New Old York

"You'll love Toronto, Liz.  It's just like New York, but without all the stuff!"
- Gavin Volure, as played by Steve Martin, 30 Rock


I live in Toronto, but I love New York.  I've loved it from my first visit as a teenager , when I stayed at the Edison, and Times Square was still seedy and gross, to my most recent visit a few months ago, when I stayed at the Sofitel, and ate at Balthazar and Babbo again.  I learned to love New York from movies as old as The Thin Man, to The Godfather and When Harry Met Sally. The joke is how many New York movies were actually shot in Toronto.

Spring St on Adelaide St

Yes, this has been going on for decades.  Whenever our dollar is in the toilet, the American productions ramp up.  Legend had it that set designers used to have to make "garbage" to litter our streets, since Toronto was so tidy it just didn't look authentic.  Thanks to Rudy and Bloomberg cleaning up New York, and Rob Ford turning Toronto into the World's Largest Crack Den, I think now we provide all the garbage needed for the New York look.  You're welcome, producers!

The thing we don't provide is New York subway entrances, so production companies have been slapping them together all over the downtown core:

Wall St on Bay St

Trust me, this ain't New York, but we have been wannabes for centuries.  Hell, this place was even called York, originally.  No matter how many condos we call The Hudson or, God help me,  The Rockefeller, this is Toronto.  We do have tall buildings, lots of money, and assholes in fancy suits, so I guess that's close enough.

It would be nice if, on occasion, Toronto could play itself in a movie. Better yet, now that Grand Central Station has a Tim Horton's, maybe some day down the road, New York will be dressed up like Toronto for a movie shoot!