Lower Bay Station Filming Location

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  1013 Critchley Lane
Date: May 2018
Website:  transit.toronto.on.ca

  The Toronto Transit Commission runs the subway system in Toronto.  Bay Station is one of the stations along Bloor Street.  Bay Station also has a hidden lower station beneath it which was only used briefly in 1966.  It has become known as Lower Bay and has not seen much action as far as commuters since it was closed.  What it has seen is an increase in movie stars.

  We finally visited Lower Bay during Doors Open Toronto 2018 when the public was allowed inside.  You enter the station from the platform of Bay Station.

  Then you head down a long stairwell to this hidden filming location.  Over a series of posts we will describe some of the movie scenes filmed on the TTC.  We hunted down these movies and actually watched them.  The TTC had posters from some of the movies displayed on the platform.  Also thanks goes out to Transmania Ontario for this video, Transit Toronto for this list, and Reel Toronto for these posts.  We have chosen not to get too detailed on the plot or to express our opinion of the movies. A lot of them despite featuring well known actors are not well known movies for a reason.  You will just have to decide if you want to watch them for yourselves.

Okay, let's see what Hollywood has been doing in Toronto's sub-subway.
 
SUICIDE SQUAD

  Suicide Squad is the highest grossing movie ever filmed in Lower Bay Station.  The movie is part of the DC comics universe and is about a woman who becomes possesed by a witch known as Enchantress.  Enchantress frees her brother who possesses a man.   He goes out onto the Lower Bay platform and takes over several other people.  They all fall onto the tracks and using the third rail for strength he crashes through a subway train.  We couldn't get onto the tracks during Doors Open as two subway trains were parked there for safety reasons.

  The Suicide Squad is assembled from a group of imprisoned criminals to defeat the Enchantress.  Later in the movie, the Suicide Squad wait outside Toronto's Bay Station.  They replaced the exisiting BAY sign with a different Bay St. sign for the movie.

  Deadshot (Will Smith) leans against the tiled wall on the right while Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) sits on the escalator rail on the left.  Special forces colonel Rick Flag, Killer Croc, El Diablo, Captain Boomerang and Katana are all there as well.

   Killer Croc swims into a flooded lower portion of the station and the rest of the crew walk the Lower Bay platform which is covered in remains and black residue from the Enchantress's brother's attack.  It seems they used Lower Bay to pretend it was Upper Bay for the movie.

MAX PAYNE

 

  Max Payne is a movie based on a video game.  Mark Wahlberg is a cop with a dark past obsessed with finding out who killed his wife and child.
 

  He walks along the platform and three twitchy junkies sit on a wooden bench.  They notice his nice shiny watch.  When he enters the men's room they confront him for his watch. He tells them to come and get it.  The washroom gets destroyed. One junkie runs into the tunnel where he is attacked by flying shadows. Mark keeps his watch.

RESIDENT EVIL : RETRIBUTION
 

  You can usually tell a movie is filmed in Lower Bay by its distinctive white pillars with a blue green stripe near the top.   Almost all of the movies we watched did nothing to hide them.  Resident Evil : Retribution is a zombie movie based on a video game and stars Milla Jovovich.  Milla walks along a subway platform with her daughter.  This time Lower Bay station is made up to look like a Russian subway station with large yellow and red pillars.  They encounter Michelle Rodriguez there and Milla gives Michelle a gun to defend herself from the zombie hoardes.  Milla leaves to rescue the rest of her team and after a car chase they all end up back on the subway platform.  They escape by going down into the subway tunnel.  When they climb down from the platform onto the tracks you can see the distinctive Lower Bay pillars.  You can also see the fancy Russian pillars behind them further along the platform. They only dressed part of the station for the movie and figured we wouldn't notice.

  Since Lower Bay is an unused station it also much safer to film there than at a live station.  You can cut all the power when your franchise star (from six Resident Evil movies) gets near the third rail.  Not to mention the film crew.  The photo above shows a list of required equipment for all the crew.


DARKMAN II

    Another movie that filmed somewhere on the TTC was Darkman II.  We started to realize that the posters on display were not all movies filmed at Lower Bay, but somewhere on the TTC system.  We also realized that the Darkman poster they had on display was for the original movie and not the sequel.  The first movie was directed by Sam Rami, filmed in Los Angeles and starred Liam Neeson as Darkman.  The sequel was directed by Bradford May, filmed in Toronto and starred Arnold Vosloo as Darkman.  Liam Neeson has a very particular set of skills so you just can't go and replace him.  Anyway, the only short scene from Darkman II that was filmed on the TTC is when Darkman drives his home-made train car through the tunnels.

  During Doors Open we were able to go into the front subway car and take some photos of the subway tunnels.  Many actors have run into one of the four tunnels at Lower Bay and maybe even the non Liam Neeson Darkman rode his special train car through here too.

UNDERCOVER BROTHER

  There was a poster of Undercover Brother in Lower Bay.  We could not determine where or if this movie ever filmed on the TTC.  Maybe some deleted scenes?  This seems like a good spot to end this blog post as we are going to go and watch Undercover Brother one more time.  We will revisit Lower Bay Station again in another post.

