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

[Skeezix]

Look you're entitled to your opinion about a long-gone record store just as I am baout mine all im try to say is that we are holding on to thisa sign becuse p[oel are nisatgc for along gone record store. What's net we put up an Eatons and a Sears sign up in dundas square too how about a Famous Players sign too well we are at it and we can have all of the stiore and place that ued to be in the are too. Maybe we can get ths shoppers drugmart to put up a Planet Holywood sign to well we are at it.

Nobody has said you aren't entitled to your opinion, so unclear why you keep harping on that. Everyone is disagreeing with you, which is a different thing completely.

 

[Isotack]

Look you're entitled to your opinion about a long-gone record store just as I am baout mine all im try to say is that we are holding on to thisa sign becuse p[oel are nisatgc for along gone record store. What's net we put up an Eatons and a Sears sign up in dundas square too how about a Famous Players sign too well we are at it and we can have all of the stiore and place that ued to be in the are too. Maybe we can get ths shoppers drugmart to put up a Planet Holywood sign to well we are at it.

Boy talk about missing the point. The sign represents nostalgia from a different time. In technical terms it is a gem. NEON is a lost art and this is a fantastic example of a true art form. None of the signs you quoted used neon like this one. Also, while visually stunning, the current collection of LED signage is fine for modern day, but none of it can depict what this sign will. As for the store itself, anyone who would compare an HMV selling only popular CDs and DVDs as superior to this particular Sams on Yonge, clearly has no appreciation or understanding for music or what it is or was.

 

[MetroMan]

View attachment 127696

Oh, gawd, this is terrible.

The classy modern look of the Brown & Story design is being turned into some gaudy 1990s mishmash.

 

[MetroMan]

Correct, the rendering does not show it centred.

View attachment 127290

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Too bad they’re mounting it on a building that’ll be gone sooner or later (probably sooner). That land is too valuable for a shitty low rise office building. I just hope that whatever goes there, better integrates the spinning records into its facade. They should really be close to street level to appreciate them as they were before.

 

[kotsy]

They should really be close to street level to appreciate them as they were before.

Agreed with that. The size of them is lost with the height they're being mounted at.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

The sign represents nostalgia from a different time. In technical terms it is a gem. NEON is a lost art and this is a fantastic example of a true art form.

Then put it in a museum, not on some random building that it doesn't belong on just to apse the people that have nostalgia for it.

 

[kotsy]

Then put it in a museum, not on some random building that it doesn't belong on just to apse the people that have nostalgia for it.

If it belongs anywhere, it's here. The entire square is already overrun with billboards and signs ffs. Nobody cares if this particular sign is for a business that doesn't exist anymore. Tourists and Torontonians alike will be taking pictures of this, just like they do the other billboards.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Tourists and Torontonians alike will be taking pictures of this, just like they do the other billboards.

Yup just keep telling yourself that. Only the people that actually cared about it or know it still exsited will bother to look at it. As I said a beter place for it would have been in amusem with aoot of other imprtanmt things from Torontos past but insted of bulding one we are putting them in random palces.

 

[Automation Gallery]

At its peak Sam's was the best store in Canada and up there with the best in the world.

Yup by a mile, and had any record you wanted, oh and all those 45s...hahaha

 

[Automation Gallery]

Sams was cramped and had uneven floors, it looked like it should have been renovated years ago but they decided not to do it. It had no upkeep to the inside of it at all.

That's what made it unique, just like Active Surplus that just vacated Queen Street, too bad everything nowadays is so generic..Yuk

 

[interchange42]

Yup just keep telling yourself that. Only the people that actually cared about it or know it still exsited will bother to look at it. As I said a beter place for it would have been in amusem with aoot of other imprtanmt things from Torontos past but insted of bulding one we are putting them in random palces.

You were using Grammarly for a while, right? Any reason that you quit using it?

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[44 North]

Then put it in a museum, not on some random building that it doesn't belong on just to apse the people that have nostalgia for it.

Reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

-It belongs in a museum!
-SO DO YOU!

Kidding aside, I agree with Kotsy. Dundas Square is already overrun with commercialized billboards, and the area isn't all that attractive. Adding a bit of light-up nostalgic flair, whether it belongs on a building or not, couldn't lessen this in any way. And Sam's does have a lot of nostalgia. Every time I hear the first few lines of Brian Wilson (drove downtown in the rain 9:30 on a Tues night) I think of childhood memories of tagging along with my dad to Sam's or HMV.

 

[ADRM]

Hell, I don't have really an ounce of emotional attachment to Sam's and I think the sign makes perfect sense in the square.

 

[Skeezix]

Hell, I don't have really an ounce of emotional attachment to Sam's and I think the sign makes perfect sense in the square.

Well, exactly. One can appreciate the cultural heritage aspects, or even just respect a notable example of Toronto commercial neon signage. Despite the claims of one person here, it is not all about nostalgia or sentiment for a record store.

 

[syn]

Too bad they’re mounting it on a building that’ll be gone sooner or later (probably sooner). That land is too valuable for a shitty low rise office building. I just hope that whatever goes there, better integrates the spinning records into its facade. They should really be close to street level to appreciate them as they were before.

Agreed. Based on what I saw a few days ago, the scale of this render is off. They'll probably look smaller.

The old Hard Rock would've been a good spot for them.