This year’s Dyke March (the 20th!) was an energetic, supportive, and positive celebration once again. It was led as usual by motorcycles and then Dykes on Bikes. Numerous groups and individuals walked and there was a good turnout that lined the sidewalks to watch the parade pass by. Colourful. Joyful.
#pride | #prideTO | #prideToronto
The Trans Rally and March, first of the Pride parades was last night (Friday).
below: If you were driving on Yonge street last night, perhaps you got stuck in traffic. Northbound cars on Yonge were stopped to allow the parade to cross from Bloor to Yonge. The parade continued in the southbound lanes which gave the stuck drivers and passengers a front row seat.
Last year it rained for the Trans March and in previous years the turn out was low. Whether it is because trans issues have been in the news a lot lately, or because the trans community is more visible, or because of other reasons, there were more people walking than usual.
below: Dave holding ‘Pulse’ a memorial artwork in honour of those who died at the Pulse nightclub Orlando. The piece was crocheted by Dave and the Craft Action Collective.
#loveislove | #lovealwayswins
below: “Stop and we’ll build” in Bloordale Village, an area along Bloor St. West between Dufferin St. and Lansdowne Ave.
Last Saturday was Bloordale’s third annual community garage sale and laneway crawl. Many front yards were full of items for sale. A couple of families were selling homemade food and there was at least one lemonade stand.
I walked the area fairly early in the morning so many of the activities were just getting set up. There were things to do and games to play in the alleys and in Susan Tibaldi park. I have blogged previously about this area so last Saturday I only took pictures of things that were new. There weren’t very many changes in the alleys.
below: We are Starlight, we are golden…. **
below: … and it seems that we were all born in outer space. Lovebot and some friends.
Along the side of a building on Jenet Ave I found a large mural of three faces painted by Shalak, Fiya and Bruno Smoky. It faces a parking lot and there were cars in the way. I took some photos anyhow; I think you should be able to see the faces reasonably well.
below: Two women, the one on the left was painted by Shalak while the one on the right is by Fiya.
below: The mustached man and his fish was painted by Bruno Smoky.
below: Remnants of old Rob Ford graffiti still remain around the city including this doorway.
below: This building on Brock Street on has been empty for years.
below: The front of 668 Brock Ave with its Salvation Army ghost sign. In 1921 it was home to the Brock Avenue People’s Mission while next door at 666 Brock Ave., the Number 16 Corps of the Salvation Army was stationed. Its history since then is still a mystery to me.
below: At the not so picturesque corner of Lansdowne and Paton Rd., I found a metal fence. A sign on it says that it is the ‘Lansdowne Fence Temporary Artwork’ by artists Scott Eunson and Marianne Lovink, commissioned by the TTC in 2010. But why is the TTC involved with this vacant lot?
below: And as you can see, it’s a large lot. As it turns out, this was the site of the TTC Lansdowne Carhouse up until 1996. Although the carhouse was classified as a heritage building, it was demolished in 2003. The land has been vacant ever since.
below: Lansdowne carhouse, 1996, photo credit: Robert Lubinksi, TTC collection, found online.
below: A new mural has been painted on the side of the South Indian Dosa Mahal restaurant at the corner of Emerson and Bloor. It is the creation of SPUD and his team with the support of StreetARToronto and the Bloordale BIA. It’s probably the biggest tiger cub in Toronto!
below: Dasdardly Whiplash in his latest role as a graffiti artist near Lansdowne subway station.
below: Small places of worship are scattered all over the city. Many are in buildings once used for other purposes, including (by the looks of it) this one, the Belarusan Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Parish of St. Kiryla of Turau. Trivia #1 of the day: autocephalous is “self-headed” and in this context refers to a church whose bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. Trivia #2: St. Kiryla (c.1130 – 1182) was an eloquent and poetic preacher in Turau which is south of Minsk and east of Warsaw. And on that note I will move on before I end up writing a treatise on Eastern Orthodox religions.
below: Not your average patio!
And last, let’s finish with a splash of bright summer sunshine!
** yes, I know I’ve misquoted
May 1, May Day, International Workers Day
To mark the day, there was a rally at Yonge Dundas Square.
The wet afternoon didn’t dampen the spirits of those who were there with their placards and banners.
Anyone with a marker and a bit of gumption can leave their mark almost anywhere but most of us don’t. What makes some people write? The stupid and/or juvenile scrawls I can do without but I like encountering words that make me smile or make me think. Below is a small collection that I have seen in the past week. Some are stupid and some are witty, but all are the result of someone’s thoughts and actions.
below: Keep it civil; keep it underground.
below: “MyFace – I vote for a date with you! Currently searching for my 2017 Valentine.”
Brought to you (maybe) by someone called James and seen around Ryerson University.
below: What is more tempting than a blank wall? If a sign requests you not to paint on the wall and you draw on it with marker, have you disobeyed the request?
below: These posters on the wood hoardings have been up for many months now. Someone has written “communist garbage” on one of the posters. I’m not sure of the ideology, but if you believe in the freedom of movement are you really a communist? The Soviet government certainly didn’t allow it.
below: Let’s call this photo ‘Garage Heavy Metal in the Bike Lane’.
I’m not sure if this is a list of good things? or bad things? Or maybe some sort of poetry?
What does Elizabeth May have in common with Lucy DeCoutere? Or the TD CEO with Desmond Cole?
below: “Do not place any materials here”….. just a lot of words instead.
