as I walk Toronto

Studio District

Posted: May 27, 2018 in general Toronto, graffiti and street art, history, locations
Tags: babylon, bike, blueprints, construction, fence, Gales Snack Bar, houses, mural, omen, residential, rust, street scene, street sign, studio, studio district, Tasty Restaurant, tree, yards

Eastern Avenue, the Studio District apparently. This is east of Broadview.

This weekend is Doors Open Toronto – one of the buildings that I toured was Filmport – not very interesting actually when studios and sets are closed to the public. I did get to see some of the rooms where the actors hang out when they’re not filming and where they have lunch. ‘Kim’s Convenience’ is filming there at the moment.

below: Two older buildings. In the foreground is Consumers Gas Building, now home to Avenue Rugs. In the background is one of two identical buildings now used by the City of Toronto. 433 Eastern Avenue is one of four sites in the city – here they house street cleaners and other city trucks, they monitor traffic, and produce street signs like the one at the top of this blog post (transportation services) – for the southeastern part of the city. Other city departments also have offices here.

The next three photos are from the same mural. It was painted in 2016 by Omen with help from Five8, Horus, and Peru. It tells the story of city building, from the planning stages – blueprints and architectural drawings, through the construction phase to the final product.

below: The Tasty Restaurant sign is still there although it is now missing the round coca-cola discs at each end. Someone must have realized that they were worth something. All the red from the sign is gone and the words have turned to rust. Does anyone have any idea how long ago this restaurant went out of business?

below: Another oldie but goodie, Gales Snack Bar. More than 80 years old in fact.

below: A closer look reveals a closed sign in the window. It’s still in business but I was there too early. On Saturdays it doesn’t open until noon so I just missed it. Next time!

below: What’s hiding in the grass? A blue fish? A pink flamingo? A Christmas wreath?

There are a surprising number of houses between Queen East and the Lakeshore (Eastern runs parallel to those street, in between them) in this area. Most are old but well looked after and many of those that have seen rough times are being renovated and fixed up.

below: This photo was taken from the parking lot of the old Weston bakery on Eastern Avenue. The site is about to be developed into condos. The Wonder Condos. With Wonder being written like the word on the loaf of bread. That bland white bread.

below: A vacant lot waiting for its turn.

below: The Portlands Railway Spur, looking east from Morse Street and along Lakeshore Blvd.

I didn’t find Babylon

below: .. but I found a bike. Did anyone lose one? Beware of bike eating trees!

signs of the bygone times

Posted: May 25, 2018 in history, locations
Tags: dials, factory, faded, Harbour East, Lakeshore, Lever Brothers, old, peeling, Ponds, redevelopment, rusty, signs, soap, Unilever

From Lever Brothers soap factory to Unilever to East Harbour development… In the 1890’s, Lever Brothers of Britain built a soap factory at the foot of the Don River. Lever Brothers eventually became part of Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch conglomerate. In 2002 Unilever sold the Toronto factory, but not the land, to Pensler Capital Corp of New Jersey. From the National Post: ” Mr. Pensler renamed the company “Korex.” He froze workers’ wages. They lost their Unilever pensions. In 2008, Mr. Pensler offered a contract which workers said stripped seniority and benefits. About 160 workers walked out; in August, 2009, Korex Don Valley declared bankruptcy.”

The development company, First Gulf Corp., bought the 14-hectare site from Unilever Canada back in 2012. Although there are plans to redevelop the site, nothing has happened yet.

below: The sign says “Drivers, do not exceed 10 psi when unloading T.P.P. hexahydrate.

The building is mostly empty. You can rent space inside if you have about $10,000/day to spend. The grounds are kept fairly clean but the signs of neglect and age are everywhere. There are other interesting bits and pieces left over from the site’s industrial past, but I have chosen to literally focus on the signs today.

below: No more phoning to get into the warehouse.

below: Some signs have left very few traces.

below: It’s not easy to read, but the sign in the foreground is a warning about speed bumps.

switching into summer

Posted: May 23, 2018 in people
Tags: cat, dog, downtown, drummer, fountains, Graffiti Alley, hugs, men, nathan phillips square, outdoors, people, phones, posing, selfies, stroller, sunny, walking, warm, water, women, Yonge Street

