Tuesday, March 15, 2005

RETURN OF THE EYESORES

What do you get when you combine the worst of autocentric expressway culture with control-freak modernist civic planning at its most extreme?

underground entrance
Here it is! Come and explore Canada's most famous intersection! Want to see where the city began? Just walk down this dark stairway and stroll around the dimly-lit and vacated brutalist doughnut concourse.

maps19
Down in the concourse, you can "get lost" in the corner's "dizzying" past. The inconspicous signs posted that indicates what is above you will compensate for the lack of physical landmarks, and will help you regain your bearings. If that doesn't help you figure out where the hell you are, one of the friendly security guards (easy to spot as they'll be the only people down there who aren't yelling to themselves) will be happy to give you directions. That is, if they aren't lost themselves. (I actually encountered a lost Concourse security guard one evening, no joke.)

port_main
Now if you just peak over these concrete barricades, you can see where the "Gateway to the West" begins. Aren't you glad these barricades shield you from the wind, as well as from participation in civic life?