#AlleywayTO
Greeting from the Beaches, sand and streetcars abound.

Always nice to see a visual representation of the old CLRVs still displayed.

They truly were Toronto's streetcar; old, rickety, rusty and omnipresent.

#TOphoto #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #Beaches #AlleywayTO
September 20, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Graffiti Alley Tripper

The personification of Toronto's transit zeitgeist, the enduring CLRV.

Remember and dearly missed on these streets.

#BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #GraffitiAlley #AlleywayTO
September 15, 2026 at 4:45 PM
On todays episode of random cars spotted while wandering around TO.

The Hillbilly Porsche.

I can only surmise that someone got lucky on some scratchies & splurged it all on a Porsche. But ran out of money to buy proper cinder blocks to hoist her up for display

#AlleywayTO #classiccar #carspotting
September 12, 2026 at 4:45 PM
The Riverdale Homer, enthralled by 64 slices of processed goodness.

We will end todays #AlleywayTO ramble by visiting an old friend.

Thanks for coming along.

#UrbanGaze #Graffiti
September 1, 2026 at 6:59 PM
The Porcelain Rule holds fast.

Around the next bend an alleyway throne appears.

On everywalk, at least one toilet proclaims its dominion over the local alleyways.

#AlleywayTO #UrbanGaze
September 1, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Its been a while, but its time to return to the liminal spaces of Toronto's east end.

Feel free to follow along as I wonder the alley & streets of Riverdale.

We will start with Alleyway Jesus, who brings salvation to the laneways of Broadview's east end Chinatown.

#AlleywayTO #UrbanGaze #Graffiti
September 1, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Doors a plenty.

Alleyways are a DIY dream or a nightmare, depending on your take.

Lax adhesion to building codes is not uncommon.

In this case 5 full-sized bedroom doors chained togehter to create one garage door

They say that necessity is mother of safety code violations

#UrbanGaze #AlleywayTO
September 1, 2026 at 6:33 PM
We meet again old red.

The plastic fantstic 90s Dodge Stealth, (a Mitsubishi rebadge) has been given a new life. Looks like she's been given some new shoes.

#UrbanGaze #alleywayTO #carspotting
September 1, 2026 at 6:06 PM
Ghosts of Commerce past.

Callbacks to the days before Chinatown, Riverdales commercial and industrial past straddle the train tracks.

People lived, shopped and toiled in the local factories here.

#AlleywayTO #UrbanGaze #Ghostsigns
September 1, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Memories etched in rust.

The Signature Marker by Pierre Poussin was erected about a decade back, commemorating the individual history of this space, across from a former factory turned business lofts.

Behind it a large print of Queen st. 100 years ago, streetcars and all.

#AlleywayTO #UrbanGaze
September 1, 2026 at 5:40 PM
East Chinatown began in the early 1970s after the original Chinatown was demolished to make way for new city hall.

While Spadian Chinatown grew large & central, this one remained rather contained. Sadly shrinking over the years.

Now not many of old signs remain

#AlleywayTO #UrbanGaze #GhostSign
September 1, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Alleys are Toronto's forgotten spaces, often unassumed by the city and left to their own devices.

Space of storage, impermanent and decay. And sometimes a space for play.

This one has a small local park and playground.

#AlleywayTO #UrbanGaze
September 1, 2026 at 5:54 PM
A solem history.

The Holy Blossom Cemetery lies hidden just behind Pape & Gerrard. Consecrated in 1849, it predates the 1st synagogues in Toronto. Built in what was a rural area, it now sits hidden in the city.

Hustory abounds in Torontos liminal spaces.

#UrbanGaze #AlleywayTO
September 1, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Someone painted their entire garage with Marvel and DC characters. The artist doesn't own anything they created. Not the characters, not the copyright, not even the wall. They painted it. That's where their stake ends.

https://bsky.app/profile/torontoboris.bsky.social/post/3mn665xtbkc2a
Toronto Boris (@torontoboris.bsky.social)
The Copyright Infringement League! A mishmash of Marvel and DC comic book superheros on one garage door. Someone who lives there really loves comicbooks or trademark infringement, possibly both. #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #theAnnex #AlleywayTO #MarvelComics
bsky.app
June 8, 2026 at 4:00 PM
The Copyright Infringement League!

A mishmash of Marvel and DC comic book superheros on one garage door.

Someone who lives there really loves comicbooks or trademark infringement, possibly both.

#BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #theAnnex #AlleywayTO #MarvelComics
May 31, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Icons of municipal transit.

An ode to the 511 Exhibition streetcar and possibly the only famed and beloved bus route in the city.

The 77 Spadina Bus. The route immortalized in the Shuffle Demons 80s song; Spadina Bus.

#BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #theAnnex #AlleywayTO
May 31, 2026 at 4:19 PM
The Danforth Tripper

In an alleyway south of Danforth and Woodbine an ode to the venerable maroon and cream PCC streetcar that plied these streets in the days before the subway.

As always this is a streetcar city.

#LanewayTO #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #Danforth #AlleywayTO
May 15, 2026 at 5:35 PM
The streetcar homebase

From one end of the city to the other, garage murals pay homage to the humble streetcar.

This one in Leslieville can be found on Dundas west of Greenwood.

#LanewayTO #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #Leslieville #AlleywayTO
May 12, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Public transit as art.

More I wonder around the old city and its many laneways the more streetcar garage murals I find.

This city icon is truly beloved by city dwellers and despised by suburban drivers.

#LanewayTO #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #Roncy #Roncesvalles #AlleywayTO
May 11, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Everything in moderation..

Including mannequins.

The city always give you something stop and gawk at.

#AlleywayTO #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #publicart
May 8, 2026 at 4:43 PM
King West.

Sitting in a private laneway off King St, its not the easiest find.

And as always the old CLRV streetcars have etched themselves into the zeitgeist of the city.

#AlleywayTO #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #graffiti
May 8, 2026 at 3:30 PM
If there is municipal icon of this city (sans Raccoon), its the Streetcars.

Spotted these 3 gems of garage door murals all near College & Bathrust.

The old CLRVs have edged themselves into our collective memory as a city.

#AlleywayTO #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #graffiti
May 6, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Abandoned and unpretentious utilitarianism.

This early 2000s VW wagon is the epitomy of unpretentious utilitarianism.

Shame that you can no longer buy decently priced station wagon in this market.

This old gal has sat idle and shoeless for atleast a decade.

#AlleywayTO #stationwagon #abandoned
May 3, 2026 at 6:17 PM
Full credits. This alleyway sign goes hard, some might say alarmingly so.

It gives both offense and consequence, withith a touch of undue malice. Bonus points for the embossed white on red lettering.

9/10 on the scale of homeowner placed signage.

#AlleywayTO #UrbanGaze #Toronto
April 26, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Finally we'll end this #AlleywayTO walk with a hatrick of automotive decay, the trifecta of motordoms ruin.

Feast your eyes on these beauties, peacefully idle.

We got a Pontiac Grand Am, a Honda Civic & what looks like a 70s mystery machine.
@normal-cr02-metal.bsky.social any ideas?

#UrbanGaze
April 24, 2026 at 8:06 PM