Yonge-Dundas Square/Sankofa Square (Brown + Storey Architects)

[EastYorkTTCFan]

It was never going above 10 Dundas East. It's going above 277 Victoria St so it will have some breathing room from all the other billboards currently seen from the square

Wherever it goes I will never really get the nestalga people have for this sign. It isn't historical it's nestalga. Neon is dead just like tube TVs and dot-matrix printers and kodack film.

 

[Transportfan]

The screen is working already!? I was visiting the city last Thursday and saw the trucks arriving with the screen panels.

 

[Bob Burnhamthorpe]

Wherever it goes I will never really get the nestalga people have for this sign. It isn't historical it's nestalga. Neon is dead just like tube TVs and dot-matrix printers and kodack film.

It most certainly is historical.

It is a beautiful reminder of an immensely important part of Toronto's history.

 

[Bob Burnhamthorpe]

This thread is making me wanna watch Night Moves/Walk/Ride (oh, Guido, your music will always be in my heart) ... for the 800 trillionth time.

Remember the beautiful (simple, though) A&A Records sign almost beside Sam's? I dunno why, but I always prefered that sign over the Sam's sign. Shame they didn't keep it.

 

[stjames2queenwest]

Signs are cool! Semiotics is a legit visual language that should be celebrated. Neon signage is a art form! It may be dated but that's why it should be valued. Also there is definitely a resurgence of neon glass working.
I'd be all for a mix of signs around the square. The el mocambo palm would be great. I hope it's ok wherever it is.

 

[kotsy]

The el mocambo palm would be great. I hope it's ok wherever it is.

It's being upgraded and re-mounted at the venue sometime in the future.

 

[Johnny Au]

It's being upgraded and re-mounted at the venue sometime in the future.

It should have some signage in Chinese characters as well, given that it's in Chinatown.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

It most certainly is historical.

It is a beautiful reminder of an immensely important part of Toronto's history.

I don't see it as being historical and I would be there are many poel in Toronto that couldn't care less about it either. It got held on to because of sentimentality an nistala. People are matching their personal history to it. It's an old neon sign.I do agree it should be put somewhere but keeping t in Dundas Square for the sack of it being there is just wrong. We should build a proper museum of Toronto where this stuff can be disabled.

 

[ksun]

I picked age 40 because people around that age are the ones most likely have to gone to sam the record man most often. I'm in my 30's I went there once or twice. I just don't get why pole have some sort of attachment to some old neon sign that we have to save them so that people can see them somewhere. To me Sam the recd man was just another store, should we be saving the HMV sign now too because it's iconic? What if Zanzabar close down should we save it's facade too? I just feel like the Sam the record man sign and the Honest Eds sign are out of place in downtown Toronto now.

I agree with you. Some might wishfully think those signs are somehow "iconic" or represent something they don't. No, they are just failed businesses that were once well known. I wonder where we have a sign for Nortel?

It is obvious in 10 years or 20, young people will look at those signs and wonder what the hell they are. When the nostagic old people explain to them how significant they were as part of the Toronto culture, few would get what the big deal is, because it isn't. We are just pretending to preserve something that has a lot of historical value for the city when in fact there is little.

 

[Northern Light]

For me, the issue of the older retail signs being salvaged and repurposed triggers this notion.

'Context is Everything'

I'm not in love w/the old Sam's sign or the Honest Ed's one. That said, I can appreciate them, I grew up with them, and were they present where they once stood, or attached to a modern day
discount emporia or music store, I'd be all for their continued life.

But I must admit, to me, preserving them in this way lacks value/meaning.

The once Pantages theatre already has a history of its own. This sign takes away from that, if does anything.

It all feels very out of place, like that street of heritage homes in Markham that were all relocated away from their original context, or the ruins @ Guildwood that to me feel like art/architecture w/o a real home.

These things do have a value, but that is at least in part because of the context in which they sat. It's their relationships to buildings, streets, businesses and ideas.

Remove them from all that.......and you've lost much of what made them important.

 

[Bogtrotter]

Isn't the installation above the square pretty much a done deal? It is being restored at some expense I take it.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

I agree with you. Some might wishfully thinking those signs are somehow "iconic" or represent something they don't. No, they are just failed businessed that were once well known. I wonder where we have a sign for Nortel?

It is obvious in 10 years or 20, young people will look at those signs and wonder what the hell they are. When the nostagic old people explain to them how significant they were as part of the Toronto culture, few would get what the big deal is, because it isn't. We are just pretending to preserve something that has a lot of historical value for the city when in fact there is little.

Exactly my point my nephew who is almost 2 will never have the attachment or probably won't care about the Samn the record man sign in the same way that some older poel in this city do. Like I said I before I've been into sms before it closed and never found it anything special.

 

[MetroMan]

Work has started on the major media additions to Yonge Dundas Square. They’re currently adding screens to the light posts.

There’s a slight convex curve to these displays. They’re too small to be used as anything other than advertising billboards. Their portrait orientation hints at this.

Work on the canopy doesn’t appear to have started yet. I’d rather they not touch the canopy and instead wrap screens around the pillars like they have in Union Station. Here’s the plan that was released:

 

[MetroMan]

The Eaton Centre electronic billboard facing into the square has finally had its finishings completed. There had been some angry ramblings on this forum that this sign was left in a raw state with exposed sides. A centre pillar screen has been added to unify the two signs and a trim was fitted around the ensemble.

There’s still room for a sign on top where once there was a ticker. Perhaps we’ll see one added at a later date.

 

[kotsy]

I actually just posted this in the Eaton Centre where all the other screen discussion took place