Led by Swedish activist GRETA THUNBERG, an estimated 500,000 people marched through Montreal on Friday, calling for action on climate change. Same was true in TORONTO, Ottawa, Hamilton, Victoria, Halifax, etc. “We are millions striking and marching around (the world) and we’ll keep doing it until they listen,” Thunberg said.
<On a fence at Spruce Court Co-Op, Cabbagetown, TORONTO>
Monthly Archives: September 2019
THOUSANDS OF PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN PHOTOGRAPHS BY VIVIAN MAIER HAVE A NEW CHICAGO HOME
Collector JOHN MALOOF’s donation to the University of Chicago Library consists of both black-and-white and colour, large and small prints. Some are processed; some not. They were made by a woman who struggled for money her whole life, and lost ownership of her work in 2007, two years before her death at the age of 83, when the contents of her storage locker were auctioned off. That’s when John Maloof came in.
This 1956 photo provided by the Estate of Vivian Maier & John Maloof Collection shows a self-portrait of Maier in a series of mirrors at an unknown location. New research shows the enigmatic nanny was obsessive about honing her skills as a photographer starting in 1950. LAURA LETINSKY, a visual arts professor at the University of Chicago said “This is a visual diary of sorts of her life. And because so little was known about her while she was alive . . . you’re trying to piece together what she was thinking about and how she was thinking.”
ABOVE – A Vivian Maier photograph, printed by her or at her direction, part of the new University of Chicago Library donation by John Maloof. Unpublished work © 2017 The Estate of Vivian Maier. All rights reserved.
Two in-depth stories by STEVE JOHNSON about VIVIAN MAIER, her work, and the JOHN MALOOF donation, were published in The Chicago Tribune this year. To reach it go to – https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-vivian-maier-new-donation-university-chicago-0818-20190822-c5czvvvd3zdorbd6jyfcbxb46a-story.html
THE CDN. IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE IS RESHAPING TORONTO’S SKYLINE WITH ITS CIBC SQUARE
There’ll be two towers, each one Class AAA, in the heart of TORONTO’s financial district. All things considered, it will be the last remaining office development with a renowned Bay Street address, thanks to Ivanhoé Cambridge. 
Following an international competition, CIBC Square is being created by British architects WilkinsonEyre and TORONTO’s Adamson Associates Architects. The complex will feature two elegant glass buildings – 81 Bay Street (2020) and 141 Bay (2023) connected by an elevated one-acre park over the rail corridor. Ivanhoé Cambridge and its partner, Hines, have an agreement with METROLINX, the city’s public transit agency, to build a suburban GO terminal at the first building.
This will connect with the underground PATH network, Union RR Station, subway and buses, intercity VIA, and the UP Airport Express.
Microsoft’s Canadian Headquarters will be one of the tenants, as well as CIBC itself. The project is already pre-certified WiredScore Platinum and is also targeting LEED® Platinum and WELL® accreditations. <PHOTOS & RENDERINGS – Ivanhoé Cambridge>
STREETCAR INFRASTRUCTURE – YOU MIGHT CALL IT CABLING – SPADINA AVE. AT COLLEGE ST.
TORONTO boasts more streetcar mileage than any other North American city – and that includes SAN FRANCISCO. These are working machines, an important part of the TTC transit system. You can see the University of TORONTO’s Architecture School behind these two air-conditioned beauties. <PHOTO ABOVE – @amar_22 . . . . . #streetsoftoronto>
AN UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST HAS CHOSEN THIS SAINT JAMESTOWN GARAGE ENTRANCE AS A CANVAS
AMERICAN LA FRANCE PUMPER #13 AT A FIRE, ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH – DATE UNKNOWN
<PHOTO – City of Toronto Archives/Sidewalk Labs>
JUST RELEASED – A SET OF 3 COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS HONOURING THE LATE LEONARD COHEN
September 21st, 2019 would have been LEONARD COHEN’s 85th birthday. Unfortunately he is no longer with us. But Canada Post honoured him with a set of three stamps showing three periods of his illustrious music career. Given the posthumous nature of the series, designers opted for black and white images.
MONTREAL-based design firm PAPRIKA said the stamps symbolize “the scope of his work, and the man himself, who was larger than life.”
CANADA’S OLDEST RECORD STORE IS SET TO CLOSE BY THE END OF 2019 – IT’S IN OSHAWA
When Wilson and Lee first opened for business in OSHAWA, radio was barely a thing. The most popular car in the world was Ford’s Model T. And you needed a wind-up Victrolia to play fragile 78 RPM records. If in 1922 you wanted to buy one of those records, you could go to Wilson and Lee’s record store to find them among the musical instruments.
Over the decades the firm survived depression, recessions, wars, technological changes (78s, LPs, 45s, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs), and these days back to vinyl. It was an excellent run.
After 97 years in business, Wilson and Lee is about to close. The property at 87 Simcoe Street North has been sold to the Holiday Inn and brothers Bill (who worked at the store for 67 years) & Dave (52 years) have decided to close up shop. It’s the end of an era.
<PHOTO – Bill on the left; Dave on the right – by Durham Region News>
“LIVE DOWNTOWN – DIE YONGE” – EYE-OPENING HEADLINE IN RYERSON UNIVERSITY’S ‘EYEOPENER’
Home to 40,000 commuting downtown students, presently surrounded by serious construction and demolition, non-stop traffic, a scarce tree canopy, noise of every description – it’s a challenge alright living in the centre of a rapidly growing metropolis, and that’s where Ryerson students find themselves today.
GABRIELLE OLANO reports on a recent study done by the Department of Chemistry and Biology – “Living in the area where Ryerson is located in the Church-Yonge corridor . . . is equivalent to smoking between 624 and 1,033 cigarettes per year,” she says.
<PHOTO ABOVE – campus reconstruction on Gould Street>
Chemistry & Biology assistant professor Stephanie Melles: “a downtown campus has inherent higher air pollutants, and that’s the same for other universities downtown. Especially if you’re going to be living downtown. It’s something to think about”.
”In the same issue, another grabber of a headline (students are good at this): “Ryerson is killing us. Who knew?”
ABOUT 103 CRANES ARE NOW WORKING IN TORONTO – THEY’RE A FORM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Toronto Savvy 