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Old 05-18-2010, 11:40 AM
 
221 posts, read 795,063 times
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Just found this old quote from Atticman, and wanted to see what you guys think:

"Toronto and SF are both multi-cultural and liberal, they both have dense inner cities lined with commercial streets, residential towers and Victorian houses (only Toronto is brick), they both have prominent financial districts, they both have streetcars, they both have lots of pedestrian traffic, cyclists, large Chinatowns and other ethnic hoods, and loads of funky, off-beat characters and street culture etc. As far as stuff like this goes, Toronto is more like SF or New York than it is like Chicago IMO."

How true do you find that? Ive been to both cities and never really thought about it that way, but now that I hear it mentioned like this, it kind of makes sense...what do you guys think?
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Old 05-18-2010, 12:03 PM
 
Location: Cleveland, OH
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I can see some similarities in terms of the street cars, Asian influence, and funky/gritty neighborhoods. Structurally and geographically they are obviously very different.
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Old 05-18-2010, 12:31 PM
 
701 posts, read 1,892,942 times
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Besides streetcars, I think those aboved mentioned apply to all major US cities. Even Los Angeles has a dense inner city lined with commercial streets, residential towers (no Victorian houses though), prominent financial districts, lots of pedestrian traffic, cyclists, large Chinatowns and other ethnic hoods, and loads of funky, off-beat characters and street culture etc.

Although LA has a bad reputation for urban sprawl, it does have a pretty densely populated area from downtown stretching west, to Wilshire, La brea, Beverly Hills all the way to Century City/Westwood. West part of LA between Santa Monica Blvd and the 10 is actually very dense and vibrant. And yes, you can totally go about using public transit.

My point is, no, those are not similarities between Toronto and San Fran, but similarities among all big cities.
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Old 05-18-2010, 12:56 PM
 
593 posts, read 1,754,799 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kkgg7 View Post
Besides streetcars, I think those aboved mentioned apply to all major US cities. Even Los Angeles has a dense inner city lined with commercial streets, residential towers (no Victorian houses though), prominent financial districts, lots of pedestrian traffic, cyclists, large Chinatowns and other ethnic hoods, and loads of funky, off-beat characters and street culture etc.

Although LA has a bad reputation for urban sprawl, it does have a pretty densely populated area from downtown stretching west, to Wilshire, La brea, Beverly Hills all the way to Century City/Westwood. West part of LA between Santa Monica Blvd and the 10 is actually very dense and vibrant. And yes, you can totally go about using public transit.

My point is, no, those are not similarities between Toronto and San Fran, but similarities among all big cities.
I would have to disagree with you there. San Francisco is one of the most vibrant, densest, and most bustling cities in the US, and it also has one of the highest foreign born populations, a very cosmopolitan feel, and lots of funky urban neighborhoods. Few cities in the US match it in those regards, and I think a lot of those characteristics apply to Toronto as well...
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Old 05-18-2010, 12:58 PM
 
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Although, one major difference (aside from the obvious, of course) is the San Francisco Bay Area has a much higher hispanic population than Toronto...
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Old 05-18-2010, 03:02 PM
 
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I always thought of Toronto as sharing similarities with SF & Chicago when I visited.
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Old 05-18-2010, 03:15 PM
 
155 posts, read 452,654 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kkgg7 View Post
My point is, no, those are not similarities between Toronto and San Fran, but similarities among all big cities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AcroJimmy2 View Post
I would have to disagree with you there. San Francisco is one of the most vibrant, densest, and most bustling cities in the US, and it also has one of the highest foreign born populations, a very cosmopolitan feel, and lots of funky urban neighborhoods. Few cities in the US match it in those regards, and I think a lot of those characteristics apply to Toronto as well...
The point is that almost every big city share these characteristics. Every city has a percentage of foreign born citizens. Every big city is bustling with a cosmopolitan feel and "funky" urban neighborhoods.

If you compare shallow things like this, you would be able to compare Toronto with any big city.
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Old 05-18-2010, 06:43 PM
 
Location: roaming gnome
12,385 posts, read 28,372,317 times
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they have similar laid back liberal vibes...more slow paced quirky/funky culture than faster pace and business minded, ruder, more serious cities like nyc/chi/dc, not that these last 3 do not have that either, it is just isn't the main city character you find...I would say both sf and toronto are both more "chill" That is my impression of them and probably has to do that they are in california and canada. def both have the asian thing going on.
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Old 05-19-2010, 12:05 AM
 
1,669 posts, read 4,223,067 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MiD310 View Post
The point is that almost every big city share these characteristics. Every city has a percentage of foreign born citizens. Every big city is bustling with a cosmopolitan feel and "funky" urban neighborhoods.

If you compare shallow things like this, you would be able to compare Toronto with any big city.
If that were true, then every big city would have the same character and feel as Toronto and SF, and that's obviously not the case now, is it?
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Old 05-19-2010, 04:25 PM
 
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I don't think they are anything alike personally. SF has such a definite west coast vibe. That alone makes it feel totally different to me. SF is where the sunny beach culture of Southern California meets the woodsy bohemian northwest. Since Toronto is Canada's biggest, it means more to Canada's national psyche than SF does to the U.S.
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