Pyat goes a'walkin'! Toronto photo tour!
Dec. 20th, 2007 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyatI got off work around 1 PM today, and did a lot of walking around Toronto, snapping pics with my new cell phone. I visited old haunts and places I've not been since my days as an eager cub reporter at the Ryersonian (*FLASH* Whattascoop!) a decade ago.
Snapping pics is all the cell phone is good for, right now. It won't activate. Nor will![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
velvetpage's phone. The customer service people were sytmied by the problem, and passed it on to their tech support department, who should call us tomorrow.
Also, while the cell phone camera is better in most ways than the little $4.99 camera I was using earlier this week, the lens and CCD thingie are not very good. All the photos have terrible murky colours.
Anyway, on with the photo walking tour of Toronto! Complete with anecdotes.
This is my big jowly mug. I'm on the train, very early in the morning. You can tell it's very early, because I haven't put my head on my briefcase and fallen asleep.
This is the basement of the building in which my office is currently (until next Friday) located. Yay, basement!
Looking east on King West, towards the ranks of trendy cafes, bistros, the theatre district, Roy Thompson Hall, and downtown.
"City TV... EVERYWHERE!" I started by heading north to Queen West, site of the City TV building (or whatever they call it, now) and several cool stores. I once spent several months researching an article about the history of Queen West for the newspaper, The Kensington Drum, at the request of Jack Layton. It's changed a lot since then.
I will not make jokes about "Santa CLAWS" or anything like that. Shop window of the Silver Snail on Queen West. The Snail was once the great Mecca of my rare solo trips to Toronto as a high-school student. I'd go to Toronto twice a year on multi-day trips with the Gifted Students Program, to attend the World Affairs Conference at Upper Canada College in winter, and Model Parliament in early summer. Each time I went, I'd sneak away for most for a day to hit Grey Region, Bakka Books, and the Silver Snail, and spend every penny I had.
I was introduced to this little nerdly strip by a pretty blonde girl with thick glasses at the first Model Parliament I attended, in 1989. We were both NDP MPPs, and she saw me reading a Terry Prachett book, and asked if I wanted to see where I could buy more. We spent the entire afternoon together. At one point, as we walked, she held my hand for a few seconds. She was frighteningly intelligent, as well as an older woman - she was in grade 11. I never got her last name. Her first name, I think, was Diane. In that dim pre-net era, there was no chance of looking her up afterward.
This picture is boring, but the store isn't. It's Active Surplus, your #1 destination for Soviet computers, vacuum tubes, discount geiger counters, and enormous pieces of unidentifiable hardware! I am pleased to report that the robot gorilla is still extant, though no longer waving a friendly paw at customers.
The east wall of the City TV (or whatever it's called now) building.
This is Sir Adam Beck. One day, he will be the hero of an RPG I want to write. His statue is on University Avenue, just south of the Boer War Memorial. Technology and Imperialism glorified in one short block!
Toronto City Hall, as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation. I used to tip my hat to the Winston Churchhill monument.
The old Toronto City Hall, which is still in use for... something or other. It has gargoyles and is old, and is therefore haunted.
Speaking of old - founded 1670! Every Canadian knows that The Hudson's Bay Company (The Bay) is the oldest (and therefore best) department store in the universe. And, P.S., it owned most of the country for a couple of centuries. I mean, owned it aside from all the Natives.
The Bay has put out an animated Christmas display in their Queen Street windows for... well, for a darn long time.
The giant Crystal Wish Christmas tree in the Eaton's Centre. This photo also gives a hint of the volume of traffic - you can see three or four levels, and they're all packed with shoppers. The cell camera, alas, cannot recreate the tree. It was amazing.
Yonge Street, now, and a giant bronze(ish) statue of Freddy Mercury. The monument, I suspect, would not have displeased him.
The place is bigger "in person." Yonge and Dundas. I took this photo because, when I was at university, this huge Bladerunneresque block of ads and metal-clad parking was the world's ugliest concrete park, and a very very wornout block of stores. The change is remarkable. Good? I dunno. But remarkable.
Here we are on the campus of dear old RPU, Ryerson Polytechnic University, my beloved alma mater. Well, where I got my BA, at least. This is the southern shore of "Lake Devo," the fountain/art installation in the middle of campus.
