This is “Vibe Mantra Scroll”, a collaboration between two Toronto artists SOWL (aka Rowell Sowell) and Flips as a shout out to hip hop culture and its global appeal. It is on the southwest corner of Coxwell and Gerrard.
On the back side of the same building there is another SOWL mural
This post also appears in Eyes on the Streets
Spadina has many faces – It starts at Eglinton as Spadina Road where it runs south through Forest Hill. It’s journey southward then continues through a number of different parts of the city including a spot where there is a block missing at Casa Loma. Pedestrians can use the Baldwin Stairs but traffic has to detour around the castle. At Bloor it changes to Spadina Avenue and widens to allow streetcar access down the middle of the road. Here, it is also the western edge of the University of Toronto.
Just north of College Street, Spadina becomes Spadina Crescent as it forms a circle around what is now the Daniels Faculty of Architecture building. South of College Street to Dundas the neighbourhood is somewhat eclectic with a mix of Kensington Market and Chinatown.
below: Celtuce and asparagus for sale. Celtuce was new to me – I’ve never seen it before. It is also called also called stem lettuce, celery lettuce, asparagus lettuce, or Chinese lettuce. Unlike other lettuces, it is the stem that is eaten (although the leaves are also edible).
below: Collaborative mural under the window, the work of June Kim and Curtia Wright. East meets West, painted back in October.
below: Holy Chinatown window Batman!
below: A Canada Post mailbox decorated originally with an image of the Year of the Rat (from Lunar New Year calendar) stamp issued in 2020.
below: Waiting for the streetcar
below: Looking eastward along Queen Street West with a web of streetcar wires overhead and many tracks underfoot. The new Ontario Line subway will cross here with a new Queen-Spadina station being planned. Between Sherbourne (Moss Park) and Spadina the Ontario Line will be under Queen Street. West of here the tracks will swing south to a station at King and Bathurst.
below: Another eastward looking view, this time from a bit farther south at Adelaide, a street that has become canyon-like as it makes it way through the older brick buildings in foreground and then the taller glass buildings as it gets closer to Yonge Street and the downtown core.
below: And a little bit more south again… the CN Tower rises into the fog as it peeks out between two glass condo buildings at King and Spadina. South of King is the new development “The Well” that opened recently. I have blogged about it previously (Well, Well, Well, 27 Nov 2023)
Spadina is also a major access point to Lakeshore Blvd and the Gardiner Expressway. This section of the road is rather barren if you are on foot (unless you are a concrete aficionado LOL)
below: Another eastward view – Both Lakeshore Blvd westbound (but not eastbound!) and the Gardiner Expressway are elevated and they run parallel as they cross over Spadina.
below: Standing on the northwest corner of Spadina and Queens Quay. This is where Spadina ends – at the waterfront with some of the docks and parks that have been redeveloped in recent years.
below: Looking north up Spadina from Queens Quay.
below: Look! Continue walking towards the waterfront but be careful crossing the bike lanes of the Martin Goodman Trail!
below: Spadina Wave Deck
below: The Omni Coastal, a tug boat, is docked at Spadina Quay.
below: Pulling back a little farther… the CN Tower is still hiding in the fog.
below: Ahoy matey!
below: It’s a much quieter scene in the winter when fewer boats are here. In the background, the Canada Malting Company silos still stand strong.
below: Looking for the signs of spring and finding the beginnings of tulips and daffodils in the Music Garden
below: Some useful information: “Bathrooms, Where can they be found?” Number one on the list is Billy Bishop Airport and I can attest to the fact that yes, they have bathrooms (check in the ferry terminal building).
below: Another red tugboat in the fog – this one is the Radium Yellowknife.
below: The silos have been under wraps as they have been renovated.
below: Built on reclaimed land in the early 1900s, the silos have been empty since 1987 and had fallen into disrepair. Although they are now missing a couple of letters, the silos are in much better shape. I am not sure if there is any use planned for the structures but the site is being turned into a park, Bathurst Quay Common.
below: If you walk past the silos, you come to Ireland Park with its memorial to those who fled the Irish famine in the 1840s. The park also has seven sculptures cast in bronze by Rowan Gillespie of Dublin Ireland. The installation is called ‘Arrival’. These figures match an earlier installation on the Customs House Quay in Dublin, ‘Famine’ (1997). A third installation in Tasmania Australia completes the trilogy.
below: Along the exterior walls of the silos, a few signs have been posted that tell the story of Irish immigration to Canada. This is one of those signs.
