Archive for the ‘locations’ Category

from Riverside to Leslieville

Posted: April 22, 2016 in locations
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A walk along Queen Street East from Broadview to Greenwood.

A no smoking sign written on a piece of paper that is upside down, as viewed from the other side of the window. Looking out onto a patio.

below: Welcome to Riverside, mural at the corner of Queen and Grant streets featuring the sign on the Queen bridge as it crosses over the Don River.

People walking past the intersection where there a mural for Riverside area of Toronto, TTC streetcar in the mural. It is on the upper floor of a two storey brick building.

below: Farther east on Queen Street, at Curzon,  there is this ‘Greetings from Leslieville’ mural.

One of the Leslieville murals. Greetings from Leslieville with a postcard on it.

There are many interesting little stores on this stretch of Queen Street.
All the benches have been painted in cheerful colourful stripes.

Looking across the street at a man sitting on the edge of a concrete planter for a tree as well as a multicoloured striped bench with two women sitting on it. They are in front of two storey brick buildings with stores on the bottom level and apartments on the top. One of the stores is Bronze.

Rubiks cubes and large red and white dice in a store window, some real and some reflected in a a mirror on the wall.

looking into the window of a pharmacy, a toy troll is in a white mug. The mug has red lettering - Yours pharmacy. Also a mortar and pestle in the window along with a box with medicines for influenza

below: On the 21st of April (yesterday), Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 90th birthday.
A number of stores and restaurants had displays in her honour.

items in a store window. A Canadian flag, a mountie figurine that waves, two mugs featuring Queen Elizabeth and a container of tea.

A picture of Queen Elizabeth hangs on a wall in a cafe, seen through the window with reflections of the sky. There are red chairs in the cafe

Queen Street East was developed as long ago as the mid 1800’s and remnants of various decades can be found as one explores the area.
below: … details such as this fading Canada Dry sign.  The formula for Canada Dry ginger ale was developed in the early 1900’s by John J. McLaughlin, of the same McLaughlin family whose early automobile factory led to the start of General Motors.  This ginger ale was patented in Toronto in 1907.  Usually the words ‘Canada Dry’ are written in red, not yellow.   Is there a time when Canada Dry used yellow lettering?

An older Canada Dry advertisement sign hangs over the entrance to Eddies Convenience Store on Queen St East.

below:  At the corner of Queen and Coady there is also a ghost sign for Coady Sweets as well as an advertisement for Coca-Cola.

On a corner, Edjan Convenience Store with people walking past it. On the side of the upper floor of the two storey brick building is a ghost sign advertising coca cola and Coady Sweets. At the corner of Coady and Queen St. East in Leslieville Toronto
  below: Call it luck – even a vintage car drove past while I was there.

A black vintage car drives by on Queen St East

below: An old KitKat advertisement on the side of Boston Discount Store.  If you look closely, there is also an original Boston Ave street sign at the top right of the KitKat ad.

Side of a convenience store with an ad for KitKat, have a break, is painted on the side. Boston Discount Store on the corner of Queen St. East and Boston Ave

below: Even older are the buildings in the mural of Queen St. East circa 1926.  I am not sure if this an accurate depiction of a particular stretch of Queen Street.  It might be interesting to do some research to find out if the picture can be retaken, 90 years later.  So far I have been unable to find out anything about a Jackson Brothers store on Queen East.

Black and white mural of historical picture of Queen St East

below:  A sign of the new, some of the new TTC streetcars are now running along Queen Street.

The side of a new TTC streetcar behind a striped bench on a sidewalk

below: A mural depicting Frank Zappa along with the words
“Stupidity has a certain charm.  Ignorance does not.”

A mural of Frank Zappa on the upper floor of a two storey building. Also includes the words Stupidity has a certain charm, ignorance does not.

below: Like so many places and streets in Toronto, there are condos going up here too.

reflections in the shiny black hoardings around a condo construction site. buildings, car, people

A young man walks past the Value Village Donation Center that has a large window with 3 mannequins in it. A bike is parked in front.

below: The railway tracks pass over Queen Street.  A number of years ago the underpass was decorated with paintings of different animals and those paintings remain in good shape.

A small section of the railway bridge over Queen St. East near De Grassi. The far wall is painted light blue and there are picture of animals on it.

below: Once upon a time trains served this area.  There was a railway station here but it is long gone.

historical plaque describing the history of Riverdale train station at Queen St. East and De Grassi St in Toronto

transcription:

“In 1896, the Grand Trunk Railway opened its Queen East Station to serve Toronto’s growing east end.  Renamed Riverdale Station in 1907, the building stood here on De Grassi Street at Queen Street East.  Its dramatic turret, bay window, and a deep overhanging roof were defining features typical of small railway stations of the period.

In 1904, a streetcar collided with a freight train at the level crossing on Queen Street East, killing three people and injuring 18.  This and subsequent accidents led to the elevation of the new Union Station railway corridor above city streets and sidewalks.  The station was moved in 1927 to accommodate the new embankment for the underpass, the first of nine to be completed.  Dwindling passenger numbers during the Great Depression led to the closure of Riverdale Station in 1932 and its demolition in 1974.”

below: Looking west from under the railway bridge.

Photo taken from under a bridge, looking west along Queen St. East, cars on the street, a restaurant on the corner, and some women on the sidewalk.

below: A train themed mural in an alley just off Queen Street.

Street art painting of a brown train boxcar, with a yellow and orange tag on it, on the side of a building in an alley.

board outside Fuzz salon.

graffiti, white stick drawing of a man with a beard pointing his finger, or giving someone the finger, hard to tell

Two brick stores on Queen St East, two storey. One is the OKOK diner with a mural on the side of it that features an older version TTC streetcar.
reflections in the window of a cafe. Red benches are outside the window. People, TTC streetcar

Looking into a store window. A small model of the Statue of Liberty, a fire extinguisher, a pump and some PVC pipe parts. Reflections of sky, buildings from across the street and a yellow set of lights above a cross walk.

