vic.gedris.org

Jen and I took a holiday at the start of September and took the train up to Ottawa and Montreal for a week. We visited family in Ottawa, then had a few days to ourselves to relax in Montreal. Well, it wasn't all relaxation in Montreal: We did a significant amount of walking around the city, plus some biking with the public Bixi bikes.

I took this photo while we sat down for a break on a shaded stairway while climbing up Mount Royal.

September 3, 2010: Another photo documenting the changes in the Junction Triangle as Tower Automotive gets demolished. This is the view south/east down Perth Ave. By this time, most of the facade along Perth/Sterling had been demolished, but parts of the boiler house and the entire chimney were still standing.

Just the other day, one of the local neighbourhood moms was telling me about how much one of the kids loved the blue door on this building. I was always more of a fan of the old bricks and windows along here, but the kid has a point. It added some colour to break up the bricks. :)

Now it's just a field of rubble. More pics from September 3 are here.

September 2, 2010: A rainy day on the West Toronto Railpath. I dropped by here again after work to take some more photos of the Tower Automotive demolition, and there was a short burst of heavy rain while I was taking my pics. I whipped my umbrella out and kept taking a few more photos, and enjoyed the new shine and reflections that the rain provided.

More photos from September 2 are here.

If I were to take a photo from this same spot today, barely a month later, it would look completely different with that building and chimney gone. The Railpath and the rain are still there today.

The end of August and into September was not a kind month to the vacant Tower Automotive property on Sterling Rd. In the span of a month, all of the buildings on the property have been demolished, besides the iconic 11-story industrial tower. The amazing old facades along Perth Ave. and Sterling Rd. were knocked down first, followed by the boiler house, and eventually the old chimney stack.

I took this photo inside the boiler house on August 28th 2010, just after demolition had started. A few days later, it was gone.

I will post a few more photos from this demolition over the next few days. I sure took alot of pics here, but I want to remember how it looked, and be able to compare it to whatever gets developed here over the next few years.

As a follow-up to my previous post, where I expressed my love of cycling and Hamilton, here's a self-portrait of me cycling in Hamilton last Saturday, August 21st.

A group of eight of us from Toronto caught a GO train to Burlington in the morning. From there, we rode down Brant St. into downtown Burlington and to Burlington's waterfront. Then on to the Burlington and Hamilton Beach Strips towards Confederation Park in Stoney Creek. After stopping for a delicious lunch at a lakeside restaurant, we carried on to the Stoney Creek Dairy where we re-fueled again. Awesome. And then up The mountain via Mount Albion Rd., which was closed to traffic when they opened the Red Hill Creek Expressway, so we had a fun and relaxing ride up the hill (only a short bit that's very steep!). What goes up, must come down....so we headed right back down the east end rail trail that leads right back into downtown Hamilton, where we split up to get dinner, catch GO buses home, etc.

A totally fantastic day. Hamilton rocks, especially for cycling. I'm already scheming a west end rail trail ride.

In this photo I'm cruising down the escarpment along the east end rail trail near the end of our ride. This was taken with my small point'n'shoot Canon Powershot SD800, which I sometiime carry when I don't want to lug my bigger SLR camera around.

More photos with captions are here.

...and I think squirrels are kind of fun too.

This photo was taken in Macnab St. pedestrian underpass that goes under the railway tracks in downtown Hamilton. I was meeting up with Jen at the Hamilton GO Centre last Friday after work and was a bit early so I went for a little walk around downtown. I hadn't been through this tunnel before, and I was pleasantly surprised by the really bright and cheerful mural here, so of course I took a few photos.

I grew up in Hamilton, and I appreciate it more and more every time I go back. It's a great city to do some cycling in too. Looking forward to going back very soon, with a bike.

August 13, 2010.

Another exterior shot of Ontario Redi-Mix on Wade Ave. This is the view from Erwin Krickhahn Park on Rankin Cres. in the Junction Triangle.

It will be interesting to see if this place gets re-used (doubt it), pillaged and vandalized (probably), and eventually torn down to be replaced with something better (probably, but who knows when?).

August 10, 2010.

The rest of my photos from Redi-Mix are posted here.

Looking down from the upper level of the vacant Ontario Redi-Mix plant on Wade Ave. There's a decent view of the surrounding area up here: The Redi-Mix gravel yard, GO Transit's Barrie Line tracks, and over into Erwin Krickhahn Park in the Junction Triangle. Probably an even better view from up on the silos. :)

The rest of my photos from Redi-Mix are posted here.

I was taking a photo of this sign at the vacant Ontario Redi-Mix plant on Wade Ave., when a fellow explorer/photographer walked into the frame. I actually like this photo much better than the one I was trying to take.

August 1, 2010.

The rest of my photos from Redi-Mix are posted here.

The gravel yard at Ontario Redi-Mix on Wade Ave., near Bloor and Lansdowne. The shovels remain where the former employees left them at the end of their final shift.

August 1, 2010.

The rest of my photos from Redi-Mix are posted here.