apples | as I walk Toronto

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intersections – Yonge & Empress Walk

After a very warm October, colder November days aren’t always easy to get used to! The solution? There are lots of paces to walk in Toronto where indoor pathways can be used to warm up!

below: Loblaws at Empress Walk, our starting point that day.

below: Glass ceiling at North York Centre. Before amalgamation of the six Toronto boroughs into what is now the City of Toronto, this was a busier place as it is adjacent to North York City Hall where City Council offices and meeting spaces were.

below: Interior of the library

below: The next two photos are taken from the south entrance to the library. First is looking south along the edge of North York City Hall. A sliver of Mel Lastman Square is on the left.

below: Now looking east towards Yonge Street with Mel Lastman Square on the right.

below: West side of North York Centre (& library)

below: “Green Between” (1994) by Peter Hide stands beside Meridian Arts Centre on North York Blvd (not to be confused with Meridian Hall which is downtown at Yonge & Front)

below: Also North York Blvd., the south entrance to North York City Hall as well as the Board of Education building.

below: Benches! On Yonge Street

below: Fountain in the small park by Joseph Shepard Building (federal government). Now dry for the winter season.

below: Hearts on planters – These are 2 of the 19 hearts that make up the Willowdale Mosaic Mural Project. They were created by Robin Hesse and Cristina Delago under the auspices of Mural Routes. You can find them on West side of Yonge Street, between North York Boulevard and Upper Madison Avenue.

below: The Yonge Sheppard Centre on the northeast corner of that intersection has been renovated and the the exterior is totally changed/improved.

below: A pedestrian walks beside the Yonge Street side of the redesigned Yonge Sheppard Centre

below: Even though there are already a lot of condo towers in the area, construction continues on more of them. This new building is just north of Sheppard.

below: The Legion building (dark brown, with the Canadian flag) is now dwarfed by development around it.

below: There are still some sites that have not yet been redeveloped.

below: Public bulletin board with posters of a few of the people kidnapped by Hamas in Israel back in October.

below: In an alley near Yonge & Greenfield; a joint effort by Carillo Art Studio, Cruz1, Luvs (Moise) and Zgar as part of Bit Lane 2021.

below: A pink and purple tiger watches the blue jay standing on the branch by June Kim and Nixo Street Art (Erika James). The orange snake is the work of Muisca (aka Daniela Rocha)

below: More wildlife, a sparrow, in among the crates in a corner of the lane.

below: Lots of birds! On TTC property, Sheppard station bus loop, another mural by June Kim.

With thanks to my mother for being my walking partner that day (which as it turns out, was one of the colder days this month).

golden mile

Posted: September 27, 2023 in construction, history, intersections, transportation
Tags: apples, Eglinton Square, Flexible Packaging Corp, Golden Mile, IPEX, LRT, O'Connor, pharmacy, redevelopment

This has become one of the more forlorn corners in the city – the northeast corner of Eglinton and Vic Park. I am not sure what the structure was originally used for or what it looked like back in the day. Now it just stands there, perhaps in limbo like the Eglinton LRT that it sits next to.

There is another one at the other end of the Golden Mile Mall (one block east at Pharmacy & Eglinton). Brutalistic and ugly.

The Golden Mile Mall opened in 1954. And even Queen Elizabeth II visited it (in 1959).

below: Golden Mile Mall parking lot today. The mall (or plaza) has a No Frills and a Joe Fresh, both of which are part of Loblaws. In fact, Choice Properties REIT (also Loblaws) owns the 19 acre site and has plans to redevelop it into a mixed use site. The site runs north of Eglinton from Victoria Park to Pharmacy. It’s early in the process so anything can happen but if you are interested, the site plan is a downloadable pdf

large parking lot at golden mile mall, not many cars

Did that tall metal structure have a purpose? Or just decoration?

