"Music City."

It's a shame that the concrete 70s bunker that actually worked — the Manulife Centre down the street — is the one being gussied up with glass. Meanwhile this mistake continues to blight Yonge and Bloor, getting shabbier with each passing year.

Northeast corner of Queen East and Sherbourne, 1910

Severn street, near Rosedale Valley Road. Studio of Tom Thomson and several Group of Seven painters. The Masonic Temple on Yonge can be seen in the background.

It's certainly a mediocre building but I don't think it rises to the level of, say, genocide. This one small building has now become the lightning rod for every disappointment, frustration and failure in our modest, not-so-world -class city. It's a heavy burden for what, after all, is just a...

For all you rebar fans. Demolition pretty much done.

When the masses are riled up about a building, more often that means it's good. Not here, though, I agree.

The two Rosedale residents' associations are appealing this to the LPAT — this fundraising letter was pushed through my door today. Suffice it to say I won't be contributing $10,000 (or even $1) to kill what I think is a pretty good development.

I get that the Simpsons has stigmatized monorails for all time and, sure, it's a PC minister talking, but give Tibollo credit for grasping the essential problem: Ontario Place's isolation from the rest of the city. Haven't numerous posters on this thread made exactly the same point, bemoaning...

The Liberals closed Ontario Place seven years ago and did next to nothing with it for the rest of their time in government. Where were the rallies then?

Not a lot changed on the skyline between 1930 and 1953. Not long after that ... everything changed.

In case you were thinking that stretch of Bloor East couldn't be any worse...

From a distance, it looks like someone dumped the Manulife Centre into a little trash baggy.

I remember when there was nothing there. From 1995:

Right. Gangs just love to gravitate around courthouses, law chambers and opera houses. For even more fun, there's the U.S. consulate across the street.

That last photo: Toronto's waterfront really was a hellscape early in the last century.

Sorry, off-topic, I know, but what kind of vines were they? I'm already thinking of next summer.

I was wondering why McLaren & Dallas felt the need to maintain four separate brands of "rubbers" (per the wall sign above) until I realized that, back then, the term was probably used for any shoe that employed what was, at the time, a novel material for footwear.

Give Rob Ford credit where it's due. He took the lead in criticizing the deal at the time, saying it "stinks to high heaven." Foulidis sued him for slander and lost at trial.