Sunny September days make good walking in the alleys days. Here are some of the walls I saw and the compositions that they make. The textures of wood and metal, bright colours as well as subdued ones, the effects of light and shadow, as well as shapes and patterns – these are some of the things that catch my eye and make me stop. Throw a little nature into the mix and the following photos are the result.
Now that Honest Ed’s stands empty, the walls and windows have become home to advertising posters and graffiti. Here is a sample of what was there yesterday.
below: Love mix #2 says “Music is the best way for me to say I love you”.
below: Hermes 24 Eau de Parfum at $1500 per ounce. Not sure what “extrait” means!
below: Urban ninja squadron and planet_selfie get together!
below: Topsy turvy wall. The puzzle pieces weren’t put together correctly!
below: Another ‘Diversity is Hope’ pasteup
below: There are a few of these “Why didn’t Drake save Honest Eds” posters on the walls. This is the only one that has been added to with “He had $2.00 less then (sic) God” and “He made 1 billion”.
below: You are free!
below: Pasteup of Heath Ledger as The Joker
below: Red and glittery gold.
You might recognize the building below – it’s the Cherry Street interlocking tower. Along with the Scott Street and John Street towers, they housed the the electro-mechanical interlocking for the railway tracks. Interlocking is an apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks, in other words, it keeps the trains separated so there are no collisions. It was back in 1931 that the track work for Union Station was completed and the Toronto Terminals Railway interlocking system became operational. The interlocking was installed by General Railway Signal Co. of Rochester NY and it was/is controlled from the three above mentioned towers. Apparently this 1931 interlocking system has operated reliably for 86 years and today it makes it possible for 235 passenger trains travel on these tracks every weekday.
The intersection of Cherry and Lakeshore isn’t pretty. The south end of Cherry passes under the railway tracks, 8 tracks wide, just before ending at Lakeshore Blvd which is under the Gardiner Expressway at that point.
below: This is the view if you’re walking east on Lakeshore. The ‘tunnel’ is Cherry Street as it goes under the railway tracks. The three glass condo towers are part of the Distillery District.
below: From above – the best way to help you visualize the intersection. The very bottom left corner is the north end of the Cherry Street bridge. Cherry Street and the Lakeshore come together under the Gardiner Expressway before they split again with Cherry continuing south to the Portlands and the Lakeshore curving back under the Gardiner.
Also, the intersection can be confusing if you’re a cyclist or a pedestrian, especially if you are coming south on Cherry Street. It’s one stretch where the undeveloped land under the Gardiner Expressway has been neglected in part because it is also a section of the city that is in limbo – is the Gardiner going to be taken down? or will it be moved? or will we debate it until it’s too late to do anything? As city redevelopment spreads east, there is more interest in this area and in the Portlands adjacent to it.
below: Looking west towards the city. The Martin Goodman Trail runs along the south side of Lakeshore before turning south at Cherry towards the Portlands. On the other side of Lakeshore is the Lower Don River Trail that parallels the Lakeshore before turning north at the Don River. Both trails are part of the PanAm Path.
The Panam Path was a legacy project from the 2015 Pan Am Games. The path is not completed yet but it starts at the south end of the Clairville Reservoir in the northwest part of the city. It follows the Humber River to Lake Ontario and then runs east to the Don River before heading inland a bit. Eventually it ends at the mouth of the Rouge River. The path goes under many bridges and there is street art in quite a few of these spots.
below: Some of the pillars and bents under the Gardiner just east of Cherry Street are the latest to be painted. Finally some colour!
The first painting was done as part of an Art Spin event at the end of August. Art Spin is a group that runs bicycle-led events/tours of art a few times a year. The project is also a part of the STEPS Initiative that promotes public art in the city.
below: XYZ 2017 VAL JAM LUVS DRPN ___ DELUXO OGV written on top of the snake before it had a tongue.
Artists involved:
Daniela Rocha (muisca)
Fathima Mohiuddin (fatspatrol)
Stephanie Bellefleur (bellefleurhaus)
Meera Sethi
If I’ve left anyone out, please let me know
Some of the concrete in this area is slated for refurbishment so the affected pillars have been left clear for the moment.
below: More bird motifs, this time by @fatspatrol
below: An owl at night, stars in the sky, and purple hills, mural by Muisca.
below: A whimsical fun little purple creature with long arms.
below: Bullets transforming into birds taking flight.
Oh no, I’m losing my friends!
This friendship is getting a little old. We’ve been neglecting it.
A little humour that I couldn’t resist this evening!
