halloween | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘halloween’

from Dupont to St. Clair West

Posted: November 12, 2025 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations, public art, stores, transportation
Tags: Bareket, birds, bkez, Catherine Cachia, decorations, Dupont, Dupont subway station, Elicser Elliott, halloween, James Sutherland, Julia Prajza, murals, Nick Sweetman, pumpkins, signs, Spadina, stores, Troy Lovegates

Enter if you Dare!

A late October walk on a sunny day – starting at Dupont station which is just north of Bloor on Line 1 (That’s the University side of the Yonge-University Line for those of you who, like me, haven’t mastered the TTC numbering system yet!). We walked a few blocks on Dupont before going under the railway tracks to Bridgman, then took a quick turn on Albany to get to Davenport. A short block later we were on Bathurst. Vaughan Road veers left off Bathurst just south of Bloor. We meandered a bit north of Bloor before walking back to St. Clair West station.

below: A bright and sparkly flower blooms on the southbound platform of Dupont subway station. This is one of the mosaics designed by James Sutherland in the series “Spadina Summer Under all Seasons” found around the station.

below: More Dupont station flowers to greet subway travelers, this time on the concourse level.

below: Taking the escalator up inside the dome at street level.

below: There is a Nick Sweetman mural of birds that wraps around the curve of a bench.

below: The curve matches that of the domed entrance to the station on the southeast corner of Dupont and Spadina.

below: Casa Loma in the distance, on the hill beyond the tracks. This is the view on Spadina north of Dupont.

below: Northeast corner of Dupont and Spadina

below: Big rounded arches, rooftop terraces in the back, and two turrets, all at the corner of St. George Street and Dupont.

below: Looking north on St. George, towards Dupont, 1904. Working on the street. The house with the two turrets is already there. The duplex on Dupont at the top of the street still exists too.

below: The duplex (176-178 Dupont) is difficult to see because like so many other older residences on main streets, an addition has been added to the front to facilitate a store or a restaurant. At the moment, 176 Dupont is a Mexican restaurant, even though the says Pastrami (close enough!).

below: Bruno Men’s Hairsylist and his quaint little sign.

below: On Dupont, east of Spadina is this mural by Catherine Cachia

below: Cozy and euphoric.

below: Bete Suk, Ethiopian Coffee shop

below: Northwest corner of Dupont and Spadina, and another domed subway entrance.

below: Looking west on Dupont

below: Another, much clearer, example of the transition of houses to businesses by building additions in front, are these two – Krispy Kreme and the faded Modern Laundry & Dry Cleaners.

below: West of Dupont, there are still some garages covered in street art.

below: This is 390 Dupont Street, part of which is now a coffee shop/vintage clothing store. I am not sure what the history of the building is but when I tried to research it, I discovered that there is a condo development being proposed for the site.

below: This is the neighbouring property, 388 Dupont. Two years ago when I walked this stretch, there was a blue and white development notice sign in front of the building (Dupont Street Scenes). When the application for redevelopment was first filed (2020), it was for an 11 storey building involving 374 to 388 Dupont. By 2023 the plan had evolved to 12 storeys and now included 390 Dupont as well. Because the site is adjacent to the CP Railway corridor, a train safety derailment wall along the entire back wall is part of the plan.

below: Although there is no posted notice of planning applications for this building, it appears to be empty. The front door is boarded up and there is a No Trespassing sign in the window.

below: Two years ago this building was in the early stages of construction.

below: Another theme that occurs over and over again on the streets of Toronto – the jumble of different eras. Very old brick houses and new glass and steel towers mixed together along with ages in between. The smaller older structures dwarfed by the newer ones that tower over them.

below: The Troy Lovegates mural of 10 faces on Howland & Dupont is still there and still looking vibrant. If you are interested, there are more images of this mural elsewhere in this blog.

below: Running parallel to the railway tracks, and just north of them.

below: The north side of the CP Railway corridor shows signs of its more industrial past. This building with its curved glass sidelights and other small Art Deco finishes, sits empty. Previously it was home to a plumbing company but they have moved to new quarters elsewhere in the city.

below: Tarragon Village mural by Elicser Elliott

below: There is also this mural, just around the corner on Albany, “You are not alone”. It was painted by Julia Prajza and Bareket (bkez). ‘You Are Not Alone Murals’ is a public mural project with over 100 murals completed. Their goal is to “inspire artists to create murals in their communities–sparking hope, connection, and conversations about mental health.” (quote taken from their website, youarenotalonemurals.com).

mural on the front of a building, wrapped around the front door, in cursive, text says You are not alone

below: An intriguing series of photos in the windows… but I couldn’t get a closer look at them.

below: A large red heart and an even larger blue spruce tree.

