Posts Tagged ‘crane’

from Korean to Italian

Posted: December 1, 2019 in alleys, construction, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings, public art, stores
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I like the camera part but I’m willing to prove the “no fun” part wrong.  The other day I went meandering with a friend.  We started near Christie station (at a coffee shop of course) with no particular destination in mind.  Generally south was the consensus… and with a pinch of playfulness (forget that no fun nonsense!) and a dash of distraction that’s more or less what we did.

sticker on a yellow pole, camera with legs and arms, also a sticker below it that says no fun

below: As you may know, Bloor Street east of Christie is Koreatown with lots of Korean restauants and tea shops.

below: … including cheese tea.  This seems to be a new trend, or at least new to me!  Apparently it is black or green tea with a foamy topping made from cream cheese, sugar, and whipping cream (or variations thereof).  Next time I may indulge.

below: “Imagine your Korea” mural on the side of P.A.T. Central, a large Korean store.

below: A fire breathing dragon and many scared people trying to run away. It’s a pity about the garbage though.

large mural on the side of abuilding, a large green dragon is breathing fire and scaring people out of their homes and stores and into the streets,

below: By Bathurst street the Korean restaurants have disappeared.  Once upon a time (it seems so long ago!) Honest Ed’s dominated the SW corner of Bloor and Bathurst.  Now there is just hole there, and a very big hole at that.

below: This picture is just a small part of “Utopic Isles, Neon Nights, a Flowery Future”, which consists of three panels of images by grade 11 and 12 visual arts students from Central Tech high school.  They are part of the hoardings around the construction site here.

picture on construction hoardings on Bloor St near Bathurst, an owl in a tree, a cat sitting below the tree, trees are weird shapes

below: Another section of hoardings feature collages of old pictures of Honest Eds – a project by Jessica Thalmann called “To Dwell is to Leave Traces”

hoardings on Bloor Street near Bathurst, a series of collages featuring old pictures of Honest Eds and the area, in many colours, by Jessica Thalmann

below: To try gluing pictures on hoardings is also to leave traces!  Its’ another “no fun” find.   All rather cool until you learn that no fun is a branding thingy.  Stickers as promos for businesses are now very common, posters like this on, not so much.

two posters that were glued to construction hoardings but that have been largely torn off

below: Construction makes room for the two buildings on Bathurst that refused to sell to the developers.  You can still see the ghost sign on one of the buildings – baby carriages repaired

below: Looking west from Bathurst Street across the big hole to the backs of the houses on Markham Street that are empty and boarded up.  Some of them will be retained in the new development.

below: A concrete lovebot hides in the corner.  He’s missing an arm and has three bricks instead of a leg.

an old concrete lovebot with an arm and a leg missing. on two bricks instead of the leg, in a pile of leaves, beside a rust coloured wall

below: Near lovebot is another ghost sign – Coca Cola, sold everywhere (Bathurst Street)

large ghost sign on a brick wall, coca cola sold everywhere, Bathurst Street

below: This frog has four points on his crown and lips made of plaster.   Looks like he’s found a home on top of the garbage pin.

below: ‘Keep hustlin!”  Don’t linger and watch out for cars.  I was going to make some comment about Toronto becoming increasingly dangerous for pedestrians but I decided that I needed some documentation to back me up.  I learned the acronym KSI (killed or seriously injured).  Toronto has the research on the KSI stats for 2005-2018 as part of their Vision Zero plan and the results are “mixed”, i.e. the trend isn’t upwards.  In fact, I don’t think there is a trend of any sort.

below: [Can we stand two social issues in a row?  LOL.]  What I didn’t realize was there was a “worldwide “Nobody Pays” call to action on November 29 for fare evasions” (source).  Chile in the poster is a reference to Chilean high school students protesting transit fare increases with a series of mass evasions starting on the 7th of October.    I don’t recommend burning your Presto card just yet.

below: The very small print at the bottom of the poster gives references to two documents (from 2012 and 2014) that outline the funding of the TTC and where the money comes from.

below: Well it is December after all…..

