Toronto la cool

[PhilippeMtl]

Here is the first of two articles on La Presse ( #1 newspaper in MTL) concerning Toronto. The second one will be on tomorrow's edition. If you can read french, it is a very interesting article.



Le vendredi 26 janvier 2007


Toronto, la cool
Marie-Claude Lortie

La Presse

Pendant que les Montréalais la snobent ou l'ignorent bêtement, Toronto est en train de devenir une ville aussi vibrante, culturellement parlant, que Montréal. Et peut-être même plus, à certains égards...

Style et mode de vie

«Toronto a beaucoup changé depuis que je suis arrivée en 1991», dit Lisa Corbo, copropriétaire de George C., une boutique de Yorkville où l'on retrouve des designers de grand calibre, à la fine pointe de la tendance, comme Costume National ou Derek Lam. «Les gens sont beaucoup plus conscients de l'importance du style et du design. Ils sont aussi plus soignés qu'avant», poursuit-elle.

En outre, note cette Canadienne d'origine australienne qui a longtemps vécu en Italie, les Torontois se sont longtemps fiés aux grandes marques pour être chic et ces griffes sont effectivement bien présentes à Toronto. Les occasions de shopping, pour les amateurs de ce genre de produit (et qui ont le budget adéquat) y sont donc pas mal plus nombreuses qu'à Montréal.

Mais plus ça va, et plus les Torontois veulent se démarquer de ces chaînes trop connues, croit Mme Corbo. «Quand on investit beaucoup dans des vêtements, on ne veut pas avoir les mêmes choses que tout le monde.» D'où l'émergence de plus en plus de petites boutiques indépendantes. «Quand je suis arrivée ici, les gens me fixaient dans la rue parce que je portais du Gaultier ou du Vivienne Westwood. Ça n'arrive plus maintenant. Les Torontois ont compris qu'il n'y a rien de mal à vouloir être élégant. Au contraire.»

Art de vivre

À Toronto, la scène des arts visuels est extrêmement vivante, comme on peut le constater en visitant les galeries de la rue Queen Ouest ou en allant aux hôtels Drake et Gladstone.

Le premier qui a lancé le bal est le Drake, ouvert il y a trois ans par Jeff Stober, amateur d'art visuel et de design originaire de Montréal, qui a fait fortune dans l'informatique. Paradoxalement, cet hôtel est autant destiné aux voyageurs de passage qu'aux gens du quartier, car le Drake, c'est aussi un restaurant, un bar, une salle de concert pour les groupes émergents de Toronto et un lieu d'exposition pour les artistes locaux, sans parler de l'artiste en résidence qui y séjourne et des événements ponctuels qui y sont organisés. Deux personnes y travaillent à temps plein pour dénicher des musiciens pour les concerts, pendant qu'une autre se consacre à la gestion des oeuvres d'art.


Fou?

Ce qui est vraiment fou, c'est que la ville a les moyens de faire vivre DEUX hôtels de ce type, puisque le Gladstone y a ouvert l'an dernier, à deux coins de rue du Drake, et propose lui aussi un lieu de rencontre pour les artistes, les voyageurs, les gens d'affaires qui veulent acheter des oeuvres d'art Chaque chambre y a été décorée par un artiste différent, on y loue des studios pas chers pour les artistes «Il y a un nombre incroyable d'artistes émergents ici, note Chris Mitchell, du Gladstone. Il y a bien assez de place pour deux hôtels comme les nôtres.»

Et il y a aussi assez d'argent pour faire bouger la scène des arts visuels, estime Stephen Bulger, propriétaire de la galerie Stephen Bulger, spécialisée en photos, et qui gère Camera, la salle de projection-bar du célèbre réalisateur torontois Atom Egoyan.

Architecture en mouvement

Pendant que Montréal discute de l'avenir de son conseil d'agglomération et de répartition des responsabilités entre villes fusionnées et défusionnées, Toronto aménage des parcs et des places

Actuellement, la ville est remplie de grues qui érigent des logements en plein centre-ville et ses grandes institutions culturelles sont en chantier. À la Art Gallery of Ontario, le célèbre architecte Frank Gehry, à qui l'on doit notamment le musée Guggenheim de Bilbao, supervise un projet d'agrandissement dépassant les 200 millions. Au Royal Ontario Museum, c'est Daniel Liebskind, le gagnant du concours pour le réaménagement de Ground Zero, à New York, qui pilote le projet de rénovation de 230 millions. Un nouveau complexe de spectacles a aussi vu le jour en 2006, le Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts, pour l'opéra et le ballet notamment, construit à hauteur de 180 millions. Et c'est sans parler du musée Gardiner qui vient d'être rénové, et du véritable laboratoire architectural qu'est devenu l'Université de Toronto.

