development | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘development’

from Korean to Italian

Posted: December 1, 2019 in alleys, construction, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings, public art, stores
Tags: Al Runt, alley, astronauts, blood and bandages barber shop, cat, Central tech, cheese tea, construction, crane, development, dragon, fence, garage door, garages, graffiti, hoardings, hole, Honest Eds, houses, Italian movies, Jessica Thalmann, Koreatown, lane, lovebot, Markham St., mural, murals, no fun, owl, posters, redevelopment, signs, Stanislav Jurkovic, stencil, stickers, the blue room, words, workers

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.

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.

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.

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”

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.

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.

below: Near lovebot is another ghost sign – 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…..

below: Conversation on a garage door.

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.

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

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

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.

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

below: As well as two little astronauts.

below: Blood and bandages barber shop. Wonderful name!

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)

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).

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.

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.

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.

(mostly) queen east and shuter in november

Posted: November 6, 2019 in construction, landmarks, locations, old buildings
Tags: Amedae Spice Market, brick, bus shelter, Church St., construction, cube house, development, fire, houses, magician, mural, Queen Street East, Shuter St., St. Michaels Cathedral, stores, variety store, windows

November came in with a gust of grey and dampness. So when the sun breaks through for a while it’s time to grab a coat and a camera and get walking even if it wasn’t you planned to do that day.

below: The cube house at the bottom of Sumach Street is still with us. It was for sale early in 2017. At that time, March 2017, BlogTO published an article about this building that starts with this description: “Based on Dutch architect Piet Blom’s complex of Cubic Houses in Rotterdam, the UniTri structure dates back to 1996”. It was sold in May 2018 for almost three million dollars.

below: No idea is original. Seen under Richmond/Adelaide Streets.

below: This guy holding his hands in front of him and wearing a red wizard cap still adorns the corner of the Magic Building on Sumach. He’s just one of a number of wizards you’ll find there.

below: This was the scene of a large fire back in April 2018. Three buildings were damaged with the one in the middle being beyond repair. It is now gone. It’s been a long, slow recovery.

below: Another building gone. This one by choice.

below: Colourful porch details.

below: A photo to document this part of Queen Street East because whether it’s in 2 years or 20, there will be changes.

below: A row of old brick houses at 79 through 85 Shuter Street where a fire has recently destroyed some of the the upper levels and roofs.

below: The buildings are empty and boarded up. This is the southeast corner of Shuter & Mutual.

below: There is a development proposal notice on the buildings. The proposed plan saves the old houses and shows a tall glass building built behind and above them.

below: That’s a big drill!

below: Shuter Street at Church.

below: Looking north on Church Street towards the new buildings that are part of Ryerson University’s expansion.

below: Steeple, St. Michaels Cathedral

below: Looking west on Dundas towards Victoria Street and Yonge Dundas Square. The cylinder structure is part of the CityTV building. The outer layer is wire mesh.

East Bayside

Posted: May 17, 2019 in construction, old buildings, waterfront
Tags: chairs, condos, construction, development, film, lights, LRT, offices, pink umbrellas, sand, sugar beach

The other evening I was going to try some evening photography along the waterfront starting around Sugar Beach. As I walked down Lower Jarvis, this view caught my attention – looking west along Lakeshore Blvd. It’s a view that has been changing very rapidly. I counted at least seven cranes as I stood there waiting for some of the traffic to clear.

below: Sugar Beach. Unfortunately a film crew was already here so I didn’t stick around.

below: One of the buildings to the east of Sugar Beach is a new George Brown College building.

below: Film crew trucks ready to be loaded back up

The strip of green that you see on the right side of the above photo is part of Sherbourne Common (at the foot of Lower Sherbourne Street). From here east to Parliament is now being developed as East Bayside and is a continuation of the now completed development from Jarvis (Sugar Beach) to Sherbourne. East Bayside is bounded by Queens Quay and Lake Ontario as well as Sherbourne and Parliament. 1800 residences are planned in this space.

below: Some of the condos are under construction. Same old same old; yawn. They may look a little more interesting from a distance, but at street level they are hopelessly banal. If you want to buy a condo here, there are only a few left in the two buildings known as Aqualina and Aquabella. In the latter, only 3 are available, starting at a two bedroom suite for 2.8 million. Five million dollars will get you a three bedroom penthouse with two terraces but if you want to pay an additional 1 1/2 million you get 4,000 square feet on two floors (3 bedrooms and 2 terraces as well).

below: At least the “linear park” and waterfront path is being continued eastward along Lake Ontario.

below: Work is also underway on Queens Quay East. As a frame of reference, the tall building behind the billboard is in the Distillery District. Lakeshore Blvd and the Gardiner run behind the buildings with the blue trim.

