Woodbine Subway Station

Woodbine Subway

The Woodbine Subway station is on the Bloor-Danforth line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  The station was opened in 1966 and today services approximately 13,000 people a day.  That number goes up during the warmer months of the year when many come through Woodbine station to get to the “Beaches” of Toronto.

Clockwise: Beaches Library, Firehall No. 217
R.C. Harris Treatment Plant, "Gardener's House"
(Kew Gardens), Fox Theatre House

The “Beaches” is a very popular spot, frequented by Torontonians and is also a well known tourist attraction.  Regular bus routes travel southbound from the station, taking you to an unbroken stretch of sandy shoreline that is never-ending to the naked eye.  Along the lake, there are streetcars running to and from downtown along Queen Street East.

There is so much to do in such a large area which extends from Victoria Park to Kingston Rd, Eastern Avenue to the shores of Lake Ontario.  Trendy and eclectic, the Beaches offers so much for everyone.  We went for a walk along the boardwalk on Sunday.  The boardwalk covers most of the length of the beach from east to west.  Near the east end there is a sewage treatment plant and on a hot humid day, you’ll know exactly what they’re treating!  But this time of year, in the fall, where the air is cool and the winds are high, pollution and smog aren’t a problem.  There are four beaches in the area: Balmy, Scarborough, Kew and Woodbine.  In the summer Woodbine, Kew and Balmy beach are all safe to swim in.  But it’s too cold now for that, so we just checked out a few places.

I don’t know if many of you ever had time to check out the historic buildings in the Beaches area since most of us really just go there to rollerblade, or have picnics, bike ride or just hang out by the beach.  But the Beaches area has been around as an attraction since before the first World War so there’s a lot of history here.  I love historical buildings and there are many designated under the Ontario Heritage act (see Rosedale and College Subway). 

Boardwalk and Kew Beach

Beaches Branch Public library was built in 1916, is gorgeous and has been revamped a few times, but kept its original integrity; it’ at 2161 Queen East.  The Dominion Bank at Queen and Lee was built 1911.  There is an old Movie house which is still operating called the Fox theatre, built in 1914, located at Queen and Beech Avenues. Kew Beach Firehall, No. 17 was built in 1905! It’s still used today. Finally we saw the Kew Williams House located at 30 Lee Avenue, built 1901-1902.

What a great day to be out! Hope you all get a chance to enjoy it.

Warden Subway Station

Inside Warden Station

The Warden Subway Station is located on the Bloor Danforth line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and was opened to the public in 1968.  On street level it’s situated at the southeast corner of St. Clair and Warden.  It sees only about 25,000 people day and for the most  part the area is pretty much an industrial wasteland. 

But Toronto has big plans for this undeveloped area.  What once used to be a Centennial  College site as well as a huge shopping mall (Warden Woods Mall/Power centre), has now become rubble and dirt paving the way to new housing developments.  Of course, what did you think?

Taylor Massey Creek

In all fairness though, Toronto is never scarce of abundant nature all around and I am seeing more and more of this everyday. 

If you walk across the street in what seems to be a bleak industrial zone for now, you’ll soon discover nice hiking trails like this one off of Warden Avenue, west of St. Clair.  Its called the Taylor Massey Creek Trail and although I don’t think you’ll find any fish in these shallow water flows, you’ll still get some pretty views in sight.  Not to mention it’s now early November and soon snow will fall on these parts.  I am already seeing signs of less and less green and more greys and browns.  Next spring when the rains fall heavily, I’m sure this spot is much prettier to look at.    

Greenwood Subway Station

Greenwood Subway Station

The Greenwood Subway Station is on the Bloor Danforth Line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Although its called Greenwood station it is located on the corner of Linnsmore Avenue  and Strathmore Blvd near Danforth, just a block east of Greenwood. The station was opened in 1966 around the time the Greenwood Yards were being constructed. This marked the opening of the first segment of the Bloor –Danforth lines. 

