Posts Tagged ‘payphones’

Good morning, Bloor west from Christie

Posted: November 2, 2024 in general Toronto
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On a warmer than usual late October morning….

hear comes the sun poster in a store window on bloor west

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

trees in autumn foliage, reds, golds, and oranges, in christie pits park

painting on a cement box in christie pits park, black bird head, with text, land back to natives is justice

a man walks by a fruit and vegetable store on bloor street

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

display of small pumpkins, outside in sun, at a market, orange with green bumpy bits

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

halloween decoration in front of coffee shop, inflatable orange pumpkin with scary face, also two green arms,

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.

stickers and notes on door of bike shop

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.

a female cyclist rides a bike in a bike lane on bloor street, one car is driving past, some other cars are parked across the street

man in plaid shirt riding a bike in bike lane

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

bloorcourt sidewalk art, heart shapes around the letters, in front of a convenience store, painted by Victor

bloorcourt banner on a utility pole at dovercourt and bloor, with crane in the background, for construction on the northwest corner of that intersection

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

floor, exterior, outside of doorway of store on bloor west, covered with small multi coloured tiles, plus green tiles making the number 876

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

 

a woman sitting on a bench, outside, beside a small store, leaning on grey fence with sign on it saying pizza, as well as an arrow pointing right

looking in a store window, mannequin hand in front of a design on a t shirt that is a raccoon popping its head out of a garbage can, trash panda

chairs stacked in corner of patio, outside, some leaves have fallen on the chairs

below: Bloor and Brock

Pizza Pizza on the southwest corner of Bloor and Brock, also stores on the north side of Bloor,

bloor west, north side, at brock, blue collar bakery, bar neon, old laundromat, man walking past on sidewalk,

below: Part of a mural by Jimmy Chiale

part of a mural by Jimmy chiale, many shapes and colours, abstract, mostly blues, some faces,

man standing outside a door of a store

jumble of signs outside of a store

window of a business on bloor street, massage, neck and shoulder etc., red words on the glass that are starting to peel off, plant in window,

bloody no trespassing banner, as halloween decoration, in a store window display, with reflections of the street

hoardings beside construction site, along with scaffolding and protection that covers the sidewalk

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

decorations in a window display, store, paper hearts in different colours, each with one or two words like amazing, good things, , also note saying he's a cumin being.

below: Angel Mary

white statue of angel mary, praying, in a store selling beauty and hair products

below: Very large Italian flag by Vito Vesia Upholstery

large italian flag hanging against exterior wall of a building

envelope sticking out of the top of a rusty mailbox that is mounted on a blue metal gate

below: By Dufferin station

people waiting outside subway station, both women on phones, one standing beside a large suitcase

below: Bloor & Lansdowne

looking west along bloor at Lansdowne, front of TTC bus, people waiting to cross street, discount store on the northwest corner,

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?

graffiti writing on TTC bus stop pole that says Daniel 5.5 gullible Christian hippie

big orange cartoon face, with white cap, mural on a garage in an alley
an alley in bloorcourt, murals on garage, staircases, brick buildngs,

close up of a painting on exterior of garage in an alley, blue star with a man's face in it, front end of car with licence plate 007

mural of lighthouse on a red brick wall, bottom part has been tagged over with a lot of yellow paint

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

sticker graffiti on a Canada Post mailbox

graffiti stickers on the back of street signs

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?

pedestrians crossing street, man on bicycle waiting for green light, bus stop pole, lowrise brick apartment in background

walking on sidewalk, west on bloor,