Posts Tagged ‘Jesus graffiti’

Dupont Street – the western end

Posted: October 26, 2023 in construction, locations, old buildings
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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.

the word dupont written in upper case block letters, black, on an old metal truck, barbed wire in front of it

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

old light industry building behind chainlink fence

yellow front end loader in front of building, large green storage tank behind

red truck parked behind chainlink fence, sign on side of truck, on passenger door, says Supont Construction Supplies, building materials, ready made concrete

  Dupont has always been a very mixed street with residences

a front porch on Dupont, white wrought iron chair, also white metal railing, greenery in front, new condo development in the background

semi detached houses, two storeys, one large window in the upper storey, fire hydrant in front, parked motorcycle with cover a well in front

and businesses side by side.  A working class street.

old cars and trucks outside house and mechanic workshop on dupont

an orange vinyl padded chair on a porch with black wrought iron railing and a small white bookcase

food truck and two slush trucks parked beside empty commercial building

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

line of tire shops and mechanics, with sovereign cannabis there too

red brick two storey building on Dupont, railway bridge in background, CIBC ad on billboard on roof of building, Sound PX

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

looking west on Dupont towards Dufferin, tall cranes and new condo highrise construction

Same site, different angle

construction site at dufferin and dupont

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

looking east on dupont towards redevelopment project at dufferin, many workmen making new sidewalks

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

south side of intersection of dupont and emerson, houses, new sidewalk route, black and orange traffic cones

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.

looking west on dupont towards lansdowne, pioneer gas station, apartment building from the 1970s

a row of two storey houses, one painted turquoise, in front of an apartment building of about 20 storeys

below: A colourful mural by Jacquie Comrie

below: Under the tracks near Lansdowne.

mural on underpass wall, construction on railway track above

part of Suitman mural on Dupont Street, 3 men in black suits, white shirts, and black ties, standing together. they all have large yellow halos, or circle auras around their heads

 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’]

mural on underpass wall, construction on railway track above, along with elevated tracks being built above that

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.

green and white GO train passes over new elevated section of tracks as it crosses Dupont Ave

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.

looking north from Wallace Ave along new elevated rail tracks just west of Lansdowne, construction underneath

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.

mural, bull in pinks and purples, 2 large horns, ring through nose, in front of a maze, like 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.

mural by Emily May Rose on wall by new pathway on east side of elevated rail line, just south of Wallace Ave

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

old stop harper sticker on a no parking sign, that is upside down,

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.

white words written on a red brick wall Jesus, blesses, immanuel, also a white cross

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.

two Toronto street signs, both with Dovercourt top parts, Hallam st and Salem Ave

below: Alley infill – a tiny house!

small house in an alley, alley infill housing, or a large shed

and other small houses too.

two narrow bungalows side by side, 2 dark cars parked on street in front of the houses

below: Santo Antonio Coin Laundry

Santo Antonio Laundromat

a woman stands beside a store, in window of store is a yellow sign that says come in and try our delicious hot veal sandwiches

 

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.

two houses, one on right is red brick with three upper storey windows, also a large green shutter, or covering over front window, square roofline

below:Lucky Convenience Store

man unlocks his bike in front of Lucky Convenience Store

glass window in door of closed variety store, Canadian flag hanging inside some notes and posters, door frame is pink

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

rectangular two storey grey brick building, with a small silver dome and cross on top

red, white, and blue, barber pole on a wall painted orange with primary colour dots,

white stencil graffiti on a brick wall, image of a security camera

graffiti on a wood utility pole made from a vinyl LP record

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.

three mailboxes by a door along with a blue and white development notice sign

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

melon vines

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?

ornaments along the front window sill, exterior

bright red flower growing in a front yard

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

Halloween decoration on a porch, a fake man with a chainsaw

a front yard full of halloween decorations such as skeleton, ghost, hands, eyeballs

But not everyone is scary…  Fatima and the scarecrow

on a pinkish red painted brick wall, a plaque for Lady of Fatima religious icon and a little scarecrow autumn decoration

blue stencil on sidewalk, graffiti, words that say be kind to yourself

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!

coffee cup from cats eye coffee shop on dupont