The painted sign on the door of Dangerous Dan's restaurant that says, No bathrooms, no change, no outside food, no kidding.

canary and swan

Posted: April 15, 2016 in locations, public art
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Within the past week or so, the fences around the new Canary District have come down.  Toronto’s newest development is now open to the public so I thought I would check it out.

I started my walk from the streetcar stop at King and Sumach.  Walking down Sumach Street I passed the metal fence that separates the school property from the street.  This stone building was built in 1887 as Sackville Street School and it has been used as a school ever since.  At the moment it is home to Inglenook Community School.  The fence with it’s double layer of metal – rusted in the back and shiny in the front – is interesting in the daytime but even more so at night when it is lit with a series of lights located between the layers  and near the base of the fence.

public art on Sumach St., rusted metal and shiny metal fence with cut outs, looking across the street at it, with older stone building behind it.

When I took the above picture I was standing on the new streetcar tracks that run south from King Street.  The tracks are ready and the wires have been installed.  Streetcars will begin servicing the route in June as part of route 514.  No map or schedule appears on the TTC website yet but apparently this route will run between the Dufferin Gate Loop and the new loop on Cherry Street via King Street

below: Looking north from Eastern Avenue at the new streetcar tracks on Sumach Street.

looking north on Sumach Street from Eastern Ave at the new streetcar tracks. They are blocked by 5 large black and orange traffic cones as well as a large do not enter sign. Overhead wires for the streetcars are in place.

At Eastern Avenue, Sumach Street becomes Cherry Street.   The new Cherry Street YMCA is on the east side of the street.  The sidewalk is wide but at the moment the branches of the young trees are at face level and you have to be careful where you walk.

looking south on Cherry Street from Eastern Ave, past the new Cherry Street YMCA on the left and all the new trees that have been planted.

below: The bright red detailing on the YMCA building continues over the entry way.  Part of the new residences for George Brown College peak out from behind.

roofline over the entry of Cherry Street YMCA with it's bright red colour. Corner of George Brown College building is in the background.

Front Street now has wide sidewalks.  None of the businesses have moved into the ground level retail spaces yet but the signs in the windows suggest that a number of cafes, restaurants, and food stores will soon be opening.   A couple of public art pieces are also on the sidewalk.

below: ‘Lampposts’ by Tadashi Kawabata

A tall art installation as public art on Front Street in the Canary District, Lampposts by Tadashi Kawabata, construction from many different styles of street lamp posts all arranged in a cluster

below: Looking up from underneath the artwork.

looking up at the lights from underneath the artwork,Lampposts by Tadashi Kawabata

below: ‘The Water Guardians’ stand over a soft squishy playpad.
It was designed by Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins.

'Tje Water Guardians', A tall art installation as public art on Front Street in the Canary District, 3 stylized abstracted human forms with legs in an arc shape over a squishy playpad in green, blue and white. The blue represents water. The green parts are raised slightly in bumps.

below: There are a lot of little design elements that have been incorporated into the this development including what I think is a bench.  With a light underneath?

A curved black metal bench on a sidewalk

below: The sidewalk around the trees is made from two colours of brick.  The opening for the tree is just the right size to collect garbage.  Whether or not these traps get cleaned out remains to be seen.

square hole in the brickwork of the sidewalk to allow a tree to grow. The hole is shallow, a few cm. deep but it collects garbage such as empty coffe cups and discarded papers that blow in the wind.

below:  The Canary District is not yet finished as this sign clearly states.

A large plot of land with rocks and newly planted trees in a grid. An orange and yellow sign advertises the Canary District. It also says that this land is slated for future residential development

below: The sculpture ‘No Shoes’ by Mark di Suvero is now accessible.   The artwork was completed in 1967 and originally installed in High Park.   In 2013 it was renovated and moved to Corktown Common.

The sculpture 'No Shoes', red metal beams and wood poles, very large, stands in a park with some buildings in the background.

below: The pavillion at Corktown Commons in the distance.

The pavillion at Corktown Commons i the background as seen through the bottom part of the sculpture 'No Shoes'

below:  The Bala Pedestrian Underpass, aka the south exit from Corktown Commons, goes under the railway tracks and merges with the Don Landing part of the Lower Don Valley trail.  The artwork was designed by Rolande Souliere and is part of the StreetARToronto initiative.   A yellow Lovebot and a happy orange monster have been added to the scene too!

pedestrian underpass under railway tracks that has been painted in bright stripes, yellow, red and black. The left of it is a large yellowlovebot and to the right is a sign with a map and a description of the Don Pathway, part of the Pan Am Path.

below: Nature in the city.  Birds of a different feather.  On the Don River, just south of Corktown Common a pair of swans is nesting.  One of the swans was swimming a short distance away while the other was sitting on the nest.   Cars pass by on the Don Valley Parkway unaware of the domestic scene below them.

A swan is sitting on a nest in the Don River, it is beside the Don Valley Parkway, a busy road in Toronto, two cars are passing by above the swan.

Dominion Coal and Wood

Posted: April 13, 2016 in history, locations
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The eastern end of the Kay Gardner Belt Line Park crosses over Yonge St and the subway just south of Davisville station.  It then runs across the north side of Mt. Pleasant cemetery.  It comes to an end at Mt. Pleasant Road where the trail merges into the roads that run through the cemetery.

In 2014 students from Greenwood School painted a mural at this location.  The mural has three main elements.  A train to represent the Belt Line, the name of the community that it is located in (Mt Pleasant Village), and the words ‘use Dominion Coal and Wood’.    The last part is because not long ago, on this site, stood the large concrete silos that the Dominion Coal and Wood company used to store coal and wood.   The shape of the black background is very similar to the shape of the silos if viewed from above.

below: Mural, with Mt. Pleasant Road above it.

