While walking under the Gardiner Expressway a few days ago, I came across the debris left behind by those who once camped here. Or maybe it was trash that was thrown here.
Whatever the source, I found it rather fascinating to see what there was. Detritus as subject matter whether for photography or sociology or as anthropology in centuries to come.
Along came September and right away we’re into fall weather. I offer this post as reminder of warmer days not so long ago…..
below: Cherry Beach on a sunny August afternoon – keeping our distances
The unicorn days of summer
below: Apples. I like finding apple trees in unexpected places like behind Cherry Beach.
below: One of the many little boat and sailing clubs east of Cherry Beach.
below: An older building on Polson Street that remains.
below: A temporary stage was set up on Polson Street across the street from The Rebel nightclub and concert venue.
below: Every time I walk in the Port Lands, it’s a little different. One constant is the many acres that remain behind barriers.
below: A fire breathing monster?
below: Cherry Street sidewalk is blocked (at T ‘N T)
below: All that remains of the T ‘N T Supermarket is the front entrance. The rest of the store has been demolished. A river will flow here one day.
below: Rowing down Cherry Street
below: On Villiers Street
below: Most of the storage tanks are gone and all the gates are locked.
below: A quiet place to sit, outside Humipan’s
below: Accepted? Shouldn’t it be bikes excepted?
Stay you!
I’m not sure how many posts I’ve now done on walls but this it the latest installment….
Walls as a canvas for abstractions and graphic design elements.
below: Sprayed black on orange. Colour, line.
below: Red metal. It was once part of a truck. Text, pattern.
below: Wood and brick. Two textures.
below: Wedged in between wood and glass, from Sunday 12th February 2017.
below: Splotches of paint on a textured wall.
below: It’s actually construction in front of Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street.
below: Beginnings. Layout and design – repeated vertical lines.
below: Almost nothing there, slipping away
The other day I was near Yonge and Sheppard when I found myself with some extra time so I decided to drive around the nearby neighbourhood where I once lived. A little trip down memory lane along with something new.
below: On Florence Ave looking northeast across Yonge Street.
I discovered that the little house where my family lived when I was grades 4 and 5 is still there and is one of only a few that haven’t been replaced or enlarged (no photos!). Continuing on my tour, I passed the local school, Cameron Avenue P.S., before I thought that I would take a look at Gwendolen Park. I have vague memories of it but it was just far enough away from home that we didn’t go there often.
Southeast from Gwendolen Park there is a path through the ravine that is well worn. It passes among some of the tallest trees I have seen in the city – maples, oaks, and others. It is darker than most ravine walks. It is also quieter. I didn’t encounter any one else while I was in the woods.
below: A tiny little bird house with a brown plastic beetle.
below: At the bottom of the hill is Don Valley Golf Course. The bridge in this photo is the 401 jst west of Yonge Street. I was trying to figure out the best route to the bridge but I happened by this spot at the same time as the course marshal. He kicked me out.
Getting to the bridge was not an important goal but when someone tells me I can`t do something I feel that I have to try to find a way to do it. Google maps shows this space as green but there is no differentiation between golf course and park. I tried bushwhacking my way around the edge but I couldn`t find an easy enough way to make it worth my time. So I retraced my steps…. but not before finding a souvenir of the day.
Don Valley Golf Course from up the hill near Gwendolen Park. September has only started and already there are some colours appearing on the trees.
below: Cliff by the park
below: Part of the path passes behind the tennis courts.
below: Luckily there is a hole in the fence otherwise it`s a steep drop to the left!
below: The path continues to the northwest but a few drops of rain persuaded me to return to the park where my car was waiting. Earl Bales Park is the next green space along the path although I am not sure if there is access. Another day’s adventure.
below: This cat loves Mondays.
below: Perhaps I’ll follow the sign to the North Pole for my next walk? Oh oh – I think that it says 4800 (kms? miles?) so maybe not…..
Van Gogh Immersive Exhibit at the old Toronto Star building at 1 Yonge Street.
Images from paintings by Vincent Van Gogh were projected on all four walls plus the floor of a very large space. The installation includes his work the Mangeurs de pommes de terre (The Potato Eaters, 1885) to the Nuit étoilée (Starry Night, 1889), Les Tournesols (Sunflowers, 1888), and La Chambre à coucher (The Bedroom, 1889). It was a slow moving video that was about 35 minutes long.