Christmas decorations in a store window, little tree ornaments of Santa, one with him holding onto a little parachute and one with him on a bike

below: Well it is December after all…..

a sticker of a black faceless man in grey suit, black tie, and black gloves, with arms raised with two hands in peace symbol, words that say destruction, despair, death

blue outline simple drawing of a persons head and shoulders

looking down a path between houses, green chainlink fence with sagging wood fence immediately behind it

below: Conversation on a garage door.

a garage door with the words, are you happy?

a car parked in a backyard of a house that has been gutted and is now being rebuilt

empty backyard of an older two storey building, with brick buildings on either side of it, seen from the laneway

an old car is parked under a tree and beside a house with graffiti on it

below: Sometimes Mother Nature endures.  There was no stopping this tree and it seems to have thrived even with the metal of the fence embedded in it.

a tree has grown up around a chainlink fence so the fence is embedded in the tree

below: The omnipotent metal fence strikes again.  This time flamingos in love and an Al Runt mural are in danger.

chain link construction fence in front of a mural of dancing pink flamingoes

below: Continuation of the mural by Al Runt around the corner of the building

part of a mural by al runt on a wall and on a metal fence

below: This mural has suffered a different fate, that of the creeping billboard posters.  As much fun as “procaffeinating” is fun to read about, I’ve seen more than enough of them around the city.  I’m not sure that it was someone’s sense of humour that resulted in Holt Renfrew posters being displayed beside those for  Pathways to Education that play on poverty and lack of education.

poster put up on a wall covering a mural that was there

below: But….  [one day I will do a post where only the words in the photos do the talking.  There are some great stories out there]

below: I especially like this one, Just Keep Going.

below: A white horse in an alley

splotch of white spray paint on a rusty part of a garage in a laneway looks a bit like a horse

below: As well as two little astronauts.

green garage door with a white square, on the square are two black stencils of an astronaut

below: Blood and bandages barber shop. Wonderful name!

blood and bandages barber shop from the outside, lights in window, bike parked outside

When you walk across College Street in this area you can’t help but notice that you’re in Little Italy.

below: As we walked westward along College Street, we saw three of these blue areas painted on the NW corners (of Roxton, Ossington & Dovercourt)

part of a lower storey of a building, as well as part of the sidewalk directly in front of it, are painted bright light blue

These are the Blue Room, by Stanislav Jurkovic and they were supported by the College Promenade BIA.   From the website: “Similar to a 3 dimensional ‘green screen’ in film production, the space becomes stage and canvas.”  It has also won a Toronto Urban Design Award.   Some photos that people have taken of these spaces can be seen on instagram by searching on #blueroomcollege (although the same photos are fed to the Blue Room website that I linked to in the first sentence).

two people waiting in a TTC bus shelter, part of a lower storey of a building, as well as part of the sidewlk directly in front ot it, are painted bright light blue

below:  In the entrance way to a store that sells a lot of things including DVD’s in Little Italy.  The 4 moschettieri – the 4 muskateers! A film from 1962 with Georges Riviere as d’Artagnan (the wonder of Google!).  At the bottom of the photo is the name Salvatore Samperi; I am not sure which film it is for but Samperi  (1943-2009) was an Italian film director & writer.   I find it intriguing that these old posters are still on this wall, torn and discoloured as they are.

wall in a doorway with old posters for Italian movies, some on top of others

below: Same store.  Italian movies on DVD’s for sale.  ‘Maruzzella’ (in English, ‘The Mermaid of Naples’) came out in 1956.  If you are an aficionado of old Italian movies, be quick, as I think this store is having a going out of business sale.

old Italian movies on DVD for sale in a store window

I’ll leave you with an image that I found online, a full copy of the poster that is partially covered up above – for the R rated film Malicious/Malizia in 1973. (photo source)  That’s 40+ years ago.  You see, when you start wandering you start finding all kinds of strange and fascinating things – no fun? indeed not.

copy of an old film poster for the Italian film malizia from the 1970s

 

downtown Saturday

Posted: June 3, 2019 in events, people
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This blog post wanders from Burger Mania at Yonge Dundas Square to the Riverside Eats & Beats StreetFEST and onward to the Riverdale Art Walk  out Queen Street East, with a few distractions along the way.

