Posts Tagged ‘doors’

doors and more

Posted: February 24, 2017 in doors
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I thought that I would see if I could find door pictures today.  When I first stepped outside, I wasn’t sure what that meant.   I just knew that it was a beautiful day and that I would find an answer to my doorish quest.   “Que sera sera” as Doris Day once sang.

Well, what is a door?

door: noun.  A hinged, sliding, or revolving barrier at the entrance to a building, room, or vehicle, or in the framework of a cupboard.

doorway: noun. An entrance to a room or building through a door.

Well duh, I think most of us know what a door is, at least in the literal sense.   As an image just a door on its own is often blah, B O R I N G.   There are exceptions of course, but if that was all I was looking for today, I wouldn’t be taking many pictures.

an ornate double door with windows in both doors, red brick house, stairs to the doors. closed.

I also think that most of us realize that “door” is so much more.   We find them intriguing. Door metaphors abound.  Open doors are opportunities and invitations, think “My door is always open”, or  “When one door closes, another one opens”.  Closed doors are mysteries, obstacles, or dead ends.   We talk about not knowing what goes on behind closed doors.

below: Closed for good. No mystery here, just a dead end.
With a smile for being upside down.

the front door of a small apartment complex that is about to be demolished. There is a blue metal fence in front of it with a danger due to demolition sign on it. The sign is upside down.

A closing door has a slightly different imagery – “slam the door in his face”, or “show someone the door”, or “don’t let the door hit you on the way out”.   Can you picture the scene in a movie where the hero walks into a strange room only to have the door close behind him.  Can you see the look on his face when he hears it being locked from the other side?

Doors, and their cousins gates, are both entrances and exits.    Entrances to buildings and rooms.  Entrances to other worlds such as “at death’s door”.  Unfortunately I don’t have a picture to illustrate ‘entrances to other worlds’.  

below: But maybe this entranceway leads to something exotic?    That’s a better explanation than ‘someone went to Home Depot and bought lots of cheap corrugated plastic’.   It juts out like a sore thumb from an otherwise well maintained, nice looking house.

an old brick house painted turquoise with green trim. wrought iron fence in front. A corrugated plastic covering has been made to cover the entrance to the basement door. the covering comes out from the house to beyond the fence, all the way to the sidewalk

Doors are associated with privacy, protection, and control.   We feel more secure when we lock our doors.   Closed doors, especially locked ones, can keep things in or keep things out.  Closed doors separate, open doors connect.

below: Waiting at the door.   I can’t decide if he’s patient or impatient.  Perhaps bored?

a white metal door on a white concrete wall. A bright ornage line drawing of a man standing in front of the door with his arms crossed.

 

Back doors are private, hidden from view.  The expression “through the back door” suggests sneaking around.  Front doors are part of the face that we show the world.   They can be welcoming or not, a lot like the people who live behind them. 

below: Or they can just be a long way up.  How are your knees feeling today?

a small narrow one storey house. Many steps to get up the hill to the front door. The incline has been covered with patio stones.

side yard and side entrance to a wood clapboard house with one window on the side at ground level.

below: A bright red chair brightens the picture.   I wonder who usually sits there?

a bright red chair sits on the sidewalk beside the entrance to a building. The door has a large window which is covered by a curtain on the inside

below: Another bit of cheerful red.

a small house painted blue with white trim, a bright red door.

“There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.”

crooked concrete steps and metal railing lead to a front door.

below: Another closed door waiting for demolition.
How many people have passed through those doors since 1913?

blog_blue_church_door_1913

below: I’ve always been fascinated by the sign above this door.

an older woman in a bright red jacket stands on a corner waiting for a green light. On the other side of the street is the Emerald Isle Seniors Society

below: This door seemed to be out of place on the Danforth… it’s an entrance to the apartment above, not to the hair salon on the left.   I like to think that she keeps watch over the doorway.

blog_etched_glass_beauty_salon

below: These two doors (especially the green one) caught my eye as I walked along the Danforth.   On my first pass I had the wrong lens on my camera.  After changing lenses, I doubled back.   Just as I was getting ready to take a picture of the two doors together, the one on the right opened.  Dilemma – to shoot or not to shoot.  I’m not brazen enough to shoot someone in the face so to speak; this over the shoulder and hope it works shot is only second rate (or third!).   I only include here so I can briefly go off on a tangent and mention my #1 problem with door shots.  People.   Pointing my camera at someone’s house often makes me feel uncomfortable and I have no desire to have any kind of confrontation, even a friendly one.

