Toronto The Beautiful – Streetcar Art!
I don’t know why – but I love the streetcars in Toronto.
We all know that the TTC is far from a perfect service. Prices are climbing, equipment is old, service times can be inconsistent and inconvenient.
However, I love the beauty of the streetcar. Maybe I’m the only one. Maybe I romanticize something that is outdated and a perfectly ordinary part of my life. I don’t know.
What I do know is that whenever I see a great photo of a TTC streetcar I stop and look. When I see a painting that depicts the Red Rocket cable car against the backdrop of downtown I wish I had it to hang in my apartment. Those pieces are some of my favourite and to me they always represent Toronto, a city that I love.
There’s a strong chance that I feel this way because I didn’t grow up in the city taking public transit on a regular basis. In fact, the first time I rode a streetcar would have been in 2002 on the 508 Lakeshore from Long Branch to the Humber College South campus. I didn’t see it as art then. I just saw it as a way to get from the train to school… I don’t even know when I started seeing them as beautiful. But somewhere along the line it happened.
I don’t know if streetcars will be part of the long term public transit plan in Toronto. I’m certainly not qualified to come up with such a plan. But I do know that for the rest of my life I will think of streetcars as part of the Toronto I came to love.
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Toronto The Beautiful – Streetcar Art!
By Joshua Murray
I don’t know why – but I love the streetcars in Toronto.
We all know that the TTC is far from a perfect service. Prices are climbing, equipment is old, service times can be inconsistent and inconvenient.
However, I love the beauty of the streetcar. Maybe I’m the only one. Maybe I romanticize something that is outdated and a perfectly ordinary part of my life. I don’t know.
What I do know is that whenever I see a great photo of a TTC streetcar I stop and look. When I see a painting that depicts the Red Rocket cable car against the backdrop of downtown I wish I had it to hang in my apartment. Those pieces are some of my favourite and to me they always represent Toronto, a city that I love.
There’s a strong chance that I feel this way because I didn’t grow up in the city taking public transit on a regular basis. In fact, the first time I rode a streetcar would have been in 2002 on the 508 Lakeshore from Long Branch to the Humber College South campus. I didn’t see it as art then. I just saw it as a way to get from the train to school… I don’t even know when I started seeing them as beautiful. But somewhere along the line it happened.
I don’t know if streetcars will be part of the long term public transit plan in Toronto. I’m certainly not qualified to come up with such a plan. But I do know that for the rest of my life I will think of streetcars as part of the Toronto I came to love.
Author profile
creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.
The Red Rockets are iconic of Toronto; perhaps moreso than the CN Tower. Love ’em!
Back in the late 1970’s there was a Toronto artist, I don’t know who, that did a series of Toronto street scenes in watercolour that always featured one of the old PCC streetcars as the focal point in the scene. I saw them for sale as prints in a number of shops around downtown T.O. at the time, but always put off buying one, much to my regret now. it’s funny how you put things off for another day; I keep promising myself to take the College/Dundas car that loops in High Park but haven’t gotten around to that yet either! The one streetcar watercolour print I remember the best is a Queen St. W. scene set just a block or so west of John Street just before you get to Spadina where the sidewalk widens out into a promenade with all the shops set back from the street. The sky has a moody look to it but the CN Tower and the bank towers at King & Bay are gleaming in sunlight while a 501 Queen car rolls west. I’ve tried hunting down the name of the artist through the TTC but never got a reply as I’d love to find a copy of that print — it really says “Toronto” to me.
Neil H.
Whitby, Ont