Street Signs

[pman]

OK, they're nothing special, but this is Toronto, not Paris. They could be a lot worse.

 

[EVCco]

Around that area there's also been a bunch of other new street signs going up with rather corny/gimicky BIA names like "Danforth Mosaic" and "Crossroads of the Danforth." I can only hope these are all as temporary as they look.

...

 

[donoreo]

"The Danny"?

 

[r937]

"The Danny"?

nobody who's from there calls it that

i hate it almost as much as i hate "the 6" and the painfully execrable "6ix"

 

[Skeezix]

That's appalling.

 

[christiesplits]

I actually found "Danforth Mosaic" worse.

 

[EVCco]

^Well, with this sign you get the best/worst of both worlds.

Ugh, this city sometimes...

 

[EVCco]

This thread has a lot of cool stuff. I'm glad someone out there is documenting these little details of city like street signs. I'd like to see a website that details the history of street signs, street furniture and street lights in Toronto.

this is definitely website material.

Your wish is my command - and it only took 8 years to get around to it....

Toronto Street Sign Database

Toronto Street Furniture Database

They are both wiki-based websites, so everyone and anyone with something to add can contribute - and, as I just finished setting them up, there's still lots to add/correct (especially the Furniture site as that's not really my area of interest). I've basically just been adding pictures so far. Hopefully some of you UT encyclopediacs will sign-up and help flesh-out the meatier info side of these sites...

 

[junctionist]

Your wish is my command - and it only took 8 years to get around to it....

Toronto Street Sign Database

Toronto Street Furniture Database

They are both wiki-based websites, so everyone and anyone with something to add can contribute - and, as I just finished setting them up, there's still lots to add/correct (especially the Furniture site as that's not really my area of interest). I've basically just been adding pictures so far. Hopefully some of you UT encyclopediacs will sign-up and help flesh-out the meatier info side of these sites...

That's fantastic. There's so much history in our street furniture, but no one seems to document it. It's part of the city's character. Sometimes, there's a lot of merit in terms of preserving street furniture from a placemaking standpoint. The old 19th century horse troughs come to mind as a particularly interesting example. Another example is the heritage street lighting on Palmerston Boulevard. But it won't happen unless people document and recognize the significance of street furniture.

 

[EVCco]

Indeed.
I just started adding to the lighting category - mostly newer:
http://tsfdb.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Lighting

Already had the horse trough/drinking fountain at St. James Park. Are there others elsewhere that you know of?

 

[DSC]

Street sign aficionados may be interested in:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/12/london-street-signs-nameplates-instagram

Amazing to still have signs from mid 1800s

 

[Goldie]

Thanks for those, DSC.
This one was particularly interesting:

 

[ShonTron]

The only old backlit sign left (apart from the Markham Street/Mirvish Village signs now hidden behind construction hoarding and presumed intact) is at the southwest corner of Logan and Danforth. Yellow sign that says "Danforth Ave. 479."

 

[gordon67]

I posted a few years ago about a white on aqua blue acorn sign we had in our basement for Scarboro Beach Blvd. My dad threw it out in the early 80s. (OUCH). His dad, who was a Toronto cop, ended up getting it when they changed out the signs for the black on white acorn ones. Anyone else ever hear of those signs?

I read a blog post that someone wrote about the centennial (back-lit) street sign colours (yellow for east-west and blue for north-south) mimicing street signs in Toronto from sometime in the 1800s. They were apparently the same colour for street orientation. But the author gave no reference to this claim. I have searched, but came up empty handed. Has anyone else ever heard of this?

And finally, came across this photo. Cast iron street signs. The person "thinks" they are from Toronto, but there is no Nicholson Ave. in Toronto. I suppose there could have been at one time. Anyone ever heard of signs looking like this in Toronto?

 

[lenaitch]

I posted a few years ago about a white on aqua blue acorn sign we had in our basement for Scarboro Beach Blvd. My dad threw it out in the early 80s. (OUCH). His dad, who was a Toronto cop, ended up getting it when they changed out the signs for the black on white acorn ones. Anyone else ever hear of those signs?

I read a blog post that someone wrote about the centennial (back-lit) street sign colours (yellow for east-west and blue for north-south) mimicing street signs in Toronto from sometime in the 1800s. They were apparently the same colour for street orientation. But the author gave no reference to this claim. I have searched, but came up empty handed. Has anyone else ever heard of this?

And finally, came across this photo. Cast iron street signs. The person "thinks" they are from Toronto, but there is no Nicholson Ave. in Toronto. I suppose there could have been at one time. Anyone ever heard of signs looking like this in Toronto?
View attachment 169156

I've not seen anything like those. I've also never seen a Toronto reference to the 'quadrant' designators. The only Canadian use I can think of is Calgary but there may be others. Possibly UK?