two doors, one faded green and one greyish black . a man with a rather large stomach is standing in front of the latter.

below: What to do with leftover tiles.

a door with 1242 on it, brownish colour, green door frame, the wall on one side is covered with small mosaic tiles in squares

below: A contrast in colours.  The door is in the picture but it’s become just an element in the composition.

a green door is beside a large store window. The interior wall is painted yellow, the sun is shining in the window and the blinds are partially open and partially down

below: This is the last of the Danforth door photos that I took today.   Again, the doors are just elements; the mailboxes provide the focus and the interest.

three black mailboxes with mail in them, between a white door and a black door.

below: Doors are part of a building.   What you can do with a door is often limited by the structure of the house.

a small white house with a large tree in front of it, winter, but no snow

Having said that,  if you walk around the city there is a lot of variety.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to go through all the permutations and combinations that I saw today!  I’ll limit myself to a few (sometimes I can do that!).

below: A few stone steps lead to a simple white entrance.

a red brick house with a white rectangular doorway. driveway beside the house leads to a garage with a white door.

below: A study in compare and contrast – the wonderful result of semis where next door neighbours with dissimilar tastes, habits, and decorating ideas share a common wall.

a semi divided house, on the left, a bright yellow door. On the right, an open porch with lots of clutter.

Many steps and many hours later I find myself nearing the end of this post.  It’s been a bit of a ramble, both in the route that I walked today and in the thought processes that helped create this post.    I hope that I have entertained you at least a little bit.    And with one final photo I will close the door on this post.    Last one out turns out the lights.  Adios.

looking down a street to an T-intersection. Two houses across the intersection with a large truck parked in front of them. A man is sitting in the truck and looking at the camera

“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.”  John Barrymore

back on the streets again

Posted: February 16, 2017 in general Toronto, history, memorials, old buildings, people, windows and walls
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Another reason why I haven’t posted recently?  I’ve been sick.  Icky sick; can’t get out of bed sick.  This morning was the first time that I’ve walked Toronto streets in many, many days.

It was a beautiful blue sky morning but I made a mistake and stopped for coffee first.  Clouds rolled in and we were back to greyness by the end of the first mug.  Argh.   Maybe back inside for a secong mug?

In the end I’m glad I got my momentum back.  I walked streets I’ve walked many times before but I walked it with a long lens in hand.  I started searching for details that I’ve missed before as well as shots that are easier (and sneakier!) with a lens zoomed out to the max.

In no particular order….

below:  The front of Betty’s on King street.  These magnets have been here for a while now although their numbers may have magnified.  In hindsight, I should have gone over and written something like, “Hi my name is Joe and I’m the Prime Minister of Canada”.

store front, front of Bettys bar and restaurant, with grey door. Walls are magnetic and they are covered with kid's letters of the alphabet magnets.

below: The bright colours of this exposed wall caught my eye.  It’s been revealed because of the demolition of a building at Victoria and Lombard and I suspect that it will get covered up again in the near future.

a large construction site at Victoria and Lombard, one wall of a neighbouring building has been exposed that is orange and white

below: This is a closer view of the men in the photo above.  I hadn’t purposely taken their picture but I like the portrait look of the picture.  A kind of Mike Rowe’s ‘Dirty Jobs’ image comes to mind.

two men working on a construction site

below: Banner for the Pacific Junction Hotel.

banner made of flags for the Pacific Junction Hotel strung in a tree on the sidewalk

below: Drink Coca-cola

a red and white drink coca cola sign sign hangs in a window of a bar

below: Sitting together in silence.  Black and white.  Alive and not alive.
Both aren’t moving and both don’t see me.

a man sits on a bench in a small park, wintertime, a snowman is at the other end of the bench

below: I have always been intrigued by these vertical windows at St. James Cathedral, especially with the winter trees in front of them.  I’ve taken pictures here before but none have been satisfactory.  This one is certainly not perfect but the sense of scale that the woman provides is a big help.

vertical stained glass windows of St. James cathedral, from the outside in winter, a woman is walking past.

below: These two small ionic-ish columns help support an archway over the door.

a small column with an ionic like capital, embedded in a brick wall. The column looks to be supporting an arch over the doorway

below: A bit of a rant.  At one point did it become acceptable for people to be sleeping on the sidewalks?  How did we learn to walk past?  When someone walks past a person sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk, what thoughts go through their head?  Is there a solution?  Or is so normal now that we don’t consider it a problem?   This man was right in the middle, there was no easy way to avoid him, but avoid him we did.

