Lake Ontario | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘Lake Ontario’

Winter Stations 2023

Posted: March 21, 2023 in events, public art
Tags: Ashbridge Bay, burlap, Conrad raccoon, Daniel Joshua Vanderhorst, Delighthouse, Lake Ontario, Life Line, lighthouse, netting, Novak Djogo, people, Ripple Hut, the (Home), winter stations, Winternet, Woodbine Beach

Winter stations 2023, as in previous years, is a collection of art installations along the waterfront at Woodbine Beach. I went for a walk along the beach one very blustery Saturday morning. There weren’t many of us there and I think that I was the only one who wasn’t accompanied by a dog.

below: ‘Delighthouse’, designed by British pair Nick Green and Greig Pirrie.

below: A shrine to the neighbourhoods of Toronto titled “The (Home)” designed by Canadian group, Scott Shields Architects

below: “Ripple Hut” designed by students from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Sciences.

below: Looking through one of the holes in “Ripple Hut” towards the curved yellow forms of “Surface Pavilion” which was designed by a Mexican team consisting of Cesar Guerrero, Ana Cecilia Garza, and Orlando Garcia .

below: “Winternet”, just burlap between wood posts. Designed, such as it is, by a team from University of Waterloo, Dept of Architecture.

below: “Life Line” – design team: WeatherstonBruer Associates – James Bruer, Nick Roland, Jacqueline Hampshire

below: “Conrad” is a large raccoon designed by Novak Djogo and Daniel Joshua Vanderhorst; it is also a memorial to Conrad the real raccoon who died at the corner of Church and Yonge Streets in the summer of 2015. Whether you love them, hate them, or are indifferent to them, raccoons are part of the Toronto scene.

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Some previous years’ installations:

2017 – Flotsam and Jetsam

Winter Stations 2019

Winter Stations 2020

On the waterfront – Winter Stations 2022

opened! – the first new Port Lands bridge

Posted: October 7, 2022 in construction, locations, transportation, waterfront
Tags: bridge, Cherry Street, CN Tower, Commissioners Street, construction, Lake Ontario, Port Lands, redevelopment, reflections, streets, traffic, traffic lights, trucks, water

The middle of three new bridges built for the Port Lands redevelopment has just been opened to traffic.

The bridge may be open to traffic, but the area is still a construction zone!

Eventually Cherry Street will be realigned so that there is no jog in it at Lakeshore. At this point in time, the south part of the realignment is closer to completion. This is where the new bridge is.

Commissioners Street has been extended westward to join the new segment of Cherry Street.

below: This is the east intersection of Commissioners and Cherry (looking east). Yes, it’s a mess! There are traffic signals even though only two of the four approaches are open. If you are traveling south on Cherry, you have to turn right onto Commissioners.

below: Same intersection, looking west.

below: New part of Commissioners Street

below: The west part of Commissioners ends here

below: If you stand in the same place as the above photo but turn to your right, this is the view that you see. This is the new part of Cherry Street being realigned to match the section north of Lakeshore Blvd. The new bridges over the Keating Channel are in place but there is still a lot to be done before this part of Cherry Street can be opened.

below: Looking south… It is the middle bridge that has been opened to traffic first. It is located approximately where the T ‘n T grocery store used to be. An interesting line of large boulders!

below: This is the view from the new bridge looking west. The large white crane structure predates the construction. The channel has always been here as it provides water/ship access to the Lafarge cement site on the south side of the waterway. What is new is that the channel is being extended eastward to join the mouth of the Don River.

below: Traveling northbound

below: Looking east from the bridge. Pinewood studios in the background on the right.

below: Another view to the east but slightly more south. This time Pinewood Studios is more to the left in the photo. A pedestrian bridge is already built to span the new water channel that is under construction.

below: Looking north up Cherry Street towards the Distillery District. The old, and now closed part, of the street is being torn up. The new street and bridge are to the left in this photo.

