as I walk Toronto

long awaited ride to Kennedy

Posted: April 22, 2026 in construction, public art, transportation
Tags: construction, Eglinton Ave East, Louie Witthöft, LRT, Metrolinx, people, redevelopment, Rodney Latourelle, Sarah Morris, Scarborough, streetcar, trains, TTC

As everyone knows, the Eglinton LRT took FOREVER to plan, build, and test. Way back in June 2021, I posted about going to Kennedy and Eglinton to see the first LRT trains being tested (On a mission to Kennedy station). Little did we know then that it would be almost five years later before the trains came into service.

below: Some of the stations have artwork (six of them I think). This is the glass and mirror installation at Eglinton, “Light from Within” by Louise Witthöft & Rodney Latourelle (Witthöft Latourelle)

below: There is also some colour at Don Valley station (formerly known as the Science Centre). “Total Luna Eclipse” by Sarah Morris is a series of circles and overlapping circles in bright colours.

below: This is the interior of the concourse level on one of the subway stations along the Eglinton line. I am not sure which one it is because they all look the same. White everywhere, with an elevator in the middle.

below: Waiting on the platform at Don Valley, the last underground station before the tracks surface on their way eastward towards Kennedy.

below: My apologies Scarborough, but you are rather dull to look at from this angle….

below: But most of us don’t ride transit for the scenery

Nothing really exciting but there is definitely a sense of relief that it’s finally open. It took too long and cost too much but it’s running….

In a lot of ways, the tracks running down the middle of Eglinton Avenue create a wall, especially for pedestrians. For better or worse though, this section of Eglinton has never been pedestrian friendly. It has been designed for cars. And that’s probably not going to change in the near future.

But the coming of the LRT will affect development along Eglinton (or rather, has already started to affect development).

below: 1900 Eglinton East – From shopping center with lots of parking, to four mixed use buildings up to 48 storeys high. Will the slow down in the condo market affect this? If you are interested in this, it is application number 19208733ESC21OZ and the link takes you to the relevant City of Toronto webpage (Good luck!).

below: At 1911 and 1921, out with the old and in with 8 buildings, 4 towers, a park, and 2 new streets. This is almost right across the street from the picture above (between Pharmacy and Warden). The application wasn’t completed until Nov 2025 so not much is going to happen here for a long time yet.

Redevelopment in Toronto is slow. This plaza (strip mall) at Kennedy and Eglinton was already boarded up in 2021. It looks a little scruffier and a little rougher now but otherwise, not much has changed in five years.

Construction along Eglinton East continues as Metrolinx builds the Scarborough Subway extension. This section of subway is an extension of the Bloor-Danforth line and will run from Kennedy station, east along Eglinton past Brimley before turning north. It ends at Sheppard and McCowan. Back in 2023 I visited that intersection and I posted some photos – Intersections – McCowan and Sheppard

below: Eglinton at Midland, looking northeast (on a rainy day).

constant companions

Posted: April 21, 2026 in people
Tags: buses, coffee shops, looking, people, phones, sitting, subway, talking, TTC

Maybe it’s like shooting fish in a barrel – taking pictures of people on their phones as they are out and about in the city…. sometimes by themselves and sometimes with friends and family. But always with a phone in their hand. Ubiquitous. Addictive. Constant. So for the past few months I have been taking a look at our relationship with those phones (and our surroundings) while we are out in public. It’s still a work in progress and yes, some photos are not as interesting as the others. This is a few of what I have so far…..

below: A book!

below: “Live and let live”

Myth and Legend

Posted: April 20, 2026 in galleries
Tags: AGO, Art Gallery of Ontario, boats, David Blackwood, etchings, Flora S. Nickerson, icebergs, print, printmaker, Rostellan

Prints by Canadian artist David Blackwood at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Blackwood (1941-2022) was born and raised in Newfoundland. This retrospective exhibit features more than eighty of his prints and drawings. Most of the prints are etchings. In a couple of cases, a series of prints shows the development of a finished piece. The images are very much Newfoundland and Labrador with sailing ships and large icebergs playing a big role. There are lots of people in boats!

