photos | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘photos’

spring in the city

Posted: May 26, 2014 in general Toronto
Tags: buds, city, flowers, graffiti, ivy, leaves, photos, spring, street art, streets, Toronto, trees, tulips, walls

Spring in the City

Hopeful signs of a new season that I have spotted this week.

A large garden full of orange tulips. In the background is the grass and trees of St. james Park. There is a couple sitting on a bench on the far side of the tulip bed.

orange tulips galore in St. James Park

Tulips and other spring plants starting to grow in front of a wall that has been painted with graffiti

signs of spring in front of the wall

Flowering white tree in front of the entrance of Metropolitan United Church

Even spring can look grey if you look at it from the right angle. Metropolitan United church.

pretty in pink, and purple…. boxes of flowers along the fence, Davenport Road

many yellow and white daffodils are growing in front of a picket fence. There are a number of trees with new leaves behind the fence.

daffodils and picket fence, Riverdale Farm

A row of orange tulips growing in front of St. James cathedral. Close up of the building so only part of one wall, with lower corner of a window, can be seen.

growing in the shadow of St. James cathedral

A tree with pink blossoms is growing in front of brick row houses, one red brick and one that has been painted light grey.

pink on brick, near Kensington

Ivy begins to grow again on a wall that has been painted with beige, blue and orange graffiti. Close up picture of the graffiti so it looks like an abstract shape

almost smiling at the ivy growing on the alley wall

Sonya’s Park

Posted: May 21, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: altered signs, brick, city, defaced, downtown, grass, green space, historical, houses, Kensington market, Oxford St., park, photos, pictures, playground, stickers, tags, Toronto, urban, wall

Sonya’s Park, a small green space on Oxford Street.

On the east side of the park there is a brick wall that had a number of scenes painted on it. The pictures depicted a trip to Kensington market, circa 1885. Some of the murals remain intact while others have been defaced.

A play structure with slide is on the left of the picture, a woman is sitting on a bench on the right side. Row houses on the opposite side of the street can also be seen. There are some large trees too.

Oxford St., from the park.

Spring plants are growing in front of the wall on which there is a mural on a brick wall depicting a scene from a visit to Kensington Market circa 1885. A small girl is standing beside a cart.

Trip to Kensington market, circa 1885. The first of the murals on the brick wall on the east side of the park.

Large white tags obscure part of a mural depicting Kensington market in the past

Once upon a time there was a mural there. Sadly, taggers have made their presence known.

mural on a brick wall depicting a scene from a visit to Kensington Market , people buying fruit and vegetables from a street vendor. Spring plants are growing in front of the wall.

buying fruit and vegetables, circa 1885

a large tag over another mural. Someone has then written large red letters that say Stop not taggin art

stop not taggin art & watch yourself

A brick wall that runs across the back of the park. It is covered with graffiti. There is a metal gate in the center and you can see that there is more graffiti on the walls of the alley behind.

at the back of the park

A chain link fence in front of a piece of graffiti in oranges, yellows and purple

diamonds of colour

A city of Toronto sign that has had four stickers attached to it.

Plea no the, Elder abuse, and Don’t worry CAMH is only a block away, all on one sign

508

Posted: May 21, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: bathurst, city, clandestinos, colourful, graffiti, house, murals, painted, photographs, photos, shalak, smoky, street art, Toronto, urban

One house in the city.

The number 508 is above the doorway. An eye, part of two different murals, is on either side of the door.

508 in the middle

View of the front of a two storey building taken from the street in front of it. The exterior of the house is covered with paintings. Two faces cover what once the front windows.

eyes on the street

large painting of a red and blue bird on the side of a house. Hydro wires are also in the photo

bird contemplating a wire

A white toilet sits on a sidewalk outside of a house. On the side of the house, just behind the toilet, is a painting of a an old house.

outdoor plumbing

A large mural on the side of a brick house.

characters on the north wall

laid up and cradled

Posted: December 18, 2013 in locations
Tags: boats, clouds, compass, covered, cradles, gecko, grey sky, harbour, hibernation, ice, icicles, national yacht club, nyc, photos, resting, ropes, sailboats, serenity, snow, storage, stored for the winter, tarps, Toronto, white, winter, yacht club

Tarps, ropes and metal cradles.

