A new find on Queen St. West - couldn't find an artist name and it seems it was just finished last weekend!!! The only reference I found was on Twitter #QueenWest.
Also found on this outing. I found lots on this one!
An enormous Monarch Butterfly in flight provides an uplifting interruption of colour amidst a wash of urban grey, radiating love for the lands that sustain butterflies and all life. At the south end of the mural, a boldly stylized Oyamel fir tree bursting with Monarchs roosting in its boughs represents the southern part of the Monarch’s annual Migration between Mexico and Canada. The northern part of their vast migratory route is represented at the corresponding northern end of the mural where local reverence for the Monarch is apparent in a striking portrayal of the Monarch’s favoured Ontario Milkweed.
Butterfly Effect Mural is rendered entirely in aerosol by renowned Mural, Graffiti and Gallery artists Paula Gonzalez-Ossa and Nyle “Miigizi” Johnston. Produced by Bureau Of Power And Light Art Collective (BPL), in partnership with StreetArt Toronto (StART) and Centre For Social Innovation(CSI).
We ventured out on Saturday, Thanksgiving weekend, during our modified lockdown.
I gave John an address for the GPS but didn't tell him where we were going.
Part of the old village of Chester that, along with Todmorden, made up present-day north Riverdale, this little slice of Torontopia offers one of the best views of the city skyline (and the Brick Works) we didn’t know existed.
Chester Hill Lookout
Brick Works - another excursion, just a tease, there are murals on the expressway columns down on the right of this photo.
Astrology wheel chalk-work by local artist Victor Fraser, a sidewalk artist and poet based in Toronto, Ontario. He has been painting paved surfaces for the past 20 years, painting in six different countries.
On Queen St. East after the lookout. I had a list of things to see.
'Tkaranto Past/Tkaranto Future', was created by Indigenous artists Odinamaad (Isaac Narcisco Weber), and Chief Ladybird (Nancy King), along with Indigenous youth and traditional knowledge keeper Philip Cote. The artists' creation is rich in symbolism, stories and connections - from intricate designs rooted in nature, to the feather holding Toronto's urban setting.
It is on The Edwin Hotel operated by WoodGreen Community Services to provide community housing. It incorporates the former New Edwin Hotel, built in 1905 to serve as a hotel for railway passengers coming from a now closed railway station at the foot of the Don Valley.
The artists' creation is rich in symbolism, stories and connections - from intricate designs rooted in nature, to the feather holding Toronto's urban setting.
I am showing it again as it featured Baseball Place. This photo is from the 2016 post.
A new street in Riverside Square near Queen East and Broadview Ave. has been named Baseball Place in recognition of the original Toronto Baseball Grounds. This is all new condos, most still works in progress or just breaking ground.
The street is located in almost the same spot as the former Baseball Place, a leftover legacy of the roadway that provided access to the city’s first baseball stadium. The original street disappeared decades ago.
When the stadium opened in 1886, admission was a quarter and its grandstand, which overlooked the Don Valley, could seat 2,000 fans. The name eventually changed to Sunlight Park, in honour of the nearby soap factory, and it stayed in operation until 1913 when baseball moved to the Island.
A plaque attached to the building at 655 Queen St. E honours Sunlight Park and the Toronto Baseball Grounds.
October 2020 on the south side of Queen St. East at Downtown Toyota, on their east wall.
It shows the bridge just a few feet away.
UPDATE: Iris rightly pointed out I should explain the quote.
The text is derived from the thinking of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Its meaning is a simple one: change is fundamental to the universe.
THE RIVER I STEP IN IS NOT THE RIVER I STAND IN
Neighborhoods change. Cities change. Industries change. We change. The river you first step into, is not the same river that you’ll be standing in. That initial river has come and gone, replaced by a new river. In the words of Heraclitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice.”
2016 - according to an article this was on the north corner of Queen East and Grant St. of Ruby Eats the gourmet grocery store of celebri-chef Lynn Crawford who now has the restaurant Ruby Watchco down the street, on our to-go-to list.
For the letter of the week for this round I am going to go with all things TTC, Toronto Transit Corporation.
Letter S
There is a stupendous amount of S's in this post.
Spadina is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University and Line 2 Bloor–Danforth. It is located on Spadina Road, north of Bloor Street West. It is the only station open overnight, along with Union station.
The station consists of two separate sections, one for each line, at the same level and 150 metres apart.
The north–south platforms, which opened in 1978, were originally planned as a separate station, but the TTC decided to join to the existing 1966 east–west station with a pedestrian tunnel containing a pair of long moving walkways.
The long walk between the two platforms was once made easier by a lengthy moving sidewalk that simultaneously delighted and enraged subway users.
This sign can still be seen.
The cost of the moving walkways themselves became an issue when they became due for refurbishment or replacement, and they were shut down and ultimately removed in 2004, leaving the corridor as a simple underground walkway.
The Line 1 and 2 platforms of Spadina Stationshould really be two separate stops given the physical distance between them. That was the TTC's original plan, but for a variety of reasons, the decision was ultimately made to fashion Spadina as a sprawling interchange.
An underground loop for the 510 Spadina streetcar was added in 1997 near the east end of the east–west platforms. The streetcar platform adds Postmodern finishes to the station's mix of styles.
Spadina's station has not one but three pieces. Two appear inside the newer northern entrance on Kendal Avenue, which was built into an existing brick house at 85 Spadina Road. In its stairwell is Louis de Niverville's playful and surreal enamel mural "Morning Glory".
And just inside the turnstiles is "Barren Ground Caribou", an enormous quilt by Joyce Weiland depicting a group of caribou on the tundra.
And inside the main entrance building, on the northeast corner of Bloor and Spadina, is yet another work. Standing just beyond the stairs are three massive cedar house posts depicting the owl, wolf and hawk, and carved by Fedelia O'Brien, Murphy Green and Chuck Heit of the Gitksan First Nation in British Columbia.
FAVOURITE
Souvenirs
TTC souvenirs, for sure! The Spacing Store is a favourite place of mine.
Subway station pins.
Soft cushions!
Stories!
FAVOURITE Streetcars!
A video of the new streetcars when they were first implemented in 2014. I found this video on Youtube.
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