Ceiling details of a great room.

June 19, 1930. Toronto Daily Star reader, ticketed for doing 35 in a 20, complains that county of York speed trap is a cash grab.

Thematic Halloween decorations in progress.

The last time the Blue Jays were in the World Series, there was no CityPlace, no South Core, no Maple Leaf Square, no HTO Park, no WaveDecks, no Roundhouse Park, no aquarium, no Scotiabank Arena, no Well, and King West and the Entertainment District were still largely pre-condo.

L: Dodger Stadium and surrounding contiguous parking. R: Outline of above traced over Rogers Centre (SkyDome) and surrounding area.

If you’re in Etobicoke and looking for that final detail for your World Series viewing party, Sanremo has Blue Jays cakes.

I love the neighbourhood representations in these four ‘Where’s a Public Library?’ maps from the 1970s.

If you pass through Queen’s Park Station, take note of the fabrication dates on the exposed tunnel liners before they are tiled over. A cool detail that will soon be hidden once again. Below: 20•10•60 24•1•61 8•2•61

July 6, 1995. Time is a flat circle.

Shana Tova, from our cat to you.

As noticed by @andrewlewisfc.bsky.social, the first photo is not 2007. Based on the state of the Ritz-Carlton, it would appear to be 2009.

Two shots of Toronto’s central skyline, 18 years apart. Taken near the Centre Island ferry docks, 2007/2025.

Gradient flower.

Toronto Island bathroom/concession pavilions (I really love these).

Centreville intermodal transit hub (rail and swan boat).

The giant @BikeShareTO rack by the Centre Island ferry dock is a great addition.

Same as it ever was. I had the strangest dream that a Ferry Terminal design competition took place over a decade ago.

Aneta Circle Parkette rocket ship, 1999.

Order of Canada for the designer of the Ontario Provincial Parks’ fire pits.

I like the places where a street breaks the grid, and you have building frontages parallel with the angled street while property lines and building interiors run with the grid and nearby side streets.

Still such a beauty when it catches the full sun.

Hulchanski, 1982.

I was at an airport yesterday and some cruel, brilliant individual had put receptacle stickers on the walls and columns by the seats at the gates.

Interesting how ornamental metalwork hanging from the ceiling around the perimeter of the Bianca lobby is used to create texture through shadowplay.

A detail I enjoyed at the Waterworks Food Hall is the columns with brick corbels carrying the girders for a large gantry crane, that still rests overhead at the west end of the space.

A very Yellowbelt scene.

I’d rather see a sunshine list of the board appointments, advisory roles, and lobbyist positions that people like Mike Harris move on to after leaving politics.

Three of the four indoor gardens, designed by landscape architect George Tanaka, that were part of the original Sherway Gardens design. - desert garden - tropical garden - hanging garden (missing: the Japanese garden)

It’s kind of perfect that Figure 1 in the City’s updated Mid-Rise Building Design Guidelines is a perfectly lovely fabric building that the guidelines would not allow you to build today.

Yorkdale: original (1964) plan and present-day (showing the original layout roughly shaded).

Convinced that the great societal fumble of my lifetime was the failure of Western democracies to appreciate the corrosive threat of social media, and to act accordingly: make algorithms transparent, curtail inauthentic activity, and control foreign influence operations.

To once again highlight the distortions of First Past the Post: Last night the Liberals won 0.9 seats for every 100,000 votes. The Ontario PCs won 3.7 seats for every 100,000 of theirs.

Beautiful. Bring back slab buildings! On a floor plate ratio they’re more efficient; we did some math and found that home & increases by 10-15% due to arbitrary limits of 750m² floor plates for high rises; meanwhile, slab & spoke style towers can be 1900m², very efficient and more cost-effective

Today’s the day, Ontario. Get out and vote! 🗳️

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Doug Ford has fallen short. Vote for change. As comforting as continuity may seem, what Ontario needs is change. Liberals, NDP, Greens: take your pick. A vote for any is a vote for a better Ontario. #StarEditorial

Bloor and Kipling, 1955, and the cutest bus ever.

Three views of North York Centre, via @torontolibrary’s digital archive. 1982 -> 1988 -> 1990 Concept -> Construction -> Completion

Estimated Households, 2024 ON: 6,175,210 AB: 1,842,698

Wax up your cross country skis @shawnmicallef.bsky.social, long range models look as though the coming week may deliver some good urban skiing opportunities.

Bicycle lamps, circa 1900.

Just watched a pigeon get on the subway at Old Mill and ride it to High Park and now I’m wondering does it find its way ‘home’ after that, or just set up shop wherever it ends up?

I’m pretty sure that this is the first time I’ve seen a curling sheet set up at Wychwood Barns.

I ❤️ this stalactite ceiling.

One detail I love about the local flooded rink is that it gradually gets lined with neighbours’ discarded Christmas trees. Pop-up landscaping.

Came into possession of an old TTC report, and if this were available on a shirt, I would totally wear it.

The proprietors of a local convenience store are retiring after 35 years, and neighbours are sharing memories and saying thank-you’s and goodbyes. Just a reminder that local shops build and bond community, and we should protect & create small, affordable spaces for local retail.

Another one of those places where I find myself taking pictures any time I visit.

Now that Bill 212 has been passed, the 2022 TTS results have been made available. For the record, bike share for trips between home/work by Toronto households: Total: 4.3% Ward 11: 16.3% Ward 9: 15.1% Ward 13: 10.8% Ward 4: 10.4% Ward 14: 10.1% Ward 10: 7.7% Ward 19: 7.5%

Wet morning bike share life hack.