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[PHOTO] Fillmores Hotel in the evening
Apr. 26th, 2019 08:56 amHow Filmores, strip club and hotel both, has managed at its premium location at 212 Dundas Street East just one block east of Jarvis despite the condo boom is a minor mystery. I wonder if it might not be set for the sort of renovation/transformation that has overtaken similar places like the Drake and Gladstone hotels in Parkdale, or the Broadview Hotel in Riverdale.
- Shawn Micallef asks, reasonably, if Toronto can become more colourful, over at the Toronto Star.
- NOW Toronto looks at a new art incubator at Queens Quay and Jarvis.
- blogTO reports on a new Museum of Illusion set up in the downtown. I'm interested.
- Aparita Bhandavi at The Discourse talks about the stereotypes that others, including other Torontonians, have about Scarborough.
- Vice reports on the ridiculous challenges that people seeking apartments in Toronto have to meet to have even a chance--a chance, note, not a guarantee--of having affordable housing.
The Okuda San Miguel mural Equilibrium, painted on the east side of the Parkside Student Residences at Carlton and Jarvis, looks quite fine in the morning. The TTC streetcar passing east made this a scene I had to capture.
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- blogTO reports TTC plans to further improve service on the 29 Dufferin route.
- This lawsuit lodged by the companies building the Eglinton Crosstown against Metrolinx for breach of contract is unwelcome news. The Toronto Star reports.
- The apparent trend to prescribe injured workers not medical marijuana for their pain but the potentially much more dangerous opioids sounds like a mistake to me. CBC reports.
- The giant Okuda San Miguel mural on the wall of a student resident at Jarvis and Carlton is now complete. CBC reports.
- Samantha Edwards at NOW Toronto has written a fascinating long feature on the rise of veganism in Toronto, not only as a popular and visible food style but as a force responsible for gentrification (the block of Queen between Dufferin and Brock is home to a new vegan district).
- Torontoist's Historicist takes a look at the issue of improving the grave of William Lyon Mackenzie in the 1930s.
- Norman Wilner celebrates the newly reopened Cinesphere, down at a reenergizing Ontario Place.
- Alex Bozikovic celebrates the beautiful new renovation and expansion of HIV/AIDS hospice Casey House.
- John Lorinc notes the many potential problems with the investments of Google's Sidewalk in Quayside.
- Vjosa Isai celebrates the 30th anniversary of a mural that helped name, and give shape, to Leslieville, over at the Toronto Star.
Urban Toronto's Jack Landau reports on the interesting new renovations expected for Casey House, Toronto's long-standing HIV/AIDS hospice.
The 1875-built William R. Johnston House—formerly known as the Grey Lady of Jarvis Street—is now awash with colour, as exterior details appear at the Jarvis and Isabella construction site. The home is becoming the Jarvis Street face for a brand new Casey House expansion. Years of paint and grime have been meticulously cleaned from the historic house's red brick exterior, while a modern addition designed by architect Siamak Hariri of Hariri Pontarini Architects will soon be home to a much improved HIV/AIDS care facility.
Following the 2014 start of restoration on the existing building, construction of the 58,000 ft² addition commenced in Spring 2015 with a ceremonial ground breaking event, followed a year later by the April 2016 topping off of the four-storey addition. By this past December, work on Casey House's exterior was substantially complete, and work is now being carried out on the interior build-out and final exterior elements before the building's anticipated early 2017 opening.
Inspired by memorial quilts made by volunteers to honour past Casey House patients lost to HIV/AIDS, Siamak Hariri's design for the building incorporates a range of exterior finishes. This quilt effect is achieved through a mix of three different tones of reclaimed brick, crust-faced limestone, and a combination of mirrored and pattern-enameled glass.
The Globe and Mail's Marcus Gee wrote last Wednesday about how the transformation of downtown Toronto is spreading even to areas like Jarvis and Dundas.
Social media lit up this week, when a story went around that the so-called “Hooker Harvey’s” at Jarvis and Gerrard Streets in east-side downtown Toronto was going to close, the victim of a relentless building boom.