Arrival of the City of Toronto – When the steamer City of Toronto dropped anchor at Rees’s Wharf on Sunday, 6 June 1847, City officials had no way of knowing the boat was a harbinger of the chaotic and overwhelming migration season to come. The City carried 700 people. More than half of the adults on board were “indigent” migrants from Ireland, all traveling at the expense of the government.
Given reports of ongoing distress and hunger in Ireland, the volume of immigrants was expected to be high that year, but Toronto was still unprepared for the tidal wave of Irish Famine immigrants now cresting its shores. Toronto, with its population of 20,000 would eventually receive 38,000 immigrants in 1847.
Steamships arrived filled to capacity with passengers exhausted and sick from their weeks-long journey. Many of those who had been deemed healthy by doctors at Grosse Ile were beginning to show signs of typhus.
The logistics of receiving, triaging, housing, treating and transporting (or burying) this wave of newcomers fell to a group of municipal and provincial officials, who had to make do with rudimentary medical and settlement infrastructure and resources.
A bench at Edwards Gardens… late February. It’s been a warmer than usual winter without much snow. February ended on a warm streak that has continued into March. These photos were taken at Edwards Gardens before I realized just how early spring might be this year.
The giant willow tree has hardly begun to turn yellow like it does every spring.
A little bit of snow and ice linger in the shadier parts along the path.
A monkey – a light-hearted touch in the greenhouse where it’s warm all year round.
The Art Gallery of Ontario has recently acquired two new paintings by Ojibwe artist Travis Shilling. Both paintings are from a series of 11 paintings titled “Tyrannosaurus Clan” that depict varies spirit animals looking over, or observing, people building a pipeline through a subdued coloured landscape. The people are unaware that they are being watched; there is no interaction between the two.
below: An owl perches on a piece of heavy equipment in this painting that is simply titled “Owl”.
below: A dinosaur type creature embodies other species in “The Excavators”
At the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) until 31 March 2024 is ‘KAWS Family’, an exhibit of work by Brian Donnelly who is a Brooklyn artist also known as KAWS. Donnelly started his career in graffiti, especially defacing ads and other illustrations. He also worked for a while as an illustrator including a stint with Disney. This exhibition includes sculptures, paintings, and drawings.
This is a sample of what is showing at the AGO
below: Very much resembling Mickey Mouse with his over sized boots and big white hands, is Companion, the central character in this sculpture. Companion made his debut in 1999 as an 8 inch high plastic toy figure. He has since appeared in many sizes and situations. Here he is carrying a limp pink figure in a piece titled “Gone”. The pink character is based on Sesame Street’s Elmo.
below: Space suited Companion. An Elmo sits in the background. And yes, Companion has been to space – or at least into the stratosphere, more than 40 km up.
below: From the back. A pink Accomplice stands in the background. Accomplice always has rabbit ears.
below: A grid of sketches inspired by Snoopy, the lovable beagle created by Charles M. Schulz in his “Peanuts” cartoon.
below: The exhibit is scattered over at least places at the AGO including the Galleria Italia.
below: The pink character is Chum which is obviously inspired by the Michelin Man. Like all of the KAWS figures, it has X’s for eyes and a skull shaped face. the official mascot of the Michelin tire company. The Michelin Man, or his ‘real name’ Bibendum, was introduced in 1894 and is the oldest still active trademark.
below: Taking photos (even if it means ignoring the words on the floor!).
below: “Good Intentions”
There are many more on his Instagram page – KAWS
Queen Street is now closed to all traffic from just east of Bay Street to Yonge Street and again between Yonge and Victoria Streets…. for about four and a half years (any bets on 5 years? or more?). The new Ontario Line subway is being built here. There will be 4 stops along Queen – Moss Park which is between Sherbourne and Parliament, then Yonge, Osgoode, and finally a stop at Spadina & Queen before the line heads south to King Street and then the Exhibition.
Because of the existing infrastructure in the area there wasn’t much room for construction, hence the takeover of the street. 501 Queen streetcars and buses are diverting along Richmond and Adelaide streets.