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mural celebrating mt pleasant village and the old dominion coal and wood silos that used to be at that location. At the end of the belt line trail where it merges into mt pleasant cemetery

below: Plaque located on the site of the old silos (now in the bushes beside a condo)

City of Toronto historical plaque describing the history of the Dominion Coal and Wood silos that used to be on Mt. Pleasant Ave near the old Belt Line Railway tracks.

transcription of the Heritage Toronto plaque:

“Dominion Coal and Wood

Originally located on Danforth Avenue, the Dominion Coal and Wood Company was founded in 1912 by William H. Smith.  In 1929, the company opened a landmark facility on this site.  Its nine adjoining concrete silos were designed by E.P. Muntz Engineering Company.  Coal and wood were transported here by rail car along the former Belt Line Railway and then sold as heating fuel to local businesses and home owners.

Originally just one among many similar suppliers in the city, Dominion Coal and Wood outlasted most of its competitors.  The company expanded into building supplies as coal sales dwindled, but continued to sell coal here until the site was closed in 1999.  Although recognized as an increasingly rare type of industrial architecture, the historic silos were demolished in 2001. “

 

below: The nine silos, about 1972.  The photo is from City of Toronto Archives and was found online at JB’s Warehouse (a good source if you are interested in more information at Dominion Coal and Wood)

picture of the Dominion Coal and Wood silos on Mt. Pleasant, from city of Toronto Archives, taken about 1972. With an old Mt. Pleasant streetcar on the street by the silos.

below: I tried to replicate the above photo, about 42 years later.  The Mt. Pleasant streetcars are long gone as is the gas station on the NW corner of Merton and Mt. Pleasant.  A corner of the tall white apartment building on the right can be seen peaking from behind newer condo buildings.  Of course, the dominant part of the picture is the condo development that was built on the site of the Dominion silos in 2002.

condo building across the street, about 12 storeys high, made of brick and glass, a couple of cars are on the street

Sackville Street murals

Posted: April 6, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Sackville Street, just south of Dundas, is right in the midst of the Regent Park renewal project.  It is also the site of two murals.  First, there is bright and colourful mural which is painted on the side of a new apartment building.

mural painted by Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky in Regent park Toronto, showing a brightly coloured woman;s face, with a flower in her hair and her body (from the shoulders up) made of buildings in a jumble as well as a blue owl (large bird) in flight, passing in front of the sun that is represented by circles of orange and red radiating out from the bright yellow center. A green hand is reaching up towards the sun

A man with a dog an a leash is walking by a mural of a brightly coloured woman;s face, with a flower in her hair and her body (from the shoulders up) made of buildings in a jumble. Painted by Shalak Attack in Regent Park

close up of a mural by Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky of a blue owl (large bird) in flight, passing in front of the sun that is represented by circles of orange and red radiating out from the bright yellow center. A green hand is reaching up towards the sun

The other mural is a painting by elicser on hoardings around a building under construction.

a long mural by elicser painted on hoardings around a building under construction. People flying past in the mural

below: With the ubiquitous Timmie’s cup on the ground.

the end of a mural, a man is sideways, arm above his head, painted on a mural, a large orange concrete block is in front of the wall, an empty Tim Hortons cup (Timmies cup) is on the ground.
part of a mural of flying people by elicser, a woman in a light purple dress and head scarf as well s a boy in beige Tshirt and blue shorts

Two people painted flying sideways on a mural, a brown man with no shirt on and a much smaller person below him with a yellow T-shirt. An orange concrete block is on the sidewalk in front of the mural along with an orange and white traffic cone

people flying sideways on a mural by elicser, including a girl in a pink dress

people flying sideways on a mural by elicser, including a woman in a blue dress and a man with a red hat.

flying people mural by elicser

the words Regent Park are written in pink paint on a light blue background, painted on wooden hoardings around a construction site.

Sorauren Park

Posted: December 19, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti and street art on walls and garage doors in the alleys surrounding Sorauren Park.

below: If you are walking eastward along Dundas West, this is the first mural that you see.

Uber5000 mural on the side of Tommys Gift and Variety store on Dundas WEst. Uber birdie with a white coffee cup, cat listening to a giant CD player

below:  A friendly fuzzy blackburn animal playing in the park

mural by blackburn of a raccoon, or similar creature, playing with a yellow toy truck, painted on the side of a building in a park

below: Dog (wolf?) by Aaron Li-Hill

very realistic painting of a wolf (or a dog) on a garage door in a lane.

below: The guy in the blue shorts is saying: “You don’t need a mirror to look good, you’re beautiful on the inside, like you’re brain and stuff.”

garage door in an alley painted with a mural, light blue backgrouns and some cartoon-like characters, a little green guy with a square head, a yellow dog-like creature on two legs, and a blue guy

garage door painted with a large red and white danger due to sign as street art. A hand is writing in black marker on the sign, rondor

CBS mediah geometric spray paint pience on a garage door.

creative monsters mural on the side of a white building beside Sorauren Park

close up of creative monsters mural on the side of a white building beside Sorauren Park

garage door with street art on it, half of a large man plus green and blue tag around the letter E

man-like shaped rocket on a wall, red wings outstretched, cat skull motif on the front

A blue motorcycle is parked in front of a street art painting of three spacemen creatures

line of garages in an alley. The garage door in the foreground has a bent tulip painted on it.

below: Spudbomb mural

spudbomb mural on a garage door.

D loe tag graffiti on a wood garage door, green letters on orange background

below: by elicser, I was on cloud nine for a long time.

part of an elicser piece on a garage door but a car and a truck are parked in front of the rest. A man in a brown hat is blowing against a door, streams of wind coming from his mouth and clouds are around him, words say I was on cloud nine for a long time.

black line drawing on a white garage door in an alley. Round moon shape witha face in the moon.

