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Old Jul 26th, 2004, 05:47 PM
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Toronto Neighborhoods?

Would some kind soul mind outlining what neighborhoods in Toronto border what? Which are located in "downtown" Toronto? I found a description of each area on torontotourism.com but it doesn't really say where they are located. I am trying to determine which neighborhoods I can cover in three days...

Thanks!
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Old Jul 26th, 2004, 07:50 PM
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Toronto is a huge city of hundreds of neighborhoods.

If you narrow your question, we can help.

The current City of Toronto used to be six cities; starting from Lake Ontario, in the center, is the old city of Toronto. To the west was Etobicoke. To the east was Scarborough. To the north was North York. Between North York, Etobicoke and Toronto was York. And, in the east, between Toronto and Scarborough was East York.

Before those six were created, there used to be 13 municipalities that made up what was generally called Toronto but which was really a bunch of independent towns and cities and villages.
What is now the City of Toronto is the center of what's called the Greater Toronto Area, and includes Mississauga on the west, Vaughn and Marrkham on the north, and Pickering on the east., Plus other places, depending on the definitions being used.

We don't even know where downtown is. To me, it's bordered on the west by Bathurst, on the East by Parliament, on the south by Lake Ontario, and on the north by the railway tracks at Summerhill, a few blocks north of Bloor Street.

Mid-town runs from the railway tracks north to Davisville, a few blocks north or Saint Clair. And North Toronto runs from Davisville up to Hoggs Hollow, which is Yorkk Mills and Wilson, a street that changes its name as it crosses Yonge.
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Old Jul 27th, 2004, 03:52 AM
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BAK, I was hoping you'd jump in here. I did't know where to start either.
But, Kcapuani, when I went to the web site , torontotourism.com, and looked at the neighbourhoods mentioned, they are pretty well all in the core of the city. As you saw on the web site, there are so many areas. But if you pick the ones that interest you, you will have no problem with transportation getting from one to the other and none would take more than a short ride on the subway or bus.
Good luck, and if you narrow it down, I'll try and provide more information.
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Old Jul 27th, 2004, 05:24 AM
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I am hoping to visit the Distillery District, Chinatown, Little Italy (is this still a large neighborhood?), Bloor St shopping and Queen St shopping. Can I spend a few hours in each of these areas, or are they much too diverse? Could you tell me the cross streets for each area so I can look them up on a map?

Another question that I thought of - Are there any really great Mexican restaurants? I live in Buffalo, NY and there are absolutely none to be found anywhere. Is there much of a Latin population in Toronto? Even Tex-Mex would suffice. I just want a great margarita and burrito.

Thank you!
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Old Jul 27th, 2004, 08:21 AM
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Yonge Street is the main north-south street in Toronto, running north from Lake Ontario.

Cross streets are, for instance, King Street East on one side on Yonge and King Street West on the other side of Yonge.

When you see a photo of Toronto, the CN Tower is about five blocks west of Yonge Street, just to give you an idea.

You can take some half day walks that get you interesting places.


Starting at Queen Street and Yonge Street, you can walk west on Queen Street through the funky shopping area, cross Spadina Avenue and walk a few more blocks and then return to Spadina, walk north a few blocks into Chinatown and the Kensington ethnic market area. Then you walk south a bit to Dundas Street, and turn east along Dundas, past (and into????) the Art Gallery of Ontario, and back to Yonge Street. At the corner of Yonge and Dundas is the giant indoor Eaton Centre three storey shopping mall.

Starting at the same Queen and Yonge corner, you gcan do a history/art/shopping walk heading east, too. Walk south on Yonge Street to King Street, and turn east. the King EDward Hotel is beautiful, and 1000 years old this year, and worth a look inthe lobby. Then back onto the street and east to Church Street, south to Fraont Street, and now you are in the oldest part of Toronto. Walk towards the St. lawrence market, and there are some nice little shops in the area, too. Continue eat on Front Street past the headquarters of the Canadian Opera Company and a few blocks along, you get to Parliament Street. Turn right/siouth and walk a blcok and you are in the Distillery District.

This walk (east of Yonge) is best on Saturday mornings, when the St. lawrence market is in full swing.


If you can get to Yonge and Bloor, there's another westward walk, back and forth along Bloor Street West to Avenue Roade, crisscrossing the east-west and north south streets. It's all the Yorkville neighborhood, of expensive stores, great commercial art galleries, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Bata Shoe Museum and the ceramics museum.

I'm not a little Italy expert.

Greektown is east of Yorkville -- take the subway. Bloor Street East changes its name as it cross the Don Valley, and turns into Danforth AVenue. Greektown starts at the first subway station afteryou've crossed the valley, and you know you've crossed the valley because the subway cars have windows and there's a wonderful view up the valley.

Tex-Mex -- there's Armadillo, at 146 Front Street West between York and Sincoe, more or less across the street from the convention center, and there's a Texas restaurant in the same area. There's a Tex-Mex restaurant on Queen Street West, between John Street and Spadina Avenue.

BAK
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Old Jul 27th, 2004, 08:25 AM
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The Willow, on Danforth, is a good Mexican restaurant; have a look at www.torontolife.com, and search "Restaurants." They have a category identified as Mexican, and list a number of places; oddly, the Willow isn't among them but if you search by neighbourhood and look at Danforth-Riverdale, it does come up as recommended.
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Old Jul 27th, 2004, 08:37 AM
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Jalapeno is probably more authentic than the Willow. It's King Street, west of Bathurst. They have a large menu and Mexican friends of mine like it.
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