Rocket Talk: Can Sunday Subway Service Start Sooner?
Newsstand: November 19, 2009
Gender Studies Coming to a High School Near You
Please Insert Station and Try Again
The Art of Not Knowing
When we first got a tip from Andrew Hunter that "someone has installed a new type of bike post along Yonge north of Lawrence," we were concerned that it might be the vanguard of the Coordinated Street Furniture onslaught of mass-produced uniformity. When we went down (yes, down) to visit the area, however, we were quite relieved to discover not Kramer-designed brontosaurus ribs but elegant, artfully crafted flourishes of metallic whimsy. Inspired by a similar project in which psychiatric survivors designed bike stands for the curb in front of the Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre (PARC), the Yonge Lawrence Village BIA commissioned two of the artists behind that project, Phil Sarazen and Jack Gibney, to fashion sixteen pieces, each featuring "a different aspect of community living." Studded into each block on both sides of Yonge Street north from Lawrence to Yonge Boulevard, they succeed in being everything that Astral's street furniture is not, and should serve as an inspiration to all neighbourhoods and BIAs as to what is possible when you're willing to invest in your community rather than sell it out.
Photos of eight more after the jump. And, yes, the wheels on the above can be spun.
All photos by Jonathan Goldsbie.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Pretty!
Cool.
definitely cool
I like em! The stylized clef is like music to my eyes.
The best part is, according to Phil, the design specs show they're sturdier than ring and posts. Also, provide training and paid apprenticeship work for St. Christopher House clients. Win, win, and more win.
I really like the stylized cyclist riding over a larger wheel, that one is really iconic.
Great idea, except the tree one looks flimsy and easily breakable.
These are like 2 blocks from my house on a street that I walk down every single day and I never noticed them. In fact I think I may have tied my dog to one of them.
I really have to start paying attention; they're rather nice.
Shame it's in a neighbourhood that is populated by SUVs and BMWs.
These are really surprisingly gorgeous and look well-made. Thanks for pointing them out!
what's wrong with BMW's?
Also: The first one DOES look like it might be hard to lock a bike to. Otherwise, these are charming and innovative.
deadrobot, the creative bicycle posts might encourage people to bike just so they can use them. (I know I would if I had a bike. I'm partial to the ones in the second and seventh photos.) These kinds of attention-getting posts also remind passersby that people do bike around Yonge and Lawrence, and that they can bike there too.
I live in this neighbourhood and there are loads of bike riders - all ages.
terrible title pun btw ;)
The pun in the title is terrible, but I was facing deadline and had been unable to come up with anything better, despite considerable time spent playing around with the words "post," "rack," etc. So I do apologize and acknowledge that it's not up to my usual standard.
How about Lawrence of Iraq?
Someone explain puns to Ben.
I would have gone with "Great Racks," "A Rack, No Phobia," or "Constitution Of A Rack," personally! :-P
These are so fantastic, and I wish this was a city-wide project (even though I've got a thing 'bout the post-and-ring). It would be cool to have Toronto known by tourists as the city with all the weird bike posts. If only our bike plan wasn't so laughably ineffective.
Very cool!
Very cool, hopefully we see some more interesting designs around Toronto.
"Great Racks" — that's more crude and sexist than is my style
"A Rack, No Phobia" — good, but still a bit of a stretch; plus, I already have a signature pun on "arachnophobia"
"Constitution Of A Rack" — I like this one; it doesn't have as much of a pop-culture bent as I like, but it's undoubtedly better than the one I went with
Screw you Yonge & Lawrence, Parkdale's are better! :p
I'm a grumpy git but these are great and I'd love to see some in my neck of the woods.
Definitely a nice touch .... thoughtful, useful, and engaging the passerby.
Tuds
The BIA on Bloor downtown doesn't even want bike racks, nice to see some are welcoming them.
Thanks for posting this.
Pure Gold-sbie
I see there are some new whimsical posts at the ROM as well, check out page 6 here.
http://v2.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/24hrstoronto/20080611/2008061101/