Posts Tagged ‘Koreatown’

to Bloor and west on Bathurst

Posted: May 18, 2024 in construction, intersections, locations
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below: Medallion embedded in the sidewalk outside Bathurst subway station entrance showing the way –   South to Bloor and west to Bathurst is first on list for today. … Or maybe round and round in circles?

brass circular medallion embedded in the sidewalk in front of Bathurst subway station, four points of the compass with labels, E to subway, S to Bloor, W to Bathurst and N to Dupont

below:  Looking south on Bathurst towards Bloor.  The southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst is now a solid block of condos.

looking south on Bathurst towards Bloor, west side of the street

below: Same collection of buildings but from a slightly different angle.  Giant concrete pillars in front of ground level glass wall.  Argh.  Unoriginal Toronto architecture.

southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst, tall glass and steel condo buildings

below:  Working at heights.  It looks like road access from Bathurst towards Markham Street. More concrete pillars!

below:  Alternative Thinking and its neighbour directly to the south remained the holdouts and are now completely surrounded by new development.

two older structures now surrounded by new condo buildings, older ones were three storey brick stores with apartments above from the 1880s. Alternative Thinking store

below: Around the corner on Bloor near Markham. The sidewalk in this stretch has been widened with benches and planters added.

bloor street, sidewalk in front of new condos, blue construction fence still up, new benches and planters on the sidewalk
below: Honest Eds is long gone.

behind blue construction fence, machinery, two tall condo being built with laneway between them

below:  Work continues on the re-making of Markham Street.

workmen on construction site on Markham street

below:  Ed’s Mercantile Store & Studio.  Vintage and Handmade Goods – it’s not exactly Honest Ed’s but it was at least worth a smile and a chuckle (and a photo!)

Ed's Mercantile store window on Bloor, vintage and old stuff,

below: Stop.  Stop building.

stop sign at Palmeston Blvd, with the word building scratched into it, stop building

below: From Palmerston, the new condos rise up behind.

roofline of older houses on Palmerston with new condos in the background

large red brick old house on Palmerston with large new condo in the background

below: Spring!  Lilacs in abundance in front of an old brick house with fabulous balcony space.

older brick house, 3 storeys, with 2 balconies and a porch, all with white wood railings, large pink lilac in front, with yellow tulips and greenery in front garden

below: One block south of Bloor is Lennox

Lennox street scene, trees, old red brick building, condos behind

chairs, one on either side of a brown door, red brick building

below:  There is a lane that runs north from Lennox that ends behind the stores on Bloor.   The old buildings are dwarfed by the newer condos.

looking down an alley, with backs of old buildings on Bloor immediately adjacent to tall new condo

below: Same alley, new infill housing

infill housing in a laneway, two storey house with mostly windows on upper level

below: This isn’t the exact view from that lovely infill house, but it’s close.

wall with street art, construction site on the other side of the wall

below: Still in the alley trying to get a good view of what’s happening on the site…   Some of the old houses on Markham have been kept (or at least their facades).

Markham street, old mirvish village, redevelopment, small house among the highrises

looking down an alley, tree and greenery along fence on right, street art covered wall on left, car parked in front of a garage at the end

below: Bloor Street from Markham Street west to just beyond Christie is part of the Koreatown BIA which suggests a preponderance of Korean businesses.

Koreatown banner on lamp post, condos behind

below: Businesses like Seoul Hot Dog, Mummy Korean Restaurant, and Mapo Korean BBQ.

stores on Bloor

three young Korean woman walking on Bloor

older Korean woman shopping in corner store

four little characters with drinks, on the window of a korean cafe

pictures of dishes displayed outside, under window of korean restaurant, also green sign advertising in korean lettering, for acupuncture and herbs

below: Korean Village Restaurant

Korean Village Restaurant with mural on upper level,

below: Imagine Your Korea mural (in 2 photos)

Imagine Your Korea mural in Koreatown, with bike share bikes in front, mostly empty

korea mural on corner of bloor

below: A green dragon breathes fire outside Chung Chun Rice Hot Dog in a mural by Allan Render, John Norbrega, and Stacey Kinder (Blinc Studios), 2019.

outside wall of chung chun rice hot dog restaurant, a mural with a large green fire breathing dragon

part of a larger mural, people running outside shops on sidewalk, running away from green monster

below: But in typical Toronto style, many other ethnic groups are represented here – Ave Maria Latin Cafe

Latin Cafe on Bloor with round yellow sign,

below: Pour Boys keeping an eye on Bloor.

pour boys muralon building across the street from Bloor Fruits store, selling veggies and fruits on the sidewalk

below: … Tibetan Paper Store… and more.

objects in the window of the Tibetan Paper Shop, little dolls, incense, bowls, bracelets,

below: “If you are reading this, Iran is not free”

mural that says if you are reading this, Iran is not free

tattered pink heart with a face cut out of it, stapled to a wood utility pole that has hundreds of staples on it

googly eyes have been glued onto yellow box with push button for crossing the street

 

old mural on side of white brick building, text, abstract, kizmet32,

from Korean to Italian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

below: Well it is December after all…..

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

below: Well it is December after all…..

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

blue outline simple drawing of a persons head and shoulders

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

below: Conversation on a garage door.

a garage door with the words, are you happy?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

below: A white horse in an alley

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

below: As well as two little astronauts.

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

below: Blood and bandages barber shop. Wonderful name!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

old Italian movies on DVD for sale in a store window

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

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