as I walk Toronto

Wynford and vicinity

Posted: April 20, 2020 in construction, locations, transportation, windows and walls
Tags: buildings, chair, construction, Crosstown, Crosstown Community, demolition, development, Don Mlls, IBM, lights, LRT, machinery, parking lot, railway

I’ve been keeping an eye on the old IBM building at the corner of Don Mills and Eglinton. It was built in 1951 as IBM’s Canadian manufacturing plant and head office.

It’s been empty for a long time but recently work has begun on the site.

The IBM complex sits on 60 acres and the whole site will be redeveloped in the coming months. The white tower in the background is also on the site, right beside the CPR tracks that mark the northern boundary.

below: A Canada goose struts near one of the entrances to the old IBM building that is being demolished.

below: 1954

an old black and white photo of the IBM building on Don Mills Road in 1954

photo credit – taken from ‘Urban Toronto’ online article about this development

below: Apparently the plan is to build a mix of residential and commercial buildings on the site ranging from 3 to 44 storeys. A new community centre and park are also included in the planned Crosstown Community.

In terms of construction and development, this intersection is very busy as it is also the location of the future Science Centre LRT station. It has been a mess for so long that I can’t remember how long it’s been. There are signs of progress starting to emerge from the chaos so perhaps there is hope for a 2021 opening of the Crosstown LRT.

below: The new bus bays on the northeast corner are starting to take shape.

below: More of the NE corner.

below: Looking across Eglinton towards the Mormon church and other buildings on the south east corner.

below: A sign of the times. Covid-19 dos and don’ts.

below: New tracks being laid where the LRT comes back to the surface east of Don Mills Road (looking east towards the DVP). The Science Centre station is underground even though the tracks on both the east and west side are above ground.

below: From the NE corner (black building is/was the Ontario Federation of Labour) looking south. All buildings are on the east side of Don Mills Road.

below: A sidewalk, temporary, lined with cones, along Eglinton.

There are other buildings being torn down. The building in the background is 1200 Eglinton Ave East. It was an office building with a parking structure beside it. This is the view from Wynford Drive.

The same building a few days later when I went back to check on the demolition’s progress. The parking structure is now just piles of rubble and more of the exterior walls of the other building are gone.

below: The large, almost empty, parking lot behind the Bell building on Wynford.

below: With a few exceptions, most of the buildings around Wynford are products of the 1960s and 1970s.

below: Another empty parking lot. This picture was taken on a Saturday afternoon which might explain the lack of cars but as I drive around the city I see lots of empty parking lots even during the work week. A sign of the times.

below: Looking across the Don Valley Parkway

below: CPR tracks behind Wynford.

below: Rusty metal spirals, tightly wound, found amongst the gravel along the train tracks.

below: Looking east along the tracks just before they cross the DVP. If you follow the tracks, they lead you to the CPR marshaling yard at McCowan and Sheppard. So, that’s where I went next…. (scroll down!)

Around the marshaling yard – with love and peace

Posted: April 14, 2020 in landmarks, locations, transportation
Tags: billboards, boxcars, bridge, CPR, development, engines, flatbed, graffiti, marshaling yard, pines, Sri Sathya Ai Baba, street, tankers, tracks, train, trees, trucks, vacant land, walls

It’s easy to view railway tracks from bridges, in this case from a bridge on Finch Avenue East between Markham Road and McCowan. The is CPR Toronto Yard.

It is a marshaling yard, also known as a classification yard, which is where railway cars are separated onto one of several tracks and joined with other cars with the same destination.

Sitting on over 400 acres, CPR’s yard in Scarborough is one of the largest in Canada. There are 311 switches and about 140km of track on which freight cars are shunted between tracks. The site was opened in 1964.

…but getting to track level can be more of a challenge.

below: It sometimes involves getting lost and having a chat with a security guard or two (but not until after you have a few good wall & shadow pictures)

below: In other places, access is simple.

below: I’ve never thought too much about graffiti on trains until today – How many miles has this little guy traveled? Where did he come from and who painted him when? How many people have seen him as he shuttles back and forth across the country (or perhaps farther than that?)?

below: Looking right back at you!

below: A westbound train leaves the yard at McCowan Road.

below: Back in 1964 the community of Browns Corners was at the corner of Finch Avenue East and Markham Road(not to be confused with the other Browns Corners on Woodbine Ave and Hwy 7). There are no more traces of the community or the farms that surrounded it.

I only walked around part of the yard and I didn`t take very many pictures of the buildings that are there – seniors residence, medical clinic, a few offices, etc.

