Queen St. West | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘Queen St. West’

early morning Parkdale

Posted: January 11, 2023 in alleys, graffiti and street art, history, old buildings, windows and walls
Tags: alley, architecture, buildings, changes, Christina Mazzulla, Christmas, demolition, development, gables, globe, graffiti, Heather & Little, Jim Bravo, Jimmy Chiale, lanes, Lula Lumaj, mural, murals, Peter Dykhuis, Queen St. West, sculpture, stickers, storefronts, street scene, T-bonez, tibetan, Tsampa, urban ninja squadron, World Peace Monument

below: Pink faced, orange leopard spotted blast of colour…. A mural by Christina Mazzulla.

Settlement in what is now Parkdale began before 1850. In 1879 it was incorporated as a village and ten years later it became part of the city of Toronto.

below: Mural by Jim Bravo and Lula Lumaj from 2015, celebrating the history of Sunnyside Park. In the early years, part of the attraction of living in Parkdale was its proximity to Lake Ontario and such features as Sunnyside Beach and Sunnyside Amusement Park.

below: Christmas wreath on the globe outside Parkdale Library. This is the World Peace Monument, a globe surrounding a fountain. It was designed by Peter Dykhuis and fabricated in copper and bronze by Heather & Little in 2005. The metal sculpture has aged well but as we should all know by now, the city does not do water features well (i.e. I’ve never seen a fountain there; have you?)

In July 2022, City council adopted the Parkdale Main Street Historic District Plan. It covers Queen Street from Dufferin west to Jameson/Macdonell including this block of three buildings. It hopes to preserve many of the two and three storey brick buildings that line Queen Street and in turn, the character of the area.

below: Map of proposed Parkdale Main Street HDP. This map was found on a City website where you can also find other information about the project if you want.

below: Southeast corner of Queen and Dunn

below: A happy black and white bear to greet you

below: And a cow in a tea cup

below: Looking south on Lansdowne. Note the car blocking the bus stop.

below: Someone’s happy this morning

below: Looking south on Noble towards Queen

below: Northeast corner of Brock and Queen

below: “No Justice No Development” in the window of this former store.

below: Row houses. Each house shares a gable, or a peak, with one beside. Gables were very common in Toronto architecture, especially in the Victorian era, but in those houses each had its own gable. As people have decorated their houses, the resulting mix of colours, materials, and textures forms its own picture. This is not unique to this street – there are many other places in Toronto where homes with shared gables (both semis and rows) have been renovated such that the two halves look very different.

below: Bay and gable houses

below: Parkdale has always had a mix of many different building styles, both commercial and residential. The Tsampa Tibetan restaurant has an octagonal turret.

below: From rows of two storey houses to walls of glass and steel (on the other side of Dufferin, and the other side of the railway corridor).

below: Until a few years ago, this was Designer Fabrics store. The block of buildings was built in 1881 by J.C. Mussen, a Parkdale businessman. It was originally six storefronts. In 2020 there was a plan to build a nine storey condo on this site.

below: Like the building beside it, this grey building at 1354-356 Queen West may be demolished to make way for a condo development. There has been a long line of retail businesses in this space, from John Wanless’s hardware store in 1881 to Designer Fabrics (1950s to 2018). For more information about the building, see the website of Architectural Conservancy Ontario.

looking across Queen Street West, small tree and bus shelter on the south side, older buildings on the north side including a two storey brick building with front windows papered over

below: One person’s trash is another person’s treasure…. I had to double check just to make sure that it wasn’t real!

below: The bottom right section of a black and white mural by Jimmy Chiale.

below: “Danger – Restricted Area” says the sign

below: Nothing changes

below:Another demolition – this one is on Noble, immediately north of Queen Street West. An 8 storey condo has been proposed for this site.

below: Another building, another blue and white sign, another condo. As it turns out, this is immediately behind 1354-13656 Queen West (that grey building a few images above) which means that the 9 storey condo here will front on three streets: Queen St, Brock Ave, and Abbs St..

below: The struggle against colonialism continues

below: After a while there are just too many of these. It can get a bit disheartening. This sign sits in front of 1488 Queen Street West which is already empty and looking derelict at street level. The snails pace of development doesn’t help – neglected properties are a liability. They look horrid and contribute nothing to the neighbourhood.

below: Scan for nonsense

With thanks to @designwallah for helping to identify the artists of some of the murals in this post.

