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Barbara Barrett lane

Posted: November 10, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, Barbara Barrett, birds, eyes, graffiti, hands, Harbord village, head, lane, photos, posr, rabbit, rubiks cube, street art, Toronto, tree

Barbara Barrett lane is located in Harbord village. It runs east-west and is immediately south of Bloor Street West between Borden Street and Brunswick Avenue.

The lane was recently named after Barbara Barrett who was the founder of the Toronto School of Art in 1969. The school was originally located at Sussex and Brunswick. Barbara died in 2005 in her 89th year.

Like many lanes and alleys in the area, there are a number of murals and interesting pieces of graffiti.

street art on a textured concrete wall showing stylized yellow birds sitting on a telephone wire. A boy is sitting with them.

birds on a wire

mural showing two large hands hold a Rubik's cube

solving Rubiks’s cube

A wall that is covered with a mural. There is a one way sign on the wall. It is pointing towards a window.

one way to the window

At the intersection of two alleys. Straight ahead is a building covered with a large mural with large hands and a Rubik's cube amongst other things. On the right is a one storey building with a poser tag in blues and maroons.

at the corner

Street art picture of a girl with long black hair, brown shorts and a pink top, sitting on a large swing.

girl on a swing. She is in the entranceway to the Green Room restaurant.

A stencil in black of white of three stylized faces that have big smiling mouths. They are on a yellow door.

smiling, laughing stencil faces

part of a mural on a wall. It is also a parking space for zip cars. The mural has a pale yellowish background. It has blue an dpink tags as well as a picture of a man.

zipping around

part of a mural on a wall. There is a door in the middle. Part of the mural shows a large tree with a brown trunk and multicoloured leaves.

a door in the mural

great fire of 1904

Posted: November 9, 2013 in history, locations
Tags: 1904, April 1904, Bay St., brick, buildings, Croft St., downtown, facade, fire, history, John Croft, memorial, mud, mural, old photographs, Toronto, wholesale district

On the 19th of April, 1904, a large section of downtown Toronto burned for nine hours.

street map of downtown Toronto showing the buildings that were affected by the fire of 1904.

Map showing the area of Toronto affected by the fire of 1904. Bay Street from the Esplanade to Miranda Street (just south of King Street) was the hardest hit. At the time, this was called the Wholesale District of the city.

Historical photo of Bay street after the 1904 fire in Toronto. There are people on the street. The street is all mud. There are many burned out buildings on both sides of the streets. Brick facing of two to four storey buildings is all that remains.

Aftermath, Bay street, April 1904.

In part, because the fire started in the evening, there were no fatalities. As a result of the fire, 5000 people were left without a job. In 1904, the population of Toronto was about 200,000 so the loss of employment on this scale had an impact on the city.

a very bright and colourful mural on the back of a brick building, It shows, in reds, yellows ans oranges the burning of a couple of brick buildings, with flames coming out of the windows.

Mural painted on the back of the building on the northwest corner of College St. and Croft St. (398 College St.), commemorating the fire of 1904.

Demolition of the ruins left by the fire took many weeks. On the 4th of May, John Croft died while using dynomite to bring down the remains of the W.J. Gage building on Front Street. His was the only known death associated with the fire. What is now Croft Street was renamed in his honour.

The east side of 398 College St., at the south end of Croft St., is painted with a mural as a memorial to John Croft.

corner of a building showing parts of two murals. On the back wall is the mural depicting the fire itself. On the side wall is a memorial to John Croft.

northeast corner of the building

Burned out brick buildings. All that remains is part of the front facade of these two to six storey buildings.

Burned out buildings, April 1904

The images of the fire’s aftermath are available online. The originals are kept at the City of Toronto Archives, located on Spadina Road., just north of Dupont Street.

Posr on Croft Street

Posted: November 5, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: brick wall, hidden doors, mailboxes, mural, photos, posr, rabbits, red and white, street art, Toronto

This post is a continuation of the previous post, titled Croft Street.

