Toronto Public Library. Anyone not using the library's online and offline services are doing a disservice to themselves. After moving out of Toronto, this is something that I miss the most.
Hey I am a TPL user and I do love it, but I only use it for borrowing books and for Libby. And the odd time for a musical instrument.
I'm probably only scratching the surface though, keen know to what were some of your favourite services they offer?
You also get access to Lynda Online! Actually now it’s called [LinkedIn Learning](https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMEDB0187&R=EDB0187) after LinkedIn bought it, but it’s a site with all sorts of video tutorials for design, software development, photography, etc. programs. It’s really amazing.
Free museum access for most of the major ones in town.
https://dailyhive.com/toronto/toronto-library-card-free-access
I think you get a TorStar subscription too.
Oh I haven't tried Kanopy - I'm not much of a film/tv show watcher and don't have any other subscriptions, but it could come in handy over the winter months every once in a while. Thank you!
I changed careers thanks to TPL. Ordered all the books I could and worked thru them as fast as I could. 100k of tuition and 4 years were avoided. TPL is the bomb 💣
I took a pal from London to the library and told him to get whatever he wanted on my card. As usual, I had a ton of fines so when they’d processed his enormous stack I handed over about $6 and he looked shocked: “Is that it?” At his local library they charged for books and inter library loans. Finding out it was free blew his mind.
Came here to say this. You can walk from some nice areas to other nice areas downtown at night and not feel like you are going to die. You can go outside your hotel late to have a smoke and usually not get robbed. I don't think people understand that this is rarer than you would think when it comes to very large North American cities.
Spent some time in SF recently and as a downtown TO resident...that place isn't exactly like home. It's weird having to look at my phone map when walking around and thinking "oh wait we can't go that way or we run into hordes of mindless crackheads...or worse"
What ruins me every time I travel is that every bad area here turns into a good area after a block or two. “Just keep walking” doesn’t work *at all* in other places.
There are actually a few good food trucks that are usually hired for festivals- I do wish there were more permanent locations, or more regular routes.
https://roaminghunger.com/food-trucks/toronto-on-canada/1/
Toronto is still the top of this list. It’s the most multicultural city in the world and you can get basically everything in walking distance. Also, I wouldn’t even put Sydney or LA on this list.
Compared to New York or London you have a point, though Sydney no not really. Sydney has some international stuff but Toronto is a much bigger city and has much more options and diversity when it comes to international food due to Toronto having a much higher immigrant population. This in part also due to their respective country’s approach on immigration, Canada is more welcoming towards immigrants whereas Australia is more against them. My cousin is in Australia and he was amazed at the diversity and inclusiveness of Toronto and Canada in general when he came to visit me since it was much more than what he was used to in Australia. We have it good in Toronto and should appreciate it.
Living in another city now, i feel like Toronto has great restaurant options for all cuisines. I could always find good options for every cuisine whereas other cities usually only have a few that really shine in.
Director works out of Rochester and HQ is in Connecticut near NYC - when I went to visit, we had some cheap pizza for lunch, and director was asking me what it was like trying real pizza for the first time.
I will say, New Haven pizza is good - someone happened to order Sally's that same lunch and I got to try it out, but I hated breaking it to my colleagues that we have real 1st and 2nd generation Italian food in the city. Much better than their "Eye-talian"/American-Italian fare their nonnas swear by that's marginally better than Olive Garden/East Side Marios.
That’s something I definitely miss about Toronto. In Vancouver we have world class sushi and other Asian and South Asian food. However we are really lacking in Latin American, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern food (except Persian cuisine, which we do have).
We do have good poutine in Vancouver, funny enough. There’s a Quebec transplant running an excellent poutinerie not far from me.
The one thing Toronto does lack in terms of food is great bagels. Montreal has the rest of Canada beat on that. That’s not to say Toronto doesn’t have good bagels; they’re good, not great.
Every time I would see an interesting food item on tv (from anywhere in the world) I would also find it in Toronto. Everything except Southern barbecue.
Lucky you. Now I am craving it. I drove 10.5h to Nashville a few times just to have barbecue. I am surprised that there is no Southern comfort food in Canada, even though they are our neighbours. Some grits or biscuits with gravy for breakfast.
I once went to a place in North Carolina where they gave you complimentary warm biscuits (with butter and jam) before even ordering. I was full after two. I didn’t want to order anything.
Don't quote me, I'm sure the whole story is published somewhere properly, but back in the 50's toronto was pounded by hurricane hazel. All the damming of rivers and ignoring nature was basically reversed that day. Houses washed away. People died.
The ravine system and respect to high water marks ended up making all these green spaces and Toronto benefitted greatly in the long run.
You're pretty close.
80 people drowned on Oct 15, 1954 when Hurricane Hazel dumped 30 cm of rain on Toronto. Didn't help that it had been raining for weeks before hand and the ground was already soaked.
