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Postcard image of Toronto

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Over the weekend, Mark Medley had an article in the National Post that asked a variety of city thinkers (including myself) what the impact the opening of the ROM Crystal will have on the postcard image of the city. Medley suggested that our traditional postcard image of Toronto (looking back at the city from the Islands) may be at risk with all of the new signature buildings going up (the AGO, National Ballet School and Opera House). I argued that the Crystal certainly will change the tourist’s mental image of the city. But since there is now such a focus on waterfront development with the public demanding that the architecture by the water’s edge be of the highest caliber, no matter what we do inland the postcard image will always be viewed from the lake.

Rannie Turingan, one of Toronto’s preeminent photobloggers, made the best observation in the article when he said it’s not the SkyDome or the skyscrapers that really make up the mental image of a city — it’s the small photos of someone picking up fruit in Kensington, or cricket players in G. Ross Lord Park, or discarded furniture found in a back alley.

Here’s the question I pose to Spacing Wire readers: what is *your* personal postcard image of Toronto? (feel free to provide links to actual photos)

photo by Tanja-Tiziana Burdi

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12 comments

  1. More than anything, it should be of a diverse crowd of people, quietly and neatly lined up in three lines, waiting for a streetcar at Spadina Station. In any other city, that shot would be contrived.

  2. WOW! Great picture. Ward’s Island at dusk.

  3. An arial veiw of the city from above the islands, that we everyone can see the city for its diversity.

  4. “Mental image of the city” and “postcard image of the city” are two separate things (one’s specific and one’s an icon). Nobody buys a postcard of some indie rocker buying a single peach on Augusta Ave.

  5. Personally I prefer photos taken from Panorama; almost every photo where the CN Tower is on the right is taken from there.

  6. We have one of the best skylines around, so I’d say the skyline.

    Matthew you say that the public is demanding that the architecture by the water’s edge be of the highest caliber. I am thrilled to hear that, but where did you get this impression? Most of our waterfront is ruined with ugly badly-designed buildings and the cheap condos just north at City Place are just now starting to be built.

    I’d like to believe that the public is exerting pressure to raise architectural standards, but haven’t really seen much of it so far. Would love to hear more on this.

  7. A great post card would be from a picture of downtown taken at the tip of Tommy Thompson Park near the lighthouse. From there the city seems to be floating above a cloud of trees. It is probably one of the best views of our skyline.

  8. Matt, you nailed it in your post, actually. Anything by Tanja in my books is postcard-worthy.

  9. Joe Clark: I might. I don’t really like picking up postcards of city skylines; it’s a picture taken when you’re outside the city, not inside it. When I walk around a city, I don’t see the skyline; I see people, things, neighbourhoods.

    That said, most skyline postcards are dull and generic, without any atmosphere. I love Tanja’s photo of ours.

  10. Carlos: “A great post card would be from a picture of downtown taken at the tip of Tommy Thompson Park near the lighthouse. From there the city seems to be floating above a cloud of trees. It is probably one of the best views of our skyline.”

    Indeed. I rode my bike out there last weekend. It really is a neat perspective to see the skyline with so much greenery below it.

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/spmarshall/Toronto/Spit13.jpg

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/spmarshall/Toronto/Spit21.jpg

  11. Sean,

    That is exactly what I was talking about. Great pictures. Thanks.