;

below: The paintings along the concrete wall on the west side of Bathurst have all been defaced.

below: Another touch of Art Deco in the neighbourhood

below: Bathurst Street houses

below: Playing in the playground

below: Store fronts on Bathurst

below: Looking north up Bathurst where Vaughan Road exits left. Vaughan Road was built in the 1920’s along an older trail that follows a now underground creek. From here, it runs more or less diagonally north and west to its northern end at Dufferin and Eglinton.

below: Choice laundry in the old brick building, on Vaughan Road.

below: Also on Vaughan Road, Zoomiez Doggie Daycare and Vaughan Road Pharmacy.

below: We met a couple of strangers. They weren’t very talkative though so we kept walking….

below: The gateposts on Strathearn Road mark the entrance to the former village of Forest Hill. Forest Hill was incorporated as a village in 1923 and then annexed by the City of Toronto in 1967.

below: There is a metal plaque at each end of the Glen Cedar pedestrian bridge over the Cedarvale Ravine. This is the one at the south end. The text is taken from the lyrics of “Anthem”, a song by Leonard Cohen. The first bridge here was built by Henry Pellatt (the same man responsible for Casa Loma) in 1912. It became a pedestrian bridge when it was modernized in 1989.

brass plaque embedded in the concrete of a bridge railing

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your prefect offering.
There is a crack,
a crack in everything
it’s how the light get’s in
[and yes, the plaque has an apostrophe in gets]

glen cedar pedestrian bridge in late october when the trees were in their autumn foilage

below: Home is where our story begins.

below: At Bathurst and St. Clair – Da Best Pilipino Bakery and Deli

below: Waiting to cross Bathurst Street

below: Looking east on the north side of St. Clair, from Bathurst. St. Clair West subway station is just a few meters away.

below: There was once a gas station on the northeast corner of Bathurst and St. Clair West. Now it is a vacant lot with a few alien creatures like this one lurking about.

below: Happy Hallowe’en pumpkins! The frog’s not so certain though.

With thanks to Nancy who walked with me that day.

a walk around Pape station

Posted: November 6, 2024 in construction, old buildings, stores, transportation
Tags: Addis Kidan church, construction, Danforth, development, Eaton Ave., halloween, houses, Metrolinx, Ontario line, Pape, subway, TTC

Have a seat! It’s a rather warm autumn this year, isn’t it?

below: A Hallowe’en spider caught in a rather thick web. It doesn’t have much to do with Pape subway station although you might feel inclined to put “scary” and “TTC” together.

Anyhow back to the main story…. Pape station is where the existing Bloor-Danforth line is going to meet the new Ontario line.

below: Do you remember when Pape station was being renovated? Now the site is a mess again.

Pape station is a short block north of the Greektown section of Danforth.

below: Looking south on Pape towards Danforth

below: Across the street from the subway station

below: See that bright white building in the picture above? I bet that it’s not white anymore.

below: My idea was to walk around the whole site. …

below: Looking back at the Danforth and Pape intersection, north side. The white stone Royal Bank building stands on the northwest corner. Behind it, the steeple and little green dome of Holy Parish church points upward.

below: Ontario Line construction along the Danforth, northside. Metrolinx seems to have a lot of property here.

below: Any idea what this is? What is happening here?

below: I wasn’t the only one taking pictures!

below: Eaton Avenue runs parallel to Pape, just to the east.

below: Northeast corner of Danforth and Eaton

below: Eaton Ave entrance to Pape station lined with plywood hoardings. This station isn’t that old – the update was completed in 2013. I think that it is being retained but it is hard to tell from the Metrolinx website. A brand new entrance is planned for the Danforth as well (and may be very large and very grand, not quite to scale with the present neighbourhood?).

below: Houses on Eaton Ave with Metrolinx construction behind them.