I would like to end this blog post with one building that I saw that was different.

below: The Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre is nearby. I think that I have it right – the Sathya Sai Organization is not a religion but a “universal approach to life” whose teacher and spiritual leader is Sathya Sai Baba. Each of the five petals in the flower contain a word or phrase: truth, right conduct, peace, non violence, and love.

below: There was a column-like structure near the door topped with a large lotus flower. The base was square and on each were printed words. “Offer all bitterness in the sacred Fire and emerge grand, great and Godly.”

below: “Remember the wheel of Cause and Consequence of Deed and Destiny and the Wheel of Dharma that rights them all”. I assume that the other two sides also had inscriptions but I couldn’t see them because of a fence with a locked gate.

Back on McCowan and back home… (still no TTC in my life)

Port Lands update

Posted: April 6, 2020 in construction, locations, waterfront
Tags: asphalt, bridge, Cherry Beach, CN Tower, Commissioners Street, construction, digger, dirt, Gardiner Expressway, Hearn, laker, NACC, Portlands Energy Centre, RCYC, shipping channel, ships, streets, Unwin Street, Villiers Street

Work continues on the Port Lands redevelopment with more buildings being demolished to make way for the new mouth of the Don River.

below: Cherry Street bridge

below: Don Roadway looking north. The southern part is now closed (south of Lakeshore Blvd)

below: Villiers Street at the Don Roadway. A couple of old buildings remain on Villiers but many structures between Villiers and the Keating Channel are now gone, especially at the east end of the channel near the present mouth of the Don River.

below: Commissioners Street, looking east. Everything in that block, on the south side, has been levelled – the blue and white building is on the other side of the Don Roadway.

below: The west end of Commissioners street

below: Commissioners Street, north side

below: T’nT grocery store is now closed. The red sign by the door advertises Chinese New Year specials.

below: The same boat, the NACC Argonaut, but from the south, from Polson Street. NACC = Nova Algoma Cement Carriers. She was built in Japan in 2003 and converted into a cement carrier in 2017. The next year she entered service on the Great Lakes.

below: As you can see more clearly here, the Argonaut was actually parked beside the Lafarge facility. T’nT is behind the Lafarge Cement round towers (building on the left).

below: Shipping Channel

below: There are quite a few old railway crossing signs in the Port Lands for tracks that have been torn up or long unused. I am surprised that no one has stolen them.

below: Boats of a different kind – RCYC (Royal Canadian Yacht Club) on Cherry Street.

below: Cherry Beach

No construction affects the beach but these days, people are keeping their distance. Since taking these pictures the beach may have been closed, I’m not sure. The parking lot will be closed for sure.

below: Unwin Street, looking east towards the old Hearn Generating Station

below: Another Port Lands view from above. North of the Gardiner is the construction site for the rebuilding of the Gardiner. To the south is the Port Lands with the tall smokestack/chimney of the Hearn. The white building with the two chimneys on the far left is the Portlands Energy Centre, a natural gas powered electricity generating station.

below: The entry to the Portlands Energy Centre which is the property of Hydro One.

light and colour on the TTC

Posted: April 4, 2020 in public art, transportation, windows and walls
Tags: colour, escalator, Finch West, glass, Hwy 407, light, Pioneer Village, reflections, subway stations, TTC, Vaughan, windows, York University

We all need some light and colour these days. So I went through old files and found these colourful pictures of the newest TTC subway stations that I took back in February, on Family Day actually. It seems like a long time ago!

below: Escalators, Pioneer Village subway station

below: From the outside looking in, Pioneer Village station

below: Hwy 407 station. Artwork by David Pearl.

below: The pinks, yellows, and blues from the coloured windows shine and bounce off surfaces

below: Little lights dance around the ceiling and upper part of the walls. This effect is caused by the artwork in the ceiling – a circular opening that you can just see in the upper left corner.

below: Looking straight up into the skylight with it’s many-sided walls that are covered with reflective material.

below: ‘Atmospheric Lens’ by Paul Raff Studio is the artwork that is incorporated into the roof of the station. It features skylights and reflective panels. Vaughan station.

below: Curved, reflective ceiling, Vaughan station

below: Finch West station with its very shiny red hexagonal wall tiles and coloured panes of glass.

below: No colours at York University station, but lots of windows and lots of natural light.

tracks, bridges, and a ravine

Posted: March 26, 2020 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations, nature
Tags: bridge, Chorley Park, construction, creek, fence, Governors Bridge, houses, mud, Mud Creek, path, pedestrian bridge, railway, ramp, street signs, tracks, trees

Staying on the side of caution, I haven’t been on the TTC for almost two weeks. Instead, I have been using this time to venture into areas where it’s easier to drive to including some parts of the city where I rarely (if ever) go. This is the story of yesterday’s adventure.

below: Two old rusty acorn-style street signs.

below: On the concrete embankment below the elementary school is a very faded mural.