Jorgenson Hall, I believe. This one was the more Soviet Bloc of the two towers. The other one has (some) windows! The interior of the Jorgenson complex is all exposed ductwork and textured concrete and broken windows, or at least it was in 1994. The escalators seldom worked, and the basement halls reminded me strongly of the RPG Paranoia. It was here that I first got on the Internet, in stinking hot computer labs that smelled strongly of dirty socks and rusty radiators.
Sir Egerston Ryerson. He invented school. No, really, he did. The namesake of Ryerson University.
Walking on a bit, I came to the Roger's Communication Centre, where I had most of my core classes. I stopped in there for a bathroom break - the first time I've been in that building in a decade. Everything was terribly familiar and weird. I felt like a student for a little while, and suddenly remembered the awful anxious dreams I used to have (until about five years ago), wherein I'd be searching for my mail folder in the Journalism Student Lounge, never able to find it, and knowing it contained a terribly important message.
However, I did not take any photos, and instead turned south down Church Street.
Yes, Church Street! So named for its many churches, but now much more famous for an entirely different reason!
Walking south on Church. Everyone wave atanidada!
Church and Front. This is where I'll be working as of January. No, not the coffee shop - somewhere in the top two floors.
I'll be about 200 feet away from this building, the ersatz Flatiron!
"Tonight only! Hari Seldon and the Psychohistorians!"
Walking west on Front toward Union Station. Some buildings!
Still westward ho! On the left is high-end shops, straight ahead is the CN Tower, all 1850 feet of it.
The Hockey Hall of Fame!
Entering Union Station. It's an impressive structure. The trains are in the basement! Sorta...
Before boarding the train, I have to collect my monthly Middle Passage from the TAS.
FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE ON MY FRIEND'S LIST WILL UNDERSTAND THAT JOKE!
Total distance of walk: 8 KMs!
Snapping pics is all the cell phone is good for, right now. It won't activate. Nor will
velvetpage's phone. The customer service people were sytmied by the problem, and passed it on to their tech support department, who should call us tomorrow.Also, while the cell phone camera is better in most ways than the little $4.99 camera I was using earlier this week, the lens and CCD thingie are not very good. All the photos have terrible murky colours.
Anyway, on with the photo walking tour of Toronto! Complete with anecdotes.
This is my big jowly mug. I'm on the train, very early in the morning. You can tell it's very early, because I haven't put my head on my briefcase and fallen asleep.
This is the basement of the building in which my office is currently (until next Friday) located. Yay, basement!
Looking east on King West, towards the ranks of trendy cafes, bistros, the theatre district, Roy Thompson Hall, and downtown.
"City TV... EVERYWHERE!" I started by heading north to Queen West, site of the City TV building (or whatever they call it, now) and several cool stores. I once spent several months researching an article about the history of Queen West for the newspaper, The Kensington Drum, at the request of Jack Layton. It's changed a lot since then.
I will not make jokes about "Santa CLAWS" or anything like that. Shop window of the Silver Snail on Queen West. The Snail was once the great Mecca of my rare solo trips to Toronto as a high-school student. I'd go to Toronto twice a year on multi-day trips with the Gifted Students Program, to attend the World Affairs Conference at Upper Canada College in winter, and Model Parliament in early summer. Each time I went, I'd sneak away for most for a day to hit Grey Region, Bakka Books, and the Silver Snail, and spend every penny I had.
I was introduced to this little nerdly strip by a pretty blonde girl with thick glasses at the first Model Parliament I attended, in 1989. We were both NDP MPPs, and she saw me reading a Terry Prachett book, and asked if I wanted to see where I could buy more. We spent the entire afternoon together. At one point, as we walked, she held my hand for a few seconds. She was frighteningly intelligent, as well as an older woman - she was in grade 11. I never got her last name. Her first name, I think, was Diane. In that dim pre-net era, there was no chance of looking her up afterward.
This picture is boring, but the store isn't. It's Active Surplus, your #1 destination for Soviet computers, vacuum tubes, discount geiger counters, and enormous pieces of unidentifiable hardware! I am pleased to report that the robot gorilla is still extant, though no longer waving a friendly paw at customers.
The east wall of the City TV (or whatever it's called now) building.
