I ♥ TO

September 28, 2014 1:23 AM

10 Videos That'll Make You Fall In Love With Toronto

Be sure to check out the comments for lots more Toronto video goodness.

posted by feckless fecal fear mongering (25 comments total)

There was one in there that really reminded me of the Australian telco ad from the same era with the same sort of message. I don't know why, tempo or jangly guitar or something? I wonder if some of the bigger global PR firms were using "off the rack" 'City Boostin' techniques at the time?
posted by evil_esto at 2:34 AM on September 28, 2014

I'm definitely more on board with Toronto than I was before, so thanks.
posted by evil_esto at 2:38 AM on September 28, 2014

There is a lot of there there. The center of Toronto is beautiful and has nice neighborhoods but alas, like Chicago, there are lot's of intervening miles and dollars betweem affordability and the the fun neighborhoods.

I hate cold too.
posted by vapidave at 3:10 AM on September 28, 2014

Do-do do-do do-do-do-do...
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:58 AM on September 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

This Tonto?
posted by sammyo at 5:04 AM on September 28, 2014

I ♥ TO

But I cannot stand its fucking traffic/commute.
posted by Fizz at 5:41 AM on September 28, 2014

I was surprised at the canyon-like feeling of driving on the Downtown Gardiner Expressway a couple of years ago (I'd been away for 25 years).
posted by PixelPiper at 6:24 AM on September 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's funny; biscotti is a Toronto girl through and through. Even though she hasn't actually lived in Toronto since I stole her in 2002, people still call her from Toronto to ask directions. But the intervening growth and metastatic suburbs have meant that Toronto feels more and more like, well, Dallas to her, and Ottawa feels like her Toronto.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:29 AM on September 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

No list of Toronto songs is complete without Toronto's national anthem.
posted by mightygodking at 6:44 AM on September 28, 2014 [9 favorites]

So many videos of big tall buildings and subways.

How do you not include anything like this: biking the Don Valley, which is a decent mtb trail system pretty much in the heart of the city? What I love is that although it's big and developed, it's easy to find these pockets of nature, or quiet areas. That's a huge part of the charm.
posted by Lemurrhea at 7:09 AM on September 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

No list of Toronto songs is complete without Toronto's national anthem yt .

Unfortunately the Brothers-in-Law song Toronto the Good has not yet made it to YouTube or vimeo or anywhere (although it is on iTunes, which I found a little surprising for a song released independently by a bunch of cops in Windsor half a century ago). I believe it is a timeless appraisal:

If you're looking for someplace dynamic and bold,
Where commerce is booming and sidewalks are gold,
Where a feller is welcome to hang up his hat,
Don't come to Toronto; it's nothing like that.
For Toronto's a place where the climate's unkind,
Where the people are dismal and narrow of mind,
Where an antique administration drags on,
Like a bunch of small villages rolled into one...

Later verses speak of the arts scene -- "where poetry's read by the city police" and "artists end up in the criminal court" and of course perpetual gridlock and the likely effect of the imminent solution:

They say that car can do marvellous things,
But if you live in Toronto you'd better grow wings.
Takes 65 minutes from Yonge Street to Main
And 95 minutes to get back again.
But our old city planners know something's amiss,
And in their ivory towers they're working on this;
With the Gardiner Expressway they're forging ahead,
And soon it will take you two hours instead.

Anyway, I did like the link. I find City Rising eminently watchable, even if a film student friend of mine once dismissed it as Torontoqatsi.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:11 AM on September 28, 2014

As a counterpoint, I Don't Want to Go To Toronto by the great Radio Free Vestibule.
posted by Gortuk at 7:20 AM on September 28, 2014 [4 favorites]

You had me at 'world-class.'
posted by anothermug at 7:51 AM on September 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was hoping I could find an Orphan Black supercut of picturesque Toronto locations on youtube; OB's a great showcase of Toronto variety (though I think the suburban parts are actually filmed in Markham.)

So many videos of big tall buildings and subways.

I'm a little more convinced of Toronto's collective inferiority complex every time I see another bit of boosterism focused on the least interesting thing about the place: the core. As if people only like cities because they have towers, when most towers are really ugly. Toronto, you are not Manhattan. Don't worry, the world will let you know when you are.

As a west sider (who also spends a lot of time along the Humber and Don) it makes me feel a bit indignant, but also kind of happy, if it means the tourists never know to come check out my hood. We're already developing enough of an alcoholic-20-something-with-expensive-tastes-poor-impulse-control-and-no-idea-how-much-an-apartment-should-actually-cost problem, thank you.
posted by Mike Smith at 8:48 AM on September 28, 2014

Spadina Bus!
posted by Sys Rq at 9:13 AM on September 28, 2014 [5 favorites]

One of those Shuffle Demons has a real TTC Leprechaun beard happening.
posted by maledictory at 9:33 AM on September 28, 2014

It also amuses me that most of the more picturesque locations featured in these videos now all have developers actively trying to ruin them.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:34 AM on September 28, 2014 [3 favorites]

Yeah the suburbs is where it's at!
posted by Poldo at 10:26 AM on September 28, 2014

Indeed.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:14 AM on September 28, 2014

Stlll the best promotion for Toronto. It's like time has stood still.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:54 AM on September 28, 2014 [4 favorites]

I watched this movie last night. Not only is Toronto not pretending to be New York, celebration of Toronto is lifted to almost Manhattan heights. Sweeping vistas, Chinatown, Kensington Market, the Beach, sleeping under the Scarborough bluffs, characters hanging out at a knitting cafe and living in improbably large and funky apartments in the Annex, soundtrack of fine and appropriate Patrick Watson songs with mood bits by AC Newman... Torontogasm. It's actually a pretty decent silly romcom too.
posted by Flashman at 7:36 PM on September 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

Some of these videos are pretty good and Ima let you finish but last year my roommate made the best Toronto video of all time.
posted by skwt at 7:38 PM on September 28, 2014

Traffic is a little less romantic these days, but man, that song will be stuck in my head forever.
posted by GuyZero at 10:06 PM on September 28, 2014

Long Branch.
posted by Kabanos at 12:52 PM on September 29, 2014

Also, this TTC promotional video.
posted by Kabanos at 12:56 PM on September 29, 2014