scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
There's more to sleaze than strip clubs and more to grime than peeling paint.
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adma
Superstar
These days, the equivalent to the "grime and sleaze" of yore might be the sterile furtive anomie of massage parlours & stuff on the Queensway in the House Of Lancaster zone...
Tewder
Senior Member
Hasn't online porn killed off a lot of the raison d'etre of sex shops anyway? I kind of miss them too, not the services but the grit of downtown
emacs
Active Member
great photos; well done!
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
Hasn't online porn killed off a lot of the raison d'etre of sex shops anyway? I kind of miss them too, not the services but the grit of downtown
To a great extend it has, however there is still a - let's say "social aspect" - for some people who patronize these establishments.
adma
Superstar
Cynically speaking, you're probably talking about the sad-sack pervs--but then again, I can also see the "sexual heritage" of the Yonge St Strip sorta "gentrifying" (think of Hollywood celebs going to the Brass Rail, or the Sasha spin on Jane's Walk).
As it stands, what I find most subversively amusing is the neon "MASSAGE" signs in the upper floor of John Lyle's (former) Dominion Bank at Yonge & Gerrard.
buildup
Senior Member
I think certain streets attract certain types of folks, and in turn the street evolves to serve those same types. Its a reinforcing loop. Yonge is a place for young unpretentious people and older misfits. I've come to believe it serves a useful purpose in that people who might feel self-concious elsewhere can find acceptance on Yonge. There are no expectations or "standards" that need to get met. For example, you're never going to see a drag-queen strolling along Bloor/Yorkville, but they are welcome on Yonge.
I think if you're seen walking along Yonge by yourself, and you're over the age of 50, people will assume you're up to no good.
So while the traffic volume on Yonge is very high, it's potential as a viable retail strip is limited.
In recent years I've become self-concious on Yonge unless I'm dressed like a vagabond.
I think if you're seen walking along Yonge by yourself, and you're over the age of 50, people will assume you're up to no good.
So while the traffic volume on Yonge is very high, it's potential as a viable retail strip is limited.
In recent years I've become self-concious on Yonge unless I'm dressed like a vagabond.
JayBee
Senior Member
It would be nice to see Younge St. turn into St. Catherines street in Montreal.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
I used to go to Montreal every year or so in the 80's & early 90's and I found the two streets very similar in character and vibrancy back then. I don't know what Rue Ste-Catherine is like today, but Yonge St has certainly changed since the 80's/early 90's. The main change that I can contrast is the loss of so many popular pubs/nightclubs and cinemas thus removing a lot of nightlife from downtown Yonge.
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
Yonge is a mixed bag. I have a love/hate relationship with the street.
The Front to Queen section is great and feels kind of like an American downtown: impressive buildings with unimpressive retail. Queen to Dundas is where the grandiosity starts to fade and the low-end chain retailing begins to pick up.
Dundas to Gerrard is an embarassment and the part that I can't love no matter how hard I try. Sam's is gone and HMV seemingly only sells DVDs of Lost. The remaining buildings and stores along this stretch are both almost entirely expendable: low-end hootchie fashion outlets and stores that sell faded Scarface posters inside low-slung commercial buildings that aren't befitting of the centre of St. Thomas, let alone Toronto.
Things remain at a low through the Gerrard intersection and then dramatically pick up again at College, which is a very metropolitan-feeling intersection. The stretch from College to Bloor is great - with a certain midtown headiness to it. There is a great Victorian streetscape unobscured by wires and it packs in the city's seedy underbelly of shopping experiences (everything from leather chaps to nerd gaming places to an upstairs marijuana lounge) without resorting to the commercial tackiness of the Dundas to Gerrard strip. The Bay street condos are a great backdrop, too.
North of Bloor, Yonge kind of becomes the dumping ground for Yorkville's cast offs: endless hair salons which strive to look more cool and cosmopolitan than they are, stores that sell authentic yet tasteless rugs and stuff like that.
The Front to Queen section is great and feels kind of like an American downtown: impressive buildings with unimpressive retail. Queen to Dundas is where the grandiosity starts to fade and the low-end chain retailing begins to pick up.
Dundas to Gerrard is an embarassment and the part that I can't love no matter how hard I try. Sam's is gone and HMV seemingly only sells DVDs of Lost. The remaining buildings and stores along this stretch are both almost entirely expendable: low-end hootchie fashion outlets and stores that sell faded Scarface posters inside low-slung commercial buildings that aren't befitting of the centre of St. Thomas, let alone Toronto.
Things remain at a low through the Gerrard intersection and then dramatically pick up again at College, which is a very metropolitan-feeling intersection. The stretch from College to Bloor is great - with a certain midtown headiness to it. There is a great Victorian streetscape unobscured by wires and it packs in the city's seedy underbelly of shopping experiences (everything from leather chaps to nerd gaming places to an upstairs marijuana lounge) without resorting to the commercial tackiness of the Dundas to Gerrard strip. The Bay street condos are a great backdrop, too.