The weather’s been all over the place, warm, cold, hot, cold again, back and forth…. like May weather usually is. We were fortunate to have great weather this past holiday Monday and a lot of people took advantage of the day! As I walked around, this is some of what I saw.

back to Bulwer Street

Posted: May 22, 2018 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: David Suzuki, Elicser, horus, Indigo, Kevin Ledo, love letters to the Great Lakes, murals, sightone, stikman, street art, Toronto Hydro, vandel

Almost two years ago I wrote about the murals and street art on Bulwer street. Somethings have changed and some of the murals have disappeared. For instance, the area bounded by Bulwer, Soho and Queen streets is now a construction site instead of a parking lot. I walked here yesterday, a holiday Monday, and discovered that there were no parked cars blocking views of the street art. I also discovered a tour group stopping to talk about something on the street but I was too far away to hear what they were talking about (something about bricks on the buildings?)

below: An unobstructed view of the David Suzuki and Atlantic salmon mural by Kevin Ledo, painted in 2016 as part of the “Love Letters to the Great Lakes” mural project.

below: The mural, a collaboration between Elicser and Indigo, hasn’t fared as well. As you can see, the bottom portion has sadly been tagged over.

below: Part of a mural by horus.

below: A 2017 creation by sightone, breakin’ atoms, a memorial to Vandel.

below: A collection of items attached to the schoolyard fence. Metal pans and a shoe form?

below: The CN Tower, a metal staircase, and some graffiti. The back building looks very old, especially the windows.

below: Another bit of “old” is this Toronto Hydro building with its very high fence and gate. Is it still in use?

One last little bit – this stikman is still here – weathered but still standing. Once upon a time he was covered with a circuit board design but that layer has peeled away. Aging but ageless.

ravines & greenery, long weekend edition

Posted: May 21, 2018 in graffiti and street art, nature
Tags: blossoms, blue jay, buds, bushes, chair, cherry tree, chipmunk, crab apple, creek, fallen trees, fly, fungi, Japanese maple, leaves, monuments, Mt. Pleasant cemetery, prunus serrulata, shrubs, street art, trees, under rbidge, water, Yellow Creek

Happy Victoria Day!
Happy 2 4 long weekend.
More correctly, I hope that you had a good weekend!

This blog post is the result of a walk through Mt. Pleasant cemetery, down the ravine behind Yonge Street that goes under St. Clair East and the Summerhill railway bridge. After crossing Mt. Pleasant Road, take the right at the fork in the path to go uphill on Milkman Lane. This brings you out of the ravine close to Glen Road. Follow Glen Road south to Sherbourne subway station.

below: Lots of shades of red, green, and yellow in the cemetery.

I will dedicate this post to the man that I met on the path near the St. Clair bridge. He had many questions about the path and where it went. He was in awe that such a place existed in the city and was so excited to find it. He couldn’t linger though because he was on a break from work.

below: Blossoms on an Arnolds crab apple tree, Malus X Arnoldiana (the tree had a label, cemetery)

below: Dense clusters of fragile pink and white petals on a Japanese Flowering Cherry Prunus Serrulata.

below: The chains of humankind? Or something creepier? Please don’t put anything like this on my tombstone regardless of what they symbolism might be!

below: It was very quiet and surprisingly green on the path. I had procrastinated about walking in the ravines because I didn’t think that spring was far enough along. Surprise! Spring has sprung very quickly – the leaves have been popping out all over the place. May is a fantastic month – everything comes alive so quickly.

below: Walking on Park Drive, under Glen Road, following the Yellow Creek.

below: It looks like a throne under the bridge!

below: Yellow Creek, near St. Clair.

below: Wildlife!

below: Fungi growing out of a rotting log on the forest floor.

below: Mushrooms of a more colourful variety

below: Under St. Clair.

below: I didn’t see any real ones that day. You can spot this one close to Sherbourne subway station.

