clandestinos | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘clandestinos’

around Wilson station

Posted: March 4, 2025 in construction, locations, public art, transportation
Tags: art, clandestinos, concrete, condos, development, Downsview airport, fourplexes, graffiti, houses, kiss n ride, murals, parking, redevelopment, Shalak Attack, street art, subway, Ted Bieler, tiles, TTC, Wilson Heights, Wilson station

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.

vintage photo taken from low flying airplane of bishop-barker airplane limited,

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

Clandestinos in a hidden corner

Posted: April 5, 2022 in graffiti and street art
Tags: baltimore oriole, blackberries, blueberries, Bruno Smoky, butterfly, cherry blossoms, clandestinos, raspberries, Shalak Attack

…. of downtown Toronto.

Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky have painted another large colourful mural. This one features two women, a baltimore oriole, and many fruits and flowers.

below: Close up of the bird, a baltimore oriole

below: Adorned with leaves, flowers, and fruit – blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Lots of cherry blossoms and another bird too.

south of Davenport

Posted: January 5, 2022 in alleys, graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alleys, Anya Mielniczek, Art Academy of Canada, baby birds, bacon, bellefleurhaus, birdo, Bruno Smoky, chairs, Chris Perez, Claire Browne, clandestinos, Dani Coghlan, Diana Lynn VanderMeulen, dumpster fire, Elicser Elliott, emily may rose, Erika James, garages, HeldbyHuda, Huda, Jieun June Kim, June Kim, laneways, laundry, luvs, muisca, murals, Nick Sweetman, octopus, Phillip Saunders, Planta Muisca, raccoons, Raoul, Rob Elliott, rowdyradrat, signs, speed, steam, stephanie bellefleur, street art, Tara Dorey, Tebby G, thank you, tiger, tomato, Victoria Day, white rat

Sometimes I find myself in unfamiliar territory and so it was last week when I went to investigate some alleys where I’d heard that new murals had been painted. My previous post, Around Wadsworth Park, was part of the same walk; there was just so much to see that I split my photos into two groups. In general, the last post was north of Davenport Avenue while this post features Davenport and the streets & alleys to the south.

below: More raccoons by Emily May Rose, this time they are being watched over by a big white rat. Quite the dumpster fire!

below: A large mural by Birdo beside Charles Sauriol school

below: A man reaching out a multicoloured hand to a woman by Phillip Saunders covers the back part of the house

below: A brown octopus and bright coloured tiger playing together – a collaboration between Luvs and June Kim.

below: Baby birds with beaks uplifted in a mural by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos

below: Blue jay and tomato face, rowdyradrat and Chris Perez

below: Taking cover under umbrellas on a rainy day in a mural by Elicser Elliott

below: Someone has extra time lying around, but without the coffee

below: Mural in a lane, signature says June, Bacon, and Erika.

below: Part of another June Kim feline

below: A man walks down the alley, between a mural on the right and Quick Recording Studios on the left.

below: In the window of the Art Academy of Canada, Davenport Ave.

below: A.J.’s So Fresh Coin Laundry, also on Davenport

below: A multi-lingual thank you to essential workers on Davenport – obrigado, gracias, merci, and grazie!

below: Boney Santa’s lost a lot of weight recently… he’s probably tired of all the weight gain jokes and comments though…..

below: More Emily May Roses’s mischievous raccoons and their cans of spray paint.

below: Anya Mielniczek’s woman’s face looks down the lane.

below: A closer look of the mural reveals another woman’s head on the far side along with people mixing together in the central portion painted by Raoul

below: HeldbyHuda mural

below: Patterns of circles and semi-circles on a gate by Stephanie Bellefleur

below: Another gate, but half of this one has been removed.

below: A Nick Sweetman painting of a large Cuckoo wasp feeding on a yellow flower

below: by Victoria Day

below: Sections of citrus fruit in glass bowls, by Steam

below: A pink and purple butterfly by Dani Coghlan

below: A floral wallpaper-like design by Tara Dorey

below: A collaboration between Diana Lynn VanderMeulen and Tebby G.

below: Pink flowers by Claire Browne

below: Self explanatory?

below: Planta Muisca mural with an orange snake under a purple night sky.

below: Birds wearing neckties and hanging out together in a mural by Rob Elliott

below: Sometimes while walking in this city during Covid and various lockdowns, even this might do!

below: Remains of a vegetable garden planted along the side of the alley. Portugal peppers once grew here.

below: Stop and smell the flowers

Support for the alley murals was provided by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Unfortunately, I have missed a few of the paintings. A complete set of photos can be found on Erika James’s Instagram page. She was one of the organizers of the project.

