Posts Tagged ‘the Junction’

College – Dundas – Lansdowne

Posted: September 20, 2021 in doors, graffiti and street art, locations
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Three streets, College, Dundas, and Lansdowne, form a small triangle in the west end. The following pictures were taken on a summer day a couple of weeks ago when I was walking in and around that triangle.

below: Mural – railway bridge. Just west of here, Dundas crosses a set of tracks – the same line the services Pearson airport and points beyond.

mural on the corner of a building

below: Eating Dominos in the doorway

street art painting of a blue dragon with mouth open wide, pink tongue and yellow teeth, dominos pizza box in mouth

below: Small part of a freaky display of dolls and similar toys along the wood rails surrounding a sidewalk patio

dolls attached to poles as part of decoration on outdoor patio

below: More dolls from the same place –  what does that do to one’s appetite?

old dolls attached to a wood 4 x 4 outside

below: Colourful umbrellas cover a makeshift patio on the street

man walking on sidewalk, away from the camera. patio on street beside sidewalk with many umbrellas over the tables, green, red, and yellow

below: New sidewalk on College Street with a large mural in the distance…..

sidewalk that is roped off with yellow caution tape because the concrete has just been repoured, College Street

below: Beanstalk mural on the side of the coin laundry on the northeast corner of College and St. Clarens.  Maybe that’s Jack at the bottom…   😀

northeast corner of College and St. Clarens, three storey beige brick building with coin laundry on ground floor, large beanstalk mural up the side of the building

below: Orange house, northwest corner of College and St. Clarens

below: …. and an orange car, an older Porsche convertible, in an alley around the corner.

backs of stores in a small alley where a blue Dodge Ram pickup truck is parked. Also parked is an orange car, an old porsche convertible. Graffiti on some of the buildings

below: Lost Time

poster on a wood utility pole with the headline Lost Time

below: Reflections, TTC streetcars and the pope

reflections of a TTC streetcar in a store window

below:  In a convenience store window – get your keys cut here, or buy a mask, but watch out for the five deadly terms used by a woman.  Fine? Go ahead!

signs in window of a convenience store. Keys cut here, covid items for sale - masks, hand sanitizer, also a poster of deadly things that women say

below: Faded signs in another store window

window of a convenience store, in the middle of a large mural on exterior of building, faded signs in the window

below: One of life’s little blue daisies watching you

graffiti sticker on a black brick wall, a little blue daisy

below: Is this dystopia?

stenciled red words on a sidewalk that say Is this dystopia?

below: College at Margueretta

College street near Lansdowne, brick buildings on north side of street

below: Canadian flags on old store windows

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below: A door with a frosty scene in duplicate.

below: Even birds might want to get mail!

a small white bird house is attached to the end of a black mailbox in a doorway

below: Happy mail

tagged mural, mural was an animal in blues on purple astro like background

below: Dundas Gas Bar

below: Outdoor displays

store, with items of clothing on display outside

below: An ad, blue and peeling

old poster peeling from an exterior wall, a blue advertisement for Cuevo alcohol

below: Vacant lot on Lansdowne between College and Dundas

small wood box mounted on chainlink fence around vacant lot , concrete wall behind it

billboard in vacant lot with chainlink fence around it

billboard in vacant lot with chainlink fence around it

below: Northeast corner of Dundas and Lansdowne – some architecture ages better than others.

And with that, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of some of the architecture in the area.

semi divided house, two storey

semi divided house with peaked roof, balconies on upper level

two blue houses, semis, one bright blue and greyish blue.

north on Keele, south on the railpath

Posted: November 11, 2020 in graffiti and street art, intersections, locations
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Zoom zoom! Hop on and come along for a ride!

a radio flyer tricycle parked on the grass, with lots of fallen leaves, in front of brick apartment building

below: Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. What direction should we go today? Where will your feet take you next? Thinking interesting thoughts as we explore. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself”. What have you created today? What should we create next?

a front porch with three plaques with saying on them

Rather lofty words and ideas when all we’re doing is walking up Keele Street… where just looking at the stairs makes me tired.

