Posts Tagged ‘redevelopment’

clearing the words

Posted: April 4, 2024 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Back in January I blogged about some graffiti that looked like signs, i.e. they just had text on them (The word about town). A couple of the signs that we had seen were hidden behind shrubs and weeds that started to overgrow the site.  The other day I was passing by the old houses where those signs were posted and noticed that someone had cleaned the site up.

Also, the artist responsible for these signs is Nigel Smith.

blue plywood hoardings with signs on them, large house behind the hoardings with balcony on upper level

graffiti signs by Nigel Smith, with words that say Hiding in plain sight

graffiti signs by Nigel Smith, with words that say true to form

hoardings with signs on them, blue painted plywood, snow on roof of abandoned house,

graffiti signs by Nigel Smith, with words that say money is no object

graffiti signs by Nigel Smith, with words that say can't happen here

view above the hoardings, abandoned house, upper level, old white balcony, brick house, satelite dish, brick chimney,

graffiti signs by Nigel Smith, with words that say blood in the water

The “graffiti” signs look as legitimate as the owner/developer’s signs.

sign that says keep out private property under video surveillance has had orange spray paint sprayed on it

Four houses on Woodbine plus a house on Buller to be demolished to make way for a 4 storey building with 67 units.  Shock – didn’t Doug Ford just say that 4 storeys makes a Tower!  A hated tower that nobody wants?  Does he have any idea how many 4 storey residential units there are in this city?  And how many more are in the process of being developed?

city of toronto notice of development in front of a row of empty houses with blue hoardings in front, sidewalk, a couple of trees,

Right across the street from this site are quite a few buildings (residential) that are 4 storeys high. This is only a small part – they have been there for years now.

row of four storey residential buildings on woodbine avenue

from Harbord to Dundas via Kensington

Posted: January 18, 2024 in alleys, doors, graffiti and street art, locations, reflections, stores
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…. or thereabouts.

It started with a stop that was earlier than planned.    I was on my way to meet a friend in Kensington but that morning my walk started closer to Harbord because the 510 car wasn’t going anywhere.  An incident on a streetcar involving the police means the whole route gets backed up.

streetcars stopped on Spadina, police car with lights flashing stopped beside the one in front

below: This building on the west side of Spadina (372/374 Spadina) has languished for a few years.  It falls within the Harbord Village HCD (Historic Community District) and there may have been a change of ownership.

large old houses on Spadina near harbord

below:   I tried researching the present status of the property but I came up empty. There is a building permit in the window but there are no signs of work being done.

old large brick house with front porch, building permit in window

below: My fellow TTC travellers and I walked the curve in Spadina.

people walking on the sidewalk, walking past large old brick houses

below: At the south end of the curve is Lord Lansdowne School which was built in 1960/1961 to replace an older school nearby and to accommodate the post-war population growth in the city.  The main part of the school is a nine-sided circular building with 18 tapered steel pylons radiating outward like flying buttresses.  The roof consists of folded concrete plates,

part of exterior of lord lansdowne school

below: A big chunk of anorthosite sits in the schoolyard.   Some of the rocks brought back from the moon are anorthosites.  But this isn’t a moon rock!  This type of rock isn’t found in many places in North America but there is some to the north of the city in the Canadian Shield region.  It is composed predominantly of feldspar.  It is an igneous rock which means that it was formed from the cooling and solidification of molten rock (such as lava).

large grey rock in a schoolyard with a plaque on it describing the rock

Plaque: “This basic igneous rock was found at a depth f 12 feet during the course of excavation for this school.  The composition is a very rare type and is  assumed to have been carried here from Caribou Lake north of Parry Sound by a glacier during the Great Ice Age approximately 12,000 years ago. “

below: Every Child Matters on the schoolyard fence

orange ties on fence to spell words every child matters

below: Also on the fence, parent and child walking hand in hand past the playground.

painted cutouts on a chainlink fence around lord lansdowne school, a mother and child holding hands

below: Intersection of Spadina and College, looking south.

intersection of college and spadina, looking south on spadina

below: A small disc mounted on a concrete pole – a tribute to Saul Gwartzman by Rocky Zenyck.  Gwartzmans Art Supply store is still on Spadina Ave.

circular brass piece, mounted on utility pole, a face in the middle of it, with words marked on it

Engraved in around the face on the disc, “We remember. Saul Gwartzman. Born on Spadina Avenue above the store where he supported artists in Toronto for decades, 1936-2019”

below: Walking on Spadina, south of College.

spadina, south of college, west side of the street, Smoke and Variety store, El Macombo tavern, people on sidewalk winter time, no leaves on trees,

below: Canadian souvenirs are unavailable at the moment!

store front on spadina, closed, with canada flags on door,
stores and buildings on the east side of Spadina, old brick buildings,

below: Dragons on the wall, Oxford Street.

dragon mural on red brick building

below: One of the Kensington poles with a globe at the top.  Another site in limbo – the hoardings are still around the lot on the southwest corner of  Baldwin and Spadina.  I wrote about them in Dec 2020 (post: a long time lingering) and they were old then.