Bring on summer!

a Yorkville meander with Captain Canuck, Batman and a mountie or two

Posted: May 16, 2018 in galleries, locations
Tags: Adrian Dingle, Alter Ego, Amyn Nasser, batman, bear, Brendan Meadows, Captain Canuck, Christopher Woodcock, church, city, City Obscure, clock, firehall, flag, Heliconian Hall, hoardings, ice fishing, Ipseity, Liss Gallery, Lomas Gallery, mannequins, mountie, music scene, Nelvana of the North, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, new york, park, Patrick Amiot, photographer, photography, photos, plaque, posters, sculpture, spring, Toronto Reference Library, tower, tpl, trees, urban

It’s still May and the CONTACT Photography Festival is still on so I am still trying to see as much as possible. Yesterday afternoon I went wandering in Yorkville where there is lots to see and do besides a couple of CONTACT exhibits.

below: Captain Canuck. I started with the TD Gallery at the Toronto Reference Library. It wasn’t that long ago that I was there (April I think) but the exhibit has changed. It is now ‘Alter Ego: Comics and Canadian Identity’. Isn’t Captain Canuck the most famous Canadian superhero? He first appeared in 1975.

below: Not so well known – The cover of the book ‘Nelvana of the Northern Lights’ by Adrian Dingle (1911-1974). Nelvana was Canada’s first female superhero; she first appeared in 1941, a few months before (American) Wonder Woman. Nelvana’s superpowers included turning invisible and traveling at the speed of light along a ray of the Northern Lights. According to Wikipedia, she “visited lost kingdoms under the ice, journeyed to other dimensions, and fought against the Axis Powers during World War II, eventually taking on the secret identity of secret agent Alana North. Her last adventure was published in 1947.

below: This structure was built in 1876 as a Carpenter Gothic Revival Style church – the Olivet Congregational Church. It has been the home of the Heliconian Club since 1923. This women only club was formed in 1909 and is still active today supporting women in the arts. There is a photo exhibit on there at the moment but viewing is by appointment only (it is a club not a gallery after all).

below: For CONTACT, the Lomas Gallery on Yorkville Ave is featuring a few large photos of cityscapes that are full of tall buildings. The one behind the red couch is ‘NoMad New York’ by Christopher Woodcock.

below: On the wall beside is ‘[a]DCLXI’ by Amyn Nasser.

below: It’s not a sculpture or a statue, but this red faced mannequin caught my eye. Maybe next time he’ll remember his sunscreen.

below: The clock tower of the Yorkville firehall. One side seems to missing its clock face.

below: Brendan Meadows’ black and white portraits hang on the walls of the Liss Gallery in an exhibit titled ‘Ipseity’. These were printed as silver gelatin selenium-toned lith prints by Bob Carnie from negatives made from digital images. The images were also manipulated with the Sabatier effect (solarization); this results in an image that is wholly or partially reversed in tone. Dark areas appear light or light areas appear dark.

below: Posters on hoardings add a little life at street level to the construction sites in the area. This set features businesses and sites in the area including the ROM.

below: Some colourful art deco style posters.

below: Prepared for anything! With a yellow duckie, handcuffs and binoculars, Batman and his Robin hand puppet prepare to take on the forces of evil! These are sculptures by Patrick Amiot.

below: Part of the Miraim Schiell gallery is devoted to Amiot’s work.

below: This large RCMP mountie and his dog stand behind the gallery.

below: Enjoying the wonderful spring afternoon on Cumberland.

below: Oh.. that second mountie that I alluded to in the title of this post – he was on the wall at the Alter Ego exhibit. This one. Just don’t call him Dudley Do-Right.

below: This is either ironic or sad. The first few lines of text say “In the the 1960s and 1970s, Yorkville village was the heart of Canada’s bohemian, counterculture community”. As I took this picture a new Bentley with dealer plates drove past. I looked around and the ‘counterculture’ of 40 to 50 years ago has been replaced by designer boutiques, high end stores, fine art galleries, and restaurants with linen napkins. Not a lot of music happening here. Full transcription is below.

