Toronto's "urban myths"

[Jonny5]

The idea that Avenue Road was so named because of a road builder from somewhere in the UK saying 'Let's 'ave a new road here'. Beyond stupid. There are about ten of them in London alone, and it relates to the original meaning of avenue being a tree-lined roadway.

Was it not originally called "The Avenue" too?

 

[animatronic]

Not really disagreeing here.

Here's another myth - the King of Kensington wasn't actually a hereditary ruler, but a fictional community leader.

 

[the lemur]

Was it not originally called "The Avenue" too?

I don't think so. You may be thinking of College St and part of University Ave both having been called 'College Ave' at some point.

There are also still many streets in the UK named The Avenue.

 

[Mislav]

Here's one: the myth of Diabolos and Reznikoff working on University College in the 1850s. Whether or not this is true I haven't bothered to fact check but rumour has it Reznikoff caught Diabolos messing around with his fiancé and chased him to the tower of University College. Diabolos managed, somehow, to kill him with a dagger and then concealed the body.

They say that you can hear creaks and noises at night at UC that can't be explained. I don't know how true this is since when I've attended U of T from 2002-2007, I've been there late at night on several occasions, sometimes alone and heard nothing. I guess Reznikoff's ghost doesn't like me :-(.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Here is another myth:

Yonge Street is the longest street in the world.

In reality, Yonge Street ended at the mouth of the Holland River. What trivia buffs and Yonge Street boosters considered Yonge Street included the rest of Highway 11. However, much of Highway 11 is not named Yonge Street and therefore, cannot be considered a part of Yonge Street. Even the old Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago is longer than Ontario Highway 11 (and is also non-grade-separated as well).

Highway 11 was Yonge Street until the downloading from the province in the late 90s. That's why if you get off at Yonge St from the 407, you'll still see the Highway 11 Yonge Street instead of Highway 1 numerical designation. So the two are the same in some respects, but even shorter than it was before. Still, your right, it not the longest road, that title has gone to the Pan-American Highway.

 

[PinkLucy]

Yonge Street

 

[wild goose chase]

Except this urban myth goes back to 1989. Mayors Art Eggleton, Barbara Hall and Mel Lastman all referenced this UN declaration.

http://www.yorku.ca/lfoster/2006-07...nUrbanLegend_TorontosMulticulturalLegend.html

Interesting that Toronto claimed to be the most multicultural city even as far back as 1989. I mean, it's not that long ago in terms of the city's history but it definitely still seems like Toronto was noticeably less diverse then (especially in cultures of non-European descent) and so it's surprising to me that by the end of the 80s, the city already chose to think of itself in such a way, even despite cities like New York, Los Angeles etc, and other US cities probably having more and a longer history of immigrant waves.

 

[wild goose chase]

If there was ever a large concentrated Vietnamese diaspora in Toronto I would expect it to be back immediately following the Vietnam war.

Is it common for refugees fleeing a war to return to their home country even after the war is over? I got the impression that refugees generally tend to settle more permanently than economic migrants (who come often to earn money but may retire in the "old country"), but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[King of Kensington]

Interesting that Toronto claimed to be the most multicultural city even as far back as 1989. I mean, it's not that long ago in terms of the city's history but it definitely still seems like Toronto was noticeably less diverse then (especially in cultures of non-European descent) and so it's surprising to me that by the end of the 80s, the city already chose to think of itself in such a way, even despite cities like New York, Los Angeles etc, and other US cities probably having more and a longer history of immigrant waves.

At a certain point, it's hard to say whether a city is the most diverse. Is Toronto more diverse than Queens, NY? Than London? Who knows and what difference does it make if it's slightly more or slightly less.

 

[King of Kensington]

Yonge St. was removed from the Guinness Book of Records in 1999

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2011/04/13/the-end-of-yonge-street/

 

[wild goose chase]

At a certain point, it's hard to say whether a city is the most diverse. Is Toronto more diverse than Queens, NY? Than London? Who knows and what difference does it make if it's slightly more or slightly less.

Well, I do agree that there are definitely many contenders for the most diverse, and it does depend also on how diversity is measured. I was commenting on finding it interesting that Toronto really likes the myth of being most diverse according to the UN report (that wasn't really the case), and that this myth goes as far back as the late 80s.

If anything, I would think that in the 80s or early 90s, Toronto's diversity still lagged behind that of US cities with many earlier immigrant waves and that Torontonians would have waited a little longer before developing a mythos of "we're the most multicultural".

 

[Tewder]

Myths represent values far more so than truths, per se.

 

[animatronic]

Myths represent values far more so than truths, per se.

Well that explains the support for an Olympics

 

[someMidTowner]

Toronto also kept a strong, downtown-centric transit system going strong from the 1940s through to the 1980s, the time in which many US cities saw their inner cores decline. Cities that had subway systems built before 1970 include only Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. (Depending on how you look at it, Cleveland did build a "subway" in the 1950s-1960s.)

Many neighbourhoods in Philadelphia's inner city did see a decline, but the downtown core did not; the same for Chicago, Boston, even New York. Of all the cities with rapid transit systems before 1970, Cleveland was the outlier.

Does Rochester count?

 

[CodeMonkey]

Toronto also kept a strong, downtown-centric transit system going strong from the 1940s through to the 1980s, the time in which many US cities saw their inner cores decline. Cities that had subway systems built before 1970 include only Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. (Depending on how you look at it, Cleveland did build a "subway" in the 1950s-1960s.)

I agree on part that downtown-centric transit system helped, but I think there was a lot more than just subways. The cancellation of the Spadina Expressway and the end of expressway building in the city help persevere the downtown core that a lot of cities regret doing years later.