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"Downtown" is the narrowest definition. I would say it includes all of the area of University to Jarvis from Yorkville/Davenport down to the Gardiner, plus stretching further west when south of Queen St., to maybe Bathurst south of Queen. You can also split up the downtown (as hotels do) with "downtown" being south of College centered around King and Queen and "midtown" to be centered around Yonge and Bloor/Queen's Park/Yorkville.
The Central Area is what the city now refers to as downtown Toronto but is a broad definition, kind of a "greater downtown." The Central Area dates back to 70s planning documents, but now in post-amalgamation Toronto it's often called downtown. Basically Bathurst to the Don south of CPR and Rosedale Valley, so it includes the downtown core but also central neighborhoods like the Annex, U of T, Regent Park, Cabbagetown, etc. And yes, one could argue that Cabbagetown east of Parliament has more in common with Playter Estates than "downtown" per se, but Bathurst and the Don make more sensible geographic barriers between central Toronto and the east and west ends.
Inner city - thinking of 19th century rowhouse neighborhoods and places like Parkdale - maybe south of the CPR and out to Roncesvalles. Perhaps it would also take in Riverdale/Leslieville as well running to the east.
Semi-suburban/outer city - High Park, North Toronto, the Beaches, etc. and maybe the heavily working class York and East York as well.
Sometimes people say downtown goes as far as Don river. Take a look at the intersection of River st/Dundas etc, the streets are lined by nothing but two storey purely residential houses and often undeveloped grassland. It has nothing to do with "downtown". Even Parliament/Bathurst is quite a stretch. Bathurst north of Queen st looks more like suburban Virginia than downtown Toronto.
I think the city's Central Area definition is reasonable though I wished they still used that term instead of "downtown." It makes sense to use major streets, neighborhood boundaries, census tract boundaries, physical boundaries etc. to divide cities into major sections and it would be silly to say the boundary between the west end and central Toronto was, say, Augusta Ave. - Bathurst is fine if somewhat arbitrary. Similarly "prime" Cabbagetown east of Parliament (formerly known as Don Vale) is a little pocket that's mostly surrounded by inner city areas that are for the most part very different than east of the Don...
I wish these terms were a little more defined for Toronto. The city should come up with some definite terms to describe different parts of Old Toronto, and start referring to the former municipalities as 'boroughs'.
If it were up to me, this is how I would divide the Old City:
- CBD - the area south of Dundas to Front, and from University to Yonge. The CBD is a sub-district of....
- Downtown - the central-most part of Old Toronto. From Bloor to Front, Spadina to Jarvis.
- Harbourfront - the area south of the Gardiner, and from Bathurst all the way to Jarvis
- East Downtown - Jarvis to the Don Valley, and from Bloor to the Gardiner.
- West End - the densely populated neighbourhoods west of Spadina. From Spadina west to Roncesvalles/Dundas West; Davenport south to King.
- Midtown - mainly the wealthy residential areas east and west of Yonge. From Bathurst to Bayview, Davenport to Eglinton.
- Uptown - from Bathurst to Bayview, Eglinton to the 401.
- East End - the neighbourhoods of Riverdale, Leslieville, East York, the Beaches. Basically from the Don Valley east to Vic Park, from O'Conner south to the Lakeshore.
- Upper West End - north of Davenport to Eglinton West, Bathurst to Jane.
- Northwest Toronto - north of Eglinton to the 401, Bathurst to Jane.
- Southwest Toronto - from just east of Parkside to Jane/South Kingsway; St. Clair to Lakeshore.
Something like this might be a good way of dividing up the Old City into large districts. The Ward system has never caught on as a way of distinguishing the different parts of the city. This is based more on geography and boundaries between major neighbourhoods.
The BIA at Yonge and Eglinton calls itself "Uptown." But that's more of a neighborhood and doesn't include more suburban residential sections like Lytton Park and Lawrence Park. That's fine with me, but it isn't a "side" or major "section" of the city.
