NEW YORK – In my unending quest to find unpopulated laneways to stroll through, I’ve made an interesting discovery. There are none. Thanks to a planning initiative from many centuries past which saw the loading of materials through sidewalk hatches, the laneway was never introduced in New York City. At first it was only a minor nuisance but, as I began to understand the city more thoroughly, I realized that the lack of laneways has stripped New York of a certain quality: a whole layer of the urban network has been eliminated, forcing all movement onto the main streets.
This network of laneways is so important to a city and the urban explorer. A deviation off the beaten path allows for the discovery of the cities hidden potential, its gritty reality. When walking down a laneway, there is no expectation to be a consumer. The streets are for business, shopping, restaurants, people, action. This is all well and good, but why does it have to be like this everywhere, all the time? Derelict streets; dead, quiet and run down, but open and exposed, the intimacy is lost. Residential streets; all eyes on you. Sometimes it’s nice to walk where you can be alone, unexpected, real. Not having to produce, consume or be a part of what is expected can be liberating and freeing. You can co-exist with the buildings, the graffiti and the ambiance. You can just be an observer without participating in the subconscious ritual of seeing and being seen.
Block after block, the city is made up of solid buildings. My first observation about New York was the architecture; elaborate cornice moldings, carved lintels, expansive iron fire escapes, and ornate stone and cast iron buildings. It was so much for the eye and the mind to absorb. The entire city is like an ornately decorated wedding cake. So intense was the overwhelming mass, I was unable to immediately see the form which these buildings created, a solid block. I can only imagine what New York would be like if it had the benefit of Toronto’s laneways. I have found two streets in New York — only two — that bring about the feelings I have for the laneways back home. But it’s not just the laneway; it’s the network, the knowledge of discovery around every corner. Every lane leading to another hidden pathway, another piece of the urban puzzle.
Over Christmas I spent my time wandering, reveling in the obscure corners of the city. Graffiti covered fences, dumpsters and hidden doorways, dirty puddles and even peace and quiet! New York may have some amazing architecture, incredible public spaces, and amazing transit systems, but it doesn’t and will never have Toronto’s laneways.
If you want to know more about Toronto’s laneway’s, history, and potential laneway development, check out Site Unseen: Laneway Architecture and Urbanism in Toronto, Edited by Brigitte Shim and Donald Chong.
Top photo by Miles Storey
Photo of Staple Street, Tribeca, New York — Joe’s closest brush with a pseudo laneway
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Joe Clement, a long-time Spacing magazine contributor, left his hometown of Toronto in the summer of 2007, and is now living in New York. He will be our Big Apple correspondent covering public space issues. If there are any particular ideas or topics you would like him to cover, leave a comment or email Spacing Toronto.
43 comments
I never thought of that in NYC. Montreal is blessed with a ridiculous amount of wonderful lanes too!
Yep, here in Toronto we have a terrible transit system, mediocre architecture and not enough public spaces, but hey, at least we have laneways. That should make up for everything else…
The very idea of Toronto seems to get you down, Carlos. That’s not healthy. You should try and move to some place that doesn’t offend your sensibilities as much.
I always thought it was charmingly Torontonian and cute that what were called “alleys” where I grew up in Chicago (conjures images of: trash cans, taxicab secret routings, discarded needles, tagged-up garage doors, giant man-eating rats) were the charmingly Commonwealthy “laneways” of Toronto. The name almost begs you to walk down them!
Though I do think that many of the characteristics you see in Toronto  except the feeling of refuge  is pretty much just pushed out onto the sidewalks here, along with the trash cans, graffiti and sense of mystery. (But I think in New York they would almost certainly be called “alleys”.)
this is really interesting. before moving to tokyo i was concerned about an inability to find streets, laneways, alleyways or passage of any other kind that would be devoid of people. i assumed that everywhere would be crowded. what a pleasure to find that tokyo’s labrynthine street network has all kinds of quiet, empty places to meander. i guess manhattan’s density is the operative difference in this respect, as well as tokyo’s relatively large number of small streets.
Most people don’t believe me when I tell them New York doesn’t have alleys!
Dear Shawn,
You don’t know shit! You don’t know me to judge me on how I feel about the city I was born in and choose to live in. Nobody has the right to tell other people that they should move from the place they love and invested so much in. So keep such stupid personal comments to yourself or email me directly if you want to attack me personally. You are a member of Spacing and should know better. Maybe people like you are the ones who should move to where they came from in the first place (Windsor in your case if I am not mistaken).
Lanes in themselves aren’t as interesting when all blocks have them, as in Vancouver. Anyway, you’re certainly never alone in them here. It does, however, make the streets much more pleasant because there are no driveways, and no power poles cutting through the trees.
In the commercial parts of Manhattan, the side streets are essentially alleys/laneways in function if not form. The wide, two-way major streets (14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th) hold the vast majority of the ground-level commerce while the narrow sidestreets in-between are filled with loading, parking, garbage pickup and other alley functions, along with traffic (since most car traffic avoids the busy two-way streets). This is especially true on the streets that are immediately adjacent to the major cross streets, since many of the buildings are through-block. Try walking down 35th St behind Macy’s and you will feel very much like you are trespassing in some alleyway. It’s a different kind of alley, and admittedly more public, but functionally quite similar.
