I'm Glad They Clarified That

Boy Was I Wrong!

Zoomed In View, Eh?
A while back I complained about another condo development, and that some turn-of-the-century buildings on Yonge St were obviously "Doomed!",

Boy was I wrong!

So although I graciously, partially recanted when I thought there was a chance of a "Reprieve", little did I know to what extent they were going to retain the buildings.

Until I read an article about this last week in the Globe & Mail [Hey! The Globe & Mail must read my blog!]

Looks like they are doing a full scale, mega expensive preservation exercise on these "Five" properties on Yonge St.

An excerpt from the G&M article:
"While a tower will eventually go up there as well, about a third of the low-rise, 1880s retail block running south on Yonge – where typical, er, “colourful” businesses once stood – is about to undergo a metamorphosis."

[Ed note: For those not in-the-know about 1960's Yonge St. "colourful" likely refers to businesses such as body rub parlours, tattoo joints and places where ladies show their lady bits to depraved men. Uhhh...or so I've read.]

The article continues:
"That means retaining full building shells from 606 to 618 Yonge rather than just façades, and, where façadism is a necessary evil along St. Joseph, the face of a 1905 warehouse is being held up by an enormous, bridge-like structure so that it can remain in situ while the foundation for the...45-storey tower is dug directly underneath it."

"On St. Nicholas, the warehouse wall will be disassembled and trucked off-site until the tower has been erected."

Wow! Now we're gettin' somewhere......

[For more info on this, check out the Globe & Mail article at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/dave-leblanc/yonge-streets-oldsters-make-room-for-a-glitzy-neighbour/article2216042/]

Hey!

....look at me.

Gimme La Break

Now this is one of the places the 99% could be protesting.

Just wait til after I've bought my Swiss....stuff....

No, I Insist. After You.

Wow, not often you see the city move the sidewalk just to save a tree.

But it is a real beauty.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins.

But then, of course, so is envy......

Way Ahead Of You

What was that title again.....?

And Neither Are You

...ya darn punk!

Okay, okay, the irony of me posting this is not lost on me.

I'm not working either, but I'm not complaining about it. Except, of course, to complain about the guys who are complaining.

But really, for people in North America and Europe to be complaining is laughable. The rest of the world looks at us and says "You are the 1%."

As a gentlemanly farmer friend of mine says, we won the biggest lottery in the world just by being born here.

You don't like the current system - then vote!

Ontario just had the lowest turnout in history for our Oct 6th election. And which age group had the lowest participation? You guessed it - 18-25.

One guy they interviewed said he didn't like working in the service industry so is just going to coast on welfare 'til something better comes up. So I guess this protesting gig will kill some time.

And do these guys even know what they are protesting about?

"Hey, we want more. Wanna protest?"
"Uhhh....sure. I want more."

Reminds me of a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon where Calvin makes a birthday card for his mother and shows it to his tiger friend, Hobbes.

It says;

"Happy birthday to you,
There I've said it now I'm done,
So how about getting out of bed,
And making breakfast for your son?"

He asks Hobbes if he wants to sign it.

Hobbes reads the card and says, "Sure. I'm hungry, too."

A Competing Protest?

Store owner: "You can't take those cookies."
Cookie Monster: "Me not 'take' cookies. Me 'eat' cookies."
Store owner: "Come on.... What's the difference?"
Cookie Monster: "Eat begins with E. Take begins with T."

Where Am I?

At the bottom of Lake Iroquois.

Glub, glub....

Where Am I Now?
On the shore of Lake Iroquois.

Who Gives A Crap?Hey hey, now....

Does This Help?
Casa Loma.....

Where The Hell Is Lake Iroquois?It was (about 13,000 years ago anyway) just a little larger than Lake Ontario.

It was a proglacial lake, created when ice dammed up The St. Lawrence River, preventing melting glacial water from escaping.

Hence its escarpment is only a few miles inland from - and 100 feet above - today's Lake Ontario shoreline.

Right where Casa Loma is!

And a hundred years ago made a great viewpoint for Toronto's rich and powerful.

(Further east, the Scarborough Bluffs also formed part of the Lake Iroquois shoreline...)

When the ice dam finally let loose and released the water, it created the ravine system running though Toronto.

Info courtesy of another Toronto Heritage Walk. You're welcome.

Reprieve?

A while back I had blogged (ranted, harangued, spouted, prattled on...) about some turn of the century buildings that were clearly "Doomed!" to the wrecker's ball.

Perhaps I spoke (ranted, fumed, etc.) too soon, because, upon further inspection of the hoarding surrounding the site either 1) in my blind rage I didn't actually look at the pictures I took or 2) - and I'm pretty sure this is what actually happened - the developer read my blog! and was shamed into redesigning their project to incorporate the historical buildings.

So they are keeping the façades - and then some.

Looks pretty nice for this area of Yonge St.

Okay, okay, even Don Cherry has to admit he's wrong once in a while....

True Love?

I stole this from someone.

But I won't say who, 'cause her and her big butt will hurt me.....

Mmmmm......Bacon Jam.....

High sugar and saturated fat.

And likely a few dashes of sodium as well.

I like it!

Sign With Lowest Probability Of Being Helpful

I'm afraid the only way you'll be reading this sign.....

...is if you are face down, after tripping over the broken step (or the sign)....

Boo!

....I know how he feels....

Hang In There, Little Dude

How did this little guy ever miss the wrecker's ball?


I'll just mind my own business, tucked in between these guys. La la la....

No need to look over here, friend. Just keep moving along.....

Smackers, That's One Big Parking Lot....

And Inviting!

Only in Calgary, you say?

Correctamundo!

The Great One's Great One's House

Or....Walter Gretzky's house.

On a recent trip to Brantford.

Boy, do retired guys know how to live or what!?

Totally Botanical, Man

Duuudes....

Went on a totally excellent walk with Heritage Toronto the other week. To the Toronto Botanical Gardens.

Not only did we sherpas guide the walkers through the gardens, there were speakers at each stop to explain the history of the area.

[Guess that's how Heritage Toronto bosses can sleep at night, by getting TBG to toss in a little history.]

It is also om the same site as Edwards Gardens.

But they co-exist peacefully.

A massive place. The guy running it, John, says he has over 400 volunteers.

Makes us HT types look like a bunch of pikers.

But there are still huge tracts of land remaining from the original 500 acres.

It was a working sheep farm, started by Scottish weaver Alexander Milne in 1817, and they produced wool and cotton.

And in case you think city workers have only been brain dead recently, the original name of this tributary of the Don River running through the property was to be called Woolcott Creek.

Get it?

Wool....Cott... [Ed. note: Uhhh...yeah. Let's move on.]

But the tall foreheads at City Hall garbled it up and it is now known as Wilket Creek.

Hey. Even the weeds look great.

So that wraps up this season's heritage walks.

Back to the couch....