as I walk Toronto

one December evening

Posted: December 17, 2013 in general Toronto
Tags: benches, Brookfield Place, buildings, Christmas, city, December, decorations, downtown, drifts, glass, lights, park, path, reflections, road, shadows, snow, St. James, storm, streets, Toronto, traffic, urban, windows, winter

One cold Saturday evening, during a snowstorm, in downtown Toronto

Snow, lots of blowing snow!

Ruts in the snow on King St. reflect the light from the street lights. Snow is blowing across the road. There is a red stop light in the distance, and you can see the headlights of the cars that are stopped for it.

Snow on the roads and snow blowing across the streets.

Snow covered ground lights make round patches of light in the snow. Small white Christmas lights are wrapped around a small tree trunk. The wind is blowing snow across the lights.

A dance of snow and light choreographed by the wind.

A shop window with 6 mannequins. They are all dressed in long dresses or black skirts except one of the mannequins who is wearing a red dress. They all have large red bows in their hair. The backdrop makes it look that they are standing in a snowy pine forest.

Ladies of the night – all dressed up but nowhere to go.

Night time. Fresh snow on the ground with only one set of footsteps walking through it. There are a number of trees along the side of sidewalk and they cast shadows over the snow.

Shadows playing in the drifts of snow.

Black & orange construction cones along side a plastic orange fence around a construction site at the side of the road. Traffic stopped at a stoplight in the distance.

It wouldn’t be a Toronto street unless there was construction on it somewhere, even on the snowiest nights.

With the shorter days of December come the lights of Christmas to brighten the longer hours of darkness.

The photos below were all taken in St. James Park.

looking across a snowy St. James Park towards the cathedral whose steeple is partially obscured by trees. Late afternoon. Part of the Toronto skyline can be seen in the background.

St. James Cathedral through the snow as twilight falls.

Shining

Two tree trunks wrapped in strands of multi-coloured Christmas lights are in the foreground. In the background are bare tree branches against the sky. The sky is a grey colour because it is a cloudy winter night.

Spots of colour contrast with the plain grey of the bare tree branches against the grey late afternoon sky.

snow covered benches under trees whose trunks are wrapped in strands of Christmas lights.

Snow covered benches await a warmer day.

Six trees with their trunks wrapped in strands of Christmas lights. There is a fresh, deep layer of snow on the ground.

Colour, light, and shadow. St. James Park trees in the snow.

A snow covered path through a park. The tree trunks have been covered with Christmas lights. A couple of trees have blue lights, a couple of trees are covered with white lights, and some trees have multi-colored lights.

More lights…. a snow covered path through St. James park.

it’s starting to look a lot like Christmas

Posted: December 9, 2013 in general Toronto, locations
Tags: animals, Christmas, Christmas tree, decorations, fake snow, for sale, glitter, lights, ornaments, photos, pirates, Queen St. West, red, Santa, santa hats, shopping, socks, T-shirts, Toronto, toys, tree, windows, yolo

at least along Queen Street West……

On display in a shop window are a stuffed toy cat and dog are dressed for Christmas. THe dog is wearing a Santa hat. Reflected in the window are people passing by carrying shopping bags.

Christmas is going to the dogs, and cats.

A window display in a T-shirt shop. THere is a T-shirt with a picture of ROb FOrd with the word yolo printed on it. There is a black toddler onsie with the words Bad Seed written in red. There is a green T-shirt with the words Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal written on it.

He knows when you’ve been naughty……

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A drawing on a chalk board of Santa trying to get a hold of a cat that is hiding under his sleigh. The words on the board say Why Santa has reindeer instead of cats.

Rudolph the red nose cat doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Two christmas tree balls. Both are white on the bottom half and both are pantone colours on the top - one is red and the other is light blue, pantone universe color 15-5519

A very merry pantone Christmas in 15-5519 aka turquoise, their colour of the year in 2010.

The window of the store 'Come as You Are' has been covered with a layer of fake snow. THere are clear circles in the snow with vibrators hanging in them. There are also some snowflake shaped clear spots.