Garage door covered with a mural by traziv. Rabbit like creature standing on a grass mound eating a carrot. buildings around hime, blue sky and a fluffy cloud too.

Two sides of a small building, each side with a mural on it. One side is a TTC subway with Kipling as its destination, the other is of two kids, one boy is flying on an open book and a girl is on a scooter and wearing a helmet. The words between the two kids say Ready Let's Rock

old garage door painted light grey with triangles in blue, yellow and red
side of a small building covered with a mural of a green bird-like character, playground and houses in the background

street art on garage doors in a lane
street art painting on a laneway garage door, pink and grey swirls and blobs, plant-like shapes.

graffiti on a corrugated metal garage.

below: by elicser, It’s almost dark.  One more wave, then we go in.

woman in a red bikini sitting on a long board in the water, painted on a garage door, car parked in front partially obscuring it.

old friends

Posted: December 15, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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In the world of graffiti and street art, change is usually inevitable and sometimes interesting.  One exception seems to be the alley that you can see from subway between Keele and Dundas West stations.  The building on the corner of Bloor West and Indian Road is new, but otherwise little is changed.  Even though most of the street art is the same as before, I don’t think that I have posted it in the past.  Here is documentation of most of it.

below: King Midas still looks over the TTC parking lot at Keele station.  Well, I’ve always assumed that it was King Midas although he was the guy whose touch turned everything to gold, not grey.

mural of older man in grey tones, with open book on his lap, beside him is the Midas logo (auto repair).

below: And this monkey is still asking what the noise is all about.

mural on an exterior wall, a monkey in old fashioned aviator's helmet and pink scarf is shouting "What's all the noise about"

below: ‘Sink or Swim’ by elicser

graffiti street art in an alley - a mural by elicser called sink or swim. A large man with a red toque and a red plaid shirt.

below: A lovebot shares wall space with an Uber5000 birdie….

graffiti street art in an alley - a lovebot wheatpaste on a wll beside a Uber5000 yellow bird holding a Canadian flag

below: … because Everybody’s a Winner

graffiti street art in an alley - a mural by Uber5000 titled Everyone's a WInner. Yellow birdies sitting around a table. There is also a lovebot wheatpaste on the wall.

below: Laser, not loser.   Now with laser vision.

graffiti street art in an alley - a Uber5000 mural of a man with reg glasses and red flashes coming from his eyes. A little birdie is sitting on top of a ghetto blaster

graffiti street art in an alley - a large salt shaker with the words Salt o' the Earth written below it. A garbage bin is beside it.

  below:  Ghostbusters in a hard to reach place

A ghostbuster logo painted on the side of a building in an alley

below:  Zooks is still on her wall.

street art on a wall in a laneway. Blue background, naked woman with long brown hair, standing between two tags

below: This turtle has seen better days

A green turtle character painted on a wall in a lane. Wearing glasses, standing up. The paint in the lower part of the piece is peeling badly.

grey and light blue tag street art on a multi coloured background, two butterflies as well, one pink butterfly and one blue butterfly

mural on the side of building in an alley, TTC streetcar, buildings, people, subway, with another building in the foreground
mural on the side of building in an alley, TTC streetcar, buildings, people, subway,

below:  Guard dog at the bottom of the stairs

painting of a large black dog on a door at the bottom of an exterior stair case. Graffiti dog, street art dog. It looks like he is sitting in front of the door looking at people as they walk towards the door.

blog_train_street_art

below: She seems to turn when the door opens, a mural by EGR art

 

a large mural of a woman with wings that takes up the entire back of a two storey building in a laneway. There is also a metal staircase with a small porch. The door at the top is open so part of the woman in the mural opens up too. The mural is by EGR art.

large mural of a young man's face in grey tones. Small moustache, head only,

below:  He (she?) still keeps goal on the back porch.

painting of a hockey goalie in full pads and helmet painted on a blue door by a small porch in a laneway.

looking down a laneway towards a large brick apartment building. The side of a truck has some graffiti on it - the truck is backed into a parking spot in the lane. The buildings in the lane have graffiti on them.

part of a mural with a lot of heads, a man, a green character, amongst others, high on a wall

rabid raccoon in blues, street art

street art in an alley, a white skull with a black baseball cap. Cap says Big Dirt on it. Words above the skull are Mary Recka Pantilo (could be Mozy not Mary)

below:  This mural also has a painting of Marilyn Monroe in it along with Bruce Lee and Alfred Hitchcock.  There were too many cars parked in front of it when I walked past the other day.

part of a larger mural, Alfred Hitchcock holding a sign for the filming of Psycho, Bruce Lee is also in the picture, a car is parked in front of the wall, in an alley

below: King Kong dominates this wall.

Grey toned mural of King Kong holding a woman over a tall building as he walks through a large city, and towers over it.

street art painting of a grimacing big fat yellow male face with eyes closed and big white teeth showing

below: We Rise Up

large mural of upreached open hands releasing a red butterfly
below: War and Peace

mural of police in riot gear confronting a person with both hands giving a peace sign

A green four eyed blov with a peace sign shaped nostrils, and a necklace with a gold H on it.

Someone has scrawled Your life is a lie in black over a piece of street art. Someone else has changed lie to life by adding an f

graffiti street art in an alley - an angry bird bird with the words Rainy Days

graffiti street art in an alley - Two black and white hearts, one with a face drawn on it. The words cloud + glare = [heart]

danger, open edges

Posted: December 2, 2015 in locations, old buildings
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Sometimes when I walk I find a view or a photo that suggests a theme for the day; something that summarizes the area that I’ve been walking through.  On Saturday, this was the photo, a construction site on Wellesley Street -a massive hole in the ground amongst a growing number of high rise buildings.

red and white danger sign on a makeshift wooden fence that says danger due to open edge. Beyond it is a very large hole for a construction site. A bulldozer is in the hole, downtown Toronto is in the background.

a large number of new high rise buildings just beyond a large hole in the ground where another condo is being built

This piece of property, between Wellesley and Breadalbane streets, had been vacant for a number of years.  It was once owned by the province; back in the 1980s there were plans to build a ballet and opera house there.  Those plans fell through and the land remained vacant while community groups lobbied for a park to be developed there.