below: “Passing Under the Rostellan”, 2013, etching and aquaprint. The final copies had a reddish sky.

below: “Wedding on Deer Island”, 2020, etching, aquatint & watercolour.

below: “The Flora Nickerson in the Labrador Sea”. The Flora S. Nickerson was a schooner owned by the Blackwood family. David Blackwood’s father and grandfather were mariners as were many other ancestors. This boat appears in many of Blackwood’s prints – a boat that he sailed on many times as a child.

below: “The Great Peace of Brian and Martin Winsor”, 1985

below: If you look closely at the bottom portion of the above image, I think that you get a better look at the two Winsor men (and their rifles)…..

below: …But if you check the details at the top of the print, you find a small empty boat – presumably belonging to the men. There is certainly a story being told here!

This fascinating exhibit is still on (as I type this) and will continue until 26 July 2026.

Biscuit Lane

Posted: April 18, 2026 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, Bert, cartoon characters, cartoons, city, CN Tower, downtown, Garfield, graffiti, Inspector Gadget, Jessica Rabbit, lane, murals, Ness Lee, pink panther, pop culture, roadrunner, Rogers Centre, Thomas the Anonymous, Tweetie bird, Wiley Coyote, Woody Woodpecker

Biscuit Lane runs behind the east side of Yonge Street for one block, running south from Charles Street. It was named Biscuit in honour of William Christie (1829-1900), the man behind Mr. Christie cookies. A young William Christie started his career working for another baker, William McConnell whose shop was on Yonge Street in this area. According to Wikipedia, Christie was paid $4.00 per month plus given room and board – he baked at night and then delivered the baked goods by handcart to customers in nearby Yorkville. After two years he left McConnell to work at another bakery in the same neighbourhood.

It is a short, narrow lane with street art murals now on both sides.

below: A Toronto mural in a Toronto alley.

below: More Toronto, painted by Thomas the Anonynous

below: “I’ll always be here with you!”

below:Cartoon characters & Pop culture references! Bert doesn’t look too comfortable!

below: Inspector Gadget, one of the Smurfs, Betty Boop, Tweety Bird looking angry, Goofy isn’t sure what’s happening, Launchpad McQuack, and Droopy Dog.

below: Marge Simpson with her enormous blue hair, Yogi Bear, Jessica Rabbit, Bert, Woody Woodpecker, Little Hiawatha, The Mask and Huckleberry Hound.

below: Along one wall is a large mural by Ness Lee – women with long hair

below: Looking north on Biscuit Lane

below: Wanted poster for what looks like the Pink Panther in black hat and shades. Wanted for “harbouring stool pigeons near sanctuary”

below: “Wanted for keeping it 2 real”. Marvin the Martian?

below: …. and even more (with some repeats)….. A smug Pink Panther and a concussed Sylvester…. Beep! Beep!

below: It’s the alphabet all jumbled up in many colours, many ‘fonts’, and many sizes.

below: Superhero time! Superman, Spiderman, and more.

Children of Europe

Posted: April 15, 2026 in galleries
Tags: black and white, children, Chim, David Seymour, Europe, Image Centre, photography, post war, TMU, UNESCO

The previous post, Face of Time, was about the recent Magnum Photos exhibit at TMU’s Image Centre. There was another exhibit of post war photographs that was shown at the same time. This second set were taken by David “Chim” Seymour (a co-founder of Magnum Photos) and they feature some of the 13,000,000 orphaned or abandoned European children. His work was commissioned by UNESCO and took him to Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Poland, and Hungary. Seymour was Polish, born Dawid Szymin (1911-1956); he died in Egypt at the close of the Suez Crisis.

below: Some of David Seymour’s photos ended up in the UNESCO publication “Courier”. This is the front cover of the February 1949 edition, with the headline ‘The Children of Europe’. The photo was taken in a Warsaw orphanage. The printed story starts with: “Europe is a stone wilderness and the smoke which has since long lifted from the last war still discloses a shattered continent. Where it is not shattered physically, it is hurt within its mind and its courage for life. The child groping his way out of the ruins must make his way to life now in this Europe.”

