me is the car-barrier at the end of Earl Street (running off of Jarvis). It's ugly as hell, has no way for bicycles to get through, and there are many examples in Vancouver's west end where cutting off a street has led to a gorgeous, landscaped area rather than something that looks like a slum.