What hasn’t yet been started is construction of two office buildings that will front on Queens Quay, called T3 Bayside. They are going to be made of wood which should be interesting.

There has been a lot of talk for the past 12 to 14 years about extending streetcar service along this route. So far a lot of planning and a lot of talk but that’s it. An LRT right of way running along the south side of the street has been approved but the East Bayfront LRT project, (aka Waterfront LRT) has stalled because of the usual political shenanigans and financial hiccups. A major part of the delay has been the question of how to link an East Bayfront LRT to Union station. The present tunnel is barely sufficient for the streetcars that use it now. Just recently (April 2019) the city released a report on how to address this issue. I haven’t read it all yet (it’s 40 pages long) but the gist of it is that the city is considering two options – 1. rebuilding the tunnel or 2. building an automated people moving system of some sort and leave all streetcars out of the tunnel.

below: There is a small trench down the center of the street.

Any ideas what’s being planned for the north side of Queens Quay?

below: Queens Quay turns towards Parliament Street. The blue building is a Sidewalk Labs information centre. The land that Sidewalk Labs wants to develop, Quayside, is close by – south of Lakeshore and east of Parliament. It also includes the little strip of land between Queens Quay and Lakeshore, i.e. that answers my question above about what happens on the north side of Queens Quay. There was some rumour (plan?) about Sidewalk Labs being involved in development of some of the Portlands but is that still on? As to what their plans are or where they are at now, I have no idea. That’s probably another blog post!

just a few transitions

Posted: April 12, 2019 in construction, locations
Tags: bungalow, demolition, development, dump truck, dust, empty, Finch Ave., houses, North York, redevelopment, residential, rubble, townhouse

Once again, it seems that no matter where in the city you go there will be construction. There will be the demolition of single family homes to make way for condos or at the minimum, blocks of rowhouses. The area around Yonge and Finch is no exception.

I am not sure if it serves any purpose, perhaps it’s futile, but I’d like to think that documenting what we are removing is worthwhile. The houses on Finch Avenue East like the one in this picture are small, but the lots on which they sit are large.

That means that a developer can demolish four houses and turn around and build 17 townhouses in the same space. That is what is happening near Finch and Willowdale.

Although the properties were not fenced off, all access to the houses themselves was blocked, sigh. It looked like a local garden centre was using the backyards of a couple of the houses.

below: View to a new development on the other side of Finch Avenue. This is the type of development that the area is now zoned for. A lot of these townhouses have been built in the last few years and I suspect that eventually they will replace all of the single family homes.

Between Willowdale Avenue and Yonge Street, there were a couple of other houses that are boarded up and empty. I am not sure what the plan is for them (there was no development proposal sign posted, instead there was a sign advertising the company that is providing the financing – for what?).

The internet can be a wonderful thing. In case you are interested, the development is the Ava Luxury Residence and it calls for heights and densities that are vastly over what is zoned for in the area. For example, at 9 storeys it is 37 metres tall in an area zoned for 11 metres. The plan was first filed in 2016 but because of the size of the development, it requires a zoning by-law amendment, official plan amendment, and site plan approval to effect the proposal – all which take time. An OMB appeal pre-hearing was scheduled to occur a few days ago, with a hearing slated for June. MM170085 is the OMB case number if you want to dive down that rabbit hole.

This is 50 Finch East. As you can see, there is a taller building on the other side of Kenneth Avenue. Kenneth was to be the dividing line – keeping the higher buildings, and denser development, closer to Yonge Street. I’m not sure what side of the development battle you’re on, but what’s the point of having a plan if the developers (with help from the OMB) keep disregarding it?

As I walked back to my car, I chose to walk on a side street instead of on Finch. As I turned a corner, I happened upon a house being demolished. Fortuitous. Serendipity.

It doesn’t take long to reduce a house to rubble and dust. “Another one bites the dust” springs to mind.