people walk by on the sidewalk as a homeless man sleeps under blankets on the corner.

below: Trying to cross King Street.

a man in a red jacket is waking two dogs, waiting to cross King Street, with St. James in the background. traffic, and parked cars too.

below: An exposed support beam, two wood planks on end sandwiched between steel I beams.

on an exterior brick wall, the end of a support beam is visible. the beam consists of a wood beam on end between two steel I beams

below:  High on a brick wall he suffers in anguish as the pigeons keep pooping on him.

carved stone piece high on a brickwall, exterior of a building, relief sculpture of a man's face with his hair made to look like long leaves that surround his face

below: A bit of a cliche.  Walking the dogs in the park on a winter day.

a woman walks three dogs on the path through St. James Park on a winter day, snow, no leaves, some buildings in the distance

below: The Christmas lights are still wrapped around the trees in St. James Park.

a string of red LED Christmas lights is wrapped around the trunk of a tree

below: Two mis-matched windows side by side.  Old brick, rusty metal.

an old brick building with two windows.

below: Above 10 Toronto Street is this royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.   The unicorn represents Scotland and in the royal coat of arms for Scotland, the lion and the unicorn are reversed.  You’ll also noticed that the unicorn is chained.  Apparently this is because in legend, the unicorn is a dangerous beast.   I’m not sure what this says about Scotland!  The words on the banner below the lion and the unicorn say “Dieu et Mon Droit” (= God and My Right).  The words around the middle circle say “Honi soit qui mal y pense”.   This is the motto of the Order of the Garter and it translates to ‘shame upon him who thinks evil of it’.

sculpture of a coat off arms above 10 Toronto Street, a lion and unicorn and a motto in Latin.

below:  This is the building that used to house Starbucks on King Street near George Brown College.  Many months (more than a year) ago there was a fire in the building and Starbucks closed down.  The windows and doors were boarded up and then nothing happened.   That looks like the makings of scaffolding lying on the sidewalk so maybe some renovation work is about to begin.

a man walks past a boarded up doorway

below: A ghost building outline.

The ghost outline of a building, in white, on a black brick wall. Tree branches without leaves hang in front of the wall.

below: An octopus runs up the stairs. Or would it slither?

a blue drawing of an octopus on the second storey exterior wall, beside a metal stair case (fire escape?)

below: Passing by the five faceless naked men who silently and stoically watch over the intersection of Queen and Victoria.  A sculpture “Full Circle” by Peter von Tiesenhausen.

wood sculpture of naked men in a circle with their backs inward, at Queen and Victoria streets, two men walking past the sculpture

below: I also met James Beaty this morning.  He too stands silently but he is tucked away in a dull and quiet corner so he doesn’t get much to look at.   The original James Beaty was born in Ireland 1798 and came to Canada as young man.   He was a leather merchant, he established the newspaper ‘Toronto Leader’ in 1852,  and in 1867 he became a federal politician.

a black bronze statue of James Beaty, standing with a folded newspaper under his arm, about life sized,

below: Any idea what this might be?  Dancing figure?

small black and white stencil

below: It was a puddle jumping, slushy kind of day.  I’m sure that there are lots more of those ahead!

reflections of trees in a puddle on a path that has snow and ice on it was well

below:  There are always more paths to walk and more chances to see what’s around around the next corner and through the gate!

looking down a driveway that passes under a very high square arch to the street beyond. Cars are parked on the street and a pedestrian walks by

 

between Pape and Donlands

Posted: August 8, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I decided to head to Pape and Danforth on Friday, on a very hot & humid afternoon.   The Danforth was just beginning to get ready for the Taste of the Danforth weekend festival.  I stopped for a bottle of water and tried to find a bit of shade while I figured out where to walk.  The street was still quiet.  The day was hot and humid and no one was moving quickly.   Not many photos to be had there.   Instead, I decided to walk a few of the alleys north of the Danforth between Pape and Donlands.

trucks parked on the street, a small ferris wheel being set up pon a street, stores, barricades

below: No famous graffiti artist has left their mark in your neighbourhood? No problem, make your own!
A collection of icons with even the bricks painted into the picture.

copies of famous street art painted on a garage door. Brick background has been painted on too. Mona Lisa, Campbell soup cans, the woman lifting the corner of the wall to sweep things under it. Einstein holding a placard that says love is the answer. A little dog by Albert Einstein's feet.

below: Three garage doors with street art including one by spud.

three garages in an alley, each with street art painted on their doors.

