The Great Beaver Quest

 

Location: outside Fire Station 33, Front and Princess

Date photo taken: 21 May 2026

Are you ready for it? The beavers have their balls, and are in position. Let the Great Beaver Quest begin! In honour of FIFA World Cup coming to Toronto, Old Town Toronto and STEPs Public Art have placed 51 specially painted beavers around the neighbourhood, one for each country competing plus a few extras, and are challenging locals and visitors alike to find them. The more you find, the more you can win. Download the free Scavify app and join the quest to take part, or just enjoy the thrill of finding them as you explore the streets and visit the businesses of Old Town. 

This beaver represents New Zealand and was painted by Elizabeth Wise. 

Dizzy

 

Location: Draper Park, Draper Street

Date photo taken: 28 March 2026

If you spend any amount of time walking anywhere in Toronto, you'll know that we're a city that loves our dogs. It's not so easy to tell how we feel about cats. Although I would argue that that's starting to change. More and more often I see people out with their cats on a leash or in giant backpacks equipped with multiple large viewing bubbles. I've also begun to realize that more and more cats - or more specifically, odes to cats - are quietly turning up in public spaces. This sculpture is one such example. It sits just inside tiny, peaceful Draper Park, looking out at the street. The park was created by landscape architects Claude Cormier et Associés (now CCxA) as part of their work for The Well, the giant residential and retail complex that Draper Park connects to on its eastern edge. The cat is said to have been inspired by a local resident, Dizzy, that Cormier saw several times while visiting the site. 

PHLEGM mural

 

Location: West side of 1 St. Clair West

Date photo taken: 2 November 2025

This mural, covering nearly eight storeys of the building at 1 St. Clair West, is approaching its 10 year anniversary. Created by U.K.-based street artist Phlegm the result is not a random work, divorced from its surroundings, but rather incorporates input from local residents and business operators. The human form is meant to be representative of the city as a vibrant ecosystem and is made up, on close inspection, of depictions of various Toronto landmarks, as suggested by the locals canvassed. 

Bellbox - On vacation

 

Location: Wellington Street at Niagara

Date photo taken: 11 November 2021

Image #18 in the Bellbox Series

This mural is for everyone dreaming of a sunny escape from this snowy February weather.  You can thank artist Steven Twigg and Community Matters, the non-profit that runs the Bell Box Murals Program.

Royal York hallway

 

Location: Royal York Hotel

Date photo taken: 20 November 2025

As someone who lives in Toronto, the inside of our city's hotels is not something I'm all that familiar with. The lobbies, sure, especially those ones that connect to PATH, but not the floors that have the rooms. So when friends visited recently and stayed at the Royal York, I couldn't resist the urge to look around a bit. For those who are curious, here's the 10th floor hallway of what was once the largest hotel in the British Commonwealth.

Automated Treat Machine

 

Location: TD Terrace, 160 Front St. W.

Date photo taken: 19 December 2025

This is one of the cutest things I've stumbled across in quite some time. It's a scaled down version of a bank machine but the little green paw prints and the canine content on the screens should tip you off that this isn't meant for regular customers. That and the treats that drop into the bowl when the motion sensor is tripped. The Automated Treat Machine was previewed at TD's Tech & Innovation Day conference in May 2024 and later that summer, was installed in the branch on the ground floor of the new TD Terrace building. Next time you're in the neighbourhood with your dog, you might want to pop in to make a withdrawal.

St. James Park lighting

Location: Jarvis and Adelaide
Date photo taken: 13 February 2025

In 2018 the City completed phase one of a revitalization of the heavily used St. James Park on the edge of Old Town. As part of the improvements, this cluster of lighted poles was installed at the north east corner of the park. Designed by PMA Landscape Architects and billed as a "heritage interpretation lighting feature", the reference is subtle. The massing of the poles and their varied heights creates a form that mirrors the silhouette of the cathedral that sits on the south west corner of the park. 