below: I doubt this car was a new model the year this mural was painted…. maybe? LOL

below: Two together, locked beside each other. Below are the CPR tracks, the same ones that run through the middle of the city from West Toronto, past the Junction and through to the railway yards at McCowan Road in Scarborough.

below: A small sliver of land between the tracks and the street, just big enough for a narrow house.

below: Magnolia buds in a front yard.

below: A very old pine tree in Chorley Park

below: Chorley Park was once the site of the official residence of the Lieutenant-Governor.

below: It was built in 1915 and was modelled on various chateaux of the Loire Valley in France. In 1937 it was closed down for financial reasons – during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the annual costs of heating and electricity were the subject of political debate. The federal government bought it, using it first as a military hospital and then as RCMP headquarters. In 1960 the city of Toronto purchased the property, tore down the building, and developed the site as a park.

below: From Chorley Park there is a path that winds down the hill to part of the Beltline Trail and the Brick Works park beyond that.

below: Part of the path down the hill is being rebuilt.

below: Mud Creek. It was about here that the word ‘dun’ popped into my head; that was definitely the word of the day… dull greyish brown colour. Mud creek, dun views.

below: Maybe dun but that doesn’t mean uninteresting. It won’t be long until there are leaves and then lots gets hidden and houses like this get more of their privacy back! I’ll gladly stare while I can 🙂 I wonder if anyone uses those stairs?

below: Governors Bridge passes over the trail that I share with very few people and about as many dogs as people.

below: The street art on the concrete pillars of the bridge look fairly fresh.

Quick diversion to the top of the bridge!

below: The bridge itself is very plain and the best part of being on it is the view. You can see (barely!) the red brick chimney of Todmorden Mills just below the two taller buildings on the left. That places those buildings at Broadview and Pottery/Mortimer which means that this view is more to the west than to the south.

below: Straight down to the path below. I shot this one blind and was pleasantly surprised to see a bright hat add a bit of life.

And back down again (you can pretend that I jumped off the bridge)

below: Just a bit farther north the trail passes under the railway tracks. You might recognize this as a railway bridge as all the Toronto railway bridges over ravines were built in a similar style (and probably all about the same time).

below: The last bridge on the Beltline before it reaches Mt Pleasant cemetery is this one, Cat’s Eye bridge.

below: Unfortunately, that’s where you have to leave the trail for the time being as the path is being refurbished all the way to Moore Ave.

below: The Moore Avenue entrance is blocked for construction – Mud Creek Restoration Project Reach 6, completion date, summer 2020.

And so we leave the path there and make our way back through the neighbourhood to find my car.

below: Someone wrote this on the pavement on the Cat’s Eye bridge. I hope they’re wrong!

below the bluffs

Posted: March 22, 2020 in locations, nature
Tags: beach, bluffs, cliffs, dogwood, grasses, icicles, Lake Ontario, nature, outdoors, park, people, rocks, Scarborough, Scarborough Bluffs, spring, surfers, trees, walking, water, waves

Scarborough Bluffs Park on sunny but windy Sunday afternoon in March.

The red twig dogwood is looking redder and the trees are barely starting to bud.

The water and air are still cold enough that icicles form on the overhanging branches that get hit by waves.

a little part of Willowdale

Posted: March 21, 2020 in construction, locations, old buildings
Tags: buildings, demolition, development proposal, Dudley Court, offices, pizza pizza, Sheppard Ave East, stores, Willowdale

Another walking day, another part of the city to explore. Sometimes I find new places to wander around but the other day I went back to Sheppard Ave East to see what other changes are happening. This is a section of Sheppard Ave that is living in the shadow of Yonge Street developments. It’s an area of mixed residential and commercial.

below: Sheppard Ave East looking west towards Yonge Street from Willowdale Ave.

below: A smaller bungalow, and architectural “style” that was common along here.

below: Some of the bungalows are being replaced by much larger houses, especially in the side streets behind Sheppard.

below: More signs of the times, no kids playing outside in the playgrounds of the schools and day care centres.

below: A CTR rabbit trying to run away.

below: This front door with it’s clean and ornate door frame has always fascinated me.

below: 176 Sheppard Avenue East has been empty for a while. I found information about the development here on different websites. One of the sites stated that the new building would be ready to move into in 2019.

below: A vacant lot

below: This is the same vacant lot as there was nothing to prevent me from wandering in.

below: The front of Dudley Court at 166 Sheppard Ave East. I have driven past here a few times this year and I keep thinking that I should check it out before it disappears. The orange “tree protection” fence was a more recent addition. Maybe part of the reason why there is no development proposal sign here is that it’s been about 20 years since the owners started “negotiating” with the city about what was going to be built here.

below: The back of Dudley Court from the vacant lot mentioned above.

