city | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘city’

spring in the city

Posted: May 26, 2014 in general Toronto
Tags: buds, city, flowers, graffiti, ivy, leaves, photos, spring, street art, streets, Toronto, trees, tulips, walls

Spring in the City

Hopeful signs of a new season that I have spotted this week.

A large garden full of orange tulips. In the background is the grass and trees of St. james Park. There is a couple sitting on a bench on the far side of the tulip bed.

orange tulips galore in St. James Park

Tulips and other spring plants starting to grow in front of a wall that has been painted with graffiti

signs of spring in front of the wall

Flowering white tree in front of the entrance of Metropolitan United Church

Even spring can look grey if you look at it from the right angle. Metropolitan United church.

pretty in pink, and purple…. boxes of flowers along the fence, Davenport Road

many yellow and white daffodils are growing in front of a picket fence. There are a number of trees with new leaves behind the fence.

daffodils and picket fence, Riverdale Farm

A row of orange tulips growing in front of St. James cathedral. Close up of the building so only part of one wall, with lower corner of a window, can be seen.

growing in the shadow of St. James cathedral

A tree with pink blossoms is growing in front of brick row houses, one red brick and one that has been painted light grey.

pink on brick, near Kensington

Ivy begins to grow again on a wall that has been painted with beige, blue and orange graffiti. Close up picture of the graffiti so it looks like an abstract shape

almost smiling at the ivy growing on the alley wall

Sonya’s Park

Posted: May 21, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: altered signs, brick, city, defaced, downtown, grass, green space, historical, houses, Kensington market, Oxford St., park, photos, pictures, playground, stickers, tags, Toronto, urban, wall

Sonya’s Park, a small green space on Oxford Street.

On the east side of the park there is a brick wall that had a number of scenes painted on it. The pictures depicted a trip to Kensington market, circa 1885. Some of the murals remain intact while others have been defaced.

A play structure with slide is on the left of the picture, a woman is sitting on a bench on the right side. Row houses on the opposite side of the street can also be seen. There are some large trees too.

Oxford St., from the park.

Spring plants are growing in front of the wall on which there is a mural on a brick wall depicting a scene from a visit to Kensington Market circa 1885. A small girl is standing beside a cart.

Trip to Kensington market, circa 1885. The first of the murals on the brick wall on the east side of the park.

Large white tags obscure part of a mural depicting Kensington market in the past

Once upon a time there was a mural there. Sadly, taggers have made their presence known.

mural on a brick wall depicting a scene from a visit to Kensington Market , people buying fruit and vegetables from a street vendor. Spring plants are growing in front of the wall.

buying fruit and vegetables, circa 1885

a large tag over another mural. Someone has then written large red letters that say Stop not taggin art

stop not taggin art & watch yourself

A brick wall that runs across the back of the park. It is covered with graffiti. There is a metal gate in the center and you can see that there is more graffiti on the walls of the alley behind.

at the back of the park

A chain link fence in front of a piece of graffiti in oranges, yellows and purple

diamonds of colour

A city of Toronto sign that has had four stickers attached to it.

Plea no the, Elder abuse, and Don’t worry CAMH is only a block away, all on one sign

508

Posted: May 21, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: bathurst, city, clandestinos, colourful, graffiti, house, murals, painted, photographs, photos, shalak, smoky, street art, Toronto, urban

One house in the city.

The number 508 is above the doorway. An eye, part of two different murals, is on either side of the door.

508 in the middle

View of the front of a two storey building taken from the street in front of it. The exterior of the house is covered with paintings. Two faces cover what once the front windows.

eyes on the street

large painting of a red and blue bird on the side of a house. Hydro wires are also in the photo

bird contemplating a wire

A white toilet sits on a sidewalk outside of a house. On the side of the house, just behind the toilet, is a painting of a an old house.

outdoor plumbing

A large mural on the side of a brick house.

characters on the north wall

Brookfield Place

Posted: December 17, 2013 in locations
Tags: abstract, architecture, Brookfield Place, building, Christmas, city, downtown, glass, interior, lights, patterns, photography, Toronto, urban, windows

Playing with lights, colours, and reflections at Brookfield Place.

Bay St., south of Wellington

The long passageway through Brookfield Place with it's very high ceiling and lit glass panels on the floor.

From the bottom up, Allen Lambert Galleria, the 6 storey atrium of Brookfield Place, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

circles of Christmas lights and ornaments

Looking upwards, Christmas Ring Tree, Brookfield Place.

