July 30th, 2009
Anonymous garbage bags with disgusting refuse appear with subtlety, as deft fingers disentangle when nobody is looking, but the street scape survives.
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July 30th, 2009
Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today.
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July 30th has been a prolific day in the history of Toronto. As Bruce West writes in his book Toronto:
“the real turning point in the transition of Toronto from a rough French outpost to a budding British community took place on July 30, 1793″ (p. 18).
On that July 30th over two centuries ago, Elizabeth Simcoe and her three children Sophia, Francis (who Castle Frank was named after) and Katherine arrived aboard the Mississauga to establish the residence of Upper Canada’s Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe in the frontier town of York.
Shortly after the family’s arrival that day, a large tent called the “Canvass House” was assembled for the Simcoes by the Queen’s Rangers while Elizabeth took the first of her famous strolls through the wilderness. An avid diarist, Elizabeth carefully recorder her many explorations around the settlement of York in what is now called The Diary of Mrs. John Graves Simcoe. Her diary has become a foundational text in the history of Toronto, providing a window into the birth of the city, its early residents and the natural landscape upon which Toronto was built.
Many decades later, July 30th also became the date of one of the young city’s early tragedies. Soon after William Lyon Mackenzie was elected Toronto’s first mayor in 1834, Mackenzie along with his council proposed to raise taxes in order to pay for pressing civic improvements, one of which was to build a new board sidewalk on King Street.
July 29th, 2009
It’s not every day that you find a bike store in one of North America’s largest bank buildings. In the concourse level of First Canadian Place — Canada’s tallest skyscraper — sits Savedbybikes.com, a 200-square-foot retail bike store.
Located in the heart of the one of the continent’s financial centres, those 200 square-feet of real estate don’t come cheap. Yet for now at least, Steve Inniss — the man who opened and has run Savedbybikes.com since May 15 — is willing to foot the bill in order to expose his unique product to an audience largely composed of well-to-do business people, many of who commute large distances every day to get to work.
Savedbybikes.com is the exclusive Canadian distributor of STRiDA bikes, a foldable bike first designed in the UK over two decades ago. Now vastly popular in Europe and especially Asia, where massive STRiDA cycling clubs exist, Steve hopes the bike will have similar success in Toronto.
July 29th, 2009
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country …
July 28th, 2009
Editor: Spacing is pleased to showcase films from the NFB’s online screening room. The NFB will be occasionally posting films here that explore our public spaces, Canadian or international cities …
July 28th, 2009
TTC workers were out watering the new green roof on top of Eglinton West subway station yesterday morning. The 9,000 square-foot garden is planted almost entirely of sedums, looking like either a carpet …
July 28th, 2009
Taxis and streetcars sliding along in a smear of color and light.
Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local …