Queen West track work

Posted: December 11, 2021 in construction, locations, old buildings
Tags: brick, chickens, construction, graffiti, historic, old buildings, Queen St. West, Queen West, shoes, stores, streetcar tracks, toys

The recent closure of Queen Street West for streetcar track work provided an opportunity to take a few photos without traffic or parked cars in the way. Straight documentation and not much more. But that way, when you next walk Queen West and it’s wall to wall new condo development you can check back here and say, “I remember when”….

below: On the northeast corner of Queen West and Augusta – The Wool House, Drinks & Deli, and One Stop Shop

below: Queen and Augusta – Java Hut on one corner and an empty KFC on the northwest.

below: Looking west from Augusta

below: working on the TTC streetcar tracks just east of Portland

below: Black and red mural on the outside of Wendys at Denison Ave

below: Queen Street West, north side, at the end of Portland Street.

below: Walking westward away from Portland

below: Looking west from Tecumseth and Palmerston

below: Daisies and bees as Queen West approaches Euclid

below: at Euclid

below: Looking back eastward to Euclid

below: Reflections of Queen West in the window of John Fluevog shoe store

below: North side, at Bathurst. The construction ends and traffic resumes.

Queen Street Raptor

Posted: May 24, 2019 in graffiti and street art
Tags: basketball, Kawhi Leonard, mural, NBA, playoffs, Queen St. West, Raptors, Toronto Raptors

Kawhi Leonard, bigger than life, on Queen Street West.

I came across this mural of Kawhi Leonard a few days ago. When I tried to find out when the picture was painted and who the artist was, I discovered that the mural had already been updated.

So back I went – to what has become a popular spot. Now the picture is Kawhi’s game-winning shot in the final seconds of the final game against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

By the way, it’s not painted. It’s printed on vinyl in 6 panels and then stuck on the wall. And the storefront that it’s on? No sign? It’s ‘OD Toronto’ which is a consignment store with more Kawhi murals and stuff inside.

In case you haven’t heard, Raptors won last night to lead the NBA Eastern Conference finals 3 games to 2 against the Milwaukee Bucks. The next game is tomorrow night (Saturday). If the Raptors win tomorrow, they advance to the NBA Finals for the first time ever…. and the parties will begin. If they lose tomorrow, one more game will be played on Monday night. The Western Conference finals are already over; the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trailblazers in four straight games.

UPDATES:
1. A third mural appeared after here the Raptors won the Eastern Conference championship.
2. Another Raptors mural, near Dundas & Sherbourne

rich and poor in black and white

Posted: March 17, 2018 in galleries
Tags: 1980s, Avard Woolaver, galleries, Jim Goldberg, locations, people, photography, portraits, Queen St. West, RIC, Rich and Poor, Ryerson Image Centre, Spadina, street scenes, Toronto, vintage

There are a few exhibits showing at the Ryerson Image Centre at the moment but the one that I want to highlight today is “Rich and Poor” by Jim Goldberg. Goldberg took portraits of people in the San Francisco area in their home environments between 1977 and 1985. They are divided into two sections, “rich” and “poor”.

below: Each portrait is accompanied by a comment from the person being portrayed, in their own handwriting. This woman, Nell, provides the wonderful quote: “If you want to stunt your growth, be rich.”

below: The pictures are fascinating, and the words reveal more details of the subjects. “My wife is acceptable”. The poor woman. In the picture she is off to the side and almost disappears into the background as she looks at the floor. I thought of the words ‘abject’ and ‘woeful’ when I first saw her but I think that maybe the best word to describe the look on her face is ‘blank’.

below: Whether you’re rich or poor, or more likely some where in between, what you say about yourself if you were the subject?