Some of the murals from this post can also be seen on by worldwide street art blog, Carleton Village murals Toronto 2021

Riders at New Moon Variety

Posted: September 14, 2017 in graffiti and street art
Tags: bee, bike, blue birds, Bruno Smoky, clandestinos, cyclist, door window, fox, garage door, Harbord St., mural, new moon variety, shalak, Shalak Attack, smoky, street art

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.

almost clandestine Clandestinos

Posted: June 21, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, alligator, animals, ape, bird, Bruno Smoky, clandestinos, creek, crocodile, driveway, Dundas West, feathers, graffiti, lane, leaves, nature, shalak, Shalak Attack, smoky, street art, turtle

On Dundas West, just west of Dufferin, there are two lanes with large murals by clandestinos.

One is the alley to the west of the Lulu Lounge where both sides are covered with fantastic paintings by fiya, shalak, and bruno smoky as well as a few others. I blogged about it just over two years ago and here is the link to the original post, “life as the shadow of vida“. Earlier this week I took another look at it – it’s still looking great and there have been no changes so I didn’t take any photos.

The other alley is nearby but on the north side of Dundas Street. Actually, it’s hardly an alley, more like a driveway which made taking pictures of the whole mural difficult. Also, if you are traveling eastbound on Dundas, you’d miss it. Here are the pictures that I managed to take:

Peperonata Lane

Posted: December 6, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: 2013, alley, bird, building, clandestinos, colours, construction, deer, Elicser, faces, fiya, Galle, garage, garage doors, hawk, houses, lane, Little Italy, miles, Montrose, paintings, people, Peperonata Lane, poise, poser, renovations, shalak, smoky, squares, street art, tags, wallnoize

Peperonata Lane runs north from Harbord Street. Most of the garage doors in the alley have been painted. Some were painted as part of a Wallnoize project in 2013.

below: Take a seat… and see what kind of street art there is here.

below: A woman feeds the chickens.

below: This mural, done in 2009, is one of the older ones in the lane.

below: A deer and a hawk

below: Elicser people and a text painting by poise.

below: Split face on a fence, by fiya

below: A poser bunny

below: Multicoloured grumpy cat by shalak and clandestinos.

below: Wrinkled man with fish in hand, by smoky

below: A garage door painted by miles.

From City of Toronto documentation on the naming of Peperonata Lane, November 2012:

“The residents whose properties border on the lane have provided the following background information on the proposed name:”

” …throughout each year, the Galle family, who’ve lived at 441Montrose (the east side) since 1972, includes many Montrose residents in their annual celebration of making the “sugo” or tomato sauce, the roasted peppers and peperonata party, and the spirited soppressata contest, which they bring from their home country of Italy. Everyone learns the old world techniques and celebrates their new life in our Canadian context.

To commemorate how our lives have been enriched by the Galles welcoming and generous spirits, and in keeping with the traditions they’ve taught us and that we’ve now made our own, we propose the lane be named “Peperonata Lane” as a way of celebrating their unsung contribution to our neighbourhood”.

seawalls and serpents

Posted: July 11, 2016 in graffiti and street art
Tags: birdo, boat, Bruno Smoky, cage, clandestinos, colours, containers, environment, fish, fishing, Great Lakes, hook, marine, mural, Ossington, pollution, Queen West, Rebecca St., seawalls, serpent, swimming, swiss army knife, turquoise, water

This blog post is a continuation of the ‘love letters in paint’ post. I decided to give two of the larger murals a separate post.

First, there is an awesome mural painted by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos that stretches across the back of a building on Rebecca Street (one block north of Queen St. West). It too is part of the Love Letters to the Great Lakes project.

And second, in an alley just east of Ossington, is a mural painted on bright turquoise that is hard to miss! Actually it is a series of murals that covers the back of more than one building. It is another birdo collaboration, this time with Christopher Konecki.