One of the coolest places to go in Toronto is the Tommy Thompson Park. I've been coming here long before it was cool to most anyone. Or so I thought.
When I first discovered this place about 10 years ago, there were very few people walking or cycling around. This may have been due to the road blocks put out front to keep cars out at night -- but I'd squeeze through on my bike and ride along the asphalt trail as far south as I could go.
Back then, there was nothing around but rubble and sand, mangled cables, bricks and cinder blocks as far as the eye could see. It looked like nothing more than a construction dump site and that's exactly what it was.
The dumping was intentional and started decades before in 1959. In anticipation of a boom in shipping with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Toronto Harbour Commission began developing an "outer harbour". This was created by dumping millions of tons of fill into Lake Ontario to construct a five-kilometre-long barrier known as the "Outer Harbour East Headland"
or what I know as the Leslie Spit. In the early 70s, it was apparent that the outer harbour would not be needed for port-related facilities, so they had to come up with other uses for the newly developed man-made peninsula.
One plan was to develop the land into an aquatic
park with a hotel, amphitheatre, private yacht clubs, and
camping facilities, among other things. Thankfully this was ruled out by local residents concerned about the destruction of Ashbridge Bay and thus the Friends of the Spit were established in 1977 to create a public urban reserve which it remains today. So here we are 60 years later beholding acres of a nature reserve that continues to thrive.
When you finally reach the end of the 'spit' you will see off in the distance a lighthouse, known as the Toronto Harbour Light, which was completed in 1974 by the Toronto Harbour Commission. Today it is fully automated and powered by a solar panel and directs shipping traffic along the Eastern Channel into the Toronto Harbour. The lighthouse stands at the highest point of land on the Leslie Street spit, called the "Vicki Keith Point", named after a noted marathaon Canadian swimmer who made most of her landings after crossing Lake Ontario. Vicki Keith held 16 world records has received over 41 honours and awards, having crossed many of the world's most challenging bodies of water.
The Toronto Harbour Light is known on the Canadian Coast Guard's List of Lights as the Toronto Harbour Aquatic Park Light.
At night, the tower produces a red flash every ten seconds at night. During the day, as you can see the tower has been vandalized with colourful graffitti and nonsensical scribblings. It kind of makes me wonder why we deserve nice things...I decided to take pictures of it anyways and turn it into some form of art even though I think it's a sin to destroy any historical landmark.