Spadina Ave, pole for entrance to Kensington, with globe on the top

There were not many other people walking around Kensington that morning, we were a bit early for that.  Even without people, it is a neighbourhood that is full of colours and full of life.  Parts of it are run down and grubby but that rarely stops a photographer!  The next photos are a random sample of what we saw that day.

below: Looking west on Baldwin.  The king is on the wall.

looking west on Baldwin, yellow wall with painting of man with crown on head, on the side of one of the buildings

below: Kids for sale!

items in the window of a kensington cheese store, an old picture of queen elizabeth with words eat more queso, a piece of wood shaped like a goat with words kids for sale

below: Mice in the cheese store window.  There’s Mickey Mouse and the little brown mouse, Jerry, from another cartoon series as well as some not so famous rodents.

items in a cheese store window, toy mice, mickey mouse, flags of Greece, Serbia, and Singapore

below: Uncle Vintage at the other end.  The mural on the right is “When Math Meets Art”

looking down an alley in kensington, view of Uncle Vintage clothing at the end, murals on both sides of the alley

below: From a different angle. It was painted by Sasha Q (aka Oleksandra Stepanenko)

mural in blues and greys with title Math Meets Art on old brick building in Kensington

 

below: Mural of a blue crab by Nick Sweetman,

blue crab mural by nick sweetman

below: Look Mom Paint!

large words painted on the side of a building that say look mom paint

below: Three old black and white photos of Kensington scenes in the window of the Peruvian food store,

three old black and white photos of Kensington area in the window of a Peruvian store,

below: A bright and cheerful red daisy keeping an eye on things.

street art in a small corner on Baldwin Ave in kensington

below: “And then the streets became my notepad – GOD”

written in large black letters on a pinkish salmon coloured brick wall, and then the streets became my notepad, god

below: More hoardings and the consequent graffiti covering them.

below: It’s difficult to see, but some of the words written on the hoardings are “It’s hard but ur strong”.

below: Mark has left his mark.

a man with a walker walks past a white wall with a large purple painting of the name Mark in capital letters

below: The backside of Moonbean Coffee as seen from the alley behind.  Little faces in Paradise.

graffiti and street art on upper back part of moonbean coffee as seen from the alley behind

below: Yummy!  Mini Boston Cream Bombs on display in the window.

boston cream bomb donuts in the window of a donut store

below: Not so yummy?!

looking in the window of a fruit and vegetable store, large green squash and a pile of oranges beside the window

below: Pigeon fanciers, this one’s for you. It seems there were some takers.  Sorry, but I didn’t follow up with the research on this one so I am not sure what happens if you call!

poster on a wall with a street art face painted on it, poster is looking for pigeon fanciers to interview

below: Union Jack either faded to pink, or in trans colours?

hand painted union jack on a fence but the red has faded to pink

below: Super Serve on Dundas, across the street from People Hair Salon.

below:  It looks like Rowell Soder mural although he rarely paints the eyes – the mushroom top should give you a hint as to what this store sells.

below: I like yellow rubber duckies but I doubt that I would wear this many at once!

below: You grow girl!

below: She leans left.

below: Little yellow bald guys as well as some words written on a wall; they are Leonard Cohen lyrics.

“From Leonard Cohen Book of Mercy, …I heard my soul singing behind a leaf, plucked the leaf, but then I heard it singing behind a veil. I tore the veil, but then I heard it singing behind a wall. I broke the wall, and I heard my soul singing against me. I built up the wall, mended the curtain, but I could not put back the leaf. I held it in my hand and I heard my soul singing mightily against me. This is what it’s like to study without a friend.”

below: Mirror, mirror, on the wall..  A Sigil is a sign in magic or witchcraft or similar.

below: Mannequins in feathers….

below: … and mannequins in hats

a Kensington laneway

rusty white metal gate at the end of a walk in front of a blue house painted with white gingerbread trim

below: The mural on the left features a white egg with a large open mouth.  The text above it says, “Feed Eggs”.   Any ideas?

alley in Kensington, looking towards turquoise building, Courage my Love vintage clothing store

below: It’s Dick Dastardly and his dog Muttley

mural in alley, Dastardly and his dog muttley, cartoon characters

below: A mandolin player by SashaQ and a Phillip Saunders portrait in blue.

murals in a kensington alley, in the front is a mandolin olayer, then a portrait in blue.

 

below: Leftovers from both Halloween and Christmas

outside a house in Kensington, both halloween and christmas decorations, snowman

below: An eclectic collection of posters and notices cover a restaurant window… pictures of food as well as posters for  young Asian musicians.

signs and posters in the window of a chinese restaurant on spadina

below: Fight Your Demons

written on a wall in black paint, fight your demons

below: South on Spadina

spadina, looking south,

below: Spadina and Dundas

With many thanks to Merle for walking with me on that grey day!  We enjoyed wandering around the street and alleys and discovering what Kensington has to offer.  It was fun to have someone helping to find all the little bits and pieces that often get overlooked.   Here we found a party, or at least the remains of one.   All those little coloured blobs are actually shiny words that say “party”.   I hope that it was a good party!

woman wearing pink hat taking a picture with her phone of confetti on the sidewalk that is bits of shiny paper spelling the word party

Merle has a blog too where she meets and interviews interesting seniors (or seniors who are doing interesting things), Super Bubbies!  I forgot to ask her how old one needs to be a Bubbie and am I old enough?!!!  If you are interested in the photos that she took on this walk or you’re curious as to what makes aa Super Bubbie, check out Super Bubbies!  I find it fascinating how different people can walk the same route and come away with quite a different recollection of the walk.

Keep exploring!  Keep being super!

Silhouettes on the door

Posted: October 9, 2023 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations, transportation
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I heard about these silhouettes that have painted on the plywood used to board up the doors and windows of five empty houses so I went to see them for myself.  They are on Raglan Road which is close to St. Clair and Bathurst.

black silhouettes of people painted on plywood used to board up doors and windows of empty houses waiting to be demolished

black silhouettes of people painted on plywood used to board up doors and windows of two empty houses waiting to be demolished

black silhouettes of people painted on plywood used to board up doors and windows of empty houses waiting to be demolished, older woman

“Took a walk and passed your house late last night
All the shades were pulled and drawn way down tight
From within, the dim light cast two silhouettes on the shade
Oh, what a lovely couple they made”

two black silhouettes painted on plywood covering a window, parent holding up young child in air above head

row of houses boarded up and empty

I am not sure how long these houses have been empty but there is graffiti in the back too.

graffiti across the back of two empty houses

As I was in the neighbourhood, what else is there to see here?  Anything new? Back in 2015 I posted a few pictures from the St. Clair and Vaughan Road area (see Intersections).  This time I stayed within the northwest quadrant of that intersection.   Like most places, somethings have changed while other things remain the same.