below: To the south, the lift bridge on Cherry Street is being refurbished but not replaced. This part of Cherry Street is not being moved.

a summer day, a city meander

Posted: September 13, 2022 in construction, people, transportation, waterfront
Tags: Alanna Cavanagh, Cherry St bridge, CN Tower, condos, Corkin Gallery, development, Gardiner Expressway, lake, Lake Ontario, Lakeshore Blvd., parliament st., peppers, Pioneer Tour boats, queens quay east, St. Lawrence market, sugar beach, sunflowers, vegetables, waterfront

Another day, another walk through the city starting at the Distillery District and heading west towards the waterfront and downtown Toronto.

below: Posing under the heart, Distillery District.

below: Posing with the LOVE locks.

below: Flowered Dress Madonna” by Ann Agee, 2021 as seen in the Corkin Gallery in the Distillery District.

below: Looking east on Front Street from Berkeley. Police Division is the old brick building. Both sides of Front are lined with black hoardings as redevelopment of those sites started recently.

below: Berkeley St., south of Front

below: Another hole in the wall; another vacant lot waiting for redevelopment on Parliament Street. More tall buildings coming to the Distillery District.

below: Looking south from the end of Parliament Street and across Lakeshore Blvd to the start of Queens Quay East. Many changes here!

below: The CN Tower peaks through the gap created by one of the onramps for the Gardiner Expressway.

below: No Parkin’, Victory Soya Mills in the background

below: Looking east towards the Port Lands redevelopment. The new Cherry Street bridge is in the background.

below: From the same spot on the waterfront as the above picture, but looking in the other direction.

below: Queens Quay East

below: Relaxing by the lake.

below: Sugar Beach, spectator section, in the shade.

below: On the rocks, Sugar Beach

below: I am not sure who this is or why he’s on the waterfront. He’s made of wood – someone constructed him and left him here.

below: Closed – ramp to the the eastbound Gardiner at Lower Jarvis.

below: Lower Jarvis

below: A bucket full of bright and cheerful sunflowers on the sidewalk by St. Lawrence Market.

below: Market Street closed to traffic at Esplanade.

below: Marvelous peppers and other veggies for sale at St. Lawrence Market

below: Someone’s looking a little distraught. Remember how your parents used to say that if you frowned too much, or you made too many weird faces, your face would freeze in that position? That is what this poor fellow reminded me of. “Frozen” in time on the side of St. Lawrence Hall.

below: In a window. The title of the painting is “Alone” so perhaps she is alone in the city albeit surrounded by flowers. Unfortunately, they are yellow and blue flowers so I suspect that there is Ukrainian symbolism at play here and that ‘alone’ has a much deeper significance.

below: Leader Lane ends at Wellington.

below: Mama elephant and her two little ones are still walking through the courtyard behind Commerce Court. They haven’t reached the pool yet (but at least there’s water in the pool now).

below: This is one of the five Big City Blooms murals found around the city (west side of Commerce Court). The big bold and cheerful flowers in reds and pinks are the work of Alanna Cavanagh.

below: Same Commerce Court building as the above picture but from a slightly different angle.

below: Melinda Street

below: Narrow city alley views, framing the gorgeous stone and brick work on the older building with its arched windows.

below: There appears to be a forest path in the middle of Brookfield Place. It is actually a photograph that is part of an exhibit called, “Take Your Seat With the Group of Seven, Nature the Inspires Us”. (now gone from Brookfield Place).

below: In this exhibit, locations used by the Group of Seven in their paintings were revisited. Photos were taken using a red director’s chair, placing the chair in the artist’s position. In this set of images, two small paintings from Coldwell Harbour are paired with a large photo of present day Coldwell Harbour – the chair is small but you should be able to see it on the rocky outcropping. The harbour is on Lake Superior near the town of Marathon.