Toronto investit aussi dans ses espaces publics, comme le nouveau parc HtO, aménagé au le bord du lac Ontario, où sont plantés des dizaines de parasols en aluminium, ou alors le Yonge-Dundas Square, que la Ville veut transformer en une sorte de Times Square torontois, avec des écrans futuristes, très Shibuya.

Côté urbanisme et architecture, T.O. bouge, c'est frappant.

[DrJoe]

You lost me after Toronto, lol.

[habsfan]

Originally Posted by DrJoe

You lost me after Toronto, lol.

you're kidding, right?

[feepa]

Poorly Translated

Toronto, the cool one
Marie-Claude Lortie The Press

While Montréalais snobent it or are unaware of it stupidly, Toronto is becoming a as vibrating city, culturally speaking, as Montreal. And perhaps even more, in certain connections… Style and way of life “Toronto changed much since I arrived in 1991”, said LISA Corbo, joint owner of George C., a shop of Yorkville where one finds designers of great gauge, with the fine point of the tendency, like National costume or Derek Lam. “People are much more conscious of the importance of the style and the design. They are as neater as front”, it continues. Moreover, note this Canadian of Australian origin which lived a long time in Italy, the Residents of Toronto trusted the large marks a long time to be smart and these claws are indeed quite present in Toronto. The occasions of shopping, for the amateurs of this kind of product (and who have the adequate budget) there are thus not badly more numerous than in Montreal. But the more that goes, and the more the Residents of Toronto want to dissociate these too known chains, believes Mrs. Corbo. “When one invests much in clothing, one does not want to have the same things as everyone.” From where the emergence more and more of small independent shops. “When I arrived here, people fixed me in the street because I carried of Gaultier or Vivienne Westwood. That does not arrive now any more. The Residents of Toronto understood that there is nothing evil to want to be elegant. On the contrary.” Art of living In Toronto, the scene of visual arts is extremely alive, as one can note it by visiting the galleries of the street Western Queen or while going to the hotels Drake and Gladstone. The first which launched the ball is Drake, open three years ago by Jeff Stober, art lover visual and design originating in Montreal, which made fortune in data processing. Paradoxically, this hotel is intended as much to the travellers of passage than to people of the district, because Drake, it is also a restaurant, a bar, a concert hall for the emergent groups of Toronto and a place of exposure for the local artists, without speaking about the artist in residence which remains there and about the specific events which are organized there. Two people work there full-time to unearth musicians for the concerts, while another devotes itself to the management of the works of art. Insane? What is really insane, it is that the city has the means of making live TWO hotels of this type, since Gladstone opened last year there, with two corners of street of Drake, and proposes to him also a place of meeting for the artists, the travellers, people of businesses which want to buy works of art Each room was decorated there by a different artist, one rents there studios not expensive for the artists “There is an incredible number emergent artists here, note Chris Mitchell, of Gladstone. There is well enough place for two hotels like ours.” And it there has also enough money to make move the scene of visual arts, estimates Stephen Bulger, owner of the gallery Stephen Bulger, specialized in photographs, and which manages Camera, the room of projection-bar of the famous Toronto-native realizer Atom Egoyan. Structure moving While Montreal discusses the future of its council of agglomeration and distribution of the responsibilities between amalgamated and défusionnées cities, Toronto arranges parks and places Currently, the city is filled with cranes which set up residences in full downtown area and its great cultural institutions are in building site. With Art Gallery of Ontario, architect Frank Gehry celebrates it, with whom one owes in particular the Guggenheim museum of Bilbao, supervises a project of enlarging exceeding the 200 million. In Royal Ontario Museum, it is Daniel Liebskind, gaining it of the contest for the refitting of Ground Zero, in New York, which controls the project of restoration of 230 million. A new complex of spectacles also was born in 2006, the Furnace Seasons Center for the Performing Arts, for the opera and the ballet in particular, built with height of 180 million. And it is without speaking about the Gardiner museum which have been just renovated, and about the true architectural laboratory which became the University of Toronto. Toronto also invests in its public spaces, like the new HtO park, arranged at the edge of the Lake Ontario, where tens of aluminium parasols are planted, or then Yonge-Dundas Square, which the City wants to transform into a kind of Times Square Toronto-native, with futuristic screens, very Shibuya. Side town planning and architecture, T.O move, it is striking.