Back to early October 2023 …  many other houses were empty and boarded up

behind metal construction fence, an empty house that has been boarded up

yellow fire hydrant in front of hoardings around old houses waiting to be demolished. The hoardings hava painting of a young man, a red poppy and a large orange flower

… and many other houses have already been demolished.

man walking past construction site with tall condo tower as well as single family houses in the background

vacant lot with houses and highrises bhind

red and blue barrels in a vacant lot in front of other buildings

In the above picture you can see that this area has some older smaller apartment buildings.  Raglan Road runs parallel to Vaughan Road, home to many mid-sized older buildings.

front entrance of an older brick apartment building

three storey brick apartment building on Vaughan Road

three storey brick apartment building on Vaughan Road

cement truck delivering cement to a work site beside an older brick apartment building

below: Linked buildings

elevated corridors, open to outside, linking buildings

Once it was the Happy Family Restaurant.  Now someone (a happy family?) lives there.

squarish building, two storey, lower level once a store, now a residence, two entrance doors, old yellow sign

…. other businesses are boarded up.  This was the Dutch Dreams Ice Cream shop before they moved farther south on Vaughan Road.  While it sits empty it is a space for graffti.  Dutch Dreams had moved out before December 2015.

old black Mercedes car parked beside a boarded up red brick building

below: Just wait – Not sure what we’re waiting for but I see an alpha and an omega on a death moth?

paper graffiti with words just wait, black and white drawing of a dragonfly, on red brick

below: Peeling and faded.  Sailor dude and some colourful designs.

peeling and faded paper graffiti

below: Elaborate probably female form with gown and hat beside a not so elaborate wine bottle.  The label on the bottle says Lutte Libre Bruht.

black stencil graffiti on plywood

below: They’ve been here a while – Urban Ninja Squadron’s T-Bonez in various poses including dressed as Robin, the Boy Wonder.

peeling pasteup graffiti on plywood

below: Give Love and be a Hero

paper pasteup printed in red, on plywood board covering window

In the summer of 2020 there was fire in the adjacent building that impacted the old Dutch Dreams building too.  That was three years ago.   It is a pity that empty buildings sit for so long especially since nothing good comes of it.

in alley, back of buildings that had burned, fence with no trespassing signs around them

More people – Street musicians playing on the sidewalk.

mural on a box on the street, a group of musicians playing, trumpet, bass, singing,

As I walked around the neighbourhood I noticed a mix of architectural styles and building sizes.

From single family….

tall trees and single family homes

streetscape with different shaped houses

Through midsized apartments like the older ones shown above as well as some newer ones….

midrise apartment buildings with some single family homes in the middle

apartment buildings with green space between them

… To massive apartment buildings

very large, wide, highrise residential building with white balconies

large tag graffiti that says a c k , on the side of a brick house

below: Southwest corner of St. Clair and Vaughan Road

person in wheelchair being pushed across St. Clair at Vaughan Road, southwest corner with CIBC bank in old brick building

beside lowrise building from the 1960s, a single story older brick building, Choice coin laundry

brick buildings on vaughan road, 4 storey apartment building, coin laundry, and a convenience store

mister milk convenience store on vaughan road, once a two storey house, with upstairs enclosed balcony

below: The bright yellow building of Hercules Automotive and Tire Service in an alley behind St. Clair.  The top of St. Alphonsus R C church can be seen above it.

low yellow building in alley, Hercules Automotive and tire service, parking lot in front of it, top of St. Alphonsus R C Church behind it, also three tall condo towers in the background

below: Walking westward on St. Clair approaching Wychwood Ave with yet another vacant lot.

father and son walking on sidewalk, along St clair west, towards wychwood ave

below: St. Clair Avenue Baptist Church, on this site since November 1924.

Baptist church on Wychwood ave., brown brick building

below: Beside St. Alphonsus RC Church at Vaughan Road and St. Clair.

statue of man holding a bird, a small wreath hangs beside the statue

street sign for Helen Porter Lane, with Kenwood Arts sign attached to same pole

below: Kenwood

wood utility pole in alley, painted with pink, blue, and green heart, with stripes and squares below

below: A Jack Layton quote: “Love is better than hate; Hope is better than fear.”

words written in many colours across a board on a wood fence in an alley, a quote from Jack Layton that says

hand written poem story on board, hanging next to a garage with paintings of birds in a tree

“AND people stayed home and read books and listened and rested.
… and learned new ways and stopped and listened more deeply
… and people began to think differently.  And people healed
… AND when the danger ended and people found themselves, they grieved for the dead … and made new choices … and dreamed new visions… and created new ways of living… and healed the earth as they were healed.”

below: “My Blue World – I know a place where the world is still where time and space have no hold”  Painting by Elly Dawson 2020.  Poem by Lanna M.

my blue world, a painting on a wood fence, of two boats in the water,

below: A large Canadian flag hangs over the Toronto skyline.

mural on a garage door, large canadian flag behind the toronto skyline, blue lake in front, blue sky behind

Also in Helen Porter Lane, someone has taken advantage of the space here to build new housing.

new housing built in a lane

 

The orange sign on the streetcar stop says that the 512 St. Clair streetcar stopped running early in September 2023 and will be out of service until summer 2024.   The whole line from Yonge to Gunns Loop

 

bus shelter on route 512, St. Clair streetcar, at Bathurst

below: Westbound TTC buses on St. Clair

2 TTC buses plus traffic, westbound on St. Clair in front of Loblaws just before Bathurst street

While we’re on the subject of the TTC, one very dirty bus shelter!

