Post some T.O. pictures

[waldenbg]

Originally Posted by taal

I find lights in Toronto pretty depressing compared to other cities and they seem to get worse each year ... for example very little lights on University and I swear NPS has less each year as well ! The ones in light are really just mediocre ... they only thing I like is the tree at Y&D as its different at the very least.

Ah well, welcome to Toronto.

And I love the lights and find them beautiful. So do most people I talk to. Stop complaining, we live in a great city. Just enjoy the season.

[Taller, Better]

I'm curious, because I'm not really all that familiar with other city's Christmas lights, as I don't normally travel during that season. Montreal's ones this year are mystifying and abysmal, and the ones in London and Amsterdam last year were pretty underwhelming. The rather baffling ones on Regent St in London bordered on creepy. I'll take pics of the new ones on Yonge Street at some point.

I posted pics in my thread of the shops on Bloor Street:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...3#post98179113

Here are a few:

[Taller, Better]

Plus I popped into the Church of the Redeemer for their Christmas Concert:



































but the rest are here:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...3#post98179113

[taal]

You do realize the many of your Bloor pictures had no Christmas lights in them whatsoever and are just the typical lighting that exists every day of the year ... less the limited lighting on the street in the planters and the windows.

I really really don't think you've seen the lights in London












You can't beet that ... there's so much more too, just search for it.

[taal]

I could seriously go on forever ... anyway I imagine London has the best lights in the world (from what I've seen) so maybe comparing to them is reaching to far.

But I find many other North American cities do it much better as well.

Anyway, this is business as usual for Toronto, when it comes to the public realm ... so I guess I really shouldn't be expecting more in that sense.


Regarding the earlier comment, I completely agree we live in amazing city; Actually the fact our public realm is so crappy (comparing our downtown to others in North America) makes it that much more amazing how lively / interesting our city is ! It goes to prove that while public realm is great ... many depressed North American cities do a great job of this ... but lack any interesting retail, or people in general in their downtowns. So building "beautiful" areas really doesn't facilitate vitality, at least there is no direct coloration.

But heck, is it too much to ask for both ? Not many cities in North America do this ... but I'd argue in Canada Montreal does a better job and so does Vancouver in this regard.

[KamT]

Originally Posted by taal

[taal]

Yes, even spiderman would be jealous

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by taal

You do realize the majority of your Bloor pictures had no Christmas lights in them whatsoever and are just the typical lighting that exists every day of the year ... less the limited lighting on the street in the planters and the windows.

I didn't say there was... I clearly stated I was posting photos of shop windows. You did see shop windows, did you not?


Anyhow, maybe they had taken the nice ones down by the time I got to London on my last visit, and it was just the tacky ones left. I'm really surprised that the Queen approved of the Regent St ones, though:






In any case, this is a photo thread about Toronto, not London.... although I admit sometimes I wonder why I bother taking any pictures because they lead to the usual moaning around here about the fact that Toronto is not London, Paris, or New York. Is there a city on the face of the planet with lower self-esteem? I doubt it.....

Originally Posted by taal

I could seriously go on forever ..

Indeed.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by taal

But heck, is it too much to ask for both ? Not many cities in North America do this ... but I'd argue in Canada Montreal does a better job and so does Vancouver in this regard.

I missed this part... and I am thirsty with curiosity as to what you would base your Montreal argument on? I've not seen Vancouver's this year, but I have seen Montreal's:





Montreal's Eaton Centre:

'

[isaidso]

Eeeewwwww!

I do think some cities do a much better job with their decorations/lighting over the holidays, but Toronto's get better every year. As long as we're going in the right direction I'm happy. These types of things are a progression. You don't go from crap decor (like those God awful blue and orange bars on Yonge) to spectacular over night. Yonge gets a little better every year, as does the Eaton Centre, etc. Bloor-Yorkville looks good, but very under stated for such a luxe strip.

The city looks good; my only complaint continues to be the City Hall tree. It's always shockingly bad. I won't get into it though; I have this same conversation every year.

[Taller, Better]

I'll try and make an effort to take pics of Yonge Street... although at the moment I'm not feeling particularly motivated to bother taking any more because Yonge
St definitely does not look like the Champs-Elysées.

[KamT]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

....
What is this, 1995?

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Eeeewwwww!

.

to be fair, that was just Ste Catherine; I am at a loss as to why they have flung those red and green circles all over every tree down the street. My walk through Eaton Centre and Les Ailes de la Mode was enough to remind me why I dislike shopping centres as a rule. The lights in Old Montreal are generally beautiful, but I didn't see them this year, though.

[LEAFS FANATIC]

Originally Posted by taal

I could seriously go on forever ... anyway I imagine London has the best lights in the world (from what I've seen) so maybe comparing to them is reaching to far.

But I find many other North American cities do it much better as well.

Anyway, this is business as usual for Toronto, when it comes to the public realm ... so I guess I really shouldn't be expecting more in that sense.


Regarding the earlier comment, I completely agree we live in amazing city; Actually the fact our public realm is so crappy (comparing our downtown to others in North America) makes it that much more amazing how lively / interesting our city is ! It goes to prove that while public realm is great ... many depressed North American cities do a great job of this ... but lack any interesting retail, or people in general in their downtowns. So building "beautiful" areas really doesn't facilitate vitality, at least there is no direct coloration.

But heck, is it too much to ask for both ? Not many cities in North America do this ... but I'd argue in Canada Montreal does a better job and so does Vancouver in this regard.

Taal...you will quickly learn that ANY criticism of ANYTHING in Toronto will be met with harsh resistance. It is very difficult for many here to simply admit that, yes, some things are done better in other cities around the world and by admitting such things does not make one a Toronto-hater.