This area has been serviced by the Bloor Danforth line since 1966. In general, most of the residences are single family houses, often as some form of row housing. Smaller houses with small yards seems the norm… i.e. a fairly typical East York neighbourhood.

Exploring on Pape…..

below: Working on Pape, fixing a porch (or just watching)

below: Addis Kidan Church, Greek Gospel Church..

below: Tzatziki cafe with the painting above the entrance – interior restaurant scene

below: Mixed use – once a line of single family homes, now some are businesses.

below: There is also another construction site at Sammon

below: Looking north on Pape Ave from MacPhail. There is another station under construction at Cosburn, a few more blocks north but that’s for another day. (Updated 22 June 2025 – there is now an Ontario Line – North Pape blog post)

I’ll end instead the way I began – with a little bit of Halloween to distract you from the constant noise of construction.

Good morning, Bloor west from Christie

Posted: November 2, 2024 in general Toronto
Tags: autumn, bike lanes, Bloor, Bloorcourt, Christie Pits, city, colours, construction, halloween, jode roberts, morning, October, payphones, plaques, pumpkins, stores, Toronto Sign Reimagination Unit, trees, windows

On a warmer than usual late October morning….

… when the early morning sun played with the autumn leaves in Christie Pits park

Of course, late October means Halloween with pumpkins and other spooky things.

below: This guy hasn’t had his coffee yet!

As I started putting together this post, I learned that Doug Ford wants to tear up Toronto bike lanes starting with those on Bloor, Yonge, and University Ave He has named them in his latest wannabe Toronto mayor action, namely Bill 212, Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024.

Ford claims that bike lanes add to the congestion on our streets (and makes his commute to work difficult). You will note the traffic chaos here this morning! The vans on the far side are (legally) parked. I suspect that Ford once sat in a traffic jam on Bloor and noticed that cyclists were moving faster than he was.

But I don’t want to get bogged down with politics and the antics of politicians, so I will leave you with a few scenes for Bloor West (approximately) between Christie and Lansdowne. There is some Halloween, some stores, some construction, some people, some architecture, some of the usual stuff! Maybe even a few things that will take your mind off politics!

below: Bloorcourt

below: A little bit of history…. small tiles in the doorway of number876

below: Banjara parking lot payphone with its own Heritage Plaque thanks to the Toronto Sign Reimagination Unit, aka Jode Roberts.

empty small telephone booth with a plaque on top

In the summer of 2015, a coin-operated telephone was installed here, replacing three long-standing Bell payphones. This payphone served hundreds of residents, offering a vital communication link. To make a call, users had to insert metal coins through a slot. However, the phone mysteriously disappeared sometime in the past year.
The coin-operated payphone was patented by American inventor William Gray in 1891. Its use peaked around 2005, with nearly half of Canadians reporting regular use and over 150,000 payphones across the country. By 2015, more than two-thirds of these payphones had been removed. As of 2021, only a few hundred functioning payphones remained in Toronto. This plaque commemorates the payphones in this parking lot and their gradual disappearance from the urban landscape.
Heritage Plaque courtesy of the Toronto Sign Reimagination Unit, 2024

below: Bloor and Brock

below: Part of a mural by Jimmy Chiale

below: Amazing! He’s a cumin being! Good things!

below: Angel Mary

below: Very large Italian flag by Vito Vesia Upholstery

below: By Dufferin station

below: Bloor & Lansdowne

below: Scrawl on a TTC bus stop pole. At first I thought that it was a biblical reference, but when I checked, I found that Daniel 5:5 is “Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote”. I doubt that has anything to do with gullible Christian hippies, right?

below: “Remember to Love! Go call your mom, say I love you and thanks!”

With thanks to Bill, Jeff, Paul, and Barry who walked with me that morning – and a shout out to the woman who said, “That’s so cute” when she learned that we were walking together. Cute?

intersections – Yonge & Empress Walk

Posted: November 19, 2023 in construction, graffiti and street art, public art, reflections
Tags: apples, Carillo Art Studio, Cristina Delago, cruz1, daniela rocha, Erika James, glass, Green Between, grocery, halloween, hearts, June Kim, Loblaws, luvs, Mel Lastman Square, Meridian Arts Centre, Misca, mural routes, murals, Nixo Street Art, North York Centre, Peter Hide, planters, reflections, Robin Hesse, sculpture, stores, Willowdale Mosaic Mural Project, Yonge St., Zgar

