Posts Tagged ‘Little India’

Namaste, Merry Christmas, and more…

Posted: December 18, 2024 in locations, stores, transportation
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Another visit to Little India late one afternoon in December.  In December darkness descends early but with darkness come lights.  Some things are hidden but others are revealed.  Shadows shift and details blur. 

below: “Namaste!  Warning, This Store is protected by Karma.  Steal from here and you’ll soon find out why Karma’s a Bitch.”

sign in store window, with picture of buddha, Namaste, Warning,

below: Christmas lights on poles, and greenery with bows – it must be December in the city!

greenery and white bows in a planter along the sidewalk on gerrard, little india, utility pole beside it is wrapped in Christmas lights

sign painted on side of coffee shop, in large capital letters, you are here. with a decorated christmas tree beside it

seemingly cross eyed santa claus doll in a store window, skinny santa

below: I doubt that it says “Merry Christmas”!  … Nor does it say, “Namaste”.

sticker with arabic writing on it, on a utility pole that is wrapped in christmas lights

below: Love wins, regardless of the season.   A few of the characters on the exterior of a building painted by Al Runt.

two of the many characters painted by Al Runt on the exterior of a building on gerrard east, a sign in the window of the building says love wins

in store, man behind counter, looks out door as photo is being taken of mannequin in the window

portions of saris and other garments in store window, green beaded cloth, bright patterns,

below: A cash register on the counter and shelves crammed full of stuff – mostly household things – mugs, pots & pans, and the like.

looking in the window of a store, cash register on the counter, shelves full of stuff,

below: Looking in gallery windows too

GAS gallery window with large painting on display

north side of Gerrard

below: Baldev Paan – paan, ice cream, soft drinks, and bitcoin.

store in Little India, Baldev Paan, light green painted exterior, many signs in window,

below: Running for the streetcar

streetcar on gerrard,

below: Rana Gems, India Paan, and a restaurant with tacos and mariscos (seafood, en español) as well as a Christmas tree in the window.

2 store fronts on gerrard, India Paan, and both are two storey older buildings, picture taken late afternoon, lights on inside stores

below: Small, smaller, smallest?  or Big, bigger, biggest?  Biggest pencil? Yes!  …..  Karma’s Kitchen is squished in between two larger buildings.

three stores in little india, tall grey building, middle sized blue Neelams store, and short single storey restaurant,

below: More on the south side of Gerrard, Karmas Kitchen again, Sultan Jewellers and, the now empty, Alesha Beauty Salon and Spa.

early evening, three buildings on the north side of Gerrard, Karma Kitchen restaurant,

small metal table on sidewalk outside restaurant, list of food on wall, like lassi, sev puri, panu puri, and gol guppa, evening, street scene

below: Pretty in pink

exterior of restaurant, painted pink

below: Looking through the window

looking through window into restaurant with a large image of a woman in pink on a wall

below: Dancing among the flowers

part of a mural in Little India, two people dancing, woman in purple sari, man in pinkish orange outfit

decorations on a glass door, entrance to a store, lit inside, darker outside, evening

saris hanging up in window of clothing store

mannequins in store window, with sign that says everything must go, also a sign advertising 22k gold

mannequins in a window, evening, yellowish light inside

below: Shiny beaded fringes and reflected lights, playing with windows.

reflections of stores and lights in a window with saris and clothes with shiny beads on fringes, metallic threads,

part of a mural, a woman's portrait on a door, with colourful designs around her, leaves and flowers, stylized

advert posters on exterior wall, faded, both women,

mailbox with white necklace like dangly thing, with fake orange flowers at the end

bicycle parked in front of Lazy Daisy Cafe on Gerrard, bus shelter,

below: Harry’s on the northeast corner of Gerrard and Coxwell

TTC streetcar at Coxwell and Gerrard, in front of Harrys Burgers restaurant

below: Coxwell Variety

coxwell variety store signs, and people on sidewalk

below: Northwest corner of Gerrard and Coxwell

people walking north on coxwell from gerrard

below: Are YOU a Communist?