square, two storey brick duplex on a hill, with concrete wall in front, lots of steps going up

red vine covered concrete wall on Keele St., in front of houses up on the hill, steps up the houses

an old office chair beside a bench on the sidewalk

back lane, row of houses,

small statue of a couple embracing in a garden in a front yard

a small replica of a VW bus hanging from a tree. bus is painted white and blue and has a red heart on it

below: It was good fun to see an altered Neighbourhood Watch sign – great to know that some still exist. Five years ago (yikes!) I posted a collection of “good guys” that I had found around the city. I don’t know if Andrew Mutton, the man responsible, is still making them but I haven’t seen any new ones for a long time.

neighbourhood watch street sign with added picture of three characters from Star Trek

This November has started with wonderful walking weather.  In fact, the whole autumn has been a delight for those of us who like to be busy outside.  The colours of the trees, shrubs, and vines seem to be more vibrant this year and I don’t think that it’s wrong to say that the colours have lasted longer than usual.

vines on a concrete stair case, autumn colours

below: Keele and Annette

intersection of Keele and Annette

By the time you get to Keele and Dundas you are definitely in “The Junction” named for its proximity to the junction of a number of different railway lines.  In 1884 this area became the village of West Toronto Junction.

below: Looking north up Keele to Dundas.  Dundas is a long street that winds its way across the city.  Here in the west end, it runs north south as it crosses Bloor West.   Moving north from Bloor, Dundas parallels the GO tracks for a half kilometre or so and then bends almost ninety degrees to run parallel to the Canadian Pacific railway line.  The junction of these two railway lines is a short distance away (to the northeast)

intersection of Keele and Dundas, looking north on Keele

below: Walking on Dundaspeople and dogs walking along Dundas near Keele

items in a store window, vintage, old coca-cola sign and other memorabilia, also Royal Crown Cola bottles and wood box, a wood Flow wagon,

below: CP tracks

a wall of street art on the other side of the railway tracks

below: Back by the tracks

two shipping containers and some other junk used in a lot with a garden

below: The remains of a vegetable garden. Are these brussell sprout plants where the sprouts part have already been removed?

remains of a vegetable garden in November, tall plant, brussel sprouts, that have lready been harvested, a small fruit tree

From Keele, it’s a short walk east to the West Toronto Railpath which is on the east side of the GO tracks.  The northern most entrance to the path is off of Cariboo Ave which is a tiny one block street north of Dupont.  The southern end, although near College and Lansdowne, is actually where the GO tracks cross Dundas…. which is very confusing.  If you look at it on a map, it makes a lot more sense!

below: The mural, “Strength in Numbers” is still on the underpass walls at Dupont and can be seen from the railpath.  You can find more photos of it if you follow the link.

part of a mural, strength in numbers, on the concrete walls of an underpass

below: From the same bridge, looking east on Dupont.  The twin steeples belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St. Andrew the Apostle

looking east on Dupont, traffic on the street, stores lines streets

two people walking on an asphalt path past some small trees in autumn colours

below: Street art on the glass wall separating the path from the railway tracks.

yellow street art painted on glass wall beside West Toronto Railpath and railway tracks, large face with mouth open, hand holding 4 little figures that look like fingers

below: Hoardings.  Paintings.  In the middle is a section that has been painted with these words: “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members, a heart of grace, and a soul generated by love.: C.S.K.  [Coretta Scott King]

street art on hoardings around a building, west toronto rail;ath

below: Black Lives Matter, Run for Ahmaud, mural by kizmet32 and Francis Pratt. Tribute to Ahmaud Arbery who was out for a run when he was murdered by two white men, Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis

mural of a black man in the stance held at the beginning of a running race,

small graffiti of a cat's face on top of a larger red and white tag, on glass wall

below: Kizmet street art on a Henderson Brewery truck on Sterling Ave.

