{"id":2946,"date":"2008-04-01T15:38:13","date_gmt":"2008-04-01T20:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/04\/01\/searching-for-york\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:52:33","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:52:33","slug":"searching-for-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/04\/01\/searching-for-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for York"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3065\/2381128718_26a84fa06f.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This past week&#8217;s Eye Weekly Stroll column had me climbing around the hills of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/York%2C_Ontario\">York<\/a>, the unsung city that once existed as part of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Metropolitan_Toronto\">Metropolitian Toronto<\/a> until amalgamation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>York is not easy to find, as it&#8217;s completely landlocked and asymmetrically shaped, with very few overt signs that you are, in fact, there. It roughly lies west of Bathurst, between St. Clair and Eglinton, to the Humber River and Weston area, with a few municipal tentacles reaching in various directions.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The area beyond Dufferin south of Eglinton is one of Toronto&#8217;s unique neighbourhoods. Though it has no defining style, and even the most passionate Toronto booster would not call it beautiful, the topography makes this area charming. Built on a series of hills and valleys, streets make sharp turns and dead-end abruptly, sometimes at a grade that looks too steep for cars. Toronto has been called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153San Francisco upside down\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because of its many deep ravines (as opposed to hills), but this part of Toronto could easily be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Little San Francisco\u00e2\u20ac\u009d &#8212; though instead of multi-million dollar Nob or Russian Hill homes, the York counterpart has treeless lots with brick bungalows, rusting Buick Centuries and Pontiac Fieros parked out front and copies of the Toronto Sun in the blue boxes, tiny manicured lawns and lots of interlocking brick. There are numerous Mary Poppins&#8212;style views above rooftops and chimneys, as well as parks with secret escapes up outdoor staircases.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Read the rest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eyeweekly.com\/city\/features\/article\/22001\">here<\/a>. The &#8220;San Francisco upside down&#8221; idea comes from Robert Fulford&#8217;s 1995 book <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chapters.indigo.ca\/books\/Accidental-City-Transformation-Toronto-Robert-Fulford\/9781551990101-item.html?N=35&amp;R=937&amp;act=A03&amp;Lang=en&amp;mscssid=4HJHHPLV2M6S9LRJX7QS978L5G4Q943E&amp;WSID=19017924F1A36BE845C091FDC4A3D1F4963F1310&amp;pticket=ze2bjwmze434r045ll13z5fxQOdT4MkIbGjLekZP9ryu0vOlO8I%3d\"><em>Accidental City: The transformation of Toronto<\/em><\/a>. It &#8212; along with John Bentley Mays&#8217; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chapters.indigo.ca\/books\/Emerald-City-Toronto-Visited-John-Mays\/9780670853564-item.html\"><em>Emerald City<\/em><\/a> &#8212; was one of the first books I read about Toronto when I moved here and complemented my own ambulatory explorations. Above, and below, are some photos taken along Rogers Road. Not terribly pretty, but one of Toronto&#8217;s most interesting bits of road.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2404\/2381128120_7ed40acece.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Old Weston Road \/ Rogers Road intersection. Portuguese restaurant, a sort of rounded and stunted flatiron building.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2391\/2380291235_2e2f234bc9.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2196\/2381126972_8f37c84d27.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ungentrified Rogers Road is what a lot of Toronto used to look like and will remind longtime Torontonians of various parts of the city from different eras.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2003\/2380289743_0393ea49b8.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2309\/2380289113_5223088ba5.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Keele and Rogers &#8212; a surprisingly colourful corner. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.solaracondos.com\">Solara Condominium<\/a> above is one of Toronto&#8217;s strangest buildings &#8212; a good idea plopped on top of a parking garage.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2383\/2380288663_e4a42ef62e.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3259\/2380288067_ec6ce57791.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Diverse housing stock along Keele.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2263\/2380287159_85717be8a1.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2420\/2380287635_1c34ea4fd7.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Lots of light industrial uses found in the area, tucked in among the residential zones. Beware of the junk yard dog at Mr. Collision. He was not happy to see me.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3006\/2381123140_175f35a062.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3241\/2381122758_748ce0f79b.jpg?v=0\" height=\"376\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Rogers Road skyline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past week&#8217;s Eye Weekly Stroll column had me climbing around the hills of York, the unsung city that once existed as part of Metropolitian Toronto until amalgamation. York is not easy to find, as it&#8217;s completely landlocked and asymmetrically shaped, with very few overt signs that you are, in fact, there. It roughly lies<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/04\/01\/searching-for-york\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Searching for York&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,18,20],"tags":[8557,2520,37,411,8559,41,5451,8560,576,8558,1084,19,1642,391,2665,496],"class_list":["post-2946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-neighbourhoods","category-urban-design","tag-collision","tag-humber-river","tag-intersections","tag-john-bentley-mays","tag-portuguese-restaurant","tag-psychogeography","tag-robert-fulford","tag-russian-hill","tag-san-francisco","tag-solara-condominium","tag-the-toronto-sun","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-sun","tag-usd","tag-weston","tag-york"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Searching for York - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/04\/01\/searching-for-york\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Searching for York - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This past week&#8217;s Eye Weekly Stroll column had me climbing around the hills of York, the unsung city that once existed as part of Metropolitian Toronto until amalgamation. 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