This is Sir Adam Beck. One day, he will be the hero of an RPG I want to write. His statue is on University Avenue, just south of the Boer War Memorial. Technology and Imperialism glorified in one short block!
Toronto City Hall, as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation. I used to tip my hat to the Winston Churchhill monument.
The old Toronto City Hall, which is still in use for... something or other. It has gargoyles and is old, and is therefore haunted.
Speaking of old - founded 1670! Every Canadian knows that The Hudson's Bay Company (The Bay) is the oldest (and therefore best) department store in the universe. And, P.S., it owned most of the country for a couple of centuries. I mean, owned it aside from all the Natives.
The Bay has put out an animated Christmas display in their Queen Street windows for... well, for a darn long time.
The giant Crystal Wish Christmas tree in the Eaton's Centre. This photo also gives a hint of the volume of traffic - you can see three or four levels, and they're all packed with shoppers. The cell camera, alas, cannot recreate the tree. It was amazing.
Yonge Street, now, and a giant bronze(ish) statue of Freddy Mercury. The monument, I suspect, would not have displeased him.
The place is bigger "in person." Yonge and Dundas. I took this photo because, when I was at university, this huge Bladerunneresque block of ads and metal-clad parking was the world's ugliest concrete park, and a very very wornout block of stores. The change is remarkable. Good? I dunno. But remarkable.
Here we are on the campus of dear old RPU, Ryerson Polytechnic University, my beloved alma mater. Well, where I got my BA, at least. This is the southern shore of "Lake Devo," the fountain/art installation in the middle of campus.
Jorgenson Hall, I believe. This one was the more Soviet Bloc of the two towers. The other one has (some) windows! The interior of the Jorgenson complex is all exposed ductwork and textured concrete and broken windows, or at least it was in 1994. The escalators seldom worked, and the basement halls reminded me strongly of the RPG Paranoia. It was here that I first got on the Internet, in stinking hot computer labs that smelled strongly of dirty socks and rusty radiators.
Sir Egerston Ryerson. He invented school. No, really, he did. The namesake of Ryerson University.
Walking on a bit, I came to the Roger's Communication Centre, where I had most of my core classes. I stopped in there for a bathroom break - the first time I've been in that building in a decade. Everything was terribly familiar and weird. I felt like a student for a little while, and suddenly remembered the awful anxious dreams I used to have (until about five years ago), wherein I'd be searching for my mail folder in the Journalism Student Lounge, never able to find it, and knowing it contained a terribly important message.
However, I did not take any photos, and instead turned south down Church Street.
Yes, Church Street! So named for its many churches, but now much more famous for an entirely different reason!
Walking south on Church. Everyone wave at
anidada!Church and Front. This is where I'll be working as of January. No, not the coffee shop - somewhere in the top two floors.
I'll be about 200 feet away from this building, the ersatz Flatiron!
"Tonight only! Hari Seldon and the Psychohistorians!"
Walking west on Front toward Union Station. Some buildings!
Still westward ho! On the left is high-end shops, straight ahead is the CN Tower, all 1850 feet of it.
The Hockey Hall of Fame!
Entering Union Station. It's an impressive structure. The trains are in the basement! Sorta...
Before boarding the train, I have to collect my monthly Middle Passage from the TAS.
FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE ON MY FRIEND'S LIST WILL UNDERSTAND THAT JOKE!
Total distance of walk: 8 KMs!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 05:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:06 pm (UTC)Were you in Toronto previously? Or was it Ottawa?
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 06:12 am (UTC)When I was in high school (79-84) we used to come to Toronto for day trips to visit Bakka, Gray Legion, Silver Snail, and the mighty GAMESWAY ARK. Anybody remember that?
New City Hall in TNG - yes, I flagged it when that episode (first season I believe, sister galaxy class ship that went boom) was first broadcast. GO TORONTO!
Union station is quite pretty. I had to drag a bunch of people from the TSA-bash up into the Great hall kicking and screaming, and then had to drag them out clicking pictures frantically kicking and screaming half an hour later... :)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 05:15 pm (UTC)You and other people!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 11:11 pm (UTC)::B::
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 11:20 pm (UTC)Mr Gameway's Ark!
I got my original copies of Traveller, Thieves' World, Bushido, and Champions from these folks. Only years later, when they'd gone bust, did I find out that they had an outlet right here in KW! For some reason, I never found out.
