Following Up on Hogtown: Urban Impressions

[dewline]

Good to see jcoville's photography from ParadiseCon 2007 getting the attention it deserves. Jamie was , I believe, comprehensive in his coverage.

Something I didn't discuss was some of the exploration of the city that I undertook when not on the convention floor. Trying to figure out how much of the city I visited that I hadn't seen before is going to take a little doing. I explored down Queen St. West to find bakkaphoenix's new store site, which took a bit of doing. I knew they'd moved from the old Yonge St. location, but had to ask one of their old neighbours to refresh my memory. Looking back, I can't tell you for sure what the reputation of the neighbourhood is among the people who live and work there. But two things come to mind: Toronto City Hall's been promoting it as an "Art and Design District" according to the street-marker signs, and some of the second-hand shops in the neighbourhood would, I believe, make Jack Knight green with a certain amount of antique-dealer's envy.

Another place I visited was the Royal Conservatory of Music. According to hockeytheme.com, they were stocking stuff from Dolores Claman. I'd hoped to find the CD for the Hockey Night theme. No such luck, but they do have the sheet music if anyone's got an interest in that.

Some parts of town put me in mind of some of the designs for Gotham and Metropolis we've all seen over the years. Anyone who's yet been to Dundas and Yonge will get the idea almost immediately. Come to think of it, Yonge and College is almost in the same state. It could be argued which design of which of those two fictional burgs Toronto's architects past and present are pushing her towards.

(Informal sidebar poll: Which photo service should I post the visuals to? Picasa? flickr? Here at LJ?)

More anon...

Comments

[jcoville.livejournal.com]

I've used flickr, but I've already ranted about the limitations of it. But I've yet to find any other sites that are better.

Mind you, I haven't tried Picasa yet. I think I may try that for the next convention.

[orleans.livejournal.com]

West Queen Street West is an interesting little district. (I've been trying to visit more neighborhoods in Toronto and Montreal during my visits there recently.) Unfortunately it's just a matter of time until the area gentrifies/yuppifies to the point the artists can no longer afford to live there. :P

Flickr seems to be the best of the photo archives according to my photographer friends.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I've no doubt that the "gentrification creep" is underway in that stretch of Queen West between Spadina and Bathurst(and possibly further west along that street). Bakka Phoenix Books might well find themselves having been part of the leading edge of it, if I've understood my observations correctly.