PDV #2: Queen West, Gladstone to Ossington

You can learn a lot about a city by the nature of its street life. I understood that much after the last time I went to Buffalo on a Saturday night and found its downtown utterly deserted; a circumstance which I'm told many American cities hold in common. Toronto, from what it seems to me, stands apart from the "dead downtown" syndrome. Four kilometers away from Yonge Street, the main street of the megacity, Queen West is one of the more transpiring neighborhoods you'll find.

This video was taken from the window of a TTC streetcar rolling east toward Yonge through part of Queen West, and the view is of the north side of the street. As warmth has only recently come to the city in force, everyone is still getting used to it and spending as much time out in it as possible. This part of the route, between Gladstone Avenue and Ossington Avenue, passes by sites such as the Gladstone Hotel, the Drake Hotel, and - surprisingly enough - only one Starbucks. Quite a few appliance stores, though.

The wind didn't sound nearly as loud when I was filming it, either.



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