There are a group of photography exhibits now showing at the Ryerson Image Centre. Two of them showcase older photos of Canada. The largest exhibit is ‘Faraway Nearby’ and it consists of photographs of Canada from the New York Times photo archive… 25,000 vintage photos of Canada taken over the past 100 years have been gifted to Ryerson by Chris Bratty in honour of his father Rudolph (Rudy), a property developer in the GTA. ‘Faraway Nearby’ is a wonderful selection of them covering a wide cross section of subjects.
below: There is a section devoted to tourist type photos that you would find in the travel section of a newspaper. Yes, that’s an RCMP officer standing beside the car, a convertible with California plates. I’d say it was kitschy to have the RCMP guy there but even today the red uniform of the RCMP is iconic; they are featured on many postcards and souvenirs. Tourists still take photos with them I’m sure.
below: Oh dear, Highland dancers and Native Americans all dressed up. Is that the Banff Springs Hotel? The exhibit taken as a whole is a fascinating look at Canadian history; how far we’ve come in some respects and how we haven’t really changed in others.
below: Loggers clearing their way through a sea of timber that is being guided into a newsprint mill in Hull Quebec, about 1946. Unknown photographer. (Almost all the photos are by ‘unknown’).
Being a newspaper, a large number of the subjects were political such as this photo of Joe Clark, Prime Minister of Canada from June 1979 to March 1980, on a visit to Cameroon in the summer of 1979.
below: Prime Minister Trudeau (the first one) meeting President Nixon, “Tricky Dick”, of the USA. Love the sunglasses! (or is that just a trick of the lighting?).
below: While on the topic of the Trudeau’s, here’s Margaret with Fidel Castro. Castro is holding Margaret’s youngest son Michel. The photo was taken in Havana in 1976 when the Trudeau’s were in Cuba on a 4 day state visit.
below: There are also some photos taken during various Royal visits. Here are a group of men by Lake Nipigon in 1919. The man holding the dead duck (3rd from the left) is Edward, Prince of Wales (b.1894 – d.1972). He was 25 years old in this picture. On 20 January 1936 he became King Edward VIII but he abdicated the throne in December of the same year after reigning for only 326 days.
below: A photo by an unknown photographer for the Canadian War Records Office and the American Press Association, Vimy, France, April 1917. The description of the photo reads: “Giving Fritz some of his own pills. Canadians firing a German 4.2 on the retreating Boche. Some of the guns left behind by the retreating Germans were in excellent condition, and the Canadians at once undertook to return some of the shells to their former owners in the most effective manner.”
below: A slightly lighter look at war, this time WW2. Photograph by Nat Turofsky (d. 1956) for Alexandra Studio. Distributed by the Star Newspaper Service and the New York Times. Location unknown. 1939. Nat and his brother Lou were well known Toronto photographers in their day. Back in 2009, The Torontoist published an excellent story about them and the Alexandra Studio which they owned.
The description of the photo reads: “Shouldering guns instead of hockey sticks. Member of the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey team, led by Bob Davidson, Goalie “Turk” Broda, and “Sweeney Shriner, marching into the trenches at a machine gun target range during a military training session. The team is in constant training so that they will be ready for duty if called to the colors.”
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The second, and smaller, exhibit is ‘The Notman Studio: 1858-1915’. William Notman was a photographer based in Montreal who traveled across Canada documenting what he saw. He was also a studio photographer who took hundreds of portraits. This is a small sample of his work.
below: ‘Ice Castle’ about 1857, Montreal Quebec, Albumen print.
below: ‘Esquimalt Dry Dock’, 1887, Victoria B.C. Albumen print. You’ll have to pardon the reflections in the pictures. The glass in the frames acts like a mirror and although I have tried to minimize the amount of reflection, getting rid of it entirely was not always possible.
below: Standing outside his teepee with his rifle and his horse.
below: There were a series of Cariboo Hunting photos. They were small and all focused on the two men. Especially considering their age, they are in excellent condition and beautiful to look at.
below: ‘Little Champlain Street’ 1890, Quebec City. I looked for photos of Toronto in the collection that was on display but there weren’t any.
below: There is an incredible amount of detail in the above picture so I cropped it quite a bit to highlight some of the details. The shabby brick and plaster row houses, the solitary street light, the planks that form the narrow road, and the kids wearing hats as they keep an eye on the photographer. Although it is Quebec City, I can imagine parts of Toronto looking quite similar at the time.
In case you were wondering, albumen prints refers to a process whereby the photographic paper that is used to print the images from a negative was made using egg whites. The main constituent of egg whites is the protein albumen. It is sticky and forms a glossy finish when it dries. The stickiness of the albumen is used to bind salt (sodium chloride, your basic table salt, or ammonium chloride) to the paper. Once the paper dries, it is dipped into a solution of silver nitrate thereby making the paper sensitive to UV light. This method was developed in 1847 and was the first commercially viable method of producing photographic paper. It remained in use until the 20th century.
By the entrance to the Notman exhibit is this wonderful, and still relevant, quote attributed to William Notman: “To consider Photography a mere mechanical art, is a great mistake. The too prevalent desire for cheapness, and the ease with which a little may be done in Photography, has induced many to embrace the profession lacking the necessary qualifications…”
Both exhibits continue until 10 Dec 2017.
