[PHOTO] Tulips and daffodils and lilies by 900 Queen Street West

[PHOTO] Three evening shots, looking west and east and south, at Queen and Victoria

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Eglinton Avenue, Union Station, Highway 401, cookie dough, Meadoway

• This imagining of what Eglinton Avenue West will look like after LRT construction is done is actually pretty compelling. blogTO has it.
• Union Station renovations might actually be complete by the end of 2020. Global News reports.
• Highway 401 is being widened in the GTA to allow for recent increases in traffic. blogTO reports.
• Queen Street West is getting a cookie dough cafe. blogTO reports.
• The Meadoway, a vast linear park connection downtown Toronto with Scarborough, looks fine in this imagining. CBC Toronto has it.

[PHOTO] Looking west, Queen at Yonge

[NON BLOG] Me in the #Vogvault, 686 Queen Street West

I owe thanks to the woman who, when I visited the John Fluevog shoe shop at 686 Queen Street West, took three photos of me posing in the in-store trompe l’oeil Vogvault. A room tilted 90 degrees to the side can be uncomfortable, I’d think.

[PHOTO] Ten photos of Queen Street West, Yonge west to Dufferin

Early Thursday afternoon, I took an extended walk west along ‘a href=Èhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Street_(Toronto)#Yonge_to_University”>Queen Street from Yonge towards Dufferin. Spring is here, but it is not here just yet; the grass is green but the trees have not yet sprouted new leaves. Can it really be only two weeks until the first cherry blossoms appear?

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: interstitial buildings, Neon, Drake, Pizza Pizza, Yayoi Kusama

• The Toronto Star looks at how buildings destined for demolition for condos are, in the interim, enjoying some innovative alternative uses.
• CBC Toronto takes a look at the efforts of photographer Jon Simo, owner of Neon Demon Studios, to preserve and promote neon signs. (I went to the pop-up museum this weekend; photos to come.)
• Toronto Life shares old photos of the Drake Hotel predating its transformation into a west-end hub.
• blogTO lists the best, and the worst, Pizza Pizza locations in Toronto.
• blogTO shares photos of Let’s Survive Together, the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror room bought by the AGO for its permanent collection.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: 300 Bloor West, Great Hall, Coffin Factory, workers, homelessness

• Urban Toronto looks at the new proposal for a condo tower at 300 Bloor Street West, at Bloor and Huron.
• Toronto’s Great Hall, on Queen Street West, is up for sale. blogTO reports.
• Residents and tenants of the Coffin Factory at staging a funeral for this location as it is on the verge of being made into a condo development. blogTO reports.
• A new exhibit in North York is profiling the history of immigrant construction workers in Toronto. CBC reports.
• Could a tax on multi-million dollar homes in Toronto be used to generate funds for the homeless? The Toronto Star reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Bruce McArthur, global warming, homelessness, Dufferin Street, TTC

• CBC reports on what is going on one year after the arrest of Bruce McArthur.
• r/Toronto shares this image showing how recorded temperatures in the Toronto area have been rising for well over a decade. This is surely not only the heat island effect, here.
• Tanya Mok at blogTO notes how an abandoned food court on Queen West has been taken over by homeless people seeking shelter.
• Donovan Vincent at the Toronto Star does a good job exploring how Dufferin Street, from the waterfront to points far north, is becoming a hub for densification. Is infrastructure–like transit–ready?
• Steve Munro takes a detailed look at the $C 33 billion the Toronto Transit Commission will need over the next 15 years. What will it need to do? Where will the money come from?

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: 1 Yorkville. Parkdale antiques, 501 Queen, Zoo maglev, York Pillars

• Urban Toronto shares a photo of the rising 1 Yorkville tower.
• Tanya Mok at blogTO takes a look at the fast-disappearing cluster of antique shops on westernmost Queen Street West in Parkdale, near Roncesvalles.
• Steve Munro takes a look at the effect of the King Street pilot project on 501 Queen transit times.
• Might the Toronto Zoo have its own maglev train? blogTO reports.
• A petition has been launched to save the York Pillars from demolition. I, for one, will sign it. Can you, too? Global News reports.