Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Kensington Market


This wonderful sign/bike stand, spelling out Kensington and fabricated as a giant bicycle chain, is located near the northern border of the Kensington Market neighbourhood of Toronto. This distinctive, multi-cultural area of food stores, restaurants, cafes, and discount stores was proclaimed a National Historic Site in 2006. Through the 1920s & 30s this was the "Jewish Market" and after WW2 as the Jewish population moved north the area became at first mostly Portuguese (especially from the Azores), then Caribbean, East Asian, Vietnamese, and then mainly Chinese. Now there are also large numbers of Latin American shops as well as eastern European ones. And so far gentrification has not taken over! It's a super area!
Taking part in Signs, Signs. For more signs click here.
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21 comments:

  1. jennyfrecklesMay 18, 2011 at 1:17 PM

    Clever idea - pity that all bike racks are not so interesting.

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  2. LúciaMay 18, 2011 at 2:57 PM

    Very creative, love it!
    I'd love to visit this area. ;-)

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  3. VioletSkyMay 18, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    very clever!

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  4. ClytieMay 18, 2011 at 3:43 PM

    What a wonderful way to make a sign functional ... and a bike rack fun!

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  5. AnonymousMay 18, 2011 at 4:09 PM

    what a playful and functional sign.

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  6. Sallie (FullTime-Life)May 18, 2011 at 4:21 PM

    Fabulous sign -- I love neighborhoods like that!

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  7. PostcardyMay 18, 2011 at 4:24 PM

    Besides being a sign/stand, it is also a piece of sculpture. The whole area sounds like fun.

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  8. AnonymousMay 18, 2011 at 4:27 PM

    wow! i am looking at this closer and realizing the amount of fabrication it took to produce this oversized, very true to life, 'bicycle chain bicycle rack' and it is truly amazing. what a great find, i have never seen this. is it a recent addition to the kensington area? i quite like it. great design. thanks redpat.

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  9. JackMay 18, 2011 at 5:35 PM

    This is pretty cool, Redpat. It is also interesting to see the way this area has been transformed demographically over the years. It is the familiar story of immigration and assimilation.

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  10. Inger-MMay 18, 2011 at 5:56 PM

    Very creative, and well captured!

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  11. AlainMay 18, 2011 at 6:23 PM

    That's a very clever sign. Great photo!

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  12. EG CameraGirlMay 18, 2011 at 6:55 PM

    I would love to get into the city to shop there! I KNOW it's a fun place. :)

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  13. BirdmanMay 18, 2011 at 7:04 PM

    Interesting history of this area.

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  14. genieMay 18, 2011 at 7:52 PM

    C-squared......a Cool and Clever sign and shot. Love it. I think this area would be fabulous to visit. So much to see and to eat. Sounds great to me.

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  15. RandyMay 18, 2011 at 7:57 PM

    That is really clever and creative.

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  16. AnonymousMay 18, 2011 at 8:06 PM

    That is a neat sign, someone put a lot of time and effort into that!

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  17. Kim, USAMay 18, 2011 at 8:53 PM

    That is neat!

    Signs

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  18. LesleyMay 18, 2011 at 11:31 PM

    This is so very playful!

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  19. MoMay 19, 2011 at 5:24 AM

    What a great artistic way to chain the bikes. Need to show this to our mayor

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  20. UnknownMay 19, 2011 at 12:10 PM

    what a unique bike stand! i've never seen anything like it.

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  21. LindaMay 22, 2011 at 4:32 PM

    Witty!

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