Posts Tagged ‘Scarborough Town Centre’

What remains

Posted: July 12, 2025 in history, old buildings, transportation
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There is talk about what to do with the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) line that runs from Kennedy station, north to Lawrence and Ellesmere, and then east to Scarborough Town Centre.   The SRT was built in 1985 and then closed in July 2023.  The concrete and glass infrastructure still remains.  The tracks are gone.   A few years ago, I went for a ride on the SRT (blog post is  Are you going to Scarborough? ) but I never checked out the stations themselves.  Since I am not sure how much longer they are going to exist, I thought I’d better take a look before it’s too late.

below:  Lawrence East station nestles under the bridge where Lawrence passes over railway tracks between Kennedy Road and Midland Avenue.

low flat concrete building, Lawrence East station on now defunct SRT line. It is under a bridge, under Lawrence Avenue.

looking in the windows of lawrence east rapid transit station, now empty, reflections of outside as well

below: Although the SRT tracks have been removed, other tracks remain.   These tracks continue on to Agincourt GO station and points farther north.

behind chainlink fence, train station, but with tracks removed.

below: Looking south

chainlink fence, with railway tracks behind, two sets of tracks, the ones in the foreground have been removed

below: Signs for 54A and 954 Lawrence buses

overhead signs for lawrence bus routes at old lawrence east station

below: If you wanted to cross the tracks, this was the fastest way…

stairs for underground passage to cross subway tracks at lawrence east station, round hole with stairs in the middle,

stairs down to underpass under railway tracks at lawrence east srt station, metal doors locked closed,

north side of lawrence east srt station

northwest corner of lawrence east srt station

below:  Permanently closed

poster on door of srt station, picture of old srt subway car, notice that the line is permanently closed.

below: Mike Myers Drive with Lawrence East station in the background.

below: A short distance north of the Lawrence East station is the old Ellesmere station.  It too is under a bridge (under Ellesmere of course!).  It is smaller than the Lawrence East station

south side of Ellesmere station, with tracks now removed, curved glass structure under a bridge,

below:  Ellesmere station also has the circular hole for the stairs leading to an underground passage.  The station looks like a big glass tube.

ellesmere station, east side, with blue railing around circular hole, long glass tube structure in the background that is the station, bridge overhead

 

looking in window of ellesmere srt station, reflections, sign saying southbound to kennedy

below: Someone is missing their lock.

three toronto bike lock rings, painted red, one with a rusty chain and combination lock still on it.

After Ellesmere station, the SRT turned east, diverging from the other set of tracks.  Midland station was just after the turn – on Midland between Ellesmere and Progress.  Sorry, no pictures (busier street, no parking).  Although the architecture is similar (a glass tube), Midland station is built on top of a bridge, above the road instead of below it.   From Midland the trains went directly east to Scarborough Town Centre.   For most of thee eastern section, the tracks run behind industrial or light industrial land.  I haven’t been able to find out if there is any access or if it is all fenced off.

below: East view of Scarborough Town Centre station with covered walkways from both the federal government building on the left, and the shopping center on the right.

a TTC bus passes by Scarborough Town Centre station with its now abandoned elevated tracks

below: No trains run here anymore, but the station is still used for buses with the elevated rails being used as a roof.

TTC buses loading and unloading at Scarborough Town Centre, seen from above, from the walkway between station and Scarborough Town Centre

people opening doors going into Scarborough Town Centre

below: Pillars supporting the elevated tracks still run through the parking lot of Scarborough Town Centre to McCowan.

pillar P53, and others behind it, SRT tracks at Scarborough Twn centre parking loto

below: McCowan station was the eastern end of the line.

McCowan SRT station, glass, reflections in the glass

below: McCowan station viewed from the east side. The tracks continued a short distance to the SRT yard where trains were housed and serviced.

east side of McCowan Scarborough Rapid Transit station, elevated line for transit

elevated tracks for old scarborough srt, in front of a tall condo building

below: At McCowan, Scarborough Transit Connect is partnered with Metrolinx to build the new Scarborough Extension subway from Kennedy station to a new terminus at Shepherd and McCowan. See a previous blog post, Intersections –  McCowan and Sheppard for some photos from

fence around construction site, Scarborough Transit connect, working on new Scarborough Town Centre station for Scarborough extension of line 1 of TTC subway

below: Traffic on McCowan is impacted by the subway extension construction

looking north on McCowan at Progress, by old McCowan srt station, concrete barrier narrowing the street, construction on the right

below: One more view of the construction at McCowan station

below: And last, I found evidence on a pole in the parking lot at Scarborough Town Centre that indicates that I have missed the Rapture; they left without me. I guess that I am stuck here!

graffiti sticker on a pole that says Rapture Jesus took us home

bringing in the pig

Posted: February 5, 2019 in events, people
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Happy New Year!
Lunar New Year that is, as we usher out the year of the dog and welcome in the year of the pig.

A few scenes from Scarborough Town Centre today.

decorations for lunar new year

Write your wish on a ribbon and tie it to archway – maybe your wish will come true.

three women writing on pink ribbons

tying pink ribbons to an arch

a middle aged muslim couple takes a selfie in front of a lunar new year decoration at Scarborough Town Centre

posing in front of a ribbon filled arch

Lions dance to ward off the evil spirits

kids cheer and laugh as a purple lion (costume) dance in front of them

people in the audience reach out to touch a white lion costume with two people under it, part of a new year celebration

Nuit Blanche 2018

Posted: October 5, 2018 in events, people
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This year’s Nuit Blanche was on September 28th and 29th.  The night’s activities were spread over a large number of locations around the city.  That was a few days ago so yes, I am a bit behind.  I was laid low for a couple of days with this cold that’s been going around… or I took a few days to recover from being up until 3:30 a.m.!