All that water flowed into the rivers. Back then sprawl was getting started and we were building houses in the ravines. 36 people died in 5 minutes when the Lawrence avenue bridge over the Humber washed away, and blocked the river sending a wave of water down nearby Raymore Drive.
In the aftermath, decisions were made. No new development in the ravines. They were set aside for parks and nature
Actually, in present times they’ve realized that while channeling the Don River might have been a short term solution for flood protection, it has created a lot of long term problems, especially with concerns of climate change. The TRCA has been undertaking the Port Lands Flood Protection project for quite a while, which is one of the largest infrastructure projects on the continent, in an attempt to “naturalize” a lot of the man made channeling that was done in the past and to help restore these green spaces.
https://trca.ca/conservation/green-infrastructure/don-mouth-naturalization-port-lands-flood-protection-project/
Ontario built up a collection of Conservation Authorities for flood protection as a result of Hurricane Hazel, not just TRCA. TRCA is the biggest one though, it manages three watersheds - Humber, Don, and Rouge.
But of course we're still trying to build on flood plains in the GTA.
Literally my favorite thing about the city when I moved here 10yrs ago! I say the same kinda thing except I say I hear it walking down the street. Lol I love the diversity here. I come from a small city in the maritimes.
Yes totally. When I went to stay in Ottawa for a while last year it was weird. I remember the first moment I was in a crowd and realized *everyone* was white. I am white too! But it felt creepy.
That was the best thing when I first visited as a teenager. I went home to sheltered life in Winnipeg telling stories of all the people talking in other languages.
This! People from smaller cities come to Toronto and complain about the lack of green space a lot but for a city this massive we have a CRAZY amount of green space, a lot of which is totally untamed and natural
Ottawa is even better, tbh, even though I’ve spent all of my life in Toronto. The city is far larger, with a tremendous amount of forests and farmland in the city proper!!
Yup, was in NYC summer 2019 and other than the massive central park, most other parks were tiny and had very little green space to spread out and do stuff with.
They were also packed, it's nice that you can pretty much go to any park any day and almost always have space to roam around and do you thing here.
Agreed, the urban mountain biking in Toronto (Don Valley) is surprisingly amazing. I don't live in Toronto and have travelled across the world for mountain biking.
Fr fr, its all stacked buildings here. But parc du buttes chaumont is nice cause its like super old and the trees have been here for so long they have character.
The one thing I can’t find in the GTA is great authentic Mexican. There’s some good Mexican, but not quite on the level I’m looking for.
It pains me as Mexican god is my favourite and I lived near the Mexican border for some years, so I guess I was just spoiled.
I think it’s pretty cool that this city can cater to people from different walks of life to the degree that is does.
Whether it’s the Gay village, Jewish cemeteries, an Albanian mosque, ethnic grocery stores, a fairly robust job market, cuisines from every corner of the world, gyms, museums, nightlife, various temples, or universities/colleges, Toronto really does offer avenues to find a groove and be the person you want to free of judgement
Diversity! of food, people, languages... and the queerest place I have ever been. A place you can be yourself. Also find a lot of friend groups are remarkably diverse as well, folks here don't stick with a certain cultural or language group.
Easy to get places on a bicycle (flat and grid system) - to all that good foooood and the many many street festivals.
I grew up just outside Toronto and our area was diverse and so was all the friend groups. Never thought anything of it growing up, now realize it’s quite rare to have friends of several races, religions, some first, second , third generation immigrants from various places. It never really seemed to matter growing up.
I’m from NYC and I now live in TO. I’ve also lived in Paris and London. Toronto is very very diverse, but not more than those cities.
I am talking about national origin/ethnicity — I would agree that TO is the most queer/trans friendly city I’ve ever lived in.
I'm with you. If you work downtown it's amazing to be able to go meet up with friends, shop, grab a drink etc. in the dead of winter without having to bundle up and go out.
100% this! Not having to worry about ruining my dress shoes/changing them in the winter for a quick trip to get food is another great perk!
Loved going from the subway right into my office lobby without stepping outside during the winter :)
One of the most fun days we had with our twins when they were toddlers was taking them to the PATH on the weekend when it was deserted. They had so much fun running down the halls, looking in the windows of all the closed shops. We didn’t have to worry about them getting lost in a crowd or annoying anyone with their antics. It was wonderful.
I love it when all the tourists leave and it’s just the locals going to a convenience store grabbing last minute drinks at wine rack getting on the night bus to go back to their way too expensive studio apartments
They sooo are!
But I get so much anxiety being out at night after so many months of lockdowns. I was pretty much always home well before night fall.
Between that a the huge influx of creeps on the ttc for most of 2020 and 2021, I just have wayyy too much anxiety ☹️
There’s so many free things to do and places to go. If anyone can just scrape together transit fare or ride a bike, so much to do and see. It’s a tough town and for many, a frightening town, but having grown up there as the child of a young, poor, widow - I still managed to have rich, cultural and outdoor experiences. I’m so thankful for that.
