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Post No Bens
For years, Ben Kerr was a staple at Yonge and Bloor. And for a little while longer, he is again.
Kerr—a regular mayoral candidate, winner of NOW‘s Best Local Busker award, promoter of the virtues of cayenne pepper, and wearer of excellent t-shirts—made the northeast corner of the intersection his own for well over a dozen years, singing with a karaoke machine or a guitar, until he died at his Jones Avenue home in June 2005. Earlier this year, the city paid tribute by naming a laneway near Kerr’s former house after him, but some obliging stencillist (maybe, just maybe, the same person doing famous Bills by “Post No Bills” signs) has decided to honour Kerr much nearer to the site that made him famous.
Kerr now watches the intersection from the southeast corner, on the gray walls that surround the future home of 1 Bloor, the kind of too-tall condo that Kerr once told NOW “cuts off the sunshine.” But not yet.
Roll over the photo above to see the stencil closer.
Photos by Michael Chrisman/Torontoist.