Toronto Through My Lens
A few days after Halloween I took a walk through Cabbagetown on a beautiful, crisp fall day. The houses and streets were a weird and eclectic mix of post-Halloween gore, front yard kitsch, Autumn colours and falling leaves:
Underpass Park is truly an interesting and unique place in Toronto. Opened on August 2, 2012, the Park is located under the Eastern Avenue, Richmond and Adelaide overpasses. The actual address is 168 Eastern Avenue.
Designed to transform derelict and underused space, the park takes full advantage of the concrete beams and columns of the overpasses to create a unique and inviting community asset and provide year round weather protection.
This unique public space is part of Waterfront Toronto’s revitalization efforts of the West Don Lands neighbourhood. It serves to link Corktown Common, River Square and the neighbourhoods of both sides of the overpass complex through the provision of safe and animated public realm design.
A public art layer was integrated into the underside of the structure to interact with the lighting scheme and to reduce the oppressive character of the heavy structures above. A portion of the overpass ceiling is adorned with a reflective public art piece entitled Mirage, created by Paul Raff Studio in 2012. This mirrored artwork dramatically brightens the covered spaces, adding to the interplay of natural light during the day and becoming its own piece of magic at night when the park lighting scheme is fully employed.
The artwork on the ceiling of the park uses the unique condition of the site to recreate a naturally occurring optical illusion that blurs the boundary between ground and sky.
A sizable playground is located in the middle section of the park, between St. Lawrence Street and River Street. The eastern-most section of the park, east of River Street, includes two basketball half-courts, and an extensive skatepark featuring a series of obstacles, rails and ledges. There is also a flexible open space that can be used for community events:
Several of the figures on the pillars are caricatures of local residents:
Designed by landscape architects PFS Studio with The Planning Partnership, Underpass Park is part of an ongoing effort to transform pockets of neglected urban spaces on the waterfront into valued public amenities.
The Park is another project of the developer WaterfrontToronto, a joint effort of the Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments, created in 2001. Their focus is to create parks, public art, infrastructure and buildings that combine to create vibrant waterfront neighbourhoods, for example, The Bentway and Underpass Park; these gave unused spaces a new life.
Underpass Park is the 18th public space that the WaterfrontToronto group has built or revitalized since 2005 in the Toronto waterfront district.
Back on December 6, 2022 I published a post about the colourful murals outside a semi-neglected, mostly-deserted building on the southwest corner of Jarvis Street and Queen Street East (141 Queen Street East, to be exact). The only merchant in this sketchy-looking place is the iPot Cannabis store; a parking lot consumes the rest of the space outside the building.
I hadn’t been down to this area for over a year, but I found myself passing through there last weekend. I noticed that many of the murals had changed. Here are the latest:
I would have captured a few more shots but I surprised a couple of cracked-out zombies as I rounded the corner of the building, and they weren’t very receptive to my presence.
I like to revisit some of the urban mural sites every so often to catch up on the artists’ latest creations; I’m glad I chose that particular route home that day.
On an oddly-angled section of Dundas Street East, just east of Yonge Street, sits a heritage building which recently has become nothing more than a hole in the ground.
Many will remember this building as the old Hakim Optical store from several years ago:
In June 2023, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, formerly Ryerson University) announced the acquisition of two new properties, including 38-40 Dundas Street East. Prior to the sale closing, the City of Toronto deemed 38-40 Dundas Street East in a state of disrepair and required it to be demolished in order to protect public safety. The building has sat vacant since 2010 after its most recent tenant – Hakim Optical — vacated the property.
Despite its history tracing back at least 113 years, the building at 38-40 Dundas Street East lacks heritage protections, and, in its current condition, has been deemed non-salvageable.
Despite the building being unsafe on the inside, the south exterior side was in good shape, providing a wide canvas for several murals over the years.
Here’s how the building appeared in October 2021:
In August 2022 we were treated to this new Made In Canada mural:
Then, in October 2022 we were greeted by Harry Styles, gazing down at us:
And now – in June 2024 – we say goodbye to Harry and 38 Dundas Street East, as the demolition proceeds in earnest. When I passed the building last week, Harry was quickly disappearing:
The construction date of 38-40 Dundas Street East has been identified as 1913 in several sources. However, there is the possibility that the extant building may have incorporated parts of an older structure predating the 1910s. Notably, 38-40 Dundas Street East is situated directly on the site of the former, long-time residence of Rev. Dr. Egerton Ryerson and family. Several historical resources indicate the former residence of the Ryerson family may have been heavily renovated and incorporated into the design of the existing building at 38-40 Dundas Street East instead of being outright demolished.
