Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Guest Post: Adventures on the West Toronto Railpath

Guess who's back #TransitHubbers? Ionatan Waisgluss, with yet another post! This time he recounts a fascinating story about his adventures on the West Toronto Railpath. I'm sure you'll be as inspired as I was!
- Neil Jain


Toronto is a city full of hidden gems; the more I explore it, the more I appreciate what each neighbourhood has to offer. Recently, I discovered the West Toronto RailPath (WTR), which—in addition to being a destination in itself—allows for leisurely travel between two areas of Toronto. The pleasant trail spans roughly 2 km, from The Junction to the northwest corner of the downtown.




The trail, formally opened in October of 2009, is a wonderful stretch to explore. Trail highlights include derelict buildings seen from unusual angles, sporadic art pieces (metal installations by artist John Dickson), various native plantings for the nature geek, and some of the smoothest pavement in Toronto—perfect for everything from wheelchairs to kick-scooters. The path is also crossed by various other transportation routes, forming some fascinating urban topography, and resulting in the sort of dead space that graffiti artists tend to love.


The eerie remnants of the Canadian Hanson & Van Winkle Company Ltd.



Frontier #1 (a public installation by John Dickson)

A happy heart and some urban tranquility, tacked onto a pole.

Street art loves these dead spaces.

Layers of cultural modification.

Interesting style.

Big, goofy, and charismatic.

Comics-inspired, fantastic!

A rat-sized piece.

The path ends rather abruptly, and leaves you at Dundas St. West & Sterling Rd. I must admit, there isn’t much to do around there, but heading back north makes for an interesting walk.

You get to pass by the Toronto headquarters of NestlĂ©.

There’s even a little bit more street art.

Walking up Sterling Rd. is nowhere near as exciting as walking down the RailPath. Luckily, plans are underway to expand the RailPath in the near future, making our wonderful city even more interconnected. I haven’t heard how long it’ll take, though I’m certainly looking forward to it! In any case, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and that you make use of this beautiful part of the city. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Happy adventures,

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Blackburn Brothers at #SpadinaKing

Looking for something to do tomorrow? Well there's hot blues action as part of the Jazz Fest happening at Joe Mama's at the #SpadinaKing hub.

Blackburn Brothers lay down some mad blues and R&B. I'm very excited!


See more of our jazz fest guide here.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

#TransitHubbing guide to the Jazz Festival

We have awesome tips and guides for what's going down for the Jazz Festival this week!

  • Saturday June 23rd
  • Sunday June 24th 
    • Carn Davidson 9 @ 5pm - an awesome band of JUNO award nominated jazz artists (#UniversityQueen hub)
    • Chase Sanborn Trio @ 12pm - experience distillery district (the #ParliamentFront hub) 
  • Monday, June 25th 
    • Chloe Watkinson & The Tall Grass @ 10pm - 60s R&B favourites, soul rarities, and funk at Grossman's Tavern (the #SpadinaCollege hub)
    • Roy Hargrove's RH Factor  @ 8pm - famous trumpeter, composer, and arranger at the Toronto Star Stage at Nathan Phillips (the #BayQueen hub)
  • Tuesday, June 26th
  • Wednesday, June 27th
  • Saturday June 30th
  • Sunday July 1st @ 4:45pm 
    • Diana Salvatore - did someone say Mafiosa Motown? Yes! It's at Nathan Phillips (the #BayQueen hub)
Roy Hargrove (courtesy: torontojazz.com)

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Artwork at the Dufferin underpass

This May a city sponsored art project was completed on the Dufferin overpass at the #DufferinQueen hub.

The work features a beautiful mosaic in some of the most concrete-y parts of the city. Definitely worth a check out.

For more photos of the work go here.

Source: livewithculture.ca


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

#TransitHubbing for Ontario Craft Beer Week

Do you love a good brew? Do you love beer that's off the usual beaten track? Do you love it in Toronto? Well so do we! We love to #TransitHub and to beer!

Here are our favourites to the hubs and beers for Ontario Craft Beer Week:

Stay tuned for more #BeerHubbing for the coming weekend!


King Vienna beer 3030 restaurant in High Park today

King Vienna beer 3030 restaurant in High Park today for Ontario Craft Beer week. Cool clean pilsner on a sweltering day.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Andra Suchy at NXNE #SpadinaQueen

Another promising Alt-Country performance at NXNE features Andra Suchy, dubbed "The Diva of the Dakotas" by A Prairie Home Companion.  9 PM Saturday at the Cameron #SpadinaQueen


Ann Chaplin at NXNE #SpadinaCollege

NXNE is going strong in its 18th year, it's one of Canada's top music festivals, and it's right in town!

In particular, if you're into Alt-country, country or bluegrass, there are some interesting shows this weekend.

On Saturday, check out Ann Chaplin, from Deep River, who's recent EP garnered numerous awards.
8 pm Saturday at Free Times Cafe #SpadinaCollege


Thursday, June 14, 2012

Spadina Streetcar getting replaced by bus until November

Boo! Apparently the TTC is doing some repairs to the line and we are going back to the 80s with at-the-curb bus service.

The streetcar stops running on Monday, June 17th and starts up again on November 18th! :(

Here's the announcement.

So if you're at any hub along the line (i.e. #SpadinaBloor, #SpadinaQueen, etc.) you will have to learn to enjoy the curb-side service :)

We guess it won't be so bad. It looked like they had a lot of fun riding the bus in the 80s:


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Highlights from the Annex Festival on Bloor!

The 16th annual Annex Festival on Bloor took place this past Sunday, June 10, 2012! It's a great community event that spans from #BathurstBloor to #SpadinaBloor. The festival brings out vendors in the area, performances and food and drink, of course! Bloor Street was closed off for the occasion.

Here are some highlights:

Aerial view!
It was a scorcher!

The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre was a host of the festival!

She was good at juggling!

You don't wanna mess with these kids!

The Annex Chess Club was out promoting chess in a BIG way!

Hey tourists, use TransitHub!

Lotsa people out!

Olivia Chow tent, promoting a National Transit Strategy!

Pipes and drums band

FOOD, everywhere!

Those kicks are serious!


Every festival needs a good pyro!

And, check out this 10-second clip of a cool flute performance!






So #TransitHubbers, did you get out to see the Annex Festival on Bloor? What other festivals are you going to check out this summer? Share!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Luminato


Luminato has some great free shows this week if you're near the #JohnKing hub.

On Tuesday June 12th at 8pm, the multi-talented Fatoumata Diawara of Mali/Ivory Coast has her North American premiere.

At 9pm on Wednesday June 13th check out a unique pairing of Malian and Cuban musicians perform as AfroCubism.