Both hot and cold on display for a very, very, merry Christmas!

suitman north and south

Posted: December 6, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: Adam Smith, black and white, businessmen, Dupont, equation, gita, halos, Joel Richardson, mathematics, men, mural, railway, red, stars, street art, suitman, suits, the Junction, Toronto, underpass, yellow

The suitman mural is on a railway underpass on Dupont St., just west of Lansdowne Ave. It covers the walls on both sides of the street.

It was first painted and funded with $2000 received from the City of Toronto’s Clean and Beautiful program. But after Rob Ford was elected mayor and began his “clean up” campaign, it was painted over with dull grey paint. Rather silly considering that Joel Richardson was paid by the city to paint it in the first place. Late in October 2011 it was replaced with a similar mural. It took six weeks to repaint, 25 gallons of paint and 100 large cans of spray paint.

Most of the photos taken were taken on 30 November 2013. Some photos are from a two years previous and they are marked as such.

South Side of Dupont St.

The picture on the south side depicts business men lined up to form mathematical equation.

men in suits forming part of a mathematical equation. A multiplication sign and part of a long division sign.

The eastern part of the equation. That’s not a check mark on the right of the photo, it’s part of a long division sign.

a line of men in suits as part of a mural

divide then multiply

Well suited for a close up. (Photo taken Nov 2011)

part of the mural showing many men in suits, a yellow star and a red star.

To the east of the bridge.

X and + towards the bridge. (Photo taken November 2011)

center part of the mural showing a man wearing a suit who is sitting in the lotus position

This photo was taken from across the street – looking through the concrete pillars that support the railway bridge.

A large white percent sign, a grey star and many men in suits with yellow halos around their heads.

Immediately west of the underpass.

part of the suitman mural taken a couple of years ago. The letter X, the number 6, a man wearing a gas masks plus 6 men wearing black suits and ties. They have yellow halos around their heads.

This is one of the photos that was taken two years ago. I have included it for comparison purposes as the man wearing the gas mask is no longer part of the mural. Instead, three sitting women have been added at the bottom of the letter X. The next picture shows this part of the mural as it looks now.

part of the suitman mural - many men in suits standing in a line. Three sitting women are in the middle.

To the west of the train tracks. Note the absence of the man with the gas mask and the addition of the three women.

North Side of Dupont St.

Photo taken November 2011.

“And do thy duty even if it be humble, rather than another’s even if it be great. To die in one’s duty is LIFE: to live in another’s is death.” [quote from the Bhagavad Gita, a 700 verse scripture that part of the Hindi epic ‘Mahabharata’]

a sidewalk runs along the right side of the picture. Agains the sidewalk is a concrete wall that has been painted with a mural. A white arrow is part of the picture. There are also words written in black but they hard to read because of the angle of the photo

Looking back under the bridge, following the arrow.

Photo taken November 2011

“This at least would be the case in a society where things were left to follow their natural course, where there was perfect liberty, and where there was perfect FREE both to choose what occupation we thought proper and to change it as we thought PROPER. THE whole of the advantages and disadvantages of different employments of labour stock, must in the same neighbourhood, be either perfectly equal or continually tending to equality” [quote from “Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith]

More information on this mural: http://joelrichardson.com/2011/10/

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windows and other bits

Posted: December 4, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bird, brick, construction, fish piss, graffiti, lane, lovebot, metal, photos, red brick, Richmond Street, rust, street art, Toronto, windows, yellow brick

A few things that I saw today as I walked from Richmond and Spadina, southwestward to King and Shaw. A beautiful sunny Tuesday afternoon.

An old metal sign saying No Authorized Parking has rusted badly. It is on a yellow brick building. Beside it is a blue coloured metal screen covering a window.

rusted and authorized

A graffiti painting of a blue and white bird on a grey concrete block wall. It is painted to look like it's perched on the top corner of a window.

Happily perched above it all with a birds eye view of Richmond Street West.

the backs of a few lowrise brick buildings. One of the buildings is painted an olive green coloutr. There is graffiti above one of the buildings, of 2 dog heads, one of which has a cigarette in its mouth.

Smoking on the roof.

Stop Rob Ford at the western end of a one way Richmond street.

A brick wall that is painted a pinkish colour. There is an old window with the lower half barred. A light is mounted on the wall to the right of the window. The wall is dirty.

window and light, Palace Hotel, at King and Strachan.

A red brick wall with an old door that has been bricked over. A large new window has been added. You can see the lights on inside.

