{"id":3273,"date":"2008-06-16T16:23:06","date_gmt":"2008-06-16T20:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/"},"modified":"2008-06-16T16:23:06","modified_gmt":"2008-06-16T20:23:06","slug":"luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Luminato Link: The best laid plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg\" height=\"500\" width=\"281\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Last night, coming back into the city around 6 pm after a weekend away, I knew that I was short on time and the weather was against me, but I decided to check out what was remaining of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.luminato.com\/festival\/eng\/\">Luminato Festival<\/a>.  I was particularly interested in taking a trip on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.luminato.com\/festival\/eng\/events\/ID48\/index.php\">Luminato Link<\/a>, a free shuttle boat from the foot of Parliament Street across to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harbourfrontcentre.com\/\">Harbourfront Centre<\/a>, presented by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.waterfrontoronto.ca\/\">Waterfront Toronto<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The boat was meant to be a link between two of the festival&#8217;s major hubs (the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedistillerydistrict.com\/\">Distillery District<\/a> and The Harbourfront Centre), but was also meant to promote the revitalization of Toronto&#8217;s waterfront.  I was interested in taking the boat to learn more about the revitalization of the East Bayfront area in particular.  Although I have seen pictures of that area (most vividly from news reports about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/canada\/story\/2002\/09\/24\/tentcity_eviction020924.html\">Toronto&#8217;s Tent City<\/a> that was shut down in 2002 at the foot of Cherry Street), I have never explored the space in person.<\/p>\n<p>The Luminato Link stop near the Distillery District was at the Parliament Street Slip, at the western edge of the Portlands, and Waterfront Toronto set-up a temporary urban beach to show a taste of what the revitalized area could be.  There were apparently television screens setup by the beach that looped renderings of proposed revitalization plans, but by the time I got there those televisions were gone.  The link was supposed to run until 11 pm on Sunday, but due to yesterday&#8217;s storm front, the last boat ride was at 8 pm and many of the other outdoor activities in the area had been folded up.  I was just in time to get on the last boat &#8212; I was determined to to get down there and see what was happening despite the rain and thunder.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3115\/2583479445_931c5decf7.jpg\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3267\/2583483535_2d17f8d506.jpg\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3076\/2583487629_deecb739e8.jpg\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583486183_b065cefa43.jpg\" height=\"500\" width=\"281\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the  25 or so minutes I was waiting for the boat to arrive I wandered around the area.  I find it ironic that the most beautiful part of the city is also the city&#8217;s most derelict &#8212; looking over the water to the Leslie Street Spit is so refreshing, but being surrounded by decaying industrial infrastructure is disquieting to say the least (especially when you look west into the distance and see the skyline of the city, which speaks of energy and motion, but all around you is so cold and still).  Yet that is why I think the Luminato boat shuttle (though I didn&#8217;t experience it on a sunny day, or in the full swing of the events that were meant to be taking place around it) was such an awesome idea &#8212; because it tried to draw people down to see a underutilized area as it is, with both its challenges and potentials, then take them across the harbour for some breath-taking views of the islands on one side and the city on the other. It then deposited riders at a part of the waterfront that has already been successfully developed, the Harbourfront Centre, where the naturally beauty of the lake meets the excitement and activity of Toronto head on.  The trip made me think about how great the whole stretch of waterfront could be one day, maybe it did the same for others.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3030\/2584328982_393531d0bf.jpg\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One of the features of the Luminato Link was that passengers would view art installations in the city that could only be seen from the water.  When I was on the boat, dark tinted plastic was covering the openings on the observation deck because the rain was coming down pretty hard, so I really couldn&#8217;t make out any art pieces (although I did see a long and colourful banner reading &#8220;Luminato Streetscape 2008&#8221;, which sat in front of some construction cranes).  Not seeing the art really didn&#8217;t matter  &#8212; the city itself grabbed and held my thoughts &#8212;  more than just an art piece, a living, changing, work in progress.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3025\/2583517549_24a81188c9.jpg\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3032\/2584354612_d21aff322a.jpg\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When I got back to the Parliament Street Slip by cab, because the boats weren&#8217;t running anymore and I didn&#8217;t want to get drenched waiting for a bus, the rain letup, and over the lake was a giant rainbow &#8212; maybe the Portlands is Toronto&#8217;s pot of gold?<\/p>\n<p><em>Photos by Matthew Hague<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last night, coming back into the city around 6 pm after a weekend away, I knew that I was short on time and the weather was against me, but I decided to check out what was remaining of the Luminato Festival. I was particularly interested in taking a trip on the Luminato Link, a free<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Luminato Link: The best laid plans&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4050,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_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":[4,3,5],"tags":[790,1371,2243,7841,9201,19],"class_list":["post-3273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-events","category-waterfront","tag-distillery-district","tag-energy","tag-harbourfront-centre","tag-industrial-infrastructure","tag-matthew-hague","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Luminato Link: The best laid plans - Spacing Toronto<\/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\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luminato Link: The best laid plans - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last night, coming back into the city around 6 pm after a weekend away, I knew that I was short on time and the weather was against me, but I decided to check out what was remaining of the Luminato Festival. I was particularly interested in taking a trip on the Luminato Link, a freeContinue reading &quot;Luminato Link: The best laid plans&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-06-16T20:23:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Hague\" \/>\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=\"Matthew Hague\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/\",\"name\":\"Luminato Link: The best laid plans - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-06-16T20:23:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/a2786e6efff44f7de85f28794f4d680a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Luminato Link: The best laid plans\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto 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\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/a2786e6efff44f7de85f28794f4d680a\",\"name\":\"Matthew Hague\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8ff4f93c64275f179cd5cc0e73ee97b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8ff4f93c64275f179cd5cc0e73ee97b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matthew Hague\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/matthew\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Luminato Link: The best laid plans - Spacing Toronto","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\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Luminato Link: The best laid plans - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Last night, coming back into the city around 6 pm after a weekend away, I knew that I was short on time and the weather was against me, but I decided to check out what was remaining of the Luminato Festival. I was particularly interested in taking a trip on the Luminato Link, a freeContinue reading \"Luminato Link: The best laid plans\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2008-06-16T20:23:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Matthew Hague","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matthew Hague","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/","name":"Luminato Link: The best laid plans - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg","datePublished":"2008-06-16T20:23:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/a2786e6efff44f7de85f28794f4d680a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3122\/2583499137_3502e3038a.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/16\/luminato-link-the-best-laid-plans\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Luminato Link: The best laid plans"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto 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\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/a2786e6efff44f7de85f28794f4d680a","name":"Matthew Hague","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8ff4f93c64275f179cd5cc0e73ee97b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8ff4f93c64275f179cd5cc0e73ee97b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Matthew Hague"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/matthew\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4050"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}