Toronto/Chicago comparisons

[Urban Shocker]

To me the cool white of the hovering plane of FCP in contrast with the crisp silver of Pei's building and the warm black of Mies's masterpiece is one of the great unapologetic moments of the International School.

To me, clearcutting most of the block bounded by King, Bay, Adelaide and York to put up a yawning white skirt of podium hasn't set up a contrast between equals.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Toronto is a great city. At 22 I know this, and I don't need the world to validate what I have already known for a long time. I feel that many of you wait for Americans and other nationalities to praise the city. Who cares?! Some will love it, some will hate it. At the end of the day, you live here, and that tells me that you love this city. Isn't that enough?

It would be nice to believe that the sort of provincialism you identify has finally ended, and I think that your confidence in Toronto's unique culture - instincts you apparently share with many of your age - is correct.

 

[Urban Shocker]

As for theatre i still think Toronto is a better theatre town.

... and for opera. Lyric Opera of Chicago has a reputation for safe, traditional productions - they're even veering away from real opera to mount Show Boat next season. And Chicago doesn't have the depth that we have - the equivalent of our Opera Atelier ( who are performing at Versailles next season ) or the smaller Queen of Puddings, who have performed at one of the Royal Opera Covent Garden theatres, say.

 

[Tewder]

The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, though excellent, is also known to be quite conservative in comparison to our Stratford for example... not that it comes close to Stratford in terms of scope.

 

[Long Island Mike]

New York VS. Toronto OUCH!

http://www.thesharkguys.com/reviews/new-york-city-versus-toronto/Balcony

New York Versus Toronto:

In New York, people build on vacant lots. In Toronto, the vacant lot becomes a focal point of much discussion.
New York attracts the best and brightest across the nation. Toronto attracts the best and brightest from across the nation who then go to New York.
In New York, a successful writer gets by with a small apartment. In Toronto, a successful writer teaches on the side.
In New York, a successful young novelist is 31 and single. In Toronto, a successful young novelist is 48, divorced, with two kids.
In New York, there is cut-throat dog-eat-dog competition. In Toronto, there is as well, but a dog-eat-dog municipal leash bylaw is strongly enforced.
New York is the city that never sleeps. Toronto had a 1AM last call in the 90s. (this was fortuitously extended when The Shark Guys achieved the legal age of 19, almost as if we had friends at city hall)
In New York, when a new subway line is needed, it’s built. In Toronto, it’s treated like a vacant lot.
New York has a slogan and t-shirts are hawked with this slogan. In Toronto, there are numerous slogans, none of which stick and certainly not to a T-shirt.
New York has a ferry that offers a spectacular view of the skyline. Toronto has a ferry that offers a spectacular view of the skyline and costs $5.
New Yorkers think their city is great. Torontonians think their city could be world class.
Everyone outside of New York hates it, but flocks to it. Everyone outside of Toronto hates it.
Many movies and TV shows are filmed in New York. Many movies and TV shows are filmed in Toronto, and passed off as New York.
In New York, a month is required to get a sense of the city. In Toronto, a long weekend will suffice if you hustle.
New Yorkers are gruff and unfriendly, until you interact with them and find out this is often not the case. Torontonians are gruff and unfriendly, until you interact with them and…(fill this in if you live elsewhere in Canada)
When abroad, Torontonians are treated like Americans until this is corrected and then they’re treated as Canadians. New Yorkers are treated like New Yorkers.
There is a huge Italian population in New York. There is a huge Italian population in Toronto, yet finding good pizza is difficult, a decent baked ziti next to impossible.
In New York, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. In Toronto, if you can make it there, you try LA or New York.
New York sets trends, Toronto takes these trends and disseminates them throughout Canada (unless it’s music, where we set trends and await New York’s validation).
New York is unlike any other place on earth. Toronto is a much larger, more diverse, Northeastern version of Seattle with a better tower.
New York has Times Square. Toronto has Yonge Dundas Square, which is often compared to Times Square.
New York has a spectacular park enjoyed by everyone. Toronto has a spectacular park enjoyed by people who live near it.
New York has a spectacular bridge that is celebrated on film. Toronto has a spectacular bridge that people frequently jumped off until suicide barriers were erected.
New York has a massive Chinese population and incredible Chinese cuisine. Toronto has a massive Chinese population and incredible Chinese cuisine, out in the suburbs.
In New York there are happy hours and you can buy beer around the clock in a corner store. In Toronto, there are no happy hours and you buy your beer from a government monopoly. During a recent World Cup, local businesses petitioned the city to extend bar hours for the week of the tournament, to accommodate the games’ time difference so locals could enjoy the biggest sporting event in the world—it was turned down.
In New York, there are more than 100 ethnic groups, nearly half the population is foreign-born and there is food from all over the world. In Toronto, there are more than 100 ethnic groups, nearly half the population is foreign-born and there is food from all over the world, but on Mondays, a surprising number of restaurants are closed.
In New York, the subway runs all night. In Toronto, the subway starts running at 6AM (9AM on Sunday)
On the Waterfront, Rear Window, The French Connection, The Godfather, Network, Annie Hall, just to name a few, were set in New York. Both of us at one point lived in Toronto and can’t think of one film actually set here off the top of our heads.
[Editor's note: We've spent considerable amounts of time in both cities. If you'd like to pit one city against another, preferably ones we've never set foot in---we'd appreciate the challenge--- please email us at admin@thesharkguys.com and we'll do our best to accommodate]