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

Map of Our World
Lower Bay Station

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Post # 224

Sharks Take Buffalo By Storm

Location: Buffalo, New York, USA
Address:  420 Main Street
Date: July 2018
Website:  www.mainliberty.com

  As we traveled around Buffalo, New York we noticed that they have really embraced their city's name.  Everywhere we looked we saw American bison (aka buffalo).  There was this colourful mural on Hertel Avenue called Magic Buffalo (above).

  There was a buffalo sculpture outside of the Child & Family Services building near the airport.

  We enjoyed a very nice lunch at The Terrace at Delaware Park.  They had a well dressed buffalo painted on the wall inside.  There was a wedding in the rose garden beside the Terrace as we arrived.  This buffalo would have fit right in.  On second thought, the giant, furry head and horns may have made him stand out.
 

  There were buffalo in the artwork on the side of buildings.

  And finally, there was an actual American Bison at the Buffalo Zoo.  Of course.

  The only place we didn't see buffalo was at our hotel, Reikart House.  They had a little monkey bellhop called Jocko.  He was on our menus, coasters, writing pads and even hidden in the wallpaper.

 We were not looking for buffalo or monkeys.  We were looking for sharks.  We had heard there were some in Lafayette Square near the Soldiers & Sailors Monument.  Anyone who has been reading this far and thought this blog post was going to be about sports, we are sorry.  We do see how the title could have mislead you into thinking San Jose defeated the Sabres in a hockey game.

  2014 was a bad year for sharks in Buffalo.  Or a good year depending on how you look at it.  Sharknado 2 : The Second One premiered on July 30, 2014.  This was a made for TV movie based on the ridiculous premise of tornadoes pulling sharks out of the ocean and dropping them onto major cities.  In the original Sharknado, Los Angeles was under attack.  This time it is New York City.  Once again Ian Ziering, best known as Steve from Beverly Hills 90210, must save the day.

  When it came to filming the movie, a second crew traveled upstate and visited Buffalo to film a few scenes.  The extras grabbed pitchforks or anything else they could find in the trunks of their cars as the sharks fell from the sky.  You can see them running in the streets away from the Liberty Building (above).  In the previous photo you can see the small Statue of Liberty that sits on the roof of the building.

  Basically sharks rain down and it is either kill or be killed for these poor extras.  During filming we imagine they had no idea what they were fighting as the computer generated sharks were added later.

 An older, bearded man tosses three chainsaws up into the wind to fend off the sharks.  Yet another warning needed on chainsaws.  "Not to be thrown into a tornado."
 

  Finally, a Zevon Brothers Fireworks truck explodes right outside the H & R Block above.  The sharknado has been defeated for now.  The Last Sharknado is set to air in August 2018 and will be the sixth movie for the series.

  In August of 2014 a different kind of shark arrived in Buffalo.   Shark Girl appeared down at Canalside.  She came from Cleveland and was not flown in by the sharknado.

  Shark Girl is the creation of artist Casey Riordan Millard and she sits waiting for someone to join her on her rock.  We took a few photos with Shark Girl and she just sat quietly in her blue dress.

  In a city full of buffalo, it was fun to fish for a few sharks.  Oh, and we liked the monkey too!

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Map of Our World
Magic Buffalo , Child & Family Services Buffalo , Soldiers & Sailors Monument , Shark Girl
The Terrace at Delaware Park , Reikart House
Liberty Building
Buffalo Zoo
Sharknado (Buffalo)

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Post # 223

Please Look After This Bear

Location: London, England
Address:  Paddington Station, Praed Street
Date: September 2015
Website:  www.networkrail.co.uk

  Michael Bond wrote A Bear Called Paddington in 1958.  In the book a bear was found at Paddington Station in London, England.  The bear was from Peru and loved marmalade.  He was very polite and wore a big hat and carried a suitcase.  He was found by the Brown family with a sign that said "Please look after this bear."  They decided to do just that.

   When we visited England in 2015 we also found a bear at Paddington Station.  He was bronze and wore a big hat and was seated on a suitcase.  He also had a sign that said "Please look after this bear."

   Paddington bear was named after the station where he was found.  He has appeared in many of Michael Bond's books through the years.  Paddington is much loved in England and around the world.  In 2000 this statue was placed at Paddington in his honour.

  Paddington dolls are also very popular.  Paddington bear is known to innocently get into mischief.  The doll above was getting into some mischief in Hamley's toy store on Regent Street.  Hamley's is the oldest toy store in the world.

  In 2014 a Paddington movie was made.  Paddington had already had a stop-motion television series that was popular in the 70's.  The new movie featured a computer generated bear.

  To promote the film various Paddingtons were placed around London on what was called The Pawprint Trail.  This Paddington above is sort of a blue velvet looking one.

  Paddington is such a sweet character and will be thought of fondly for many years to come.  We suggest if you ever find yourself at Paddington Station please look out for this bear. Thank you.

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Map of Our World
Paddington Bear Statue
Paddington Station
Hamley's

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Post # 222