Creative storefront use (mural)

1042 W. Queens West, Toronto

Photo by Kayla Rocca and Jacob Rutka.

The Grid is a weekly alternative newspaper in Toronto published by the Toronto Star. Lately they have been running a feature on vacant properties. This piece, "Know Vacancy: 1040-1042 Queen St. W.," discusses a couple properties in the West Queen West area. It turns out that the building with the mural has been vacant for a number of decades, but the owner allowed murals to be painted on the storefront, as a complementary activity supporting the photography gallery next door.

Interestingly, area photographer Kevin Steele has been taking photos of these properties over the years, and he has a slide show of some of those photos on Flickr.