“Nooooo! I love Hooker Harvey’s. Is nothing sacred in this city?” one post said. Another marked the loss of this “cultural touchstone” and its “seedy presence.” Yet another remembered the time a sex worker got her spiky heel caught in a grate near the entrance and let out a memorable volley of curses.
Never fear, Hooker Harvey’s fans. City planning officials say the famous burger joint at 278 Jarvis St. is not, at present, part of the development proposal that came in on Dec. 29 for the block on the north side of Gerrard between Jarvis and Mutual Streets. The proposal envisions a mixed development, including one 25-storey tower, one 10-storey building and 306 residential units, with heritage buildings integrated into the project. Artist’s renderings show the new buildings encircling the squat Harvey’s on the northwest corner of Gerrard and Jarvis. Its manager said he did not know of any plans to close it.
In a sense, though, Hooker Harvey’s is already gone. The days when Jarvis Street was a busy “stroll” where cars would pull up to the curb at night to negotiate terms with skimpily dressed women are mostly past. In those days, the Harvey’s was the centre of a lurid late-night parade. All sorts of sights could be absorbed from its big plate-glass windows. Asked what he has seen over the years, the manager answers: “Everything.”
Today, like so many once-sketchy corners of old Toronto, the district around Harvey’s is changing fast. New residents who embrace city living are moving in, part of a continentwide trend of reviving big-city downtowns. Two great big holes in the ground just to the south of Harvey’s, at Dundas and Jarvis, signal that new towers are about to rise there as Toronto’s condo craze continues.
Torontoist's Madeline Smith reports on how a plan to redevelop Jarvis and Gerrard will leave a storied fast food restaurant on that corner intact.
A new proposal for a mixed-use development on Gerrard Street will take out several of the buildings between Jarvis and Mutual Streets, if approved. As noted by Urban Toronto, that puts the so-called “Hooker Harvey’s” on the corner of Jarvis and Gerrard squarely in the path of destruction. But as it turns out, the local landmark with an insensitive nickname may escape unharmed.
According to the planning rationale documents for the proposed site, the 25-storey mixed-use building will have an “irregular shape” that will wrap around the restaurant. The proposal would see several heritage buildings relocated and integrated with the new design, which includes a 25-storey tower and some mid-rise retail and office space. But a small piece of the northwest corner of Jarvis and Gerrard is notably not part of the redevelopment application, and so Harvey’s lives on.
After visiting Allan Gardens late Tuesday afternoon, I passed by the adjacent building of Grace Toronto Church, on the southeast corner of Jarvis and Carlton. The building was all aglow, warmly lit against the background of the descending night and the cold-looking towers.
Toronto's Gloucester Street is a largely residential east-west corridor just two blocks north of Wellesley Street, extending east from Yonge Street over Church to Jarvis.
The article by Xtra!'s Andrea Houston reporting on the apparent interest of some in Pride Toronto in moving the annual parade off of Yonge Street--Toronto's most prominent north-south avenue--onto Jarvis Street a couple of blocks to the east surprises me. Yes, there might be more space, but Jarvis is substantially more removed from the city--the street is most noteworthy for controversial and eventually removed bike lanes than anything else.
Pride Toronto (PT) is considering taking its annual parade down Jarvis Street instead of Yonge Street next year, says executive director Kevin Beaulieu.
Beaulieu says the idea has been suggested in the past and now the board is giving it serious consideration.
“It’s possible,” he says. “It would mean a number of changes to the length of the route. There are some pros and some cons. It’s a more open and wide street. It’s less busy, less commercial . . . Some people like the idea.”
It would be a significant change, Beaulieu says, and consultation with the community would need to happen before any change takes effect. “We would do that early to explain to the community why and give people a chance to express their support or objections.”
The main benefit in moving to Jarvis would be the increase in street size, he says.
“Jarvis is a more open street. It’s less confined. Pride has grown quite big. It’s very large and it takes quite a long time to walk down Yonge Street,” he says. “It would just open things up a little bit more and make it less of a compressed atmosphere.”