below: “Millions of children first knew life amid death and destruction.”

below: Rehab hospital, Vienna Austria

below: We can also make clothes for ourselves, and we’ll learn to print our own books.”

below: Ionanina Greece

below: Tuberculosis Sanitorium, Otwock Poland

“Children of Europe” is online on a UNESCO website

Face of Time

Posted: April 11, 2026 in galleries
Tags: Dalmatia, documentary, Erich Lessing, Ernest Haas, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Image Centre, Inge Morath, Jean Marquis, Mahatma Gandhi, Marc Riboud, monochrome, photography, Robert Capa, TMU

Face of Time, or in German, Gesicht der Zeit, was a photography exhibition that was shown in Europe in 1955. Afterwards, it was packed away and forgotten in an Innsbruck basement for fifty years. The participating photographers were early members of Magnum Photos, a collective of documentary photographers that had been formed in 1947. A selection of these images have been used to create a renewed ‘Face of Time’ and features photos by Robert Capa, Jean Marquis, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Erich Lessing, Inge Morath, Marc Riboud, and Ernst Haas.

below: By Erich Lessing (1923-2018), Vienna Boys Choir 1955.

below: Ernest Haas (1921-1986). Haas was the on-set photographer for 1955 film ‘Land of the Pharaohs’ that was filmed in Egypt.

below: Jean Marquis (1926-2019), both pictures taken in Hungary in 1954

below: Henri Cartier-Bresson’s (1908-2004) photos of Mahatma Gandhi

“To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It’s a way of life.”
– Henri Cartier-Bresson

below: Marc Riboud (1923-2016), photos taken in Dalmatia region of Yugoslavia (now Croatia) – scenes of post-war rural life, working in the fields, spinning wool, and meeting at a cattle market.

below: A few images taken by the lone woman photographer in the exhibit, Inge Morath (1923-2002) – all taken in London England.

below: And last, but not least, by Robert Capa. He died in 1954 when he stepped on a landmine in Vietnam while working on a feature for “life” magazine. The photo show here is a village festival in Basque country.

Originally shown at the TMU Image Centre at the end of 2025, it remained until 4th April of this year. Unfortunately the exhibit is now over and the centre is closed while it prepares for next month’s exhibits. May has been CONTACT Photography Festival month here in Toronto for quite a few years now and one of the events is a showing by the previous years winner of the Scotiabank Photography Award at the TMU Image Centre. Last year’s winner, and this this year’s feature photographer is Dawit L. Petros.

Sir Paul, his photos, and his band

Posted: March 26, 2026 in galleries
Tags: AGO. Art Gallery of Ontario, Beatles, George Harrison, history, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, photography, photos, Ringo Starr

One of the latest exhibits at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is a collection of photographs and videos from 1964. But not just any photos. This collection features the Beatles and centers on their first visit to the USA in 1964. The videos are famous ones – the interview at the airport when they first arrived in New York City as well as videos from their performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Sprinkled throughout the exhibit are a number of pictures that Paul McCartney took – pictures of the paparazzi that followed them, of the people and crowds that they encountered, the other Beatles, as well as a few of the cities around them.

below: A series of three selfies that McCartney took in Paris in 1964. The bathroom mirror technique?

below: John Lennon, Paris, 1964, taken by Paul McCartney

below: George Harrison, NYC, 1964

below: Slide show of colour photos of the Beatles taken in Miami in 1964

below: One wall was devoted to a “contact sheet” style of print. Most of them were from their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York City, February 1964.

below: Watching the video taken at the airport when they first arrived in New York City, 1964

below: New York City views

There was a small section of the exhibit that showed some video from when the Beatles played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

The exhibit continues until 7 June 2026

winter stations, wet stations

Posted: March 23, 2026 in public art, waterfront
Tags: art, art installations, Chimera, Crest, Embrace, Glaciate, Lake Ontario, lifeguard stations, sand, Specularia, waterfront, winter, Woodbine Beach

