There are a series of 5 paintings by Bone Head nestled between the windows of a building that backs onto Graffiti Alley in Toronto. As the name suggests, Bone Head painted characters with large boney heads or skulls. They also have a penchant for white shirts and striped neck ties!
First, let’s get our bearings….
below: This was, until recently, the Dominion Pub. It is on the northwest corner of Queen St East and Sumach. It was a popular spot with a decent patio. When I saw that the Dominion was closed and the property for lease I decided that I’d better document the area. There is just so much happening, or about to happen, here in terms of development.
below: Directly opposite, on the northeast corner, is this row of buildings – 502, 506, and 508 Queen Street East. The buildings appear to be empty but there is no development notice sign. Only 502, Sweet Marie Variety, is considered of any historic value.
below: Just to the east, more of the same. One is for sale – It’s just over 1600 sq ft, and can be yours for $1,800,000. These pictures were taken on the 1st of July and as I write this almost two weeks later, it is still on the market. Care to be a commercial landlord? Or maybe hold onto it in hopes that a developer wants to buy you out?
below: One more change of viewpoint… South side of Queen, looking west to Sumach Street
below: Stepping back in time (can anyone date the cars?), to the same intersection but from the other side, Queen Street looking west at Cherry Street.
City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1488, Series 1230, Item 2285, plus some enhancing with Photoshop
below: The building on the corner with the mansard roof is still there. The bright green part of the building lost its roof in a fire a few years ago. Both buildings date from before 1884.
below: The fire also destroyed one of the row houses immediately beside, leaving a vacant lot in its place. 469 Queen is a terrace house built in 1877. The ivy covered building (the Magic Building) faces Sumach Street.
below: The brick warehouse/factory at 489 Queen Street East was built in 1884. This building has been renovated and turned into office space.
below: Just east of the old warehouse is another short row of terrace houses from the same time period.
below: A little further east
below: And a little more…. a row of flat roofs on two storey brick store fronts. They also all have three narrow windows on the upper floor.
Jumping back to the start, the Dominion Brewery opened in 1878 and was in operation until 1936. The original owner was Robert T. Davies who bought the site in 1877; he had worked previously at his brother’s brewery, Don Brewery which was only about two blocks away. A large part of this structure still stands, especially the part facing Queen Street. The lower right corner of this image shows the Dominion Hotel which was attached to the brewery but wasn’t part of it.
below: The Dominion Hotel as it appeared in 1945. The little tower and fourth floor no longer exist. The hotel was built in 1889 by Robert Davies (same as first owner of the brewery).
This image was found on Wikipedia but is originally from the City of Toronto Archives, listed under the archival citation Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 520. (public domain).
below: Painting by Rowell Soller on Queen Street
below: From under the scaffolding in front of the Dominion Pub.
below: The front entrance of the Magic Building on Sumach Street, south of Queen (that’s the ivy covered one a few photos above).
below: Not only does the building have a lot of ivy on its walls, it also has a painting by Elicser Elliott with a red-capped man at ground level.
below: The box on the sidewalk across the street from the wizard painting has also been decorated by Elicser Elliott.
If you walk south on Sumach, it is a short block to King.
below: Looking down the alley to another street of row houses, Ashby Place, with newer Corkdown developments behind that.
below: A closer look at a couple of the houses on Ashby Place – they’re small!
below: This is the northeast corner of King and Sumach. This intersection has more than 30 of poles, or at least I lost count at 30. Most of them are for the 504 streetcars.
below: Southeast corner of King & Sumach… a mix of old and new
below: On the northwest side of the intersection are a couple of old brick houses that still survive.
below: When I looked for old photos of the area, I found this one…. If I am not mistaken, it is the same location as the photo above but from a different angle. The building that looks like it’s going to collapse any minute has been replaced by Central Auto. On the right hand side of this photo there is a striped brick building in the background. This is a church at the corner of King and Bright.
Housing – Nov 3, 1936, 472 and 474 King St. and 42 Sumach. City of Toronto Archives, Series 372,
South of King Street, Sumach curves to join Cherry Street at Eastern Avenue. As you travel south, Inglenook School is on your right. Between 1834 and 1890 this site was the home of Lucie and Thornton Blackburn, refugee former slaves from Kentucky who started Toronto’s first taxicab company. The school was designed by William George Storm (1826-1892) as Sackville Street School. Storm also added the tower to St. James Cathedral and designed the wrought iron fence around Osgoode Hall amongst other things.