Lights from Christmas decorations are reflected in the window of a men's wear store but all you see in this photo is the mannequin's hand and part of the red and white striped shirt that its wearing.

Playing with reflected light from Christmas decorations.

abstract looking picture of horizontal shapes in oranges, greens and purples. The photo is of part of a wall, a metal support beam, and a glass wall.

Horizontal abstraction of light and colour.

Walking on thin ice?

Large, high ceilinged atrium space in a building. It is lit with purple spot lights. Some people are walking through the space.

And now the lights are purple…. The lights change colours after a few minutes – purples, reds, greens, and blues.

A group of photographers. Some of them are reflected in the shiney black surface of the wall.

Photography under the purple lights.

abstract picture made by a photo of a metal grid that is lit from behind.

I didn’t see the electrical outlet when I took this photo. I was just attracted to the tiny squares of light by my feet.

*****

one December evening

Posted: December 17, 2013 in general Toronto
Tags: benches, Brookfield Place, buildings, Christmas, city, December, decorations, downtown, drifts, glass, lights, park, path, reflections, road, shadows, snow, St. James, storm, streets, Toronto, traffic, urban, windows, winter

One cold Saturday evening, during a snowstorm, in downtown Toronto

Snow, lots of blowing snow!

Ruts in the snow on King St. reflect the light from the street lights. Snow is blowing across the road. There is a red stop light in the distance, and you can see the headlights of the cars that are stopped for it.

Snow on the roads and snow blowing across the streets.

Snow covered ground lights make round patches of light in the snow. Small white Christmas lights are wrapped around a small tree trunk. The wind is blowing snow across the lights.

A dance of snow and light choreographed by the wind.

A shop window with 6 mannequins. They are all dressed in long dresses or black skirts except one of the mannequins who is wearing a red dress. They all have large red bows in their hair. The backdrop makes it look that they are standing in a snowy pine forest.

Ladies of the night – all dressed up but nowhere to go.

Night time. Fresh snow on the ground with only one set of footsteps walking through it. There are a number of trees along the side of sidewalk and they cast shadows over the snow.

Shadows playing in the drifts of snow.

Black & orange construction cones along side a plastic orange fence around a construction site at the side of the road. Traffic stopped at a stoplight in the distance.

It wouldn’t be a Toronto street unless there was construction on it somewhere, even on the snowiest nights.

With the shorter days of December come the lights of Christmas to brighten the longer hours of darkness.

The photos below were all taken in St. James Park.

looking across a snowy St. James Park towards the cathedral whose steeple is partially obscured by trees. Late afternoon. Part of the Toronto skyline can be seen in the background.

St. James Cathedral through the snow as twilight falls.

Shining

Two tree trunks wrapped in strands of multi-coloured Christmas lights are in the foreground. In the background are bare tree branches against the sky. The sky is a grey colour because it is a cloudy winter night.

Spots of colour contrast with the plain grey of the bare tree branches against the grey late afternoon sky.

snow covered benches under trees whose trunks are wrapped in strands of Christmas lights.

Snow covered benches await a warmer day.

Six trees with their trunks wrapped in strands of Christmas lights. There is a fresh, deep layer of snow on the ground.

Colour, light, and shadow. St. James Park trees in the snow.

A snow covered path through a park. The tree trunks have been covered with Christmas lights. A couple of trees have blue lights, a couple of trees are covered with white lights, and some trees have multi-colored lights.

More lights…. a snow covered path through St. James park.

graffiti on garages

Posted: November 10, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: Alan Powell, alley, camille, city, colours, Darth Vader, David French, dogs, door, faces, fence, garages, graffiti, Harbord village, lanes, locomotive, paint, photographs, street art, Toronto, train, urban

Graffiti and street art on the garages

of David French Lane and Alan Powell Lane

David French Lane runs south from Barbara Barrett Lane (just south of Bloor St.), one block to Sussex Ave. If you cross Sussex Ave., the lane continues as Alan Powell Lane. Both lanes are lined with garages for the houses on Borden St. and Brunswick Ave., the streets that run parallel on either side of the lanes. Alan Powell Lane also runs behind Central Tech Collegiate.

There is an excellent interactive map of the lanes of Harbord village and the people for whom they were named at http://www.harbordvillage.com/laneways/lanewayinteractivemap.html

mural of a large blue and white locomotive that is painted to look like it is coming out of a brown brick building

A railway locomotive roars past the corner of Barbara Barrett Lane and David French Lane.

detail of a green and blue blob on a door. In the blob shape someone has written I love you Camille

Camille is loved.