And so it goes.

crosstown to the east

Posted: March 31, 2019 in construction, intersections, locations, transportation
Tags: bridge, construction, Crosstown, development, dirt, Don Mills Road, Eglinton Ave., fence, Leslie St., LRT, pedestrian, plans, roads, sidewalk, street, traffic, workmen

Back before the winter snow had melted, I was at Yonge and Eglinton and noticed that the old bus bays at Eglinton station were gone. That structure had sat empty for a couple of years but now there is a big hole where they once stood. As I looked through the pictures that I took that day, I decided that it might be interesting to explore farther east to see what was happening with the Crosstown LRT construction that has messed up the traffic through midtown for so long now.

below: Southwest corner of Yonge & Eglinton.

below: There is still a lot of construction underway on Eglinton near Yonge.

below: A little father east and more holes in the ground. This is the intersection of Eglinton and Mt Pleasant taken from the SE corner looking towards the NW. At least the facade of the old Imperial Bank of Canada building on the NW corner was originally going to be used as the LRT station but have those plans changed? The building was demolished but apparently the facade was taken apart brick by brick and will be re-built later.

below: This is the plan for the Mt Pleasant station as seen on the Crosstown website.

below: Looking west from Mt. Pleasant.

below: Between Laird and Brentcliffe (east of Bayview). See those low rise brick apartment buildings? How long until they’re gone?

below: At Brentcliffe. The LRT is underground here and there is no station at this intersection. Laird, where there is a station, is only one block to the west.

below: From Brentcliffe, Eglinton goes downhill because of the Don River ravine system

below: Part way down the hill there is a section of concrete. At first I thought that this was where the LRT was going to come to the surface.

below: But then I wasn’t so sure. There is a concrete wall blocking what would be the exit. It’s difficult to get a closer look because there are two layers of fencing in the way. Nobody was working here. In addition, there is another section farther along that looks like the actual opening. Maybe this is part of the supporting infrastructure?

below: Still walking east along Eglinton…. Almost to the bottom of the hill at Leslie – looking east along Eglinton Avenue with E.T. Seton Park on the right and the railway bridge in the distance. Leslie Street, which ends at Eglinton, is on the very left side of the photo. There is talk that this intersection will be closed for two months this summer.

below: I turned around and took a picture of the hill that I had just come down. Here the LRT surfaces and the tracks run down the center of the road, with lanes of traffic on both sides of the tracks. I am fairly certain that you can see the entrance to the tunnel, the east portal, near the middle of this picture. From here to Kennedy station the tracks are above ground (except for a portion of the route at Don Mills).

below: The sidewalk on the south side ends at Leslie street. Here, I chatted with a policeman while we waited for the light to turn green. Once he did, he escorted me across Eglinton as we had to pass through part of the construction zone. This is where I also discovered that there are no bus stops between Brentcliffe and Don Mills Road. That’s only 2 km but it feels a lot longer!

below: A development proposal sign stands on the lawn of what used to be the Inn on the Park but what is now a Toyota dealership.

below: The station at Don Mills and Eglinton will be called “Science Center” and it will be under the intersection.

below: There will be a bus terminal on the northeast corner of Don Mills Road and Eglinton with underground access to the LRT station. This is what construction looks like on that corner at the moment.

Just east of Don Mills Road, the LRT surfaces again and remains above ground until Kennedy station. I took the bus from Don Mills Road to Victoria Park as there wasn’t as much to see in this stretch.

below: Looking east from Victoria Park Avenue.

Dovercourt – from Bloor south

Posted: September 16, 2018 in graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings
Tags: alley, bakery, condo, David Kaye Gallery, deer, development, door, Dr. Spock, Elicser, garage, garbage, Garrison Creek, graffiti, hearts, history, house, houses, lane, laneway, Leopold Foulem, Matt Gondek, mural, pictures, pizza pizza, Princess Leia, radar, red man, sculpture, stairs, street art, tree

This is another “come along with me as I walk” blog. Let me share some of the sights from Thursday’s walk which started at Ossington subway station and sort of followed Davenport south to Queen Street with a few diversions down alleys and side streets.

below: Ooops! Dead end alleys too. That’s one way to keep people out!

below: A starry man (star face?) watches 007 below. Street art in an alley.

below: More painting, this time Princess Leia and a strange red man with a latch in his ear.

below: If he’s aiming for the garbage bin, he’s missed.

below: ‘Always fresh bread!’ according to the mural on Nova Era bakery… but maybe you see the edge of the blue and white city of Toronto development notice sign peeking into the picture….

below: … because a 12 storey condo may be moving in. Retail is planned for the lower level but it may the same old same old glass and steel development with excessively high ceilings on the ground floor and zero street appeal. Please prove me wrong!

below: Across the street, is this empty storefront. Two intriguing blackboards remain – the one on the left says Thank You! and leaves you lines to fill in with things you are thankful for. On the right, a “Before I Die” board. What are you thankful for? What would you like to do before you die? The business once here didn’t die, they just moved around the corner to Bloor Street.