“In the the 1960s and 1970s, Yorkville village was the heart of Canada’s bohemian, counterculture community. More than 40 clubs and coffee houses nightly featured folksingers-songwriters, including Ian & Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young, who performed some of their first compositions in these smoky venues.
Yorkville’s first coffee house, Club 71, was opened by Werner Graeber in 1959. By 1964, Yorkville had become a nurturing environment not only for folk music, but also for pop, blues, and later, psychedelic rock. Hippies and teenagers flocked to these unlicensed venues, which offered an alternative to Yonge Street bars.
Yorkville was also home to three sound-recording studios, taping major acts such as The Guess Who, Lighthouse, and Ann Murray. With its vital role in fostering a wealth of talent, the Yorkville scene inspired a generation of songwriters and led to the rise of a new Canadian sound.”

spring, across the water

Posted: May 15, 2018 in locations, nature, old buildings, waterfront
Tags: abandoned, baby geese, blossoms, boats, breakwater, cameras, catkins, Centre Island, cherry trees, ferry, flowers, geese, houses, Lake Ontario, nature, path, people, pictures, pier, red alder, reflections, sailboats, sakura, spring, Toronto Islands, trees, Ward's Island, water, willow trees

A trip to Toronto Islands on a sunny spring day.
Photos and stories – an eclectic mix of history and nature that resulted from wandering around the eastern portion of the islands.

below: From the ferry, looking toward the glass and steel of the city.

Toronto Islands is a collection of at least 12 small islands. In the early years the island archipelago was really a peninsula of sandbars and ponds; it was connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of sandy shoreline. This landform was created over centuries by the action of waves, winds and lake currents – washing away portions of the Scarborough Bluffs and depositing this material to the west in a five-mile-long hooked shape. This process of natural “landscaping” continued until the spring of 1858, when a particularly powerful hurricane created a channel four to five feet deep through the peninsula. By June of that year, the Eastern Gap was a waterway, and the Toronto Islands came into being.

below: On the ferry between the city and Centre Island.

The first buildings on the islands were the Blockhouse Bay garrison built in the 1794 by the British at Gibraltar Point – it included a blockhouse and storage structures. A second blockhouse and a guard house were built soon after, only to be destroyed by the Americans in the Battle of York in April 1813. The lighthouse at Gibraltar Point built in 1809 still stands (sorry, no photo).

In 1833 Michael O’Connor built a hotel on one the islands. He used a horse-drawn boat to ferry customers across from the mainland to his hotel. At that time, there was still access by road but it was a toll road. In 1836 it cost sixpence for every four-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses. Smaller ‘vehicles’ paid less. In 1858 the hotel (now Quinns Hotel) was destroyed during the same hurricane that turned the peninsula into an island. The hotels were destroyed but the islands remained popular. With no road access, ferries were needed and many people ran private ferry services until they were bought out or amalgamated into the Toronto Ferry Company in 1892. It was privately owned until 1926 when it was purchased by the City of Toronto for $337,500.

Many houses and businesses, (hotels, restaurants, bowling alley, laundry, theatre etc) were established over the years from Hanlon’s Point in the west to Wards Island in the east. Today, residences are only in the eastern section of Wards Island and on Algonquin Island.

The Ward’s Island community began in the 1880s as a settlement of tents. Up until then, that eastern end of the islands was mostly wetlands. The first summer colony on Ward’s in 1899 consisted of just eight tenants, each of whom had paid a fee of $10 rent for the season. The number of tents grew each year. In 1913, the city felt it necessary to organize the community into streets. The evolution from tents to cottage structures progressed in stages with the building of floors, the addition of kitchens and then porches, resulting in the creation of the homes.

In 1953 the municipal government changed their policy toward the Toronto Islands landscape and its residents. Businesses were removed and the systematic demolition and burning of homes began. More of the islands became parkland. There are 262 houses on Wards and Algonquin Islands today, down from about 630 residences on all the islands. The last of the Lakeshore houses was removed in 1968 but traces of them still remain.

below: The pier on the Lake Ontario side.

below: Sandbags along the shore. Last spring there was a lot of flooding here and the island was closed to visitors – sort of. Ferries didn’t run and the park facilities were closed. The islands are very flat and low so it doesn’t take much extra water to flood.

below: There is a small amusement park, Centreville, on Centre Island.

below: Island transport that can be rented if you don’t want to walk.

below: Boats moored QCYC (Queen City Yacht Club), one of the three yacht clubs on the islands.

below: Sakura trees in bloom. The trees were donated by the Sakura Project. The aim of this project was to strengthen Japanese Canadian relations by planting cherry trees in visible locations across Ontario. Between 2000 and 2012, 3,082 trees were planted at 58 locations. The trees on Centre Island were planted in 2011.