Henderson Brewery delivery truck covered with street art by kizmet, 3 faces in shades of blue, purple, pink, and turquoise

below: The West Toronto Railpath crosses Bloor Street.

railway bridge over Bloor West near Dundas, painted orange, construction on one side of the road so traffic diverted to the other side

below: The giraffe building at Dundas and Bloor is still there.

cyclist riding by construction on bloor street approaching dundas

below: That corner is getting a new mural, a thank you to front line workers during Covid. Borat has snuck into the photo too – but then his poster does say “Wear Mask, Save Live”. You can’t see all the words here…

painting a mural on the corner of bloor and dundas, a thank you to front line workers during covid

below: But they are more visible here….

a man stands at an intersection waiting for traffic lights to change, he's in front of Borat poster, wear a mask, save live, man sands where he covers the mask

below: Street art in a parking lot. The one on the right is kizmet.

two cars parked in front of a kizmet mural

below: The building makes a wedge. On the right is the wall in the photo above.

the point of a wedge shaped building with street art on both sides

fence covered with throwups and wildstyle around a low rise apartment building

below: Smash, crash, gambit

small round medallion shaped graffiti, carved figure with words crash smash gambit written around the outside

below: A skinless smoker with a third eye by bodh.io

sticker graffiti of a head without the skin, showing eye socket, muscles, teeth, top vertebrae, smoking a cigarette

below: Drible-drible with many noodles (?) and on a more political note, someone wants Doug Ford to resign.

dribble dribble sticker, feelings boi sticker and a sticker that says Doug Ford resign

below: A trio  – More feelings boi, a collaboration between him and tbonez., and a tribute to jazz musician John Coltrane.

three stickers on orange metal support of west toronto railpath bridge over Bloor. One is a portrait of a black man Coltrane, another is a feelings boi sticker and last is a sticker that is feelings boi along with urban ninja squadron,

… and that’s all for now!

yellow stencil graffiti on sidewalk, words that say buh bye

There are older posts with photos from the Junction and/or the West Toronto Railpath.  I’ve been walking and blogging long enough now that there is bound to be repetition!  If you are interested in more pictures, you can always search all posts in this this blog for “Junction”… or for whatever you want for that matter!

Tower Automotive building

Posted: November 17, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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The Tower Automotive building is on Sterling Ave. in the Junction.  This ten storey building was built in the 1920s.  Tower Automotive went bankrupt in 2005 and the building has been empty ever since.  A number of years ago there was talk of turning it into studio space but for a temporary art installation or two, nothing has been done with this heritage building.

 

Chainlink fence in front of the building.

A chainlink fence surrounds the north part of the site.

….. but part of the fence was down and nobody was working on the site, so in we went.

Some of the graffiti on the west side of the building: 

graffiti on the back of the Tower Automotive building, a tall brick building - looking along the side of the building, the head of the reclining woman is in the foreground. Construction equipment is also in the picture.

graffiti on the back of the Tower Automotive building, a tall brick building - the backside of a naked woman who is lying on the ground. Much larger than lifesize, painted by Jarus.

graffiti on the back of the Tower Automotive building, a tall brick building - a large light blue face with tags on either side of it.

graffiti on the back of the Tower Automotive building, a tall brick building - the words cant hold me back are written in black on top of yellow and turquoise.
graffiti on the back of the Tower Automotive building, a tall brick building - a woman with purple hair wearing a brown and red hat. She is holding a blue watering can. She has an anchor tattoo on her upper arm.

moving around the building

On a concrete telephone pole, a black and white drawing of a man's head. The word Others is coming out of his mouth.

on the east side of the building

wall of a building with a wheatpaste lovebot and a standard city of Toronto development proposal sign. Some tags are also on the building.

The sign says “Draft of Subdivision Proposal, 158 Sterling Rd. – Castlepoint Studio Partners Limited has made an application to subdivide the property at 158 Sterling Road into 7 blocks in order to create a mixed use development that will have building heights ranging between 2 – 17 storeys.

a large gameboy lovebot on the side of a concrete wall.
lovebot and an anser black, white and grey face on a conrete wall.
a tag over old graffiti
blue construction fence is in focus in the foreground with a construction site behind it. A tall brick building stands in the construction site.

suitman north and south

Posted: December 6, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
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The suitman mural is on a railway underpass on Dupont St., just west of Lansdowne Ave.  It covers the walls on both sides of the street.

It was first painted  and funded with  $2000  received from the City of Toronto’s Clean and Beautiful program.  But after Rob Ford was elected mayor and began his “clean up” campaign, it was painted over with dull grey paint.   Considering that Joel Richardson was paid by the city to paint it in the first place.   Late in October 2011 it was replaced with a similar mural.  It took six weeks to repaint, 25 gallons of paint and 100 large cans of spray paint.