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waterfront

Posted: April 10, 2022 in construction, locations, public art, waterfront
Tags: Aitken Place Park, Alice Aycock, anser, bench, Between the Eyes, billboards, boats, condos, eyes, ferries, fish, John Fung, Lake Ontario, Merchants Wharf, Nbii Dodem, Paul Figueiredo, public art, Que Rock, queens quay east, Redpath Sugar, reflections, Richard Deacon, sculpture, seagull, Sherbourne St., Shore Stories, sugar beach, Sundial Folly, Water Clans, waterfront

Let’s follow the fish! 🐟 It’s pointed east along Queen’s Quay and by coincidence that the direction I’m headed too… 😃

The seagull is not amused.

below: Harbour Square Park with “Sundial Folly” at the water’s edge. This art installation is the work of John Fung and Paul Figueiredo. It has recently been cleaned up. The sphere is hollow and there is a walkway that runs through it. An opening at the south side (water side) acts as a sundial.

below: Looking east from Harbour Square towards the Westin Hotel tower and the park by the ferry docks.

below: Tour boats and ferries still under wraps for the winter months.

below: “Shore Stories” a mosaic located by the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. It was made in 2012 by youth from the community under the guidance of AFCY (Arts for Children and Youth, an organization that may or may not still exist).

below: The “egg beaters” at 1 Yonge Street are now behind a fence. The installation is actually called “Between the Eyes”, and is by Richard Deacon.

below: It’s 830km to Kapuskasing and even farther to Cochrane, just keep following Yonge Street northwards.

below: “A Series of Whirlpool Field Manoeuvres for Pier 27”. by Alice Aycock

below: The walkway along the waterfront comes to an end where a very high concrete wall separates Redpath Sugar from the public space.

below: Que Rock murals, water theme, “Water Clans (Nbii Dodem)” four panels at Redpath Sugar.

below: Pink umbrellas and sugar filled ships, at Sugar Beach.

below: Queens Quay East at Dockside

below: Sherbourne Commons

below: New construction on Queens Quay East where many parts are being made of wood. A new park, Aitkens Place Park lies between the new building and the waterfront.

below: Vacant lot on the corner of Queens Quay East and Small Street.

below: At the foot of Parliament Street.

below: Anser eyes

below: Sweet and salty at the Distillery

on the waterfront

Posted: February 25, 2022 in public art, waterfront
Tags: art installation, Enter-Face, Introspection, Lake Ontario, One Canada, S'winter Station, waterfront, winter stations, Woodbine Beach

Winter Stations 2022

From late February through to the end of March is Winter Stations on Woodbine Beach along Toronto’s waterfront.

below: “The Hive” by Canadians, Kathleen Dogantzis & Will Cuthbert

below: Designed by a team from Daniels Faculty of Architecture, U of T, “Introspection”.

below: Designed by a Turkish pair, Cemre Önertürk and Ege Çakır is “Enter-Face”.

below: The structure on the left has circular openings on one side and a translucent panel on the other (lakeside) – you can through but the resulting view is slightly distorted. On the taller structure, there is a reflective material.

below: “S’winter Station” was designed by a team from Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science. The circular openings on the surface panels were made from beach towels, an object more associated with summer than with winter.

below: “One Canada” by a team from School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph. The “One” in the title is for the combining of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous together as one. Seven rings representing wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility, and truth. Orange (for National Day of Truth and Reconciliation) ropes weave the rings together in a pattern echoing those used to make drums.

after a hot summer day

Posted: July 3, 2021 in people, waterfront
Tags: evening, harbour, Joseph Landau, Lake Ontario, people, Queens Quay West, Simcoe Wave Deck, summer, waterfront

a cooler evening on the waterfront

below: Simcoe Wave Deck

below: Joseph Landau, accordion player

below: Queens Quay traffic – take care! Cyclists (and pedestrians) don’t always see or obey their traffic signals!

evening, harbour, Joseph Landau, Lake Ontario, people, Queens Quay West, Simcoe Wave Deck, summer, waterfront

