as I walk Toronto

below: View from a lane that runs behind the north side of Dundas West, walking west of Dufferin.   The alley also runs east of Dufferin but that will have to wait for another day.  The large brick building on Dufferin is St. Annes parish hall.  St. Annes church is behind, facing Gladstone Ave.  The vacant lot on left was a parking lot not long ago but now it is now a construction site.

below: It looks like changes are coming on the Dundas West side of the lane as well.  A concrete wall/fence has been partially demolished and there are construction fences behind some of the buildings.  According to the Urban Toronto website, two 8 storey developments have been proposed – one fronting on Dundas and the other on Dufferin, with the alley remaining between them.

below: Behind Dundas West… but not for much longer.

below: Artwork by Cuban artist Supermalo5, aka Fabian Lopez  who always includes a little question mark in his work along with the incorrect equation 2 + 2 = 5

below: Two big round black eyes

below: Street art painting, abstract, by Mony Zakhour

below: Screenshot from Google street view, captured in 2019.  The houses on the left are now gone – you can see the blue and white development notice sign in front of them.  They are now part of the vacant lot/construction site pictured above.  You can also see that the lane here is Boland Lane.  It runs perpendicular to Dundas West.

 

below: A quick look at what else is in Boland Lane

below: “Embrace what makes you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable”

below: “Perfection is the enemy of greatness”

Continuing behind Dundas….

below: Layers, old and new as well as  wood, brick, and glass.

below: Rooftop decks and terraces above and street art covered garages below including a flaming hot kitty painted by Christina Mazzulla.

below:  A trio of grey masked foxes (wolves? dogs?) covering two doors.  This painting goes back to at least 2017 and possibly 2015 and before.

below: The lane meets Awde Street, with a teal colored garage door.  Awde is only a block long, and is not the original Awde Street.  Apparently what is now Croatia Street was once Awde (1908) and there is a plaque to prove it.

below: That brownish wall in above picture (where there is now a stack of firewood), was once covered with a painting.  This is it in 2015.

below: Awde Street, streetview from 2019.

At this point, the lane makes a 90 degree turn towards Dundas – and lo and behold, there is even more artwork to see ( also by Mony Zakhour?)

below: On the north side of Dundas West, there is a large mural titled, “Three Sisters” painted by Paula Tikay and Aner Urra.  I discussed it in a blog post from 2019 (Three Sisters, Tikay and Aner)

… and that’s the end of the alley!

Small bit of trivia:  I once found my great-great-grandfather, John Marshall, and his family in a Toronto phone book from about 1910 (I can’t remember the exact year).  They were on Gladstone Ave.  When I went to see if I could find the house, I discovered that the number corresponded with a vacant lot (parking lot?) adjacent to St. Annes church.