There were circles on the floor in which you had to stand/sit but you could move from circle to circle if there was an empty one.
The most interesting portraits were those of people dressed in white.
Mirrors were placed around any structures that were in the way.
Link for more information on the exhibit
which continues at least until the end of October
#VanGoghTO
Almost two years ago, inthe fall of 2018, a group of artists brightened up Luttrell Loop Lane with some murals. Luttrell Loop Lane is on Danforth, just west of Victoria Park.
below: A marvelous blue portrait by luvsomone
below: A partially hidden face in a mural by Anya Mielniczek
below: Unveiled
below: The imagination of Al Runt and the characters that it produces is on display in this mural.
below: The garage at the corner gets four murals. On the garage door is a moon over a little house by Jieun June Kim. Beside it, Bomi has painted a mural using linear shapes (for lack of a better word to describe it).
below: The whimsical and funny raccoons of Emily May Rose help with the gardening.
below: A skateboarder on her way to somewhere important, by Kim Therese Dolan
This project was supported by The Laneway Project
…
below: He may be sitting on the bench but this hockey player is prepared. He’s practicing social distancing and he’s got his mask on just in case. He’s also a reminder that the NHL playoffs for the 2019-20 season are being played in a bubble here in Toronto at the moment… but the Maple Leafs didn’t make the cut. After having to take a few months off because of Covid-19, the NHL scheduled the playoffs in only two cities, Toronto and Edmonton. Games started at the beginning of August and are scheduled to finish the first week of October. There is talk that maybe the 2020-21 season can begin after that but like everything else these days, who knows.
below: ‘Love Negotiation’ on Scollard Street by Gillie and Marc. Dogman and Rabbitgirl share a few minutes over coffee. They too are outside are are socially distanced… or perhaps they have been isolating together are have escaped their tiny downtown condo for a bit of fresh air. ” Rabbitgirl and Dogman invite the world to sit with them symbolically at their Table and take the first step to understanding and loving each other. The sculpture is where we sit, discuss, and solve problems. The world has reached a crisis where our differences are causing hatred and division.”
below: The William Sexton houses on the NE corner of Bay & Scollard are being preserved and incorporated into a condo development. They were built by Sexton in 1890 in a style similar to the Queen Ann Revival style. Although it looks like one large brick house, it is actually a row of 4 houses. In 1974 they were added to Toronto’s Heritage Register. That was also the last year that all four were used as residences.
below: A slightly fuzzy 1974 photo of William Sexton houses.
below: Another hole in the ground. I liked the bits of orange and black hanging around.
below: Reflections of the clock tower on the Yorkville Firehall, the oldest firehall in the city, in one of the newer glass walls across the street.
below: Looking east on Yorkville Ave towards Yonge Street and the large Toronto Reference Library.
below: The Starbucks on Yonge Street just north of Bloor is now closed. The sign in the window says “thanks for your loyalty over the past 20 years.” For those of us who still remember Albert Britnell’s book store at that location it is a bit of a shock to realize that 20 years has past.
below: Yonge Street at Hayden
below: looking northwest from Charles Street on the east side of Yonge. The older black and grey building is the CIBC tower on the NW corner of Yonge & Bloor. The cranes are working on the SW corner of that intersection.
below: Condo construction at the southwest corner of Yonge & bloor continues.
below: One of the entrances to the Manulife Centre on Bloor Street. It was decorated in flowers as part of a Fleurs de Villes event.
below: Inside the Manulife Centre there were many mannequins decorated with flowers
As the summer winds down but the covid lingers on, stay safe and stay sane
Most of these pictures were taken on a walk within the area bounded by Dundas East, Broadview, Queen East, and Carlaw.
below: All or nothing
below: Same same but different.
below: “We miss you” at Queen Alexandra Middle School. An older school, built in 1904/5, used to be on this site. It was named after the Queen of England at the time, the wife of King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra.
below: Also at Queen Alexandra Middle School, about 200 large black and white portraits of staff and students were on display on the exterior wall of the school. This installation is part of the global ‘Inside Out’ project. To date, Inside Out has appeared in 129 countries and has involved more than 260,000 people. In fact, they were in Toronto for Nuit Blanche back in 2015.
below: Public art at Carlaw and Dundas. I had mentioned this structure by Pierre Poussin back in March of this year. Not a lot has been done on it in the meantime except for the preparations for some sort of pattern at ground level.