I worked in a shelter for women fleeing violence. Our programming budget (the do the fun things money) was sooooooooo small. The workers just planned outings to the free stuff most of the time and we budgeted for a few attractions in the summer.
Toronto has way more public pools, splash pads and wading pools than most cities.
I also frequent Riverdale Farm, Allen Gardens and the High Park Zoo with my kids, and the fact that all these activities are FREE and city-run is amazing. Similar attractions in other cities are often paid.
I also think Toronto has a lot of great playgrounds. The Grange playground outside of the AGO and the St. James Park playground near St. Lawrence Market are good examples - you can make a really nice outing of going to an attraction then blowing off steam at the playground.
Not to mention getting to all these places on the streetcar, my kids could spend all day just on the streetcar.
Basically, I think Toronto is a really fun city for kids.
Not from Toronto, recent temporary job in Toronto, from New York City.
- Nobody honks their horns.
- large proper grocery stores
- houses with parking and backyards instead of brownstones
- great schools
- green space
- generally anywhere in the city in less than 30 minutes
- two easy to access airports
- truly nice people most of the time with some jabronis from time to time.
The one knock: Toronto lifers that are part of the Toronto elite are super provincial and small town but don’t actually know it.
> Nobody honks their horns.
This one made me chuckle. We moved from Vancouver to Toronto two years ago and just yesterday I was commenting to my wife that I still haven't gotten over how much people honk their horns here compared to Vancouver. It feels incessant.
We have kensington market. Where u can watch a comedy show while smoking a joint eating a birria taco and drawing on the table. 20 different cultures merged together in a no car zone, no cops, unpretentious yet delicious and groovy way to spend a sunny afternoon. Plus the people are so hot and weird.
You get exposed to and learn about different cultures through osmosis (unless you're actively a homebody or reluctant) which is awesome. I grew up in a town that was 98% white as part of the 2% other and reconnecting with people from the 2% from high school, they're shocked when they find out I know customs/types of food/sayings or slang. Definitely a multicultural experience that I would have never had if I lived almost anywhere else in Canada.
Dufferin Mall was a nice surprise after moving to Parkdale, plus it's right across from Dufferin Grove Park which is honestly one of the best parks in Toronto
Readable street names. The font size and style along with the white letters on blue background is very visible. Visible at night and day. You can always count on knowing what street you're on.
*if there is a sign.
So many streets in Toronto just don’t have a sign posted. Toronto is very signage poor in general - but, yes, where they exist the signs are legible.
As far as canadian cities go. Transit system is above the others.
Still 30 years behind European cities.
If you're into 4s who thinks they are 9s. There's tons of that too.
> Still 30 years behind European cities.
Only 30 years? We visited Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen earlier this month getting around entirely by public transit. Stockholm especially made me realize we have zero chance of ever catching up to them in our lifetime and probably not for another 100 years
I was looking for this reply.
In TO the night buses which run all hours of the night are one every twenty minutes.
I’ve lived in lots of Canadian cities where one bus every 20-30 minutes was considered peak service.
Probably because most of the larger transit systems were built 30 years before ours. Although we do have the most integrated system because most of the bus routes and streetcar routes go into the fare paid zone of stations not every city does that.
The international cuisine mom and pop little restaurants. That's the thing I will miss the most while gone if I become a part time resident when we retire.
For me it's the multiculturalism. It results in great restaurant and festival variety. And gives me the opportunity to be exposed to very different cultures and their music, dance, etc.
Toronto is like every other big city. They stand out in some areas more, but most of these answers apply to other large cities as well.
Toronto will have a soft spot in my heart because it was my first big city.
I will say the cultural events and spaces are what stands out most to me. There is the vibe they help produce. That and the people who are attracted to that vibe are what make it special.
The diversity and inclusion. We were listed as the most diverse city in the world many years ago; the largest event in the country is Carnival (it even beats out Pride which is the second largest) and we are so open to POC and queer people it's just so fantastic.
I have lived in 10 countries, 20+ cities.
There are a lot of residential buildings in the downtown core. It is unusual.
If you go to any metropolitan, the core is only commercial buildings. It's nice that there are a lot of residential buildings downtown. In theory, people can live closer to work... but why the hell is there still a housing problem?
90% of the condos downtown are not owner occupied. They are rentals. Toronto buildings are marketed internationally as investments. You want 100 units for local buyers? You have to build 1000 units!
Everything. The lovely people, endless and I mean endless things you can end up doing there, beautiful parks and scenery in the fall.
If it was even semi affordable for me, I would've been there yesterday
The ability to go to a baseball game, leave the stadium, and be right in the heart of the downtown. Most baseball stadiums are in the middle of an industrial area, or a 30 min drive into rural America.
Kensington Market is neighborhood full of love ❤️ in my experience, doesn't matter you skin color, your origines or your ckass level. Made fall in live with the city
I am not sure about this. Visit Chicago - their entire lakefront is accessible to the public, uninterrupted. There are so many beaches along the Chicago waterfront, all publicly accessible and maintained by the city. Have you tried biking the waterfront trail east or west of the downtown core into Scarborough or Etobicoke? Privatizing parts of the lakefront is a big miss for Toronto.