This show continues until April 8th

ode to a squirrel

Posted: January 12, 2017 in graffiti and street art, locations, nature
Tags: albino squirrel, bushy tail, Gore Vale Ave., heart, lovebot, mural, painting, pink ears, Queen St. West, street art, Toronto, Trinity Bellwoods park, white squirrel

But not just any squirrel. Toronto has many, many squirrels. Most of them are black and a few are grey or even a reddish colour. The rarest squirrels in the city are the albino squirrels. I’m not sure how many there are but they can most often be seen around Trinity Bellwoods Park.

It is fitting then that this mural is next to the park, in a little lane just north of Queen West that ends at Gore Vale Avenue. It’s a very large albino squirrel; it looks like it fits comfortably into a lovebot heart.

elicser and CP24

Posted: November 12, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: art, CP24, Elicser, mural, people, Queen St. West, spray paint

I happened to be walking along Queen Street West this afternoon when I spotted something new…

A large mural on a wall by the CP24 parking lot by elicser

with the artist himself, putting on the finishing touches to the mural.

P.K., a newcomer to the alley?

Posted: April 2, 2016 in graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, faces, graffiti, Graffiti Alley, lane, painting, PK, Queen St. West, skulls, spray paint, street art, Toronto

I took a short walk through the graffiti alleys behind Queen St. West yesterday. I found four new face/skull paintings by artist P.K. (which is short for?) all close together on Rush Lane, and all near 530 Richmond St. West.

below: A turtlecaps paste-up from last year is still on the wall.

I spy, we spy

Posted: December 7, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, animals, bathtub, eclairs, faces, fake, flowers, gardens, graffiti, Halloween decorations, happy face, lane, laneway, leprechaun, lovebot, make art not war, mannequin, miniature eclairs, pictures, pink car, pinwheel, Queen St. West, stencils, street art, vacuum, video camera

There is so much to see in this city, big and small, mundane and interesting, bland and colourful, old and new; we’ve got it all. It’s not uncommon to walk a route many times and still see something new each time. The little details are easy to overlook. Yesterday I walked parallel to Queen Street West from Roncesvalles eastward. There are lots of little alleys in the area and the streets are interesting too. I wasn’t alone. Penny (from Walking Woman blog) provided a second set of eyes as we went looking for whatever there was to find. Four eyes really can be better than two! Although we saw many things (of course!) I’ve chosen to concentrate on the “little things” that we spied.

below: Happy. Faces at our feet. Happy to see you walk by.

below: Faces above our heads. A one way sign as a canvas.

below: And faces at the end of the path.

below: Yesterday’s lovebot sighting

below: It’s December, but this house is still ready for Halloween.

below: A little leprechaun in a tree. Perhaps he’s been here since St. Patricks Day? And how many leprechauns have crossed here? We weren’t lucky enough to see any yesterday.

below: One use for a bathtub! Dirty, not clean.

below: A different approach to keeping the flowers blooming well into December… they’re looking a little faded, but they are still pink and growing in abundance.

below: But even a single flower adds to a picture.

below: Pictures on walls can delight, even ones as simple as this little pinwheel.

below: Make art not war….

below: … or make money. The money shot.

below: She was hiding in the back corner of a store.

below: Miniature eclairs for sale at The Tempered Room. We didn’t try them but they looked fabulous.

below: Dean’s pink ride was parked for the afternoon.

below: A mystery message. Google tells me that pav is a type of Indian bread but I don’t think that that’s what the writer was referring to here. Belongins (belongings?) here probably means possessions but I like to play with words and so I wonder if it is the other meaning of belonging, i.e. as in “a sense of belonging”. Or maybe, he be longing all his life to be under a palm tree?!

below: The sign for Cattlemens Meat Market is looking a little worn,
and not because it’s been here since 1538!

below: And last, three stencils that were close together in an alley, three animals, an old fashioned upright vacuum cleaner and an old video camera.

it’s become a game

Posted: September 10, 2015 in landmarks
Tags: angles, boat, buildings, CN Tower, crane, downtown, King and Spadina, lights, night, people, Queen St. West, rigging, Sherbourne Common, sky, skyscrapers, street scene, Toronto, views

And the point of the game is this:

How many views of the CN Tower do you think there are?
I suspect the answer is something like “bazillions” but I am willing to try to see how many I can find.

below: From far away. Looking eastward across Lake Ontario from Humber Bay park.