Toronto Behind the Boarding: Queen and Beverly
Ever since the upper floor of the storefronts on the south side of Queen and Beverly caught fire a while back, I have had my eye on the buildings. There is something very perplexing about prime real estate in downtown Toronto sitting derelict, no matter what the damage. What is even more confusing is the city's attempt to pretend to be working on the place, just so that passers-by don't give it a second thought.
Eventually my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to find a way in.
The first visit I paid was done alone - an unforgivably stupid move. Crawling through a crumbling basement, my flashlight would occasionally reflect off a burnt spoon or needle, reminding me of the reality of my situation. It's like getting lost - do you turn back now, or dig deeper, hoping for some glorious revelation.
An acquaintance of mine had visited the place to take candid street-snaps a week or so earlier, so I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him I had chickened-out. As I gingerly wandered higher into the building, I noticed that the neighbouring (and equally abandoned) pizza shop was actually a separate building; on the second floor, however, some junkies had actually broken through two walls, making the second building accessible, and filling it with the same squatter's garbage (mattresses, beer bottles, punk posters, aerosol cans, cigarette butts, condom wrappers - you know the score).
The band-aid solutions which the city has placed around buildings such as these (fake scaffolding which was never actually used - but made a good exterior ladder to the roof, plywood fencing at the rear et cetera) are, I suppose, meant to be more psychological barriers than physical ones. As it turns out, visual cues for a populace to avert their eyes is more cost-effective than dealing with a problem.
While the obtuse form of people-watching allowed from this building's vantage point is unique, the unhealed sores of this gutter-punk domain offer the accouterments of a Vice article, or a twisted dream at best.
That being said, I will continue to visit these places and take photos, watching my step and keeping my tetanus shots up to date.
The next time you cast a furtive glance inside the soiled storefront of one of these derelict strips, don't be so sure that someone isn't looking right back out at you.
Below are a few more snaps from this sordid place...
Comments (32)
Funny, I was just wandering around this rubble last weekend and saw some guy snapping photos... don't think it was you, but clearly everyone is curious to see what's going on :)
The pictures are mediocre at best - There are a lot of ways to go with this story but you seem only interested in the visual aspect... Are you a photog posing as a journalist?
Why not look into what is actually happening with the property? ie look up who the landowners are at the land registry (dundas/yonge) and give'm a shout. Call a few real estate agents with signs up in the area and pose a potential buyer to dig up a possible behind the scenes story. Talk to the city planning department (believe me - both the real estate agents and city planners have lots of time on their hands right now). Right now your story consists of information most people know.
Also - Why did you not post any pics of the alleged 'needles, cook spoons, and condoms'? (even if they were planted)
I agree with Jon. It doesn't take a lot of imagination (or non-descript photos) to guess what is going on inside those buildings. Do some actual journalism and find out what the plan is for these "empty" spaces.
In defence of Johnathan
Maybe it's a photo essay. He was curious to know what's going on behind the walls, and what it now look like inside now that the city is apprently working on it. Sure it's rubble but that's what it is. He was curious and he found out.
Thanks for showing me I don't need to go inside there myself.
Where did he say anything about cook spoons and needles?
My mistake. I re-read. He did mention a spoon and needle. Either way no picture required, I know what a spoon looks like and I know what a needle looks like.
EIther way you guys can shove it. His exploration was to find out what's going on in there now. If you want to know what the future plans are, that's your interest.
I had merely meant this as a short photo-essay on a place a lot of us walk by - a purely 'visual' look at the aesthetics/mood behind the boarding.
I have actually spoken to the owners of 'Boarderline' etc. about the site redevelopment after it left their hands, and wasn't able to get much of anything interesting - this was a photo-essay, not a proper analysis of the development/redevelopment of the site.
That being said, I am sorry that my photography skills are not up to your standards; I shall try to make the 'goal' of these pieces more readily apparent in the future, and thank you very kindly for your constructive criticism.
Jonathan.
Actually, I prefer the photo essay route in this context. I can sort of guess why this building is still abandonned. the city probably isn't interested in paying for it and neither is the land owner. The land owner is probably hoping someone with deep pockets will take the property off their hands as well as do the demolition (what, you expect the city to donate demolition to every building that sits empty?). There could even be some toxicity issues if there were electronics destroyed in the fire, who knows.
What's more interesting to me, and a better justification for posting about it in this context, are the images of the inside, someplace i would never go, but would be fascinated to see.
And if you'll notice, all those photos are lit by windows, so I'm guessing none of the shots of spoons and whatnot turned out.
leave johanathan alone.
jees its a photo essay, his albums are always interesting and i share them when ever i catch them. keep up the infiltrations.
I'm inclined to defend Jon. He might not have known it was only meant to be a photo essay, and he did offer several constructive suggestions. Beat down on the real trolls.
I'm not inclined to defend Jon. He never once gave the photo essay any credit at all. Not a "Interesting idea but..." instead it comes across as you shoulda coulda woulda... His unsolicited constructive suggestions could be more useful if done with a little more tact.
For all of you who think you can do better, feel free to submit your posts here:
http://blogto.com/getpublished/
We'd love to feature them on the site
The place was pretty much abandoned to squatters for a long time. The landlord must have had some agenda for it even before the fire. I met one of the squatters shortly after the fire (he had pictures pre-fire) and he said a candle was responsible. He complained that the firemen/police made sure everything that wasn't damaged in the small fire was broken. And there would definitely had been used needles, etc in there.