When I first walked the area in April 2013, there was a blue fence around the site.

A wood plywood fence painted blue. Someone has painted three large white dollar signs on as well as the word ka-ching.

The blue fence is gone. According to the development proposal sign, two towers are being built here with a combined height of 99 floors.  A nine or ten storey L-shaped podium will run along St. Luke Lane and Wellesley Street to join the towers.    The plan also allows for park land on Breadalbane.  When I checked the website for the development, 11 Wellesley aka Wellesley on the Park, there is only one tower pictured and it doesn’t look like the description on the sign.

Ah, a little light bulb goes on.  The sign describes the developers’ original plan.  A change in the plan doesn’t mean a change in the sign.   So…  this seems to be the future home of one 60 storey condo tower on one third of the land and a 1.6 acre park on the remainder.

two bicycles parked on a sidealk in front of a fence that has a development proposal sign on it. Building site behind that, thena wall of skyscrapers in the background.

My Saturday walk had actually started close to Yonge and College.   I was drawn to the nondescript block of stores that are now boarded up in preparation to be demolished.

A block of two storey stores on Yonge street has been boarded up in preparation for demolition.

I’m wishing that I had taken pictures previously of these stores just to document the history of that part of Yonge Street.  I had many chances to do so, but the building never seemed interesting enough.

a man is walking past a row of boarded up stores that are about to be demolished.

development proposal sign above a large number 501, with an office/retail for lease sign above it.

Whether or not you think that two 58 storey towers with a shared 7 storey podium is an improvement is an entirely different question. It will contain 960 condo units and 5 storeys of above grade parking (because the subway runs underneath) with 320 parking spots.  Lobby access for the buildings will be from Maitland and Alexander Streets on the north and south sides of the property.  Or at least that’s what’s on the sign.   But fool me once, so I checked the  website for the condo (TeaHouse Condos in this case) and once again the information doesn’t match.  According to the website there will be two towers but the north one will be 25 storeys and the south one will be 53 storeys.  Whatever the end result, it will be different from what’s there now!

 

At least one person had an objection.

development proposal sign on a yellow wall that someone has written enuf on in big pink letters

A walk around the back of the building shows that we aren’t losing much there either.

two stroey building boarded up and ready for demolition, with a parking lot, behind a chain link fence.

 

The next site that I explored is just to the south where a hole is already in progress on the SW corner of Yonge and Grenville.

A hole in the ground on Yonge Street for construction of a building.

Photo taken from St. Lukes Lane

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below: This hole has exposed the north wall of the brown brick Oddfellows’ Hall as this view shows.  This is looking south, with College Park in the background (built by the T. Eaton Co. and opened as a 6 storey Eatons store on 30 October 1930).  Behind the chain link fence is St. Luke Lane.

back of a large four storey brick building behind an open hole construction site, taller buildings in the background (College Park)

Now you see it… soon you won’t.  The condo tower here will be 66 storeys high.

open hole at construction site surround by fence, brick building in the background.

Oddfellow’s Hall was built in 1891 and 1892 by architects Norman B. Dick and Frank W. Wickson for the Independent Order of Oddfellows.  It has two octagonal turrets and is a playful mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles.   The building had a 20’ x 46’ long grand hall for IOOF private meetings as well as offices and storefronts.

below: Looking north up Yonge Street at College Street, about 1970.  The Bank of Commerce (later Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and now CIBC) was an early tenant of the building.  Also in the picture is the old fire hall tower but more about that later.

old photo from about 1970 looking north up Yonge Street from College Street. Oddfellows Hall is on one corner with main tenant as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Old fire hall tower is in the distance.

Photo found online, original source was City of Toronto Archives

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below: Most people will recognize the building as Starbucks.

Oddfellows Hall, a large brick building with two hexagonal turrets, brick, now a Starbucks on the ground floor.

starbucks at the corner of Yonge and College

Back to Grenville Street where there is yet another development.  On the west side of St. Luke Lane is a partially completed condo that has incorporated the facade of what is known as the John Irwin house.  It is one of the oldest surviving residential buildings in the area;  in 1873 it was recorded as being owned by a John Irwin.

An old three storey brick house, the John Irwin house has been restored and incorporated into a new condo development that is in the process of being built, cement mixer in front, men working.

This house wasn’t always in this location though.  It was moved a few metres east along Grenville, from one side of the condo development to the other.  I found a photo that I took in April 2013, just after the house had been moved.  Here you can see the back of the house as well as St. Luke Lane to the right.

back of an old house from the 1870s, the John Irwin House, a three storey brick building, that was moved from one site to another. It is sitting on supports at the edge of a construction site.

Does your head hurt yet?  Because there is more…..
But first, a break.  A few other pictures from the area.

below:  No Parking in St. Luke Lane, twice.

A red sign on a red wall. In yellow letter that are peeling off, the sign says Private Parking Only, mcdonalds.

A light yellowish grey wall with a yellow sign that says no parking. Old sign, looking worse for wear. A piece of flat scrap metal is leaning against the wall
  below:  And a man (Van Gogh? someone else?) with a red umbrella but more remarkably, a white picket fence almost hidden under vines by Wellesley Street.

A drawing of a man on white paper pasted to a concrete wall. A red stenciled umbrella is on top of his face. A white picket fence is beside the wall.

below: Also in St. Luke Lane, a mural commemorating the Highway of Heroes.

A mural commemorating the Highway of Heroes

And back to the program….

