{"id":89,"date":"2007-09-18T12:26:41","date_gmt":"2007-09-18T19:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=89"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:40:34","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:40:34","slug":"odd-things-around-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Odd things around town"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/christopherdewolf\/522551306\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the best things about wandering around town is finding all sorts of architectural and infrastructural oddities like unusual street signs and bizarre decorative elements. Montreal is rife with these sorts of things. Over at Coolopolis, J.D. Gravenor recently pointed out a cryptic inscription on the cornice of a western NDG apartment building: &#8220;Mona&#8217;s Isle.&#8221; Turns out it&#8217;s a reference to an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isle-of-man.com\/manxnotebook\/fulltext\/mi1844\/p001.htm\">1844 poem<\/a> about the Isle of Man.<\/p>\n<p>My stomping ground is a bit further east, in Mile End, but there&#8217;s no shortage of interesting urban details around here. On the west side of Park Avenue just below Mount Royal, for instance, there&#8217;s a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/christopherdewolf\/1372906229\/\">metal sidewalk stamp<\/a>, in the shape of a maple leaf, that bears the date 1953 and the inscription, &#8220;Charles Duranceau Lt\u00e9e, Entrepreneurs.&#8221; Compared to Toronto or Vancouver, where every sidewalk is stamped with the date of its construction and the name of the contractors that built it, sidewalk stamps are rare in Montreal. The fact that this one is so elaborate &#8212; and more than half a century old &#8212; makes it all the more special.<\/p>\n<p>Just a few blocks away, Bancroft School on St. Urbain Street incorporates some unusual mosaics into its south fa\u00e7ade. All of them feature school-age children; one of them is dressed in what appears to be a dunce cap. Is this supposed to be a message to the kids playing outside at recess? <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/christopherdewolf\/1372902601\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1259\/1372902601_526fdfd480.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the best things about wandering around town is finding all sorts of architectural and infrastructural oddities like unusual street signs and bizarre decorative elements. Montreal is rife with these sorts of things. Over at Coolopolis, J.D. Gravenor recently pointed out a cryptic inscription on the cornice of a western NDG apartment building: &#8220;Mona&#8217;s<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Odd things around town&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7832,7839,29],"tags":[549,547,548,550,38,125,64,25,152,148],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-neighbourhoods","category-streetscape","tag-bancroft-school-on-st-urbain-street","tag-compared","tag-isle-of-man","tag-metal-sidewalk-stamp","tag-mile-end","tag-montreal","tag-ndg","tag-public-art","tag-toronto","tag-vancouver"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Odd things around town - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Odd things around town - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the best things about wandering around town is finding all sorts of architectural and infrastructural oddities like unusual street signs and bizarre decorative elements. Montreal is rife with these sorts of things. Over at Coolopolis, J.D. Gravenor recently pointed out a cryptic inscription on the cornice of a western NDG apartment building: &#8220;Mona&#8217;sContinue reading &quot;Odd things around town&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-09-18T19:26:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T16:40:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christopher DeWolf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher DeWolf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/\",\"name\":\"Odd things around town - Spacing Montreal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-09-18T19:26:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T16:40:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/8d797e2a77c30d58d1f6fe3d915ad3fd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Odd things around town\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Montreal\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Montreal Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/8d797e2a77c30d58d1f6fe3d915ad3fd\",\"name\":\"Christopher DeWolf\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93c8aca91d7cfbd895846128d058930b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93c8aca91d7cfbd895846128d058930b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Christopher DeWolf\"},\"description\":\"Check out Urbanphoto!\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.urbanphoto.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/author\/christopher\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Odd things around town - Spacing Montreal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Odd things around town - Spacing Montreal","og_description":"One of the best things about wandering around town is finding all sorts of architectural and infrastructural oddities like unusual street signs and bizarre decorative elements. Montreal is rife with these sorts of things. Over at Coolopolis, J.D. Gravenor recently pointed out a cryptic inscription on the cornice of a western NDG apartment building: &#8220;Mona&#8217;sContinue reading \"Odd things around town\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Montreal","article_published_time":"2007-09-18T19:26:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T16:40:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Christopher DeWolf","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Christopher DeWolf","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/","name":"Odd things around town - Spacing Montreal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0","datePublished":"2007-09-18T19:26:41+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T16:40:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/8d797e2a77c30d58d1f6fe3d915ad3fd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/223\/522551306_334ab780fb.jpg?v=0"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2007\/09\/18\/odd-things-around-town\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Odd things around town"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/","name":"Spacing Montreal","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Montreal Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/8d797e2a77c30d58d1f6fe3d915ad3fd","name":"Christopher DeWolf","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93c8aca91d7cfbd895846128d058930b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93c8aca91d7cfbd895846128d058930b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Christopher DeWolf"},"description":"Check out Urbanphoto!","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.urbanphoto.net"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/author\/christopher\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20771,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions\/20771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}