The 12th annual Winter Stations installation at Ashbridges Bay and Woodbine Beach is nearing the end of its six week run. I visited it recently on a rather forlorn grey and wet morning.

below: Along the boardwalk – two little black blips in the distance

below: A little closer, to see two hands facing each other. Another couple with their umbrella, and me with mine. The lifeguard station in the middle looks a bit awkward don’t you think?

below: So…. what can we do about it?

below: ‘Embrace’ consists of two large hands made with layers of black wood. The edges of the layers are painted in bright rainbow colours. It was designed by Will Cuthbert.

below: The next installation is Crest, also made of wood.

below: Curved pieces of wood connect with amazing geometry to form a simple yet complex three dimensional structure. It could be a pile of driftwood if seen from afar while closer up it looks like a wave about to break and crash to the shore. The design team responsible for ‘Crest’ is from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and the Department of Architectural Engineering

below: There seems to be a few features that popular “stations” have that re-appear year after year. One of these is a window that looks out over the lake – this is one of the 2026 windows as found on ‘Specularia’. The twist is that the windows are actually boxes with mirrors angled inside, like a periscope. The view from the five windows is quite different depending on the angle of the mirror.

below: Another popular feature is the presence of “flappy or dangly” bits like fabric or rope. This installation, ‘Specularia’, incorporates this too! This is not to belittle the creativity of the artist (TORNADO SOUP: Andrew Clark) – I quite like the installation and the interactive possibilities here (just need to add people!).

below: While we’re on the subject of repeated elements, let’s consider the popularity of reflective surfaces. They are always fun to play with too! Here is ‘chimera’, designed by Denys Horodnyak & Enzo Zak Lux. It’s a four sided structure and each side is made of a grid of convex circular mirrors.

below: These polycarbonate panels are filled with water that freezes when the temperatures plummet – hence the name “Glaciate”. But it’s difficult to make ice when it’s raining! It probably have looked a bit different just a few days ago when we had snow and colder temperatures.

below: A couple of panels have come off but otherwise the installation has stood up well (…actually, they all have been quite robust). The panels form a nice little maze of passageways to explore.

Glaciate is the result of a collaboration between a group from Toronto Metropolitan University Department of Architectural Science and one associated with Ming Chuan University School of Design in Taiwan.

snow day scenery!

Posted: January 31, 2026 in alleys, nature, people
Tags: Allen Road, buses, Cedarvale station, East Lynn Park, Eglinton Ave., Eglinton station, Ossington, people, Reggae Lane, snow, subway, TTC

Subtitle: Take the Long Way Home

The snow started falling on Sunday morning and it just kept on coming. In the end, there was a record amount of snow that fell in most parts of the city with a reported 46 cm at Pearson Airport and 56cm downtown. Luckily Monday was clearer and the city had a chance to begin to shovel out.

Not surprisingly, there were TTC problems especially on the subway.

below: Waiting for a shuttle bus because there was no subway between Eglinton and Bloor. Too any people and not enough buses!

So – Change of plan, back into Eglinton station to wait for a bus – let’s try heading west instead of south!

Eglinton West station is now called Cedarvale. There is a new subway entrance – actually it’s probably at least a couple of years old now but it’s never been used. It was built for the new Eglinton Crosstown LRT that MIGHT open in February. Rumour says opening 8th February, counter-rumour says that’s not true….

The old round concrete station is still in operation.

Interior shot – boring brown tiles on the wall, very 1970s concrete ceiling, and no people headed down to subway level…..

… because there is also no subway here either! This is the view northward up the Allen Road. There are not a lot of cars on the road. The center section, i.e. the train tracks, are still covered with snow.

… So back on the bus to go south again! At least I didn’t have a deadline to meet or an appointment to get too. I was just looking for interesting snow pics. Schools were closed and many people were working from home so there weren’t a lot of other people traveling with me. Still, I am sure that there were many people who had a frustrating time getting around the city on Monday.

