Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
New police station open house today Sunday 10am to 3pm
Sunday from 10am to 3pm 2054 Davenport Road,
[caption id="attachment_8573" align="aligncenter" width="278" caption="click on Map to visit police services site about the move"]
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Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
MABELLEarts is celebrating four years of transformation in the Mabelle neighbourhood
For anyone interested in community arts, this is a great project to follow and attend, in the fall and winter of 2009 I constantly walked though the space pictured below.. sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. Always in wonderment and confused about all the beautiful and unusual items around. Always think would it not be great to have activities in the Junction like this.
It really is worth a trip to enjoy.
[caption id="attachment_8556" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="click image to visit site"]
[/caption]
MABELLEarts is celebrating four years of transformation in the Mabelle neighbourhood. Please join myself and MABELLEarts for a special afternoon celebrating the Mabelle Park and all the funders and partners who have made its transformation possible.
We’re not finished but we’ve come such a long way!
When: Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
Where: Mabelle Park
Mabelle Ave
Time: 3:00 until evening
Stay into the evening for food and performances as part of our community Eid celebrations t o mark the end of Ramadan
Please RSVP at 416 239 4900 or emailmiriam@mabellearts.ca
Event will take place rain or shine
It really is worth a trip to enjoy.
[caption id="attachment_8556" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="click image to visit site"]
[/caption]MABELLEarts is celebrating four years of transformation in the Mabelle neighbourhood. Please join myself and MABELLEarts for a special afternoon celebrating the Mabelle Park and all the funders and partners who have made its transformation possible.
We’re not finished but we’ve come such a long way!
When: Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
Where: Mabelle Park
Mabelle Ave
Time: 3:00 until evening
Stay into the evening for food and performances as part of our community Eid celebrations t o mark the end of Ramadan
Please RSVP at 416 239 4900 or emailmiriam@mabellearts.ca
Event will take place rain or shine
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
What they have... we don't in community building resources
The reason for the trip to the Bloordale area today was to visit Nelison Park Creative Centre, a place for families and children, a making place for kids, a leaning environment for everyone for everyone.
A gallery, a community meeting place ringing with light sounds from adult classes and kids summer events, which I can hear as I sit in the gallery.
Why provide you with all this information about a building and it's community two citys wards away and blocks from the Junction? Well the local police will move from their current building on 209 Mavety St in the next month or so.
When · 11 Division, on Mavety St. leaves the city will offer the building internally to any department in need of it. Or worse sell it! .. For development, to private businesses for use.
Yet this blog believes the community should have the building for it's own uses. In our ward the community has a very special place in the area of Swansea the Swansea Town Hall. This building is wonderful for the community, ward 13's current councillor came out the town hall, undoubtedly having community gain opinions and knowledge of her while she worked there. What a great way to see the values and operational skills of a future politician.
Yet it is not of the Junction, Swansea Town Hall. It's too far for families to walk to. Activities and needs for the local people probably differ in many ways. The Junction is much more urban and industrially gritty than Sawnsea. Further the Junction is strip community straddling a rail network.
The Junction consisting of the Upper Junction and lower Junction could benefit greatly from the conversion of the police station into community use.
What could it be like ... Here are a few photos of the Nelison Park Creative Centre in Bloordale. Left out are images of the activity rooms as they were occupied with people.
A gallery, a community meeting place ringing with light sounds from adult classes and kids summer events, which I can hear as I sit in the gallery.
Why provide you with all this information about a building and it's community two citys wards away and blocks from the Junction? Well the local police will move from their current building on 209 Mavety St in the next month or so.
When · 11 Division, on Mavety St. leaves the city will offer the building internally to any department in need of it. Or worse sell it! .. For development, to private businesses for use.
Yet this blog believes the community should have the building for it's own uses. In our ward the community has a very special place in the area of Swansea the Swansea Town Hall. This building is wonderful for the community, ward 13's current councillor came out the town hall, undoubtedly having community gain opinions and knowledge of her while she worked there. What a great way to see the values and operational skills of a future politician.
Yet it is not of the Junction, Swansea Town Hall. It's too far for families to walk to. Activities and needs for the local people probably differ in many ways. The Junction is much more urban and industrially gritty than Sawnsea. Further the Junction is strip community straddling a rail network.
The Junction consisting of the Upper Junction and lower Junction could benefit greatly from the conversion of the police station into community use.
What could it be like ... Here are a few photos of the Nelison Park Creative Centre in Bloordale. Left out are images of the activity rooms as they were occupied with people.
Bloordale style buildings
Thinking about "style" of housing that has gone up in the greater Junction area as infill housing. This author
could not help from noticing the style has been townhouses that pull their visual and layout references from the older housing in the Junction.
Is it appropriate to have greatest volume of new buildings a modeled type that is so close to the historical housing stock.
Can this model really support current living choices?