below: Cruz1art (aka Angel Carillo) and a girl power pink skull by dudeman

a low concrete building in an alley with street art by Cruz 1 art, one says girl power. Large pink skull, basketball hoop in the foreground.

below: “Turn the lights off and look to the sky”

street art in an alley of a woman with long hair, wearing sunglasses, a tag beside it.

below: I’m used to seeing ‘No Trespassing’ or ‘Keep Out’ signs but not so many ‘Keep Off’.

an old rusted sign that says 'keep off' attached tot he top of a chainlink fence, in between two garages in an alley

below: A happy Uber5000 birdie knitting away, a close knit street art painting.

an uber 5000 art piece on a garage door, yellow uber birdie is knitting something with blue wool. the words say "close knit"

below: Another creature by Cruz1

blue animal creature painted on a garage door, green shrub growing in front of part of it, art by cruz 1 in an alley

below: Two more painted garage doors, very linear, very stylized and abstracted.

two single car garages in an alley, both with street art paintings on them, also the back of the houses behind them in the lane.

below: A play on the word ‘cool’.  Snowy words and a penguin with sunglasses.  Unfortunately it didn’t make me feel cooler but only slightly nostalgic for winter.  Only slightly!

street art mural on a garage door in a lane, a penguin standing upright wearing sunglasses. The words, written in large blue letters with snow on them, What's cooler than sum glasses on?

below: On the left is “destroy and rebuild” and on the right is “We are 1, [illegible] mi gente siempre”.  The last bit is Spanish and translates to “My people forever”

two garages in an alley with art on their doors, on the left is an abstract in blue and orange with the words destroy and rebuild. On the right is a woman's face. She's slightly blue. Words written beside her are: we are 1, mi gente siempre

below: I think there was a point to this picture, but I’m not sure what it is.

the top of two pieces of wood in a picket fence type gate, pointed tops, wood,

below:  Since this stretch of the Danforth has been “Greektown” for as long as I can remember, it makes sense to find street art in Greek.  In this case, Greek love.

garage door painted bright blue, with the Greek word for love written on it in large letters

below: A slight chuckle, the next garage door is the translation.

garage door painted with a large cursive lettering word love in pinks on blue

below:  Insert a little rant about horrid TTC concrete fences here.  At least someone has found a way to brighten one of them up.   This one is right beside the entrance to Donlands subway station.

concrete fence with paint drip art on it

A few more pictures….

garage door in a laneway covered with streetart painting

geometric street art on a garage door, pink, grey and black

below: A survivor. A lone white rose amongst dead roses.  May you all survive the heat of summer!

one white rose growing against a fence in an alley , with lots of dead roses around it.

 

 

 

Bloordale, north of Bloor

Posted: June 18, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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below: “Stop and we’ll build” in Bloordale Village, an area along Bloor St. West between Dufferin St. and Lansdowne Ave.

Street signs on a metal pole. The top on is a Bloor St. West sign with the words Bloordale village on it as well. Below that is a stop sign that someone has written "and we'll build", altered sign

Last Saturday was Bloordale’s third annual community garage sale and laneway crawl.  Many front yards were full of items for sale.   A couple of families were selling homemade food and there was at least one lemonade stand.

A woman stands in her front yard talking to a man and his daughter who are on the sidewalk. Her frontyard is full of items that are for sale in a yard sale.

I walked the area fairly early in the morning so many of the activities were just getting set up.  There were things to do and games to play in the alleys and in Susan Tibaldi park.  I have blogged previously about this area so last Saturday I only took pictures of things that were new.   There weren’t very many changes in the alleys.

A large graffiti face covering the side of a garage in an alley. Line drawing in green and orange.

below:  We are Starlight, we are golden…. **

some green weeds growing in front of an old garage in an alley with a black door on which someone has spray painted the word starlight.

below: … and it seems that we were all born in outer space.  Lovebot and some friends.

mural on a garage door in an alley. a green giraffe, a blue lovebot, and a purple goose, with the words "We were all born in outer space"

Along the side of a building on Jenet Ave I found a large mural of three faces painted by Shalak, Fiya and Bruno Smoky.  It faces a parking lot and there were cars in the way.  I took some photos anyhow; I think you should be able to see the faces reasonably well.

below: Two women, the one on the left was painted by Shalak while the one on the right is by Fiya.

two faces, mural, painted on the side of building, both women, a multicoloured face in profile by Shalak on the left and a woman with purple hair by Fiya on the right.

below:  The mustached man and his fish was painted by Bruno Smoky.

mural of a man's face, eyes closed, wearing a hat, mustache, older man

part of a mural, a gold fish swimming, it is also reflected in the windows of the car that is parked beside it.