Stop – Take a Breath

stop sign with words and breathe added to it

locked gate, fence, vacant lot, with lowrise apartment buildings in the background

golden mile

Posted: September 27, 2023 in construction, history, intersections, transportation
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This has become one of the more forlorn corners in the city – the northeast corner of Eglinton and Vic Park.   I am not sure what the structure was originally used for or what it looked like back in the day.  Now it just stands there, perhaps in limbo like the Eglinton LRT that it sits next to.

concrete and glass rectangular structure beside a large empty parking lot

There is another one at the other end of the Golden Mile Mall (one block east at Pharmacy & Eglinton).  Brutalistic and ugly.

two women with an umbrella on a sunny day, under a concrete and glass structure

The Golden Mile Mall opened in 1954.  And even Queen Elizabeth II visited it (in 1959).

below: Golden Mile Mall parking lot today.  The mall (or plaza) has a No Frills and a Joe Fresh, both of which are part of Loblaws.  In fact, Choice Properties REIT (also Loblaws) owns the 19 acre site and has plans to redevelop it into a mixed use site.   The site runs north of Eglinton from Victoria Park to Pharmacy.  It’s early in the process so anything can happen but if you are interested, the site plan is a downloadable pdf

large parking lot at golden mile mall, not many cars

Did that tall metal structure have a purpose? Or just decoration?

Even back in the 1950s the parking lot was enormous.  I get the impression that the golden mile wasn’t so golden if you didn’t own a car.

black and white photo from 1950s of cars in a parking lot in front of a mall, the golden mile mall

Photo Source: From Old Toronto Series facebook page. If you are interested in the way Toronto used to look, check them out!

below: Part of the mall was destroyed by fire in 1986

black and white photo of firemen rolling up hoses in front of burnt out woolworths store

Photo Credit: Rick Eglinton, Toronto Star Photograph Archive, “Original Toronto Star caption: Fire guts part of Golden Mile plaza. Three of the 50 firefighters called out yesterday to battle a spectacular fire that gutted the west end of Scarborugh’s Golden Mile Plaza roll up their hoses after finally dousing the last ember. The mall, built mostly of wood in the 1950s and once Canada biggest, is now being demolished. The Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office has not yet determined the cause of the blaze. Published in Toronto Star, 16 December 1986”.  Found online at Toronto Public Libbrary Digital

 

development notice sign for redevelopment of golden mile mall property at Eglinton and Victoria Park

two women walking along the sidewalk as a truck passes by

As I alluded to above, the Eglinton LRT has been built here.  As most of you know, this is the mystery transit line – nobody knows when it’s going to be operational.  Not even Metrolinx knows.  Coincidences are such that after I took these photos I discovered that Metrolinx was supposed to make an announcement about the Eglinton LRT this afternoon (Sept 27).  As it turns out the announcement was that there was no announcement but they will make more announcements in a couple of months.

below: So O’Connor LRT station sits waiting…   Just in case you don’t know, O’Connor station is at Eglinton & Vic Park (O’Connor Drive ends at Vic Park a short distance south of here).

empty LRT station with yellow and white barricade

below: O’Connor LRT station, from another angle

LRT station on Eglinton

below: I was shocked to see a streetcar pull into the station!  They really are running tests or training people, or whatever it is they’re doing.  Back in early June 2021 (more than two years ago!) the first LRT vehicles made their debut in Toronto (blog post from that day)

eglinton lrt vehicle at o'connor station

tracks and empty platfor at o'connor lrt station

When the area was first settled it became farmland.  A few apple trees still grow along the side of Pharmacy Ave

apples growing on apple tree

During WW2, the Canadian government bought some of that farmland and built a munitions plant known as GECo (General Engineering Company). This factory was south of Eglinton and east of Pharmacy. After the war, many other industries moved into the area.  Beginning in the 1980s, the industries started leaving.

below: Today there are still a few left such as this IPEX facility – they make thermoplastic pipes (such as PVC pipes used in plumbing)

barbed wire surrounds a group of chemical silos

Another industry, Flexible Packaging Corp, has moved on

front end loader, digger, demolishing a brick industrial building

demolition of industrial building

If you google their address, 1891 Eglinton Ave East, you will discover that there are plans for the latest trend – the mixed use community – here too.  Tall condo towers, retail, and public space (here 5 towers, 4 of which between 30 and 45 storeys).  There are going to be a few of these along Eglinton.  For instance, the Crosstown neighbourhood is well underway at Eglinton and Don Mills.  And there is the Golden Mile Mall redevelopment that I mentioned above.

building being demolished, broken walls, no doors, sign that says truckers report to office

The Eglinton LRT has, not surprisingly, encouraged a lot of redevelopment.  Almost every building along Eglinton between Victoria Park and Pharmacy has a blue and white development notice in front.   I didn’t walk farther east but I suspect that a similar story is playing out there too.

below: At the southwest corner of Eglinton and Pharmacy, one tall tower of 35 storeys

blue and white development notice sign in front of a Burger King

below: North side of Eglinton, 2 towers – 38 and 40 storeys.

blue and white development notice sign in front of a Bank of Montreal building

Across the street from the Golden Mile Mall is Eglinton Square, another mall. It too has a development notice out front.   It was dated 2018 so take it with a grain of salt that the mall is retained but 91 rental units behind it will disappear. … Can we believe that?  So…  A quick google and yikes!  Seven towers, 5 of which are 40 storeys or more for 1 Eglinton Square.   Really?  Are we that short of ideas for housing?  In twenty to thirty years are we going to look around and wonder what the hell happened here?

