Chihuly

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 100 Queens Park
Date: Nov 2016 
Website:  www.chihuly.com

  We attended a Friday Night Live event at the Royal Ontario Museum.  This is where the museum stays open late and there are drinks and food and DJs while you browse the exhibits.  We were lucky enough that a special exhibit called Chihuly was running when we visited.

  The exhibit is named after Dale Chihuly who is known for his colourful glass creations.

  The first two works created by Chihuly and his team featured boats.  The first was full of giant coloured marbles and the second contained what looked like blue and purple flowers.

 

  The next huge display was like a jungle of swirling and twisted glass.

  Another piece seemed very familiar.  It consisted of glass in the shape of flowers sitting on top of a clear glass ceiling.

  The reason the colourful flowers seemed so familiar is that they reminded us of the Bellagio hotel lobby in Las Vegas (pictured above).  The ceiling there is covered with a work of art called "Fiori di Como".  It was created by none other than Dale Chihuly.

 

   Chihuly was thrown through the windshield of a car in a 1976 accident which left him injured and blind in one eye.  Since then he has relied on his team to help create these beautiful glass works of art. We paused to think that the very thing Chihuly loved to create with was what took away his vision and caused him harm.

 

  There were many coloured bowls and pieces created to look like icicles or giant spikes. 

  Some neon blue tubes looked like sparks of light.

  We made our way through a walkway covered by giant curved flowers in fall colours of yellow and orange.

 

  The last part of the exhibit showed aboriginal art and blankets.  We enjoyed the displays and marvelled at how Chihuly and his team had managed to coax glass into all manner of colours and shapes.  The Chihuly event runs at the Royal Ontario Museum until January 8, 2017.

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This location is near Museum subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World
Royal Ontario Museum

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Post # 149

Bathurst Station Honest Ed's Tribute

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 819 Bathurst Street
Date: Nov 2016 
Website:  www.ttc.ca

   The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) has redesigned Bathurst Station in honour of its neighbour Honest Ed's.  The famous store is closing its doors at the end of 2016 and just north of the Bathurst and Bloor Street East intersection is the nearest subway.  As a tribute, all of the signage has been redone with the help of Honest Ed's sign makers.

 

 

  When we arrived at the station to make one last visit to Honest Ed's we were pleased to see all of the signs.  They all appear to be hand painted just like the pricing signs inside the store.

  There was even  a tribute to the vault that was known as Ed's office door.

 

     The windows at street level are all painted with the kind of humourous slogan you would find inside Honest Ed's but with a twist.  They all relate to the TTC.  Below are some clever examples which usually incorporate subway station names.

 

 

 

 

   There is talk of this becoming a permanent change and we hope that it does. 

  Down on the Eastbound platform we spotted a row of Honest Ed's trivia.  A lot of these little bits of trivia helped us write our previous post.  These included such things as Toronto Mayor Nathan Phillips blowing the power when he attempted to light up the Honest Ed's sign.  It also mentioned 20,000 people coming to see Mr.T at the height of his A-Team, Rocky fame.  If Mr.T was to come to Honest Ed's for the store closing we are sure they could get 5 times the amount of people to show up.  It's all due to the nostalgia factor.  That is why once Honest Ed's closes its doors we hope that this TTC tribute remains as a reminder of the way things were.

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This location is near Bathurst subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World
Bathurst Station

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Post # 148

Honest Ed's

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 581 Bloor Street West
Date: Nov 2016
Website:  www.mirvish.com

  A bargain centre like this happens once in a lifetime.   Honest Ed's opened in 1948 and will close its doors for good on Dec 31st, 2016 after almost 70 years in business.  It was a place where you could find almost anything for sale and usually at a great deal.

  Honest Ed Mirvish was the owner of the store until he passed away in 2007 at the age of 92.  He is also known for his contributions to Toronto theatre including operating the Royal Alexandra Theatre as well as building the Princess of Wales Theatre.

  Honest Ed was known for throwing his own birthday party and everyone was invited.  There would be free drinks, food, prizes, rides and more.   Since 1987 he hosted an annual Christmas turkey give-away and through the years has given away 40,000 turkeys.  Both of these events drew huge crowds and proved extremely popular for the store.

 

  Honest Ed always has catchy slogans and the store is covered with them both inside and out.

  The 160,000 square foot store stretches along Bloor Street West from Bathurst.Street.

  In the middle of the store is Honest Ed Alley.  A glass walkway connects the two parts of the store.  Looking south from this walkway you can see the CN Tower.

  On the west side of the alley is a vault door.   It used to have a sign hanging over it stating that it was Ed's office.  Perhaps it is a special spot where Ed used to do his work or it could just be the emergency exit.  Who knows?

   The large Honest Ed's signage has 23,000 light bulbs that bring the corner of Bathurst and Bloor to life at night.

   Inside the world famous bargain centre you can see why they say "Come in and Get Lost".  There are tables of merchandise everywhere and stairs in every corner.  It is very easy to get turned around inside the store and not be able to find your way out.  To make matters worse, all the entrances are one way turnstiles so once you are inside you have no choice but to shop your way to the checkout.

  There are two sign painters who make hundreds of signs each week.  These hand painted signs are used to advertise the prices inside the store.  Since the store declared that it was closing, these signs have been made available for purchase so that the people of Toronto can hold onto a tiny piece of Honest Ed's once it is gone.

  We finally made our way to the checkout line.  Ed Mirvish has made his store a one of a kind shopping experience.  As we left the checkout there was a painting on the wall of Harvey the invisible rabbit from one of the Mirvish theatre productions.  Now is your last chance to visit Honest Ed's because soon it will be something people may not believe existed.  When you try to explain about the giant store with cheap prices, thousands of lights and an owner who kept giving things away for free, they may think you are cuckoo.  Or did Ed's prices already make you that way?

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This location is near Bathurst subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World
Honest Ed's

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Post # 147