This past week there was an exhibit at Gallery 1313 that paid tribute to Murray McKay. Murray started modeling for college level life drawing classes in the 1990s. Between then and his passing in 2024, he had a large impact on Toronto’s art community. More than forty artists contributed their drawings or paintings of Murray to the exhibit which was simply titled “Murray”.
This exhibit was only on between 5th and 16th March (now ended)
… and Roncesvalles and Queensway.
King Street merges with Queen Street twice, once in the east at River Street and once in the west when King turns north and joins Roncesvalles. At this point Queen becomes the Queensway.
below: Queen streetcar traveling westbound (center of picture) while a King car makes the turn north into the intersection (right side).
If that King car continues north, it travel up Roncesvalles to Dundas West station.
below: Looking west on the Queensway with all the overhead streetcar wires because….
below: … the TTC Roncesvalles Carhouse is right there. It is 28 streetcar tracks wide and is used for storage and maintenance of part of the TTC’s streetcar fleet.
below:The Queensway also runs parallel to (and within sight of) Lakeshore Blvd, the Gardiner Expressway, and Lake Ontario.
below: There is access to the waterfront is by a pedestrian bridge.
below: Also at this intersection is a memorial to all the Polish citizens who died at the hands of the Soviets during WWII.
Plaque reads: “1940-2000, In Memoriam … Lest we forget… May the tragic deaths of tens of thousands of Polish citizens in Soviet forced-labour camps, political prisons and execution sites, always remind the world that freedom is bought with great sacrifice.
Dedicated to the memory of over one million seven hundred thousand Polish soldiers and civilians arrested in EAstern Poland by the Soviet secret service (NKVD) in 1940-1941, for the only reason that they were Polish citizens and were deported to the far reaches of the Soviet Union (siberia), where many were executed or died of hunger, cold, disease, and exhaustion during World War II.
[words in Polish]”
Alliance of the Polish Eastern Provinces in Toronto, February 10, 2000.
The rest of this post are images of some of the sights along Queen West and in the alleys behind. Some of them may look like photos that have appeared in prior blog posts…. Many things have changed over the years and yet many things remain the same.
below: North side of Queen West, looking towards Roncesvalles.
below: South side of Queen West, looking towards Roncesvalles
Some of the old architecture remains – Volumes could probably be written about all the old architectural features that can still be seen out Queen West and King West. Many of which date from when Parkdale was an affluent suburb of Toronto.
below: An old Royal Bank of Canada building (now used for other purposes).
below: An old Second Empire type of building, that is now home to the Easy Restaurant as well as Rosa’s restaurant.
below:Back of the building – King Street side.
below: The original mural with its yellow convertible once seen on the back of the building is still there, it’s just hidden by a more recently built structure to store garbage bins and other stuff in.
below: If you have passed by this intersection, you may have noticed the yellow motorcycle rider on the King Street side of the building.
below: Dancing in the window
below: A doggie in the window!
below: Ford among the light fixtures. Who is the dimmest bulb?
below: An anchor, many stickers, and a red skull and crossbones
below: Potato sack racers in a mural by Jim Bravo. The sacks all say “Eva’s Fine Deli” on them so perhaps this was once the wall of said deli? Now it is the Dosa restaurant on Roncesvalles.
below: Dreamer
below: Birdo paintings that have faded and weathered. Check out an earlier post if you want to see what they once were like (Animals and Birdo Birds) This post was from March 2015, ten years ago!
below: Still Alive! It’s always marvelous to encounter Lovebot the Robot in the wild.
below: More alley backyard views…. another house with a rooftop terrace or deck. I have mentioned before in other posts with other alleys, that this type of renovation/expansion has become very common throughout the city.
Looking north up Rocco Mandalfino Lane towards Dundas Street.
Looking south
The annual “Winter Stations” public art installations are now up at Woodbine Beach. This year the constructions are colourful and fairly durable. They should be there until the end of March.
Once again, there are 6 installations to check out as you walk the beach.
below: “Watch” by Trae Horne. The opening in the fence faces due east
below: “Peak”, designed by University of Waterloo School of Architecture and the Department of Architectural Engineering. … ” angular peaks that frame perspectives and form pathways. Consisting of repeating structures of select shapes and sizes, Peak is an interactive installation that visually contrasts the existing site and offers refuge from the cold winter environment. “
below: “Parade” by Jesse Beus consists of six characters each with their own unique colour, shape, purpose, and identity. There is blue Shadey and green Jadey. Sunny is a yellow circle and Boxy is a red box. There is an orange pyramid called Slippey and a funny purple shape that is Blob.
below: “Ascolto” by French artists/designers Ines Dessaint and Tonin Letondu.