Lovingly and carefully stored boats, asleep for the winter awaiting spring and the start of a new sailing season. Canada, where the sailing season is short.

National yacht club, sailboats in their cradles, snow on the ground. In the center of the picture is a blue and red boat with the name Gecko written on the side. There are a number of other boats, most of which are white.

Red and blue Gecko in hibernation.

National yacht club, sailboats in their cradles, snow on the ground. In the center of the picture is a yellow and blue sailboat. On the right is a dark blue hull in which there are reflections of the boats around.

A chilly trio in white, blue and yellow.

The bows of two white boats, one on top of the other. The sun is trying to break through the clouds in the background of the picture, making for interesting lighting conditions.

Whiteness on a winter afternoon when the sun is trying to shine through the clouds.

close up of a red, dark green and off-white striped hull of a sailboat. A knotted white rope is in the photo too.

All tied up and radiating griminess.

In the background the sun tries to shine through the clouds. There is enough light that rays of sunshine bounce off the yellow hull of a boat that is in the foreground.

Rays of sun try to brighten the day.

Perched on shore and looking out over the lake, but stuck behind barbed wire.

Although snow and ice are an integral part of a Canadian winter, it is always interesting to find them in different settings. For example, icicles forming along the seams in the hull of a boat that is up for the winter.

small icicles hanging from the side of a boat. A braided beige and green rope runs along the side of the boat where boat meets ice.

Braided Ice.

icicles hanging off the side of a blue and white boat. Close up shot.

More Icicles

Looking southward from under a blanket of snow.

Serenity carefully tucked in and tied down to wait out the cold.

With many thanks to Stephen for giving me access to the yacht club for a few minutes this afternoon!

***

it’s starting to look a lot like Christmas

Posted: December 9, 2013 in general Toronto, locations
Tags: animals, Christmas, Christmas tree, decorations, fake snow, for sale, glitter, lights, ornaments, photos, pirates, Queen St. West, red, Santa, santa hats, shopping, socks, T-shirts, Toronto, toys, tree, windows, yolo

at least along Queen Street West……

On display in a shop window are a stuffed toy cat and dog are dressed for Christmas. THe dog is wearing a Santa hat. Reflected in the window are people passing by carrying shopping bags.

Christmas is going to the dogs, and cats.

A window display in a T-shirt shop. THere is a T-shirt with a picture of ROb FOrd with the word yolo printed on it. There is a black toddler onsie with the words Bad Seed written in red. There is a green T-shirt with the words Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal written on it.

He knows when you’ve been naughty……

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A drawing on a chalk board of Santa trying to get a hold of a cat that is hiding under his sleigh. The words on the board say Why Santa has reindeer instead of cats.

Rudolph the red nose cat doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Two christmas tree balls. Both are white on the bottom half and both are pantone colours on the top - one is red and the other is light blue, pantone universe color 15-5519

A very merry pantone Christmas in 15-5519 aka turquoise, their colour of the year in 2010.

The window of the store 'Come as You Are' has been covered with a layer of fake snow. THere are clear circles in the snow with vibrators hanging in them. There are also some snowflake shaped clear spots.

Both hot and cold on display for a very, very, merry Christmas!

windows and other bits

Posted: December 4, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bird, brick, construction, fish piss, graffiti, lane, lovebot, metal, photos, red brick, Richmond Street, rust, street art, Toronto, windows, yellow brick

A few things that I saw today as I walked from Richmond and Spadina, southwestward to King and Shaw. A beautiful sunny Tuesday afternoon.

An old metal sign saying No Authorized Parking has rusted badly. It is on a yellow brick building. Beside it is a blue coloured metal screen covering a window.

rusted and authorized

A graffiti painting of a blue and white bird on a grey concrete block wall. It is painted to look like it's perched on the top corner of a window.

Happily perched above it all with a birds eye view of Richmond Street West.

the backs of a few lowrise brick buildings. One of the buildings is painted an olive green coloutr. There is graffiti above one of the buildings, of 2 dog heads, one of which has a cigarette in its mouth.

