Hayward

Glad you like the posters. They were actual advertisements when those albums came out as opposed to something you might find on posters.com. They can't be replaced, so I put them behind glass, although I have a copy of each rolled up in the event something happens. The frames are store bought, and for quite sometime the Roots one had a large chunk of broken glass missing Here's a photo of the front I took today. Currently 38 residents live in the building. I also find it interesting the back has some detailing too.

I wish, lol. It's actually supposed to light up from beneath. My former housemate made it for an architecture assignment from recycled materials. The top part is a window recovered from a demolition site. The wood from a construction dumpster. He went off to UCLA and left it with me. It had a old fluorescent light troffer inside, but it broke in transit...woops......... I'm considering getting an even larger flat screen monitor for my computer. I was wondering what to do with the old one, but you just gave me an idea.

I was bored last Thursday and had no class so I decided to go to Toronto for the day...which ended up being two. My sister from Cali was actually working at the Intl Film Festival there so it was nice brother-sister reunion. I'll do a few more tours. I didn't actually expect to take many photos, so you won't be seeing any major landmarks in the couple thread's I'm about to do unless you want to be confronted with freezing ice and snow photos I took of Toronto last December and February. --------------------- Yorkville is an affluent neighborhood of Toronto full of many expensive, ornate brick homes, and high end shops and restaurants. The main street is Bloor which runs East-West. Since the construction of the Danforth- Bloor TTC subway line, density has gone up substantially since the 60's. Some of the retail has climbed up Avenue Road around Hazelton Lanes Collection (aka Mall) where many hotels are located. We stayed at the Intercontinental, which is where I'll end this tour. Here's a map outlining the area where photos are taken in relation with downtown. Bloor at Yonge (looking SE) Where 1Bloor Place skyscraper will rise. Once a set of old two story buildings. It was only a matter of time considering an incredibly busy TTC station lies beneath. I recall a long building on the corner being clad in excessive advertising. ColDayMan might know. Bloor at Yonge looking West I'll drive! I'm technically moving in the west direction here. Regardless, looking East down Bloor Bloor looking West Looking North on a side street. Again, you can see the general trend toward increasing density with new construction Bloor Street at Avenue Road Afternoon shot at Avenue Road Looking west toward the Hyatt And of course, what's a Bloor Street tour without this wonderment, the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum And to end, Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto. Downtown skyline visible in the background.

Ypsi is a nice balance to the yuppified nature of Ann Arbor's downtowns/business districts. Nothing wrong with what Ann Arbor has become since it's successful. But I do like the independent restaurants and retail found in Ypsi. Speaking of Jacobson's you mentioned. It's really a shame when those stores up and left, we got stuck with a lot of big empty buildings and parking structures. I know Ann Arbor recovered easily when it become a Borders, but many other communities struggled to fill these spaces. I know it took Saginaw almost 6 years to find new tenants to fill out the space. Being that they were located in downtowns, it was even more difficult to find a large retailer.

I wonder if it still has an auditorium space. I've always been interested in large performance buildings in small towns, Calumet, MI's obviously being the grandaddy of them all, and still serving this purpose.

Fascinating history. Is that rail actually split in half I see? That's not actually made of iron is it? That seem to be brittle.

I know many factories in Michigan are powered by methane form landfills. It actually makes me curious how much there is to go around. I personally think this technology in cars is a complete waste of time and mis-allocation of this resource, when it should instead be used to exclusively power large buildings and energy intensive industry.

I finished. I honestly don't use the curling bar much, but it's the only place I could put it so it wouldn't destroy the wood floors My housemate from last year built the coffee table and gave it to me since he couldn't move it out to UCLA. Looking out from my bedroom, and all my friend's sh!t on the left that needs to go back to Chicago All the Comcast crap so I can visit urbanohio The view if you look left out the window really hard

No crazy stories here, but I've had many people request their photo be taken.

The comma rule is a difficult one. I looked it up in a college paper writing guide I own and it says the commas should be used before and......reason because complex sentences can get confusing when these aren't employed. I know this is true. When I was working on my firms website, our marketing person kept leaving them out. Some of the sentences were difficult to follow.

This reminds me of those awfully designed restaurants with outdoors bars located on a lake in Northern Michigan with dockside boat parking and dozens of worn out 40 year olds who received far too much sun and need more clothes on and still think they are young because they jetski meanwhile try to show off standing around a deck with crappy aluminum and plastic patio furniture run on sentence.

Some odd buildings.

That's due to the spread of their congregation where at one time people of a particular ethnicity + religion would move into a certain neighborhood, build a church and for half a century walk to that church. Then neighborhoods diversified, peopled move elsewhere, but still remained loyal to the congregation, unfortunately they drove. The best concealed parking lot for a church I ever saw was right behind my rental house last year. We lived on a large block surrounded entire by houses with the church occupying the entire block across the street. There was an alley that went behind one row of homes that fed a massive parking lot. But due to the density, hilly geography, and unusual shape of the block, it was impossible to realize the lot even existed unless you actually walked down the alley. It was interesting when I told someone about it as a good place to park who lived just across the street. For over 6 months, he never knew of its existence and struggled to find parking in the neighborhood.

