Lynx

 

Location: Sherbourne north of Lakeshore   

Date photo taken: 11 July 2022

I love stumbling across wildlife in the city, even when it's a just cut-out pasted to the wall. This lynx surprised me as I walked under the railway corridor north of Lakeshore on Sherbourne. A fisher with a fish clenched in its jaws is under there too. I have no idea who put them there or why. If you know, please leave a comment!

Update: Mystery solved!! This is part of the street art project known as Downtown Critters, and their website promises lots more to come.

Middle Road Bridge

 

Location: Sherway Drive

Date photo taken: 18 June 2022

This humble looking bridge spans the Etobicoke Creek, just north of the QEW. It sits in parkland, connecting the leafy neighbourhood of Sherway in Mississauga to Etobicoke Valley Park North in Toronto and its scale seems perfectly suited to the pedestrian traffic it now serves. When it was built in 1909 however it was part of Middle Road, an important transportation corridor connecting the former counties of York and Peel regions. Middle Road was eventually absorbed by the new highway in the 1930s, but the bridge still remains. Both Mississauga and Etobicoke have recognized their ends of the bridge for its heritage value, and the plaque visible at the bottom right declares the bridge a National Historic Civil Engineering Site. It states that the Middle Road bridge was the first reinforced concrete arch-truss bridge in North America.  

Playing Tiger, Sittin' Dragon

 

Location: Gristmill Lane, Distillery District

Date photo taken: 7 July 2022

This large, vaguely human-shaped block is one of 13 arrayed in a line down Gristmill Lane in the Distillery right now as part of 6IX Art Outdoors. Each statue provides a canvas for a Canadian artist to share something of their personal identity and their culture. This particular one features a family portrait by Yen Linh Thai, who represents her family members through their zodiac animals. The exhibit is part of the Lavazza IncluCity Festival which runs until July 17.

Bell Box - Angel Carrillo

 

Location: Morrison Street

Date photo taken: 24 March 2022

Image #16 in the Bellbox Series

Here's another painted Bell box courtesy of the Bell Boxes Murals Project, a nonprofit street art program. This one is in New Toronto and was done in 2021. The artist is Angel Carrillo and if you love the style, he also happens to be a tattoo artist and co-owner of Southside Ink.