Last November I blogged about a large 22 storey mural on Yonge Street just below College (music makers on Yonge ). This mural was by Adrian Hayles and it includes many Canadian music icons. Recently, Hayles has created a matching mural of the same size on the other side (south side) of the building at 423 Yonge Street with portraits of more Canadian musicians.
Rush, Goddo, the Band, David Clayton Thomas, Lonnie Johnson, Selome Bey, Carole Pope, Cathy Young, Jay Douglas, Kim Mitchell, Mandala, and John and Lee and the Checkmates are all shown in the mural. It is best seen if you are walking north on Yonge Street although some trees partially block the view.
The mural was commissioned by the Downtown Yonge BIA,
Tucked away on a garage in an alley near Brunswick and Harbord is a garage with three murals, at least two of which are the work of Aaron Li-Hill.
below: This mural is not new but I am not sure how old it is. I am not even sure if I have seen it before. I can’t believe that I found an alley that I haven’t walked before in this area, but anything’s possible. This mural is by Li-Hill for sure.
below: This too is the work of Aaron Li-Hill as you can see from the signature.
below: This seaside town scene has no signature. I like the little people, one with a surfboard, some playing in the water, and a couple hand in hand.
One more reason to wander the lanes and alleys of the city!
(With thanks to Anita for walking with me and showing me this garage.)
At the corner of Roxton and Harbord, at what was once the New Moon Variety store, there is a large and colourful Clandestinos mural. The store is now Riders Cycle so it is apt that the mural features a large cyclist, a dapper fox with bright red cycling gloves and a wicker basket full of flowers and carrots.
A blue bird at the left flying in front of the garage door.
The window now looks like it protrudes from the wall and is part of the mural.
Like all good cyclists, he has a light on his bike but this light is a miniature person with a powerful flashlight.
buzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Another blue bird in flight, this time at the righthand side of the mural.
Shorter day light hours + autumn weather (no snow yet!) = an evening of playing with light and shadow. I came out of the subway at Queen station and decide to “chase the light”. It was a perfect evening for a walk and I wanted to make it last as long as possible. For the most part I stayed on Queen Street although I will admit to straying onto Shuter for a block or two. It’s not the prettiest part of the city but every place has potential, from a photographic perspective anyhow.
below: The new (replacement) pedestrian walkway over Queen Street that will link the Eaton Centre with The Bay.
below: City reflections in both glass and polished stone.
below: The curve of street car wires at Queen and Church. A wall of peeling paint, as well as a ghost sign, provides the backdrop
below: The east wall of St. Michaels Cathedral (RC) with reflected light, as seen across a construction site.
below: The same church from a slightly different angle.
below: Angels
below: Pigeons, old Bell phones and the Moss Park Discount Store. Not so much light here but I liked the wall.
below: A long way from home.
below: A large double billboard is black beside the old building. The building is at the corner of Ontario Street and Brigden Place. It was built in 1911 as a 4 1/2 storey warehouse for the Newell Company and their Dominion Envelope Company. It was one of three buildings that they owned in the area. After WW2 the building was purchased by J.D. Carrier Shoe Company (the ghost sign!). Today it has been renovated as lofts and studios.
below: A small section of the back of the Moss Park Armoury, a Canadian Forces building constructed in the 1960’s.
below: A quick break from chasing light…. you never know what you’re going to encounter downtown, and of course you have to stop and take advantage of the opportunities when they arise, so here we have a slight diversion! I’m going to assume that the background of their pictures is much better than the background of this picture!
below: As evening falls, the lights come on in the bus shelters.
You can thank (or curse) Astral Media for that.
below: King Street and Queen Street merge just before they pass over the Don River and the Don Valley Parkway. The green railing in the photo below is on the bridge over the DVP, the buildings and cranes are on the other side of the river.
below: Upstairs, downstairs. Looking west along King Street from the Don River.
Once the light fades beyond a certain point, contrast is limited and dullness creeps into the resulting photos. It’s too late for well lit photos and too early for pictures of city lights. But it’s a great time to stop and find some dinner!
Can you see anything in it?
The above image, with its location icon, is just a small portion of a large mural by Jimmy Chiale. You’ll find it in the Bloorcourt neighbourhood, on the SW corner of Shaw and Bloor West to be specific. ‘Make Good’ it says.
I think that its fascinating to look at and I suspect that you would see something different in it each time you passed by. Here are a few more close up pictures of the details in the mural. Thousands of shapes all outlined in black some of which seem to make eyes, faces, and a bird’s beak.
below: …. a totem pole, an owl and a horse head….
below: … and a camera shutter and a fish?
It wouldn’t surprise me if we saw different things!
Aside
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Posted: September 6, 2017 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: beak, bird, Bloor West, colours, eyes, fish, horse, J. Chiale, make good, mural, shapes, Shaw St., totem pole
as I walk Toronto 