Most of the  photos taken were taken on 30 November 2013.  Some photos are from a two years previous and they are marked as such.

South Side of Dupont St.

The picture on the south side depicts business men lined up to form mathematical equation.

men in suits forming part of a mathematical equation. A multiplication sign and part of a long division sign.

The eastern part of the equation. That’s not a check mark on the right of the photo, it’s part of a long division sign.

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a line of men in suits as part of a mural

divide then multiply

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Close up

Well suited for a close up.  (Photo taken Nov 2011)

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part of the mural showing many men in suits, a yellow star and a red star.

To the east of the bridge.

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X and + towards the bridge

X and + towards the bridge.  (Photo taken November 2011)

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center part of the mural showing a man wearing a suit who is sitting in the lotus position

This photo was taken from across the street – looking through the concrete pillars that support the railway bridge.

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A large white percent sign, a grey star and many men in suits with yellow halos around their heads.

Immediately west of the underpass.

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part of the suitman mural taken a couple of years ago. The letter X, the number 6, a man wearing a gas masks plus 6 men wearing black suits and ties. They have yellow halos around their heads.

This is one of the photos that was taken two years ago. I have included it for comparison purposes as the man wearing the gas mask is no longer part of the mural. Instead, three sitting women have been added at the bottom of the letter X. The next picture shows this part of the mural as it looks now.

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part of the suitman mural - many men in suits standing in a line. Three sitting women are in the middle.

To the west of the train tracks. Note the absence of the man with the gas mask and the addition of the three women.

North Side of Dupont St.

blog_suit_death

Photo taken November 2011.

“And do thy duty even if it be humble, rather than another’s even if it be great. To die in one’s duty is LIFE: to live in another’s is death.”  [quote from the Bhagavad Gita, a 700 verse scripture that part of the Hindi epic ‘Mahabharata’]

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a sidewalk runs along the right side of the picture. Agains the sidewalk is a concrete wall that has been painted with a mural. A white arrow is part of the picture. There are also words written in black but they hard to read because of the angle of the photo

Looking back under the bridge, following the arrow.

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blog_suit_circle

Photo taken November 2011

“This at least would be the case in a society where things were left to follow their natural course, where there was perfect liberty, and where there was perfect FREE both to choose what occupation we thought proper and to change it as we thought PROPER. THE whole of the advantages and disadvantages of different employments of labour stock, must in the same neighbourhood, be either perfectly equal or continually tending to equality”  [quote from “Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith]

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blog_suits12.

blog_suit10.

blog_suit8.

blog_suit9.

blog_suits13
More information on this mural: http://joelrichardson.com/2011/10/

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Tower Automotive Building

Posted: September 2, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Standing alone in a vacant lot on Sterling Road is the Tower Automotive Building. It was built by Northern Aluminium  in 1920 and at some point became the property of Tower Automotive who used the site to build car parts.  In 2005 it was declared a heritage building but it was closed shortly thereafter when the company declared bankruptcy.

 

The ten storey Tower Automotive bulding. In the foreground is the land left vacant after the demolition of the sheet casting machining buildings in 2010.

The ten storey Tower Automotive building. In the foreground is the land left vacant after the demolition of the sheet casting machining buildings in 2010.

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Looking up the spine of the building. North side of Tower Automotive.

Looking up the spine of the building. North side of Tower Automotive.

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along the west wall

walking along the west wall

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Faccio Sempre la Brava, translate from the Italian as I always do the good.

Faccio Sempre la Brava, translates from the Italian as, I always do the good.

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blog_girl.

Loopy Le Loop with tags

Loopy Le Loop with tags

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blog_eye_hole.

graffiti of a girl with a watering can. The girl has a tottoo of an anchor on her upper arm. She has purple hair and she is wearing a hat with a feather in it. She is also wearing a green skirt. .

two wire gates. One has a sign on it that says 'protected by' but the name of the company is obscured by a tag

ungated

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blog_ta_1988.

blog_tag.

blog_no_smoking.

interior, doors

interior, doors

 

When I was researching this building, I found a site that has a collection of great photos of the interior of the building that were taken in May of this year:

jermalism.blogspot.ca/2013/05/abandonment-issues-tower-automotive.html

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