[salvius]

^ argh, don't post the useless Google Translations! They're considerably harder to decrypt than trying to slough through the article in my poor French. Which is sad, I guess, either way.

"where one finds designers of great gauge, with the fine point of tendency"

Enough said!

[caltrane74]

Shibuya...cool.

[Taller Better]

Thanks for posting, Philippe! You are a cool guy.
LaPresse has usually been more open-minded toward Toronto than The Gazette (whose anglophone writers have a big chip on their shoulder about TO and seem to feel they have something "to prove").

[MolsonExport]

Thanks for the article. I used to read LaPresse 4 times per week when I lived in Montreal, and I always found it to be a reasonably balanced and sober account of events.

[-BL-]

Originally Posted by Taller Better

Thanks for posting, Philippe! You are a cool guy.
LaPresse has usually been more open-minded toward Toronto than The Gazette (whose anglophone writers have a big chip on their shoulder about TO and seem to feel they have something "to prove").

Strange because most of the time for them everything outside Quebec is better than here...

I'm happy for you, Torontorians, that stupid discussions and debates about merging city and street names are not problems for you. Instead of building for future here, we talk about street names and we fight against suburbs!!!

[Taller Better]

^^^ Oh don't worry, BL, we had that phase too, with bickering over amalgamation. It really does waste a huge amount of energy.

[caltrane74]

I think Montreal has more coolness/chicness than Toronto. Its a very hip city. Toronto still is a very dry "workaholic" city. Especially when you get outside the core.

[Xelebes]

Can somebody translate this into English. I'm sorry if I consider Babelfish to be another language.

[Taller Better]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

I think Montreal has more coolness/chicness than Toronto. Its a very hip city. Toronto still is a very dry "workaholic" city. Especially when you get outside the core.

Montreal is a cool city, but I think the article is pointing out that most people tend to think of other Canadian cities in old cliches, as it is just easier to do so. Canadian cities could actually enhance each other, and learn from each other if they wanted to.. instead of the traditional antagonism.

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Can somebody translate this into English. I'm sorry if I consider Babelfish to be another language.

@Xelebes... the babelfish translation is, as always, extremely awkward but it gives you the gist of the article. A more fulfilling assignment might be for you to dig out your old Larousse dictionary from High School and try translating it yourself... wouldn't kill most English speaking Canadians to do this now and then.

[WHISTLERINMUSKOKA]

We’ll if Montréal thinks Toronto is cool then that is a real compliment. Merci Montréal!

[PhilippeMtl]

The article is talking how about Toronto is changing on a positive cultural way.

[Kilgore Trout]

montrealers do tend to have a pretty negative view of toronto. it is stereotyped in the mass media as a dry, uptight city that epitomizes everything that is wrong with "le canada anglais." usually that stereotype has nothing to do with reality.

i think that, somewhat ironically, toronto has become a city that is much more aware of its own civic space and identity than montreal, which takes its urbanity and liveliness for granted. spacing magazine and all of its affiliated projects have done a lot to revolutionize public dialogue in toronto.

[Kilgore Trout]

here's a good toronto life article on what i'm talking about...

http://www.torontolife.com/features/space-man/

[Taller Better]

I think Canadians in general are too fond of pigeon-holing each other, and in 99% of the cases, a negative way. It always saddens me that there is not more support in this country from one city to another. Whether anyone likes TO or not, it has been working extremely hard to redefine itself, especially since the SARS outbreak. From coast to coast people fall back on cliches that date back 100 years to decribe each other. Maybe it is time to open our eyes!

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by Taller Better

@Xelebes... the babelfish translation is, as always, extremely awkward but it gives you the gist of the article. A more fulfilling assignment might be for you to dig out your old Larousse dictionary from High School and try translating it yourself... wouldn't kill most English speaking Canadians to do this now and then.

I don't have a French-English dictionary. I only have a German-English and a Ukrainian-English dictionary.

[Taller Better]

^^ A good French-English dictionary is a most excellent investment and something every Canadian should consider keeping on their bookshelf!