thre people sitting at different tables in a coffee shop

a man with glasses and hair that is shaved on one side of his head is offering another man a rice krispie square, he is holding it to the man's mouth

a woman in long overcoat and hat is talking to and gesturing, with a woman in a white head scarf and top

a man selling rice krispie squares and other desserts, outdoors, Yonge Dundas Square, from E and R Sweetery

under a red tent roof, people preparing food

a woman in a red shirt and sunglasses walking with her son who is also wearing sunglasses, south asian ethnicity

under a tent roof, a man is cooking burgers

a large inflatable pool floatie in the shape of a pink flamingo sits on the ground at Yonge Dundas Square, in front of a bar selling drinks

a young Asian woman is taking a picture of a small burger with her phone

family group - mother and father laughing, baby in stroller, Asian, at Yonge dundas square

people sitting on a bench by large red flower pot in Dundas Square. Man at end, balding with grey hair, is reading a newspaper, two people are eating

a woman sits at a high table with three small burgers on it, two dogs are beside her on the ground but looking up

a young man is being grabbed and held on to by two security guards and they are removing him from Yonge Dundas square

a topless man with a bag on his back skate boards at Dundas Square

a woman is laughing as she talks on her phone and walks up Yonge Street

a couple walking together on Yonge, passing the Stag Shop. He is wearing pink pants and a white jacket. Both have white hair.

below: Yonge Street was closed to traffic between Queen and Dundas Streets because a large crane was parked there temporarily while heavy objects were lifted onto the roof of the Eaton Centre.

a large crane is on a truck in the middle of Yonge street, downtown, with tall buildings on both sides including the Eaton Centre under renovation on the right

three workmen in orange safety clothing use a crane to lift heavy objects off a flatbed truck

a police man in a bright yellow jacket stands in front an orange cone and yellow police tape to block off Yonge Street. He's directing traffic, to make cars turn on Queen street. A woman with orange hair is walking across the street , just went in front of the police man

a man in a kiss t-shirt is talking, a black man is waiting for a streetcar behind him, streetcar is just arriving.

reflection in the glass of a door and window of a Burger King restaurant, of a woman witting on the sidewalk pan handling

a couple holds each other on the street

Riverside Eats and Beats

a man playing a fiddle, smiling, wearing a blue cap and a blue plaid shirt

below: Soundcrowd was practicing for their performance at The Opera House that evening.

a choir onstage with a man with microphone standing in front of them

in a store window, two mannequins with no heads waering gold close fitting dresses, in front of window is a rack of clothes on the sidewalk, with two women looking

a group of women talking, outside

 

Riverdale Art Walk at Jimmy Simpson Park.

a large bed of pink and white tulips in front of a white tent (roof only) with paintings on the side that are for sale, Riverside Art Fest

a woman holds a small white dog while she talks to a man, in front of a white tent with artwork on the walls for sale. Two women inside the tent are looking at the dog and smiling

two paintings on easels outside a white tent. One is an airplane at an airport and one is a barn in snow

a framed portrait of a woman on a metal grid, people standing behind it including a man with a white shirt with bright red and black blotches

large images (photosgraphs) in red, black and yellow, for sale

small artwork hanging on a white tent wall, light is coming from behind so they are silhouetted

a boy in a fedora sits cross legged on a high stool while looking at a phone. He is in a tent with artwork on the wall that is for sale

at an art show, an art piece made of metal, images on metal

crosstown west

Posted: April 4, 2019 in construction
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The Eglinton Crosstown LRT will be 19 km long once it’s finished in 2021.  The other day I posted some pictures of the construction between Yonge & Victoria Park on the eastern section.  This post covers the stretch from the Allen Expressway to Weston Road where the tracks end in the west.

below: A new way to ride. For a city on the move. Cringe worthy design.

pink billboard seen between pine trees, raised high, words on it that say A new way to ride. For a city on the move. Eglinton Crosstown arrives 2021.

below: Approaching the south end of the Allen Expressway as well as Eglinton West subway station from the east.  Eglinton West station, on the Yonge University line, is low building with a flat concrete roofline.  You can hardly see it in the photo, but it’s there.  The interior of the present station is heavy on the concrete, a legacy from the 1970’s.  As to whether or not this will be renovated, I don’t know.

workman with a slow sign upside down, on a construction site in the middle of a street, crosstown eglinton lrt

below: No room for the sidewalk so it diverts through Ben Nobleton park.

a sidewalk ends at a fence arond a construction site and pedestrians are diverted through a park to the left, signs on the fence directing traffic

below: Working under Eglinton Avenue in front of Eglinton West station.  Once the Crosstown in open, this will become Cedarvale station.

construction site, excavation and building under a road

sidewalk, many orange construction signs cluttering the sidewalk, bus stop, traffic on the street,

below: The big green crane at Oakwood station

large green overhead crane on steel runners, hanging over a construction site

below: Beside Oakwood station with all the “Open for Business” signs.  Businesses in the area are struggling.