The Sound Eater

 

Location: Sculpture Garden, King & Church

Date photo taken: 16 October 2025

Artist Meghan Cheng has used data visualization techniques to create a sculpture that brings the soundscape of the Sculpture Garden to visitors in a whole new way. Each of the four distinct segments of this serpentine creature represents the audio waves of a sound frequently heard within the garden. They are then playfully arranged to create her "sound-consuming serpent". The sounds, all recorded on Sunday July 27, 2025 are:

Section 1 (head): Streetcar, 8:05 am

Section 2: St. James church bells, 7:59 am

Section 3: Melodic bells, 7:58 am

Section 4 (tail): Bird, 7:42 am

Pentagon Totem: High Five

 

Location: Corner of St. Clair and Foxbar
Date photo taken: 2 November 2025

This stack of brightly coloured polyhedrons is one of two artworks displayed in the POP (privately owned public space) at the base of the Blue Diamond Condominium at St. Clair. It is the work of Angela Bulloch, who was born in Rainy River, Ontario but now divides her time between Berlin and London. The piece is of painted stainless steel and was installed by the building developer, Camrost Felcorp in 2021.

Retail Retrospective - Honest Ed's

 

Location: TD Gallery, Toronto Reference Library

Date photo taken:2 November 2025

The richness and variety of the collections held by the Toronto Public Library never cease to amaze me. Who knew, for example, that they have a pretty remarkable collection of shopping bags? Well they do and items from that collection form the heart of Retail Retrospective, the current installation at the TD Gallery. The story behind the bags is pretty cool too. A librarian in the 1960s sent out over 200 letters and collected over 100 bags from around the world, then curated an exhibition entitled "Art of the Shopping Bag" which ended up touring to libraries across the city. Some of those bags are included in this exhibit - marked with a '66 logo - but other bags from iconic Toronto retailers are included, shifting the focus away from design to an exploration of the ever-changing retail landscape in our city. 

The Gallery is free to attend and is located on the ground floor of the Reference Library at 789 Yonge Street. This exhibit runs until January 11, 2026.

Manning Depot Memorial Plaque

 

Location: Coliseum, CNE grounds

Date photo taken: 16 August 2025

If you're visiting the CNE grounds you have to wander a little off the beaten track to find this plaque. It's located in the Coliseum building, near the offices of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. It hangs there because during World War II, much of the CNE grounds were given over to the war effort and this building in particular was used by the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Manning Depot. 

This plaque reminds us of this history, and thanks to efforts to collect oral histories and reminiscences there are some snippets online that illuminate life at Manning Depot. One man remembers being assigned to help clear out the stalls to prepare them for the new arrivals - prior to the RCAF coming in, the building was used for cattle and horse shows. Another man recalls that recruits were bunked four to a stall and that many of the city boys found the accommodations more aromatic than they were used to. 

Text of the plaque:

In honour of one hundred & thirty nine thousand seven hundred & fifty two members of The Royal Canadian Air Force who passed through Number 1 Manning Depot R.C.A.F. during the war 1939-1945.

Erected by the Officers.

Zombie Doll Factory

 

Location: West Bend neighbourhood

Date photo taken: 19 October 2025

I've said it before. I absolutely love the creativity that Torontonians demonstrate at Halloween. While I'm sure there are hotbeds of creative expression spread throughout the city, each year I head for the West Bend neighbourhood to get my Halloween fix. This year it did not disappoint - one yard even provided a jump scare. It's also where I found this charming display. You're only seeing a piece of it here, but  those figures top left represent a long line of Barbie and Disney princess-style dolls waiting patiently for transformation. The rest of the yard is populated with an incredible display of zombie dolls, each one waiting for their chance to star in your next nightmare.

Reader at Harbord Collegiate

 

Location: Harbord Collegiate

Date photo taken: 8 February 2016

With it being back to school time, here's a figure to inspire the scholar in each of us. This rather serious looking fellow is one of a pair gracing the doors at the western edge of the building on Harbord. 

Labatt wall

 

Location: Queen's Quay Terminal

Date photo taken: 12 July 2025

On a hot, sunny visit to Toronto's waterfront recently I spent some time discovering the early history of Labatt. It wasn't intentional, but while cooling off in Queen's Quay Terminal I stumbled across this timeline. It runs along a wall outside the Labatt offices and it has some pretty cool early photos, labels and marketing pieces. If you want to learn more about this London, Ontario born brewing company find your way up to the quiet second floor of the Terminal via the escalators in the southern atrium. Or you can always just visit their website. 

The Ned Hanlan

 

Location: Hanlan's Point

Date photo taken: 17 September 2021

This tugboat, now stationed near the ferry dock at Hanlan's Point, is a true piece of Toronto history. It was built for the Toronto Works Department in 1932 right here in Toronto. This piece of information shocked me. For some reason it never occurred to me that this city, despite being on a such a large body of water, would have a shipbuilding industry. 

