Graffiti Alley

 Toronto has lots of amazing street art, and as I walk around the city I am always looking for examples to photograph. I wrote a while ago about the great work done to decorate one of the many highway underpasses, and the other day I finally found my way to the actual “Graffiti Alley”. I had read about this street art location, but I was never completely sure where it was; downtown off Queen St. Somewhere I knew, but Queen St. is long and very interesting on its own, so I had never actually found it. 

But, on a mission to visit one of the many Bead Stores in the area, I noticed some interesting looking street art down an alley and detouring to take a picture, I accidentally found my way to graffiti alley. It really was one of the best displays of Toronto’s amazing street art culture. Here are some of the photos I took.

This was the art that drew me down the alley.

Three Stories of street art; the entire building was painted.

Can you find your garage door?

And bonus . . . Another door for my collection.

I don't think the phone still works . . . .

Knitting and Skateboards.

Amazing artwork!

I especially like when windows and doors and backgrounds are integrated into the artwork.

Walking with the Queen

Today I went for a walk along one of Toronto’s main streets, Queen. This street runs east/west for 18 kilometres through Toronto’s downtown. Seems to me that a lot of Canadian cities have streets named “Queen”, but Toronto’s version of Queen St. Is worth a visit. Running right through the downtown area, it is one of the busiest streets in the city. It has multiple streetcar routes running along it and intersects with the main subway line in two places. As I am still working in my new hip, I cannot claim to have walked the entire 18 km, but I walked in both the west end and the east end and connected them with a streetcar ride. 

Queen St has a little of everything, restaurants, bars, shops businesses and residences. There are areas that are modern with the usual tall condo and office buildings, but one of the things I like best about Queen St, is the amount of old houses and buildings that remain. They are not all in good repair, but it is nice to see the variety of old style architecture along the street. The 18 km, run through a number of neighbourhoods, The Beaches, Leslieville, Riverdale, Queen West, West Queen West, and Parkdale. Although Toronto hosts a number of ethnic neighbourhoods Queen St. Seems to skirt a number of them including Chinatown West and Little Tibet. 

You can find most anything you need on Queen St. I found three bead shops in the West end, and I had to choose between four pubs in one block in the East end for a beer and a burger, while waiting for my Joy of Writing meeting to start. The following photos will give you some idea of the variety of building on Toronto’s Queen Street. 

I can't resist the Street Art

Street Art and a Door!

WOW!

Bridge over the Don River