below: A bit of local ‘colour’ complete with ‘colourful’ language.

below: This building is on the northeast corner of Bloor and Dovercourt.

below: I haven’t been able to find out anything about Valentinos but I quite like the debonair rider with a rose between his teeth.

below: Vintage photo of the Bloor and Dovercourt intersection. No cars!

below: The red and white building in the postcard above is on the southeast corner of the intersection. It is now home to a Pizza Pizza. Most of it’s large windows have been covered over with large pictures. The streetcar tracks on Bloor are long gone and Davies butcher shop is now a Starbucks.

below: I walked past St. Michael Archangel Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church (on Delaware Ave) and a Portuguese Presbyterian Church (on Dovercourt). Then I came across the Centennial Methodist Church. It was built in 1906 and converted into residences in 2010.

historical plaque for centennial methodist church on dovercourt road

CENTENNIAL METHODIST CHURCH, 1906, This Neo-Gothic inspired church replaced an earlier Centennial Methodist Church built on this site in 1891. Notable design elements include decorative stone trim, three central Tudor-arch windows, and flanking square towers topped with pyramidal steeples. It was renamed Centennial United Church in , after the creation of the United Church of Canada. In 1986, the Nisei congregation of the Toronto Japanese Church joined Centennial United to form Centennial Japanese Church. A residential redevelopment was completed in 2010.

below: A little farther south on Dovercourt I passed this for sale sign. I stopped and took a photo of it because of the words in pink: “Laneway suite potential”. Of course I had to check the lane to see if anyone had built suites back there. Suites, according to the city of Toronto, are rooms built over garages and not stand alone residences.

below: It is a neat and tidy lane but so far with no suites

below: But I did see this mural there.

below: I also noticed that the backyards on both sides of the alley were very deep, wonderfully deep actually, especially for a city house. You could probably sever it in two quite easily.

below: In fact, something like that has happened a bit farther south where someone took one house, renovated it, and added three more residences with additional access from the alley behind. I notice that there are 4 water meters here as well as a gate that possibly provides access to the houses behind.

In case you’re curious, the four houses are all for sale. The house in front is a semi and the asking price is $2,400,000. For that you get 2992 square feet and 4 bedrooms. The others are slightly smaller and slightly less expensive.

below: A rare large vacant lot

below: Norbregas Variety and Grocery.

below: And nearby, a cafe with both Coca-Cola and Pepsi signs

below: The streets around Dovercourt are all very nice with lots of large solid old houses and tall trees – in this case, a chestnut tree.

below: I even spotted some wildlife!

below: Northeast corner of College & Dovercourt

below: Letters embedded in the sidewalk where one of the branches of the Garrison Creek passes underground, just south of College Street. The creek was buried more than a century ago. In the early days, the creek was treated more like an open sewer than a river. As the city developed, the stream was diverted into underground sewers (1880’s) and streets were built above it. By 1920, almost a century ago, the stream was entirely diverted into the sewer system.

below: The age of this car seemed to fit well with the buildings around it.

below: Some of Dr. Spock still remains. He hasn’t been beamed up yet.

below: Part of a mural by elicser in a lane behind Dundas West

below: Looking east along Dundas, from Dovercourt

below: A larger than life Pink Panther painted by Matt Gondek. This is on the northeast corner of Dundas and Dovercourt, close to Skey Lane where his other murals are (see recent blog post on Skey Lane)

below: She can still be found near Queen and Dovercourt (painted by Jarus)

Just before Queen Street West there is an art galley called the David Kaye Gallery.

below: It may be difficult to see, but this cup is displayed in a glass case mounted on the wall. The back part of the cube is a mirror. For $12,500 it can be yours (but my arm is not included!).

below: Both this piece, and the cup above, are part of “Camp Fires: The Queer Baroque of Léopold L. Foulem” and are on display until the 23rd of September.

I am going to end this blog post with a few pictures of some of the graffiti that I saw:

below: Red hearts on a yellow door.

below: No more need for parliaments

below: She’s a bit frayed at the edges and coming apart at the seams.

south after the 512

Posted: July 18, 2018 in alleys, history, old buildings, public art
Tags: altered sign, architecture, bathurst, Christian Giroux, condos, Daniel Young, Davenport Rd, development, doors, history, houses, park, residential, sculpture, stop sign, street, take a breath, tollkeeper house, tollkeeper's cottage museum, urban, Vaughan Rd, windows

There is no theme to this blog post. It’s just a description of some of the things that I saw as I walked down Bathurst Street the other day after taking the 512 streetcar to St. Clair West station. In a lot of ways its like other busy Toronto streets, some houses, a few corner stores, and an alley or two along the way. A little bit of architecture and a little bit of history round out the story.

