Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Where are the most obscure laneways?
|
|
|
Toronto's hidden laneways
- Thread starter Urban Shocker
- Start date
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
With access easy-to-miss, and back gardens or old garages abutting them, in Riverdale:
* The dirt laneway you access between 77 and 79 Riverdale Avenue.
* The tiny laneway you access between 32 and 34 Langley Avenue.
* The dirt laneway you access between 77 and 79 Riverdale Avenue.
* The tiny laneway you access between 32 and 34 Langley Avenue.
Mustapha
Senior Member
Pics?
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Nope. You have to go there. It's a fitness thing.
These two aren't shortcuts that pedestrians or cyclists from the general public would find of any practical use - they're cul-de-sacs, little worlds unto themselves, and private property. There must be others, all across town, with the same level of obscurity and uselessness. UT members may know of some, near where they live.
These two aren't shortcuts that pedestrians or cyclists from the general public would find of any practical use - they're cul-de-sacs, little worlds unto themselves, and private property. There must be others, all across town, with the same level of obscurity and uselessness. UT members may know of some, near where they live.
vic
Senior Member
Have you ever been on one of Graeme Perry's "Laneway Bike Tours"?
http://www.graemeparry.com/laneways/
He certainly knows a few interesting places. My wife and I did his Junction tour last year.
http://www.graemeparry.com/laneways/
He certainly knows a few interesting places. My wife and I did his Junction tour last year.
androiduk
Senior Member
There's a laneway (Glen Baillie Place) between the stores in Chinatown on the west side of Spadina just north of Dundas. It looks like a regular lane but when you walk down it you run into about a dozen houses and it looks like a regular street.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
vic: The obscure dead-end lanes and alley's I'm trying to identify aren't likely to be on such a tour, though. The one on Riverdale has a sign warning trespassers that they will be prosecuted, for instance; the one on Langley probably isn't backed onto by more than about twenty homes, and the entrance to it is so descreet that some neighbours are probably unaware it exists. I assume both were the result of homeowners banding together in the 1920s or '30s in order to build garages for their brand new Model Ts and create access to them. There's a larger, more "public", dead-end laneway on that street - accessed between numbers 132 and 136 - that I assume was probably put together in that way, and is now City owned.
Mustapha
Senior Member
A few blocks N and W... Glasgow street running N off Cecil is kinda like this.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Glasgow Street was the site of that popular Nuit Blanche dumpster hotel a couple of years ago.
But neither Glen Baillie Place nor Glasgow are particularly obscure. What I'm suggesting we seek out are the unnamed lanes and alleys inserted between homes - unpaved maybe, little known even to many local residents, and certainly not part of bicycle tours that get covered in the media.
But neither Glen Baillie Place nor Glasgow are particularly obscure. What I'm suggesting we seek out are the unnamed lanes and alleys inserted between homes - unpaved maybe, little known even to many local residents, and certainly not part of bicycle tours that get covered in the media.
adma
Superstar
junctionist
Senior Member
Can I ask why? What's the appeal to non-locals?
SimonP
Active Member
Not quite the same thing, but some of my favourite places in Toronto are the hidden little passages and laneways that you might never think to wander down, but lead to neat destinations.
One example is on Yonge just south of St. Clair where you pass between two stores and after a short walk arrive at St. Michael's Cemetery. It's impossible to see from any street, but covers a whole ten acres hidden in the centre of midtown.
Another example is on Balsam St in the Beaches where you can wander down a path between two homes and get to a staircase down to the Glen Stewart ravine, which is one of the least travelled of the city's ravines.
I'd love to learn about any examples similar to these in Toronto.
One example is on Yonge just south of St. Clair where you pass between two stores and after a short walk arrive at St. Michael's Cemetery. It's impossible to see from any street, but covers a whole ten acres hidden in the centre of midtown.
Another example is on Balsam St in the Beaches where you can wander down a path between two homes and get to a staircase down to the Glen Stewart ravine, which is one of the least travelled of the city's ravines.
I'd love to learn about any examples similar to these in Toronto.
Mustapha
Senior Member
In the blocks NW of Avenue Road and Lawrence there are several lanes behind Bedford Park Av and a few other streets. Some are unpaved. Newer larger homes have their parking out front, and some of these back lanes look rather forgotten. When I see these lanes I imagine children should be playing in them but they are always empty.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Mustapha: Yes. Those - and SimonP's suggestions - might be the sort of obscure places that time forgot we're after. Hidden in plain view.
You'll have to do a trespassers photo tour of the hidden Riverdale and Langley lanes if you drop by to see the bowling club house being moved ( no further transit, as of this morning ). Having Google-Earthed quite a bit of the city in search of similar hidden lanes and alleys, I'm starting to realize how unusual it is to have three such unconnected networks within a single residential block.
You'll have to do a trespassers photo tour of the hidden Riverdale and Langley lanes if you drop by to see the bowling club house being moved ( no further transit, as of this morning ). Having Google-Earthed quite a bit of the city in search of similar hidden lanes and alleys, I'm starting to realize how unusual it is to have three such unconnected networks within a single residential block.