I am mining my archives as this time of year is not the most inviting time to be out & about with the short cold days. The sculpture is found near the lakeshore and is by artist John McEwen whose work I really like. It is called The Ballad of Ice and Water and references the changes that have taken place on this land near Lake Ontario. Thousands of years ago it was covered by glaciers which melted and created a large lake which eventually receded to create Lake Ontario leaving this land for humanity to explore and settle upon. I imagine the art was part of the city's requirement for public art to be included in any new building projects.
This gate was spotted at the Sunnyside Bathing Pavillion at Sunnyside Beach. It was built in 1922 as a place for bathers to get changed but these days during the summer it has a cafe and is also a place for weddings and other events. It closes for the winter. I like the gate.
This is the view looking across the harbour from the ferry dock at Ward's Island. You can see a bit of the dock off to the right in the pic. As you can see it was a cloudy night with the threat of thunder storms all around us but we were lucky and stayed dry.
Last week I took the 10 minute ferry ride to the Toronto Islands which are located in Lake Ontario just off the lakeshore downtown. There are 4 ferry routes to the Islands and I took the trip to Ward's Island which is where you can still find around 250 homes. The islands were totally inhabited until the 1950s when the decision was made to turn the whole place into parkland but the residents at Ward's have resisted so far. I'll show you some more pics over the next few days.
This ferry is the Sam McBride which is named after a former mayor and was commissioned in 1939.
This is a view taken from Exhibition Place near Scadding Cabin (the old log cabin home) that I showed you a few weeks ago. From this spot we are looking out at part of Ontario Place which is a piece of land sticking out into Lake Ontario. At one time it was very lively with an amusement park, theatre, music amphitheatre and more but its future has been much debated over the last few years. One nice thing has been the recent conversion of a parking lot into a park! That is part of the Martin Goodman walking/cycling trail that you can see in the foreground.
This is an early Sunday morning pic of the lakeshore taken from the Exhibition grounds downtown. There was not a whiff of wind and even though it was only 10˚C it was beautiful down there. I'll have more pics from the grounds in the days to come.
This is a shot of one of the corners from the original Tip Top Tailors Building which I showed you yesterday. I love all those wonderful Art Deco details.
This is the Tip Top Tailors Building which is located right on the shore of Lake Ontario downtown with fabulous views of the lake & parkland around it. The original Art Deco building was designed by Bishop & Miller architects and built in 1929 to serve as the factory, showroom and offices of Tip Top Tailors which is a large menswear company. The building has been historically designated and was sold and converted into lofts in 2005 and at that time the 6 glass fronted stories were added on top. I'll show you a detail of the deco features tomorrow. And of course that is one of our famous streetcars heading by.
I was coming down the stairs by Casa Loma a week ago just as this train with its bright clean red engine crossed along the overpass above Spadina Rd. Everything is so drab and grey here that the red was a real eye-stopper! If you continue down the street with you eye, that little strip of darker blue is Lake Ontario and hopefully it will soon be fine weather for walking along the lakeshore.
I couldn't resist this shot taken from half way up the stairs to Casa Loma. It was nice to see the CN Tower framed so nicely but it was the view down Spadina Rd that I really liked. It is about a 2.5 mile walk down Spadina to Lake Ontario where the Tower is, and it is a great walk - through the Annex, past U of Toronto, through China Town, through the Fashion District until finally reaching the Lake. And it is all a bit downhill making it even better!
The Princes' Gates mark the eastern entry to the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) which are located right downtown along the lakeshore and are the site of the CNE, numerous trade & retail shows, a hockey arena, soccer field, and also the Toronto Indy race which takes place in a couple of weeks. The Beaux-Arts gates were designed by Toronto architects Chapman and Oxley, and the sculpture of winged Victory was done by Charles McKechnie although the sculpture was badly deteriorating and was replaced in 1986 with an exact scale polymer plastic copy. The gates were opened in 1927 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Canadian Confederation and have been known since as the Princes' gates because 2 of the royal princes came to the dedication. This was a drive-by/red-light shot!
Boxing Day is the day to recover from all the food and drink of the last few days unless you are a shopper looking for bargains! I tend to need a little peace and quiet so a walk along the lakeshore is perfect. We are supposed to get major snow starting this afternoon which will be our first of the season and if we do I will be out to capture some more typical winter scenes. Hope everyone is well after all the celebrations!
You can sometime see some strange sights when walking along the boardwalk by the lakeshore but these concrete dinosaurs are actually part of the children's playground located beside the bathing pavilion of the last few days. They are a bit startling at first but the kids love crawling all over them!
This is the side of the Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion facing out onto the beach and Lake Ontario, now all closed for the season with boats from rowing clubs stored under the arches. In summer there is a cafe under the arches and outside along behind the fence which is beside the boardwalk. It's still a nice place for a stroll now if the weather isn't too windy but no sunbathers are to be found on the beach!
This is the main courtyard inside the Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion which looks great even closed up for the winter, but imagine it with the fountain going and lots of flowers planted. Perfect for a summer wedding and apparently they can seat 500 people for dinner in here. As you can see there are several different places for events inside the pavilion including 2 upper terraces the look out over Lake Ontario as well as a cafe which is right out on the beach. I'll show you the beachside view tomorrow.
The Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion has been on Sunnyside Beach in west-end Toronto since 1922 when this area was a huge amusement park. In 1955 the city decided that an expressway was needed to ease traffic congestion downtown and the park was closed to enable the Gardiner Expressway to be built through the area. The pavilion remains on the beach and was declared a historic site in 1975 before being restored in 1980. It is still used for changing facilities but also houses a cafe and other spaces used for weddings and corporate events, but not during the winter! I'll show you some more shots over the next couple of days. Most of the Lakeshore pics I have shown you were taken in this area.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click here for more signs.
This is yet another shoot from last week's lakeshore walk, taken while I was standing among the willows of the last few days and looking towards Lake Ontario. It was a beautiful day and today is to be even more so which is good since our Santa Claus Parade is on this afternoon and I hope to have lots of pics of the floats to show you!
I took this shot last Sunday near where I took yesterday's pic. It is probably a victim of Hurricane Sandy's winds which were quite strong here and knocked down a lot of trees although we didn't get huge amounts of rain. Everyone going by was taking a look and most were taking a pic with their phone while this fellow had arrived with his tripod & camera and was really into his subject! It looked as if this had been one of the largest trees in the area. Sad.
I shot this pic last Sunday morning when out for a walk along the Lakeshore in the Sunnyside Beach area and the pic has the same atmosphere as the morning was - peaceful. It's funny how the Willows seem to be among the last of the trees to lose their leaves in the fall. Click on this one to enlarge it.
There used to be several of these quirky gas stations around town but this one, which was located at Lakeshore & Windermere, was the last one left standing. Built in 1937, it was moved across the road in 2007 to a location by the Martin Goodman Trail and was totally restored and is meant to become an info centre but so far it remains empty & fenced in. All of the Joy stations had the look of little French chateaus with cute little towers and wonderful detailing.