street scene with little green sign for eglinton square entrance

below: HBC on the west side of Eglinton Square

entrance to Hudsons Bay store at Eglinton Square

below: This is the triangle formed by O’Connor Drive, Eglinton Ave., and Victoria Park Ave.  The parkette that was here is all dug up.   I’m not sure that I want to know what’s happening here.

levelled ground, dirt, construction equipment working there,

Graffiti

small white skull, graffiti painted on a black metal box

below: Danger due to blunt mop.  At first I thought it was someone’s strange humour but on closer look realized that it was an advert for a soundcloud account.

danger due to blunt mop sign on hydro pole

below: Help wanted!  and “help” available at a price

signs on the side of a blue and white free newspaper box, one sign says help wanted, and the other is an ad for viagra and cialis

sidewalk on Vic Park near Eglinton, sign advertising cannabis at lowest prices,

looking through a glass wall where 2 panes of glass are missing and the others have graffiti on them

*****

Additional Note:

This is the “Progress Chart” released by Metrolinx today re the Eglinton LRT.

Queen East and a little bit Eastern

Posted: September 23, 2023 in construction, doors, intersections, old buildings, stores
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These are some of the photos that I took the last time that I walked along Queen Street East – with a diversion or two down to Eastern Avenue.  It was a wander around parts of the Leslieville and Riverside neighbourhoods.   In no particular order….

below: Leslieville mural painted by Elicser Elliott, Queen Street East

large Leslieville mural by Elicser, man wearing a brown hat

below: Queen Street shops

stores on Queen St East, including LIttle Peeps

below: Hebrew letters, part of a project called “Welcome Back to Main Street” from back in 2021.  The Riverside Neighbourhood and Leslieville BIA collaborated with STEPS Public Art as part of the I HeART Main Street Challenge. The painting was done by local artists Bareket and Curtia Wright

in pink, Hebrew letters spelling welcome

below: … and nearby, “welcome” in Polish, witamy.

pink letters on sidewalk spell witamy which is polish for welcome, part of welcome back to main street project

below: At 744 Queen East, the old white Bank of Commerce building with its bowed front facade, dates from 1905.  The architects who designed the building were Darling & Pearson who were responsible for a number of bank buildings in Toronto and other Canadian cities.

large old bank of commerce stone building with pillars in front, police man writing a parking ticket for white car parked in front of building

below: Blessed Love Caribbean Grocery and Take Out.

signs for stores on Queen East including Blessed Love Caribbean

below: A frenzied backdrop to a sidewalk patio.

mural on wall beside sidewalk patio

below: Ghost sign at Queen and Coady.

ghost coca cola sign on side of old store, now a Spanish restaurant, with red umbrellas on patio

 

below: More details from the past trying to hold on.   The “blue box” has obliterated the old gabled roof structure that has probably been there for more than 100 years.

a row of buildings on Queen East with different architectural styles, some bay and gable, some modern square

below: Canadian flag motifs on planters

tree planters on queen street, painted in red and white maple leaf flag motifs
below: Strange ducks on posters, a form of graffiti?  Or just weirdness?

paper poster graffiti on a cement utility pole

below: Sax player at the Duke

street art painting of a saxophone player on yellow background, at the Duke tavern

below: Mediah on Queen

mural by mediah on queen street

mural

people walking past Samairas, with a street art painting on one of the exterior walls, large hand

Leslieville meat market, with street art image on door, a cyclist in front, women waiting at bus stop

below: on Broadview

mural on the side of a building on Broadview

below: Gales Snack Bar, Eastern and Carlaw.

Gales in old house on corner

below: Old row houses on Eastern – 4 in a row, 3 blue but 545 is in its original brown.

two storey old rowhouses on Queen St West

below: Something else that is old – an old style bus shelter close to an old metal Queen Street street sign affixed to the brick building.

old bus shelter with curved roof and brown metal supports,

below: And one last “you don’t see many of these anymore” – old parking meters.   Anyone got coins?

old grey metal parking meters, two on one stand

below: Snapdragons

pink, red, and yellow snapdagons flowers growing in front of a grey house

below: Lilies and hostas

small city frontyard with some grass and some red lilies and a hosta

below: More flowers, and a baby pram too.  Did you know that pram is just a short form of perambulator?  How British is that!  Even better, the second meaning of perambulator is, “a person who walks, especially for pleasure and in a leisurely way.”

porch of house with hanging baskets of flowers, chairs on the lawn,

below:  More than flowers!

reddish orange painted brick house with lots of decorations, such as fake flowers, a white swan,, around the front porch

reddish orange painted brick house with lots of decorations, such as fake flowers, a white swan,, around the front porch

below: Perambulating on Queen West!

some people walking on queen east, another person sitting on a bench

Queen Street east street scene

below: Traffic on Eastern Ave, headed downtown.

westbound traffic on Eastern Ave., moving towards downtown

below: No trespassing sign on one of the many vacant lots on the south side of Eastern.

black and yellow no trespassing sign on chainlink fence

faded warning signs on a locked gate and chainlink fence

below: This is one of the vacant lots on Eastern; it’s just west of Leslie.  The containers are offices (?) for GM as in General Motors.  They are sitting on a seven acre site that is otherwise empty.  Starting back in 2016 there was talk that this site would be developed as a GM Mobility Campus but approval from the city was never granted.   The previous buildings (film studios) were demolished and the lot lies vacant.

container offices in large vacant lot with chainlink fence around

below: Another space is for storage of old buses and trucks, movie props and other remnants of film productions.

trucks and school bus behind fence

below: … which happened to be unlocked the day I walked past.