below: Remnants of old Rob Ford graffiti still remain around the city including this doorway.

an old doorway in a red brick building in a lane. There is an old graffiti face of Rob Ford painted on the door. R I P has been written on his forehead.

below: This building on Brock Street on has been empty for years.

the back of an old three storey brick building that is empty. The doors and windows have been boarded up. Some tags have been painted there, cinq, dfine and stud.

below:  The front of 668 Brock Ave with its Salvation Army ghost sign.  In 1921 it was home to the Brock Avenue People’s Mission while next door at 666 Brock Ave., the Number 16 Corps of the Salvation Army was stationed.  Its history since then is still a mystery to me.
ghost sign, Salvation Army, across the top of an old brick building, number 668 Brock St., three storeys with fancy brickwork across the top of the roofline. boarded up, metal fence in front, concrete covered front yard, yellow fire hydrant.

a metal box on a wall, both painted a yellowish brown, on the box someone has written woof woof woof woof woof meow vertically so that meow is under a pile of woofs. The house across the street is in the background.

below: At the not so picturesque corner of Lansdowne and Paton Rd., I found a metal fence.  A sign on it says that it is the ‘Lansdowne Fence Temporary Artwork’ by artists Scott Eunson and Marianne Lovink, commissioned by the TTC in 2010.   But why is the TTC involved with this vacant lot?

metal fence on the corner, on two sides of a large vacant lot.

below: And as you can see, it’s a large lot.  As it turns out, this was the site of the TTC Lansdowne Carhouse up until 1996.  Although the carhouse was classified as a heritage building, it was demolished in 2003.  The land has been vacant ever since.

a chainlink fence with some metal cut outs of flowers and pigeons on it, with weeds growing up in front of it, and a few real pigeons on the ground.

below: Lansdowne carhouse, 1996, photo credit: Robert Lubinksi, TTC collection, found online.

historical picture of Lansdowne carhouse, 1996 with old TTC buses in front of the building

below: A new mural has been painted on the side of the South Indian Dosa Mahal restaurant at the corner of Emerson and Bloor.  It is the creation of SPUD and his team with the support of StreetARToronto and the Bloordale BIA.  It’s probably the biggest tiger cub in Toronto!

large mural of a tiger cub playing with two balls, one red and one blue. The cub has one green eye and one blue eye. Covers the whole of the side of a building

part of a large mural of a tiger cub playing with two balls, one red and one blue. The cub has one green eye and one blue eye. Covers the whole of the side of a building - head of the cub and part of the blue ball

part of a large mural of a tiger cub playing with two balls, one red and one blue. The cub has one green eye and one blue eye. Covers the whole of the side of a building. - tail and red ball

below: Dasdardly Whiplash in his latest role as a graffiti artist near Lansdowne subway station.

street art painting on a doorway and wall in an alley, of cartoon character Dastardly Whiplash with his mustache, black cape and top hat spray painting a tag on a wall.

below: Small places of worship are scattered all over the city.  Many are in buildings once used for other purposes, including (by the looks of it) this one, the Belarusan Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Parish of St. Kiryla of Turau.  Trivia #1 of the day: autocephalous is “self-headed” and in this context refers to a church whose bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop.  Trivia #2:  St. Kiryla (c.1130 – 1182) was an eloquent and poetic preacher in Turau which is south of Minsk and east of Warsaw.  And on that note I will move on before I end up writing a treatise on Eastern Orthodox religions.

low, one storey brick building with a pink double door, metal fence and gate in front, ornate cross above the door.

below: Not your average patio!

back deck of a light industrial building, no railing, two canvas chairs, steps down to ground level where there is a couch
two old cars, one red and one dark grey, are parked in an overgrown backyard on an alley.

large black letters sprayed onto a light grey garage that say Love But Think

And last, let’s finish with a splash of bright summer sunshine!

two large yellow flowers attached to the handle bars of a bicycle

** yes, I know I’ve misquoted

return to Scarfo Lane

Posted: June 9, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti and street art, sometimes it stays around a while and other times it disappears, hidden by someone else’s work.   Tags and words also appear where they often shouldn’t.  When I walk an alley that I’ve seen before, I never know what to expect but there is always something to discover to make it worth a repeat visit.   So it was this morning when I found myself back at Scarfo Lane.  Back in Nov 2014 (a year and a half ago!  … time flies by!) I posted about some of the street art and murals that I saw there.   Most of it is still there.

