City
Seeing is Believing: the Blue Scaffolding is Gone
As Toronto Life 'Square' continues to mutate into the gawdy little jewel it intends to be, the day has finally come for the blue scaffolding/tunnel along the sidewalk at Yonge & Dundas to be torn down.
The news will come as a bit of a shock to many a Ryerson alumni like myself who never thought they'd see the day.
When I started at Ryerson some 7 years ago, I spent every morning hipchecking my way through the pot-holed and leaky tunnel that already seemed like it had been there forever. Like that monotonous man across the street preaching about our imminent damnation, it had simply grown into a permanent fixture.
Now, years later, I emerged from Dundas Station to find a pale sidewalk basking in the sunlight it hasn't known for years. My reaction? Shock, awe, and a photo for the history books.
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A bit further up the way there was a video arcade where I spent $10 in quarters playing Zaxxon for almost an entire afternoon back in 1983. I think there was a Head Shop next door, too, where I bought a roach clip in the shape of a chopper Harley - I was 12 and I bought it 'cuz it looked cool. Still have it.
The alley behind (in between Rye and Yonge St. was a favourite hangout and the impromptu smoking lounge for employees of the newly opened 333 Yonge St. HMV store, which I helped stock. I didn't last long there because they hated my cynical nature - which tells you a lot about how much they understood the music business.
Soo much of my tweens and teens are associated with that intersection. Christ! Sorry to see it go.
That flea market between HMV and Dundas was were I bought many a video game, too. And I remember when the Red Hot Chili Peppers shut down Dundas with that concert in the alley. I hope the new space is as conducive to good memories as the last one...
Wow, that hasn't been my experience. Still lots of band t-shirts, true, but they all seem to be liscensed now. back in the 80's you'd walk into a huge basement store with table and tables of t-shirt piled up, and the majority of them we're cheap silk screen rip offs. You could buy 2 smiths, 1 cure and one depeche mode t-shirt for $20, no tax.
I agree, Toronto Life should find a better word than Square... and I'm happy the area is becoming more garish, bring it on! TO becoming NY? Don't even worry.
It's still up on the Dundas side.