Greenwood Yard- Photo by Voransicht (not me)

Although the station itself only sees about 9,000 people a day, the Greenwood Yard is the largest on the Transit system, located at Greenwood and Danforth Avenues. TTC personnel are the only ones who can get access to the yard through a secret fork in the underground tunnel running south of the east/west passenger tracks. The trains are stored overnight here that aren’t in service.

TO Works at work

Probably passed by Greenwood station for years and not once saw the inside of the station. Coming into the City from the east end of Toronto, commuters were at a standstill due to a water main breakage outside the station on November 3, 2010. The water flooded into the stations and onto the tracks down into the Greenwood Yard. Power was shut off to prevent electrical fires because the water touched the third rail. This caused delays on the entire Bloor-Danforth line and by 8:30 am trains were back on track, but now passengers had to contend with the long waits to get onboard.

Outside the Greenwood station, there were 26 shuttle buses provided running between Woodbine and Broadview. Just another example how efficient the infrastructure is and how much we depend on it to get around.

Before and After (am photo Citypulse / pm photo - me)

On my way home today, I took some pictures of the final clean up by our Toronto City Work crews. Service as usual and water main repaired. 

Sir Greek and Sir Sub ;)

I also took some last minute shots of the outside area since I lived at Pape and Danforth for years so was familiar with the area from the outside. Theres a nice mixture of small pubs, eaterys and fruit markets around. No major food stores though and I found this strange Tim Hortons shop that looked more like a small movie house and a Sir Greek & Sir Sub shop! I guess the owner is somehow related to Mr. Greek and Mr. Sub? Any ways just another day in paradise.

York Mills Subway Station

York Mills Subway 

The York Mills Subway Station is on the Yonge-University Spadina Line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It was opened March 1973 to the public and is situated at the corner(s) of York Mills Avenue and Yonge Street.  York Mills subway station serves an average of about 26,000 people per day.  The original plans for the subway was to build a railroad above ground, but nearby residents objected resulting in the alternate plan to build the railway underground. Because it is in a valley, the subway approaches the station at a high rate of speed on a steep downgrade in both directions.

York Mills Centre

Directly linked within York Mills station is access to the York Mills Centre, located on the northeast corner of York Mills and Yonge.  It contains a gorgeous food court, medical offices, two levels of shops, a fitness club, 4 interconnected office building and a private day care facility.

Hoggs Hollow / Winfield's Park

York Mills station is located in the affluent neighbourhood of Hoggs Hollow, named after a Scottish Settler, James Hogg who settled in the area in 1824.  He operated a very successful whiskey distillery and a grist mill along with his sons.  The Don River runs through Hoggs Hollow and much of the parks and trees have been preserved as it once was back in 1798 when the first settler came.  The homes in the Hoggs Hollow are high end and run from $1,200,000 to C$7,000,000.  They are surrounded by parkland (Winfield’s park) which was donated by the famous philanthropist, E.P. Taylor.

The Miller Tavern (nee Jolly Miller)-Front and Back view

Homes / Condominiums today

Much of the estate of James Hogg was subdivided in 1920, by his sons, to include homes, a church, a school and a tavern.  The Jolly Miller Tavern (1857) still remains today and is now known as the “Miller Tavern”(2004).  When I was in grade 7, I knew a lot of kids from my school who used go to the “Jolly Miller” tavern after school.  Now that I think about it, I don’t know how they were able to get in underage, but I guess I didn’t at the time.  I went to a local Junior High School in the area because it was closest to the apartment we lived in at the time.  Much of the kids that went to that school lived in the York Mills/Yonge area and were very rich.  I wasn’t.  That was my first experience in my life where I noticed that what I had, or what I thought we had, was nothing compared to what others had.  I remember during March break when a lot of the kids were talking about going to Fort Lauderdale or Myrtle Beach. I didn’t have any plans but to go swimming at the indoor pool across the park.  I was so envious of the richer kids.

Don River

But now that I am older and hopefully wiser, I realize that “you make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give”.   That makes us all the same.