Even back in the 1950s the parking lot was enormous. I get the impression that the golden mile wasn’t so golden if you didn’t own a car.

black and white photo from 1950s of cars in a parking lot in front of a mall, the golden mile mall

Photo Source: From Old Toronto Series facebook page. If you are interested in the way Toronto used to look, check them out!

below: Part of the mall was destroyed by fire in 1986

black and white photo of firemen rolling up hoses in front of burnt out woolworths store

Photo Credit: Rick Eglinton, Toronto Star Photograph Archive, “Original Toronto Star caption: Fire guts part of Golden Mile plaza. Three of the 50 firefighters called out yesterday to battle a spectacular fire that gutted the west end of Scarborugh’s Golden Mile Plaza roll up their hoses after finally dousing the last ember. The mall, built mostly of wood in the 1950s and once Canada biggest, is now being demolished. The Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office has not yet determined the cause of the blaze. Published in Toronto Star, 16 December 1986”. Found online at Toronto Public Libbrary Digital

As I alluded to above, the Eglinton LRT has been built here. As most of you know, this is the mystery transit line – nobody knows when it’s going to be operational. Not even Metrolinx knows. Coincidences are such that after I took these photos I discovered that Metrolinx was supposed to make an announcement about the Eglinton LRT this afternoon (Sept 27). As it turns out the announcement was that there was no announcement but they will make more announcements in a couple of months.

below: So O’Connor LRT station sits waiting… Just in case you don’t know, O’Connor station is at Eglinton & Vic Park (O’Connor Drive ends at Vic Park a short distance south of here).

below: O’Connor LRT station, from another angle

below: I was shocked to see a streetcar pull into the station! They really are running tests or training people, or whatever it is they’re doing. Back in early June 2021 (more than two years ago!) the first LRT vehicles made their debut in Toronto (blog post from that day)

When the area was first settled it became farmland. A few apple trees still grow along the side of Pharmacy Ave

During WW2, the Canadian government bought some of that farmland and built a munitions plant known as GECo (General Engineering Company). This factory was south of Eglinton and east of Pharmacy. After the war, many other industries moved into the area. Beginning in the 1980s, the industries started leaving.

below: Today there are still a few left such as this IPEX facility – they make thermoplastic pipes (such as PVC pipes used in plumbing)

Another industry, Flexible Packaging Corp, has moved on

If you google their address, 1891 Eglinton Ave East, you will discover that there are plans for the latest trend – the mixed use community – here too. Tall condo towers, retail, and public space (here 5 towers, 4 of which between 30 and 45 storeys). There are going to be a few of these along Eglinton. For instance, the Crosstown neighbourhood is well underway at Eglinton and Don Mills. And there is the Golden Mile Mall redevelopment that I mentioned above.

The Eglinton LRT has, not surprisingly, encouraged a lot of redevelopment. Almost every building along Eglinton between Victoria Park and Pharmacy has a blue and white development notice in front. I didn’t walk farther east but I suspect that a similar story is playing out there too.

below: At the southwest corner of Eglinton and Pharmacy, one tall tower of 35 storeys

below: North side of Eglinton, 2 towers – 38 and 40 storeys.

Across the street from the Golden Mile Mall is Eglinton Square, another mall. It too has a development notice out front. It was dated 2018 so take it with a grain of salt that the mall is retained but 91 rental units behind it will disappear. … Can we believe that? So… A quick google and yikes! Seven towers, 5 of which are 40 storeys or more for 1 Eglinton Square. Really? Are we that short of ideas for housing? In twenty to thirty years are we going to look around and wonder what the hell happened here?

below: HBC on the west side of Eglinton Square

below: This is the triangle formed by O’Connor Drive, Eglinton Ave., and Victoria Park Ave. The parkette that was here is all dug up. I’m not sure that I want to know what’s happening here.

Graffiti

below: Danger due to blunt mop. At first I thought it was someone’s strange humour but on closer look realized that it was an advert for a soundcloud account.