Inglenook School’s claim to fame is that it is located in the oldest continually-operated school building in the Toronto District School Board.
From here Sumach Street becomes Cherry Street. The Distillery District is the next attraction on the route before Cherry crosses the Lakeshore (closed at the moment) and heads through the Port Lands to Cherry Beach. But all that excitement will have to be found in other blog posts!
Marlee Ave runs parallel to the Allen Road, one block west. It is like a lot of streets in Toronto – it’s a place where people live, shop, and/or work but it’s not a place where you’d visit otherwise. As it turns out, it is also a street in the midst of many changes… and that too is true of so many streets in the city.
It’s north end is at Lawrence Avenue where there is a large shopping center.
below: Marlee is a mix of residences and commercial buildings such as this small plaza.
below: DGA Filipino Variety store – Imported Beauty Products, Homemade Kakanin, Special Halo-Halo & Gulaman Sago, Money Remittances, and much much more!
below: Odessa Russian (Ukranian) Market
below: Seen in a convenience store window
below: As you can see, the barber shop is now open
below: Laundry on the balcony of one of the many sixplexes (six apartments in the building) on Marlee.
below: Someone has a sense of humour – Gate XXX. It must be restricted.
below: Mural painted for Kirsch Cosmetics by Jasnine
below: Another house waiting to be demolished (demolition notice on the fence).
below: One developer has painted all the houses that are empty and boarded up – they are all black
below: Glencairn subway station on the University Line, midway between Lawrence and Eglinton. This section of the subway runs above ground down the center of Allen Road.
A few blocks south of Glencairn, the Kay Gardiner Belt Line crosses Marlee
below: A community garden on the Belt Line
Marlee ends at Eglinton Avenue
This section of Eglinton Avenue West suffered through years of construction mess – lane reductions and sidewalk closures – while the Eglinton Crosstown LRT was being built. The whole process started in 2011. It’s still not running and no one really knows when (if??) it will become operational. The different groups involved in this fiasco are arguing amongst each other and the lawsuits have begun. Until recently, there was a website where you could get updates on the Crosstown, thecrosstown.ca, but it has disappeared.
below: Someone loves Andrea! … and on the lovely note I will end this post. Love to all!!
My previous post was about wandering around the Distillery District which by the way is 20 years old now. Back in 2003 it was surrounded by a part of the city that seemed to have been forgotten. In 2015 the PanAm games were held in Toronto. Athletes Village, i.e. housing for the athletes competing in the games was built new in what was now being called the West Don Lands. After the games, this housing was converted to “746 market-priced condos, 41 market-priced town homes, 250 affordable-rent apartments, 257 student dormitory units for George Brown College, office and retail units, and a YMCA recreation centre.” (Wikipedia) Development in the area continues on all sides of the Distillery.
below: Southside view of the new development on Mill Street (east of Cherry).
below: Northeast corner of Mill and Cherry. Part of this complex is a new Anishnawbe health centre.
below: Eastbound on Eastern Avenue at Trinity Street
below: Fire hydrant in a field of chicory, vacant lot surrounded by a fence.
below: Down and out. Grounded. Election signs left over from the recent by-election for mayor.
below: A large section of land at Parliament and Front that will become the site of Corktown station on the new Ontario Line is surrounded by hoardings. From here the line goes northwest to a new Moss Park station at Queen & Sherbourne – or it goes southeast to the existing railway tracks by the Lakeshore where it surfaces before a new station, East Harbour, at the foot of Broadview ( south of Eastern).
below: Nicholson Lane
below: There is a new mural on the St. Lawrence Community Recreation Centre painted by Darwin Peters from Pikangikum First Nation..
below: On the Esplanade
below: Photography exhibit along the Esplanade, “Mashkiki” by Morningstar Quill about life in Pikangikum First Nation. This photo shows a group of young women making ribbon skirts.
below: The exhibit was produced with the support of Jamii, a non-profit arts organization.
below: For those hot summer days when we’re all looking for a bit of relief!
below: Post more Bills
below: Working on the new north market building, St. Lawrence Market.
below: Looking westward from Front and George streets.
below: Lower Sherbourne
below: McVeighs Irish pub in an old building that is now surrounded by new developments, Richmond and Church.
below: The steeple of St James Cathedral peaks through the gap.