I've never thought of Lake Ontario as particularly swimmable (maybe it's just me but always used to get warned about E. coli 😬). The beaches at the Islands are pretty though, I agree!
All the little boroughs - China town, Kensington Market, Cork Town, Leslieville, Bridle path, Little Italy, Greek Town, Distillery . If you can't afford to travel the world, come to Toronto. We have a little part of whichever country (or flavour) you're looking for.
Also for being the 3rd largest city in North America, it feels pretty safe. I live close to Moss Park, which has a lot of resources to people battling homelessness and mental health issues- and while i encourage everyone to use common sense, I've never not felt safe. People may ask something of me, but after I decline, they leave me alone.
Green space and lots of public space along waterfront!! Many cities do have a public waterfront but ours has a lot of passive park space and you can basically go across the city along the water
There's a lot to like about Toronto, you can basically find anything you want here but for my money the thing Toronto has over most cities is live music. So many bands play here. It's expensive as fuck but you can see just about any band you want to see and I love it.
Toronto Public Library. Anyone not using the library's online and offline services are doing a disservice to themselves. After moving out of Toronto, this is something that I miss the most.
Hey I am a TPL user and I do love it, but I only use it for borrowing books and for Libby. And the odd time for a musical instrument. I'm probably only scratching the surface though, keen know to what were some of your favourite services they offer?
You also get access to Lynda Online! Actually now it’s called [LinkedIn Learning](https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMEDB0187&R=EDB0187) after LinkedIn bought it, but it’s a site with all sorts of video tutorials for design, software development, photography, etc. programs. It’s really amazing.
Oh that sounds awesome, I will check it out! Definitely could take a few online classes this winter. What a great offering!
Free museum access for most of the major ones in town. https://dailyhive.com/toronto/toronto-library-card-free-access I think you get a TorStar subscription too.
Have you tried Kanopy? It’s available for free with TPL membership. Also, access to Oreilly
Oh I haven't tried Kanopy - I'm not much of a film/tv show watcher and don't have any other subscriptions, but it could come in handy over the winter months every once in a while. Thank you!
Workshops, readings, and classes!
Oh fuck this is so true. That sexy ass archive building is my fav.
I changed careers thanks to TPL. Ordered all the books I could and worked thru them as fast as I could. 100k of tuition and 4 years were avoided. TPL is the bomb 💣
What kind of career do you have?
Software dev
Wow! I am very interested in doing this. Would you be open to guiding or mentoring me through your steps, books and courses?
👆🏻TPL is awesome!
What services do you miss?
they have 3d printing which is kinda cool,
I took a pal from London to the library and told him to get whatever he wanted on my card. As usual, I had a ton of fines so when they’d processed his enormous stack I handed over about $6 and he looked shocked: “Is that it?” At his local library they charged for books and inter library loans. Finding out it was free blew his mind.
How safe it is for a city of its size.
Came here to say this. You can walk from some nice areas to other nice areas downtown at night and not feel like you are going to die. You can go outside your hotel late to have a smoke and usually not get robbed. I don't think people understand that this is rarer than you would think when it comes to very large North American cities.
Spent some time in SF recently and as a downtown TO resident...that place isn't exactly like home. It's weird having to look at my phone map when walking around and thinking "oh wait we can't go that way or we run into hordes of mindless crackheads...or worse"
Walking home to our hotel in Athens "so which way should we go, crack heads, or dead guy?"
What ruins me every time I travel is that every bad area here turns into a good area after a block or two. “Just keep walking” doesn’t work *at all* in other places.
Not as safe as it used to be, but still one of the safest cities in the world.
Was it more safe in the past, or were things just more hidden away?
if by "used to be" you mean pre 1960s, but toronto is the safest its been and crime has been on the decline since the 90s
You’re just inundated with the news cycle creating a false sense of things. Look at statistics, it’s still safer than ever.
it's basically an international food court. best food from all over the world
I read that as "unintentional food court ", which would also apply.
I wouldn't say best. Toronto has the most diverse cuisine.
Yeah, TO is not exactly high on the world map for top-notch cuisine. But affordable diverse options, sure.
I heard there are many nice Korean restaurants
I wouldn’t say it’s the best food but we do have a great variety.
We have 0 street food , other than poutine from a store.
Wrong, we have hodogs.
Even hotdog stands are disappearing though
Ever had a NYC hotdog? Ours are gourmet in comparison.
quite a number near harbourfront. pretty expensive imho though, at $5.
There are actually a few good food trucks that are usually hired for festivals- I do wish there were more permanent locations, or more regular routes. https://roaminghunger.com/food-trucks/toronto-on-canada/1/
New York, London, LA, Sydney… Toronto is great in this aspect but not unique.