Smoking on the roof.

Stop Rob Ford at the western end of a one way Richmond street.

A brick wall that is painted a pinkish colour. There is an old window with the lower half barred. A light is mounted on the wall to the right of the window. The wall is dirty.

window and light, Palace Hotel, at King and Strachan.

A red brick wall with an old door that has been bricked over. A large new window has been added. You can see the lights on inside.

Afternoon light.

A paper sticker showing three beer bottle shaped bottles with labels that say fish piss.

fish piss in the alley

Three small windows arranged vertically beside a rusted metal grille covering an air vent. Black and white splotches have been painted around the window.

Black and white and speckled all over. This was one in a series of five or six windows of various sizes along the same wall. The black and white painting gave the wall an interesting look although I am not sure of pictures of the individual windows are all that interesting!

gold coloured poster on a dirty light grey garage door. The poster says 2013 Lovebot Loveinvasion. It has a picture of a light grey robot on it, with a red heart.

The alley I was walking down turned, but as I turned the corner I realized that I had come to a dead end. I spotted this poster on one of the garage doors that was there. According to the man standing inside one of the other garages, lots of people end up doing U-turns in front of his garage – including cars that come zooming around the corner, only to have to hit their brakes.

A sticker of a black hearted, square headed, yellow robot on a blue dumpster.

for more information about the lovebots, http://lovebot.com/about

This photo was taken while standing in a parking lot near the southeast corner of Adelaide and Bathurst streets.

The graffiti across the lower part of the building is by homebase. Their website: http://www.homebasetoronto.com

viceroy on dupont

Posted: December 1, 2013 in graffiti and street art, landmarks
Tags: boarded up windows, brick, factory, gone, graffiti, heritage, Junction, laser, photos, siderodronophilia, street art, Toronto, trains, viceroy, West Toronto Railpath, windows

1655 Dupont Street, a large red brick building that once housed the Viceroy Rubber Company factory. Now it is Planet Storage with over 10,000 square feet of self-storage space.

The building, now designated as a heritage building, has had it’s structure preserved although some of the lower storey windows have been boarded up. The east side of the building backs onto the Toronto Railpath and it has been decorated with graffiti at ground level. An old storage tank at the southeast corner of the building has been painted bright green to match the Planet Storage logo.

Viceroy still makes hockey pucks and other rubber items but at a newer plant on Weston Road, under the name of Allied Viceroy.

Three storey brick factory building. The windows in the lower storey are covered with orange wood. There is graffiti along the lower five or six feet of the building.

looking south along the side of the building

Looking north along the side of the old Viceroy rubber factory building. A red brick building with large windows. There is graffiti on the bottom five or six feet of the building.

Looking north along the West Toronto Railpath.

a chainlink fence is in the foreground. Behind the fence is a tall green storage tank (the top part of it is not in the picture. One wall of a three storey red brick building is in the background.

At the southwest corner of the building and behind a fence is a tall green storage tank.

bottom two storeys of a red brick factory. The lower storey has the windows boarded up and painted orange. There are graffiti tags along the bottom of the building.

tags under the orange

An open window covered with metal bars and a metal screen. Graffiti on the walls too.

a large tree is in the foreground and it is casting a shadow over the wall of a red brick building that has graffiti on it.

In the shadows.

Large windows on a red brick building. The window frames are metal and they are rusty.

Rust, writing, and reflections

an old door is painted bright green and on it is a piece of street art of a man in a black and white striped shirt. A blue and white graffiti tag is on either side of the door.

on the green door.

a black and white drawing of a woman with binoculars sitting beside a train track waiting for a train that is in the distance

S is for Siderodronophilia, a proclivity to become aroused by watching or riding trains.

The sun is shining on a red brick building with large windows. Graffiti tags are on the wall.

