Toronto Star

Perhaps it's not surprising a city that has always wanted to be New York would also want its own Times Square. Still, there's something touching, almost endearing, about a town that believes Yonge and Dundas could stand in for the famous Manhattan precinct. Yonge and Dundas isn't Times Square, neither is it the Shinjuku of the North. As much as we might long to be New York or Tokyo, we're Toronto, for better or worse, a city better known for qualities other than brashness. The 24-hour electronic pandemonium that is Times Square and the non-stop neon-architecture of Tokyo have no equivalents in Toronto. Thank God. Not to say that Yonge and Dundas doesn't offer the faithful a chance to worship at the altar of consumerism almost any time of the day or night. But what distinguishes the neighbourhood is not the signage but Yonge-Dundas Square, which, at the risk of sounding precious, is a place of urban contemplation, if not quiet, certainly set apart and unhurried.