Let me just say there are tons of people up here in Michigan who have no clue what Cincinnati looks like, or even where it's located. They most likely can't even spell it either "Cincinatty looks right!" They picture it flat like Detroit, except with more buildings, and the stadium where the Bengals play. Except they can only picture the OLD stadium because they've only seen the implosion video. Surprisingly a handful can identify Carew Tower because they saw it above the other buildings when driving by on I-75. Then again, many Michiganders don't know their own state. The tri-cities are somewhere "The U.P???" Except they accidentally place Flint in with Saginaw and that nasty chemical place Midland. They forget Bay City, but it's somewhere on the Bay isn't it? Grand Rapids? If you are from the East side of the state few people have ever been there, they might as well be part of Chicago. Meanwhile Grand Rapids wishes it was part of Chicago's CSA and wonder when Detroit will shrink further enough to disappear. Ann Arbor apparently never left the 60's and 70's, but at least we can all agree Lansing is boring.

All right, my first test has begun. I needed to get a bunch of various items out in the suburbs. I mounted a crate on the back of my bike and took bike lanes out of the city then out to the mall where the lanes went off street and became very wide sidewalks. It wasn't bad at all..although most of my shopping will be short trips since we have a couple corner grocery stores in the city.

Metropolitan has been stalled for a long time. A local developer (Eric Larson) claimed he had a plan for it around 6 years ago and nothing panned out. One problem is it has no available space for parking and it's irregular shaped lot (triangular) leaves no room. It was also once toxic with radium from the painting of watch hands and faces. The Wurlitzer needs a lot of work, just like a lot of these buildings. I can't imagine it has reversed the decay in the seven or so years since I went inside. On the bright side, this photo is in the middle of a lot of activity, with the newish Y, restored Opera House, restaurants and bars pretty much on that block. Also just a few blocks to Comerica Park, Harmonie Park or Campus Martius. Of course the wondrous "Person Mover" sails right by and has a stop nearby as well. That's true, I also remember finding the ceilings in the Met incredibly low. The good news is that because of the narrow floorplates in the Wurlitzer, you could get by with views on just the front and side, take the other side lot and do something creative with parking. Perhaps an automated vertical parking system like they have a couple blocks of way. It could be shared through both developments. Really nothing is impossible, but development in Detroit has always been a struggle.

BTW, the tall building on the left is the old Wurlitzer Co. Awesome inside. My studio instructor in arch school is interested in renovating this with some NY investors. It already has nice functioning exterior spotlights Behind it is the Metropolitan building. The state paid for the cleanup of the interior, but I can't remember what its rehab status is.

^ LOL!

Awesome! ^ Do you know where the i-house is? That was where I stayed. Right across from Grant's tomb.

Ay question for all you pet owners (Actually cat owners specifically). So our family cat above is showing signs of arthritis and is vocally letting us know it hurts when going up and down stairs. The pain appears to diminish when she is outside for hours receiving "heat therapy" and she is much happier and more active the few days after this. But I figured we should probably do something about it. I recommended my parents give her glucosamine supplements but of course the pills are people sized and too hard for a cat to swallow. So anyone try this. Should they be smashed up and sprinkled in the food or can you dissolve them in the water. I know it works easily for dogs, but cats are finicky about stuff that doesn't taste all that good.

Hamilton Heights ctd. Sugar Hill Infill! I'll finish the rest in pt 3 since these images are kind of big.

Very nice! My favorite is still Book Tower. Imagine that thing lit up at night.

I took these over my spring break back this past march March when I made a last minute decision to visit Philly and NYC. I actually had a purpose on this trip, and that was to literally re-document as many places as I could that I spent during a 3 month stay in the Morningside Heights area back in '03 While my sister worked an internship, I did nothing and wandered around and explored. I think this is what got me re-interested in architecture and cities. While it was very cold, it would have been better had I not destroyed my ankle on a broken sidewalk grate in Philly. Thanks PHILLY :x At least people in NYC don't stare too much. These photos are just a selected few. I'm planning a week long return trip in the near future to continue where I left off. Beginning just north of Morningside Heights entering Manhattanville Approaching upper Riverside Dr. Made for convenient parking that summer Who knew engineers could be artists Lower RS. Lots of food storage places along here. Looking up 131st between a few warehouses. Manhattanville Houses at the end Cold storage buildings I think Grand Stair back up to Riverside Dr that I limped up. Hamilton Heights Looking East up 138th I like the geography and it's impact on the urban environment....ie. buildings constructed into a hill. Looking south down broadway. Extra wide streets... .....and sidewalks This would be way cooler with the archway had the cornice not been ripped down A nice limestone amongst the bricks This is a style my architecture firm is really into and that's accenting the lower masonry with large limestone or lighter brick bands. Another high-risk cornice tear down Reminds me a little of Paris In 03, far more of these were boarded up, now there's just 1, and not for long. 145th St Obligatory b&w 146th St I'll continue with More In Part 2 including more along Broadway + Sugar Hill

I'll share my settlement money with you after I get cancer and sue for all that humming equipment they have behind my office wall.

^ What a waste. har har........ Actually, the city of Flint is treating human waste and using it as fuel for their bus system.