There is a red, white and blue mural at the south end of Croft Street. It covers the side of a three story brick building.

flat black apartments at 396

Croft Street

Posted: November 5, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, Always, brick wall, cat, colours, Croft St., face, garage door, garages, graffiti, head, lane, Monty, MUHA, murals, photographs, photos, poetry, rain, rust, stencils, street art, Toronto, wood, words

Croft Street is not a street, but it’s more than a lane.

It runs between Harbord Street and College Street, just west of Bathurst Street. Although there are many different interesting things to be seen when you walk along this street, I have chosen to focus on the street art for this blog post. The following is a selection of what I saw.

large piece of street art on a couple of garage doors.

surveying the scene

a large piece of street art on a garage door.

a closer look

large piece of street art on a garage door, in purples and greys. Above the garage door is a rusted metal wall.

paint and rust

can’t sleep so I write

mural showing two red brick houses, a small grey apartment building and a green street sign that says Harbord St.

Harbord street sign

Did you know our Monty the cat?
King of Croft and all that
(Ask your dog. Ask your cat)
Did you give him a pet
Once you had met?
Or tickle his soft silken tum tum?
Did he tell you his tale in articulate meow
And share his affection with a rub of his brow?
His loss here has left us really quite blue
But remembering all of those of YOU
Who knew how to share a sweet kindness true
Who would pause on the way,
In midst of each day,
To offer wee beastie
affectionate feastie
In Memory of Monty
Thank you!

Mural painted on the side of a garage. It has been painted to look like a red brick wall. In the wall is a yellow window and a black cat is standing on the window sill.

painted cat on painted window sill on painted brick wall

Mural on a garage door showing a large group of people of many different races. There is a TTC street car in the center of the crowd. Some people are waving flags - a Canadian flag, a German flag, and a Union Jack

on the streets of Toronto

An old wood door and wall with faded graffiti on it.

hidden doorway

Street art on a garage door showing large stylized fruit with faces on them. A yellow banana, an orangish pink pear and apple and two other pieces of yellow fruit.

tutti frutti

A graffiti picture of a boy who is wearing a black and white striped sweater. Shown from the hips up. His hands are on his hips. It is on a white garage door.

with hands on hips and with added words

brown garage door, brown front door and rusty brown mail box. On the garage door is a piece of street art with orange and blue blobs. The front door is decorated with a grid made of metal strips.

art at the front door

greenery

A stencil graffiti of a stylized face in black and white. It is on a very red wall.

black and white and red all over

Here I stand in silence
but the patter of the rain
who I was, you’ll never know;
my triumph

A stencil graffiti of a woman's head. She has shoulder length hair and she is staring straight ahead with a stunned look on her face.

staring eyes

graffiti of a man's face. The mouth is actually a mail slot in a door.

mail man

At the south end of the street, there is a large red, white and blue mural by posr. I have not included it in this blog post because it warrants a post of its own. It’s the next blog post, or the URL is https://mcfcrandall.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/posr-on-croft-street/

paper people

Posted: October 25, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, big ears, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Bill Murray, black and white, broom, deadboy, drawings, everything made him happy, graffiti, Graffiti Alley, lane, Leonard Cohen, paper, people, photos, Rob Ford, stencils, street art, Toronto, woman

paper people of Graffiti Alley

a paper graffiti of Bill Gates, Bill Murray and Bill Clinton on a graffiti covered door

Three Bills
This is now a recurring theme in stencil/paper graffiti. Originally, the Bills were used in response to ‘post no bills’ signs on fences surrounding construction sites.
The Bills here, from left to right, are Bill Gates, Bill Murray and Bill Clinton

paper graffiti of ROb Ford, from the shoulders up, giving the finger.

In the fall of 2011, many of these Rob Ford stencils appeared in Graffiti Alley, amongst other places. They were the work of Toronto street artist, Deadboy. This might be the only one that remains in this alley.

a poster with a black and white line drawing of a man's head. He has a beard. Beside him are words.

Leonard Cohen: “only one thing made him happy and now that it was gone everything made him happy”

a black and white paper poster/stencil of a woman throwing her arms in the air and walking away. It is on a grey door in a lane. There is a broom beside the door.