Everyone: I was looking for this interesting NYC/Toronto comparison and I fully understand the thoughts that the author posted...
I believe that the comparison was because both cities are the largest in the US and Canada...
I noticed that others here do not agree with this comparison...
Staying with the topic Chicago has much in common with Toronto...
But there are distinct notable differences...crime rate for starters...
LI MIKE

 

[Softee]

^ I know that list is supposed to be funny, but a lot if it sell Toronto really short. The city is much better than these guys seems to think it is.

 

[kkgg7]

^ I know that list is supposed to be funny, but a lot if it sell Toronto really short. The city is much better than these guys seems to think it is.

True, but the constant comparison with NYC itself IS funny. let's put it this way, Toronto plus Montreal + Vancouver will still probably fall short of NYC, the same way Chicago + LA still can't match the status of the Big Apple. It is not that Toronto is not good enough, it is that NYC is one of the very few cities in the world that has everything (it has its own drawbacks as well). It is like Portland, OR is a great city in live in, but it becomes funny when its residents think it is another San Francisco.

 

[ladyscraper]

In New York, you know your city used to be cool back in the 1970s. In Toronto, you know your city won't be cool until the 2070s.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Regardless of how different things are now, let's not forget that it was cool for leading Torontonians to ape the new architectural styles coming out of taste-making Chicago in the 1880s and 1890s, when they commissioned mansions and civic landmarks in our fair town. What got our local architectural community launched as a professional body was the negative reaction to the fact that American firms, and the occasional British architect, were getting all the plum jobs ( the scandal over the awarding of the design of the Provincial Legislature to Richard Waite being the most notorious example ) as a result of leading businessmen and politicians here having so little confidence in local design talent that they automatically went with fashionable American architects instead.

 

[GenerationW]

In New York, you know your city used to be cool back in the 1970s. In Toronto, you know your city won't be cool until the 2070s.

In the 1970s, New York flirted with bankruptcy, Times Square was a cesspool, and crime rates were soaring. I don't think too many New Yorkers would think of that decade as any kind of a golden age.

 

[ladyscraper]

In the 1970s, New York flirted with bankruptcy, Times Square was a cesspool, and crime rates were soaring. I don't think too many New Yorkers would think of that decade as any kind of a golden age.

That's because all the cool New Yorkers already moved away.
(basically it was just a joke. I was poking fun at that Toronto / NYC comparison article)

 

[js97]

Anyone seriously comparing Toronto to cities like chicago and Newyork need to get out of their buble and actually travel/live in those cities. Vastly differrent, much larger in tax base, financial support, suburban population to draw on, and growth structure (in terms of citizens)

 

[ladyscraper]

Anyone seriously comparing Toronto to cities like chicago and Newyork need to get out of their buble and actually travel/live in those cities. Vastly differrent, much larger in tax base, financial support, suburban population to draw on, and growth structure (in terms of citizens)

Maybe for now. However, it's inevitable that Toronto will pass Chicago in population if you look at current growth trends for the two cities.

 

[adma]

That's because all the cool New Yorkers already moved away.
(basically it was just a joke. I was poking fun at that Toronto / NYC comparison article)

Though it's a joke with some truth to it, if one considers all those who still feel Rudy Giuliani was a killjoy...

 

[kkgg7]

Maybe for now. However, it's inevitable that Toronto will pass Chicago in population if you look at current growth trends for the two cities.

so will Houston, TX.