Mimico and Colonel Sam

Posted: February 7, 2021 in graffiti and street art, locations, nature, waterfront
Tags: Alexa Hatanaka, alley, Canada geese, cookies, covid, covid signs, cow, housses, Jim Bravo, Jimmys Coffee, Lake Ontario, Lakeshore Arts Projects, laneway, mallard ducks, Mimico, murals, Patrick Thompson, Paula McDines, ROyal York Rd., signs, snow, stairs, stores, tibetan prayer flags, winter

A mild January turned into a frigid February but that shouldn’t slow us down should it? So I bundled up and drove to Mimico to meet a friend – what? we haven’t seen each other for over a year? 2020 has taken its toll. At least it’s easier wearing masks in cold weather!

below: Two murals by Jim Bravo. On the right, “Down Creek Way” 2012. On the left, “Morning Ice Harvest” 2014. Both are part of the Lakeshore Arts Project

below: A watery mural with a large duck bottom as it paddles by on the side of Birds and Beans Coffee Shop. Another Lakeshore Arts Project; it was designed by Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson and painted with the help of a crew of youth & community members coordinated by Paula McDines.

below: Mural on the side of Calibreze Pizza on Lakeshore Blvd.

The northern boundary is the Gardiner Expressway. Here, stairs from the street running parallel to the Gardiner up to Royal York Road before it becomes a bridge over the expressway.

below: Signs on the outside

below: … and old photos on the inside. Jimmys Coffee, Royal York Road. Hanging out inside was verboten but a few minutes of warmth was appreciated.

below: Who can resist a unicorn poop cookie?

below: Signs of Covid. Prior to the most recent lockdown there was talk about “big box stores” being allowed to stay open while smaller businesses had to close. At the moment, even “big box stores” are closed.

below: Bag full of work.

below: Moooooove me…. I’m tired of getting splattered with slush when cars get too close!

below: A cold and wet seat.

below: Just out of the picture, and making a lot of noise, was the same dog that’s in this picture.

below: Tibetan prayer flags adorn the fence. Each colour represents an element; white symbolizes air, red is fire., green is water, yellow is earth, and blue is wind. They also represent directions – North, South, East, West and Center. As the flags flutter in the wind, they emit positive spiritual vibrations enabling the wind to carry away the prayers and wishes. As the prayers drift away, the colours fade.

below: Mimico is home to a large GO facility, the Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility. It didn’t look too inviting! It might be worth some research so that on a warmer, sunnier day we could go exploring.

below: It’s difficult to see, but the door on the left has a “women” sign on it. His and hers.

What had started as a sunny morning, turned into a grey low-light so we headed to the lake to see if we could find more sun, or at least better light.

below: Part of Humber College Lakeshore Campus. These buildings were built in the late 1880s as “cottages”, part of the Mimico Asylum (later known as the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital). Almost a hundred years later the site was shut down. At that time, there were 280 patients, down from a peak of 1,390 in 1950.

below: The site was leased to Humber in 1991 and since then these four buildings have been completely renovated to suit Humber’s needs.

below: Humber College is surrounded on three sides by Colonel Sam Smith park and one of the features of the park is an outdoor skating loop. This year, online registration is needed for a time slot at all rinks – unless you’re lucky enough to arrive when others have cancelled or have been unable to show up. (As an aside – they have a washroom for weary walkers in need!)

Another feature of the park are the waterfront trails along the shores of Lake Ontario.

below: Comfy sofa at the ready?

We never did find more light that morning. But if you’re in the mood for hot chocolate bombs or other sweet goodies we might have found the place for you!

below: As I was driving home after the walk, I came across this scene:

history in pieces of stone

Posted: October 1, 2020 in history, locations, nature, old buildings
Tags: autumn, berries, cliff, colours, columns, crab apple, crabapple, Dr. Healey Willan, flowers, garden, Guild Inn, history, Jacobine Jones, Lake Ontario, leaves, marble, monuments, mountain ash, Musidora, park, peacock, people, plants, sculpture, Sir Ernest MacMillan, statue, stone, Thomas Bowie

Another path through the woods. This time there was a hint of yellow in the leaves because it was late September and even in 2020, some things are the same as ever.