After a very warm October, colder November days aren’t always easy to get used to! The solution? There are lots of paces to walk in Toronto where indoor pathways can be used to warm up!

below: Loblaws at Empress Walk, our starting point that day.

below: Glass ceiling at North York Centre. Before amalgamation of the six Toronto boroughs into what is now the City of Toronto, this was a busier place as it is adjacent to North York City Hall where City Council offices and meeting spaces were.

below: Interior of the library

below: The next two photos are taken from the south entrance to the library. First is looking south along the edge of North York City Hall. A sliver of Mel Lastman Square is on the left.

below: Now looking east towards Yonge Street with Mel Lastman Square on the right.

below: West side of North York Centre (& library)

below: “Green Between” (1994) by Peter Hide stands beside Meridian Arts Centre on North York Blvd (not to be confused with Meridian Hall which is downtown at Yonge & Front)

below: Also North York Blvd., the south entrance to North York City Hall as well as the Board of Education building.

below: Benches! On Yonge Street

below: Fountain in the small park by Joseph Shepard Building (federal government). Now dry for the winter season.

below: Hearts on planters – These are 2 of the 19 hearts that make up the Willowdale Mosaic Mural Project. They were created by Robin Hesse and Cristina Delago under the auspices of Mural Routes. You can find them on West side of Yonge Street, between North York Boulevard and Upper Madison Avenue.

below: The Yonge Sheppard Centre on the northeast corner of that intersection has been renovated and the the exterior is totally changed/improved.

below: A pedestrian walks beside the Yonge Street side of the redesigned Yonge Sheppard Centre

below: Even though there are already a lot of condo towers in the area, construction continues on more of them. This new building is just north of Sheppard.

below: The Legion building (dark brown, with the Canadian flag) is now dwarfed by development around it.

below: There are still some sites that have not yet been redeveloped.

below: Public bulletin board with posters of a few of the people kidnapped by Hamas in Israel back in October.

below: In an alley near Yonge & Greenfield; a joint effort by Carillo Art Studio, Cruz1, Luvs (Moise) and Zgar as part of Bit Lane 2021.

below: A pink and purple tiger watches the blue jay standing on the branch by June Kim and Nixo Street Art (Erika James). The orange snake is the work of Muisca (aka Daniela Rocha)

below: More wildlife, a sparrow, in among the crates in a corner of the lane.

below: Lots of birds! On TTC property, Sheppard station bus loop, another mural by June Kim.

With thanks to my mother for being my walking partner that day (which as it turns out, was one of the colder days this month).

Halloween on Church, 2023 edition

Posted: November 2, 2023 in events, people
Tags: cameras, Church St., corrupt fruit, costumes, Donald Trump, Egyptians, fruit, halloween, masks, night, nun, party, people, pictures, posing, pumpkin head, spiderman, wigs

Photos from the annual Church Street Hallowe’en party this year:

Spider

Dupont Street – the western end

Posted: October 26, 2023 in construction, locations, old buildings
Tags: bull, construction, cranes, Davenport Diamond, Dufferin, Dupont, emily may rose, graffiti, halloween, houses, industrial, Jacquie Comrie, Jesus graffiti, Lucky Convenience, murals, Sovereign Smoke, St. Ephrasinia church, Wallace Ave.

For the whole length of Dupont Street, from Avenue Road to Dundas West, the street runs parallel to, and south of, Canadian Pacific railway tracks. The proximity to the railway was a major reason that the street was home to many industries. Back in June I walked a section of Dupont east of Ossington (see Dupont Street Scenes).

A couple of weeks ago I explored west of Ossington and I’d like to show you a few pictures from that walk. The last part of the walk was a wander through some of the streets and alleys south of Dupont.

below: There are still a few reminders of Dupont’s industrial past…

Dupont has always been a very mixed street with residences

and businesses side by side. A working class street.

below: A more recent addition to the street – Sovereign Smoke (cannabis) sits beside the tire store (or mechanic).

below: Looking west along Dupont towards Dufferin – where the Galleria Mall used to be there is now a wall of glass.

Same site, different angle

below: On the west side of Dufferin, the street is being reconstructed.

below:Re-routing the sidewalk on the south side of Dupont at Emerson

below: Looking west on Dupont at Emerson. The two tall buildings on the right are on the north side of the railway tracks. The apartment building in the center of the photo was built in the 1960s or 1970s.

below: A colourful mural by Jacquie Comrie

below: Under the tracks near Lansdowne.