It all makes for a complicated mess for pedestrians.
below: The first warning sign of changes ahead, a little orange sign that says that the sidewalk on the north side of Queen Street is closed between Victoria and Yonge.
below: Queen and Victoria, looking west towards the construction
below: Looking south on Victoria from Queen
below: Ontario Line hoardings.
below: Northeast corner of Yonge & Queen
below: Looking east from Yonge
below: Westward view past concrete barriers and wobbly green and metal fencing
below: Crossing Queen Street
below: From the Eaton Centre looking east past Yonge Street.
below: Entrance to the Queen subway station
below: A break in the construction zone for pedestrians.
below: Barricade across the sidewalk on the south side, by the Eaton Centre
below: Queen Street is closed in front of Old City Hall
There is a new mural (2022) in Toronto by Nick Sweetman featuring animals and plant life commonly found along Ontario’s rivers, especially the Don River that flows nearby. It adorns a wall/fence that runs the length of a new park, Riverside Square, which is southeast of Queen and the Don Valley Parkway.
below: The east end of the mural
below: A blue-fronted dancer damselfly (A very long name for a very small creature!)
below: Mink, toad, and a water insect called a water strider.
below: Catfish
below: A raccoon eyes the fish swimming past
below: A happy dog among friends, a raccoon and a cotton tail rabbit. If you look closely, there is a bridge in the background by the fox – Torontonians might recognize this bridge as one of the many that cross the Don River.
below: Red fox, coyote
below: In the middle
below: Egret diving for fish
below: White-tailed Deer
below: North American beaver
below: Painted turtle
below: Northern Leopard Frog
Tensoe2 and Moises (Luvs) also contributed to ‘Along the Riverbank’
This post also appears in Eyes on the Streets
Hum dum dum ditty dum
Hum dum dum
below: A Porter flight approaches the island airport
below: The Empire Sandy moored at the waterfront, with the Toronto fire boat in the distance.
“Oh the wind is lashing lustily
And the trees are thrashing thrustily
And the leaves are rustling gustily
So it’s rather safe to say
That it seems that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
It looks like a rather blustery day, today”
as sung by Winnie the Pooh
below: A kraken is taking over the boat!
below: A large photograph, on the south wall of the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is “These Times 2019” by Anique Jordan which has been on display since the CONTACT Photography Festival last spring.
below: “Kuumba”, Photography by Stephen Tayo is on display outside at Harbourfront
below: Also at Harbourfront, orange ties blowing in the wind. These are remains, and a reminder, of Orange Shirt Day on 30th September.
below: Looking east on Harbour Street, parallel to the Gardiner Expressway, toward York Street and the wedged shaped building that has been squeezed into the space.
below: Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story is a “temporary creative intervention” located under the Gardiner Expressway at Lower Simcoe. Crowd-sourced stories and memories of the waterfront each on a little blue square. Making constructive use of a space that has been neglected for so long; adding colour and interest to what was grey and slightly foreboding.
“Railways arrived on Toronto’s waterfront in the 1850s. To accommodate, a southward extension of the shoreline via infill was required. The ground where we stand now is close to the original shoreline of the lake.”
below: On the north side of the Gardiner – still a little darkness lurking there.
below: City of Toronto sign says Tree Protection Zone. I don’t think that I believe it.
below: At this point I had had enough of the cold; it was time to check out a warmer route! So underground I went, down into the PATH system. The lobby of ICE at 12 York has this large circular skylight over the escalator.
below: And then there is this long black, white, and chrome tunnel that connects the ICE condo and the PATH system. The walls on both sides are reflective and it’s a bit disorientating. Is this supposed to represent walking through a block of ice, or black ice?
below: PATH, the underground rabbit warren of tunnels that connect downtown buildings to each other. Usually I get lost down here.
below: I found myself in a grocery store
below: And I discovered that the PATH sometimes goes high, not low. I found myself on the upper level of the Scotiabank Arena.
below: There is a great view of Legends Row from up here – that’s the statues of all the Maple Leaf Captains from the past.
below: And inside, a collage of Leaf players hangs on the wall.
below: There’s even a portrait of Justin Bieber, behind glass, wearing a Maple Leaf jersey with a Captains C on the shoulder.
below: This is also good vantage point for all of Maple Leaf Square
below: Including a close up view of the rusty metal things… Actually it’s “Search Light, Star Light, Spot Light” (1998) by John McEwen.