NOW Magazine's Ben Spurr reports on Toronto city council's decision to remove the bike lines on downtown Toronto's Jarvis Street that had been installed at great expense just a couple of years ago.
Council rejected a last-ditch attempt to save the controversial bikeways Tuesday, voting 24-19 against a motion from Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam that would have kept the street in its current configuration.
Instead, the city will now proceed with council's original direction, made last July, to remove the bikeways and reinstall a reversible fifth car lane on Jarvis. The work will begin after the completion sometime next month of the separated bike lane on nearby Sherbourne.
Going into Tuesday’s meeting, the vote on Jarvis was expected to be close. But despite a flurry of lobbying on the council floor, left wing councillors couldn’t convince enough of their colleagues to come onside.
In the end council members like Josh Colle, Ana Bailao, and Michelle Berardinetti, whose votes some thought could be swayed, sided with Mayor Rob Ford, who led the push to take out the lanes last summer.
[. . .]
Supporters of the Jarvis lanes argue that they’re a model of how drivers and riders can safely coexist. City data indicate bike ridership on the street has tripled since the bikeways were installed in September 2010, and rates of accidents involving cars, pedestrians, and cyclists have all declined. Meanwhile, car travel times have only increased by two minutes.
They also argue that, at an estimated $280,000, reinstalling the fifth car lane is a waste of money.
[URBAN NOTE] Jarvis Street Changes
May. 4th, 2009 03:11 pmToronto's Jarvis Street is a bit shabby, with plenty of elegant old houses but plenty of poverty, too; lower Jarvis is somewhat famous as a hangout for street prostitutes, badly off somewhat on the -pattern of Queen Street West in the Parkdale area. There's a movement afoot, led by city cvouncillor Kyle Rae and neighbourhood activists, to bring Jarvis Street back to its previous glory, with a narrowed street and extensive reconstruction. Shawn Micallef at Spacing Toronto has an extensive photo post with a link to his Eye column on Jarvis Street. In his blog post, he concludes that Jarvis Street has the potential to change radically.
Nicki Thomas in The Globe and Mail is more skeptical, arguing that vested interests among people who use Jarvis Street to commute and a lack of city funding threaten the project.
The two things I found most interesting about Jarvis were the sheer amount of people that live on or near the street, and how many of those old, wonderful details (and new ones) remain. This means there are both historic and present day reasons why Jarvis should be made more pedestrian friendly and tame the planning crimes that were committed in the 1960s when the car was king.
Nicki Thomas in The Globe and Mail is more skeptical, arguing that vested interests among people who use Jarvis Street to commute and a lack of city funding threaten the project.
Developers and politicians have turned their attention back to Jarvis in recent years, looking to restore the street to its former glory. Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre - Rosedale), who represents the area, said the once magnificent street has been allowed to turn into a freeway. As a remedy, Mr. Rae is pushing a proposal that would see the street narrowed to four lanes, reducing traffic volumes and making it more pedestrian- and bike-friendly.
"It's a shame what's happened to it. I think it's time, in the 21st century, that the street catches up with its history," Mr. Rae said.
While the concept goes before city hall's works committee next week, it appears to be a long way from reality. The $6-million project is not fully funded, and would only go ahead once Jarvis is scheduled for a full road reconstruction - something not even included in the city's 10-year plan.
Plus, residents in affluent neighbourhoods to the north - North Rosedale and Moore Park - who use Jarvis to drive downtown, have complained loudly about the possibility of increased traffic congestion.
"They still think it's their personal driveway," Mr. Rae said. Susan Prince, a member of the Moore Park Residents Association launching a campaign against the plan, says those who use the road haven't been consulted.
"Kyle Rae is supposed to represent me as well," Ms. Prince said. "... It's interesting that Kyle Rae has chosen to stereotype some of his constituents as greedy, wealthy, North Toronto people." She and other members leafleted cars on Mount Pleasant north of Jarvis this week, and plan to show up at the works committee meeting next week wearing "Don't Jam Jarvis" T-shirts.