My applause to Johnathan Castellino!!!
I've wondered the very same thing walking past those buildings everyday, two times a day...
b-Rod: Well, his comment pretty much implies that he didn't think the photos had any credit at all. How are you going to force somebody to say something they don't believe?
He could've been more tactful (coulda woulda shoulda?), but the idea that we *have* to preface any criticism with some kind of praise or credit is a little silly.
Posting anything for public consumption is automatically an invitation to suggestions and criticism. The same way Jonathan's photo essay apparently doesn't need a giant "PHOTO ESSAY" label, his act of posting on a very public blog doesn't need a neon "SOLICITING COMMENTS" label. (Besides, it looks like the "post a comment" box at the bottom here does it for him.)
Anyway, I have to ask Jonathan: Is the grain in some of the photos intentional, or an inevitable part of your post-processing? I've noticed it, but I'm not sure if it's consistent or meant to say something, so I can't tell.
Gloria - thank you for noticing - heh. The grain is indeed intentional, especially in this post, in order to capture the atmosphere and mood of the place (the point of this post...which was obviously misinterpreted, however justifiably so); those who are familiar with my photography would notice that these snaps are not representative of my work - I was going for a more 'sleazy' look, with a bit of coldness-
Thanks for your comment!
Jonathan.
Love this!
The mood(s) are great in these photos, they really play on the grit and grime while still providing some beauty to it.
They've also satisfied my curiosity as I would never be brave enough to go into a derelict building like that to find out the 'visual' story inside!
@Gloria
More tact
He coudlve just asked "Do you know what the future developers plans are for this building? I'd be interested in knowing" instead of assuming he didn't and saying you should've... Maybe he did and they have no plans yet. You don't have to preface any critisism with praise or credit.
Yes we all know that everyone is a critic these days. Everyones voice can be heard loud and clear and they often express it loud and clear and more direct than they would in person. Yes there is a comments box, that's what its for. We are in the age of criticism.
Just like how I'm expressing my opinion to you now. I can choose the tone, theres nothing wrong with criticism and expressing yourself. I can choose to be nice and create dialog, or I can just say You're wrong, make it better.
I always look forward to Jonathan's posts, mostly because I get to experience those places that I would like to get into but I never do because I'm too nervous about it. His camera style is excellent and is usually appropriate for the site - as is evident here.
hey jon, thanks for the pics. I've always wondered what the story is with empty buildings on prime real estate. Quick question, you wrote, "the city's attempt to pretend to be working on the place". Why is it the city's responsibility? Do they own the buildings?
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Jason - I actually spoke to 2 city workers when they were erecting the scaffolding; it had more to do with the development (ie. huge pit) just west of the building - they came in to put hay in the pit to absorb water that was leaking into the neighbouring (active) buildings, and the metal lattice on the front for 'future development', and to remove dangerous protruding bits; as far as I can tell, the only item they removed was part of the nifty 'rope-bridge' that decorated the old roof of the adjoining building...
Jonathan.
my only complaint is the quality of the photos. yes, i'm aware you said you were going for grainy, but these are glaringly obviously just gifs. maybe that was what you wanted, but the gif grain is not a flattering look for any photo, regardless of intent.
Z - my photos are about 2-8 megs each, usually, but when posting on this site, they need to be shrunk to 100K - they turn out alright with my other posts, so perhaps this 'grainy' style just doesn't work with this particular blog-format. Anyhow, thanks for the comments, everyone.
I have a collection of more artistic/macro-ish shots from this place, but didn't feel they suited the post...
Jonathan.
Jonathan.
Hi, thanks for the photos. I worked in this building for about 5 years. During this time a friend lived on the second floor and my friends and I spent a lot of time there. We drifted apart for a few years until getting together again and creating an art studio up on the third floor.
I was looking at this building the other day with my girlfriend and we were wondering what was going on with it. As far as I can remember this building is owned by a Chinese guy who spends most of his time in China. The landlord was a Chinese guy in his employ and they ran an electrical supply place next door to where I worked called Supremetronic. My guess would be that the current owners are waiting for their plans to pass through the legal system so they can start on whatever project they have in mind. I'm surprised that they have no bulldozed it and put a parking lot in its place while they wait for the plans to clear like most landowners do.
Maybe Jonathan doesn't care about what is happening next. No where does it say that to go and look at a current situation you have to care about the next step.
I really enjoy these postings. Plus, this post is like a game. I see the condoms, can you?
Jonathan,
i understand that its a smaller file size, but there are other ways to reduce the size of the image and file without resorting to gifs. i've noticed the same grain in your other posts (which i do very much enjoy, by the way). it's sort of unavoidable with the file type.
OMG I just realized that this was the place that we were looking at a few months ago to rent before the fire ... It was a really nice piece of real estate.
Gifs: you guys are 100% correct - I realize now that my work-computer auto-selects GIF and not JPG - I will avoid this in the future! I am not good at computers (as the editors here will no doubt agree...heh).
Jonathan.
I enjoyed the subject matter in the photos,
but I agree with the comments too.. this is quite a puff piece.
Get us some really nitty gritty information, that's the whole point of this kind of journalism/blogging - pushing for the truth yea?
And as you agreed, your photos look way too overworked, and that kills the 'mood' you were trying to enhance with them. =)
Keep the infiltration alive!
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