North of Bloor, Yonge kind of becomes the dumping ground for Yorkville's cast offs: endless hair salons which strive to look more cool and cosmopolitan than they are, stores that sell authentic yet tasteless rugs and stuff like that.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
Hey, very well put. I'm pretty much on the same page as you but I have a little more fondness for the Dundas to Gerrard strip. I really like your description of the "north of Bloor" section, it's so true!
adma
Superstar
Two significant exceptions to the expendability: (1) the ex-Edison Hotel, of course, and (2) John Lyle's Thornton-Smith Building, which just happens to be where Jane Creba was shot in front of...
Long Island Mike
Senior Member
Yonge Street today...compared with the 80s...
HD: Good overview of Yonge Street as you see it today-compared with how I remember it back in the 80s basically.
I remember Yonge Street being full of life back then-centering especially from Eaton Centre area N towards Gerrard with stores like Sam's and A&A and the numerous small businesses like souvenir shops and arcades that were there.
That intersection of Yonge and College/Carlton brings back good memories when I stayed nearby and I have always liked College Park also. Maple Leaf Gardens brings back some memories also.
From that point to the center of Midtown Toronto at Bloor and Yonge Street it took on a sort of a "Greenwich Village" feel to it somewhat being the center of a more upscale and I later found out predominately Gay area.
I never felt uncomfortable being a straight male in that area and I felt that comparing it to that named neighborhood in NYC is a compliment to the lively area it was then and still is today I presume.
The area around Bloor and Yonge was the heart of Midtown Toronto and nearby Yorkville was interesting - to me it felt like Manhattan's East Side -
Affluent but on a smaller scale then it was in NYC. It did not have that "Village" feel to me.
I remember Yonge Street best for the street people that sort of "lived" there among its hustle and bustle and I remember perhaps best of all the young people from throughout the Toronto area cruising the Yonge Street Strip showing off their fancy cars and hot rods on warm nights in the Summer and Friday and Saturday nights other seasons. Toronto as a whole was far safer then NYC was back then.
Memories by Long Island Mike
HD: Good overview of Yonge Street as you see it today-compared with how I remember it back in the 80s basically.
I remember Yonge Street being full of life back then-centering especially from Eaton Centre area N towards Gerrard with stores like Sam's and A&A and the numerous small businesses like souvenir shops and arcades that were there.
That intersection of Yonge and College/Carlton brings back good memories when I stayed nearby and I have always liked College Park also. Maple Leaf Gardens brings back some memories also.
From that point to the center of Midtown Toronto at Bloor and Yonge Street it took on a sort of a "Greenwich Village" feel to it somewhat being the center of a more upscale and I later found out predominately Gay area.
I never felt uncomfortable being a straight male in that area and I felt that comparing it to that named neighborhood in NYC is a compliment to the lively area it was then and still is today I presume.
The area around Bloor and Yonge was the heart of Midtown Toronto and nearby Yorkville was interesting - to me it felt like Manhattan's East Side -
Affluent but on a smaller scale then it was in NYC. It did not have that "Village" feel to me.
I remember Yonge Street best for the street people that sort of "lived" there among its hustle and bustle and I remember perhaps best of all the young people from throughout the Toronto area cruising the Yonge Street Strip showing off their fancy cars and hot rods on warm nights in the Summer and Friday and Saturday nights other seasons. Toronto as a whole was far safer then NYC was back then.
Memories by Long Island Mike
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
dtgeek,
Thanks! By the way, my description of north of Bloor is just the downtown part that ends at Ramsden park.
adma,
There are a few buildings worth saving, of course, such as the aforementioned ones and the Toronto Dominion bank branch that is now disfigured by the Elephant & Castle, but the rest of the Yonge street strip remains a sore point for me.
LI Mike,
Yeah, Yonge was proabbly at its best from the 1950s to the 1970s and many people remember thsoe days very fondly. That's almost all gone now and what's left are lower-end fashion retailers that pump techno muzak and other lumpenproletariat junk in decrepit buildings that are more or less serving as scaffolds for ads. And all this right in the centre of the city! Imagine if Herald Square in NYC had the same shopping as downtown Newark, NJ or "The Hub" in the Bronx only with the same kind of buildings you would see on a sidestreet in Greenpoint, and you'll get an idea of what I mean.
Thanks! By the way, my description of north of Bloor is just the downtown part that ends at Ramsden park.
adma,
There are a few buildings worth saving, of course, such as the aforementioned ones and the Toronto Dominion bank branch that is now disfigured by the Elephant & Castle, but the rest of the Yonge street strip remains a sore point for me.
LI Mike,
Yeah, Yonge was proabbly at its best from the 1950s to the 1970s and many people remember thsoe days very fondly. That's almost all gone now and what's left are lower-end fashion retailers that pump techno muzak and other lumpenproletariat junk in decrepit buildings that are more or less serving as scaffolds for ads. And all this right in the centre of the city! Imagine if Herald Square in NYC had the same shopping as downtown Newark, NJ or "The Hub" in the Bronx only with the same kind of buildings you would see on a sidestreet in Greenpoint, and you'll get an idea of what I mean.
DSC
Superstar
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Ste Catherine Street certainly has changed a lot in the last decade and they have just pedestrianised, for the second summer, a large downtown piece of it - including the Gay Village - for the summer. There's an article on this at http://spacingmontreal.ca/2009/06/06/street-festivals-everywhere-all-the-time/
I fear it will be a while before Yonge is pedestrianised!