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January 8, 2010. A followup to my previous post. This is an old painted mural sign on the side of 1607 Dupont St., in the Junction Triangle, Toronto. If you look closely, you can make out what appears to be two old signs painted on top of one another: Old Dutch and Monarch Flour.

I wasn't going to post this one to my blog, but the previous post generated some discussion on Flickr.

January 8, 2011. A couple of old signs on Dupont St., looking west between Franklin Ave. and Edwin Ave., south side.

October 17, 2010. Underneath the junction of Washington and Mason Streets, San Francisco. If you head downstairs at the San Francisco Cable Car Museum, you can peer through the glass at the cables in action, as they are routed down through the city.

This wasn't an easy shot to take. I was pressed up against the window trying to block reflections, cranked the camera to ISO 1600, f2.8, and had to hold still for 0.3 seconds. This may be an extremely cool place to explore / tour, without guardrails and glass in the way. Probably a good way to lose limbs too if you're not careful.

More info on Wikipedia and at the San Francisco Cable Car Museum website.

October 17, 2010. A cable tensioner in the San Francisco Cable Car powerhouse and museum. This tensioner can be moved to pick up some of the slack as the cables stretch.

October 17, 2010. The San Francisco Cable Car Museum is one of my favourite museums ever. It's not too big, but it's packed full of things to look at, read, watch, and learn about. The best part is that it's a working museum, in the actual powerhouse that drives San Francisco's entire cable car system. You can watch the huge motors, cable pulleys, and underground cable routing. Seeing these motors in action, as they pull completely motorless cable cars full of tourists all over San Francisco, makes the whole system even more impressive. Plenty of good history about the cable car system, San Francisco's geography, and of course the San Francisco Fire too.

I'd highly recommend checking this place our before heading out for a cable car ride. It makes the whole experience so much better when you know how it all works. I'd love to go back sometime too.

More info on Wikipedia and at the San Francisco Cable Car Museum website.

October 17, 2010. Cable car tracks on Jackson St., looking west across Mason St., San Francisco. The sign instructs the cable car operators to let go of the cable before crossing the Mason St. cable (failing to do so, I imagine, would cause an ugly tangled mess of cable car bits). After letting go of the cable, the car would just coast across the intersection, and then "take rope" again to continue up the hill.

January 8, 2010. The step up into a truck, during a snowstorm. Penguins holding hands? Snow angels? I dunno... Photo taken behind the Caldense Bakery on Symington Ave., in the Junction Triangle.

January 8, 2011. Spotted this sign in the alley behind Campbell Ave. south of Dupont while out for a morning walk during a snowstorm.

January 8, 2011. I was out for a walk yesterday morning during the snowstorm. This photo was taken on Dupont St. at the rail underpass between Campbell and Lansdowne Avenues. The businessman stencil is part of Joel Richardson's mural.

January 8, 2011. An early morning storm was dropping about 10-15cm of snow around Toronto. Finally! I took advantage of it by going out for a long morning walk around the Junction Triangle while the snow was still coming down hard. Couldn't have asked for better weather for a morning walk. Just had to be careful to keep the camera dry.

This photo was taken at the Wallace Market, at the corner of Symington and Wallace Avenues. It's quite the photogenic little store, judging by all the photos that show up on Flickr and other sites. The vignettes (dark corners) in this photo were accidental, caused by a crooked lens hood which I corrected after taking this photo.