Today’s contributions follow – at least one is new and the others I’m not sure about, I might have omitted them last time.  The whims of the day and of the photographer.

below: Blue cool nature meets red hot city, friends, joined together & working together. Mural by ‘Insect Cabaret’ which is the name that artists Aisha Ali and Andalah Ali have given to themselves and their work.

a mural on a garage door, a blue figure on the left and an orange figure on the right. Blue represents nature and red represents the urban city

below: Swimming in the lane.

marine scene street art on a garage door in a lane, a red octopus, a green turtle swimming and a ship in the distance

The next two are from the same garage door.

colourful mural on a laneway garage door

colourful mural on a laneway garage door

And in case you’re curious  –

below: The blue bird and bird houses are still as bright as they were before…

blue faced animal wearing clothes and walking upright, with pole over shoulder, 3 bird houses hanging from the pole. A bluebird is sitting on the front of the pole, mural on a garage door in a lane

below: … and the little red birds are still floating along on their logs

part of a mural on a garage door in a laneway, a purple headed animal creature wearing a blue top and holding onto strings attached to floating logs with little red birds on them.

 

Frank Kovac lane

Posted: June 8, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Frank Kovac Lane is a short alley just south of Christie subway station.  Some of the garage doors were painted with murals in past years and, as usual, there were plenty of tags.  Recently, the lane was the scene of a community mural painting session thanks to the 4th Toronto Rangers (Girl Guides), StreetARToronto,  artist Nick Sweetman, and some local residents.  Now some of the tags are gone and more importantly, some more garage doors are home to bright and cheerful murals.  A few of them are included here.

below: At the north end of the lane is this large, colourful mural by Nick Sweetman.
Two large blue bears have found a plethora of honey.  Will the bees share?

large mural by Nick Sweetman on a wall in Frank Kovac Lane, two very large blue bears are eating honey from honeycombs while a few large bees buzz around.

part of a large mural by Nick Sweetman on a wall in Frank Kovac Lane, two very large blue bears are eating honey from honeycombs while a few large bees buzz around - close up of one bear's face

below: The new murals continue the animal theme, “Urban Wildlife”, starting with this fox.

garage door in an alley painted with a mural of a fox head beside a bicycle wheel with trilliums growing up in front of it.

below: A common Toronto animal, a raccoon, beside a red fire hydrant.

view in an alley, a lavendar coloured door. to the left of the door is a garage door painted with a mural of a raccoon and a red fire hydrant.

below: A blue jay eyes some blueberries.

mural on a pale yellow garage door of a blue jay sitting on hydro wires, also a bunch of wild blueberries is in the image

below: Several monster faces have lived in this alley for a while and they still remain.
This one looks like he needs a hair cut.

garage door painted with a monster face, big mouth and teeth, orange nose, in tones of blue, grey and orange, ivy is growing over the top of the garage and it looks like green hair.

three garages in a row in an alley, all painted with a large monster face

a skinny blue graffiti figure on the edge of a garage, between two garage doors with stylized and abstract faces painted on them. One is black and green and the other is black and white

An old garage and concrete fence with a door in it. The fence is cracked above the door. The door is painted black with bright colour scribbles, the garage door has a black and white mural on it

a painting in grey tones of a young boy in old fashioned shorts and long sleeved top, standing.

below: This graffiti is actually on Harbord Street but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of it
– a camera and an “oh snap”

Above Guan's auto service shop, a graffiti on an upper storey wall, a small camera and turquoise lettering and words in pink that say Oh snap. Above that is a red billboard for Bud and Burger

intersections – St. Clair and Vaughan

Posted: December 9, 2015 in graffiti and street art, history, intersections
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This post is the result of a very wobbly and random circular walk around part of the Wychwood Heights neighbourhood last weekend.   A hodge podge of this and that.

below: The intersection of St. Clair West and Vaughan Road circa 1912

Historical black and white photo of a two sorey brick building at an intersection of two dirt roads.

below: I didn’t quite recreate the picture above but it is still obvious that the brick building is still standing after just over 100 years but that every thing around it has changed.

Two storey brick building, now Hakim Optical on the corner of an intersection.

below: Just to the north,  78 Vaughan Road…. didn’t this store used to be an ice cream place?

empty store front at 78 Vaughan Road, empty on one side a closed tattoo parlour on the other.

below:  Ah yes, there is still remnants of ice cream cones above the window so my memory is correct.
I wonder what happened to it?

side of a brick building that used to be an ice cream store. Painted red with some white parts, front has been removed from lighted signs, exterior decorations have been removed except a faint outline of ice cream shapes remain above the window.

