Torontovibe
Senior Member
What about the "Sam The Record Man" sign? Where does it fit into all of this? I want to see that iconic sign back on Yonge Street. We need to keep those things that give Yonge Street some character.
- Thread starter Bogtrotter
- Start date
Tewder
Senior Member
I agree with the concerns. In terms of the retail environment the encroachment of Ryerson westward seems to be a bit of a cancer. How long before the whole area gets swallowed up?
alklay
Senior Member
What is facing Yonge is retail (and what you see in the renders is glass).
Mississauga Slim
Active Member
I don't know about that. To me the Sam's sign seems destined to be one of those things that "seemed like a big deal at the time."
Brown Bear
New Member
I agree with Mississauga Slim..The way that the signs were designated as part of Toronto's heritage, it seems as though the City was just giving a knee-jerk reaction to a Facebook page. Just my opinion which could be complete wrong but it might not be..Same with all this negative reaction from people like Peter Kuitenbrouwer who came across as just throwing a tantrum initially because he didn't get an early look (article I'm referring to: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/04/06/ryersons-glass-atrocity/)
This notion that this is somehow an "atrocity" bugs me. This area is neglected and if an institution like Ryerson can foster some redevelopment, then "more power" to them. At least they're starting the conversation and getting things done. I have no real opinion of Sam the Record Man. I never shopped there, I have no fond memories that people legitimately do have, but what I do recall is that the store closed down well before Ryerson made the purchase.
androiduk
Senior Member
The sign is an important part of Toronto's retail and cultural history and should be restored and preserved. It doesn't necessarily have to placed in this location and if it's an awkward fit I'd rather it go somewhere else where it can be appreciated and maybe coupled with some historical plaques outlining it's relevance to the city. I'm thinking a small downtown parkette named after Sam Sniderman. Right across the street on the old Empress Hotel site might work especially if a new subway entrance were to be included.
Parkdalian
Senior Member
From the database entry about the project: "Yonge Street frontage will feature destination retail at and below grade, creating a prominent commercial façade."
Oh, and why don't we put the sign in Dundas Square? Isn't that where strobey neon signs belong?
Oh, and why don't we put the sign in Dundas Square? Isn't that where strobey neon signs belong?
ProjectEnd
Superstar
From
Leave it to a BIA to raise concerns about the lack of retail in any given building, as if pining to buy things we don't need is the only way to make enticing public spaces. I applaud KWT and those who invested in her/Ken's/KPMB's study, but if all we have to offer visitors are places to purchase the same things they have in their own burgs, I'm not sure why anyone would come here. Remember (because its all too-easy to forget nowadays) that many of the greatest spaces in the world are devoid of retail, yet the sublime qualities discovered and experienced within are enough for people to return for subsequent cerebral adventures.
From
Actually Jane, it enhances its surroundings by peeling back the ground-floor of the building to offer several informal spaces for congregation beneath its mighty prow. I'm not sure for which building you cry, but it seems dubious to decry the structure's supposed faults with language as flippant as 'trendy,' yet fail to substantively assess what you see as its inadequacies. As noted above, retail has erroneously become a sort of panacea for the plague that a lack of pedestrian activity represents. To combat this notion, Snohetta have conceived a building which suggests that experience rather than raw purchasing power is the true driver of urbanity. In this sense, they have given us a building which 'addresses the city' with far more intelligence than anything your churlish criticisms and anachronistic turns-of-phrase could ever hope to accurately critique.
Furthermore, this render shows a potential sub-grade retail configuration so I'm not sure from where all the fake outrage about 'concrete walls' and the like stems:
Thanos
Active Member
Amen PE, finally someone who understands.
adma
Superstar
Yeah, Jane Beecroft. I think of her as the regular "Toronto's Losing Its Heritage" soundbite person back in the dark, dark, pre-uTOpian universe of the 90s. If I told anybody like her that I was bookmarking U of T's Graduate House for future heritage designation, she'd go white in the face...
androiduk
Senior Member
This is a pic of the rendering taken from the application sign on site. Notice the 'Sam the Record Man' sign near the bottom of the pic.
yyzer
Senior Member
it's going to have a fairly 'grand' staircase.....pretty nice, imo....
Irishmonk
Senior Member
I haven't seem that angle of the render. It's an achingly beautiful design and my favourite current project. Please start digging, Sheldon, before the next paradigm shift screws everything up.
Last edited:
Blovertis
Active Member
Whoops! That looks like the wrong sign!
No doubt it's a sop to the nostalgists, but I agree with the other posters that it's time to move on from Sam's. Any commemoration on that building would look just ridiculous (and I say that as someone who wasted countless hours within Sam's grungy confines in the 70s and 80s.)
adma
Superstar
And as I last recall, some cited plan was to mount the sign upon one of Kerr Hall's blank brick walls--which might as well make as much sense as anything. Rather than forcing Snohetta to bend, get it out of the way...