Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. By SpecterIN AN ALLEY BEHIND THE HORSESHOE TAVERNPHOTO BY SPECTER.......

Discarded building materials. Numerous species of wildlife. The odd quonset hut. Elements such as these make the Leslie Street Spit an oasis for the ever-curious, with a steady stream of discoveries waiting for unsuspecting walkers or cyclists. Towards the western end of the spit, the main pathway along the north side narrows into a low bridge, where this sign instructs users on the proper state of excitement required if the need arises the turn......

It looks like some ad pillars went on a diet this weekend. Last week, we pointed out that this advertisement had a rather embarrassing misspelling in gazillion-point type. Someone must be reading Torontoist, because the superfluously-vowelled poster was replaced by an error-free version over the weekend, just a couple of days after we shone our searchlight of publicity on it. Even The Fixer would have been hard-pressed to match our rapid turnaround. One commenter......

ThinkWater.ca, the Canadian manifestation of the United Nations' Water for Life campaign, is by all appearances a worthy project, aimed at educating citizens in various facets of water conservation, from the problems with bottled water, to the benefits of more efficient toilets. One of its TV ads [MPG], in which random shoppers in Kensington Market are quizzed on their knowledge of storm water management (and are grossed out to learn that everything that goes......

Former Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier lives on as a program in the 1982 Disney film Tron. Torontoist reader Brent created these "enhanced" bank notes. Contrary to popular belief, defacing currency is not illegal in Canada. For defaced currency from elsewhere in the world, check out the defaced presidents Flickr pool. Via Laughing Squid.......

Someone is blurring the line between art and industry on Merton Street just east of Yonge. That's where you'll find this fairly typical valve and meter assembly supplying natural gas to a local office building. But is that all it does? Closer inspection reveals a gallery-like description suspended from one of the pipes: Title: "Quo Vadis" Sculptor: Warga Baskerville Medium: Steel PipeIndustrial artifacts and designs can definitely have a beauty all their own, but......

It may beat a straight-up name or number, but this tagger near Avenue Road and Lawrence could surely do better than 90s bumper sticker slogans. It's not just about design, people, it's about philosophy. Photo by rupert affen from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.......

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. Artist Unknown.AT WILLISON PLACEPHOTO BY SOPWITH.......

We're happy to report that the looser who sat behind you in Grade 12 English class just got a job as a copy writer. You always knew that he'd make his mark on the world in some way, didn't you? How exactly does such a glaring mistake make it through all of the design and approval stages that must be required before an ad like this is even printed? Interestingly, they managed to spell......

Have you ever cycled along the Pickering and Ajax waterfronts? You should. It's one of the best recreational bike rides in the GTA with beautiful scenery and mostly-flat trails, but presents Toronto cyclists with a big problem: how to get there. Because the Waterfront Trail all but disappears through most of Scarborough, you're stuck with either riding the long, miserable route along Kingston Road and Lawrence Avenue to get to Pickering or driving your......

No, those aren't Tibetan prayer flags strung up at Yonge and Carlton—it's Toronto Hydro airing their dirty laundry for all to see, and if our own observations are any indicator, the windblown apparel is attracting a lot of mystified attention from pedestrians below. The stunt is a reminder that they're giving out free clotheslines at Costco, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot for two more weekends. The campaign is targeting clothes dryers because the average dryer......

It seems that some Toronto taggers are no longer content to scrawl their own names on blank concrete canvases around the city and are trying instead to make more of a cultural statement. Last year, references to composer Gustav Mahler popped up in several places around town. This year, a more cryptic stencil has appeared on the Humber Bay Arch Bridge, boldly proclaiming "ISBN 486-28495-6" for all to see and ponder. This International Standard......

At 6:45 a.m., Cy Goldsbie spotted a guy spraypainting this message on both of Spadina station's Spadina-immediately-north-of-bloor entrances and was kind enough to snap these pics for us. TTC labour issues and graffiti, together again at last.......

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. Artist Unknown.ON THE TORONTO WESTERN HOSPITALPHOTO BY SOPWITH.......