So far we have two holes in the ground, a partially finished condo, and a block that has just begun to be demolished.  The last development that I saw in the area was one that is still in the planning stages.  The development proposal sign posted beside Currys Art Supplies (the blue awning) is a clue that changes are imminent at 480-494 Yonge Street.  This building is on the SW corner of Yonge and Grosvenor.   The sign says one 45 storey tower but by now I don’t believe the signs!

development proposal sign at 490 Yonge street

480 Yonge Street is a heritage building as is the old fire hall (1872).   The top corner of 480 Yonge is just visible in the bottom left of this picture.  It is to be incorporated into the new development if it goes ahead.  The fire hall tower is going to be preserved but the building in front of it will be removed.  The sidewalk will also be widened as a result.  That’s the opening act of this story; there may be changes before the final curtain.  The developers applied for a zoning amendment (increased height and density) earlier this year but I do not know the results of that.

old fire hall tower above a newer building, or a newwer facade on an older building, red dump trunk on the street, large new condo being built in the background, Yonge St.

below:  On the NW corner of Yonge and Grosvenor is this building.   I don’t know if there are any plans in the works to redo this stretch of Yonge Street but after seeing all the new developments, I’m starting to get a bit sentimental about the old buildings.  So here is documentation of what remains, starting with  A & W Home of the Burger Family at 496 Yonge.

Three storey older grey building on a downtown corner.

below: between Grosvenor and Breadalbane – Cuban cigars and Persian food

Three three storey buildings in a row, old brick buildings, on Yonge St in downtown toronto, 502, 504 and 506. Yonge Market, Persian restaurant, a Cuban cigar store.

below: SW corner of Yonge & Breadalbane – old and new, short and tall

sw corner of yonge and breadalbane streets showing older stores in the foreground and taller condos in the background.

below: SW corner of Yonge & Wellesley – tattoos, massages, and payday loans.

southwest corner of Yonge and Wellesley, a row of old buildings, now storefronts. A Massage parlor and a tattoo place, a convenience store and a Money Mart. Gass condos in the background.

below: NW corner of Yonge & Wellesley – Not just noodles

not just noodles restaurant on the corner of Yonge and Wellesley as well as more stores going north up Yonge Street.

Bloordale to Brockton

Posted: November 29, 2015 in general Toronto, graffiti and street art, locations
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A walk down Brock Ave, well sort of.  I don’t think I’m capable of walking in a straight line.

 

Brock Avenue, just north of Bloor, the Haven Espresso Bar, a tiny little place with good coffee. I don’t usually start my walk with a cup of coffee but I was intrigued by the smallness of the space.

below:  This is the mural on the wall beside the coffee bar.  It’s just the word Haven but there are some interesting details in the letters.

two chairs and a small table in front of a wall with a mural on it. The mural is the word Haven. Each letter is decorated in a different way.

Close up of the letter V in blue on a larger mural that spells haven. Different shapes and colours of jewel stones are painted in the point of the V.
White ducks or geese in silhouette flying on a bright blue sky, a close up of a mural. Amongst the birds are some buttons with the word Joy on them.

 

below: The local park is called Susan Tibaldi Parkette, named for a woman who was active in the community. This cheerful toucan overlooks the park.

street art mural of a toucan on the side of a garage that faces a park

There are a few painted walls and garages in the area around the park.

  below: Including this spud bomb covered garage door.

Garage door covered with spud bombs street art

garage door, half greed and half red, with black letters diagonally across it

mural on a garage door, of two hands reaching for each other, in the style of Michaelangelo, with the word Chase written below on a brown banner.

below: On a wall, ‘Building with the Gods, James Massey R.I.P’

Blue curvy lines on the bottom, a pair of blank white eyes in the middle and a scarab like creature in the middle of the top section.

part of a garage door mural woman in pink walking, green man's head talking

garage door mural of red poppies by bright blue sky.

part of a mural high on a bright wall painted black. An ice cream cone and other sweet things.

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light blue geometric lettering graffiti on a background of two toned pink triangles.
below: I spotted this on a pole just before I headed south.  A little bit of sparkle to brighten the day.

Small graffiti piece of a paper cut out dragonfly with sequins glued onto it's body and a small part of the wing.

The area south of Bloor was once the village of Brockton.  Back in 1812, one hundred acres of land from what is now Queen Street, north to Bloor Street, and west of Dufferin Avenue was granted to James Brock (yes, a relative of Sir Isaac).  After James died, his widow Lucy had a road built that run down the center of the property.  This road was Brock Avenue.  She subdivided the property and sold the lots to smaller land holders.  This settlement became Brockton.  In 1884 it was annexed by the city of Toronto.

below: Colourful cat and mouse games on a wall just south of Dundas.  I couldn’t find any ‘signature’ on the wall and I haven’t been able to find out who painted this.  I’d love to know.

large mural of a cat chasing a mouse done in bright colours.

below: Malabar Ltd.  It looks unkempt and I thought it was abandoned.  The gate to the parking lot was open and there were a couple of cars parked behind the wall.  A quick search online and I discovered that this site is still operational, but only serves the professional opera and theaters industry.

box like brick building with square awnings over the windows, large empty parking lit beside it, white and blue fence behind the parking lot, taller apartment building beyond the fence.

Two stickers on a metal pole beside a railway bridge. The top sticker says Love Skateboards and it has picture of a skateboard on it. The lower sticker says Bunk Bed has a Posse and a black and white drawing of a man's head is also on it.

After passing under one of the greyest, dingiest railway bridges, I came to a street – not sure what it was!

A Toronto street sign in blue and white that is covered with a vine

I checked a map – it’s Cunningham Ave.

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But it afforded me an unobstructed view.
A view of the CN TOwer and the Toronto skyline from north west of downtown. Railway tracks are in the foreground.
I looked around a bit but there wasn’t much of interest on my side of the tracks and I wasn’t about to cross over!  I did notice that there is graffiti on the track side of the wall around the Malabar parking lot.  Something to explore another time… when I don’t have to dodge trains!