poster on a pole, Are you a Communist? Now get organized

sidewalk tree planter painted orange

Happy trails!  and a Merry Christmas….  Joyeux Noël …. Feliz Natal … Feliz Navidad to all!

a couple pushes a stroller past of striped bench on a sidewalk, in front of stores

art walk – outside and in

Posted: April 3, 2024 in galleries, graffiti and street art
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… As seen on Gerrard Street East and the alleys that run behind it.

mural that says you are here in 3 d looking letters, on side of brown brick building

below: Paintings in a little outdoor gallery space – along the fence on Craven.

few paintings in blues, purples, and teals, abstracts, mounted on wood fence on Craven Rd.,

below: Swirls in black and red

street art on side of white brick building, red and black swirls

below: Monstrous creatures and flowers on the stairs.

below: In a parking lot behind Gerrard, south side.

trailer parked in font of walls covered with street art murals including a woman's portrait by jarus

below: More laneway art

murals in alley

murals in alley

below: Close up view of a woman’s portrait painted by Anya Mielniczek

close up of face in woman portrait street art mural by anya mielniczek

below: Part of a mural by Chief Ladybird and Auralas

woman with feather in her hair, by chief lady bird, mural street art

below: It looks like the Venus Flytrap is trying to hide…

below: More illustrations of his work at SOWL, Art of Sowl

below: Tommy Drift characters on two sides.

tommy drift street art on two sides of a building in an alley behind gerrard street

below: The life of a mural isn’t always nice – the bottom part was tagged over and then painted.

an old mural with orange umbrellas that has had the bottom painted over in blue

below: Part of mural on the side of Whole Foods store

mural on the side of whole foods store

purple and blue banner attached to lamp post

below: Large yellow flowers on Kohinoor Foods store.

store front, Kohinoor Foods, building painted blue with large flowers

below: More flowers, bright bold coloured flowers

mural of white line drawings of flowers, on bright coloured backgrounds so it looks like bold coloured flowers, reds, blues, oranges, all on a royal blue background, mural

below: And a red rose in Blazeworks mural

mural by blazeworks, a young woman lifting hand weights, a red rose, other white leaves

below: Woman in a pink head scarf overlooks the street

store fronts on gerrard street east, mural on the side of one building that is taller than the others, woman in a head scarf in mural, car parked on street,

The Riverdale Hub and Gallery is on Gerrard Street.  It is now home to three floors of gallery space.  The remaining images in this post is a sampling of what I saw there when I visited back in March.

below: Poonam Khanna, Rainy Day series

two paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, both are rainy day scenes, one has two people walking on a sidewwalk, with a black backpack, the other is looking out onto an intersection

below: Robyn Asquini

paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, by Robyn Asquini, realistic painting of two women on steps of a stone building, one with very red hair who is standing, the other woman is sitting with a large brown hand bag

below: Detail, close up, of a Steve McDonald artwork.

part of an artwork by Steve McDonald, digital art, tall yellow flower like plants

below: Kyla Yager, “Looking for Words”

painting by Kyla Yager hanging on a gallery wall, abstract, a green flower, some eyes, a mouth full of teeth, a red arrow, other shapes and colours

below: Three little pieces by Natalie Plociennik

three paintings by Natalie Plociennik, one round one, one vertical rectangle, and one square, abstracts, curvy shapes

below: Karen Couillard, part of a series, “ Beautiful Chaos : Nature’s Resilience”

paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, by Karen Couillard, pink abstract flowers in a vase, a greenish yellow bird sits on one of them,

below: Marina Doukas, “Performance by Bob the Drag Queen”.

paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, blad black man in drag, painted by Marina Doukas, green lipstick, holding a smoking gun (not real), pink stripe down middle of face,

below:  Miyakah Emon, part of the “Invisible Playground” exhibit.

two artworks on a gallery wall by Miyakah Emon

below: Mimmo (Domenico) Baronello, owls, the story tellers.

paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, both feature owls, realistic paintings,

trim on a green awning on a store in little india, tassels and shiny bits

 