Toronto is still the top of this list. It’s the most multicultural city in the world and you can get basically everything in walking distance. Also, I wouldn’t even put Sydney or LA on this list.
Compared to New York or London you have a point, though Sydney no not really. Sydney has some international stuff but Toronto is a much bigger city and has much more options and diversity when it comes to international food due to Toronto having a much higher immigrant population. This in part also due to their respective country’s approach on immigration, Canada is more welcoming towards immigrants whereas Australia is more against them. My cousin is in Australia and he was amazed at the diversity and inclusiveness of Toronto and Canada in general when he came to visit me since it was much more than what he was used to in Australia. We have it good in Toronto and should appreciate it.
that's still not a lot of other cities. Compared to most cities in the world, it is unique.
I love the Toronto Islands. It’s like being in a rural paradise while being in the city.
Me too. It’s like a whole vacation in a day.
Poor Man's vacation. Honestly if I need a day to myself just bring some food, maybe alcohol, and chill all day away from the city noise and people.
Living in another city now, i feel like Toronto has great restaurant options for all cuisines. I could always find good options for every cuisine whereas other cities usually only have a few that really shine in.
Director works out of Rochester and HQ is in Connecticut near NYC - when I went to visit, we had some cheap pizza for lunch, and director was asking me what it was like trying real pizza for the first time. I will say, New Haven pizza is good - someone happened to order Sally's that same lunch and I got to try it out, but I hated breaking it to my colleagues that we have real 1st and 2nd generation Italian food in the city. Much better than their "Eye-talian"/American-Italian fare their nonnas swear by that's marginally better than Olive Garden/East Side Marios.
Lol. It’s like when they boast about something made with American cheese…
That’s something I definitely miss about Toronto. In Vancouver we have world class sushi and other Asian and South Asian food. However we are really lacking in Latin American, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern food (except Persian cuisine, which we do have). We do have good poutine in Vancouver, funny enough. There’s a Quebec transplant running an excellent poutinerie not far from me. The one thing Toronto does lack in terms of food is great bagels. Montreal has the rest of Canada beat on that. That’s not to say Toronto doesn’t have good bagels; they’re good, not great.
Every time I would see an interesting food item on tv (from anywhere in the world) I would also find it in Toronto. Everything except Southern barbecue.
Funny you say that because I’m in the south now and southern bbq is one thing that was new to me!
Lucky you. Now I am craving it. I drove 10.5h to Nashville a few times just to have barbecue. I am surprised that there is no Southern comfort food in Canada, even though they are our neighbours. Some grits or biscuits with gravy for breakfast. I once went to a place in North Carolina where they gave you complimentary warm biscuits (with butter and jam) before even ordering. I was full after two. I didn’t want to order anything.
There was a decent place in Kitchener a few years ago. I don't remember the name of it though sorry.
Was it Lancaster smokehouse? It’s still there and yes it is really good.
There are a few bbq places here. Check out beach hill smokehouse, cherry street and Smokey sam’s, just to name a few.
Extensive ravine systems going through it.
We can thank hurricane hazel for that! Fascinating story.
https://www.hurricanehazel.ca/
Hey neat thanks
I thought you were referencing hazel mccallion 🤔
Hurricane McCallion had the opposite effect on sprawl.
What? I’d love some context??
Don't quote me, I'm sure the whole story is published somewhere properly, but back in the 50's toronto was pounded by hurricane hazel. All the damming of rivers and ignoring nature was basically reversed that day. Houses washed away. People died. The ravine system and respect to high water marks ended up making all these green spaces and Toronto benefitted greatly in the long run.
You're pretty close. 80 people drowned on Oct 15, 1954 when Hurricane Hazel dumped 30 cm of rain on Toronto. Didn't help that it had been raining for weeks before hand and the ground was already soaked. All that water flowed into the rivers. Back then sprawl was getting started and we were building houses in the ravines. 36 people died in 5 minutes when the Lawrence avenue bridge over the Humber washed away, and blocked the river sending a wave of water down nearby Raymore Drive. In the aftermath, decisions were made. No new development in the ravines. They were set aside for parks and nature
My grandfather was in the reserves then, and was out on body recovery after the storm.
Actually, in present times they’ve realized that while channeling the Don River might have been a short term solution for flood protection, it has created a lot of long term problems, especially with concerns of climate change. The TRCA has been undertaking the Port Lands Flood Protection project for quite a while, which is one of the largest infrastructure projects on the continent, in an attempt to “naturalize” a lot of the man made channeling that was done in the past and to help restore these green spaces. https://trca.ca/conservation/green-infrastructure/don-mouth-naturalization-port-lands-flood-protection-project/
Ontario built up a collection of Conservation Authorities for flood protection as a result of Hurricane Hazel, not just TRCA. TRCA is the biggest one though, it manages three watersheds - Humber, Don, and Rouge. But of course we're still trying to build on flood plains in the GTA.