Short Union Pearson express train as it passes by

As the leaves fall off the trees, the houses are hidden less.  I like looking for older and/or unique architectural details that are now easier to spot (and take pictures of!)

below: The first time I saw one of these “half houses” I was quite surprised (it’s behind the large tree).  I now realize that there are a number of them in the city but it was still a fun find.

looking up an alley towards a street with some old houses. There is a large tree and behind the tree is a house that looks like it was cut in half vertically

below:  Brick and wood trim details being preserved and restored on an old house.

An old square two storey brick house undergoing restoration.

details of the carved wooden trim on a brick house being restored.

below: There are a number of old square houses in the neighbourhood.

an older square brick house on a corner of a residential street in Toronto.

below: A house with an old second storey wooden structure.  I don’t think it can be called an oriel window but I don’t know any other architectural term to describe it.

second storey wood structure protruding from house, almost the width of the house, with three vertical windows in it. A small balcony is above it.

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below: Although it’s not as easy to see in this picture, this house also has an old window and wood structure.  The fence around the neighbour’s yard is probably not as old as the porch, but it to is from a bygone era.  Is it from the 1960’s?  I suspect that they were very trendy at one time although I have seen this sort of design more as balcony railings than as fences.

a large brick semi-detached house with trees around it in fall foilage. The side of the house closest to the camera has a glassed in porch. To the left is a small house with a black metal fence around the front yeard. The fence has diamond shaped black metal pieces joined together in squares.

below:  Symmetrical but not symmetrical

A group of row houses. In the middle are two semis that share a peaked roof but the semis are totally different. One has a pink roof the other has a brown roof. One is white and the other is green. One has a front porch but the other doesn't

below: The back of Bike Pirates, a DIY bike workshop on Queen West, has a mural by Jonny Cakes.

In a laneway, painted by Jonny Cakes @thehalfdecent, the wall of a workshop, shed or garage, is painted with a big skull wearing a red bike hat. Two white cats, one on a unicycle and one on a bicycle, and the words BIKE PIRATE written over the door.

below: Someone’s got a leg up!

A fake leg, bent at the knee, with fake blood along the top of the thigh, attached to a wall over a door, the leg protrudes from the wall.
Up over a door that is…. this door in fact.

A red door with some items attached to it - a squished ping pong ball, an old dirty grey glove with a clip attached to the end of one finger

 

below:  And there were a few other little amusements along the way.

Someone hsa taken a red marker to a no dumping sign so now it reads grnoom dumping. The sign is nailed onto a post and there is an old blue truck parked behind the post.
scrawled in cursive writing with black spray paint on a white garage door are the words love yourself

close up of two stickers on a blue and white bike route sign. One sticker is a brown one with the words Vote Spud and a picture of skull wearing a floppy hat. The other is a red cartoon character

part of an old wood door, plywood wall beside the door with a black line drawing of a worm like creature with a big head with four eyes and a smiling mouth

small paper taped to a hydro pole on a residential street. On the paper are typed the words: WHy doesn't Harper want a parliamentary oversight of his security and police forces? Could it be because Hitler didn't want it either? Why do young people run away from Canada to join ISIS?

A car with a Virginia state licence plate that says Chil Out

a walk on Eglinton

Posted: November 23, 2015 in general Toronto, history, locations, transportation
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The plan was to start walking westward from Eglinton subway station.

below:  The first photo I took was right after I got off a bus at the station.   With the ongoing reconstruction at Eglinton, there is now easy access to the old bus bays.  There is still a fence around them, but at least they can be seen and photographed.  These bays have not been used since 2004 and the area has been fenced off and unused since then.  Now they sit empty in the shadow of the ever increasing tall buildings around them.

abandoned bus bays at Eglinton subway station in the foreground and the newer taller buildings in the area in the background

abandoned part of Eglinton subway station, behind chain link fence

below: Looking west along Eglinton Avenue after the completion of Eglinton station in 1954.  The street running north-south just beyond the bus bays is Duplex Avenue.  There is now a police station on the SE corner of that intersection.   On the NW corner you can see the brick Toronto Hydro-Electric Building with its large front ‘door’.  It is still there.

historical black and white photo, aerial, from Yonge Street looking west along Eglinton Ave showing the bus bays at Eglinton subway station, up to Duplex Ave is shown clearly.

source: City of Toronto Archives, online

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below: (taken later in the afternoon, on the way home) The intersection of Eglinton and Duplex from west side with the brick Toronto Hydro-Electric building now between glass buildings.

looking east along Eglinton Avenue towards Yonge street with Duplex Ave in the foreground. The old Toronto Hydro-Electric building is in the picture, with a newer structure with a glass front beside it. New buildings between Duplex and Yonge on the north side of Eglinton are also in the picture.

below: After leaving Eglinton station, this caught my eye.  The glass cube-like building on the NE corner of Eglinton and Duplex reflects the afternoon sun onto the walls of the Toronto Hydro-Electric building across the street.

brick building with wavy shadows on it cast by the sun being reflected off the glass building across the street

brick building with wavy shadows on it cast by the sun being reflected off the glass building across the street

below: On Duplex, right behind this brick building is an intriguing building.  The highly textured concrete exterior and the 3D patterned wall are suggestive of the 1960s although I could be wrong.  It’s ugly yet fascinating at the same time.   Now that the leaves have fallen from the trees in front of it, the pattern of trapezoids, diamonds and rectangles is revealed…. as is the dirt and grime on the concrete.  The fact that there are no windows and doors facing the street provides a clue that this is yet another Toronto Hydro building.

Three tree with no leaves are in front of a concrete wall that is built in 3D pattern of trapezoids and rectangles. There are no windows or doors.