A few words about someone called Sarah.
below: “Drink coca-cola get fat”. Probably not what Coke intended!?
below: “I use stickers because I’m too afraid of getting caught to spray”, wabishabby
Rob Ford
City councillor and former Mayor of Toronto
May 1969 – March 2016,
Funeral procession from City Hall to St. James Cathedral, 30 March
below: For two days Rob Ford lay in repose at City Hall where people could pay their respects. And many did. Yesterday, the line up wound around the corner of City Hall as people waited their turn. Some people loved him; some people hated him. Possibly there were those who were indifferent.
This morning there was a short procession from City Hall to the noontime funeral at St. James Cathedral.
below: After arriving at City Hall, Doug Ford greets the crowd.
Although the procession was scheduled to begin at 10:30, it didn’t start until close to 11:30. A group of people waited at Nathan Phillips Square including some of Rob Ford’s supporters. I overheard a conversation between two men who were discussing what they thought of politics and politicians, most of it negative. At one point they declared that all career politicians should be kicked out of office. I thought to myself, you mean guys like Rob Ford? Wasn’t he a career politician?
About 20 or so people were holding a large flag made of a couple of Canadian flags and all the provincial flags stitched together. It was a very diverse group of people, diverse in age as well as in ethnic background. They were joking about whether or not they were going to be on the front page of the ‘Sun’. We shall see!
below: A woman finds a quiet place to sit and wait.
below: The police were in position, ready to start, long before the procession began. So was the media and it was a very large media presence indeed.
below: The Toronto Fire Department had a large Canadian flag on display at Queen and Bay streets, near the beginning of the procession route.
below: Trying to keep the people, most with cameras, off the streets.
below: This guy may have been filming the crowd (and me) but he didn’t look away from his phone.
below: The crowd in front of St. James cathedral
As I was walking away from the cathedral, a woman approached me.
She pointed towards the church asked me if I knew what was going on there.
added later: I was going to discard this photo but then I noticed the man in the mask.
Who wears a mask to a funeral procession?
The plan was to start walking westward from Eglinton subway station.
below: The first photo I took was right after I got off a bus at the station. With the ongoing reconstruction at Eglinton, there is now easy access to the old bus bays. There is still a fence around them, but at least they can be seen and photographed. These bays have not been used since 2004 and the area has been fenced off and unused since then. Now they sit empty in the shadow of the ever increasing tall buildings around them.
below: Looking west along Eglinton Avenue after the completion of Eglinton station in 1954. The street running north-south just beyond the bus bays is Duplex Avenue. There is now a police station on the SE corner of that intersection. On the NW corner you can see the brick Toronto Hydro-Electric Building with its large front ‘door’. It is still there.
source: City of Toronto Archives, online
.
below: (taken later in the afternoon, on the way home) The intersection of Eglinton and Duplex from west side with the brick Toronto Hydro-Electric building now between glass buildings.
below: After leaving Eglinton station, this caught my eye. The glass cube-like building on the NE corner of Eglinton and Duplex reflects the afternoon sun onto the walls of the Toronto Hydro-Electric building across the street.
below: On Duplex, right behind this brick building is an intriguing building. The highly textured concrete exterior and the 3D patterned wall are suggestive of the 1960s although I could be wrong. It’s ugly yet fascinating at the same time. Now that the leaves have fallen from the trees in front of it, the pattern of trapezoids, diamonds and rectangles is revealed…. as is the dirt and grime on the concrete. The fact that there are no windows and doors facing the street provides a clue that this is yet another Toronto Hydro building.
Somethings old
below: A sign with an old Toronto HU (Hudson) exchange phone number. HU1 would be 481. This number is probably from the late 1950s. In the early days, Toronto phone numbers had only 6 digits. In the mid 1950s a seventh digit was added and then between 1961 and 1966 the letter prefixes were phased out, replaced by numbers.
below: The Eglinton Grand, art deco building from 1936; National Historic site since 2003.
Somethings new
And some window ‘shopping’ to do
below: Marbles wedged between glass make an excellent decorative touch.
below: little Japanese wooden dolls in the window of the Sake Bar
below: And even a lovebot hangs out here
below: A little chuckle at this sign….
below: And then later I saw this.
Rather than wait for a bus I decided to keep walking home but unfortunately it’s that time of year when the daylight hours are just too short. One last look at where I had just been before putting my camera away and heading home.
Jesus in the City parade
They walked north from Queens Park to Bloor, south on Yonge, and then back across College to Queens Park and they walked with exuberance and joy.
below: The man who played Jesus was very good
The cold hard pavement couldn’t have been easy on his body.
#jitc2015
Toronto Labour Day Parade
Monday 7th September
from Queen & University to the CNE
FORTY ONE the Esplanadian Connection,
an exhibit inspired by the book ‘FORTY ONE Neighbours’
The book was published earlier this year and there was a book launch at St. Lawrence Hall back in April. The book is a collection of 41 portraits, one person from each country participating in the Pan Am and Parapan Games. Each portrait is also of a person with a connection to the Esplanade community. Fifty three students/authors from The Esplanade neighbourhood wrote the stories.
For the exhibit, the portraits were re-enacted by local residents.
Each portrait consists of three sides. Two sides have photographs on them – one side with a Esplanadian person or family and the other side with a PanAmerican resident.
The third side has one word written in five languages.
From top to bottom – Dutch, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
The words were chosen from the stories in the book, one symbolic word from each portrait.
The signs are mounted on lamp posts along the Esplanade.
as I walk Toronto 