below: Standing at the edge of “Ascolto” and looking in.
below: “Solair”, by Toronto Metropolitan University Department of Architectural Science – Sunlight and air… light and wind…. together produce movement and reflections and an ever changing abstracted image. Each reflective square moves independently from the others.
below: “Slice of Sun” by a Portuguese group – Cláudia Franco, Mariam Daudali, and Tom Byrom. It is a semi-circle within a rectangle. There are steps inside the curved portion that can be used as seats but just be careful because if it is windy, you might get hit by a blowing strip of pink plastic!
below: Dogma graffiti at one of the lifeguard stations
Wilson subway station, on the University side of Line 1, opened in 1978 and was the end of the line until Downsview station just to the north opened in 1996. It is not a thing of beauty. Concrete. Austere from the outside. It’s entrance from under the Allen Expressway is dark, gloomy, and depressing.
below: Northwest entrance to the station, nestled up against the Allen Expressway.
below: Walkway to southwest entrance
That stretch of the subway runs down the median of the Allen Expressway.
below: Although the platform has a roof, it is open at the ends and in the winter it is cold. There are a few of these pod-like waiting areas, circular glass structures with benches for those wanting a tiny reprieve from the wind.
below: Inside the station a concrete wall sculpture by Ted Bieler entitled ‘Canyons’
What drew me here in the first place …. To help brighten up the area, some of the concrete, both inside and out, has been covered with murals by Shalak Attack, Bruno Smoky, and Clandestinos,
below: An owl and a woman’s face at the two south entrances.
below: There is a lot of street art along Wilson Avenue but most of it is under the Allen Expressway and is not well lit. Some of it is also looking very dirty.
below: Pink flowers inside the station
below: Circular “Kiss ‘n Ride” still exists.
below: Exit at Wilson Heights
below: Northeast side of the station, along with the Allen Expressway
I took most of these pictures back in the summer but I hadn’t taken the time to blog about what I had seen. When I drove past Wilson again recently, I noticed that the parking lot on the east side (towards Wilson Heights) is now fenced off. Now it is a snow covered vacant lot.
below: Parking lot before
below: … and after. You can still park your bikes here, but no more cars.
below: There is a City of Toronto development notice sign on the side of Wilson station. It looks like the city may be serious about affordable housing at this site. Apparently this has been in the works for a number of years but faced some opposition form those who wanted to keep the parking lot. Just shy of 1500 units in six buildings are planned on the site along with community space and a public park. The percent allotted to affordable housing varies from 35 to 48 percent, depending on the source of the information.
To the west of the station, on the north side of Wilson, is the remains of the Downsview Airport lands.
below: One of the four winners of the ‘XOXO Downsview, Talking Fences’ competition of 2023, is “Aandi wenjibaayan?” which translates to “Where are you from?” It was suggested by Lakhvir Sandhar. The other three winners have their words displayed elsewhere on the Downsview property.
Photo credit: Toronto Public Library online digital image archive
The south side of Wilson is retail and is now Wilson Village. It is also where you will find Billy Bishop Way named for Canadian pilot. It is nowhere near Billy Bishop Airport (that’s WAAAAY south, on the island, or the other one in Owen Sound) but is a nod to Downsview’s history as an airfield and its role in airplane manufacturing.
William Avery Bishop was born in Owen Sound in 1894. He was a Canadian flying ace during WW1.
below: Looking southeast past the old metal fence that surrounds the parking on the northwest side of Wilson station. Big box retail on the other side of Wilson, and newer midrise to highrise residential development on the other side of the Allen.
Very close to the planned “affordable housing” but on the south side of Wilson, there is already a new community being built.
There are many older single family homes to the east, in a quiet neighbourhood squeezed in between Wilson and the 401.
I even discovered an old moose hiding in the bushes! The “Moose in the City” project goes way back to 2000 when 326 life-sized moose sculptures found homes around the city. Each one was decorated by a local artist. I am not sure how many still exist but it can’t be more than a fraction of the original.
Other moose: Scarborough moose near Kennedy and 401, moose at St. Clair and Bayview. Any others?
To the east, Wilson is becoming a canyon of midrise buildings, replacing the older residences, often fourplexes and sixplexes.
The development is more intensive as you get closer to the Allen and the subway line…
… on both the north and south side of Wilson
Seen on Warden Avenue… A building with a mural by Mediah (aka Evond Blake) on the upper level, and decorated blocks spelling ‘Scarborough’ in the front. Each letter looks to be an animal-like character.
Same building, another side. A windowless canvas for “Drift Appendar”
Same site (building with Mediah mural is just behind the container).