Somethings old

below: A sign with an old Toronto HU (Hudson) exchange phone number.  HU1 would be 481.  This number is probably from the late 1950s.  In the early days, Toronto phone numbers had only 6 digits.  In the mid 1950s a seventh digit was added and then between 1961 and 1966 the letter prefixes were phased out, replaced by numbers.

old sign on the side of an small apartment building, the Latimer Apartments, with an old Toronto phone number starting with the letters HU

below:  The Eglinton Grand, art deco building from 1936; National Historic site since 2003.

The Eglinton Grand, a cinema theatre built in art deco style in 1936.

 Somethings new

many curved and disjointed reflections of buildings in a tall glass building. Afternoon sun so there's a yellowish tint to the reflections

 And some window ‘shopping’ to do

below: Marbles wedged between glass make an excellent decorative touch.

a layer of marbles wedged into a window to look a bit like stained glass

A line of toy figurines on a window sill in the window of a restaurant

below: little Japanese wooden dolls in the window of the Sake Bar

three little Japanese wooden dolls with white hair and white kimonos standing inside a window. Reflections of the stores across the street are behind them.

below:  And even a lovebot hangs out here

a 3D concrete lovebot stands on the sidewalk beside a store as people walk by

below:  A little chuckle at this sign….

I small sign hanging over a doorway of a hot dog restaurant called Bite Me

below:  And then later I saw this.

A sign on the wall outside a store that says Bite Me More

sticker on a pole on a sidewalk. One man is kicking another, pixelated picture, with the letters X G G L on it.

Rather than wait for a bus I decided to keep walking home but unfortunately it’s that time of year when the daylight hours are just too short.   One last look at where I had just been before putting my camera away and heading home.

very late afternoon sun, as it disappears behind buildings, looking down a street, sun is reflecting off some windows, a large part of the street is in shadow, a TTC is there, with its lights on, some construction on the street, some cars,

return to Lawrence West

Posted: November 22, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art
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As promised a few blog posts ago, I went back to take more photos of the now complete mural on the underpass on Lawrence Avenue just west of Caledonia.  It was painted by Essencia Art Collective (Shalak Attack, Fiyabruxa and Brunosmoky).

part of a larger mural on the side of an underpass, road and sidewalk in front of the photo, houses behind - a larger than life sized head of a tiger, an elephant, and a bird with a colourful beak

mural by Essencia Art Collective of golden pyraminds with elephants walking amongst them and eagles and macaws flying above them.

street art picture of a red and blue macaw flying over pyramids, its painted beside a set of stairs so it looks like the bird is flying up the staircase

part of a larger mural on the side of an underpass, road and sidewalk in front of the photo, houses behind - looking at an angle back at the mural, Egyptian pyramids painted beside the stairs that go from the sidewalk to the houses above. Also a painted camel with a bright patterned blanket on its back.

part of a larger mural on the side of an underpass, road and sidewalk in front of the photo, houses behind - a creature with a deer skull and antlers as head with a vulture sitting on its shoulder. Background scenery is dead land with an oil derrick on it.

part of a mural by Essencia Art Collective on Lawrence West in Toronto showing the drastic possible environmental effects of not looking after the planet - dead animals, dead oil fields, dead trees, over exploitation of the Earth

part of a mural by Essencia Art Collective on Lawrence West in Toronto showing the drastic possible environmental effects of not looking after the planet - dead forest, dead city

part of a mural by Essencia Art Collective on Lawrence West in Toronto showing the drastic possible environmental effects of not looking after the planet - a black and crumbling city with the CN Tower looking like it's about to fall down

part of a mural by Essencia Art Collective on Lawrence West in Toronto showing the drastic possible environmental effects of not looking after the planet - a person covered in a grey suit and wearing a gas mask in front of a decaying and falling down city

mural of a person praying, hands together, eyes closed, wearing a purple shawl over their head

mural with people, city life and comment on mistreatment of the environment

car driving under a bridge and past a mural painted on the walls of the underpass, two large green women's faces tilted upwards with eyes closed

street art mural of a turtle swimming by some lily pads in the water, as seen from below

a man cycles past a large mural, two very large green faces are in the foreground

part of a mural on an underpass, under the bridge, large cobs of corn and a bright dragonfly

close up of big eyes on an insect, part of a mural

looking eastward along a long horizontal mural painted beside a city street

close up of part of a mural by Essencia Art Collective of a woman with a flower in her hair and a leaf shaped ear ring, mother nature like, beside a large fox.

part of a mural painted on an underpass - the nose of a very large fox plus two tiny houses on stilts above turbulent water, night sky

part of a larger mural, a boy is sitting at the back of a large wood boat, he is fishing, the boat is in a large bubble

part of a large mural on an underpass in Toronto painted be Essencia Art Collective, an old man with white hair, beard and mustache and wearing a wool hat is holding a paper cup that has fire and steam coming out of it. A bird is sitting on his shoulder

part of a street art mural - three animals, a warthog with spikey back, a deer, and another animal with antlers and a roundish face

a large warthog animal in a street art mural

a large owl in a mural

looking along a sidewalk where there is alarge mural, a very large owl is looking at you, other animals in the background.

street art mural, metaphorical heart of the Earth is being ripped out of the water

part of a large mural with an environmental theme - a brown bear stands beside a small waterfall in the midst of a lush green place

part of a mural with an environment theme, a polar bear is standing beside a red and white ship that is frozen in the arctic ice.

arctic scenes as part of a larger street art mural on an underpass in Toronto - polar bears walking on ice, with an iceberg behind them.

arctic scenes as part of a larger street art mural on an underpass in Toronto - a person in a purple parka holding a little tree, standing in ice between two polar bears

arctic scenes as part of a larger street art mural on an underpass in Toronto - a man in a parka with a fur lined hood looks down the road towards the rest of the mural

part of a street art mural, three people bundled up in fur lined parkas in a winter scene

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