The boat was retired from service in the 1960s and eventually moved to Exhibition Place before being relocated to Hanlan's Point in 2012. You may have noticed the name of the boat written on the side and assumed that it and Hanlan's Point are named for the same person, but you'd be wrong. The point is named for James Hanlan, an early settler on the Island. The tug was named after his son, an early Canadian sports hero who won seven straight world sculling championships in the 1880s.

Traffic Signal Box - Toronto Map Maze

 

Location: Eastern Avenue at Carlaw

Date photo taken: 9 January 2021

Image #21 in the Traffic Signal Box Series

If you find yourself near the corner of Eastern Avenue and Carlaw with some time on your hands, pop over to the north east corner and find this traffic signal box. On it artist Pam Lostracco has created a maze using Toronto's streets and rivers. The CN Tower is marked as the start and there are other destinations, many of them greenspaces, to discover as you work your way through the maze and around the box. A fun and different way to discover the city.

Hot Ash Only

 

Location: Ashbridges Bay park

Date photo taken: 5 May 2021

It might seem odd to see a "Hot Ash Only" sign on a bin in a park in Toronto but if you consider that 33 parks across the city have firepits anyone can use, it starts to make a lot of sense. Especially if you've been to one of those parks on a gorgeous summer day and seen how popular a venue they are for all sorts of gatherings, including barbecues. All those hot coals have to be disposed of safely, in a way that doesn't start trash bin fires or put small feet at risk of burns. That's where these bins come in.

While firepits are free to use for small gatherings, if you plan to have more than 25 people at your event, or just want to ensure your chosen pit is available when you want it, you need to book in advance and pay a booking fee. If you'd rather bring your own barbecue, that's allowed but perhaps surprisingly, you need to make a booking for that too. And don't think you can scavenge firewood for your cookout - only charcoal and briquettes are allowed, at least in the city provided pits.

Cleaner's Action

Location: 1628 Dundas Street East, just west of Brock Avenue

Date photo taken: 9 July 2022

Apart from the size, you could almost describe this mural in Little Portugal as understated. The faded appearance is the result of the way in which it was created - not painted, but rather excavated. The artist, known as Vhils, creates his murals by chipping away at the layers already in place, revealing what is underneath. Which is a perfect fit for the theme of the mural. It features faces and scenes drawn from archival photos and reports, of women, predominently Portuguese immigrants, who worked as cleaners at Queen's Park. In the 1970s they came together and organized to demand better pay and working conditions and sparked a major labour movement that would become known as the Cleaners' Action. 

You can learn more about the labour movement and the women behind it on this site. For more information on Vhils and his creation of the mural, there is an interesting article by David Ganhão.

Drink Canada Dry

 

Location: 900 Queen Street East   

Date photo taken: 28 April 2019

This awesome vintage Canada Dry sign hangs out front of Eddie's Convenience on Queen Street East just west of Logan. Whenever I see vintage signs like this, I wonder about their story - when they were first hung and how it is that they have survived. So I turned to the city directories to see if I could discover anything. It turns out that Eddie's Confectionery, the business name that appears in faded letters at the top of the sign, first appears in the city directory at this location in 1954, operated by Sylvia Rosenbloom. The "Eddie" is explained if you look further back. In earlier years, the listing for this address simply read "Rosenbloom, Edward, confy". 

With stores on retail strips coming and going and changing from one type to another, it was interesting to me to discover that since this address first appeared in the city directory in the late 1900s, it has been occupied by a number of different people - Norman Shier, Geo Sernissi, Nathan Besserman, and perhaps others - but it was always a confectionery.

City of Toronto Archives

 

Location: 255 Spadina Road

Date photo taken: 9 April 2025

There's an awful lot to love about the City of Toronto Archives. Their collection contains millions of records that detail the history of our city and the people who have called it home. If you visit, you can get a glimpse at how all those documents are organized thanks to a huge viewing window installed just outside the Research Room. You can also take in an exhibit. A new one, Under the Wrecking Ball: Shaping Toronto’s Downtown 1960-1989, opens May 1. It takes a look at some of the large-scale land redevelopments that occurred during the post-war years in Toronto and some of the the buildings that were lost as a result.

If you can't get to the Archives during their somewhat inconvenient opening hours (Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm), there are plenty of online exhibits to enjoy. Also, a significant portion of their 1.25 million photographs have been digitized and can be searched using their database. If you prefer a curated experience, there is also a section featuring some of the staff's favourite photos.