Feed Scarborough (part of the Scarborough Food Security Initiative, an organization that runs community gardens, food banks and many other programs).
below: View from a lane that runs behind the north side of Dundas West, walking west of Dufferin. The alley also runs east of Dufferin but that will have to wait for another day. The large brick building on Dufferin is St. Annes parish hall. St. Annes church is behind, facing Gladstone Ave. The vacant lot on left was a parking lot not long ago but now it is now a construction site.
below: It looks like changes are coming on the Dundas West side of the lane as well. A concrete wall/fence has been partially demolished and there are construction fences behind some of the buildings. According to the Urban Toronto website, two 8 storey developments have been proposed – one fronting on Dundas and the other on Dufferin, with the alley remaining between them.
below: Behind Dundas West… but not for much longer.
below: Artwork by Cuban artist Supermalo5, aka Fabian Lopez who always includes a little question mark in his work along with the incorrect equation 2 + 2 = 5
below: Two big round black eyes
below: Street art painting, abstract, by Mony Zakhour
below: Screenshot from Google street view, captured in 2019. The houses on the left are now gone – you can see the blue and white development notice sign in front of them. They are now part of the vacant lot/construction site pictured above. You can also see that the lane here is Boland Lane. It runs perpendicular to Dundas West.
below: A quick look at what else is in Boland Lane
below: “Embrace what makes you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable”
below: “Perfection is the enemy of greatness”
Continuing behind Dundas….
below: Layers, old and new as well as wood, brick, and glass.
below: Rooftop decks and terraces above and street art covered garages below including a flaming hot kitty painted by Christina Mazzulla.
below: A trio of grey masked foxes (wolves? dogs?) covering two doors. This painting goes back to at least 2017 and possibly 2015 and before.
below: The lane meets Awde Street, with a teal colored garage door. Awde is only a block long, and is not the original Awde Street. Apparently what is now Croatia Street was once Awde (1908) and there is a plaque to prove it.
below: That brownish wall in above picture (where there is now a stack of firewood), was once covered with a painting. This is it in 2015.
below: Awde Street, streetview from 2019.
At this point, the lane makes a 90 degree turn towards Dundas – and lo and behold, there is even more artwork to see ( also by Mony Zakhour?)
below: On the north side of Dundas West, there is a large mural titled, “Three Sisters” painted by Paula Tikay and Aner Urra. I discussed it in a blog post from 2019 (Three Sisters, Tikay and Aner)
… and that’s the end of the alley!
Small bit of trivia: I once found my great-great-grandfather, John Marshall, and his family in a Toronto phone book from about 1910 (I can’t remember the exact year). They were on Gladstone Ave. When I went to see if I could find the house, I discovered that the number corresponded with a vacant lot (parking lot?) adjacent to St. Annes church.
Federal Street is a short narrow street near Dundas and Dufferin. Like a few other Toronto streets, it is more a lane than a street.
below: Dundas Street West at Federal
below: No Exit, a dead end street
below: Wires in all directions – standing tall like a tree in winter.
below: Another lane, another time. There is another lane that runs perpendicular to Federal that looks like it might be interesting to explore but it will have to wait until another day.
below: Maximum width, 2 metres.
below: A winter cyclist.
below: Looking north, back to Dundas
below: This mural was painted at least 10 years ago – but the tagging across the bottom by The Half Decent is more recent.
below: This is what it looked like in August 2015.
Photo Source: As I Walk Toronto blog, 15 Aug 2015
“The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” is now showing at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). It features 90 works by more than 60 artists. Some of them are shown here….
below: Portrait of a day when 103 of members of the Toronto Hip Hop community got together in one place, August 2024. The photo was taken on the steps of the Liberty Grand at Exhibition Place by photographer Patrick Nichols.
This exhibit has also been seen in Baltimore and St. Louis.
“Placing fashion, consumer marketing, music, videos and objects in dialogue with paintings, sculpture, poetry, photography and multi-media installations, the exhibition considers activism and racial identity, notions of bling and swagger, as well as gender, sexuality and feminism.”
below: Painting by Zeh Palito,a Brazilian artist who seems to like pink. Title: “It was all a Dream”.
below: Cardi B., aka Belcalis Marlenis Cephus, with unity on her arm by Hassan Hajjaj. She is considered one of contemporary music’s top female artists.
below: “Live Culture Force 1’s”, 2022, by Aaron Fowler. They are gigantic Nike Air Force 1 sneakers that have been made out of car parts. Contemporary art seems to like big things – Once upon a time back in 1960s there was a giant hamburger on display at the AGO. I wonder if the creator of that hamburger, Claes Oldenburg, realized what he started (and whatever happened to it anyhow?). Tangent alert – The AGO purchased the hamburger in 1967 for $2000.