There are a number of alleys to the north and west of the intersection of St. Clair and Vaughan Road.  Most of them are quite tidy and well looked after.   They were also full of surprises, bright little things that put on a smile on your face on a December afternoon.

below: Like little pictures painted on canvas….

A small canvas painted turquoise and the words say hello written in small red letters, attached to a fence in a lane

A small canvas painted red and a small yellow heart painted in the middle. The words say hello are painted on it too but they are harder to see. It is nailed to an old wood fence

A small landscape painted on canvas and attached to a telephone pole in an alley

below: and painted on wood

a two tone pink fish painted on wood, cut out, and nailed to a wood fence.

below: or painted directly on poles.

On a wood telephone pole, a small bird painted in white, black and blue.

below: There was a fence made of old wood doors

an old picket fence that is falling aoart, and a fence made of doors that is behind it.

close up of old picket fence that is falling aoart, and a fence made of doors that is behind it.

below:  There was a great creature with googly eyes and a rectangular orange nose.

Two big googly eyes attached to a telephone pole

below: And of course there were some painted garage doors.

street art on garage doors, musical instruments covering two garages, a guitar, a trombone, also the words sweet sweet music everywhere

below: These garage doors are a sample of the more than 40 doors that have been painted as part of the Kenwood Lanway Art Initiative.

painting on a garage door of a moose at sunset

painting on a bright blue garage door of the Toronto skyline with a large Canadian flag behind ithe skyline

While walking on the streets in the neighbourhood I saw a couple of little houses

little narrow white bungalow with a yellow front door set back from the road. There is a straight walkway from the sidewalk to the door, and there is a lot of shrubery in the front yard especially near the sidewalk.

as well as larger buildings with intricate architectural details.

below:  A checkerboard effect with the bricks on the La Salle Apartments.  As an aside, the small bush in front of the building was in the picture no matter what angle I tried.  It was a lilac bush and I am sure that there were buds on it.

Part of a low rise apartment building, over the door, no windows. Checkerboard pattern in the bricks. The words La Salle Apts in large white letters across the bottom of the picture.

below: A little fake balcony with a white post railing on a low rise apartment building.

A white framed window in a red brick building. Below the window are a few white pieces of wood that look like a balcony railing even though there is no balcony there.

below: A line of little arches across the roofline is echoed in the larger arch patterns over the windows.  There is a small relief sculpture near the top corner of the building (slightly behind the tree) but I can’t tell what’s on it.  A coat of arms maybe?

brick pattern across the top of a building. scalloped, or looking like little arches to match the larger arches over the windows.

below:  There were quite a few four storey brick apartment buildings that looked like they were built in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  Perhaps there was a  little ‘condo boom’ at the time?

4 storey apartment building on Vaughan Road, red brick with white upper storey, diamond shaped details, two little peaked roofs over windows.

four storey apartment on a corner

front door and front of building, four storey apartment building in red brick with stone window and door frames.

 

Two four storey apartment complexes and a single family home on Vaughan Road.

below:  Like the condos of today, many of the buildings had names such as Maple Villa

Stone door frame and entranceway to Maple Villa, a brick low rise apartment complex

and Maplewood

stonework over the door of the Maplewood apartments at 172 Vaughan road, and the art deco like decorations beside it.

below:   The backs of all those apartment complexes are nearly as interesting as the fronts.
This is one of the only construction sites I saw although….

vacant lot with a number of low rise brick apartment buildings in the background.

… this Presbyterian church looks like it is about to be redeveloped.  It is one of three churches at the corner of St. Clair and Wychwood.   The church was built in 1926.  There is a brief description of the property on the Stanton Renaissance website but very little information is given beyond a “transformation” of the church and the creation of “high end residential boutique”.

An old brick church at a corner. It is now empty. There is a large sign in front of it advertising Stanton developments.

below: Mural for Sea With Fish and Chips on St. Clair West

mural for Sea Witch FIsh and Chips restaurant, a large sea serpent

A little yellow sticker on a bank night deposit box, looks like a little smiling creature looking over the sign that says contains no cash or negotiables, except that the word no has been scratched out

below: As I circled back the intersection of Vaughan Road and St. Clair West, I spotted a large doubledecker strawberry and vanilla ice cream cone on the side of Dutch Dreams.  Hey!  The answer to my question.  The ice cream place from 78 Vaughan Road has moved a couple of blocks south, complete with it’s collection painted old fashioned milk cans.