Note – Joe, if you really want to bend your mind on the topic of street platting, wander around the parts of the Village where 6th Ave was blown through in the 1930s. Very interesting impact.
Something tells me this Carlos character needs to calm down. I don’t think Mr Micallef meant for his comment to be a ‘personal attack’; rather, he was ostensibly merely highlighting/discouraging such extreme negativity about Toronto.
Curious to know the author’s thoughts on the recent conversion of so many of Toronto’s laneways into residential back streets, complete with townhomes.
That is just great, naming people like the way “this Alexander character” did. Well, I think “this Alexander character†should keep to himself, specially when it comes to things that do not concern him. What might be considered by “this Alexander character” as negativity is actually considered by “this Carlos character” as being realistic. The first comment by “this Carlos character” was just a small criticism to the article (if such thing is allowed in Spacing) about how the author listed a series of things that make New York great and then says that at least Toronto has laneways, like that makes our lack of architecture, transit and public spaces any better. It just seemed silly and made me laugh, no harm intended… Now if I offended “certain characters” then I apologize. I just think it is strange that people can make assumptions about a “character” through a few written words. To me that is just bizarre…
Don’t let them get to you, Carlos. They should give back their government subsidy if they don’t want to play nice.
Your “few written words” are all we have to judge you on, Carlos.
Hi Steven,
I am a huge proponent of laneway development. Althogh this will change what I love most about these spaces, I believe that it is more important to foster sustainable and livable developments. Many of these laneway developments have also demonstrated architectural ingenuity and are helping to shape an newer, more compact way of living. If you are interested in this topic I highly recomend checking out Architecture and Urbanism in Toronto, Edited by Brigitte Shim and Donald Chong. This publication takes an indepth look at the history and future of Toronto’s laneways including analysis of current developments.
Check out Ways Lane off Robinson Street at Queen and Bathurst to see an interesting livable landway.
My apologies for the spelling errors in the above post. I forgot to proof read in my haste.
But getting back to the topic at hand, I love Toronto’s laneways. They’re almost as, if not more interesting than the streets. It’s like getting a look inside someone’s messy home. Far more revealing than the facade on the front.
Wasn’t there a laneway art exhibition last spring in the Trinity Bellwoods area?
Where can I get a copy of Site Unseen: Laneway Architecture and Urbanism in Toronto?
For Site Unseen: Laneway Architecture and Urbanism in Toronto try Ballenford Books on Architecture, 600 Markham Street, 416.588.0800, http://www.ballenford.com.
or
University of Toronto Press at http://www.utpress@utoronto.ca
At the risk of being put on an icefloe and shoved out onto Lake Ontario…..there does seem to be a preponderance of “Gee, aren’t maps and tall, shiny condos and metropasses cool?” type content lately.
Just sayin’. *straps on flakjacket*
I can’t speak to the other articles, but lost without laneways isn’t just espousing the coolness of gritty lanewyas but highlighting the importance of having environments in the urban setting which challenge our perception of what a city was, is, and could be.
Great post. Thanks.
Blik, I don’t judge anybody, so please don’t judge me.
In a way I find the laneways in Toronto are pretty underused. If I am not mistaken Joe Pantalone wants to make it easier to build lofts or other dwellings in laneways downtown Toronto. In a way this would bring more density and vibrancy to the city’s core. But by building lofts above garages and townhouses won’t that make laneways more like normal streets?
One more comment; I find those laneways facing city parks pretty interesting, to me those garages and backyards feel so exposed. For example, you can see this in the houses facing Dundas in Bellwoods Park, it is as if a bulldozer razed the houses that should have been on the opposite side of the laneway. But then you have those houses along Crawford without laneways with the backyards facing the park and in a way they seem better integrated with the park than those houses with the laneway.
OK, Carlos. I promise not to judge you anymore.
There’s a street near my house (Bloor & Clinton) that’s kind of a weird street/laneway hybrid. I think it’s called Jersey Ave. A row of houses one one side faces a row of garages and back yards on the other. It’s not as interesting as an actual laneway but it’s still a strange bit of urban (non)planning.
This is such a pointless article. Manhattan and Toronto have nothing in common and as carlos pointed out, laneways don’t make up for shitty transit and lack of park space.
Toronto’s laneways are great, why not stick to talking about them and their history. I don’t see this need to constantly compare this city to new york.
Here’s what passes for a link
http://www.forgotten-ny.com/Alleys/ALLEYS%20HOME/alleys.html
What’s odd is that Hollywood persists in showing a New York full of dark and scary alleys, ever so convenient for a superhero costume change, mugging, violent confrontation or whatever the plot may call for. I wonder how many Toronto laneways have stood in for the nonexistent alleys of NY?
But yeah, as a native New Yorker, I never had any problems with my city’s lack of alleys. Living in Toronto, however, has allowed me to discover how awesome they can be.