 

below:  Part of ‘Continuum: Pushing Towards the Light’ by Brandy Leary and the Anandam Dancetheatre.  They made they way across the glass enclosed bridge over Queen Street between the Eaton Centre and The Bay store.

4 people in costume, performance art, on glass covered bridge

below: From behind the burlap (or tarp?) Nathan Phillips Square, from an installation ‘Radical Histories 2012-2018’ by Ibrahaim Mahama.

looking at the back of the 3D Toronto sign at Nathan Phillips, looking through burlap and tarps that have been stitched together

below: More from the same installation, this time from the “right” side.  It was great for making shadow figures.  Thanks to Jude for starting off the evening with me… and getting creative (silly?) too.

making shadows against the fabric draped around City Hall and Nathan Phillips square

below: We found a photo shoot on Bay Street.

two young women posing on the street

below: On Bloor Street, nothing to do with Nuit Blanche but it looked cool.   Reflections and lights.

reflections in a window that has been lit with a red light, a mannequin is reflected from the store across the street

below: Eaton Centre, a quieter moment that night.

a young boy leans against his father as he reads a book, MIghty Robot, at the Eaton Centre

below: Checking the map.   Yonge Dundas Square – the installation there was very unimpressive so I took people pics instead.

a couple looks at the Nuit Blanche map

below: At Church of the Redeemer (Avenue Road and Bloor), Korean Dancers.  “Star Moon Water Stone” by Ensemble Jeng Yi

two Korean women in traditional costume, gold dresses, and decorated hair

below: Drummers, same venue as above.

drummers, performing, Church of the Redeemer, Nuit Blanche

below: ‘This Storm is You’ at the Ontario Science Centre, an installation by Zahra Saleki.   Photography on the walls and stories on the floor.

art installation for Nuit Blanche at the Ontario Science Centre, by Zahra Saleki called 'This Storm is You'.

below: Walk among the stories.  “Every story deserves to be lit.  Grab a sharpie and write yours.”

lit sign, large capital letters in pale blue, Every Story deserves to be lit. Grab a sharpie and write yours.

below: Smile!.. and a testament to the start of love.   Two of many lit stories.

white lanterns, rectangular, with tea lights in the bottom, scattered around the floor, people walking around them.

below: Saleki’s photos displayed here are abstract dance photographs in black and white.  Negative images and slowing the camera to produce the blur of motion.

black and white photo of a man leaning forward, finger pointed to ground, slow shutter speed, blurred motion,

four photographs on a black wall, by zahra Saleki, figures in motion

below: This is what you saw when you first got off the subway (is the SRT a subway?) at Scarborough Town Centre.  It’s part of the ‘The Things They Carried’ Babel series.  The motifs are similar to those on the installation at Yonge -Dundas Square, that oops, I don’t have a picture of.

installation of blue lights shining on fabric banners

below: At Scarborough Civic Centre, ‘Everything I Wanted to Tell You’ by Hiba Abdallah.  A series of words in lights projected onto several buildings.  The words changed every few seconds to tell a story or two.

two large signs at Scarborough Nuit Blanche, from the installation called Everything I wanted to tell you. Back lights say We worked so hard to make this place home

below: More of the words.  “People hold on so tightly to a specific narrative of this place”.

words projected onto the side of a building at Scarborough Civic Centre, part of Nuit Blanche installation, Everything I wanted to tell you by Hiba Abdallah

below: More projections at Scarborough Civic Centre.  Sorry, not sure which installation this is.

large projections on the concrete wall of Scarborough Civic Center

below: Scarborough Town Centre (mall) had a mountain of inflatable globes you could walk under, or just look at.  ‘Walk Among Worlds’ by Maximo Gonzalez

piles of inflatable globes are arranged at Scarborough Town Centre, people are walking around them and through a tunnel made of them

below: Weaving stories, ‘Interlacing’ by Community Arts Guild, at Scarborough Town Centre.

three people are taking their turn weaving coloured strips of fabric into a community weaving project

below: Watching a performance at the Scarborough Civic Centre.

people line the edge of a balcony to watch a performance below

below: Running through the lights.

woman runs past a white screen that is being lit with coloured lights, making her shadow coloured

below: Reflections, Aga Khan Museum

in front of the Aga Khan museum, a large white lit ball is reflected in the pool of water

below: more Aga Khan

Aga Khan at Nuit Blanche

below: Showing ‘Insomnia’, a video filmed in Tehran showing simply the view out his bedroom window, by Simin Keramati, Aga Khan Museum

a room in the Aga Khan that is showing a video made in Tehran, two people are sitting on stools as they watch it, orange carpet on the floor, old decorated bookcases against the walls.

side of the Aga Khan museum lit in bluish purple light

below: Trash at Yonge Dundas Square.  Nothing to do with Nuit Blanche, just an ordinary day’s worth of garbage.  It just happened to catch my eye as I was walking down the stairs to the subway.

clear plastic bags full of trash are pilled up against a clear wall at Yonge Dundas square

Ending with rubbish would be a weird way to end a post, so here’s another mannequin.  I saw lots of them that night too, unfazed by the activity around them, unmoved by the night’s events.

below: I’m out here every night.  Nice of you to finally notice….

bald white mannequin with dark sunglasses and very dark red lipstick, looking at the camera, wearing an orange and brown top with a collar, reflected red, ywllow, and green lights behind her.