Afternoon light.

A paper sticker showing three beer bottle shaped bottles with labels that say fish piss.

fish piss in the alley

Three small windows arranged vertically beside a rusted metal grille covering an air vent. Black and white splotches have been painted around the window.

Black and white and speckled all over. This was one in a series of five or six windows of various sizes along the same wall. The black and white painting gave the wall an interesting look although I am not sure of pictures of the individual windows are all that interesting!

gold coloured poster on a dirty light grey garage door. The poster says 2013 Lovebot Loveinvasion. It has a picture of a light grey robot on it, with a red heart.

The alley I was walking down turned, but as I turned the corner I realized that I had come to a dead end. I spotted this poster on one of the garage doors that was there. According to the man standing inside one of the other garages, lots of people end up doing U-turns in front of his garage – including cars that come zooming around the corner, only to have to hit their brakes.

A sticker of a black hearted, square headed, yellow robot on a blue dumpster.

for more information about the lovebots, http://lovebot.com/about

This photo was taken while standing in a parking lot near the southeast corner of Adelaide and Bathurst streets.

The graffiti across the lower part of the building is by homebase. Their website: http://www.homebasetoronto.com

Bloor GO fence

Posted: December 2, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: baseball cap, batoner, clandestino, construction hoardings, danger signs, dmc, Elicser, elicsr, faces, fence, GO train, hat, horus, jetone the lurker, Junction Joe, just ask her out, kwest, pages, peru, rhinowreck, spud, street art, tags, tuffytats, West Toronto Railpath, witch, yo maysr

The Bloor GO station is undergoing a number of renovations as it will be the first stop on the updated Kitchener rail corridor running between Union Station and Kitchener. Bloor will be a stop for the new Union Pearson Express service to the airport.

A temporary wood fence has been erected between the tracks and the West Toronto Railpath for the duration of the construction. This fence has become a canvas for some of the local graffiti artists. I walked the length of the fence yesterday and I took a lot of photos! I started at the north end of the fence and the following photos appear in the order that they were taken.

large graffiti picture of a close up of a mouth interior showing many orange teet, a blue tongue and purple gums.

open wide and say “ah”!

graffiti of a witch's face. She has green eyes and green hair. She is wearing a purple hat. Her boney hand is in front of her mouth so you can see her long green finger nails.

Wickedly enchanting.

Spud graffiti tag on a pink background. Rob Ford faces fill the letter U. The S P and D are different colours

Rob Ford and U in the middle of Spud.

Street art picture of 2 male heads. One is wearing a brown baseball cap backwards. The word Toronto is written on it in orange letters.

Toronto on backwards.

Three faces graffiti. Two men's heads on the left and a woman's head on the right. They are painted on a wood gate that is closed and locked with a chain.

Face to face across the chained gate.

Looking along a temporary wood fence that has been covered with graffiti. The art that you can see in the foreground consists of a number of head. A dirt pathway runs along beside the fence.

Looking up and down the railpath.

graffiti picture of the face, shoulders and arms of a fat man. The backs of his hands have tattos of a bicycle and a cupcake.

Eyes closed, with a cupcake and a bike and perhaps a prayer.

graffiti picture of the upper bodies of 3 people, 2 men and a girl. The girl seems to have an orange halo around her head. The men have orange crowns on their heads.

Of kings and angels.

tagged

graffiti picture of the head and shoulders of two men. The one of the right is in shades of grey while the one on the left is a more natural colour.

Two

close up of part of a graffiti tag. Multicoloured.

dotted eyes

graffiti tag - stylized letters forming the word Peru in green, blue and red. Some grey bricks have been painted behind the letters.

Peruvian tag

parts of a couple of pieces of graffiti. Multicoloured. Also in the picture is a black and white cat's head.

Danger cat.

Part of an orange and beige graffiti tag. It surrounds a small sign that points to the entrance to the train station.

To the trains, orange and orange.

green and orange graffiti tage on blue background

Unfortunately I cut off some of the words written in purple, Junction Joe , Kwest, Takefive, Other Sense, Honour?, Rhinowreck

Graffiti of two women's heads. There is also a red and white danger sign in the middle of the picture.

Danger women and something black.

part of two green tags. A sign pointing to the train station entrance is in the middle. Someone has written the word dark on the sign.