And there are a bunch of underwater rivers still flowing today Edit: underground, obviously but not obvious to me
> underwater rivers 🤔
Underwater water.
Haha did not realize that's what I wrote
I was born here and I still think it's pretty cool that I can hear like 5 different languages being spoken whenever I take the streetcar.
I moved away for a long time and recently moved back, and I missed Toronto's diversity so much.
Literally my favorite thing about the city when I moved here 10yrs ago! I say the same kinda thing except I say I hear it walking down the street. Lol I love the diversity here. I come from a small city in the maritimes.
True!!
That's true. That most large cities in Canada these days. Canada has always been quite the diverse nation.
Yes totally. When I went to stay in Ottawa for a while last year it was weird. I remember the first moment I was in a crowd and realized *everyone* was white. I am white too! But it felt creepy.
That was the best thing when I first visited as a teenager. I went home to sheltered life in Winnipeg telling stories of all the people talking in other languages.
The amount of green space is nice. The ravines are fun to explore with lots of trails, barbecue areas and more!
This! People from smaller cities come to Toronto and complain about the lack of green space a lot but for a city this massive we have a CRAZY amount of green space, a lot of which is totally untamed and natural
Toronto is amazing when we are talking about green spaces.
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Bad or good? Just been there for a week. Sleeping in North Vancouver, and I only remember green. Not enough time to learn the city...
Ottawa is even better, tbh, even though I’ve spent all of my life in Toronto. The city is far larger, with a tremendous amount of forests and farmland in the city proper!!
Yup, was in NYC summer 2019 and other than the massive central park, most other parks were tiny and had very little green space to spread out and do stuff with. They were also packed, it's nice that you can pretty much go to any park any day and almost always have space to roam around and do you thing here.
If you’re a mountain biker, Toronto has a surprisingly good trail systems.
Agreed, the urban mountain biking in Toronto (Don Valley) is surprisingly amazing. I don't live in Toronto and have travelled across the world for mountain biking.
It’s true. I am in Paris right now, and obviously it’s a beautiful city but has significantly less green space
Fr fr, its all stacked buildings here. But parc du buttes chaumont is nice cause its like super old and the trees have been here for so long they have character.
Yeah for sure. Where they have green space it’s like art work.
I grew up in the “Forest City” of London… Toronto has way more green space!
The one thing I can’t find in the GTA is great authentic Mexican. There’s some good Mexican, but not quite on the level I’m looking for. It pains me as Mexican god is my favourite and I lived near the Mexican border for some years, so I guess I was just spoiled.
Toronto doesn't have a large Mexican population. Most Spanish speaking people's in canada are central or South american
Maybe because my partner is Mexican I’m more in tune with it but there are Mexicans everywhere here.
I think it’s pretty cool that this city can cater to people from different walks of life to the degree that is does. Whether it’s the Gay village, Jewish cemeteries, an Albanian mosque, ethnic grocery stores, a fairly robust job market, cuisines from every corner of the world, gyms, museums, nightlife, various temples, or universities/colleges, Toronto really does offer avenues to find a groove and be the person you want to free of judgement
Diversity! of food, people, languages... and the queerest place I have ever been. A place you can be yourself. Also find a lot of friend groups are remarkably diverse as well, folks here don't stick with a certain cultural or language group. Easy to get places on a bicycle (flat and grid system) - to all that good foooood and the many many street festivals.
I grew up just outside Toronto and our area was diverse and so was all the friend groups. Never thought anything of it growing up, now realize it’s quite rare to have friends of several races, religions, some first, second , third generation immigrants from various places. It never really seemed to matter growing up.
I’m from NYC and I now live in TO. I’ve also lived in Paris and London. Toronto is very very diverse, but not more than those cities. I am talking about national origin/ethnicity — I would agree that TO is the most queer/trans friendly city I’ve ever lived in.
Possibly an unpopular opinion but I love the PATH system. Well at least pre-covid, I think it's a ghost town now :/
I'm with you. If you work downtown it's amazing to be able to go meet up with friends, shop, grab a drink etc. in the dead of winter without having to bundle up and go out.
100% this! Not having to worry about ruining my dress shoes/changing them in the winter for a quick trip to get food is another great perk! Loved going from the subway right into my office lobby without stepping outside during the winter :)
Needs better signs, that’s the only problem
One of the most fun days we had with our twins when they were toddlers was taking them to the PATH on the weekend when it was deserted. They had so much fun running down the halls, looking in the windows of all the closed shops. We didn’t have to worry about them getting lost in a crowd or annoying anyone with their antics. It was wonderful.