The “Suitman” Mural was first painted and funded with $2000 received from the City of Toronto’s Clean and Beautiful program. But after Rob Ford was elected mayor of Toronto in 2010 and began his own “clean up” campaign, it was painted over with dull grey paint. Not a bright move considering that Joel Richardson was paid by the city to paint it in the first place. Late in October 2011 it was replaced with a similar mural as seen here. It took six weeks to repaint, 25 gallons of paint were used along with 100 large cans of spray paint. Photos of the whole mural (on both north and south sides of the street) from 2011 and 2013 are on a previous blog post.

below: “And do thy duty even if it be humble, rather than another’s even if it be great. To die in one’s duty is LIFE: to live in another’s is death.” [quote from the Bhagavad Gita, a 700 verse scripture that part of the Hindi epic ‘Mahabharata’]

below: A GO train passes over the new elevated section of the tracks as it crosses Dupont Street. This is the Davenport Diamond Grade Separation project on the GO line to Barrie.

below: Looking north from Wallace Ave (towards Dupont) at the south end of the 1.4 km of elevated track. Although the tracks are functional, the streets and paths below are still a work in progress.

below: (On Wallace by the new elevated tracks) A bull and a maze makes me think of the story of the Minotaur, a creature in Greek mythology with the body of a man and the head of a bull. The maze, or labyrinth, was made for King Minos of Crete to hold the Minotaur.

below: Around the corner from the bull is a mural by Emily May Rose. It faces the tracks on what is now a vacant piece of land – shall see what becomes of it.

below: An old “Stop Harper” sticker – topsy turvy but still hanging in there. Almost as old and worn as the railing below it.

The “Strength in Numbers” mural at the next underpass to the west (by the West Toronto Railpath) has been tagged over. The link leads to a blog post from July 2016 if you are interested in what it looked like when it was newer.

below: Dovercourt signs with a maple leaf in the center. “Since 1985” refers to the founding of Dovercourt Village which is south of Dupont to Bloor between Christie on the east side and Dufferin on the west.

below: Alley infill – a tiny house!

and other small houses too.

below: Santo Antonio Coin Laundry

below: The red brick building was built in 1909 and it’s shape suggests that it was once a store. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, these stores were very popular and could be found in most neighbourhoods. With changing lifestyles (cars, larger grocery stores) and laws (only residences in residential areas) these old stores became houses. Last year Toronto City Council passed a new by-law allowing small scale retail and service businesses in residential areas.

below:Lucky Convenience Store

below: St. Ephrasinia Orthodox church (American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox).

below: Development notice – what appears to be an older building with three apartments might disappear to become a three storey building with ten units. Nice to see higher density without the ego of the developers vying to see who can build the tallest building.

below: Making use of the tiny yard space – melon vines covering the fence and running along the walls.

below: Another use of a front window! Whenever I see a house like this I always wonder if there are sentimental reasons why it is those particular items that sit there. The roses with their purple ribbon were probably important as Mary now watches over them. But one of these ducks has a dead plant – why? What is on your front window sill?

It’s getting close to Halloween so don’t be surprised if there are some creepy folks lurking around!

But not everyone is scary… Fatima and the scarecrow

A shout out to Cats Eye Coffee where we started that day. Also, a thanks to Nancy who was my tour guide and walking partner!

rats, bones, and a pumpkin or two

Posted: October 30, 2020 in events
Tags: bones, decorations, halloween, hands, mask, pumpkin, rats, skeleton, skull, spider web

Happy Hallowe’en!

Halloween doors

Posted: November 1, 2018 in doors, events
Tags: carved, caution, chain, chains, dark, decoration, front door, ghost, halloween, inflatable, lights, night, porch, pumpkins, scary, skeleton, skull, spider, spooky, tombstone, web

Enter if you dare!

To houses guarded by skulls

and ghosts. Where skeletons rise out of the ground

Where spider webs cling to everything – is that spider nearby too?

Happy Halloween everyone!

This is a “Thursday door” post. If you are interested in doors and want to see other people’s blog posts about doors, start with Norm 2.0’s blog post. At the the bottom of that post you will find a link to many more!