In the fall of 1997, the Metro Toronto Zoo had something of a clearance sale, divesting itself of merchandise branded "Metro Toronto Zoo." On January 1st, the Megacity would be coming, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto would be no more, and the Zoo—to be renamed simply the "Toronto Zoo"—would be prepared for the change. The Metropolitan Toronto Police, however, were not quite as on the ball. Two years later, in 2000, the organization finally......

A boarded-up house on Sherbourne Street makes a desperate plea for attention and care. Sad, but much nicer than the "AVENGE ME" and "REDRUM" that you typically see on talking houses.......

Two ads for local bakeries lay side-by-side in an evening newspaper. One will become an international food empire (albeit one in the midst of boardroom turmoil), the other will find that a walking loaf of bread does not ensure longevity. George Weston (1865–1924) entered the bread business at the age of 12, learning the craft at several local bakeries. At 17 he purchased two bread routes that mark the beginning of the company that......

As it happened, this wasn't the only ATU ad in the subway car to which this message had been appended. Photo taken by Jonathan Goldsbie on the Yonge line.......

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. By EYES and UBERON THE LEASIDE BRIDGEPHOTO BY POST.......

On April 3rd, Trevor Norris successfully defended his dissertation "Consuming, Schooling and the End of Politics" and was awarded a PhD in Philosophy of Education by the Ontatio Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). On April 4th, a party was held at the Bedford Academy in his honour. Little did Trevor know that into this party would explode his friends in the shape of a uniformed marching band, banging......

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. Artist Unknown.AT GRACE AND HARBORDPHOTO BY REK.......

Kleercut WARNING! Contains clearcut ancient forests www.kleercut.net When CBS Outdoor wrapped St. George station in vinyl ads promoting a certain brand of facial tissue, Greenpeace's Kleercut campaign decided to tackle the omnipresent sales pitch by generously sprinkling the premises with doses of perspective, reminding subway riders that the softness of Kimberly-Clark's products comes at the expense of unsustainably-harvested ancient forests, including the Boreal. To Kimberly-Clark, puppies may be adorable, but caribou, eagles, bears, and......

"Missed Connection posts are at an all-time high. "Help reduce the numbers by talking to that girl on the bus." Words of existential wisdom (which needn't be interpreted as gender-specific) spotted by former contributor Carly Beath on the streetcar stop at the southwest corner of Dundas and University. Photo by Jonathan Goldsbie.......

Alert the Commissioner—the Good Night Bandit has struck again! Some downtown residents awoke to a less unsightly landscape this morning, thanks to this anonymous do-gooder, who collected much of the detritus left behind after the disappearance of the trash-ridden snowbanks. As if to underscore the benevolent message left by this stealthy stranger, a used condom lay on the sidewalk directly below this sign. Litterbugs: sleep with one eye open, for the Good Night Bandit......

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Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. By Teeth.AT SPADINA NEAR DUNDASPHOTO BY JOULGER.......

With retailers moving towards shopping centre concepts such as big boxes and lifestyle centres, older, once-prosperous places to shop are being left in the dust. Websites such as Dead Malls and Labelscar are devoted to this phenomenon, tracing the history of old shopping centres before they fade away. Toronto is no exception to the trend, with barely-filled centres such as Honeydale Mall or rebuilds such as the Don Mills Centre. Down by The Queensway......

Riverdale has long been known for its innovative use of utility poles. Continuing the tradition near Broadview and Danforth, this notice appeared last weekend alongside more typical community posters advertising lost cats and student painters: Sylvia Herman has passed away a former resident of the Chester Village old age home March 10, 2008 A scattering of her ashes will be held in the Spring. Please watch for further notice. A utility pole seems like......

The above video—not safe for work unless you're using headphones—was shot by the late Peter Walker and is a clip from Min Sook Lee's documentary Hogtown: The Politics of Policing (winner of the best Canadian feature prize at Hot Docs 2005). Uploaded to YouTube fewer than three weeks ago, it's been passed around online over the last few days, since being linked to by Toronto Life's Philip Preville in a Friday blog post. The......

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. Artist Unknown.IN AN ALLEYWAY OFF KENSINGTONPHOTO BY SOPWITH.......