Back in the day this was essentially our go to place for times of truancy. Today it's not anything like it was when we were young(er) and (less) foolish.
This open space is for me best described as the poor man's Time's Square. On a commercialized level you have your larger than life bill boards with special designs some unique to the area. They change all the time right? In this big and open space you have a more open area than Times Sq though IMO. It's not as tight or verticle and more sunny than shady.
The YD Square is your south east corner of Yonge and Dundas. City TV is visible from the near Victoria street and Dundas area. The live studio has been in this area for years now since moving from the building at Queen and John. The open area is a place for concerts for the public or smaller events where food is cooked.
There are some tickets to venues being sold closer to the Dundas northern part of the square mirroring the somewhat TKTS stand in Times Square. There are however not any photo panderers like in Times Square I've seen. There are no Wolverine or Spider-man or Batman superheros. There are no Silver Man or Naked Cowboys playing guitar seeking gratuities for photos being taken.
Yonge and Dundas Square for the most part is just a big open concrete piece of prime real estate. Only a few times have I seen something of significance going on here but then again I don't go to the city very often.
It's nice to have an open space in the city but some green would have been nice... today it's still a poor man's Times Square and there's even a theater or two nearby.
Anything that's big and needs a large city square is at Nathan Phillips Square in front of city hall instead of this place.
Still this place has a lot of memories for me but mostly before it was what it is now when the coin op arcades were still on Yonge and the corner was that jean store.
YDQ has changed so much just like 42nd street in NYC but it is much more cleaner and touristy now than before because Yonge and Dundas is a very lively part of town.