Close by on Bloordale an area in far land of etobicoke has been for decades a movement to build unique housing differing from lot to lot on many streets. Today new infill continues the effort.
could not help from noticing the style has been townhouses that pull their visual and layout references from the older housing in the Junction.
Is it appropriate to have greatest volume of new buildings a modeled type that is so close to the historical housing stock.
Can this model really support current living choices?
Close by on Bloordale an area in far land of etobicoke has been for decades a movement to build unique housing differing from lot to lot on many streets. Today new infill continues the effort.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Fire department responds to Vine Ave
A number of fire trucks were dispatched to residential fire on Vine Ave. this morning. The number of trucks started this author to think were there so many as the houses are all semi attached, and the department was preparing to stop a traveling fire between the houses. See the possible situation in this post.
There is one one truck present at the location now so hopefully the fire was not serious.
There is one one truck present at the location now so hopefully the fire was not serious.
Monday, August 22, 2011
One of the most interesting Animal Architecture Awards for this year.
[caption id="attachment_8514" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="click on image to see all the winners"]
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from the sites text...
In 1943, more than 80 percent of American households harvested food from their own Victory Gardens.” Today, the food consumed in most American households follows a much more circuitous path, resulting in increased preservatives, transportation costs and cultural uniformity. This disconnect particularly penalizes the poor, who are both more likely to live in “food deserts” and can’t afford to pay the high price of imported perishables.
Animal-populated Window Units enable the resurrection of household-based urban food production. This bottom-up agricultural strategy enlists urban dwellers who elect to stock their window space with chickens, bees, or fish in creating a new urban food system. Working at a very small scale, with eminently replicable technologies, these wall projections have the potential to link on-site agricultural production to vast numbers of independent households.
[/caption]Window Unit
by Crooked Works
from the sites text...
In 1943, more than 80 percent of American households harvested food from their own Victory Gardens.” Today, the food consumed in most American households follows a much more circuitous path, resulting in increased preservatives, transportation costs and cultural uniformity. This disconnect particularly penalizes the poor, who are both more likely to live in “food deserts” and can’t afford to pay the high price of imported perishables.
Animal-populated Window Units enable the resurrection of household-based urban food production. This bottom-up agricultural strategy enlists urban dwellers who elect to stock their window space with chickens, bees, or fish in creating a new urban food system. Working at a very small scale, with eminently replicable technologies, these wall projections have the potential to link on-site agricultural production to vast numbers of independent households.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Heintzman fish and chips shop... time to reopen?
Closed for almost two decades now this building used to be one of the best fish and chip places in the west end. located at the bottom of Heintzman Ave just across from the new condos.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
September 6th Public Names for Public Spaces Rally
The City wants to sell out the names of Toronto’s parks, subway stations, and public spaces to big business. Join us at our rally this September to put a stop to it!
Our public spaces reflect the vibrant history and civic identity of the City and they should not be for sale. To send strong message to Mayor Rob Ford and Council that they should keep their hands off our City’s public spaces and subway stations, we have organized a rally this coming September 6th.
Please plan on attending with a few friends or invite your friends on facebook here. We are asking everyone to wear green in a show of solidarity.
Rally: Tuesday September 6th, 6:30 – 7:30pm Nathan Philips Square (City Hall) in front of the main doors.
• Please wear something green
• Please bring a few friends
• Creative signs are welcome
In the mean time, we urge you to write to your local city Councillor to let them know that our city names are not for sale.
This isn't fine food. It isn't bad food. But it's watch how much you eat food done well.
[caption id="attachment_8491" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="IMAGE FROM THEIR WEB SITE"]
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The Purple Onion restaurant always offers a platonic offer of a ordinary fry-up done so well, not falling far of the ordinariness of the generalized Canadian fare and traditional Junction fair decades past, but done well consistently. So much so its actually refreshing. Offering simplistic comfort available no where else in the Junction.
Breakfasts at this resturant taste like old time breakfasts at the long gone S. S. Kresge diner counter, and Alps resturants. (now Celts)
[/caption]The Purple Onion restaurant always offers a platonic offer of a ordinary fry-up done so well, not falling far of the ordinariness of the generalized Canadian fare and traditional Junction fair decades past, but done well consistently. So much so its actually refreshing. Offering simplistic comfort available no where else in the Junction.
Breakfasts at this resturant taste like old time breakfasts at the long gone S. S. Kresge diner counter, and Alps resturants. (now Celts)
excellent Junction Tour article at...
A good size walking tour article at the Left Foot Right Foot blog following in a walking tour of the Junction, its quite interesting. Click image to bring it up.
[caption id="attachment_8488" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="click image to visit the blog"]
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At the bare edge of the Junction
Just about hitting Runnymede Rd, is the "why don't they ever open" Eastern Angel house. The name is so intriguing.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monarch Rd and Heinzman Place
A view of Heinzman Place the remaining Maple Leaf Silo and the last of the Monarch Rd. pavement . Monarch Rd which is now all but gone used tothe main address for the milling firm that it received its name from, at the end of the roadd facing south to your was the repairs shop of the milling operations and to your left was DOMINION CORRUGATED PAPER.
