Our Streets - Yonge St. (Toronto)

I've always had this photo project on my mind where I wanted to document the major streets of Toronto. Anything from the streetscapes, buildings and building details, interesting facades, etc.

My first street that I thought would be the most appropriate for this is Yonge Street. Can't go wrong with the longest street in the world that runs through many neighbourhoods and changes accordingly with each neighbourhood.

So I started at the foot of Lake Ontario, bright and early (6:30is), and went north to 16th Avenue for the time being. I'm going to be continuing the walk through Richmond Hill and on a bit later. There's going to be a separate thread for Yonge St. in York Region.

Enjoy!

*Most of the shots will be documenting the west side of Yonge since for most of the ~7.5 hour walk was on the east side until I got to North York and walked on the west side.


Early morning at Finch Station.












































Richtree facade.










1 King West.
















Scaffolding on The Bay.


















Yonge/Gould.




Yonge/Gerrard.










Building at northeast corner of Yonge/Carlton. You can see the remnants of an old clock that was there.






























Building beside the 1 Bloor East site.


























































Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.








Yonge/Davisville.










Yonge/Eglinton.












Old CocaCola Signage. Wonder how old it actually is.








Loblaws on the top of the hill south of York Mills.








Office building at Yonge/York Mills.




The 401.


We enter the concrete and condo jungle of North York.




























Farmers market at Mel Lastman Square.






The typical retail at the base of a condo.


DUCA building under construction.










Not too long until these buildings will be demolished for condos.






Southeast corner of Yonge/Finch.








Finch station park and ride.








Toronto Hydro building.




Office building right across from it.
























Centrepoint Mall.







Yonge Street in York Region

great idea and awesome way to spend a day. I am really amazed at the number of quality photos you were able to put together!

really nice idea, pretty execution

Those Sheppard to Steeles shots highlight where I lived from 1969 to 1997. Its still part of my life as my parents and in-laws still live in the area. And the area from the lake to the Eaton Centre spotlights my home area from 1997 to today. Thanks for the thread!

Where is that Puma store with the eagle sculpture atop?

the only store they have on yonge is at 2325 Yonge St,

Sweet photo tour! Very awesome.
One thing I really noticed is the rust on the Eaton Centre tower... not sure if it's the north or south one.

smuncky said:

I've always had this photo project on my mind where I wanted to document the major streets of Toronto. Anything from the streetscapes, buildings and building details, interesting facades, etc.

Click to expand...

I like the name of the Korean restaurant in the foreground.

Seriously, that's a brilliant photo journey of Yonge Street. You absolutely captured the transitions from the bottom of Yonge to Steels wonderfully. I sure hope that you had a comfortable pair of shoes on for a 7 1/2 hour walk!

Thank you smuncky!

Great job and great idea!

I think it could be argued that Yonge Street feels like Toronto's "most important street" more so north of Bloor than it does right downtown. Also, for all it's faults, it's a pretty varied, interesting and totally Toronto experience. The North York portion is pretty dreary in your pics, but the vitality of the neighbourhood still shines through.

Publicize your walk next time you pick a street and you may find some UT'ers interested in giving you some company!

Great pictures smuncky. Does anyone know how the myth of Yonge St being the longest street in the world started? Yonge St only goes as far as Bradford. There's no Yonge St in Gravenhurst, for example, despite what that sidewalk says. And Hwy 11 isn't the longest highway in the world either, so that argument doesn't hold up.

Edit - I guess Yonge goes as far as Barrie if you don't count Bradford, where it's called Bridge St, Holland St, and Barrie St. The longest Yonge could possibly be considered to be is about 90 km. Still, that's not even the longest street in the GTA - Airport Rd is longer.

Darkstar416 said:

I think it could be argued that Yonge Street feels like Toronto's "most important street" more so north of Bloor than it does right downtown.

Click to expand...

Agreed.

Good pics centering on Toronto's most important street...

Smuncky: Good Yonge Street photo tour! It took time but it seemed to be well worth it-you caught many interesting angles and facets of arguably Toronto's most important street well. I noticed buildings like North Toronto station and some major Downtown towers in the pics. I noticed that some streetlight poles have been installed Downtown(Yonge/Gould pic)-I remember how the lights for Yonge were on the surrounding buildings meaning few if any poles in the past. Not bad!
LI MIKE