How visible are the boundaries between the former Metro municipalities today?

[King of Kensington]

It's been over two decades since amalgamation.

Scarborough and Etobicoke have "harder" boundaries (Humber River and Victoria Park). But the boundaries the former city of Toronto and the "Yorks" were never as "hard", postal codes and federal ridings never really "respected" the boundaries even in the Metro Toronto days.

So with one service provider (the City of Toronto) and no "welcome to municipality X signs," how noticeable are they in terms of legacy zoning bylaws, socioeconomics, culture, urban form etc. at this point?

To me the white streetlights are the main marker of old Toronto. But I'm not sure if that has any real meaning in terms of today's communities?

 

[Johnny Au]

The sign that reads "Roselawn Av Continues at West City Limit" is still there almost a quarter-century since amalgamation.

The screenshot was from Apple's Look Around feature, which was just introduced to Canada last December.

 

[King of Kensington]

Forest Hill Village (which existed until 1967) still feels rather distinctive.

 

[christiesplits]

In Danforth Village, you can often identify the boundary of Toronto and East York by the age of the housing stock.

As you walk north of the Danforth, once you start to hit post-war bungalows, you’re almost certainly in East York.

 

[King of Kensington]

The old Toronto-old City of York boundary marked the boundary of "Ford Nation" rather closely.

 

[someMidTowner]

I grew up around the North York/Toronto border and there are various streets that only have sidewalks on one side. I was told growing up that this was the result of them straddling city lines, but not sure if this is the case.
Some examples include Briar Hill west of Bathurst and Woodward Ave near Jane and Lawrence,

 

[King of Kensington]

The Orthodox Jewish community in the Bathurst-Glencairn area seems to really "respect" the North York boundary. A lot of Jewish businesses along Eglinton and of course major Conservative and Reform synagogues in Forest Hill/Cedarvale, but strict orthodox starts around Hillhurst I think. In the Glencairn area there's a rather fuzzy boundary between North Toronto and North York, but it's fairly noticeable in terms of sidewalks, housing stock, and presence of Orthodox Jews.

 

[junctionist]

The former City of York is remarkably obscure now in contrast to how common it is to hear about Scarborough, North York, and Etobicoke as geographic entities to this very day. I found that even Google Maps has had the wrong boundaries for it in the past.

However, it still has its blue and white street name signs. Its hilly geography is fairly unique, with most streets having a slope to them. Also, its residential neighbourhoods often have public staircases and walkways as interesting pedestrian connections between streets.

 

[W. K. Lis]

It irritates me when I hear news reports about an incident in "North York", when it really happened in "York". "Weston" was part of the old "City of York", for example.

From link. York is north and west of the laneway, north of Annette Street and west of Runnymede Road, for directions.

 

[King of Kensington]

York and East York boundaries are pretty subtle. St. Clair West flows quite seamlessly into York, and The Danforth into Old East York. The interwar period was a transitional era where the outer edges of "old" Toronto (1912 boundaries) were filling out and annexations had come to an end.

 

[Johnny Au]

The former City of York is remarkably obscure now in contrast to how common it is to hear about Scarborough, North York, and Etobicoke as geographic entities to this very day. I found that even Google Maps has had the wrong boundaries for it in the past.

However, it still has its blue and white street name signs. Its hilly geography is fairly unique, with most streets having a slope to them. Also, its residential neighbourhoods often have public staircases and walkways as interesting pedestrian connections between streets.

The topography of the former city of York is often compared with the hills of San Francisco.

 

[Northern Light]

One way I find you could often to tell the border between East York and Toronto, was the number of mature trees lining the street.

The old City of Toronto had the program of planting trees for free for many years; East York largely lacked such a program, though may have a had one with a price for the tree in its latter years.

Witness Main Street from July 2016, looking north towards East York:

Now the opposite way, southerly into old Toronto:

One other example; Greenwood, first looking north into East York (2019):

Then south into old Toronto (2019):

 

[Northern Light]

From the last example above; one can also see the different street signs survive on in many places:

Here we see an old East York street sign:

1 block south, we see a street sign from the old City of Toronto:

 

[King of Kensington]

Joe Mihevc speaks about the old City of York in this interview. Says the heart of the community was around Keele-Eglinton and Mount Dennis, further east there was much less of an identity with the municipality:

Joe Mihevc — St. Clair West Oral History Project

stclairwest-oralhistory.com

Growing up in the Hillcrest Park area, the city of York did strike me as poorer (Cedarvale obviously being the exception).

 

[W. K. Lis]

Joe Mihevc speaks about the old City of York in this interview. Says the heart of the community was around Keele-Eglinton and Mount Dennis, further east there was much less of an identity with the municipality:

Joe Mihevc — St. Clair West Oral History Project

stclairwest-oralhistory.com

Growing up in the Hillcrest Park area, the city of York did strike me as poorer (Cedarvale obviously being the exception).

Weston was another "heart" and a village until 1914, and a town until 1967, around Weston Road (Main Street) and Lawrence Avenue West.

From link.