“I don’t do floors”
“Clean it up yourself”

a brown and black set of posters/stencils of three heads. Two are the same - they look like heads with big ears and they are wearing very big sunglasses. The third looks like a woman in a helmet like the kind an astronaut might wear.

big ears and the astronaut

I have not included all the stencils in Graffiti Alley as some have appeared in prior posts. See https://mcfcrandall.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/walking-graffiti-alley-again/

a stencil of large headed, no armed, creature.

alien in the alley

With thanks to:

Georgette for her help with the three Bills

and Sally who recognized Leonard Cohen.

havenbrook

Posted: September 18, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: 401, bridge, concrete, DOn River, face, graffiti, Havenbrook Park, mud, paw prints, raccoon, stencil, Toronto

I ventured north today, north of the 401….. to Havenbrook Park which is just far enough north to access the bridge under the 401 just east of Leslie Street. I went there because I had heard that some interesting graffiti could be found under the bridge. As you can see, someone beat me to it. It’s all gone, all cleaned up.

There is a small, and boring, amount of graffiti across the river and up the hill. If I also wanted to climb the fence, I could access a bit more graffiti. My cane was handy for managing the incline down to the river but that was the limit of my adventuring for today.

Having said that, there was this one piece of graffiti:

The graffiti had been cleaned up and so had the surroundings. It was probably the cleanest of the bridges that I have been under in Toronto. I saw rocks, dirt, water, paw prints and not much else.

Tower Automotive Building

Posted: September 2, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: 1988, blue face, brick, eyeless, faccio sempre la brava, face, fence, girl, graffiti, heritage, industrial, Junction, Loopy Le Loop, Looter, lsd, street art, tags, the Junction, Toronto, Tower Automotive, vacant lot, wall, watering can

Standing alone in a vacant lot on Sterling Road is the Tower Automotive Building. It was built by Northern Aluminium in 1920 and at some point became the property of Tower Automotive who used the site to build car parts. In 2005 it was declared a heritage building but it was closed shortly thereafter when the company declared bankruptcy.

The ten storey Tower Automotive bulding. In the foreground is the land left vacant after the demolition of the sheet casting machining buildings in 2010.

The ten storey Tower Automotive building. In the foreground is the land left vacant after the demolition of the sheet casting machining buildings in 2010.

Looking up the spine of the building. North side of Tower Automotive.

walking along the west wall

Faccio Sempre la Brava, translate from the Italian as I always do the good.

Faccio Sempre la Brava, translates from the Italian as, I always do the good.

Loopy Le Loop with tags

two wire gates. One has a sign on it that says 'protected by' but the name of the company is obscured by a tag

ungated

interior, doors

When I was researching this building, I found a site that has a collection of great photos of the interior of the building that were taken in May of this year:

jermalism.blogspot.ca/2013/05/abandonment-issues-tower-automotive.html

__________________________________

Wychwood Barns

Posted: August 23, 2013 in locations, Uncategorized
Tags: artscape, bricks, converted building, five, heritage, St. Clair West, streetcars, Toronto, TTC, Wychwood, Wychwood barns

In 1913 the first of five Wychwood “Barns” were built by the city of Toronto as a streetcar maintenance facility. Streetcars accessed the site from the mainlines on St. Clair Ave., which is just to the north, via tracks on Wychwood Avenue.

There were five barns built from 1913 to 1921 as industrial buildings. They are brick structures, two storeys high with an interior steel structure that was exposed. The facility remained part of the TTC until 1992. The City of Toronto currently leases the site to Toronto Artscape Inc., a not-for-profit organization that develops and operates space for the arts, at $1 a year on a 50 year lease.

Barn 1 has been converted into a private live-work studio and housing for community artists, while Barn 2 was made into a community gathering space, including a theatre. Barns 1 & 2 became a covered street that is two storeys high, 60 metres long, and 10 meters wide. Barns 3 and 4 are private-public spaces where non-profit organizations can operate.

Interior of the present day Wychwood Barns, central part. Historical photos of Toronto streetcars hang over the doors on the right.

Interior of the present day Wychwood Barns, central part (barns 1 and 2). Historical photos of Toronto streetcars hang over the doors on the right.

A greenhouse and community gardens are located in Barn four. The roof was removed from Barn 5. All that remains is the steel structure that forms the arcade.