For the record, I agree with you. For a city of Toronto's size, the Christmas lightings in public areas are poor, at best. I have been to many cities in North America and Europe where the lightings and decorations are fantastic. Admitting this does not mean I hate Toronto as there are many things in Toronto that are better as well.

Cheers!

[taal]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

In any case, this is a photo thread about Toronto, not London.... although I admit sometimes I wonder why I bother taking any pictures because they lead to the usual moaning around here about the fact that Toronto is not London, Paris, or New York. Is there a city on the face of the planet with lower self-esteem? I doubt it.....

Hey Taller, Better; I definitely came off the wrong way, I greatly appreciate all the pictures you take, they're amazing !

Regarding self-esteem ... you're right and I hate that, because the majority of people don't think Toronto is good enough for all the wrong reasons; Its not New York or its not ...

Honestly I find the vast majority of the public care less about the public realm, I've never heard anyone visit US cities and say they're nicer because they have nicer sidewalks / street furniture.

Generally only those that take a liking to architecture have this view.

Take me, again I despise people with the "Toronto sucks for no clear reason attitude / or its better elsewhere" ... I'm giving you a legitimate point that I think most other cities do better, I'll stick to that because its true. We've done a couple things nicer as of late, take Bloor / the waterfront.

And again, while I may say Toronto lacks compared to Chicago / Boston / London / ... in terms of its public realm, it does many other things just as well if not better then those cities.

[neltron3030]

image hosted on flickr

Out of the Darkness by Neil Ta | I am Bidong, on Flickr

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by taal

Hey Taller, Better; I definitely came off the wrong way, I greatly appreciate all the pictures you take, they're amazing !

Regarding self-esteem ... you're right and I hate that, because the majority of people don't think Toronto is good enough for all the wrong reasons; Its not New York or its not ...

Honestly I find the vast majority of the public care less about the public realm, I've never heard anyone visit US cities and say they're nicer because they have nicer sidewalks / street furniture.

Generally only those that take a liking to architecture have this view.

Take me, again I despise people with the "Toronto sucks for no clear reason attitude / or its better elsewhere" ... I'm giving you a legitimate point that I think most other cities do better, I'll stick to that because its true. We've done a couple things nicer as of late, take Bloor / the waterfront.

And again, while I may say Toronto lacks compared to Chicago / Boston / London / ... in terms of its public realm, it does many other things just as well if not better then those cities.

Hey, Taal...sorry; I didn't mean to come down on you like a ton of bricks. Clearly those photos of London are beautiful and much nicer than what was left up when I was there this past year (I rarely travel out of the country at Christmas time), and clearly London is a much more gorgeous city. I saw a shop window in Selfridges that easily blows any here out of the water, but that doesn't prevent me from admiring or at least chronicling what has been down in our city or else frankly I would just throw my camera away. Look how stunning this window in London is:



and, look at other design and windows on Sloane Street in London that are no different than what is done here on Bloor Street:








But it is a frustratingly stubborn civic trait of Torontonians to sometimes refuse to see their city on its own terms and prefer to negate it with memories of somewhere else they have been. You could take a photo of pretty much anything in this city and then cherry-pick a nicer example somewhere else in the world. Easy to do. Bigger and better trees/flowers/parks/statues/roads/signs/weather/topography/pyramids/ mountains/oceans/palm trees/beaches, etc...etc.. A temple from India, an Art Deco office tower from New York, a Beaux-Arts building from Paris, a Georgian townhouse from Bath in England, etc... Our modern architecture can pale compared to mega-budget projects elsewhere that we can hand pick with Google. I don't like posting photos of the main street of Montreal (Ste Catherine) and a downtown mall in this thread as often it simply starts a City vs City war with dozens of photos from that other city, but there are times I think it is healthy to see what exists. As I noted, however, Old Montreal looks spectacular at Christmas time (and indeed any time of year). Here are some pics I posted in the past in my Montreal thread:





and some more modest decorations:



Yes we need to be critical of our city in order to improve it, but surely somewhere along the line we need to also acknowledge success and encourage worthy attempts. Negative criticism is so much easier, quicker and automatic than positive criticism... but surely a constant diet of it will intimidate entrepreneurship and discourage any developer from going out on a ledge and taking chances if they know they are going to be shot down for it.
In any case, at some point I'll snap some pics of Yonge Streets lights this year. Of course they are not the nicest in the world, but they are what they are.

Originally Posted by LEAFS FANATIC

Taal...you will quickly learn that ANY criticism of ANYTHING in Toronto will be met with harsh resistance. It is very difficult for many here to simply admit that, yes, some things are done better in other cities around the world and by admitting such things does not make one a Toronto-hater.

For the record, I agree with you. For a city of Toronto's size, the Christmas lightings in public areas are poor, at best. I have been to many cities in North America and Europe where the lightings and decorations are fantastic. Admitting this does not mean I hate Toronto as there are many things in Toronto that are better as well.

Cheers!

What can I say? Sorry you feel the way you do.

[christos-greece]

image hosted on flickr

Living in the city by AshtonPal, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

DSC_3288 by Dad.T, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Toronto by Songquan Deng, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization the Stage at Toronto's City Hall November 30 2012 by Meteor54, on Flickr

[Dmerdude]

Originally Posted by christos-greece

image hosted on flickr

Toronto by Songquan Deng, on Flickr

I cant wait for the summer!

[Taller, Better]

Okay, got some photos of Yonge Street. As Isaidso pointed out the twinkle lights are better than the old rod lights from before:









As Taal mentioned, the lights on University Avenue are truly disappointing. They alternated lengths of coloured twinkle lights on trees with solid white lights. Sounds okay on paper, but in practice the coloured twinkle lights are so sparse as to be almost invisible. The results are almost sad.





and some examples of speciality neighbourhood lighting. First on Elm Street:





and secondly on Church Street: