"midtown"

[Paul McFedries]

Here in Toronto, the southern end of the city is bordered by Lake Ontario,
which gives the city a strong north-south orientation. The
downtown-midtown-uptown scheme is based on a dominant central axis -- Yonge
Street, which is still, I believe, listed in Guinness as the longest street
in the world (1,886 kilometres!) -- which runs north-south from the lake.
The central strip of the city that lies on either side of Yonge is the
downtown-midtown-uptown area. In the most general terms, our downtown is the
strip closest to the lake; midtown is the strip north of that; and uptown is
the strip north of that (but still shy of the suburbs).

The key to describing any of these areas is that downtown and uptown have
many more-or-less opposite traits and that each trait is realized as a kind
of spectrum that runs from one area to the other. For example, downtown is
dense, gritty, and noisy while uptown is relatively open, clean, and quiet;
downtown has buzz and energy while uptown is sleepier and more sedate
(again, less so than in the suburbs). As you travel north, the downtown
traits level off and start to morph into the uptown traits. So I would
describe midtown as having the characteristics of both areas, but with none
of the extremes.

Interestingly, even people who have lived here all their lives will disagree
with each other on the exact boundaries of these areas. For example, they
may disagree on how far east or west the central strip extends, or they may
disagree on where downtown ends and midtown begins. In my experience, asking
someone where midtown is located is a kind of Rorschach test of urbanity:
people who enjoy city life and are comfortable with downtown will place
midtown much further south than someone who doesn't like the city so much.
(Which makes sense: one person's buzz is another person's bother.)

Paul

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