below: The railway tracks cross Dundas Street just west of Carlaw. The tracks run on a NE – SW diagonal as they travel south from Gerrard.
below: Save Jimmie Simpson park poster. The Ontario Line, or the Relief Line of the subway/LRT may or may not come this way. The Relief Line was once planned as an underground line under Pape to almost Eastern before swinging west towards downtown. Someone then said why not run it above ground where the tracks already exist between Gerrard & Pape and the south end of the Don Valley Parkway at Corktown Common- and we can have a Leslieville stop. Has any decision been made? Is Toronto going to leave it all in limbo, or in the discussion/planning stage, forever and ever… and ever….
below: The north part of Jimmie Simpson Park. The park is a right angle triangle with a peak at Dundas East and a base along Queen East. The long side of the triangle is railway tracks which run behind the trees.
below: Once upon a time there was a railway station here, on Queen East at De Grassi that is. It was operational between 1896 and 1932 and demolished in 1974. In the beginning there was a level crossing here but after a number of accidents, including a collision between a freight train and a street car in 1904, the railway corridor was elevated.
below: Old black and white photo from the City of Toronto Archives, found online at “Old Time Trains”
below: Aged and peeling painting of a Canada goose that was on the railway underpass.
below: Eat the rich – and a picnic table is provided for your convenience. Don’t worry about the trains, they’re long gone. This was once a spur line and it hasn’t existed for years . You can still find small sections of track but most of it has been paved over. (near Carlaw and Dundas)
below: Looking west, towards downtown, along Dundas East. The old red brick building is on the northeast corner of Dundas and Broadview.
below: Flipped around and now looking east from Broadview in 1954. The red brick building from the above photo appears to be Dennis House and it seems that they are advertising the fact that they have televisions. On the south side of Dundas is a drug store. That building is still there but now it is a variety store whose windows are often covered with Lotto649 and LottoMax ads. In fact, the picture of the Bell telephone boxes near the beginning of this post was taken here.
photo credit: City of Toronto Archives, found online on a Blog TO page
below: This jumble of colours and lines can be found just east of Broadview and they are just visible in the background of the above picture. I love the little white door that probably leads to a basement apartment (or a secret garden in the front yard?!)
below: If you walk farther east on Dundas from Broadview you will see a collection of old two storey houses with their slate mansard roofs and dormer windows. This roof style is typical of “Second Empire” houses built in the late 1800s. I’ve always been intrigued by this group of houses but I have never been able to find out much about their history.
below: The end houses, at Boulton, have already been replaced.
below: And there are houses with similar architecture on nearby side streets.
Last but not least, a little bit of graffiti to close off this post.
below: Urban ninja squadron
ThreeSidesOneGesture by Suzanne Simoni is a large tubular yellow metal sculpture in the shape of a horse. Or at least I think that it’s a horse! Or a person sitting with his/her knees up? Of course, one’s interpretation of the work depends on the angle from which it is viewed so it shouldn’t be judged from this photo alone. More pictures can be found on Simoni’s website
In 2019, it was the winning entry in a competition open to OCAD U students and recent graduates sponsored by First Capital Realty (They sponsor competitions at art schools around the country for public art for their shopping centers.).
It now stands tall near the southeast corner of Victoria Park and Ellesmere, beside Parkway Mall.
The sculpture was made by Lafontaine Iron Werks
At Redpath and Roehampton, close to Yonge & Eglinton, there is a new public art installation consisting of seven sculptures and two murals on glass (windows). This group is “Stargate”, designed by Anna Passakas and Radoslaw Kudlinski of the art group Blue Republic; it took three years to make. On one corner are four sculptures with a 15-foot, six-legged, bright yellow alien being the central piece.
This blue figure is the dominant sculpture on the other side of Redpath. He is 12 feet tall. This animal-like creature and the yellow alien were inspired by Eastern and Greek mythology along with a heavy dose of science fiction.
The five smaller pieces are aluminum-based.
Anna Passakas: “Stargate attempts to inspire connection between different worlds,We are not meant to resist the unknown, rather, we are meant to explore and understand it, whatever it may be.”
Radoslaw Kudlinksi: “Our inspiration for this piece came from the unique diversity of this city. For some, moving to a new neighbourhood is like moving from one universe to another. So many people bring various experiences and cultures with them from all over the world.”
as I walk Toronto 