McCaul Street

McCaul Street is a favourite of mine. I have always thought of it as giant back laneway, probably because the building facades are so close to the sidewalk and because so much of the traffic consists of delivery vehicles. Nonetheless, I always find myself wandering south along McCaul from Baldwin to Queen. The street is a bit out of place because it feels so archaic with its still functional but lightly used streetcar tracks and its low-hanging cables. Remnants of the industrial city. Where it meets Baldwin this impression is heightened by the old store fronts, especially the huge glass windows and old lettering on the Yung Sing Chinese bakery, where my partner and I often seek out shrimp rolls. Walking south, there are some nice little cafes and small businesses tucked in on the west side before one reaches the AGO intersection with its corner cafe and pub (pictured here from the Daily Dose of Imagery), both of which are great places to sit and watch the traffic go by. I love the contrast of this old northern section with the postmodern OCAD building south of Dundas. Back in the early-1980s, when this area was still something of an artist colony, the warehouse-like building south of the new OCAD housed one of the best vintage clothing stores in the city, called 'Strange' (presumably to rhyme with Grange). This store, with its pointy shoes and all-black clothing, always comes to mind as I walk down to Queen on my way to Pages to browse.