[PHOTO] Our Mother Mary in blue, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church (1515 Queen Street West)

I was walking last weekend west past Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church, in the west of the neighbourhood of Parkdale, when I saw this statue of the Virgin Mary. I had wanted to take a photo of the tatue, framed so nicely by the window behind it and with a coat painted in an earnest sky blue, for aesthetic reasons. I also recalled the old tradition of asking the Virgin Mary to intercede with Christ for mercy in–for instance–times of plague.

This image has turned out to become one of my most popular photos on Instagram, largely because of apparently Lebanese users finding the image via hashtags.

[BLOG] Fifteen Toronto links

• blogTO reports that Toronto has been testing Eglinton Crosstown trains, here.
• What TTC routes might be changed by the Eglinton Crosstown? A map illustrates, over at blogTO.
• The new tower proposed for 888 Dupont, at Ossington, will even include a vertical farm. blogTO reports.
• Venerable Agincourt Mall is going to be a new condo development. blogTO reports.
• Is co-ownership actually the only way most people in Toronto will end up owning a home? blogTO considers.
• Residential tenants in a Leslieville building who complained about their landlord may end up getting evicted from a building never zoned for residents. CBC reports.
• The City of Toronto has taken over the deserted shopping arcade at Queen Street West and John. CBC reports.
• Katrina Onstad at Toronto Life tells the story of Katharine Mulherin, the Queen Street West gallery owner who changed her neighbourhood but was broken by gentrification.
• The bar Tequila Bookworm is closing, displaced by rising rents. NOW Toronto reports.
• NOW Toronto interviews night mayor Michael Thompson, here.
• Steve Munro considers the TTC’s express bus services, here.
• Terra Lumina, the nighttime cultural event at the Toronto Zoo, looks fantastic in these photos over at Toronto Life.
• Oh, what the map of Toronto subways could have been if only we planned! blogTO shares one.
• Steve Munro examines the TTC’s plan for 2020-2024, here.
• The TTC may not act to decrease overcrowding on some routes. blogTO reports on why.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links

• I do hope Toronto does something with the abandoned foot court on Queen West and John. blogTO reports.
• blogTO looks at the new Villiers Island set to occupy the mouth of the Don River in the Port Lands.
• An Ossington laneway is going to be repainted after a botched improvement project destroyed its public art. The Toronto Star reports.
• Steve Munro fisks a defense by the Toronto Board of Trade of the proposed Ontario Line, here.
• Andrew Cash, sadly not elected in my riding of Davenport, writes in the Toronto Star about the importance of Toronto having active local MPs.
• National Observer looks at how the City of Toronto is encouraging residents grow gardens for pollinators.
• Samantha Edwards writes at NOW Toronto about how the long-closed Paradise on Bloor theatre is set to reopen in December.

[PHOTO] Looking south down Duncan Street at the CN Tower

[URBAN NOTE} Five Toronto links: Corso Italia, Danforth, Davenport Diamond, books, Graffiti Alley

• blogTO notes that Corso Italia is one of the hubs of Latin American food culture in Toronto.
• The Danforth Music Hall recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, NOW Toronto notes.
• The cancellation of a mural for a rail bridge in the Davenport Diamond is a shame. The Toronto Star has it.
• This bookstore at Queen and Ossington looks particularly unique in conception. blogTO reports.
• Melanie Zettler at Global News talks about the origins of Toronto’s Graffiti Alley.

[PHOTO] Twelve photos from a walk down from Dupont to Queen

Friday afternoon, I took myself on a leisurely walk south, down Dovercourt Road and then–above Bloor–down Ossington Avenue to Queen Street. It was a fine summer walk, taking me through an ever-changing string of neighbourhoods that is still familiar, ending with the Antikka coffee shop on Queen. The final photo was taken to the west of this, at the Lumber Loop where Queen streetcar passengers need to transfer to get to Long Branch, the towers of Humber Bay Shores always visible just beyond.

[PHOTO] Onset of torrential rain in thunderstorm, Queen Street West

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Artscape, PoP Shoppe, Funhouse,

• Tanya Mok at blogTO looks at Artscape Weston Common.
• Jamie Bradburn looks at the heyday of the PoP Shoppe, a late 1970s chain specializing in different kids of soda drinks.
• Toronto Life reports on the Funhouse experience created inside an old Buddhist temple off Queen Street West.
• blogTO notes that, at least so far as absolute numbers are concerned, Toronto is the fastest-growing city in the United States and Canada.
• Toronto Life reports on a home in the Annex that was sold a decade and a half ago at three hundred thousand and just now went for 1.5 million.

[PHOTO] Six photos of moments at Dufferin on Queen, looking north

Last night at 11 o’clock, I found myself on Dufferin at Queen, waiting for the northbound 29 Dufferin to come. The quiet perfect of the intersection at night, marked only by the occasional car, spoke to me.

[URBAN NOTE] Ten Toronto links: politics, transit, pop culture, photos

• CBC Toronto bids farewell, fittingly at TCAF time, to the iconic Jason Loo Toronto comic series The Pitiful Human-Lizard.
• At blogTO, Tanya Mok reports on the resistance of tenants at 54-56 Kensington Avenue to an illegal eviction order by their landlord.
• The Toronto Star reports</u. on a new matchmaking event intended to connect future roommates to each other.
• Kevin Ritchie at NOW Toronto reports on how a new pricing scheme for the AGO, including a $35 annual pass for people over 25, reflects a push to try to get more people into museums.
• Glenn Sumi writes at NOW Toronto about the increasingly steep price of ticket prices for live theatre in Toronto.
• Toronto Life shares photos from an exhibit, by Patrick Cummins and Ivaan Kotulsky, of Queen Street West in the 1980s and 1990s.
• Richard Longley writes at NOW Toronto about the emptying of an old warehouse of collectibles and oddities on Wabush, part of the decline of old storied Toronto.
• Toronto Life shares more photos from outdoor market Stackt, at Front and Bathurst.
• Steve Munro starts to analyse traffic patterns on the 501 Queen streetcar, looking first at the Neville Loop end.
• NOW Toronto is one of a few news sources to report on Scarborough writer Téa Mutonji and her new short story collection Shut Up, You’re Pretty.