Northern Lights, BC
Frederick Varley
1936

Remember these? TTC stopped selling them years ago but continued to accept them. For most pax that ends after tomorrow. No exchanges or refunds, but if you know someone who rides Wheel-Trans they can use them until end of year

Toronto’s new island promises a greener, livelier city The Danish landscape architect tasked with the design is looking to bring in some quirkiness – which isn’t Toronto’s default setting

Good news for Toronto’s waterfront: serious change for the urban design featuring SLA and Allies & Morrison.

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Turns out they have a Blue sky account you can follow them on too @thebeguiling.bsky.social

You can get a copy of my Philosopher's Walk zine in Kensington market now! Check out The Beguiling if you want a copy (and also want to look at a bunch of other fun zines) 📚 #philosopherswalk #torontohistory #canadianzines

The Don River and the river parks at Ookwemin Minesing coming along!

Emily Mueller de Celis and Alex Schiavoni of MVVA

Great to see the Globe and Mail highlight the Toronto Public Space Committee's public toilet design contest. We will be featuring the winner in our fall issue.

Johnston Canyon
Jason Carter ~ Cree
2024

Oh, people in Wellington are complaining about a six-storey apartment building?

Anyway, I'm on top of a 39-storey tower in the Sen̓áḵw development in Vancouver.

It's built on Squamish Nation reserve land, which is exempt from city zoning and functionally NIMBY-proof.

Preserving the memory of the passenger pigeon - Spacing Toronto This story is published in conjunction with Spacing issue 70 (Spring 2025), “Civic Memories,” whose cover section focuses on Toronto collectors and collections. Amidst war stories and gloomy weather r...

In conjunction with our new issue, "Civic Memories", Meg Sutton takes a look at the world's largest collection of specimens of the extinct passenger pigeon, at the @romtoronto.bsky.social , and a new plaque in Mimico about the tragic history of this once-abundant bird spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Sewing machines on the curb

Singers of Parkdale

Parallel Toronto policy: fine for transit fare evasion far higher than driver parking infractions. Always kid gloves w drivers.

Globe editorial: A safe harbour is needed for the Bay’s charter The founding document of the Hudson’s Bay Company is a key part of Canada’s history – and should be on public view

"A line repeated throughout the Indiana Jones film franchise has the fictional archaeologist exclaiming 'it belongs in a museum' ... If the character were real, he’d probably crack his whip at the Hudson’s Bay Company for trying to sell its royal charter"
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...

SAVE OUR RAVES TO save.our.raves.to READ CAPTION FOR MORE INFO On April 23, Councillor Chris Moise bringing a motion that could shut down the parties you love. SAVE OUR RAVES It could give the city tepoten" deny Special Oc sion Reimits the temporary liquor licens that make warehouse raves, park parties, and pop-up evunts possible. SHARE + SIGN LINK IN BIO SWIP —

No fun city. Councillor (& former cop) is pushing a plan that Toronto dance communities worried & organizing. Never say the NDP isn’t as puritanical as any perceived “conservative.” (NDP has been running this guy for 25 years trying to get him in somewhere).

1082½ Queen St W
Mar 2016, Sep 2016, Oct 2016, Jan 2017

It's possible that this is the address that I've shot the most.

#photography #documentaryphotography

Is every Canadian polling station on the nose? Feels kinda right tho, this time.

The current proposal is for high-speed rail from Toronto to Quebec City, but the Liberal platform three times mentions Windsor to QC. Not clear if this indicates an expanded idea or just a sloppy edit
liberal.ca/wp-content/u...

I counted the numbers of Bikes vs Cars on Bloor St, where
Doug Ford wants to remove the bike lanes that see some of the highest ridership in North America. During an average rush hour, I found 29 bikes and 24 cars over 2 minutes. All traffic modes were moving efficiently.

One of the strangest-feeling parts of the GTA is the rural pocket between Mississauga/Milton/Oakville. Rural but you can feel the megalopolis squeezing in. Speculative real estate. Boarded up homes. Feral gold courses. It’s wild.

I've often noted this: "56 percent of Americans prefer houses with small yards where it is easy to walk places ... But the supply of walkable neighborhoods, accounting for less than 10 percent of land in every metro region, is far below that of drive-only sprawl."

Anrow of colorful three storey homes with a tower in the background

Hello from Downtown Halifax

Someone holding a handful of zines in front of a Little Library on a sunny day

Dropping off a few of my newest zine in Toronto Little Libraries #zines #TorontoHistory #PhilosophersWalk

Cities are missing topic in the 2025 federal election campaign - Spacing Toronto There’s nothing even the least bit surprising about the fact that cities, or urban affairs more generally, have had so little play in the federal election. Yes, all three major parties talk about hous...

Cities are missing from this federal election, writes senior editor John Loirinc [ @johnlorinc.bsky.social ]. With the debates this week, the parties still have time to advance urban-oriented platform planks.

spacing.ca/toronto/2025...
#TOpoli #ONpoli #CNDpoli

A storm sewer grate surrounded by packed, icy snow. The bars have been cast into the shape of a fish on its side.

A storm sewer grate found along Philosopher's Walk #TaddleCreek #PhilosophersWalk #TorontoHistory

I wish Toronto could be like Montreal, but awhile ago I wrote why I don't think that will ever happen (though I'd be happy to be proven wrong) smartpeopleiknow.com/2022/09/09/w...

Two birds perched on the fluid curves of a modern bridge with a muted sunset sky in the background.

Weekly Photo: Check out these two friends hanging out on Cherry Street North Bridge enjoying the view!

Over the past few months, you may have heard that the provincial government wants to restrict where new bike lanes can be built in Ontario. And even worse, in Toronto, they’re planning on tearing out the bike lanes on Bloor, Yonge, and University.

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MacCallum also shares some of the challenges of preserving archival photos, with examples of photos damaged in various ways in storage. spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Toronto, City of Gas, 1909-1936, Part 2 - Spacing Toronto The virtual exhibition that accompanied Part 1 of my article on Micklethwaite Studio’s photography for Consumers’ Gas included a wide range of subject matter. There is, however, more variety in the se...

Toronto, City of Gas: photographer Peter MacCallum shares another selection of archival photos from the period when Toronto was embracing gas for household use, from the industrial coal gasification process to demonstrations of household appliances. spacing.ca/toronto/2025...