.
.

.

.

A grey garage door with two pictures of Darth Vader's head, two Scottie dog heads, and a couple of other dogs

Darth Vader and the dogs

.

.

.

.

.

view of Alan Powell lane, looking north. a chain link fence runs along the left side of the lane. some old garages are on the right. One of the garages has words spray painted on it

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, in duplicate. Looking north up Alan Powell Lane.

A posr rabbit lurks in the corner, Alan Powell Lane

red umbrella day

Posted: November 4, 2013 in abstract, general Toronto
Tags: alley, autumn, brick, brighten, city, damp, fence, gate, homeless Jesus, humour, lane, leaves, purple wall, rainy, red umbrella, stone, Timothy Schmalz, Toronto, urban, wet, whatsoever, whatsoever you do, wood, yellow wall

umbrella, parapluie, paraguas

red, rouge, rojo,

Grey, damp days always need a touch of colour.

Yesterday, as I walked from Dupont subway station to Kensington I made use of my red umbrella. It kept me dry. It brightened up a few photos!

A red umbrella is open and sitting on the wet pavement beside a grey painted wall.

Every rainy day needs a splash of colour.

A red umbrella is wedged between two poles beside a purplish brown garage door in an alley

caught in the alley

A mural on a garage door shows a girl reaching out her hand. The umbrella is placed by her hand.

When this mural was first painted, there was a downspout for the eavestrough running down the side of the wall. Her hand was painted to look like it was reaching for, or holding onto, the downspout. Because that downspout is no longer there, I decided that she needed something else to hold on to.

A red umbrella is lying on a wet sidewalk beside a large puddle. There are lots of leaves on the sidewalk as well.

left in a puddle

‘Whatsoever you do’, a sculpture by Timothy Schmalz. It is also referred to as ‘Homeless Jesus’. This installation is outside of St. Stephen-in-the Fields church on College Street. It was installed on 14 September and was originally scheduled to remain there until 6 October. According to the description of the sculpture, it is a fiberglass cast of a silent, huddled panhandler. A person that people walk by and ignore. But if you look at the outstretched hand, you will see the stigmata (the wounds of Christ).
When we first placed the umbrella over her, we worried about the appropriateness of such an action but as I took the photo, a passerby commented on how people have been known to place cheeseburgers and other food in her hand.
The statue was stolen at the end of November. More information

A close up photo of the red umbrella's reflection on the roof of a black car. There are lots of rain drops on the roof as well.

car roof reflections

A red umbrella is beside a stone and brick wall that was once painted yellow. The yellow paint has started to wear off.

red and yellow

A white line drawing of a man with a top hat (upper body only) on a dark grey wall. On the ground beside the wall is a red umbrella

top hat, umbrella…. where are my dancing shoes?

A man is crouching beside a brick wall that has been painted purple and grey. He is holding a red umbrella over his head.

Toronto siesta

A red umbrella on the ground beside a gate made of weathered wood

something old, something new

The red umbrella is wedged between the top of a chainlink gate and a wood door.

The End

Special thanks to Sasha and David who played along and made the day even better!

Also to Michael for crouching against a purple wall!

Adelaide abstracted

Posted: October 13, 2013 in abstract, general Toronto
Tags: abstract, brick, city, door, fire hydrant, glass, grate, green wall, Hyatt hotel, metal, orange, orange wall, photos, pink wall, reflections, shadows, Toronto, urban, windows

Today was a beautiful, sunny and warm October day. The warmer than usual weather that we’ve been having continued today, the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. The nice thing about walking in downtown on a Saturday, especially the Saturday of a long weekend, is that there aren’t many people around. Nobody to give me strange looks as I take pictures of things that most people just walk past.

Today I walked Adelaide Street between Spadina and University and back again. I also took a detour along Pearl Street which runs parallel to Adelaide, but one street south.

a pinkish coloured wall with a yellow fire hydrant in front of it. There is also a door and some grey steps on the right side of the picture

fire hydrant in the middle

blue sky and a yellow brick bulding are reflected in the many windows of a hotel

reflections in the windows of the Hyatt Hotel

in the washroom, Ravi Soup restaurant. If you have never eated here, the food is fabulous, the restaurant smells wonderful and the staff are very friendly.

in the washroom, Ravi Soup restaurant, 322 Adelaide West. If you have never eaten here, the food is fabulous, the restaurant smells wonderful and the staff are very friendly. I highly recommend it.