A large number 5 hangs over the remains of the fifth barn.

Barn number 5

part of an old wall showing the brick details.

Exposed interior wall

Sunflowers growing in the community gardens in barn 4.

walking Graffiti Alley again

Posted: August 22, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: colours, fish, graffiti, Graffiti Alley, marine life, McDougall Lane, paint, posters, Queen St. West, resurrect, Rush Lane, soul, spray paint, stickers, tags, Tom and Jerry, Toronto, uber, weeds

Behind the south side of Queen St. West, starting at Spadina and heading west. At Bathurst there is a slight detour because someone built a Loblaws grocery store and a condo in the way. But just turn south to Richmond and walk a short distance west. On your right there is a small alley; follow this lane to almost Dufferin street – if there is no construction in the way!

I have walked this route many times. Sometimes there are new things to see, or changes have occurred. Sometimes I just notice things that I missed on previous visits.

Larger than life. The woman on red has been there since the first time I walked this way a couple of years ago. The aquatic scenes on the building across the alley are a more recent addition.

Tom and Jerry and their never ending chase scene.

The alley changes with the seasons. Even here there is greenery.

Sunshine and shadows in the lane.

Above the alley. She now appears in a few places.

Tag, baker, inserted between two windows

I just want people to like me. A sticker in McDougall Lane, a good use of US Priority Mail labels.

I resurrect the destructed poster with a few tags added accompanied by a girl with a broken heart.

Black and white graffiti on a wall and door. There is life sized picture of a man on the door. He is holding a red heart in his hands.

He evolves. First his face was added – with googly eyes and his tongue stuck out. Now he seems to be anatomically correct as well!

Graffiti of many caricature images of Rob Ford. Most are black and white but one is red and white. Some of the edges are beginning to rip.

Starting to fray at the edges

back of a building on Queen St. that has a large red and blue tag on it. There is a large green skull-like picture on the door. Four blue recylcing bins are by the door.

Garbage bins guarding the door.

Uber's yellow bird is laughing and drinking something from a can. Somone has added the words grain fed to his forehead.

I’m not sure what he’s drinking, but apparently he’s grain fed. He looks a bit grubby because he’s sitting on the ground next to the dust and dirt in the lane.

A smiling Cheshire Cat and a few other creatures.

Nathan Phillips Square on a sunny long week-end

Posted: August 7, 2013 in events, locations
Tags: archer, August, dancing, irie, irie festival, live music, music, Nathan Phillips, people, performance, reggae, Samba Squad, summer, sunshine, Toronto, tourists

This year the long August week-end (Aug 3, 4 and 5) was warm and sunny. Like most summer week-ends in Toronto, there was lots going on. On both Sunday and Monday afternoon I dropped by the IRIE festival at Nathan Phillips Square.

people watching a performance at Nathan Phillips Square on a sunny afternoon

There was a small but appreciative crowd at Nathan Phillips Square on Sunday afternoon for the IRIE festival.

Samba Squad, a group of musicians, performs on stage.

Samba Squad performing on Sunday afternoon.

4 men dancing on a stage. they are wearing green pants and white sleeveless T-shirts.

They were called the TD dancers and they were one of the opening acts on Monday afternoon.

A man and a woman dancing. The woman has long hair that is bouncing around as she moves.

Their performance was twelve minutes of non-stop, high energy movement.

Seeking shade and a place to rest.

Two Asian male photographers and their cameras with very long lenses taking pictures of a performance on the stage at Nathan Phillips Square.

There were not a lot of cameras clicking away during the performances that I saw. One exception were the four men with their long lenses that stopped by for a few minutes, took some photos, and left. I thought of African safaris as I watched them.

A girls wearing a light blue jacket is standing beside the pool at Nathan Phillips Square while her mother takes her picture. The mother is wearing light blue pants and is holding a light blue umbrella.

Photo op in light blue.

Nathan Phillips Square from the south, showing one of the arches over the fountain. Some vendors are there as well as some tourists and other people enjoying the sunny afternoon.

There were also a few vendors selling food & drink, clothing, and jewelry. Mostly it was a pleasant way to spend some time on a sunny summer afternoon.

as I walk Toronto

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