Campbell Flour Mills Co.Ltd. 12 Monarch Rd.
Maple Leaf Milling Co.Ltd. (Monarch brand flour
General Idea at the AGO
General Idea was/is with it's one surviving member Canada's last iconic arts group.
The country needs another like them.
And the owner of Rebas Cafe in the junction was associated with the group during its full swing period, so the junction gets a connect!
The country needs another like them.
And the owner of Rebas Cafe in the junction was associated with the group during its full swing period, so the junction gets a connect!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Always wondered where the biggest cell tower in the Junction was
It sits with the Bell Canada co-locate building on Runnymede Rd.
Beautiful sky ugly tower
Beautiful sky ugly tower
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Junction loses excellent store
The Junction is losing a one of it's most undue stores. Below is a screen cap from the website.
This store in one of the most difficult parts of the strip to run a store from has become a fixture for a large client base. It's loss will greatly affect this part of the Junction.
Green Lavender, hope you can again choose the Junction when you reopen.
This store in one of the most difficult parts of the strip to run a store from has become a fixture for a large client base. It's loss will greatly affect this part of the Junction.
Green Lavender, hope you can again choose the Junction when you reopen.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Brooklyn street furniture for tree pits
One of the items especially troublesome in the in Junction is restaurant lineups that can occur sometimes in the Junction. Sunday mornings can be bad. The problem is much more insidious in Brooklyn. Yet a local Brooklyn business booster group got a much of artists to come up with some designs and some such as the one above provide not only a great place to sit while waiting for table but just for chatting.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Junction auto body firm moving or opening new location?
Iconic Junction auto body firm Martino Bros (3379 Dundas Street W) has a sign outside of this building conversion at Dixon Rd and the 401, relativity positioned as to indicate their use of the building.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Venture just outside greater Junction area for lunch
Venture just outside greater Junction area for lunch or supper towards Etobicoke just before Royal York Rd. and you will find Magoos burger restaurant, a popular eatery, well known for its burgers and especially their application of cheese and mushrooms.
Plenty of parking as its in a strip mall.
Plenty of parking as its in a strip mall.
MAGOO'S GOURMET HAMBURGERS & ICE-CREAM
4242 Dundas Street West , Etobicoke.
Spotlight On: Keele centre 500 Keele St
Keele Centre the Intermodal freight transport building built by the CPR in the 70's to offset the gaining role of trucks offsetting train transportation is undergoing roof repair work.
This great industrial building which still provides light commercial space, having let go the heavy industry that once monopolized the building, the buiding is in this author opinion a necessarily and valuable part of keeping some industrial nature in the Junction. One of its strengths is it relative distance from most of the residential occupation in the area.
In addition it is a very beautiful monolithic structure, and a tough building once when the authors studio was there, a hole had to cut (rather chopped) though the roof, 3 exhausted artists and 2 days later it was done (80's). Other than the curtain walls between units, which are made of concrete block, and come and go as required by renters the structure is a reinforced concrete wonder.
Now the building is home to a wide group of firms a bespoke design/build studio (windows on south front visible from Keele Ave. This unit reflects a common shared artistic history of the building from the 80's with a number of industrial designers and craft-persons using the unit.
One of Canada's best stained glass craftpersons is there.
A music practice studio, along with a host other smaller concerns.
About the only item missing is the fighter jet that sat on the site for decades.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Park wanting
[caption id="attachment_8215" align="alignright" width="437" caption="bent sign and rundown play equipment in the park"]
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A few weeks ago a meeting was held with the parks department regarding upcoming changes to Vine Ave parkette. During the meeting a parks representative stated that Vine parkette had a lot (sic) and many other parks had less. A few of the residents in attendance stated that maybe the park reno for Vine Ave parkette should go to another park.
This author began to wonder about that idea. If Vine Ave parkette is well provided for, as the parks person statement suggested and other parks were were in greater need and were not getting the investment they needed. Wouldn't it serve the greater and broader community by applying all or part of funding to a near by park that sorely needed a overhaul.
One scenario could have been to purchase a place a needed piece of equipment for Vine Ave. parkette for the mid teens as has been suggested is needed, and using the other funds to help out a problem park nearby.
Next on the thought and discovery agenda was to ascertain if there was such a park nearby. A look at the cities website and a few Google map look-ups presented a few parks with a ten minutes of travel from Vine Ave. parkette.
Upon visiting a few parks, Westlake Park at 86 Jasper Ave. leaped out as park in need with ramshackle play equipment and not much of it. The parks curb appeal is not there and design and objects for protection of runabout children is weak. The park does have beautiful green hills and sloping vistas that are well maintained. Situated next to a social housing estate, the need is much greater.
Jasper Ave & Cliff Street M6N 2M8 Ward: 11 in district: Etobicoke York
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