I remember when Trivial Pursuit first hit; Gameways was selling the game on the top floor, along with the RPGs and wargames; when I arrived at the store (for RPG shopping) I saw a lineup that went out their front door and down the block. The lineup went up the left side of their stairway, all the way to the top of the store. Employees were implementing crowd control and boredom avoidance by shouting out questions from an open copy. It was sheer craziness.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 12:16 pm (UTC)Oh, and I'm envious that you work beside a Second Cup. They serve all-Canadian goodness there!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:12 pm (UTC)Thank you so much for the walking tour! I really want to see the city now; it looks interesting, like a good place to walk around and see unexpected things.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 04:36 pm (UTC)From Wiki:
Toronto's climate is moderate for Canada due to its southerly location within the country and its proximity to Lake Ontario. It has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa), with warm, humid summers and generally cold winters, although fairly mild by Canadian and many northern continental U.S. standards. The city experiences four distinct seasons with considerable variance in day to day temperature, particularly during the colder weather season. Due to urbanization and proximity to water Toronto has a fairly low diurnal temperature range, at least in built-up city and lakeshore areas. At different times of the year, this maritime influence has various localized and regional impacts on the climate, including lake effect snow and delaying the onset of spring and fall like conditions or seasonal lag.
Toronto winters sometimes feature short cold snaps where maximum temperatures remain below −10 °C (14 °F), often made to feel colder by wind chill. Snowstorms, sometimes mixed with ice and rain can disrupt work and travel schedules, accumulating snow can fall anytime from November until mid-April. However, mild stretches also occur throughout winter melting accumulated snow, with temperatures reaching into the 5 to 14 °C (40 to 57 °F) range and infrequently higher. Summer in Toronto is characterized by long stretches of humid weather. Daytime temperatures occasionally surpass 35 °C (95 °F), with high humidity making it feel oppressive during usually brief periods of hot weather. Spring and Autumn are transitional seasons with generally mild or cool temperatures with alternating dry and wet periods.
Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, but summer is usually the wettest season, the bulk falling during thunderstorms. There can be periods of dry weather, but drought-like conditions are rare. The average yearly precipitation is 83 cm (33 in), with an average annual snowfall of about 133 cm (52 in). Toronto experiences an average of 2,038 sunshine hours or 44% of possible, most of it during the warmer weather season.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 05:19 pm (UTC)That said, it's much easier to stay warm than keep cool, and having properly cool weather would, I think, open up a host of opportunities for someone with a very definitive sense of style. Overcoats and hats and scarves and gloves are, shall we say, mucn more functional here. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 11:20 pm (UTC)When do you go back Winnipeg?
no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 07:30 pm (UTC)Great tour though--and I recognized a lot, too! Yay!
Oh, and BTW, what kind of cell phone is it? Did you go with virgin mobile? We did and have a "snapper." It's charged but not yet activated--hopefully we won't have the trouble you did!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 11:15 pm (UTC)Nice pictures on your cell phone, by the way! You had a nice day for your nostalgic walk-about. Like you, I used to hit usual haunts on Qween Street West; most are now gone or are but a pale shade of their former self but your pictures of the inside of Active Surplus brought back memories!
::B::
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 11:19 pm (UTC)If I don't see you before then, have a very happy Christmas. Are you coming to our place on New Years Eve?
no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 03:14 am (UTC)::B::
no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 02:17 am (UTC)Active Surplus. The bizarrest place on earth.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 02:56 pm (UTC)Regarding Union Station, when my mom was a young single woman, fairly new to Canada, she used to live in Aurora and work in downtown Toronto. Once a week, she would have a bath at Union Station. For fifty cents, she was provided with a clean bathtub, a clean towel, and all the hot water and privacy she could want, in a private room with a lock on the door. For a woman who was the eldest of seven kids in a house with only one bathroom, it was a heavenly luxury.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 05:01 pm (UTC)And that's a very cool story. Coincidentally, I'd been thinking about the history of need for public baths recently, thanks to a recent re-reading of Orwell's "poverty" books, On the Road to Wigan Pier and Down and Out in Paris and London. Some of the stats he quotes describe mining towns of 100,000 souls, with less a dozen public baths, and where only one house in twenty has a washroom.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 05:02 pm (UTC)