South Asian Festival

Posted: July 24, 2017 in events, people
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Toronto in the summer means street festivals every weekend.   One of the festivals this past weekend was the 15th annual South Asian Festival in ‘Little India’.   Gerrard Street East was closed to traffic between Greenwood and Coxwell for the occasion.

below: Shopping, strolling and playing games.  Try your skill at cricket or buy some jewellery or some clothing.

street scene at South Asian festival. a man hits a ball with a cricket bat, two women in head scarves are talking, men behind a table are selling jewellery and clothes

a woman leans on the top of a rack of clothing for sale, sidewalk sale, as part of the South Asian Festival on the Gerrard Street.

three women are looking at a blouse (dress?), red and white pattern, on a hanger at an outdoor sidewalk sale, as part of a street festival. They are looking at the same piece of clothing

mother and daughter look at bangles, jewellery, for sale outside, at street festival. Both are wearing sunglasses

an older man sits behind a small table covered with a white cloth. on the table are toys that he is selling. he is holding an orange Nemo shaped bubble maker plastic toy. behind him, a man is standing smoking a cigarette

Like all street festivals, there was lots of food and drink available.

below: Extracting sugar cane juice.

a man shreds sugar cane in a machine to extract the sugar cane juice which he is then selling, outside, street festival, Little India

below: Fresh baked naan, straight from the oven.

a man removes freshly baked naan from a tandoori oven

There were many photo ops provided.  For instance, there were cut outs for faces in pictures of Bollywood actors.

at a street festival, two people are putting their heads through cut outs while others take their picture, cut outs are on faces of Bollywood actors and actresses.

… and a richly decorated cart (What is it’s proper name?)

an older couple pose for a picture while they are sitting in a decorated cart, purple velvet, and many colourful tassles

and mannequins in traditional costumes.

two young boyus pose with a manniquin dressed in traditional Indian (South Asian) costume

below: There was also entertainment.   In this case, a rapper in Hindi and English.

a man with a black shirt with the word security on the back watches a performance of a rap artist who is on a stage with many people watching him

one woman adjusts the floral headband on another woman, both are dressed in traditional South Asian clothing

young kids lean over a yellow barricade as they watch a performance a girl is giving a thumbs up sign

a woman is airbrushing black paint onto a stencil on the upper part of a small girls arm, temporary tattoo

a woman with shiny bangles, bracelets, on her wrist puts her hand on her boyfriend's lower back

… and there was even a large elephant parked beside Victoria Whole Foods!  It looks a bit tacky with the big advertising  banner on its side but it was still a popular place to take selfies.

a couple, man and woman, each with a dog on a leash, is taking a selfie in front of a large elephant sculpture

road losed sign and yellow metal barricades, street festival going on behind the sign & barricade. Also racks of sarees for sale and in the distance, a large fake elephant

udlaakut, good morning

Posted: November 6, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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There is a new collection of street art in Little India.  It can be found if you go behind the stores on the south side of Gerrard Street between Rhodes Avenue and Craven Road.  The art is easily seen because there is not only an alley behind the stores but also a parking lot.

back of a row of stores and restaurants viewed across an empty parking lot. The lower storey of the exterior walls are covered with street art and murals.

below: Udlaakut Alysia.  Udlaakut is Inuit for good morning.

A street art painting with the words udlaakut Alysia. Udlaakut is Inuit for good morning

The corner of a building with street art on it. Wispy people in blue

below: Above the stairs painted by timmydrift and below the stairs by thepasystem

The back of a store with street art on it. A metal staircase goes diagonally up across the building. Above the stairs is a multicoloured swirly piece while under the stairs the street art in is blue and purple A campfire burns yellow in the bottom left corner.

Detail of a flower from a largeer street art piece. It looks like a purple and red daisy

below: A marine creature (alligator) by Nick Sweetman and a woman’s face by Kairo.

An orange chair sits in front of a corner of a building that is covered with street art. There is a realistic woman's face by kairo and a creature by Nick Sweetman

below: The metal fittings on the back of the building were spray painted shiny gold and incorporated into the design of the mural.

