I know I’ve talked about it before but it never ceases to amaze me that the city of Toronto created this labyrinthine series of underground walkways that stretch for kilometres under the heart of downtown and they called it the fucking PATH. like how much more ominous could that even be. It doesn’t even stand for anything it’s just the PATH, all caps. What fucking fae named this artisanal bakery maze.
“PATH is downtown Toronto’s enclosed pedestrian walkway linking 29 kilometres of shopping, services and entertainment connecting Toronto Coach Terminal to Maple Leaf Square/Air Canada Centre. The Acronym (PATH)doesnotstand for anything - just signals that there is a pathway.”
Like I always lose my mind at this. If it doesn’t stand for anything it’s not an acronym Toronto!!Toronto!!!!!!!!!
Copying my tags:
I’m not exaggerating about the part without a ceiling:
This is, by the way, right under Bay & Bloor, dead centre of the city and some of the most expensive real estate in Canada. It radiates an incredible aura of menace.
Okay far more poeple have reblogged this than I thought and I just wanted to clarify- the horror of the PATH is not that it all looks like a spooky basement where you’re about to get murdered. There ARE spots like that, but to understand the ~vibe~ of the PATH, you have to understand that it is essentially one very large mall co-designed by like, 70+ different corperations who all have different aesthetics. SO, the PATH looks like that, but it alsolooks like this
and like this
and like this
and like this
Here’s an entrance to the PATH at Union
And here’s another- alsoat Union
And here’s another a few blocks away, though tbh I have never been able to enter here because it always seems to be locked, no matter how much I want Wendy’s that day.
And you’d thinkthese mixed aesthetics would make it easier to navigate, or at least figure out whereyou are, but again, there are over 70 different entities designing this shit and not one original thought between them. So while you may well know when you step from one property to the next, whatever the look of your current section it’s more than likely they’re a nigh identical section somewhere further just to confound your mortal sense.
Basically, everyone tagging this with the Magnus Archives is very correct- If any place on earth could be the true domain of the Spiral it’s the PATH, and it’s just a shame Jonny didn’t know about it before the show wrapped up.
Oh my God
It’s actually a great illustration of the failures of capitalism. The PATH isn’t something designed by the city, instead each building has their own section. And because of that, the signage isn’t just inconsistent, it’s actively hostile to you leaving that section. Every incentive points towards keeping you in that one area and not making it easy to find another building.
Also one time I tried to leave the PATH at night through a small set of double doors and while the doors leading to a small atrium opened, the doors leading to the outside were locked, and had I not caught the first doors before they closed I would’ve been trapped in an unheated 2m square between-space, neither in the PATH nor out of it, overnight
I agree that the PATH is a pain to navigate, and indeed designed to keep you locked in a never-ending spiral of consumerism and despair, but it’s possible to get from point A to point B with a reasonable degree of success by navigating via corporate landmarks rather than streets or cardinal directions.
First you need a map of the place, either save one on your phone or take a photo the first time you find one in person (they are infrequent and hidden, again the PATH does not want you to leave, but they do exist). You want one of the stylized, simplified PATH maps, google maps is too literal and has no power here.
Then you need to chart your course via official Capitalist Approved Building Names, using the lines that indicate which are connected. Say you’re traveling from Union Station to the Sheraton Hotel, where they’re hosting a lovely tabletop gaming convention. Your PATH-path becomes Royal Bank Plaza (South Tower > North Tower) > Toronto-Dominion Centre (TD Waterhouse Tower > TD Dominion Bank Tower > Royal Trust Tower) > First Canadian Place > Exchange Tower > 130 Adelaide West > Richmond Adelaide Complex > Victory Building/Sheraton Centre Hotel. The key is to look only for signage for the NEXT step in your journey; you will not find signs for 130 Adelaide in the Royal Bank Plaza, but you should find them in the Exchange Tower. Ignore cardinal directions and street signs, they cannot help you now.
This method also works in the Montreal RESO, and probably other capitalist maze-hells that keep you out of the freezing cold. It usually gets me where I need to be as a tourist, though not always at great speed.
