Reflections I noticed as I walked up Simcoe and across King this afternoon.
I often see tourists stopped here to take photos. I decided that it was my turn today. The CN Tower is also reflected in this building, along with St. Andrews Church.
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Curved window beside the entrance to St. Andrews subway station.
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Roy Thomson Hall just sneaks into the lower left corner of the picture.
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My selfie for the day!
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Corktown Common
One of Toronto’s newest parks
In one corner of the park there is a plaque that commemorates the William Davies Company, once the owners of the land and buildings in this part of the city.
“From 1874 to 1927, this site was home to the William Davies Company, reputed to be the largest pork packing plant in the British Empire. Established in 1857 by William Davies (1831-1921), the company made its fortune preparing and exporting cured sides of pork to England. Later, its products were sold through William Davies Company shops, one of Canada’s first store chains. In its buildings here, the innovative company controlled the entire process from slaughter to shipment. Processing nearly 500,000 hogs annually by 1900, the company contributed to the city’s nickname “Hogtown”.
In 1892, Joseph Flavelle (1858-1939) became a partner and managing director of the company. Under Flavelle, the business flourished until the 1920’s when it was hurt by falling markets. The William Davies Company merged with three other packing firms to create Canada Packers, which continued to operate from this site until 1932. The last of the company’s buildings here were demolished in the 1990’s.”
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An old illustrated map of the area now called the West Don Lands. The red letters are as follows:
A – Gooderham & Worts, now the Distillery District
B – William Davies Company, now Corktown Common
C – CNR tracks
D – the Don River
A version of this illustration also appeared in a blogTO post about the William Davies Company.
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The last remains of the pork processing business disappeared long ago. After remaining vacant for a number of years, the site was developed into a park as part of the West Don Lands rebuilding.
The park is starting to look a lot greener as the plants and trees grow. This photo was taken from on top of one of the man made hills in the park. August 2014
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There are now lots of butterflies….
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… and bees
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A pavilion made of steel and wood sits atop a small hill in the middle of the play area. The pavilion was designed by by Maryann Thompson Architects of Boston The blue and green ovals are where there are fountains for warm weather water play.
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Looking west, and slightly north, from the pavilion towards the downtown area. West Don Lands redevelopment in the immediate background. Autumn 2013 (the building under construction is now almost complete – see above)
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Looking northeast through the wood and red metal sculpture, ‘No Shoes’, by Mark di Suvero. May 2014
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The trees are starting to grow. They don’t look like much at the moment but give them time!
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There is even a large raspberry bush but by the looks of it, only the birds and insects have found it!
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A map of the area today. The red X marks the spot of the new park.
When the park opened in 2013, urbantoronto.ca had an article about it. You can read about it here
Some wonderful aerial views of the area can be seen in another wordpress blog
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I ventured out to Etobicoke because I heard that Centennial Park had a conservatory and I was curious about what was there. Taking photos of flowers and plants is not my forte but it was an interesting place to experiment with colour, texture and composition. I do not know the names of most of the plants that I saw there, and very few were labelled. There were geraniums, anthuriums (red & white), bougainvillea, bamboo, lots of different cacti and succulents, to name a few. The photos below represent only a sample of what was growing there today.
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St. Enochs Square, between Massey Hall and the back of the stores facing Yonge St., just south of Shuter St.
This mural was painted about a year ago as part of a project to rejuvenate this alley. It was a collaboration between EGR and Elicser Elliott.
entrance to St. Enochs Sq. on Shuter St.
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left side of the mural
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blowing dandelions
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panorama of the mural
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Bulwer Street is a short street that runs parallel to, and one block north of, Queen Street West. It is only one block long, running east from Spadina Ave to Soho St.
children behind the fence
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children playing in the parking lot
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white eyes
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he’s got the whole city in his hands
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rooftop reflections
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mirrored in the glass
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facing the alley
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only half the man he used to be
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the back door
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tag – suniti? BA Kings?
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parts of three tags on a wall
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wired tags on concrete
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worn away but clinging on
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Uber 500’s little yellow bird shows up on this street too
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little fish, big teethfish
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one of the many, many, views of the CN tower
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There is an alley that runs behind Bathurst, on the west side. Most of these photos were taken in that alley. All of the photos are of sticker, or paper, graffiti that I saw when I walked that alley a week or so ago.
It used to be a window, now it is an ever changing canvas.
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spirograph on the metal pole.
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strawberry man gets licked by dog, a mask looks at you, decolonize and phi-nite, all in a small space
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have wings, will skateboard
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calzone tag unfortunately scribbled on top.
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Billy and friends
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brown girl on the wall
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blue cat with lace
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red eye
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I am beginning to wonder how many bridges there are in Toronto! Yesterday I walked under three that I hadn’t been under before. These are the photos from one of those bridges – Bathurst Street over Cedarvale Park, just north of St. Clair Ave.
chillin’ & smokin’
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pink!
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a happy flower growing on the concrete
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tags around the down spout
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Look Mom!
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an assortment of tags at the end of the bridge
In case you are curious, here is a list of bridges in Toronto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Toronto
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From a vantage point over Nathan Phillips Square, we looked down on the people as they passed by. It was late in the afternoon so the shadows were long. Although we were looking for interesting characters, we were also creating compositions with people, concrete lines, and shadows as elements.
hunting shadows
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caught some!
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on the diagonal
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walking over the shadow arches
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with matching little black dresses
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Some shadows kept still so they were easier to capture.
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a multitude of lines and their linear shadows
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Not all involved shadows. Sometimes, just people in the shadow.
Resting by the fountain.
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walking between the lines
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A little dead end alley in Kensington and the graffiti I found there.
A chain link fence at the end of the alley.
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I love the way that the faces are incomplete compared to rest of the anatomy.
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The seemingly endless battle between graffiti artists and those who wantonly tag over their work.
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squares pieced together
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hidden doorway
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steaming
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chaos with stickers and scribbles
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grimacing skull by the fence
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Sonya’s Park, a small green space on Oxford Street.
On the east side of the park there is a brick wall that had a number of scenes painted on it. The pictures depicted a trip to Kensington market, circa 1885. Some of the murals remain intact while others have been defaced.
Oxford St., from the park.
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Trip to Kensington market, circa 1885. The first of the murals on the brick wall on the east side of the park.
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Once upon a time there was a mural there. Sadly, taggers have made their presence known.
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buying fruit and vegetables, circa 1885
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stop not taggin art & watch yourself
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at the back of the park
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diamonds of colour
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Plea no the, Elder abuse, and Don’t worry CAMH is only a block away, all on one sign
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as I walk Toronto 