38-40 Dundas Street East appears to have been painted since at least the mid-1920s and it is possible the paint was obscuring details, such as evidence of an older underlying structure and/or alterations over time. Peeling paint on the rear elevation had revealed yellow brick (likely from the mid-19th century) on the lower levels with red brick (likely from the early 20th century) on the upper levels.
The property is one of two buildings sold by the City of Toronto to Metropolitan University (TMU) in 2023, along with the adjacent Toronto Public Health building at 277 Victoria Street, topped by the iconic Sam the Record Man sign:
Here’s what the site looked like on June 29, 2024:
Reference: ACO Toronto
In Chinatown there exists a small lane dedicated to the memory of a remarkable Chinese-Canadian woman named Jean Lumb:
Since coming to live in Toronto I have heard the name Jean Lumb mentioned but was not aware of her historical importance and influence until doing a bit of research.
Jean Lumb was the first Chinese-Canadian woman, and the first restauranteur, to receive the Order of Canada for her community work. Most notably, she was recognized for her pivotal role in changing Canada’s immigration laws that separated Chinese families, and for her contribution in saving Toronto’s First Chinatown.
Jean Lumb was very active in community work throughout her life. As mentioned earlier, she was instrumental in organizing the campaign to save Toronto’s First Chinatown from complete demolition. She also galvanized the community against further expropriation of remaining portions on Dundas Street West.
Jean was a major force – and the sole woman – in the 1957 Chinese delegation which lobbied the government of John Diefenbaker. They lobbied to repeal explicit racial discrimination from the immigration laws, which contained race-based criteria for admission to Canada.
Jean Lumb was born in Nanaimo, B.C. in 1919. Her father emigrated to Canada to work as a farm labourer. Jean Lumb left school at age 12 to work and support her family. In 1935, she moved to Toronto and later opened her own grocery store here at the age of 17.
The mother of six children and grandmother of nine grandchildren, Jean Lumb was the co-owner (with husband Doyle Lumb) and director of the Kwong Chow Restaurant in Toronto for 23 years. The restaurant was highly successful and popular with both Chinese and Westerners, with many clientele who were politicians due to its proximity to Toronto’s City Hall.
Jean achieved many “firsts” in Toronto. This included being the:
She also served as director and honorary advisor of the Yee Hong Chinese Nursing Home for Greater Toronto and the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, respectively.
Jean Lumb was honoured with around 20 Awards, her first being the Order of Canada in 1976.
This remarkable woman’s legacy continues long after her passing in 2002. The Jean Lumb Foundation awards high school students with Chinese heritage annually for their accomplishments.
You can visit the Jean Lumb plaque in Diversity Garden (southeast corner of Elizabeth Street and Foster Place) near the original site of the Kwong Chow restaurant.
The Jean Lumb Lane was officially opened on November 13, 2019 (below):
If you’d like to listen to Jean Lumb’s daughter Arlene Chan and Jean Lumb herself, here is an interesting YouTube video:
While in the Bloor Street West and Lansdowne area to photograph some utility box murals, I came across this colourful alley off Lansdowne Avenue, one block north of Bloor Street West. It was good to see a generous hit of colour in such a drab neighbourhood:
I love Roncesvalles (aka Little Poland) – it has such a welcoming village-feel to it and exudes a laid-back yet slightly hip vibe. Roncesvalles Avenue itself stretches for 1.8 km, and is filled with gardens and charming, independent shops along the way. About 15,000 people live in Roncesvalles Village’s vintage buildings.
Known as “Roncy” to the locals, Roncesvalles consists of the stretch of Roncesvalles Avenue from Bloor Street south to Queen Street West.
Roncesvalles Avenue was originally owned by Colonel Walter O’Hara who named the street after the Roncesvalles gorge in Spain, where he had won a battle against Napolean’s army circa 1813. British settlers began to arrive in the early 1900’s as residential homes appeared. After WWII large numbers of Polish immigrants arrived and set up all sorts of businesses; that is why this neighbourhood celebrates the Roncesvalles Village Polish Festival every year.
Culturally, the area is known as the centre of the Polish community in Toronto with prominent Polish institutions, businesses and St. Casimir’s Catholic Church located on Roncesvalles Avenue. The businesses along Roncesvalles have formed the Roncesvalles Village Business Improvement Area and hold the largest Polish Festival in North America, which takes place every September.