below: This is “Afrophilia”, an installation at the Toronto Sculpture Garden by Frantz Brent-Harris, a Jamaican artist now based in Toronto.
below: A closer look at two of the heads.
below: Crossing King Street.
below: Queen Street East
below: The present state of the northeast corner of Queen and Church (60 Queen St. East). Before becoming a placeholder for yet another condo development, it was a Shawarma’s King restaurant. That old yellow building may be living out its final days – since 2018 a very tall (54 to 57 storeys) building has been proposed for this site. The original proposal had the usual blah glass and steel at street level as shown on the condo website (queenchurch.com) but in November 2020 the existing building (and a couple of nearby buildings on Church St) was added to Toronto’s Heritage Register.
below: Queen Street is now closed at Church Street for work on the new Ontario Line subway. Rumour says that it will be closed 4 (5?) years. Yes, years. The subway will run under Queen Street and connect to the Yonge line at Queen and the University line at Osgoode.
below: Peering over the fence?
below: Looking west along Queen Street towards Yonge (behind the hoardings).
below: Trying to look west along Queen at Yonge.
below: The glass roof of the Eaton Centre is also being renovated and updated. Scaffolding now dominates the upper level of the mall.
below: More Queen Street closed… the closure runs as far west as Bay Street and Old City Hall.
below: Feeding the pigeons at Nathan Phillips square.
below: Group shot! A school group visiting City Hall.
below: Constructing a rainbow heart
below: …. which became an attraction before it was finished
below: Empty planters. Ugliness on Queen Street, right in front of Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall. Neglectful. Toronto can build it but Toronto can’t maintain it.
below: Mayor Gao for mayor! I don’t think that this was a serious candidate?! But then again, there were 101 people on the ballot in that by-election so maybe he was…..
below: The sparrows around Balzacs Coffee shop are as brazen as ever. If you decide to lure them away by throwing crumbs elsewhere, the pigeons will join in the fun.
below: East entrance to the Distillery, on Cherry Street. I suspect that everyone who visits the Distillery takes this photo.
below: Part of a display of some of the products produce by the Gooderham and Worts distillery over the years. The distillery complex built by Gooderham and Worts started producing spirits in 1862. At one time it was the largest employer in Toronto. It also once produce half the spirits made in Canada.
below: There are now many old photos of the Gooderham and Worts distillery from years past scattered around the Distillery District. This one is ” The Office Entrance”. The door is still there, as are many other features seen in the photo.
below: Approaching Parliament, with the large heart painted in rainbow colours for Pride month (June).
below: Home is Toronto
below: Old millstone from the windmill that pre-dates the dsitillery.
“This millstone brought from England on the schooner ‘Kingston’ to the town of York 1832 was used for grinding grain in the historic windmill of Gooderham & Worts. The windmill stood 52 feet southwest by south of this point. It was the eastern limit of the famous ‘Old Windmill Line” on which the original plan of the city of Toronto was based.”
below: Note on the bakery door – Please make sure that the pigeon doesn’t come in with you! Patty the pigeon wasn’t there the time that I went in.
below: The line of painted head and torsos is back. The shapes are all the same but each has bee painted by a different artist. They are part of the ‘6ix Art Outdoor’ exhibit.
below: Two of the sculptures still under wraps. This is at 6least the second time that they have been on display. They were lined up in same place last August. If you want more information about them, I blogged about the 6ix Art Outdoor last year. (follow link).
below: The inflatable couches are there because through July there are night time showings of various movies, Italian movies for the most part I think.
below: Painting by Terran McNeely for Pride 2023.
below: Development notice sign on Mill Street.
below: One of the buildings on Distillery Lane is being refurbished. Yellow crane is for new development on Parliament.
below: There is now a hole on Parliament!
below: … a very big hole!
below: And I’ll end this post with a sigh…. some people
Sunday’s Pride parade and related antics
Pride is big. By big I mean soooo many people and places happening all at once. I take pictures on that Sunday because I like mingling with the crowds, talking to people, and taking pictures of people who want their picture taken. Although I am happy to take posed shots, I prefer the candid shots. This set of photos is by no means comprehensive – that’s an impossible task. Instead it represents the people and events that I saw as I walked up Church Street, checked out the marshaling area for the parade, and then tried to find shady spots to stand to watch the parade itself (another impossibility!)… until I got too tired.
The crowd was enthusiastic.
The motorcycles were noisy.
The rain stayed away.