Tags in the sunshine.

graffiti of many white fingers in at least three rows of four. The fingers have eyes and their noses look like the number two.

many fingers with twos.

ford love-in at City Hall

Posted: November 13, 2013 in events
Tags: anti-Ford, bobble heads, cameras, city hall, crowd, mayor, nathan phillips square, people, photographers, photos, politics, protest, resign, Rob Ford, RoFo, signs, step down, Toronto, wall

Anti Rob Ford protest

A cold but clear November afternoon at Nathan Phillips Square.

people, signs, cameras, writing, chanting, speeches, media.

Protesters at a rally, from behind. Two people are holding signs. One sign says Step Down and the the other sign says Or Fall Over

Step down or fall over.

A man is writing with chalk on a grey concrete wall.

The city’s budget has gone up! Every year Rob has been in office.

Nathan Phillips Square from the upper walkway, looking down at the crowd that has gathered for the protest

Nathan Phillips Square about 1:00 p.m.

A couple is holding an orange sign that says Councillors fix this mess now. P.S. I vote.

There was a good mix of people there, young and old.

View of the crowd from part way up the steps just before they moved towards the front door of City Hall.

A woman is holding a sign that says Sh*!show RoFo has got to GO. In the background there is a man who has a sign with a picture of the man from the Monopoly game showing that his pockets are empty.

Many creative signs. RoFo, the man from Monopoly, gravy train…..

It’s not about the drugs, it’s about the lies.

Two people are writing words in chalk on a concrete wall. A woman is standing on a garbage bin so that she can reach higher up on the wall.

Writing on the wall, about 12:40. I am not sure when the writing started, but when I first got to Nathan Phillips Square there wasn’t too much on the wall yet.

A man is walking past holding up a sign that says Gravy Train? What about Leadership? In the background people are writing on the wall.

Of chalk and signs

A man is writing words on the concrete wall beside the ramp at Nathan Phillips Square.

A little bit later, a few more words on the wall as well as on the ground. Sashay away! Fraud Nation. No to Drugs. Harper + Ford = Corruption. Help yourself & help Toronto, Step Down.

A man is writing in orange and blue chalk. Old City Hall is in the background.

You smoked your own pipe. More writing on the upper wall.

A woman is writing Get Help in purple and yellow chalk, on the ground

I assume that it became “Get Help”

A man is writing on the concrete ground as part of the crowd watches him.

Etobicoke, Ford Co. most wanted.

another view of the crowd

Two woman are holding bright orange signs.

…finally!

A man and a woman are holding a very large sign with a picture of Rob Ford's face on it.

Resting on the Archer

Two people are writing on the wall, a woman has stopped to watch them and a man is taking their picture.

Protesters, spectators and photographers. There were a lot of photographers! A lot of media, print, radio and television, were there too. Newstalk 1010 (where the Ford brothers had their radio show) had at least one person walking around with a microphone.

A man holds a megaphone in one hand and a sign that says Say No To Corruption in the other hand.

Leading the chants

A picture of the cafe that is beside Nathan Phillips Square. There are people sitting inside who are looking at the protest. The protest can also be seen reflected in the glass.

Looking at the ones inside while the ones outside are reflected back

A man with a sign with lots of words on it is talking to a woman wearing a grey scarf.

wanted, A new Mayor! asap

A woman is writing Pathetic Leave Toronto in coloured chalk on the concrete ground in the middle of the square.

Writing in the square.

A man in a bright orange hat and holding a protest sign, is taking a photo with his phone.

I got him and he got me (I probably got the better photo!)

#savetoronto #topoli #robford

With thanks to the Starbucks at Queen and Victoria where I was able to park myself and my laptop while I put this blog together. Wifi and an electrical outlet for the price of a tall coffee, can’t beat it.

Barbara Barrett lane

Posted: November 10, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, Barbara Barrett, birds, eyes, graffiti, hands, Harbord village, head, lane, photos, posr, rabbit, rubiks cube, street art, Toronto, tree

Barbara Barrett lane is located in Harbord village. It runs east-west and is immediately south of Bloor Street West between Borden Street and Brunswick Avenue.

The lane was recently named after Barbara Barrett who was the founder of the Toronto School of Art in 1969. The school was originally located at Sussex and Brunswick. Barbara died in 2005 in her 89th year.

Like many lanes and alleys in the area, there are a number of murals and interesting pieces of graffiti.