The path led me uphill to the newly renovated Guild Inn. It’s been five years since I have wandered around their gardens and surrounding park. In that time, the building has been renovated and expanded. I didn’t take very many pictures the other day because I knew that I had a lot from my previous visit. I was going to link to the blog post from that time but I discovered that I never actually got around to posting anything! So, I have found the old photos and have included some of them here.

below: For instance, this is the front of the inn in July 2015 with its windows covered.

below: And the back, five years ago.

below: Five years later – the back of the Guild Inn with the path leading to the gardens.

below: A statue of Saint Francis Assisi with a wolf, carved by Thomas Bowie (b.1905)

below: A stone wall with statues and carvings provides a backdrop for a garden full of black-eyed susans. Because of the efforts of a few people to salvage some of Toronto’s architectural and creative history, the gardens of the Guild Inn have become the final resting place of a number of pieces of older buildings that have been demolished to make way for modern skyscrapers.

below: Stone wall with features from the Bank of Nova Scotia building (1903)

below: The bird nest is long gone. … but it would have been a nice quiet spot to raise a family.

below: From the Royal Conservatory of Music. There are two bas-relief bronzes of men associated with the Royal Conservatory. On the right is Sir Ernest MacMillan (1893-1973), an organist, composer, and conductor who was knighted in 1935 by King George V. On the left is Dr. Healey Willan (1880-1968) another organist and composer who was associated with the Toronto Conservatory for 30 years (1920-1950).

below: Looking through one stone arch to another, the square arch from the Imperial Bank of Canada Building (1928) and underneath sits Musidora. Many artists have lent their interpretations of this woman (in sculpture and paint), the subject of a poem titled “Summer” by Scottish poet James Thomson written in 1727. The beautiful Musidora strips naked to cool down by bathing in the stream, not knowing that she is being watched by Damon. Damon is torn between watching and turning away but chooses the latter.

In 1887, a Bank of Montreal building was built at the northwest corner of King and Bay; a site now occupied by First Canadian Place. The building featured a series of sculptures representing the Canadian provinces that were created by a number of artists. When the building was demolished in 1968, these panels were brought to the Guild Inn. Not all of them are on view today possibly because some were not in good shape (held together with metal straps). Maybe they are being fixed up?

below: This is the Alberta panel in 2015; the artist was Jacobine Jones (1897-1976)

below: It has since been cleaned up.

below: One of two stone angel panels from the North American Life Assurance Company Building (1932).

below: The brick and stone entranceway from the Granite Club (1926)

below: This cabin was named for William Osterhout, a United Empire Loyalist who in 1805 was given the first Crown land grant from King George III as reward for his service with the Butler’s Rangers. Although Osterhoust briefly owned the property, he never settled in Scarborough Township. The structure was more likely built around 1850 to 1860…. that may be a contentious “fact” as some believe that it is at least 50 years older than that.

The gardens have several different types of trees all in their autumn plummage.

below: Orange berries on a mountain ash tree…

below: … and many little crabapples on a crabapple tree.

below: At the south, the property ends at the Scarborough bluffs and there are many warning signs along the paths that run near the edge.

below: Looking out over Lake Ontario

And then, when driving north on Morningside on my home, I encountered this…. The peacocks have arrived.

For more of the history of the Guild Inn, see their website.

Saturday at the beach

Posted: September 29, 2020 in people, waterfront
Tags: bikes, boardwalk, boat, car, family, kids, Lake Ontario, Leuty, Mclaren, paddle, picnic, reading, sand, swim, volleyball, walk, water, Woodbine Beach

… even though it was the end of September!

below: Up, up, and away… not! The woman in the middle doesn’t seem to interested. Perhaps she’s too busy taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity to sun bathe on the beach one more time.