A very large plastic icce cream cone, double scoop, strawberry on the bottom and vanilla on the top, decorating a brick building. The shutters on the windows of the building are green, red and white

bright yellow entranceway, a line of different coloured milk cans along the exterior wall, sign says Dutch Dreams, candy and ice cream.

below:  One last picture.  As I waited for the Bathurst bus, I found myself standing across the street from this building.   The curve of the roofline is interesting, but even more interesting is the the fact that there is an occult store in Toronto.  Candles, herbs, incense, jewelry, I’m now wishing that I had crossed the street to investigate further!   And, smile, the store next to it is Pandora’s salon.  Pandora, the one who in ancient times opened a box and unleashed all sorts of evil on the world.

 

store front, one is an Occult Store, in an old brick building with a curved roofline over the middle of it.

north of Nassau

Posted: September 5, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Nassau Street that is, just south of College and just west of Spadina.  There is an alley that runs north from Nassau directly behind Spadina.  A dead end lane runs perpendicular to it, behind the houses on Nassau Street.  Like most alleys in Toronto, there is street art there.  Some old, some new, and unfortunately some scribbled over.  All in all, this lane is looking a little worn.

Buildings in an alley with lots of graffiti on them.

a wall with a painting of a woman's head on the left (in grey tones), a door with metal bar gate in the middle, and part of a tag like graffiti piece on the right.

large geometric street art piece on a brick wall in an alley

Black and white street art painting on a reddish brick wall, signed Jaroe

Two large poser bunnies on a wall in an alley

buildings in an alley with lots of street art on them

A lovebot and a pair of anser eyes on a wall in an alley. Lots of empty cardboard boxes on the ground by the wall.

A wall with a small window with a metal grille over it, covered in street art, with weeds and goldenrod growing up in front of it

view down an alley late in summer when there are leaves on the trees and lots of weeds growing at the edges of the pavement

An old wood door on an alley building has been painted with a large yellowish green face with big pink lips and brown teeth

graffiti on a garage door

Two black lovebot robot stickers on a yellow protective sleeve around a cable that is helping to hold up a pole.

In an alley, the back of a house is being renovated, all the windows are boarded up and some of the exterior brick has been removed. There is a metal gate across the back of the property. The garage to the left is covered with graffiti.

Newer garage in an alley with a crooked metal wire gate beside it. The garage has graffiti on the side wall and on both of its garage doors.

looking towards the end of an alley that has a large wheatpaste 3D lovebot high up on it. Beside lovebot is another wheatpaste

Wheatpaste high up on a wall, a large face like thing. The words 'dying inside' are part of the picture

below: Only the eye remains from a previous painting

Just an eye from a previous street art painting hasn't been covered by a white tag

below:  Two photos from the south side of Nassau street

Two women pushing a stroller walk past some street art on Nassau St. in Toronto, a large orange piece ta

The front and side of a garage are covered with street art. The front is not very very visible in this picture but the side is. A man from the waist up with his finger pointing upwards is beside a picture of city buidings and a poser bunny.

eyes in the alley

Posted: March 23, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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I went back to Graffiti Alley the other day.
When I was just east of Niagara Street I noticed these eyes looking at me.

One very realistic eye in a partial circle, in a boarded up window above head level so it looks like it's looking down at you.

A small blue Stickman sneaks into the photo too!

 

A wall with a door in the middle of it. There is a street art piece of three heads. Two very stylized men and a more realistic looking woman. Bright colours.

Three faces painted on a garage door by Jon Todd.

Close up of a stylized and slightly abstacted man's face on a wall in an alley

close up of a street piece that is very red, with one whitish grey eye. Some faint swirly white lines demark the face, or at least the upper quadrant that is visible in the picture

A sticker on a pole with green in the background. The sticker is of a man's head. He has a beard and big brown moustache and he is wearing a red toque with a label on it that says 'checo'

slightly abstacted painting of a face in white orange, yellow and brown, in 3/4 profile

Some stickers or slaps on the side of an air conditioner. One is of a frog head with its tongue out and eyes closed. The other is of a green man's face, also with his tongue out.

A garage covered with a large abstract and very colourful painting, swirls and geometric shapes, along with at least three or four eyes. Signed @jchiale

by Jimmy Chiale

Close up, and a side angle shot, of colourful graffiti on a door, door frame and wall. Bright colours, geometric shapes such as white circle around brown, pink zig zags.

…and a mouth too!

Graffiti painting of a bright red pair of lips slightly parted to see shiney white teeth. On a garage door, in an alley.

 Links for more information

Jon Todd

Jimmy Chiale

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