crosswalk leading to buildings, stores beside the construction of Oakwood LRT station, concrete barriers and fence in front of most of them, Manafa Law office and Asian massage therapy centre, signs saying open for business, Eglinton Avenue West, crosstown construction

wire mesh fence in front of open pit excavation of underground LRT, steel cross beams and wood supports,

open pit excavation of underground LRT, steel cross beams and wood supports,

a workman in hard hat and yellow jacket stands on a pile of steel rods on the back of a flat bed truck with a crane lowering a steel beam into the ground in front of him

below: At Dufferin, looking north towards Central Seventh Day Adventist Church.  Fairbanks station will be at this intersection.

blue fences between sidewalk and rad at Eglinton and Dufferin, construction, church in the background,

below: Also at Dufferin, this time looking south towards St. Hilda’s towers.

red brick apartment buildings with crosstown LRT construction in front of them.

below: Photobombed!

a workman in a hard hat and carrying yellow packages walks in front of the camera on a construction site

stop sign in front of a construction site on Eglinton Ave

below: Construction of Caledonia station in front of Westside mall.  Because this station is adjacent to the Barrie corridor (GO train), plans are in the works to build a GO station here too.

three apartment buildings in the background, construction in foreground, in front of a grocery store, snow on the ground, green fence around the construction

below: A mural showing the evolution of TTC streetcars, painted by Jim Bravo in 2017, with supported from Fairbanks Village BIA, Josh Colle (city councillor), the City of Toronto., and Sherwin Williams paint.

mural of the evolution of TTC streetcars and LRT vehicles, painted by Jim Bravo in 2017, stylized but realistic looking

below: Construction in front of York Memorial Collegiate (at Keele).

Eglinton Crosstown LRT construction at Keele, in front of

below: looking east along Eglinton from Keele.

street scene, traffic and stores, construction in the middle of the street, Eglinton Avenue looking wast from Keele street

two workmen in hard hats and orange work vest look at paperwork on a construction site.

below: Working on the westernmost section of the LRT after it emerges from underground between Keele Street  and Black Creek Drive.   As you can see, the tracks are elevated and cross over Black Creek before entering the terminal station at Weston Road (Mount Dennis station).

work on the west end of the corsstown lrt, after the tracks emerge from underground, raised track for a section before final station

crane lifting wood panel from bridge, used as a form for making concrete, workmen watching,

below: The western end of the line.   The bridge is new.  I am a bit annoyed because I didn’t pursue it – I don’t know where the road goes!  It has to go somewhere because I saw at least two vehicles on it.  A quick search on google maps plus a guess equals maybe it’s an extension of Photography Drive (named that because it’s where the old Kodak factory was).

new building under construction, older white large building behind it. road in foregraound, Mt Dennis LRT station under construction

below: There is pedestrian access to the bridge, or rather, there will be access.

new concrete steps, still fenced off, up a hill with a light covering of snow to a new bridge

Then Eglinton Avenue passes under the railway tracks (the same line that the Union Pearson Express runs on) and into Mount Dennis.

construction beside a bridge, underpass is a street

below: Construction of another access to Mt Dennis station to the west of the railway tracks.

construction of Mt Dennis LRT station beside Eglinton ave and beside railway tracks

back of houses behind construction of mount dennis LRT station

below: The EMSF aka the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility is almost finished.  It’s the long low grey building in the photo; it is about the size of 4 football fields.  Access is from a side street to the north of Eglinton.  This isn’t the best photo of it.  If you are interested, there is a better photo online (a ‘Toronto Now’ article) that is taken from an angle that I can’t access.   The same article describes how the Mt Dennis station will be the second largest transit hub in the city (after Union Station) as it will service GO trains, the TTC, and the Union Pearson Express.

green construction fence in front of a long low building in two shades of grey

below: mural by Adrian Hayles at the northeastern corner of Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue.

Mount Dennis Metrolinx mural by Adrian Hayles, people, a boy fishing, a person playing hockey, machinery, a turtle,

a day of action and morning light

Posted: March 29, 2019 in events, locations, old buildings, transportation
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The other day I heard rumours of a subway protest – i.e. a protest over the potential uploading of the responsibility for the TTC from the city to the province.   On the 27th of March there was a “day of action” at 40 subway stations during the morning rush, starting at 7:30 a.m.

below: Walking toward Eglinton subway station with the sun shining from behind me. Golden glass.

condo development, crane, single houses in the foreground, near Yonge & Eglinton

I couldn’t find anyone at Eglinton station (was I too early?) but there were 4 people handing out leaflets inside Bloor station.  I also saw this guy with an OPSEU flag by Wellesley station.

a man holds an OPSEU (a union) flag outside Wellesleysubway station as he stands with a woman while someone is taking their picture.

