Downtown Toronto

November 4, 2010 10:47 AM

It's my first trip to Toronto and I'm only here for one more day, so I'm blowing off my conference tomorrow and going downtown. I'm staying at a hotel a couple miles west of York University, so my plan is to take the #35 bus to the Jane St stop on the green line. Where should I get off if I want to find some hip shopping? Where's the Soho of Toronto?
posted by brozek to Travel & Transportation around Toronto, ON (14 answers total)

Don't do that - take the 196 or 106 buses to Downsview station and then take the yellow line down to Osgoode Station, then go West, and you're in a pretty SoHo-y (I think) part of town, neart Chinatown, UofT, the Eaton Centre and more or less the heart of downtown.
posted by loquax at 10:52 AM on November 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Loquax is bang-on. Get off at Osgoode and walk west. You'll find varying degrees of hip all the way to where Queen ends at Roncesvalles, though turning up Ossington might be fun, too. This will totally eat up an afternoon.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 10:56 AM on November 4, 2010

Yeah, Jane and Bloor is more Yummy Mummy than hip.

But if you get off at Jane station, you could just go east on the Bloor line to Ossington, then take the Ossington bus south to Queen. You'll be on West Queen West -- galleries, boutiques and shopping -- and as you walk further east on Queen, things get more mass market and expensive.
posted by maudlin at 10:57 AM on November 4, 2010

Loquax has it.. except the Eaton Centre is east of Osgoode station. If I were you I'd take the Yellow line (although no-one calls it that, it is the "Yonge-University-Spadina" line), get off at Osgoode stop and then walk east along Queen st to Spadina ave. Alternatively get a transfer when you get on the subway and when you get off at Osgoode get on the Queen streetcar heading east, and get off at Spadina ave.

From Queen/Spadina you can walk north into Chinatown, walk south to head towards the lake, or keep walking west into the West Queen West shopping district.
posted by modernnomad at 10:58 AM on November 4, 2010

Ugh edit. Walk west along Queen, or get on streetcar heading west.
posted by modernnomad at 10:59 AM on November 4, 2010

If you only have one afternoon, I would recommend a walk along Queen St W or checking out Kensington Market and Chinatown. You might even be able to do both -you could get off at Museum walk south west through U of T to Spadina and Bathurst, Kensington Market is just West of Spadina there, and China town and Queen St W are south of that. From Spadina, I would still walk West. You will just have to take the Streetcar to get back to the Subway at Osgoode.
posted by Gor-ella at 12:41 PM on November 4, 2010

If you want the Soho of Toronto, then yes, get off on Osgoode and walk west on Queen St (or hop on a westbound streetcar and get off around John St). But I would also recommend taking a look around Dundas Square - it's the true heart of Toronto and though the shopping there is all commercial (and full of tourists), it IS something to look at. Always buskers, artists, performers, etc in that area. Best to take a brief stop at Dundas station, look around the square, then hop back on the southbound subway and get off at Osgoode.
posted by yawper at 1:33 PM on November 4, 2010

Just a minor, nagging, nitpicking correction to some of the very helpful advice above: if you need a transfer, you are required to get a transfer at the time you pay your fare (i.e. when you first board the system, which would be the bus in North York for your trip downtown). You might get away with picking one up later, from an automatic machine in a subway station, but then again you might also get hassled if the collector sees you...
posted by onshi at 1:33 PM on November 4, 2010

If you're going to be riding the TTC more than three times, get the day pass ($10).
posted by Gridlock Joe at 1:42 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

If you only have one afternoon, I would recommend a walk along Queen St W or checking out Kensington Market and Chinatown. You might even be able to do both

"Might even"? They're contiguous.

Seconding recos to do as much Queen St as you can- Roncy all the way to, say, Parliament, seriously. After you get back you'll be asking "where is the West Queen West in NYC?"
posted by ethnomethodologist at 1:49 PM on November 4, 2010

I would recommend taking the Bloor line (green) to Spadina, and taking the Spadina streetcar down to Nassau (you can get on the streetcar right inside Spadina station). Walk west on Nassau, and walk up and down Kensington and Augusta a bit (this is Kensington Market). From there you can walk south on Augusta to Dundas and take the streetcar west to Ossington. There are a bunch of hip restaurants and shops on Ossington, and you can walk south to Queen. From there you can walk along West Queen West as others have suggested. This should take you the better part of an afternoon.

The TTC day pass is an excellent value.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:58 PM on November 4, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks everyone - I'll get the TTC day pass and make my way to Queen St!
posted by brozek at 2:43 PM on November 4, 2010

Just an FYI re the day pass - I think you need to buy it from a collector's booth or other vendor (i.e. convenience store) - I don't think you can get one from a bus driver. Your hotel might be able to suggest a local store that sells them. Have fun!
posted by purlgurly at 5:06 PM on November 4, 2010

You can buy the day pass at automatic machines in a lot of the stations (they usually take credit/debit cards). Or just go to the person in the booth.
posted by scribbler at 5:42 PM on November 4, 2010