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Damn just found out where that fire was I could see this afternoon: @Musa, my favourite Toronto brunch spot. Sucks.:(

http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/07/fire_destroys_musa_and_several_homes_at_dundas_and_euclid/

A fire has destroyed Musa and several other homes in the Dundas and Euclid area. Although the fire department has yet to confirm the origin of the blaze, numerous reports from eye-witnesses claim that it broke out on the upper floor apartment or balcony south of the restaurant in the same building just before 3 p.m.. Thick smoke could be seen from kilometres away during the firefighters efforts to get the fire under control.

I always wanted to eat dinner there--never got the chance.:(
 
I walked by that area about 3 hours before the fire started.

Also, when I got home, and was on my computer I didn't see or notice smoke and I live five minutes away from Musa.
 
Very cool area! Some pics from around the neighbourhood, circa 2003:

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Please check out our new blog: www.brocktonian.com ... all about life in Toronto's west-end Brockton Village, Bloordale, Bloorcourt and Dufferin Grove communities. We explore everything from art&culture to local issues to new bars & restaurants to real estate.

We recently moved from the Junction and are both loving the new 'hood. But, we miss following our old neighbourhood blog: http://breakingprojects.com/junctioneer/ (for anyone who lives in the Junction his site is the source). So, we thought, why not create our own? Once we find the camera we hope to have more pictures up. In the meantime, check it out, comment, follow, 'like', share, contribute ... lets get a strong community growing.


Thanks,
John&Chloe at Brocktonian
 
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I had a rather unnerving experience - to say the least - yesterday on Dundas West, not a neighbourhood I frequent very often. I'd been strolling west from Bathurst, had crossed Ossington and tried on a few of the Irish and Harris tweed hats in Vintage1, none of which fit very well though they were lovely colours, and had then gone back up to Dundas, to Le Gallery to see Matt Bahen's show, and had crossed to the north side of the street, gaily sauntering along in the lovely afternoon sunshine .... when I glanced casually ahead, my eye caught by a sudden motion, to see a most unusual ( well, an unusual sight for me anyway ... ) and confrontational display - the naked rear end of a woman pointing square in my direction! One doesn't know where to look when confronted with such splendours in the middle of the sidewalk, but I stared ahead anyway, hypnotised by the display of white flesh, orifices, scrubby hair and miscellaneous dangly bits too obscure and terrifying to name. Adroitly circumventing the impass this poor woman represented, I slipped past her and continued on my way, just as the stream of urine hit the sidewalk. Life in the big city.
 
I merged the Dundas West and Brockton threads because they were describing the very same area. Lula Lounge is one of, if not the most famous of the Brockton landmarks.

While my definition of Brockton coincides with those of the once-incorporated village's boundaries (roughly Dufferin to Lansdowne, railway to north of College), you have businesses like Brockton General all the way east to Dundas/Dovercourt. There seems to be a neighbourhood geographical creep going on. An interesting tidbit is that the old Brockton village hall is still standing, is on the southwest corner of Dundas and Brock. And yes, a few of those dirt laneways still exist! I ended up stuck in one last summer.
 
The hipster gentrification of all these old shopping strips is really quite remarkable. It's pretty unique in its scale in all of North America outside New York. I wonder what will be next. I guess Parkdale and Leslieville are pretty obvious. I think Roncesvalles is going to become more and more like College Street. After that, I'd expect the Junction and even more on St. Clair West. I'd also expect more of this stuff on north-south streets. It's already happening on Ossington. Dufferin might be next.
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Its strange but moist of the gentrification does seem to be on east/west street. The thing with Dufferin St is that its all houses except north of Rogers Rd.
 
^^ Here it is. I read somewhere that the original jail cells are still in the basement and can be accessed through one of those side doors.

brockton.jpg
 
Another interesting note about this building is that the sign hanging out front is still the original sign from when it was a gun store.
Dont believe me?
Next time you pass by, take a look at the sign!
The part that says ELITE vertically is the gun barrel, below is the handle and even the area where the trigger is!

On another note, being born, rised and still living in this area, I consider myself lucky to have been and still do!
This is a great area of the city that has a lot of potential.

The area is undergoing major change now, can't really say if is for the best or not but i guess only time will tell.
I just hope that it does not turn into the next Queen West or Ossington Ave. But something tells me it slowly will and it will be a shame.
 
Another interesting note about this building is that the sign hanging out front is still the original sign from when it was a gun store.
Dont believe me?
Next time you pass by, take a look at the sign!
The part that says ELITE vertically is the gun barrel, below is the handle and even the area where the trigger is!

Never noticed that!

8287034266_6306620e78_z.jpg
 
I really wish somebody would fix up the historic town hall. It's in a lousy state.

I totally agree. It's like a portal into Toronto in the 1990s and into the early 2000s. That was what Victorian commercial buildings tended to look like back then in the Junction, on Queen West, on Yonge Street, and elsewhere--peeling exterior paint, low-end windows and signage, and blue-collar or low-end retail or abandoned storefronts. It's remarkable that the town hall still has it's cornices.

Here's what James Hall, the Junction's 1888 town hall, looked like around 2006:

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Here it is after the facade was restored, showing its polychromatic brickwork. It's too bad that they didn't restore the roofline or choose more heritage-appropriate windows. But clearly, the cleaning makes the building more attractive and therefore more commercially viable.
 
Article on the Dock Ellis at Dundas West & Dovercourt:


I also miss watching matches at the pub and making friends. Pubs and pints are an intrinsic part of football culture and it's like a piece of my degen soul is missing.
 

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