Sony Rai visits a shop owner in the Albion Road neighbourhood. Mr. Rai will lead a Jane's Walk through the area on Sunday, May 6 at 11 a.m. (Dave LeBlanc/Dave LeBlanc)
Sights on Albion Road: Newspaper boxes line a curb outside a South Asian grocery store on Albion Road in the Toronto suburb of Rexdale. 'People in this neighbourhood don’t read the mainstream media', says Mr. Rai, but rather 'publications that are focused on what’s going on back home or about local news. There’s this whole other world of dialogue and thought going on, some in English, some in Punjabi.' (Dave LeBlanc/Dave LeBlanc)
Singh Food Centre/Crispy Pizza (a former Pizza Hut), purveyors of aloo tikki, chana masala and tea sold from an urn pre-sweetened and with milk, cloves and cardamom. Strip malls like these are fading from many neighbourhoods, but not here, where a new one is now under construction. “For other places, it’s almost a dying form,” but not here, says Janes Walk tour leader and intern architect Sony Rai. (Dave LeBlanc/Dave LeBlanc)
A sign advises that a proposal has been made to create a new townhouse development on the site. (Dave LeBlanc/Dave LeBlanc)
A new strip plaza under construction. (Dave LeBlanc/Dave LeBlanc)
Post-and-beamers and tidy bungalows. (Dave LeBlanc/Dave LeBlanc)
to get it and come back to see the ad in front of this gallery.