below: “Swamp Boy” by Amani Lewis
below: “Real Negus Don’t Die” by Fahamu Pecou. Reflects on the idea that death can’t stop us and perhaps touches on the idea that immortality comes through remembrance.
below: “The Minister of Enterprise” by Kudzanai Chiurai. Oversized shades indoors, a big cigar, and some bling. Add some swagger.
below: I made a mistake with this room. I initially thought, what a waste, a whole room for a red puffy jacket. Turns it, it’s a godsend for instagram ready selfies. Lots of room, mirrors behind the jacket, and presto… many, many pictures on Instagram and TikTok. I should have taken the time to wait for people to get in my way!
below: “Louis Uluru”, 2009, by Luis Gispert. Looking at Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock, in Australia), from the comfort of a very well-appointed car.
below: Hanging from the ceiling, a collection of one glittery pair of Adidas sneakers and many brown work boots, some sparkly with glitter and some not. Bejewelled kicks. “Cloud Break”, a sculpture by Devan Shimoyama
Exhibit continues until April 2025.
Cliffcrest is a neighbourhood in Scarborough that includes a section of Kingston Road between Brimley and Bellamy Roads. The southern boundary is Lake Ontario including the eastern portion of the Scarborough Bluffs.
below: At the corner of Kingston Road & St. Clair is one of the Scarborough Heritage Trail murals funded by Mural Routes. It is “In The Way of Progress” and shows a Kingston Road radial railway car at Stop 17 with Scarborough High School (later changed name to R.H. King Academy) in the background. It was painted in 1996 by Phil, Jennifer, and Jamie Richards.
below: 1922, Kingston Road looking west towards St. Clair with Scarborough High School near the intersection.
Source: City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1488, series 1230, Item 2064
In 1893 the Toronto and Scarborough Electric Railway, Light and Power Company started running a one car train along Kingston Road. The tracks went as far east as West Hill. A couple of years later, this line became part of the Toronto and York Radial Railway (TYRR). The TYRR had four branches radiating from the city, one to the west, 2 northward, and this one east along Kingston Road. The stops on the Scarborough route were numbered, starting at Victoria Park Avenue. Stop 17 was at St. Clair East & Kingston Road.
below: This 1922 photo is actually from a bit farther west, at Victoria Park. What I wanted to show was how the railway tracks just ran between the road and the sidewalk. Very simple infrastructure! Not too feasible in a city, but in 1922 this neighbourhood was more rural than urban (and they still got transit!)
Source: City of Toronto Archives, Series 71, item 1607
below: You can’t see it in this photo but the mural above is on the wall of Stop 17 Variety (by the parking lot on the right).
below: From 1973, forty years ago – looking at the southeast corner of Brimley and Kingston Road. The bus is northbound on Brimley.
Photo Credit: Richard Glaze photo 1973, Transit Toronto website. If you are interested in anything to do with transit in Toronto, check out their website. They have an extensive collection of photographs, maps, and documents. They also feature all the latest news about slow downs, route changes, and service advisories (among other things).
The same motel is still on that corner of Kingston Rd and Brimley. I don’t have the exact replica photo but this is what the Hav a Nap Motel looks like now.
below: Moving slightly west, photo taken from approximately the corner of Brimley and Kingston Road.
Once upon a time, Kingston Road was a major east west route in and out of the city. There were many motels along here. Their heyday was the 1950s and the bigger, fancier ones are long gone, leaving behind some of the smaller ones.
below: As a shoutout to these motels and their stoy is this sidewalk box decorated with images of old motel signs. The Americana and the Roycroft signs can be seen on this side.
below: The Americana Motel still exists in the Cliffcrest neighbourhood (close to Brimley). The Roycroft is farther east, beyond McCowan.
below: Henry’s Motel
below: The sign of things to come.. and yes, it’s a condo with retail at street level.
below: The north side of Kingston Road, just east of Brimley – it looks like changes are happening here too.
Brimley Road is also the main access for Bluffers Park at the foot of the Scarborough Bluffs.
below: Dairy Queen at Kingston Road and Harewood is closed for the winter
below: An alley runs behind the south side of Kingston Road
below: Mailbox with a porpoise (or two)
below: On the side of a Wild Wings restaurant.
below: Carusos Fruit Market, Groceries, Hardware & Gift Items
Other Scarborough Heritage Mural posts:
1. Heritage Murals – Kingston Road, 2014
3. Heritage Trail Mural 8, 2014
4. Scarborough Bells, 2020
5. Birch Cliff, Kingston Road, 2021
as I walk Toronto 