Close up of part of a larger street art painting. The metal parts of the building have been spray painted shiny gold and incorporated into the mural.

Doorways covered with street art, something cutesy in pink and yellow, a furry head creature and a blue koala

below: behind 1465 Gerrard Street East

doorways behind 1465 Gerrard St. covered with street art, a white ghostly skull and a girl standing with her head back and arms upraised

below: Lean back!

A creature whose body is made of small circles and triangles, with skinny black arms and legs, wearing white shoes and white gloves

street art on the back of building. On the top is a starfish shape in blues. On the bottom is a grumpy little man with an oversized head done in teal colours. He is wearing an orange headband. GFC Cruz

The back of a few two storey shops where the bottom half is covered with street art and murals

below: behind Siddhartha vegetarian restaurant

garages and walls at the back of stores and restaurants covered with street art. Pink anf purple blob like creatures and an elephant

An elephant head and trunk street art painting by PUA (#PUA69) on a garage door.

below:  On the back of the Flying Pony cafe is this colourful mural painted by Tim Skynz, lead artist of the group Eskape Reality

Two murals, both brightly multicoloured featuring creatures, on walls in an alley

below: tropical paradise?!

street art mural of a blob creature in green with two faces, one with tongue sticking out and one with three eyes. It is beside a palm tree on a beach.

mural on a wall, with a window in the middle, many blob creatures with different number of eyes in blues, reds and purples, many with tongues sticking out, one giving a peace sign with white hand

below: Side of the Flying Pony cafe

the side of the Gallery Coffee Bakery with a red winged horse sign on the upper storey of the red brick bulding. The door and window frames of the shop are painted in primary colours.

Diagonally across the corner (of Gerrard and Rhodes) from the Flying Pony is another store that has been covered with street art recently.  This mural was painted by Runt.  1600 Gerrard East is the home of Lenswork, a photo and art studio gallery.

A store on the corner of Gerrard and Rhodes in Toronto where the front and side of the building are covered with multicoloured street art.

If you go back to Craven Road there are two murals.

the west part of the back of a building covered with street art. The street and another lower building with a mural on it is in the background.

First, there is the one by Monica on the Moon on a small building behind the Gujran Wala Tikka House restaurant.

A mural by Monica on the Moon on a dark blue or black background, a bright orange and blue flower on the right and a flower/face on the left. The words Gujran Wala Tikka house are written in the top right corner which is the name of the restaurant that this building is behind.

Beside it, on the side of the Gujran Wala Tikka House,  is a larger mural titled “The Rickshaw” by Monica Wickeler
(note: Monica Wickeler is Monica on the Moon)

mural in Little India of a decorated bicycle in front of a beige building with orange umbrellas on the left

below: And last, seen on a pole in the parking lot:

sticker on a grey metal pole. head with the words Blob Head written underneath. Purple hair, open mouth, pink lips, teeth showing, purple bushy eyebrows and three small eyes where each eye should be (six eyes in total)

 

The alley project was coordinated by Tammy Rogers
with assistance from Monica Wickeler and the Gerrard India Bazaar BIA.

Four-D

Posted: December 9, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Four-D, a mural on Woodfield at Gerrard East in Little India
by artists Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson, October 2013
supported by the city of Toronto and Gerrard India Bazaar

 mural on the side of a one storey building showing 4 brightly coloured panels. Turquoise in the background. Each panel shows an archway between pillars. Each of the 4 has a brightly coloured pattern

part of a mural, one of four panels painted to look like a yellow and red arch. under the arch is a bright multicoloured pattern reminiscent of South Asian fabrics and embroidery

part of a mural, one of four panels painted to look like a yellow and red arch. under the arch is a bright multicoloured pattern reminiscent of South Asian fabrics and embroidery

part of a mural, one of four panels painted to look like a yellow and red arch. under the arch is a bright multicoloured pattern reminiscent of South Asian fabrics and embroidery

part of a mural, one of four panels painted to look like a yellow and red arch. under the arch is a bright multicoloured pattern reminiscent of South Asian fabrics and embroidery