So much for the idea of a blog post about this day of action.  But it was a beautiful morning so I enjoyed the walk down Yonge street.  I don’t often walk here that early and I was surprised how quiet it was.  The light was also interesting.

Yonge Street

below: A mix of old and new architecture, looking south towards the old St. Charles tavern clock tower that is being incorporated into a new development.

looking south on Yonge street on a sunny morning, sun is shining on the St. Charles tavern clock tower, tall buildings behind it

below: Near Yonge & Bloor.  Preservation of an old building… and very big crane.

old brick three storey building stands alone by a construction site as new development goes on around it. large crane in the background

two fire trucks parked on a street of high rise and midsized apartment buildings

below: Looking north from Dundas under a watchful eye.

people cross Yonge street on the north side of Dundas, a big picture of an eye is on a billboard looking down over the street

looking up at relief sculpture and column on an old building that says erected 1905, a new condo tower is behind it

reflections in the large window of a building, people, bikes, and old city hall

below: Looking north from Queen Street.  The Eaton Centre is on the left in the foreground.  Play the game of ‘name that building’ or ‘I remember when’.

looking up (north) on Yonge street,

a blurry streetcar as it stops at a stop where two people are waiting

people crossing the street in front of a streetcar that is waiting for a red light. At thewest side of intersection of Queen and University

people waiting for a streetcar on Queen at Bay, standing outside a TD bank that has a video screen with a very large woman on it.

below: This was the largest group of “protesters” that I saw.  It was more of an information session than a protest, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

people handing out leaflets and brochures at Osgoode station, on the sidewalk outside the station exit. University Ave

below: People headed to work as I started home.

inside Osgoode subway station, at platform level, one subway is just closing its doors getting ready to leave, people are headed up the stairs.

 

Toronto, in two images

Posted: February 16, 2019 in general Toronto
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I was standing at the corner of King and Spadina waiting for the red light to turn green.  I looked up and saw the CN tower partnered with a crane and enmeshed in streetcar wires.  A bit cynical maybe, but that combination of images struck me as a good representation of what Toronto is at the moment.  There are even a few new buildings in the background.

CN tower, blue sky with some clouds, a construction crane and lots of streetcar wires. There are some glass condo buildings in the background. Street sign that says King St., traffic lights

Minutes later, I was walking up Spadina when I came across this mural.  It is on the side of the Strange Love Coffee shop – perhaps that’s why it says “We don’t take naps”. It was designed and painted by Ben Johnston and Dirty Bandits (aka Annica Lydenberg)

mural in shades of pink and purple that spell the word toronto, superimposed on it are pale grey letters that say we don't take npas, on the side of a grey building,

All we need now is a blue and white “Notice of Development” sign.

it’s become a game

Posted: September 10, 2015 in landmarks
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And the point of the game is this:

blog_CN_Tower_arrow

How many views of the CN Tower do you think there are?
I suspect the answer is something like “bazillions” but I am willing to try to see how many I can find.

below: From far away. Looking eastward across Lake Ontario from Humber Bay park.

looking across a hazy Lake Ontario to the TOronto skyline

Some of these views you have probably seen before…  and perhaps many times before.
But, I  hope that some of these views are new to you.

below: Zipline at Canada Square, part of EpicIsOn event

blog_CN_Tower_zipline

below: From the east, across Sherbourne Common, late afternoon

Sherbourne Common looking towards downtown and the CN tower. Splash pad with fountains in the foreground with late afternoon sun shining on the water

below:  And from the west

blog_cn_tower_night

  below: Behind a busy intersection, King and Spadina

the intersection of King and Spadina in Toronto with a wide angle lens. People are crossing the street, there is a streetcar and lots of streetcar wires. THe LCBO and Winners are in the background as well as the CN Tower
The CN tower between two skyscrapers

blog_CN_Tower_rigging

below: behind Queen St. West

Looking towards shops on Queen Street West with the CN Tower behind.

Musicians play on the rood of the Fairland grocery store in Kensington. The CN Tower is a bit hazy but it is visible in the background.

below: The CN Tower peaks out from between the pencil supports at OCAD

Looking through the pencil like supports to the black and white upper lever addition to OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design). The CN TOwer and other tall toronto buildings are in the background.

This post is a continuation of another CN Tower post, Always in the way, from last year.