Dark and Jetone the lurker.

Silver and black graffiti that consists of drawings many different things - skull, bottles, hearts, hats, moon, dice, etc. as well as some words, slayed, the truth is out there, and danger

The truth is out there, and many other things in black and silver.

Listen, study, develop

The gate was boarded up too.

sink in

blue man by elicser

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Between the 2nd of October and the end of November when my photos were taken, there were some additions to the street art pieces, especially at the north end of the fence.

viceroy on dupont

Posted: December 1, 2013 in graffiti and street art, landmarks
Tags: boarded up windows, brick, factory, gone, graffiti, heritage, Junction, laser, photos, siderodronophilia, street art, Toronto, trains, viceroy, West Toronto Railpath, windows

1655 Dupont Street, a large red brick building that once housed the Viceroy Rubber Company factory. Now it is Planet Storage with over 10,000 square feet of self-storage space.

The building, now designated as a heritage building, has had it’s structure preserved although some of the lower storey windows have been boarded up. The east side of the building backs onto the Toronto Railpath and it has been decorated with graffiti at ground level. An old storage tank at the southeast corner of the building has been painted bright green to match the Planet Storage logo.

Viceroy still makes hockey pucks and other rubber items but at a newer plant on Weston Road, under the name of Allied Viceroy.

Three storey brick factory building. The windows in the lower storey are covered with orange wood. There is graffiti along the lower five or six feet of the building.

looking south along the side of the building

Looking north along the side of the old Viceroy rubber factory building. A red brick building with large windows. There is graffiti on the bottom five or six feet of the building.

Looking north along the West Toronto Railpath.

a chainlink fence is in the foreground. Behind the fence is a tall green storage tank (the top part of it is not in the picture. One wall of a three storey red brick building is in the background.

At the southwest corner of the building and behind a fence is a tall green storage tank.

bottom two storeys of a red brick factory. The lower storey has the windows boarded up and painted orange. There are graffiti tags along the bottom of the building.

tags under the orange

An open window covered with metal bars and a metal screen. Graffiti on the walls too.

a large tree is in the foreground and it is casting a shadow over the wall of a red brick building that has graffiti on it.

In the shadows.

Large windows on a red brick building. The window frames are metal and they are rusty.

Rust, writing, and reflections

an old door is painted bright green and on it is a piece of street art of a man in a black and white striped shirt. A blue and white graffiti tag is on either side of the door.

on the green door.

a black and white drawing of a woman with binoculars sitting beside a train track waiting for a train that is in the distance

S is for Siderodronophilia, a proclivity to become aroused by watching or riding trains.

The sun is shining on a red brick building with large windows. Graffiti tags are on the wall.

Tags in the sunshine.

graffiti of many white fingers in at least three rows of four. The fingers have eyes and their noses look like the number two.

many fingers with twos.

all steamed up

Posted: November 19, 2013 in general Toronto
Tags: cameras, dancing, fun, laughing, November, photo, playing, steam, street, Toronto, urban, vent, watching, Yonge St.

Just a little playing around on the streets

Yonge Street, at Melinda Street, had been closed off for the Santa Claus parade…but I think that some people had as much fun playing in the warm steam that was pouring out of this vent.

They played –

games and photo ops

jumping and dancing

warily watching

careful observation and investigation

running and laughing……

ford love-in at City Hall

Posted: November 13, 2013 in events
Tags: anti-Ford, bobble heads, cameras, city hall, crowd, mayor, nathan phillips square, people, photographers, photos, politics, protest, resign, Rob Ford, RoFo, signs, step down, Toronto, wall

Anti Rob Ford protest

A cold but clear November afternoon at Nathan Phillips Square.

people, signs, cameras, writing, chanting, speeches, media.

Protesters at a rally, from behind. Two people are holding signs. One sign says Step Down and the the other sign says Or Fall Over

Step down or fall over.

A man is writing with chalk on a grey concrete wall.

The city’s budget has gone up! Every year Rob has been in office.

Nathan Phillips Square from the upper walkway, looking down at the crowd that has gathered for the protest

Nathan Phillips Square about 1:00 p.m.

A couple is holding an orange sign that says Councillors fix this mess now. P.S. I vote.