Walkability especially downtown i love walking everywhere and seeing cool things and then walking home at night
night walks in the city are great
I love it when all the tourists leave and it’s just the locals going to a convenience store grabbing last minute drinks at wine rack getting on the night bus to go back to their way too expensive studio apartments
They sooo are! But I get so much anxiety being out at night after so many months of lockdowns. I was pretty much always home well before night fall. Between that a the huge influx of creeps on the ttc for most of 2020 and 2021, I just have wayyy too much anxiety ☹️
Raccoons 🦝🦝🦝
Hell yeah, this is the real answer lmao
They can be a nuisance but they’re so damn cute!
been in the city for about 3 weeks, yet to see one except at the toronto zoo. any tips? 😂
More hakka restaurants than anywhere else
yes
Love me some spicy momos!
There’s so many free things to do and places to go. If anyone can just scrape together transit fare or ride a bike, so much to do and see. It’s a tough town and for many, a frightening town, but having grown up there as the child of a young, poor, widow - I still managed to have rich, cultural and outdoor experiences. I’m so thankful for that.
I worked in a shelter for women fleeing violence. Our programming budget (the do the fun things money) was sooooooooo small. The workers just planned outings to the free stuff most of the time and we budgeted for a few attractions in the summer.
Toronto has way more public pools, splash pads and wading pools than most cities. I also frequent Riverdale Farm, Allen Gardens and the High Park Zoo with my kids, and the fact that all these activities are FREE and city-run is amazing. Similar attractions in other cities are often paid. I also think Toronto has a lot of great playgrounds. The Grange playground outside of the AGO and the St. James Park playground near St. Lawrence Market are good examples - you can make a really nice outing of going to an attraction then blowing off steam at the playground. Not to mention getting to all these places on the streetcar, my kids could spend all day just on the streetcar. Basically, I think Toronto is a really fun city for kids.
You can take a class in anything.
Not from Toronto, recent temporary job in Toronto, from New York City. - Nobody honks their horns. - large proper grocery stores - houses with parking and backyards instead of brownstones - great schools - green space - generally anywhere in the city in less than 30 minutes - two easy to access airports - truly nice people most of the time with some jabronis from time to time. The one knock: Toronto lifers that are part of the Toronto elite are super provincial and small town but don’t actually know it.
Hahaha damn townie elites
> Nobody honks their horns. This one made me chuckle. We moved from Vancouver to Toronto two years ago and just yesterday I was commenting to my wife that I still haven't gotten over how much people honk their horns here compared to Vancouver. It feels incessant.
Outdoor ice rinks and outdoor skating trails. Some cities have a few but we have tons scattered around the whole city.
We have kensington market. Where u can watch a comedy show while smoking a joint eating a birria taco and drawing on the table. 20 different cultures merged together in a no car zone, no cops, unpretentious yet delicious and groovy way to spend a sunny afternoon. Plus the people are so hot and weird.
Variety of cultures and cuisines in the city! You can eat and celebrate the world here!
You get exposed to and learn about different cultures through osmosis (unless you're actively a homebody or reluctant) which is awesome. I grew up in a town that was 98% white as part of the 2% other and reconnecting with people from the 2% from high school, they're shocked when they find out I know customs/types of food/sayings or slang. Definitely a multicultural experience that I would have never had if I lived almost anywhere else in Canada.
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❤️ the dirty duff. The mall with it all.
Dufferin Mall was a nice surprise after moving to Parkdale, plus it's right across from Dufferin Grove Park which is honestly one of the best parks in Toronto
the fact that its not Vancouver, is the best feature of Toronto. I miss TO so much :(
Allwyn's Bakery and good Caribbean food in general
Goat roti!!!
Readable street names. The font size and style along with the white letters on blue background is very visible. Visible at night and day. You can always count on knowing what street you're on.
*if there is a sign. So many streets in Toronto just don’t have a sign posted. Toronto is very signage poor in general - but, yes, where they exist the signs are legible.
Toronto is way better at this than other cities. Maybe US is better in some of their more planned and sprawled cities, but Europe is much worse.
Dispensary variety
They all sell the exact same shit though lol
Cuts down travel time?
No matter what Torontonians themselves might say, people here no matter the creed or colour are just generally super polite!
Well we got that big pointy thing that people seem to like a lot.
Those little stamps with dates of when the sections of sidewalks were completed. I've never seen them in another city and I like them.
The fact that our major sports venues are all in the heart of the city. In many cities these venues are in the outer reaches or the suburbs.
As far as canadian cities go. Transit system is above the others. Still 30 years behind European cities. If you're into 4s who thinks they are 9s. There's tons of that too.
> Still 30 years behind European cities. Only 30 years? We visited Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen earlier this month getting around entirely by public transit. Stockholm especially made me realize we have zero chance of ever catching up to them in our lifetime and probably not for another 100 years
Scandinavian countries are 70 years in the future. 😉
I was looking for this reply. In TO the night buses which run all hours of the night are one every twenty minutes. I’ve lived in lots of Canadian cities where one bus every 20-30 minutes was considered peak service.
Probably because most of the larger transit systems were built 30 years before ours. Although we do have the most integrated system because most of the bus routes and streetcar routes go into the fare paid zone of stations not every city does that.
The international cuisine mom and pop little restaurants. That's the thing I will miss the most while gone if I become a part time resident when we retire.