Yet comparing cities is always a very problematic exercise, and New York’s lack of alleys is certainly not a negative – it doesn’t need Toronto’s laneways, and Toronto doesn’t need to be like New York … although it could use the better transit … and the better public places … and the city income tax … and …
Dancing zombies, though. Every city can use those.
Regarding the comparison of transit that seems to be developing between NYC and TO, if you really think the transit is actually in any way anything less then “pretty good” I’d love to buy you a GO ticket and a couple of DRT tickets and let you loose in Ajax/Pickering for the day. Try getting from any given point A to any given point B. I challenge you. If it can be done in under two hours you’ve probably cheated by walking! 😛
If you make it back before midnight, you’ll feel like worshipping Adam Giambrone, believe me!
Dear ep,
The whole point of the new york posts is so that the readers can see the similarities and differences between the two cities. That’s how I understand cities. I live in them, I compare them to other cities I’ve lived in, and then I begin to understand how one cities attributes can benefit the other and vice versa. But I promise the next post will not be comparing the two.
Ep —
One thing I’ve realized from living in Toronto for twenty years, London for one, and New York for ten is that pointing out similarities and differences is critical for understanding best practices. The absolute worst thing a city could do would be to have its citizens stick their collective heads in the sand and say “Frommers’ thought we were pretty awesome in 1986. No need to change anything ever again.” Yes, there must be a balance of positive and negative comments but overall it can only be constructive to learn what goes on in the constantly evolving cities of the region, the continent and the world.
Thank you to Spacing for continuing to peel back the many layers of the urban landscape. Be it laneways, transit, airports, zoning, architecture, parking, retail, pigeon-feeding – whatever, bring it on!
We’ve all posted pieces on cities we visit, and bounce them off the city we know best: Toronto. It’s natural, and indeed how we understand cities. You need a “constant” to understand something different, and in this case, the constant is home.
Joe’s writing about NYC likely does touch on Toronto’s old New-York-City-complex that it has had for a while (where as when we bounce other cities off of Toronto — be it Baltimore, Washington, Edinburgh, et al — it isn’t part of a complex). However, the NYC-thing usually articulates itself in a sort of unsophisticated knee-jerk popular reaction. “New York is better because…..” and that is boring for sure.
I’d argue this kind of post isn’t that kind of unhelpful comparison.
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Ian Trider> What does Adam Giambrone have to do with Pickering, Ajax or Go Transit?
Sorry, Joe. Didn’t mean to dis your piece. I like your NY posts. In fact, it would be good to get more ex-pats to offer perspectives from afar.
Shawn — I think Ian was saying the TTC is “pretty good” becuz you can’t get anywhere by transit in Pickering/Ajax.
Ah yes, sorry Ian, read that too quickly.
I think its important to consider more than just Manhattan. In terms of the TO-NYC comparisons, Yonge St. is like 125th st, whereas Queen St. is like Bedford Avenue.
You have to look in places that are outside the blast radius of Robert Moses.
If you’re dying for “character” though, try the freedom tunnel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Tunnel
…but don’t actually. Its really dangerous.
Great post! Alley Jaunt, the yearly art crawl in Trinity-Bellwoods, was my first clue that TO was an awesome city to live in.
Joe, where is the other pseudo-laneway in Manhattan? And any idea if you can get Site Unseen at a bookstore here? Guess I’ll hit up the Chapters website.
try ballenford books on architecture, 600 markham st. I doubt it would be available at chapters. For more alley info check out this link http://www.forgotten-ny.com/Alleys/ALLEYS%20HOME/alleys.html posted by Adam Sobolak.
Just came back from New York and Brooklyn last month, and it was quite odd not being able to take in those momentary ‘vistas’ the way we might do in Toronto… Thanks to Joe for making it more clear.
And thanks to Joe for making a nod to ‘Site Unseen: Laneway Architecture + Urbanism in Toronto’. It’s a little book that seems to be getting across to a lot of people across the continent. I think it might because of people’s desire to seek out a new ‘semi-public’ realm. One thing we attempted to discuss in the book was the emergence of the urban ‘block’ as an underrated component of cities. I’d argue that Toronto has evolved to the point where it has good ‘block’ types…
Best place to get it is from Ballenford Books on Architecture, which also has an online store at http://www.ballenford.com.
If you want to have a quick peek at some of the spreads, you can check out http://www.donaldchongstudio.com and click on the Site Unseen link.
I should have specified that by “here” I meant New York. Guess I’ll have to wait til I’m next in TO to buy the book.
If New York had laneways, how would Batman be able to get from Manhattan to the Bronx?
This is a great post. I thought I was the only one to know the joy of exploring laneways.
Timmins, Ontario, is a great place for laneways. They may not be terribly long but they are very rustic. Walking down them in the summer is like stepping back in time 80 years. If you ever decide to visit you might want to visit them while collaterally visiting other things like the Gold Mine Tour or the Shania Twain Museum, because it’s a healthy drive from Toronto (8 hours).
great from across the globe to see this discussion about the subtle (and not so) differences in the grain of these 2 cities.