The north end of Senlac Road is at Finch Avenue. It runs south through the middle of York Cemetery and the Lansing neighbourhood towards Sheppard Ave. .
below: Addington Greenspace (or Addington Greenbelt) is a small park on the west side of Senlac, or rather it is an access point to the city’s ravine system. In this photo, the trail back up the hill to the street ends by a bus stop.
below: The greenspace follows a creek and passes under Addington Street before it meanders southwestward towards the Don River close to Sheppard and Bathurst.
below: Protest signs on lawns. Back in May City Council tried passing a new bylaw that would limit what signs you put on your lawn and how many. There were more than 30 amendments to the Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 693 (Signs). Most of them were adopted on the 14th of June except (if I am reading it correctly) for all amendments concerning “advocacy signs”. The council agenda item history is online. If you check it out and find that I am wrong, please let me know!
below: Although the main part of Senlac ends at Sheppard, there is a small two block section south of Sheppard slightly to the west.
below: Beware of the zombies!!
below: Most of the area is residential – 1950s and 60s suburbia.
below: Like all older neighbourhoods in Toronto, many smaller houses are being upsized.
…. or torn down and redeveloped totally.
below: An empty house. As I was taking these pictures, a woman passing by remarked that they had been empty for seven years. I hadn’t meant for this walk to turn into yet another redevelopment story but even here there are blue white signs along with boarded up buildings.
below: This development dates from 2016. It proposes townhouses along Sheppard but 5 multistorey (11-25 storeys) buildings behind. Part of the reason for the delay is that the project also involves tearing down existing rental accommodation. In June 2022 the City Planning Division recommended that City Council approve the Rental Housing Demolition application that accompanies this development. It is 14 pages long but if you are interested in what happens when developers want to tear down rental units, click on this City of Toronto link
below: Hiding behind a massive shrub, both a house and a development notice
below: This bungalow is actually on Sheppard West. The proposal here is not for a condo, but for a 38 room hotel (in 6 storeys).
below: Also Sheppard West.
mm
Another sunny spring day and another walk in the city. This time we walked along Dupont with the occasional diversion to an alley or side street. First stop? First Last Coffee. Always start with coffee! In general, this blog covers Dupont between Spadina and Ossington and as usual, there may not be much order to the photos!
below: The transparent domed Dupont subway station at the northwest corner of Spadina and Dupont
below: Because of the redevelopment along Dupont (some buildings have been demolished but their replacements are still holes in the ground), Casa Loma can now be seen from the street.
below: Northwest corner of Dupont and Shaw
below: Someone’s comment on the construction….
below: … And another comment – he’s so happy to have a gun that he’s drooling.
There are quite a few construction photos, maybe more than you’d like, but construction plays a large role in the scenery along Dupont these days.
below: Joe’s Convenience chaos.
below: Reflections in a restaurant window
below: Dispensary of a different kind
below: Cyclists waiting for the lights to change.
below: No energy today (all sold out?)
below: Looking at the northeast corner of Dupont and Dovercourt. The interior of this old industrial building has been renovated and part of it is now a basketball school.
below: View through the window
below: The billboard at Dupont and Dovercourt features an image by Maggie Groat and was part of the CONTACT Photography Festival. More of her work is on display at Ontario Square (on the waterfront) and can be seen in a blog post, Double Pendulum, from a few weeks ago.
below: Silver Star Car Wash – I could say that it’s all washed up but considering the time that it takes for the development process – especially in a case like this where the application involves an amendment to the Official Plan and the Zoning By-law.
below: Although it looks like a gathering of praying mantises, it’s really a symbol of a booming construction industry, boom lifts for rent.
below: 888 Dupont (at Ossington) is one of the next buildings to be redeveloped but that is for another story on another blog post.
below: An old rusty sign on the side of a building in an alley just off of Dupont tells us that J.F. Spencer, Sheet Metal Worker, once worked there. 
below: Looking along Dupont from Delaware Ave
below: Probably the most affordable house on the street!
below: Some people have rose bushes in their front yard…
below: … and some people have horses.
below: A seaside Nova Scotia scene by Megan Oldhues.
I’ll end this post with a few photos of the graffiti that I saw starting with this old Lovebot.
below: A pinkish red portrait of a young woman.
below: Voodoo Ninja, brought to you by Urban Ninja Squadron along with Ave Rage (or maybe it’s Average) who gets to play the victim.
until next time…. stay focused! … if possible….
as I walk Toronto 