Street Signs

[EVCco]

Thank you!

Here's a few comparisons between what was, and what now is:

An interesting thing to note is how they kept the exact same font for Marshall McLuhan Way from the old sign, while if you look at the other new "Memorial Ways" in the previous pictures (Barbara Godard Way, Frank Alvarez Way) they are using another font entirely...

One definite improvement, however, is how many previously unmarked neighbourhoods/b.i.a.'s are now finally getting their own signs - albeit, often under new, unfamiliar, re-branded names.

 

[AlbertHWagstaff]

Awesome pictures. Thanks for all the hard work. Personally, I think all the newer signs look like garbage; the font, the layout. I wish the city would use more attractive poles as well. Those metal, hole punched poles are hideous.

Agreed. The placement of some of the new signs is also pretty poor in some cases. The Danforth Ave. sign at Luttrell (SE corner) is so far around the corner that if you are coming north on Luttrell it is invisilble until you are already around the corner and passing it. The older signs were usually placed close to the street corners and on steel pipes if no lamp posts were nearby. They seem to go out of their way to find odd places to put the new signs. And the punched poles also seem to be more "flimsy", and prone to being bent or knocked onto an angle, which never looks good.

 

[vic]

Late to this thread...should have checked it out sooner. Awesome stuff here!

Here's an oddity that I've been meaning to go back to photograph:
http://g.co/maps/sj2hm
At the corner of Dundas West and Brad in The Junction, there's a newish streetsign with the "Brad" spelling, and an old sign up on a building with "Bradd".

-Vic

 

[Lone Primate]

An interesting thing to note is how they kept the exact same font for Marshall McLuhan Way from the old sign

Because the medium IS the message, you see.

 

[EVCco]

Ha!

And here I though it was just Inconsistency that was the message...

 

[EVCco]

Here's an oddity that I've been meaning to go back to photograph:
http://g.co/maps/sj2hm
At the corner of Dundas West and Brad in The Junction, there's a newish streetsign with the "Brad" spelling, and an old sign up on a building with "Bradd".

-Vic

Great find!

Great inconsistency!

 

[DSC]

According to the City's online map and index of street names the spelling is BRAD.

 

[vic]

Ah! But this 1910 map shows it as "Bradd":
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-OHQ-MAPS-C-R-173&R=DC-OHQ-MAPS-C-R-173

Somewhere along the way, someone lost a "d".

 

[can332]

Agreed. The placement of some of the new signs is also pretty poor in some cases. The Danforth Ave. sign at Luttrell (SE corner) is so far around the corner that if you are coming north on Luttrell it is invisilble until you are already around the corner and passing it. The older signs were usually placed close to the street corners and on steel pipes if no lamp posts were nearby. They seem to go out of their way to find odd places to put the new signs. And the punched poles also seem to be more "flimsy", and prone to being bent or knocked onto an angle, which never looks good.

The city has adopted a new policy that the cross street sign should be on your right, on the near side, as you approach the intersection. When a cross-street ends at the road on which you are travelling, the policy often causes the sign to be on the opposite side of the street from which the mind would look for it. As well, Toronto used to place the signs for both streets on the same pole. Hence, when you told someone to meet you at Bay & Bloor, you could look up and see Bay & Bloor on the same post. Now, you must look around a bit more, which may not be the safest thing when you are driving or riding a bike. (Not to mention that the media often liked to take a shot of the two intersection signs on the same post to play in their segment - can't do that now.)

Hopefully, this well-intentioned rule will be relaxed in the future so that the signs will be able to be put where people expect them to be.

 

[can332]

Ah! But this 1910 map shows it as "Bradd":
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-OHQ-MAPS-C-R-173&R=DC-OHQ-MAPS-C-R-173

Somewhere along the way, someone lost a "d".

It certainly had lost the 2nd "D" by the early '70's, when I grew up there.

 

[can332]

Linsmore Crescent is another street with odd signs. Prior to amalgamation, the Toronto part of the street was named "Linnsmore Crescent", while further north East York named the same street "Linsmore Crescent", with one "n". It will be interesting to see which spelling the city settles upon.

 

[EVCco]

^reminiscent of the age old Melonville vs Mellonville debate

(2:40)

 

[Goldie]

 

[EVCco]

excellent sign stack!

a few others I found myself:

and here's an interesting small stack - confusing if you didn't know which was the north-south street and which the east-west:

 

[Goldie]

I think the public is in love with signs - we can't get enough of them!