At Scotiabank Arena, the PATH splits into two possibilities. One route is through Union Station and the other is up the escalator towards the new GO Bus Terminal.
below: Four (or five?) John Tavares’s to give directions to the new GO Bus Terminal. Happy to oblige!
below: There is now a pedestrian bridge over Bay Street that connects the Scotiabank Arena and Union Station Bus Terminal to the new CIBC SQUARE building. This is the view looking south on Bay
below: Along the north wall of the bridge is a work by Nicolas Baier called “Mycelium”. It is a network of LED lights and it is visible from outside as well.
below: At CIBC Square there is a new rooftop garden/park that has a tall skinny metallic tree, along with some real trees. There is no access to it yet but it will probably be a more welcoming in a few months.
At this point I retraced my steps back through Scotiabank and then walked through Union Station where I learned that a small space has been set aside for a temporary roller skating rink. Free rentals. Free entry.
below: He still stands outside Union Station with the flock of birds flying around while the sun reflects off the gold tinted Royal Bank Building.
below: Steamy Yonge Street on a cold day
below: Development notice outside 69 Yonge Street.
below: C’est tout. Fini. Time to go home.
If you are interested in photography, especially taking pictures of people, then I highly recommend seeing the current exhibit of Arthur Newman’s black and white photos at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Newman was an American photographer born in New York City in 1918. He is known for his work with portraits, especially with ‘environmental portraits’. These are images that are much more than head shots as they include context that provides further information about the subject. Often the location or the accessories used in the shot were more dominant than the person being photographed.
Keep in mind that these are pictures of framed photographs hung in a room with low light, i.e. they are much better in real life.
below left: Michel Tapie, art critic and curator
below right: Georges Mathieu, French painter
below top: from left to right – Phillip Glass 1981 composer, artist Roy Lichtenstein 1975, and Annie & Josef Albers 1976 (also artists)
below bottom: (all painters) from left to right – Edward Hopper 1960, Richard Artschwager 1987, and Lily Michaels 1959. The image that is only partially shown is of Martha Graham, dancer and choreographer taken in 1961.
below: Israeli artist Moshe Kupferman, taken 1982
below left: Abstract image in home of Yechiel and Haviva Shemi, 1982
below right: Allen Ginsberg, poet, 1985
below: Jean Arp, sculptor, 1949
below left: Jean Cocteau, 1960, writer and visual artist
below right: Yaacov Agam, sculptor, 1966
below left: Julio La Parc, artist, 1967
below right: Lee Krasner, artist 1973
below: John Hay Whitney, taken 1947. Whitney was chairman of the board at MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York City.
below: Priscilla Colt and Thomas C. Colt Jr., 1950, museum directors, Portland Art Museum, Oregon.
Unfortunately this show ends this weekend, on the 21st of January. I didn’t realize that it was ending so soon so I am glad that I caught it when I did.
…. or thereabouts.
It started with a stop that was earlier than planned. I was on my way to meet a friend in Kensington but that morning my walk started closer to Harbord because the 510 car wasn’t going anywhere. An incident on a streetcar involving the police means the whole route gets backed up.
below: This building on the west side of Spadina (372/374 Spadina) has languished for a few years. It falls within the Harbord Village HCD (Historic Community District) and there may have been a change of ownership.
below: I tried researching the present status of the property but I came up empty. There is a building permit in the window but there are no signs of work being done.
below: My fellow TTC travellers and I walked the curve in Spadina.
below: At the south end of the curve is Lord Lansdowne School which was built in 1960/1961 to replace an older school nearby and to accommodate the post-war population growth in the city. The main part of the school is a nine-sided circular building with 18 tapered steel pylons radiating outward like flying buttresses. The roof consists of folded concrete plates,
below: A big chunk of anorthosite sits in the schoolyard. Some of the rocks brought back from the moon are anorthosites. But this isn’t a moon rock! This type of rock isn’t found in many places in North America but there is some to the north of the city in the Canadian Shield region. It is composed predominantly of feldspar. It is an igneous rock which means that it was formed from the cooling and solidification of molten rock (such as lava).
Plaque: “This basic igneous rock was found at a depth f 12 feet during the course of excavation for this school. The composition is a very rare type and is assumed to have been carried here from Caribou Lake north of Parry Sound by a glacier during the Great Ice Age approximately 12,000 years ago. “
below: Every Child Matters on the schoolyard fence
below: Also on the fence, parent and child walking hand in hand past the playground.
below: Intersection of Spadina and College, looking south.
below: A small disc mounted on a concrete pole – a tribute to Saul Gwartzman by Rocky Zenyck. Gwartzmans Art Supply store is still on Spadina Ave.
