Downsview Subway Station

Modern Downsview Subway Station

Downsview Subway station is located on the Yonge-University-Spadina line of the  Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  It's a relatively new station that was opened in 1996 and serves about 30,000 passengers a day. 

Downsview Subway station is located within minutes of Downsview Park.  The 572 acres of land space was used as the location of the 2003 SARStock benefit concert which was to revive the economy of Toronto after the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak. SARs, which is a respiratory disease caused by the corona virus, caught us and the medical community off guard and unprepared.  Between November 2002 and July 2003, 8,096 known cases were reported killing 774 people.  In April of 2003, the WHO (World Health Organization) put out an advisory against all travel here in Toronto reporting that a small number of persons from Toronto had appeared to have exported the SARs virus to other parts of the world causing a near pandemic.  This claim turned out to be false as only new cases of the disease were reported to have originated here and they were only in hospitals.  But it was enough of a scare for the economy and tourism of Toronto to suffer as a result of the advisory. 

2003 SARstock

Hearing of Toronto's dilemma, the Stones being avid fans of our city dedicated themselves to helping us out.  SARstock became the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history!  I was coaxed to go with friends from work and I remember I really didn't want to at first, but it was one of the most memorable events of my life!!  Live acts by the Stones, Guess Who, RUSH, AC/DC, Sass Jordan, Isley Brothers, Justin Timberlake, Blue Rodeo, Sam Roberts and others I didn't know.  The shows finale was the Rolling Stones doing a 90 minute set.  

Today Downsview Park is alive all year long with sporting events, filming (they have film studios!) camps and school programs and ongoing park projects which are changing the landscape of the way the park looks.  Downsview Subway station also has a VIVA Orange Terminal which serves the York regions as well.

St. George Subway Station

St. George Subway Station

 The St. George subway station is part of both the Yonge-University-Spadina Line and the Bloor-Danforth line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  The Yonge-University line was opened in 1963, followed by the Bloor-Danforth line in 1966 and finally by the Spadina line in 1979.  St. George has four parallel tracks, two above two.

St. George subway is extremely busy, ranking 2^nd of the 69 stations as far as pedestrian traffic goes totaling a quarter of a million people a day.  It’s situated right in the heart of the vibrant and colourful Toronto neighbourhood called “The Annex”, populated primarily with young people from the University of the Toronto campus, called St. George Campus.

University of Toronto

Sir Sandford Fleming

The University of Toronto, originally named ‘Kings College’ was founded in 1827.  At that time it was the first institution of Upper Canada that offered advanced learning. It changed its name to the University of Toronto in 1850, once the Church of England no longer had control over and today it all 12 colleges are collectively known as the ‘Toronto School’. 

The U of T Pub Crawl

Each of the 12 colleges under the U of T umbrella all have their own history and purpose.  Publicly owned and funded, the University of Toronto has long had a history of innovations in literature, communication theory (psychology, sociology and anthropology) science (insulin and stem cell research) and the first practical electron microscope was discovered at the U of T in 1938 by Eli Burton.  Two independent researchers (Louise Webster and Paul Murdin) both working at the University of Toronto announced the discovery of the first black hole using measurements from the the Doppler shift which showed a mass that was three times the mass of the sun.

The University of Toronto had employed and educated Sir Sanford Fleming who was known as the Inventor of standard time.  He did this after missing a train in 1876 in Ireland.  He realized this happened because the schedule printed was in p.m. time instead of a.m.,  hence the birth of the 24 hour clock.  He linked this proposal to suggest that standard times zones could be used all over the world and in 1929 all major countries of the world accept time zones.  Today the University of Toronto, has the Sir Sandford Fleming building on its location.

Sir Sandford Fleming Building

Off campus within close proximity there is a pumped up nightlife, excellent local shopping, and many great places to eat and shop.  It’s just after midnight and University students are just coming out of the Duke of York pub.  They do the pub crawl along Bloor Street on a Friday night into the Bar Mercurio, Regal Beagle, the Fox and Fiddle and the Pauper’s Pub and settle at the Brunswick House for some good music. The street is alive again the next day with restaurants serving organic foods to sushi and coffee houses like Starbucks and Timmy’s are everywhere. 

St. George subway, in the heart of the Annex takes you within the reach of Uptown, Downtown and Midtown, making it among the city’s most desirable place to live.

Union Station Subway

Union Station Subway (TTC)

Union Station is on the Yonge University Spadina line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  The station opened in 1954 and today serves well over 100,000 a day.  Union station ranks 5^th out of 69 subway stations as far as traffic goes, but that is not including the entire building which is separated by a moat that brings you to the other segment of Union which saw its first passenger train departure in 1853.  I would have liked to know where that train went to.  If any anyone has better luck in researching this, feel free to drop me a line in the comment block.

Street CARS

75 years later, Edward, Prince of Wales opened Union Station in 1927 with a gold key that unlocked the doors.  He was sold the first ticket from Toronto to Alberta at a cost of $70 (today’s cost would be over $1000.00).  Shortly after that Union station was in full swing sending and receiving passengers.  A few more years ahead of that and in 1929 the Royal York hotel was built (and still stands). A tunnel was bored under the hotel linking it to Union station.  Actually the first of its kind and the new CN tracks were laid between Hamilton and Pickering. GO transit followed a couple years later with its first time to leave Oakville east bound to Toronto.