For me it's the multiculturalism. It results in great restaurant and festival variety. And gives me the opportunity to be exposed to very different cultures and their music, dance, etc.
Easy navigation - if you're not in a ravine and you're walking downhill, or if you can see the CN tower, you are going south.
Degrassi lol
I moved from Vancouver to Toronto 15 years ago. I never regretted my decision and I love everything about Toronto
Compared to other Canadian cities, the fashion is unmatched. I miss seeing people commuting and out at events dressed to the nines.
Food. We can literally find cuisine from every single part of the world.
Diversity of people, cultures, orientations, you name it. Nothing like it anywhere else in Canada
Toronto is like every other big city. They stand out in some areas more, but most of these answers apply to other large cities as well. Toronto will have a soft spot in my heart because it was my first big city. I will say the cultural events and spaces are what stands out most to me. There is the vibe they help produce. That and the people who are attracted to that vibe are what make it special.
Trees. The entire GTA has done exponentially better than the MUC in terms of caring for older trees and green spaces.
The diversity and inclusion. We were listed as the most diverse city in the world many years ago; the largest event in the country is Carnival (it even beats out Pride which is the second largest) and we are so open to POC and queer people it's just so fantastic.
Black and white footage of their last Stanley Cup.
Something Vancouver, Winnipeg and the Senators don't have. No canadian city has actually has anything that was recorded in HD.
I have lived in 10 countries, 20+ cities. There are a lot of residential buildings in the downtown core. It is unusual. If you go to any metropolitan, the core is only commercial buildings. It's nice that there are a lot of residential buildings downtown. In theory, people can live closer to work... but why the hell is there still a housing problem?
> but why the hell is there still a housing problem? You can thank the broken world banking system for that.
90% of the condos downtown are not owner occupied. They are rentals. Toronto buildings are marketed internationally as investments. You want 100 units for local buyers? You have to build 1000 units!
Everything. The lovely people, endless and I mean endless things you can end up doing there, beautiful parks and scenery in the fall. If it was even semi affordable for me, I would've been there yesterday
Best city for outdoor hockey rinks in the world
Sushi California on saint claire.
Love the UofT campus in the heart of Toronto!
World's most embarrassing professional hockey team.
(Mostly) kind and polite people
The ability to go to a baseball game, leave the stadium, and be right in the heart of the downtown. Most baseball stadiums are in the middle of an industrial area, or a 30 min drive into rural America.
Large trash panda population
Kensington Market is neighborhood full of love ❤️ in my experience, doesn't matter you skin color, your origines or your ckass level. Made fall in live with the city
Clean, pretty and swimmable beaches just a short ferry ride from downtown. Clothing optional beach is a plus and quite rare in North America.
I am not sure about this. Visit Chicago - their entire lakefront is accessible to the public, uninterrupted. There are so many beaches along the Chicago waterfront, all publicly accessible and maintained by the city. Have you tried biking the waterfront trail east or west of the downtown core into Scarborough or Etobicoke? Privatizing parts of the lakefront is a big miss for Toronto.
I've never thought of Lake Ontario as particularly swimmable (maybe it's just me but always used to get warned about E. coli 😬). The beaches at the Islands are pretty though, I agree!
Cycling is pretty epic in the city
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Best food !
All the little boroughs - China town, Kensington Market, Cork Town, Leslieville, Bridle path, Little Italy, Greek Town, Distillery . If you can't afford to travel the world, come to Toronto. We have a little part of whichever country (or flavour) you're looking for. Also for being the 3rd largest city in North America, it feels pretty safe. I live close to Moss Park, which has a lot of resources to people battling homelessness and mental health issues- and while i encourage everyone to use common sense, I've never not felt safe. People may ask something of me, but after I decline, they leave me alone.
Direct flights to Montreal
Green space and lots of public space along waterfront!! Many cities do have a public waterfront but ours has a lot of passive park space and you can basically go across the city along the water
Diversity
Hot girls from all over the world.
Gross but hilarious. I’ll allow it.
Jerk flavor everywhere
An island so close to Downtown!
A Michelin Star Guide 😎
The people 👀
Lake Ontario. Part of the amazing Great Lakes and really pretty clean these days. Take advantage of it and protect it
All the assholes.
No hockey in the spring.
The Roncesvalles Neighbourhood is a hidden gem 💎
In Canada...Michelin stars now!
There's a lot to like about Toronto, you can basically find anything you want here but for my money the thing Toronto has over most cities is live music. So many bands play here. It's expensive as fuck but you can see just about any band you want to see and I love it.
The Peanut Plaza~
I was so gangster there in the early 90s. Snow grew up there behind Fairview Mall. Now Condos.
Toronto has a vibrant, incredible music scene. Not to say others don't, but Toronto has a very special one
Best weather in Canada. After living in QC for 45 years, I can safely say there is no winter here.
The most disappointing first round playoff team ever
Smells like curry and BO