CN Tower in the distance, a parking lot with old trucks and buses in the foreground

looking through upper windows of two buses, with reflections

below: On Leslie Street, at Eastern, this whole building is for lease because….

three storey industrial building with billboards on the side

below: .. as the letter states, the last tenant was locked out. They abandoned the premises leaving behind more than $100,000 in rent owing to the landlord.

letter on door stating that tenant was kicked out of arrears in rent and for abandoning the premises, dutch love cannabis is no more at this location

below:  The former Consumers Gas Company (now part of Enbridge) has had a large presence on Eastern Avenue for many years.  This stone on the exterior of the building names all the Consumers Gas directors in 1907 (presumably when the building was built?).  J.L. Blaikie was the president and A.W. Austin was the vice-president.  The mayor of the city, E. Coatsworth, was also a director.   There was a Sir W. Mortimer Clark on the list and, to no one’s surprise, the other names were all very anglo.

engraved stone with the list of Consumers Gas Company directors in 1907. on exterior of the building

below: Queen West at the CNR tracks

woman in long black skirt and white hat walks on Eastern Ave

below:  Little red picket fence

small red picket fence in front of a house

below: Renovations

large third storey addition on a house, juts out over front yard

two new renovations of family houses in leslieville

below: Note the many hydro meters all in a row – six units in what was once a single family home.

large new multiunit residence being built beside older smaller grey house

back of a house that has been painted orange, an old garage with graffiti on the door

below:  So far so good

front door steps of empty house that has been boarded up, with sign on it that says so far so good

below: Nice

green sign with white letters that says nice on brick wall on old industrial building

below: You never know what you will find written on the concrete.

quotes supporting cannabis availability stenciled onto a concrete barrier

on a TTC bus stop sign, a black marker drawing of a star with a happy face in the middle of it, with the words be kind

below: In memory of Karolina Huebner-Makurat who died on a Friday afternoon in August because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was caught in the crossfire during an altercation outside a supervised injection site.  Senseless.  Horrible.

flowers, memorial

Stay safe.

Senlac Road

Posted: June 21, 2023 in construction, locations, nature
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The north end of Senlac Road is at Finch Avenue. It runs south through the middle of York Cemetery and the Lansing neighbourhood towards Sheppard Ave.   .

an old wood bench on a patch of grass in front of shrubs and trees

below:  Addington Greenspace (or Addington Greenbelt) is a small park on the west side of Senlac, or rather it is an access point to the city’s ravine system.  In this photo, the trail back up the hill to the street ends by a bus stop.

looking uphill along a path through the woods and ravine, Addington, to a TTC bus stop pole at the top of the trail

below: The greenspace follows a creek and passes under Addington Street before it meanders southwestward towards the Don River close  to Sheppard and Bathurst.

concrete wall on bridge, has a black happy face spray painted on it

below: Protest signs on lawns.  Back in May City Council tried passing a new bylaw that would limit what signs you put on your lawn and how many.  There were more than 30 amendments to the Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 693 (Signs).  Most of them were adopted on the 14th of June except (if I am reading it correctly) for all amendments concerning “advocacy signs”.   The council agenda item history is online.  If you check it out and find that I am wrong, please let me know!

sign beside sidewalk that says stop privitization of public hospitals

below: Although the main part of Senlac ends at Sheppard, there is a small two block section south of Sheppard slightly to the west.

utility poles and hydro wires, street signs for senlac and sheppard avenue

below: Beware of the zombies!!

no parking signs, one says zombies on duty

 

low rise brick building

below: Most of the area is residential – 1950s and 60s suburbia.

old white convertible with top down parked in driveway in front of a house

side view of a house, wood fence in front of it, roofline is barn shaped

lots of plants growing in blue and grey pots in front of the porch and beside stairs of a house

pink lilac bush in full bloom, by a wood fence

2 storey brick house on sheppard aveune, beside a vacant lot

old red car in driveway of a house

below: Like all older neighbourhoods in Toronto, many smaller houses are being upsized.

renovation and enlargement of a house, smaller older house beside

2 houses on a residential street

…. or torn down and redeveloped totally.

blue and white city of toronto development notice

below: An empty house.  As I was taking these pictures, a woman passing by remarked that they had been empty for seven years.  I hadn’t meant for this walk to turn into yet another redevelopment story but even here there are blue white signs along with boarded up buildings.

front porch and front door of old brick house now empty

below: This development dates from 2016.  It proposes townhouses along Sheppard but 5 multistorey (11-25 storeys) buildings behind.  Part of the reason for the delay is that the project also involves tearing down existing rental accommodation.  In June 2022 the City Planning Division recommended that City Council approve the Rental Housing Demolition application that accompanies this development.  It is 14 pages long but if you are interested in what happens when developers want to tear down rental units, click on this City of Toronto link

blue and white development notice in front yard of a house

below: Hiding behind a massive shrub, both a house and a development notice

a large green shrub obscures a house that is awaiting demolition

boarded up doors and window of an empty brick house, wood porch has rotted away

old brick bungalow with boarded up windows and door

small brick house with boarded up windows

below: This bungalow is actually on Sheppard West.  The proposal here is not for a condo, but for a 38 room hotel (in 6 storeys).

small brick bungalow with development notice in the front yard

below: Also Sheppard West.

black metal construction fence around a building site

mm

Dupont Street scenes

Posted: June 10, 2023 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings
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part of a blue and white sign, with the words this way and an arrow pointing left

Another sunny spring day and another walk in the city.  This time we walked along Dupont with the occasional diversion to an alley or side street.  First stop?  First Last Coffee.  Always start with coffee!  In general, this blog covers Dupont between Spadina and Ossington and as usual, there may not be much order to the photos!