Roncesvalles is very well known for the large number of small restaurants, cafés and specialty food shops of various cuisines. There are several bakeries and delicatessens found along the full length of Roncesvalles.
I’ll leave you with a couple of sites to explore it you’d like to learn more about Roncesvalles:
From Destination Toronto:
An excellent post on their website
Roncesvalles BIA:
Local info found here
Yesterday I thought I might go to Chinatown to shoot the events of the Lunar New Year celebrations at Dundas Steet West and Spadina Avenue (it’s Year of the Dragon, by the way). When I got there I found the Dragon City Mall to be a little too packed for me, so I headed through Chinatown to see what other photo opportunities might present themselves.
Walking along Dundas Street West opposite the AGO, I spied Vincent van Gogh in front of the Mayberry Fine Art Gallery at 326 Dundas Street West:
One of the things that made this piece so compelling was its presentation in a three-dimensional perspective. van Gogh’s face is carved and embedded into the rest of the frame; unfortunately the effect doesn’t translate well in a photograph but is still impressive nonetheless.
I always love passing by the Mayberry Gallery as they consistently exhibit such interesting pieces street-side. This recent installment was promoting the Immersive van Gogh Exhibit at the Lighthouse ArtSpace Toronto, located at 1 Yonge Street. More info and tickets here. By all appearances it looks like a great exhibit.
I made a turn on to McCaul Street and headed north. One very short block north of Dundas Street West I encountered a laneway leading off McCaul Street:
I could see quite a bit of colour in the distance so I went further in to check things out… I wasn’t disappointed with my findings:
Walking further north up McCaul Street, I encountered another scenic laneway just south of Baldwin Street. This alleyway art was not quite as extensive as the previous lane, but interesting all the same.
Clearly, the artist was a Dr. Seuss fan:
The last mural before heading home:
Renfrew Place sounds like a posh street but in actuality is a back alley. It’s located one block north of Queen Street West and runs between Simcoe Street and John Street:
An interesting and colourful segment of Renfrew Place is the small section between St. Patrick Street and McCaul Street, which is where I captured these images:
Crossing McCaul Street and moving toward John Street, the alley is a little bland at first but becomes more interesting and colourful as you progress further west:
As I moved further west down Renfrew Place I became aware that everything was bathed in this odd green light. The green glow in these shots is from the setting sun reflecting off the green exterior of the Umbra building on the corner of Renfrew Place and John Street. It was late afternoon when I took these shots, so the slowly setting sun was strong, illuminating everything in the alley and turning it green:
If you’ve been following TO Cityscapes for a while you’ll find the occasional post about the very talented Toronto street artist Elicser. I’m a big fan of his urban art. His style is instantly identifiable and his murals can be found in so many interesting spots in the city. I was pleased to find some more of the man’s work in this alley.
If you’re interested in reading some of my previous posts featuring Elicser’s mural art, please check out the posts below:
Barbara Barrett Lane is located just south of Bloor Street West, running between Brunswick Avenue…
Walking down Queen Street East this past weekend on my way to photograph Riverside, I…
I recently walked College Street from end to end; here’s some of the street art…
I call this street art site Apple Alley because of its location: the first alley…
I discovered this street art in an alley off King Street West, east of Strachan…
The colours of these Elicser murals may seem a little odd but, again, the alley was bathed in a strong reflected light from the Umbra building on John Street:
Renfrew Place terminates at John Street. Just before exiting the alley to John Street, a couple more Elicser murals can be found:
This mural at 20 Charles Street East – on the west side of the Green P parking garage – was conceptualized and painted over six days by Becker from Frankfurt, Germany, with support from local artists Alexander Bacon, Quentin Rockford, Christina Mazzulla and Kyla Buium.
The piece is entitled Toronto & Stadt Frankfurt Am Main. The landscape of Toronto and Frankfurt appear in the reflection of the glasses on the mural and illustrates the special friendship the two cities have shared for the past 30 years.
The space at 20 Charles Street East was provided by the Toronto Parking Authority.
Diversity is what Frankfurt and Toronto hold in common, and that very much influenced my concept. The vibrant and colourful pallet represents the diversity of people in Toronto and the fingerprint represents the idea that each one of us has an impact in our society.
This is my last TOcityscapes post for 2023
Now the puppies are nice and warm. Love this fountain.
Pretty sad but it’s time had come
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Well done Marv! I walk by this area so often and really take these for granted, but when you highlight…
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This is such a lovely part of the city. I love how they fixed up that square and the fountain…