What follows are some of the pictures that I took as I explored a few parts of the city.

below: Reggae Lane (near Eglinton West and Oakwood)

below: Looking east on St. Clair West at Oakwood.

below: Not the best day for the Take-out Window!

below: Buried?!

below: Shoveling out – a scene repeated over and over again across the city.

below: Buried trash

below: No school! East Lynn Park was busy though…

below: And after sledding, what better than a visit to the local coffee shop….

below: Others were out looking for employment opportunities….

below: Plowed bike lanes!

below: But this bike isn’t going anywhere!

below: More Love (and orange snowflakes) at 981

below: Tana Printing and Toronto Coin Laundry, Oakwood Ave

below: Peter’s Variety and the Primrose Bagel Company (with smoked fish and soups too!).

below: When you spend time on buses and in bus shelters you encounter some strange things, like this paper “What is the Mark of the Beast? Central bank digital currency payment through face or hand system to be implemented by Antichrist during Tribulation period.” Do you feel more informed now? A little wiser even?

below: Thank you to all the TTC bus drivers that kept the city moving that day! By afternoon those buses were looking a little dirty to say the least….

the smaller stuff too

Posted: January 16, 2026 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: April Showers Art, broke canvas, Cartoon Car slaps, catchoo, Cecil Tian, Clem Crevetz, Colin Green, D7606, Frances Sousa, graffiti, Graffiti Alley, heart, painting, paste ups, poser, rat, rat race, rider waitress, sentient cookie, slaps, spray paint, stickers, stikman, street art, T-bonez, Tamm Shinzo, trp613, urban art, urban ninja squardon, visual noise

…in Graffiti Alley

My previous post was also about a walk down a section of Graffiti Alley (Spadina to Portland). This post is from the same walk – because there were so many images that I wanted to share, I decided to divide the fun into two parts. This second part takes a closer look at some of the smaller pieces.

below: Peeling paper hands…. A 33wallflower33 group of three women in their dashing outfits … and a charming man with devil’s horns and red glasses.

below: Although it’s getting more difficult to see, there’s a Poser rabbit by the door. The door is disappearing behind a layer or two of paper and paint.

below: There is a little pink stikman on the light above the door.

below: Once upon a time this skinny little guy was pink but ooops, a layer of paint and now he’s prematurely grey.

below: In her face – another stikman

below: Last stikman for today… sometimes you find them tucked away in hard to see places.

below: Party line? Four hands phone.

below: A bleeding heart, a pansy flower, and a woman with a red hat and big ear rings.

below: Polly wants a cracker before she takes over the world, or at least that’s what she told me.

below: A young woman with blue lipstick and jagged pink make up on her cheeks. A spiked collar is around her neck. Make of it what you will.

below: Another young woman, this time she’s a little softer (at least in appearance) – drawn by Catchoo.

below: Multiple Sailor dudes (trp613) in two varieties hanging out with a happy little catchoo critter and its smiley daisy balloon.

below: “Save me”!

below: It looks like catchoo has been busy.

below: More of that wall.

below: Darth Vader makes an appearance too. Who’s that man peeking through the hole?

below: One flower sprouts a bald person while the other produces a sunny orb. That black octopus doesn’t look very happy – perhaps in this winter weather it needs more than just a woolly toque.

below: There are those women again!

below: Dogma slaps standing tall in his puffy jacket and bright red mitts.

below: Riding a D7606 crayon – T-bonez always finds new adventures.

below: A collaboration between Tamm Shinzo and April Showers Art produced this little round piece – sitting on top of the clouds with the moon shining over her shoulder.

below: Cryptid Supremacy – a rat with a very long tail

below: More rats, this time “the rat race is rigged”. Also another skull (skulls are very popular!), this time by Broke Canvas (aka Colin Green) on yellow. And third, is it a rainbow or a very sad face? – slap by Rider Waitress (aka Frances Sousa)

below: While we’re dealing with rats – Squee! They are all fleeing from an NYC trash can. Don’t litter!

below: Another small collection – Catchoo shows up on a soy sauce bottle while a Sentient Cookie (aka Cecil Tian) character gets taped to the wall… remember that banana?! And last, in the top left corner, a Cartoon Car Slaps.