pictures and signs on the wall inside a coffee hop, First Last coffee, including a sign that says coffee please

below: The transparent domed Dupont subway station at the northwest corner of Spadina and Dupont

Dupont subway station, entrance on northwest corner of Dupont and Spadina, transparent structure with dome shaped curved roof

two women waiting outside Dupont subway station, red and white TTC sign,

below: Because of the redevelopment along Dupont (some buildings have been demolished but their replacements are still holes in the ground), Casa Loma can now be seen from the street.

blue sky with chain from crane (not in picture) hanging in the foreground, a large metal utility tower in the middle, and the top of Casa Loma roofline in the distance

below: Northwest corner of Dupont and Shaw

corner of an intersection that is one big construction site

below: Someone’s comment on the construction….

Construction site entrance sign that says gate 2. someone has added the word hell so that the sign now says gate to hell

below: … And another comment – he’s so happy to have a gun that he’s drooling.

black and orange construction sign with figure of man holding sign, happy face added to head and a machine gun put in his hands, altered sign

rebar sticking out the ground, construction site, as building begins to rise from the ground

shiny hoardings around a construction site reflect the bright orange signs and cones on the street beside it

a workman in a blue hardhat cleans the street between hoardings with large photos on them and orange cones blocking traffic

workman cutting pavement on dupont,

There are quite a few construction photos, maybe more than you’d like, but construction plays a large role in the scenery along Dupont these days.

workman helping a concrete truck back up into a construction site, traffic waiting,

construction reflections in a window

vacant building beside a grassy space, red brick, tagged on the side, old grey shingle roof, boarded up lower level window, construction fence around it

below: Joe’s Convenience chaos.

below: Reflections in a restaurant window

below: Dispensary of a different kind

below: Cyclists waiting for the lights to change.

a woman with a backpack walks by a window with many reflections in it

below: No energy today (all sold out?)

looking into a large warehouse interior with lots of windows, nine window panes

below: Looking at the northeast corner of Dupont and Dovercourt.  The interior of this old industrial building has been renovated and part of it is now a basketball school.

old building, three or four storeys high, made of many small panes of glass, on the northeast corner of Dupont and Dovercourt

below: View through the window

looking through a window to young men playing basketball inside

below: The billboard at Dupont and Dovercourt features an image by Maggie Groat and was part of the CONTACT Photography Festival.  More of her work is on display at Ontario Square (on the waterfront) and can be seen in a blog post, Double Pendulum, from a few weeks ago.

billboard with image by Maggie Groat, part of Scotiabank COntact photo festival, bottom part has been tagged

below: Silver Star Car Wash – I could say that it’s all washed up but considering the time that it takes for the development process – especially in a case like this where the application involves an amendment to the Official Plan and the Zoning By-law.

silver Star car wash on dupont street with a blue and white development notice in front

below:  Although it looks like a gathering of praying mantises, it’s really a symbol of a booming construction industry, boom lifts for rent.

cranes for rent, all parked outside a rental store

below: 888 Dupont (at Ossington) is one of the next buildings to be redeveloped but that is for another story on another blog post.

tall blue crane on construction site next to glass industrial warehouse building from 1921 at 888 Dupont street

below: An old rusty sign on the side of a building in an alley just off of Dupont tells us that J.F. Spencer, Sheet Metal Worker, once worked there.  old sign on the side of a building in an alley near Dupont street,

four houses on Dupont street

below: Looking along Dupont from Delaware Ave

Dupont street looking west from Delaware Ave

three two storey houses on dupont street

below: Probably the most affordable house on the street!

a small playhouse surrounded by leaves, in the side yard of a house

below: Some people have rose bushes in their front yard…

lone two storey house on Dupont, with large rose bush in front of it

below: … and some people have horses.

sculpture in a front yard of a horse up on its hind legs

below: A seaside Nova Scotia scene by Megan Oldhues.

mural on the side of a garage of a Nova Scotia waterside scene, sailboats, dock, flag,

grey car parked beside a garage with street art mural painted on it. Lots of red, orange, and yellow, blob-like characters

I’ll end this post with a few photos of the graffiti that I saw starting with this old Lovebot.

older Lovebot paste up on a grey brick wall, part of top of head has worn away

below: A pinkish red portrait of a young woman.

red stencil of a young woman's portrait

paste up graffiti on a metal pole, beside a wood pole full of old staples, black ink on paper paste up that says gewn 2020 squid

 below:  Voodoo Ninja, brought to you by Urban Ninja Squadron along with Ave Rage (or maybe it’s Average) who gets to play the victim.

4 paste ups on a box, all black on white. One is an urban ninja squadron collaboration with ave rage, and three are inky blotty drawings

 

old window in an old brick bilding, with street art that is peeling around the bottom part of the window

scrawled graffiti, happy face

pink rose on a large rose bush

until next time…. stay focused! … if possible….

small blue car parked on Dupont, with Ontario licence plate that says unfocused

888 Dupont

Posted: June 7, 2023 in construction, history, intersections
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old numbers on a building, 888, removed but traces left behind, on a teal coloured wall

below:  888 Dupont Street is at the northeast corner of Dupont and Ossington.  The building was designed by Canadian architect William George Hunt and was built in 1921.  The first owner was Thomas Oswald Aked whose company Aked & Co (or Aked Worsted) was in the yarn spinning business.

old industrial warehouse building on the northeast corner of Dupont and Ossington, teal cloured cladding with lots of small square window panes, graffiti tags all over the windows, posters along the wall at street level