There was a good mix of people there, young and old.

View of the crowd from part way up the steps just before they moved towards the front door of City Hall.

A woman is holding a sign that says Sh*!show RoFo has got to GO. In the background there is a man who has a sign with a picture of the man from the Monopoly game showing that his pockets are empty.

Many creative signs. RoFo, the man from Monopoly, gravy train…..

It’s not about the drugs, it’s about the lies.

Two people are writing words in chalk on a concrete wall. A woman is standing on a garbage bin so that she can reach higher up on the wall.

Writing on the wall, about 12:40. I am not sure when the writing started, but when I first got to Nathan Phillips Square there wasn’t too much on the wall yet.

A man is walking past holding up a sign that says Gravy Train? What about Leadership? In the background people are writing on the wall.

Of chalk and signs

A man is writing words on the concrete wall beside the ramp at Nathan Phillips Square.

A little bit later, a few more words on the wall as well as on the ground. Sashay away! Fraud Nation. No to Drugs. Harper + Ford = Corruption. Help yourself & help Toronto, Step Down.

A man is writing in orange and blue chalk. Old City Hall is in the background.

You smoked your own pipe. More writing on the upper wall.

A woman is writing Get Help in purple and yellow chalk, on the ground

I assume that it became “Get Help”

A man is writing on the concrete ground as part of the crowd watches him.

Etobicoke, Ford Co. most wanted.

another view of the crowd

Two woman are holding bright orange signs.

…finally!

A man and a woman are holding a very large sign with a picture of Rob Ford's face on it.

Resting on the Archer

Two people are writing on the wall, a woman has stopped to watch them and a man is taking their picture.

Protesters, spectators and photographers. There were a lot of photographers! A lot of media, print, radio and television, were there too. Newstalk 1010 (where the Ford brothers had their radio show) had at least one person walking around with a microphone.

A man holds a megaphone in one hand and a sign that says Say No To Corruption in the other hand.

Leading the chants

A picture of the cafe that is beside Nathan Phillips Square. There are people sitting inside who are looking at the protest. The protest can also be seen reflected in the glass.

Looking at the ones inside while the ones outside are reflected back

A man with a sign with lots of words on it is talking to a woman wearing a grey scarf.

wanted, A new Mayor! asap

A woman is writing Pathetic Leave Toronto in coloured chalk on the concrete ground in the middle of the square.

Writing in the square.

A man in a bright orange hat and holding a protest sign, is taking a photo with his phone.

I got him and he got me (I probably got the better photo!)

#savetoronto #topoli #robford

With thanks to the Starbucks at Queen and Victoria where I was able to park myself and my laptop while I put this blog together. Wifi and an electrical outlet for the price of a tall coffee, can’t beat it.

graffiti on garages

Posted: November 10, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: Alan Powell, alley, camille, city, colours, Darth Vader, David French, dogs, door, faces, fence, garages, graffiti, Harbord village, lanes, locomotive, paint, photographs, street art, Toronto, train, urban

Graffiti and street art on the garages

of David French Lane and Alan Powell Lane

David French Lane runs south from Barbara Barrett Lane (just south of Bloor St.), one block to Sussex Ave. If you cross Sussex Ave., the lane continues as Alan Powell Lane. Both lanes are lined with garages for the houses on Borden St. and Brunswick Ave., the streets that run parallel on either side of the lanes. Alan Powell Lane also runs behind Central Tech Collegiate.

There is an excellent interactive map of the lanes of Harbord village and the people for whom they were named at http://www.harbordvillage.com/laneways/lanewayinteractivemap.html

mural of a large blue and white locomotive that is painted to look like it is coming out of a brown brick building

A railway locomotive roars past the corner of Barbara Barrett Lane and David French Lane.

detail of a green and blue blob on a door. In the blob shape someone has written I love you Camille

Camille is loved.

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A grey garage door with two pictures of Darth Vader's head, two Scottie dog heads, and a couple of other dogs

Darth Vader and the dogs

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view of Alan Powell lane, looking north. a chain link fence runs along the left side of the lane. some old garages are on the right. One of the garages has words spray painted on it

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, in duplicate. Looking north up Alan Powell Lane.

A posr rabbit lurks in the corner, Alan Powell Lane

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.