Engraved in around the face on the disc, “We remember. Saul Gwartzman. Born on Spadina Avenue above the store where he supported artists in Toronto for decades, 1936-2019”
below: Walking on Spadina, south of College.
below: Canadian souvenirs are unavailable at the moment!
below: Dragons on the wall, Oxford Street.
below: One of the Kensington poles with a globe at the top. Another site in limbo – the hoardings are still around the lot on the southwest corner of Baldwin and Spadina. I wrote about them in Dec 2020 (post: a long time lingering) and they were old then.
There were not many other people walking around Kensington that morning, we were a bit early for that. Even without people, it is a neighbourhood that is full of colours and full of life. Parts of it are run down and grubby but that rarely stops a photographer! The next photos are a random sample of what we saw that day.
below: Looking west on Baldwin. The king is on the wall.
below: Kids for sale!
below: Mice in the cheese store window. There’s Mickey Mouse and the little brown mouse, Jerry, from another cartoon series as well as some not so famous rodents.
below: Uncle Vintage at the other end. The mural on the right is “When Math Meets Art”
below: From a different angle. It was painted by Sasha Q (aka Oleksandra Stepanenko)
below: Mural of a blue crab by Nick Sweetman,
below: Look Mom Paint!
below: Three old black and white photos of Kensington scenes in the window of the Peruvian food store,
below: A bright and cheerful red daisy keeping an eye on things.
below: “And then the streets became my notepad – GOD”
below: More hoardings and the consequent graffiti covering them.
below: It’s difficult to see, but some of the words written on the hoardings are “It’s hard but ur strong”.
below: Mark has left his mark.
below: The backside of Moonbean Coffee as seen from the alley behind. Little faces in Paradise.
below: Yummy! Mini Boston Cream Bombs on display in the window.
below: Not so yummy?!
below: Pigeon fanciers, this one’s for you. It seems there were some takers. Sorry, but I didn’t follow up with the research on this one so I am not sure what happens if you call!
below: Union Jack either faded to pink, or in trans colours?
below: Super Serve on Dundas, across the street from People Hair Salon.
below: It looks like Rowell Soder mural although he rarely paints the eyes – the mushroom top should give you a hint as to what this store sells.
below: I like yellow rubber duckies but I doubt that I would wear this many at once!
below: You grow girl!
below: She leans left.
below: Little yellow bald guys as well as some words written on a wall; they are Leonard Cohen lyrics.
“From Leonard Cohen Book of Mercy, …I heard my soul singing behind a leaf, plucked the leaf, but then I heard it singing behind a veil. I tore the veil, but then I heard it singing behind a wall. I broke the wall, and I heard my soul singing against me. I built up the wall, mended the curtain, but I could not put back the leaf. I held it in my hand and I heard my soul singing mightily against me. This is what it’s like to study without a friend.”
below: Mirror, mirror, on the wall.. A Sigil is a sign in magic or witchcraft or similar.
below: Mannequins in feathers….
below: … and mannequins in hats
below: The mural on the left features a white egg with a large open mouth. The text above it says, “Feed Eggs”. Any ideas?
below: It’s Dick Dastardly and his dog Muttley
below: A mandolin player by SashaQ and a Phillip Saunders portrait in blue.
below: Leftovers from both Halloween and Christmas
below: An eclectic collection of posters and notices cover a restaurant window… pictures of food as well as posters for young Asian musicians.
below: Fight Your Demons
below: South on Spadina
below: Spadina and Dundas
With many thanks to Merle for walking with me on that grey day! We enjoyed wandering around the street and alleys and discovering what Kensington has to offer. It was fun to have someone helping to find all the little bits and pieces that often get overlooked. Here we found a party, or at least the remains of one. All those little coloured blobs are actually shiny words that say “party”. I hope that it was a good party!
Merle has a blog too where she meets and interviews interesting seniors (or seniors who are doing interesting things), Super Bubbies! I forgot to ask her how old one needs to be a Bubbie and am I old enough?!!! If you are interested in the photos that she took on this walk or you’re curious as to what makes aa Super Bubbie, check out Super Bubbies! I find it fascinating how different people can walk the same route and come away with quite a different recollection of the walk.
Keep exploring! Keep being super!
as I walk Toronto 