below: What surprised me is that there are actually 3 apartment buildings that are empty. The plywood is there to protect the trees that are between the apartments and a ditch. The “ditch” continues underground under Sheppard and then south through a small park towards the 401.

below: There is a pedestrian walkway on the west side that continues north a couple of blocks.

below: Sheppard Ave looking east

below: Sheppard Ave looking west. An evolution of sorts… at first there were small houses that became offices; now they are being torn down.

below: Some of the mid-sized buildings that were developed in the 1970s and 1980s are also “moving upward”. In this case, to 11 storeys with 55 residential units and lower floor retail. It is currently home to medical offices.

below: Once upon a time this was a Pizza Pizza. Then it was for sale. Next, it provided headquarters for an election campaign. And now? Possibly in limbo? All that I could find is a 2017 rejection from the city for a 10 storey development on this lot and the one adjacent (where The Beer Store is now). The official plan calls for lower buildings as you move away from Yonge Street. In the meantime you can call it an eyesore.

below: But not everything is ugly!

***

buds and birds

Posted: March 19, 2020 in nature, people, reflections
Tags: bench, bridge, buds, chickadee, downy woodpecker, nature, outdoors, park, pussy willow, robin, spring, squirrel, sumach, train, trains, trees, Wilket Creek

Getting used to this “social distancing” thing but not the “stay at home” part. A walk in the park seemed like a good way to mix the two – get a little exercise without running into too many people.

below: Keeping his distance

It’s close to March 21st and the beginning of spring. Actually this blog post started to take form after I parked my car and wandered aimlessly a few yards. I was standing on a path in a ravine wondering which way to go… but why was I here? I heard a bird, and then I heard another.

below: A robin snacking on sumach

below: A female downy woodpecker

below: A little chickadee

below: It’s not a bird nor is it a sign of spring, but it sat still enough to let me get my camera focused through the branches.

below: The red dogwood branches have started to become more vibrant.

below: Pussy willows have opened up their fuzzy white buds. A definite indicator of spring.

below: There weren’t many tree buds but this tree (and others of its type) were an exception.

below: There was a train too! A different kind of sign of life.

Spring, and a walk in the park. Sometimes it’s just the little things…. including someone to share your space.

below: Reflections in the Wilket Creek

new slaps on Toronto streets

Posted: March 18, 2020 in graffiti and street art
Tags: bodh.io, c_ska, daught calm, don't worry, feelings boi, forege fury, forge fury, Graffiti Alley, knome, lites, ozokoh, paste up, people, sketch rats, sketchnate, slaps, srats, stickers, tbonez, urban ninja squadron, wheatpaste

below: The garbage always leaks before you can get rid of the bag! A trashy Daught calm sticker.

below: Knome with an expression of alarm. a cute little sketchnate puppy and urban ninja squadron sprouted big ears when tbonez teamed up with srats (sketchrats). All on the side of a Canada Post mail box.

below: 1. The woman with a heart for an eye (got her eye on love?) looks like the work of Italian street artist c_ska. It also looks like she’s taking her temperature. Another c_ska sticker is a naked backside (or is it?) on top of an urban ninja squadron. Yes, you can make jokes about being on top. 2. Talking about jokes, playing on words is daught calm’s ‘be a tuber’ YouTube dig. I guess that’s better than being a potato. 3. The little orange guy, pizza guy? pizza face? is by sketch nate.

below: Red chick light bulb, lites creation.

below: Looking for a drink?

below: Brian has become an astronaut.

below: Morbid, Icey, etc. along with the bearded face of No love; Alone boy in black and white by ozokoh. And of course, don’t worry. It took a while… but see that grey face and its mysterious signature? It’s a lino print by Brian (aka bodh.io)

below: Tbonez with a new face

below: Urban Ninja Squadron as a climbing frame for a whole slew of little sketch nate characters.

below: Forge fury, feelings boi, and a sad puppy (yee hop) by sketch nate.

below: Pikachu and a pokeball…. and a pokemon character that I don’t know.

This post will also appear in Eyes on the Streets, a street art blog.

the new normal?

Posted: March 18, 2020 in graffiti and street art, stores, windows and walls
Tags: closed, hand sanitizer, keep calm, King St., mannequins, paste up, posters, purell, Rex, stickers, words

I went walking on Monday, keeping my distance from others, to “collect” bits and pieces of evidence of what we’re doing and how we’re coping with this virus thing. Some of this is a bit ghoulish (and has nothing to do with the virus) but hopefully some with make you smile. Also, I hope that in the days and weeks ahead we can look back on this as just a little blip in our lives.

below: A little sticker from sketch nate has been edited to say that only all of Toronto can judge me. There were quite a few “don’t worry” stickers.

below: The Princess of Wales Theatre has shut down like all theatres in the city, no shows happening. Keep Calm and Carry On – we’ll see how all this pans out.