I kind of think of the Yonge corridor from Rosedale/Summerhill up to Lawrence as one section. After all the North Toronto train station is at Yonge and Summerhill and it has the same "theme" and community of interest of affluence with a commercial center on Yonge (and while Rosedale is closer in than Lawrence Park it's really no different than say Trinity Bellwoods and Bloor West Village both being part of the west end, yet one is inner city and the other is outer city). On the other hand, it's true that the Town of North Toronto annexed in 1912 is north of the Mount Pleasant cemetery and that's generally what people mean when they say "North Toronto" (and it's more commonly applied for north of Eglinton and much less so for the Davisville area and Mount Pleasant commercial strip). So what to call the area centered around Yonge and St. Clair - Rosedale, Deer Park, Casa Loma etc.? Too removed from central Toronto, too small to be it's own thing, but yet a bit different from North Toronto?
I don't see why a bunch of rich suburban neighborhoods north of Eglinton warrant being called "Uptown." That's really upper North Toronto.
I agree. To call the narrow stretch between Finch and Sheppard along Yonge st "uptown" is odd. It is more like a mainly suburban town with a main commercial street. Why the hell do we call that uptown? the same goes for midtown (St Clair to Eglinton).
Quote:
Originally Posted by King of Kensington
Officially our "midtown" is around Yorkville (though it's part of downtown):
To me too. From college st up to Yorkville is more like our "midtown". It is not as busy as the downtown, but still manages to have a lot of things going on (Gay village, Yonge/Bloor, Yorkville, government buildings etc).
Quote:
Originally Posted by King of Kensington
The BIA at Yonge and Eglinton calls itself "Uptown." But that's more of a neighborhood and doesn't include more suburban residential sections like Lytton Park and Lawrence Park. That's fine with me, but it isn't a "side" or major "section" of the city.
I kind of think of the Yonge corridor from Rosedale/Summerhill up to Lawrence as one section. After all the North Toronto train station is at Yonge and Summerhill and it has the same "theme" and community of interest of affluence with a commercial center on Yonge. So what to call the area centered around Yonge and St. Clair - Rosedale, Deer Park, Casa Loma etc.? Too removed from central Toronto, too small to be it's own thing, but yet a bit different from North Toronto?
Yonge/Eglinton is an intersection. It is not a neighbourhood. E/Y is very suburban except for the Yonge st section. Rosedale, Deer Park, Forest Hill are suburbs too.
It boggles my mind that north of Yorkville everything is very suburban except on Yonge st. There is nothing on Spadina road, or Bathurst st. Few things on Mt Pleasant for a short stretch, and hardly much on Bayview, not to mention those West-east streets. You have one busy commercial street and then all the dead quiet residential houses on both sides of it. Our so called midtown is as urban as Niagara on the Lake.
Forest Hill was a municipality until 1967 and thus developed as an independent "village" built up in the 1930s and 1940s. It was also the first Toronto suburb designed for people with automobiles (an exclusive group at the time) rather than a "streetcar suburb." It still retains the feel of a small area of very rich people like TMR and Hampstead.
Summerhill and Yonge/St. Clair kind of resembles Westmount which has retained its independence.
As for the use of "uptown" - it doesn't really have the same dictionary definition as downtown, it can mean anything. Sometimes it's just one neighborhood. It also has connotations of being upscale though and in that sense Rosedale and North Toronto are "uptown" (akin to upper northwest DC which is often referred to as uptown as well). Just as long as it's NOT included with downtown because it ain't!
Downtown, Midtown (Bloor/Yonge) and Uptown (Eglinton/Yonge) refer to the old City of Toronto .... although the Uptown Theater was at Bloor/Yonge - making Gerrard/College as Midtown. I suppose it depends on your generation and where you live/work in relation to these.
But the "amalgamation" argument is nonsense. Most of the responsibilities pre-1998 were handled by the upper-tier Metro government so 1953 was as at least as significant as 1998 in terms of municipal reorganization. It doesn't make midtown downtown and uptown midtown and North York uptown. Cities like Calgary, Houston, Indianapolis, etc. also have also annexed a lot of suburban territory but that didn't result in massive expansions of their "downtowns" overnight.
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