At St. Clair West and Bathurst, the northeast corner remains vacant. About four or five years ago there was a gas station and car wash on this corner. St. Clair West subway station is just to the east, just beyond the trees on the right hand side.

below: I went looking for an old photo of this corner and this is what I found. It’s from 1924. If the streetcar’s destination is Caledonia, then it is going westward. In 1924, St. Clair was the northern edge of the city and very little development had occurred here. It is interesting to note that the streetcar tracks came first, then the development. In addition, I’d love to be able to read the sign about dogs but the resolution of the photo is not good enough. An ad? A sign saying no dogs allowed? Or something else?

below: Of course, no vacant lot remains that way for long. At the moment, three 30 storey towers joined with a 6 or 7 storey podium has been proposed for the site but it is still in the re-zoning and planning stages. The light brown building to the left is St. Michael’s College School (boys school).

below: New development on the southeast corner of this intersection is almost complete. People have moved into the units above while the finishing touches are put on the lower retail floors. Developments like this are all over the city. Developments that look great (maybe?) on paper but are lackluster and banal at street level.

below: As I walked south on Bathurst, this mural caught my eye.

mural in a laneway, painting of many trees with red and yellow sky, dark brown earth, and a few small black figures, some words beside it

Words written beside the mural:
“Long before concrete and steel
Punctuated the landscape
The land was pure and natural
This mural acknowledges and honors 13 trees and 21 medicinal plants that have thrived here since time immemorial.”

The mural was funded by Toronto’s Start program (street art) and Na’Ma’Res Sagatay, a residence for indigenous men that is nearby.

I will admit that the main reason that I was walking in this area is because I wanted to check out the new public artwork that I’ve read about at Bathurst and Vaughan. It is “Three Points Where Two Lines Meet” by Christian Giroux and Daniel Young and apparently there is some controversy about it.

below: For those who don’t know that intersection, it is V-shaped. This photo shows the approach to the intersection from the north, on Vaughan. I took this photo because my first reaction to the scene was “Ugly. Ugly is what Toronto does”. From this angle the sculpture gets lost in the visual noise.

Cities have rules and regulations for public art. It needs to be weatherproof and graffiti-proof. It can’t block the view of drivers and pedestrians. No sharp edges or structures that people might hurt themselves on – note the two black poles are to prevent people from hitting their heads.

From Giroux & Young’s website: “Taking its form from the orphaned triangular site on which it sits, this artwork produces a new urban room by combining a multicoloured truss structure, the triangular plot of wild grasses it encloses, and an encircling sidewalk thats acts as a podium and plinth. Located between the converging energies of uptown and downtown, the structure densifies an intersection already clotted with utilities and challenges established forms of urbanism and spatial representation in Toronto.” Think of that what you will. While you’re thinking, you can check the website for more photos and information.

below: An interesting (unique?) roofline on what turns out to be The Occult Shop. I made one mistake – I neglected to cross the street to go inside and find out just what one can buy here.

below: These people can still be seen in the space above the doorway at 1358 Bathurst.

Continuing south on Bathurst, as you go downhill towards Davenport Road, there is a retaining wall beside the sidewalk on the west side. This wall was painted back in October 2013. The city paid $23,000 to two Brooklyn NY street artists (Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller, together known as Faile) who designed the mural and in turn paid other artists to paint it.

The mural is quite long and I only have a few pictures of bits and pieces of it.

below: Apparently Davenport Road is considered to be one of Toronto’s oldest roads. It follows the base of a ridge and provided a route between the Humber River in the west and the Don River in the east.

below: There is a park on the northwest corner of Bathurst and Davenport, The Tollkeeper’s Park. The old house, the Tollkeeper’s Cottage, is now a museum run by The Community History Project. It is open on Saturday afternoons (and some Sundays during the summer)

below: And across the road is Tollkeeper’s Lane. There are chairs everywhere in this city not usually as comfy looking as these.

below: An old Comet parked in the alley

below: Tomatoes and other vegetables growing in a front yard.

below: A hand, part of an Elicser mural. This mural, which is on both sides of the railway underpass just north of Dupont, is still there. Photos can be seen in a blog post from Nov 2014 (Yikes! Have I been blogging that long?!).