I find most American cities have downtown cores that shut down after 6pm, like you said it did in Seattle. This has been true in pretty much every US city that my friends and family have been to, with the exception of New York and Las Vegas. It's not like Toronto, and I assume Victoria, where people actually live in the downtown core and want to. It doesn't seem to be this way in any of the Canadian cities I know of. I wonder what the difference is?
Actually, there's usually a distinction in Canadian cities between the commercial downtown, and "social downtown". In Ottawa, for example, there's downtown proper around Metcalfe and Queen/Laurier. Those are where the business people and government workers hang out from 7 AM to about 6 PM. But after about 5, it's empty and shuts down completely. But, instead, the Byward Market, which is about 6-7 blocks away, comes alive and bustles. It's a shopping district with lots of bars and clubs and restaurants and boutiques, as well as residences.
Victoria is similar with Downtown vs. Government Street/Wharf Street. Vancouver has a similar phenomenon with its downtown vs. Granville Island. Toronto, as far as I know, has its cultural centre closer to Dundas and Yonge, which is coincidentally close to the downtown core.
Not sure if this extends to most Canadian cities. People DO live close to Seattle's downtown, but I don't know if there's anything like a big restaurant/clubing district.
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Victoria is similar with Downtown vs. Government Street/Wharf Street. Vancouver has a similar phenomenon with its downtown vs. Granville Island. Toronto, as far as I know, has its cultural centre closer to Dundas and Yonge, which is coincidentally close to the downtown core.
Not sure if this extends to most Canadian cities. People DO live close to Seattle's downtown, but I don't know if there's anything like a big restaurant/clubing district.
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