The Day that Queen Street Burned

When I got there this afternoon this big fire was still burning.

As if it hadn't destroyed enough.

This is what was left of Duke's.... my favourite bike store in Toronto.

Gone after 95 years.















(Click pic to enlarge)

Gone too...forced into the bitter cold.... all the poor old and young people who lived...or squatted...in the rundown apartments above the stores.

How sad.

I loved this old part of Queen Street. The little shops, the falafel joint , the young punks and the old drunks.

It reminded me of St Laurent street in Montreal before it got gentrified.

















A little bit of anarchy and sleaze in the heart of the urban blandness.

So Sébastien and I took these pictures to help us remember what it was like.














Because the writing is on the wall.

They'll rebuild the block. But it won't be the same place.

Because its soul will be gone...