After World War I, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind established a broom, brush, and mop-making business to provide employment for servicemen who had lost their vision in combat.  In 1952 this business, Blindcraft, moved into 888 Dupont.

below:  The entrance to 888 Dupont is now behind a construction fence.

double grey metal doors, entrance to 888 Dupont, now behind construction fence, on three storey industrial building, first built for a yarn company, Aked and Company

In recent years the building became home to many artist studios.  Although the building was never deemed residential, some artists used it as a place to live.  They have now been evicted to make way for condo development by TAS Design.

below:  Through a gap in the window…

interior of an abandoned building with old furniture and furnishings still in the building, a shopping cart, gas pipe, trash,

outdoor sidewalk space, narrow, between old building and construction fence

side of a an empty building at 888 Dupont waiting for demolition, small space beside building with old chairs and other junk under a steel beam overhang

The building has also become a canvas for some graffiti including some protesting redevelopment in general and condos in particular.

below: Toronto vs Condos

two stickers on a city development notice that instead of saying toronto vs everybody, say toronto vs condos

below: “I told you that… with guns get what they want”.  Some of the words are covered but the meaning is still clear.

poster protesting condo development, picture of a gun, text that says I told you that those with the gun wins

below: Poster – Who can afford to live here?  Which one of you can afford this?

graffiti poster with lots of text, weathered and difficult to read

below: Large one-eyed daisy by Life© (life in the streets)

large one eyed daisy. blue eye, graffiti on an abandoned building

a poster on a construction site for Tilley clothing, graffiti too

posters, advertising grapefruit gin cocktail drink by Muskoka brewery, on a wall at a construction site with graffiti

posters on the wall of a construction site including a large map of the world with pairs of baby shoes around it (large photo)

below: Liars – Doug Ford (Ontario Premier) and John Tory (ex-Toronto mayor).

sticker on a city blue and white development notice sign, faces of Doug Ford and John Tory with the word Liars

below: Happy little family? Pasteup by 33wallflower33

pasteups on a piece of plywood on a wall, car, three members of a family, mother, father, and daughter in a line, just their faces

southeast corner of building, 888 Dupont, now empty and covered with graffiti

graffiti on a wall

orange construction sign, pedestrians use other sidewalk, with stickers and pasteups on it, an old car in black and white

Changes at Broadview and Eastern

Posted: May 27, 2023 in graffiti and street art, locations
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This row of old two storey row houses has been vacant for years. Recently the developer that owns the properties provided a couple of Toronto artists the opportunity paint the exterior.  This is the result.

large street art painting by nick sweetman and luvs aka moises on a row of empty houses at Broadview and Eastern

If you look carefully, you can see that Nick Sweetman and Luvs (aka Moises) have painted the word CHANGE across the front of the buildings.   As a theme for a mural on a redevelopment site in a city bursting at the seams with such sites, change seems very appropriate.

below: I’ve played with the colours a bit to highlight some of the letters.  You should be able to see C, H, and A across this image.

part of a street art mural with the word change written in gold and yellow on a multi coloured background, on old houses with boarded up windows

But the mural is more than colour and letters.  There are three animals featured here – pigeon, raccoon, and coyote  – all of which have adapted to changes and now thrive in urban environments.

below: A blue pigeon

street art mural of a large blue pigeon on the side of an empty old house

below: A pinkish marroonish reddish raccoon

a large street art raccoon on an old house, part of a mural by nick sweetman and luvs moises

below: A coyote with a dead leaf and new buds.

large mural with a coyote face, a large dead orange leaf,

Funding provided by Streetcar Developments

a row of old brick houses with boarded up windows has been covered with a large mural

upper window of an old vacant house now covered in many colours, mural

below: The houses to the north….

row of houses on the east side of Broadview near Eastern, two story, peaked roof,

poster on a boarded up window that says so far so good

Photos taken 25 May 2023

Villiers Street with images

Posted: May 3, 2023 in construction, locations, public art, waterfront
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Part of Port Lands redevelopment.

Almost a year ago, a number of photos of the Port Lands work were installed along Villiers Street, “How to Build a River”.  This is at least the second exhibit by Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker in this location.  The prior set of images can be seen in a post from 2020, “the new Cherry Street bridge“.  It was part of the Contact Photography Festival for 2022.   I realize that it is now 2023 but I had forgotten about this exhibit until last week when I was walking in the area.

Here are some of the photos along with a few other details seen on Villiers Street.

below: “Sand and Charcoal”

photo by Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker of Port Lands redevelopment

a line of different coloured oil drums along a chainlink fence, wood fence behind

below: “Stratified River Ingredients”

photo by Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker of Port Lands redevelopment

hydro pole with metal remnants, overgrown with vines

below: Meander

photo by Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker of Port Lands redevelopment

below: Eastward on Villiers Street

north side of Villiers street, east of the Keating Channel pub

below: Crib Wall 3
photo by Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker of Port Lands redevelopment

no smoking sign on link fence beside a gate locked with two chains, one rusty and one newer. Also a hand painted sign that says don't park in front of the gate

below: “Layering Membrane”

photo by Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker of Port Lands redevelopment

a man in a yellow Toronto jacket rides his bike down Villiers street

below: “Transplanting #1”

large photograph by Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker mounted like a billboard on Villiers street

looking west along Villiers street to the large Lafarge cement silos at the end of the street, dirt and puddles in the median between the two lanes of traffic, a divided road

below: “Transplanting #2”

large photograph of a man transplanting plants and trees, in an orange vest, on the door of a silo

You might not be able to see these images any more. It is now May 2023 and there is another Contact Photography Festival that has just begun. Ingelevics and Walker have a newer exhibit planned which was scheduled to be installed for the 1st of May. Chances are this newer exhibit will stick around for a while too!

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