Union Station-Go Station

Today the Great Hall in Union Station sees arrivals and departures used by Via Rail, Amtrak and Ontario Northland for inter-city train passengers.  There is a concourse for GO Transit commuter train passengers, as well as access to the TTC subway and streetcar station.  The tunnel I spoke about underground linking Royal York Hotel has been extended to other buildings in the central business district. Union Station also features office space used by the TTR, GO Transit and CN and CP.

Great Hall - Union Station

“Transit City” (currently on hold) has plans to further extend Streetcar loops from Union along the Waterfront hoping to unclog congestion along the lakeshore.  

St. Andrews Subway Station

St Andrews Subway (click to enlarge)

Roy Thompson Hall/Metro Hall

St. Andrews Subway station is on the Yonge-University-Spadina line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  It was opened to the public in 1963 and serves about 55,000 people a day.  St. Andrews subway station enters into both the Financial District of Toronto on the west side of University Avenue and the Entertainment District on the East side of University Avenue.  This makes St. Andrews extremely busy during rush hour periods as it carries people to and from work and in the evening when people are going to the Entertainment district for theatre, dancing and dining.

Financial District (click to enlarge)

The Financial district expands from Queen to King Streets (north /south) and University to Yonge (east /west).  I took these pictures of the towering monetary monuments coming out of the St. Andrews station as you look up. Financial institutions such as The First Canadian Place, Scotia Plaza, TD Centre, Royal Bank Plaza, RBC Centre, Telus Tower and currently under construction is the Trump International Hotel and Tower.  I imagine that what will follow will be a Downtown Toronto Casino as well.  The Ritz Carlton is also currently under construction too. Of special Historical interest, the First Canadian Place was built over the Old Toronto Star building, which was built in 1929 and abandoned in 1970 when The Toronto Star moved to 1 Yonge Street.

 

The Entertainment District is along King Street just west of University Avenue.  The Prince of Wales, Royal Alexandra, Canon and Roy Thompson Hall are all within 1 block from the St. Andrews Station. Shows currently playing in Toronto are: 

Entertainment District(click to enlarge)

"Princess Queen of the Desert" Princess of Wales Theatre
"Rock of Ages" Royal Alexandra
"Wicked" Canon Theatre

Aroma Indian Buffet (click to enlarge)

Plus the Toronto International Film Festival has a new home called, The Bell Lightbox featuring Tim Burton's work (Edward Scissorhands)

Restaurants nearby are varied, the popular Dunn Street Pub and there is an awesome Indian Buffet, called "Aroma" which we ate lunch in.  I must warn you though, if you blink you might miss it and believe me you won't want to ;P It features Chicken Tandori, Marsala, Samosa, Butter Chicken and delicious Honey Balls ! 

Sherbourne Subway

Inside Sherbourne Station
(click to enlarge)

The Sherbourne  Subway station is on the Bloor-Danforth Line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  It was opened in 1966 and serves 25,000 people a day.  That number isn’t surprising at all since it serves St. James Town, which the largest highrise district in Canada.  St. James Town houses over 20,000 people in one area making it the most densely populated area in North America.

Sea of Buildings in St. James Town
(click to enlarge)

There are 19 high rise buildings in one area, some of them rising 34 stories up (yes, I counted them).  Four of the buildings are Public Housing and are home to new immigrants to Canada.  St. James Town is also statistically the poorest neighbourhood in Toronto with the average income less than $20,000 per year, but the northern portion of Jamestown is Rosedale  (see “Rosedale” on my blog) which is one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Toronto.  

Bike racks, phone booths and dumpsters
(click to enlarge)

I stood there in the centre of a sea of buildings around me, and felt small and insignificant,  though people were friendly.   It didn't take long before I struck a conversation with some.  One person asked me "Oh, you don't live around here?" I replied, "No, I haven't seen anything like this before."  They laughed and said, "Well you haven't seen anything yet.  People jumping off balconies..." I didn't catch the rest of what was said.  I thought it strange they laughed about it but it was the way of life they grew accustomed to.  
In front of some buildings were racks and racks of bikes for those unable to afford cars and a collection of dumpsters. 

The Ongoing Construction in St. James Town
(click to enlarge)

St. James Town Park
(click to enlarge)

In every zone you could see ongoing construction signs, notices to amend, fences up, gates across and unfinished works always in progress.  Priorities are least here, I suppose.  The St. James Town West park was more of a walkway or a grassy clearing and then when the snow falls, it will become more like an ashen blanket.  One might think this all would become so uninspiring, but I noticed immediately such a strong sense of community.  


In large cities around the world, there are always the poverty stricken areas and Toronto does its best to offer the less fortunate a hand in opportunity to work, to live with dignity, shelter and food, regardless of race, religion or financial status.  Instead we embrace all our differences in way of food, culture, music and religion.  There are over 240 neighbourhoods in the GTA, each with its own identity and this is why Toronto is called, "the city of neighbourhoods."