Lower Bay Station Filming Location

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  1013 Critchley Lane
Date: May 2018
Website:  transit.toronto.on.ca

  The Toronto Transit Commission runs the subway system in Toronto.  Bay Station is one of the stations along Bloor Street.  Bay Station also has a hidden lower station beneath it which was only used briefly in 1966.  It has become known as Lower Bay and has not seen much action as far as commuters since it was closed.  What it has seen is an increase in movie stars.

  We finally visited Lower Bay during Doors Open Toronto 2018 when the public was allowed inside.  You enter the station from the platform of Bay Station.

  Then you head down a long stairwell to this hidden filming location.  Over a series of posts we will describe some of the movie scenes filmed on the TTC.  We hunted down these movies and actually watched them.  The TTC had posters from some of the movies displayed on the platform.  Also thanks goes out to Transmania Ontario for this video, Transit Toronto for this list, and Reel Toronto for these posts.  We have chosen not to get too detailed on the plot or to express our opinion of the movies. A lot of them despite featuring well known actors are not well known movies for a reason.  You will just have to decide if you want to watch them for yourselves.

Okay, let's see what Hollywood has been doing in Toronto's sub-subway.
 
SUICIDE SQUAD

  Suicide Squad is the highest grossing movie ever filmed in Lower Bay Station.  The movie is part of the DC comics universe and is about a woman who becomes possesed by a witch known as Enchantress.  Enchantress frees her brother who possesses a man.   He goes out onto the Lower Bay platform and takes over several other people.  They all fall onto the tracks and using the third rail for strength he crashes through a subway train.  We couldn't get onto the tracks during Doors Open as two subway trains were parked there for safety reasons.

  The Suicide Squad is assembled from a group of imprisoned criminals to defeat the Enchantress.  Later in the movie, the Suicide Squad wait outside Toronto's Bay Station.  They replaced the exisiting BAY sign with a different Bay St. sign for the movie.

  Deadshot (Will Smith) leans against the tiled wall on the right while Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) sits on the escalator rail on the left.  Special forces colonel Rick Flag, Killer Croc, El Diablo, Captain Boomerang and Katana are all there as well.

   Killer Croc swims into a flooded lower portion of the station and the rest of the crew walk the Lower Bay platform which is covered in remains and black residue from the Enchantress's brother's attack.  It seems they used Lower Bay to pretend it was Upper Bay for the movie.

MAX PAYNE

 

  Max Payne is a movie based on a video game.  Mark Wahlberg is a cop with a dark past obsessed with finding out who killed his wife and child.
 

  He walks along the platform and three twitchy junkies sit on a wooden bench.  They notice his nice shiny watch.  When he enters the men's room they confront him for his watch. He tells them to come and get it.  The washroom gets destroyed. One junkie runs into the tunnel where he is attacked by flying shadows. Mark keeps his watch.

RESIDENT EVIL : RETRIBUTION
 

  You can usually tell a movie is filmed in Lower Bay by its distinctive white pillars with a blue green stripe near the top.   Almost all of the movies we watched did nothing to hide them.  Resident Evil : Retribution is a zombie movie based on a video game and stars Milla Jovovich.  Milla walks along a subway platform with her daughter.  This time Lower Bay station is made up to look like a Russian subway station with large yellow and red pillars.  They encounter Michelle Rodriguez there and Milla gives Michelle a gun to defend herself from the zombie hoardes.  Milla leaves to rescue the rest of her team and after a car chase they all end up back on the subway platform.  They escape by going down into the subway tunnel.  When they climb down from the platform onto the tracks you can see the distinctive Lower Bay pillars.  You can also see the fancy Russian pillars behind them further along the platform. They only dressed part of the station for the movie and figured we wouldn't notice.

  Since Lower Bay is an unused station it also much safer to film there than at a live station.  You can cut all the power when your franchise star (from six Resident Evil movies) gets near the third rail.  Not to mention the film crew.  The photo above shows a list of required equipment for all the crew.


DARKMAN II

    Another movie that filmed somewhere on the TTC was Darkman II.  We started to realize that the posters on display were not all movies filmed at Lower Bay, but somewhere on the TTC system.  We also realized that the Darkman poster they had on display was for the original movie and not the sequel.  The first movie was directed by Sam Rami, filmed in Los Angeles and starred Liam Neeson as Darkman.  The sequel was directed by Bradford May, filmed in Toronto and starred Arnold Vosloo as Darkman.  Liam Neeson has a very particular set of skills so you just can't go and replace him.  Anyway, the only short scene from Darkman II that was filmed on the TTC is when Darkman drives his home-made train car through the tunnels.

  During Doors Open we were able to go into the front subway car and take some photos of the subway tunnels.  Many actors have run into one of the four tunnels at Lower Bay and maybe even the non Liam Neeson Darkman rode his special train car through here too.

UNDERCOVER BROTHER

  There was a poster of Undercover Brother in Lower Bay.  We could not determine where or if this movie ever filmed on the TTC.  Maybe some deleted scenes?  This seems like a good spot to end this blog post as we are going to go and watch Undercover Brother one more time.  We will revisit Lower Bay Station again in another post.

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This location is near Bay subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World
Lower Bay Station

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Post # 224

Sundial Folly

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  25 Queens Quay West
Date: July 2015

  Sundial Folly is a large concrete ball which sits on the edge of Lake Ontario. It was created by John Fung and Paul Figueiredo and was installed at Toronto's Harbourfront in 1995.  A folly in architecture is a building built for decoration so maybe it has no higher function.  It is supposed to work as a sundial, but we couldn't figure it out.  These photos were taken at 3 PM if you wish to try.  Even if you don't know how to use it as a sundial, it is an interesting piece of art and you can actually go inside of it.  That is exactly what we did.

  We approached from the Ferry Docks and could see the small waterfall that flows into the lake.  The sundial was hidden behind the trees.

  From the front you can see the ball appears to be split into two pieces.  There is rusted metal in the trees behind it.  This is where you have to go if you want to get isnide.

  We walked around the ball and on the other side you can see it is sitting in a pool of water.

  A red-winged blackbird chirped at us from the branches hanging above the water.  Red-winged blackbirds have a chirp that sounds like "Hey what are you doing here?"

  We ignored the bird (after taking its photo) and we found ourselves on the metal structure attached to the ball.

  We went along the walkway towards the sphere.

   Inside the ball there was light coming through the crack in one direction.  This light would change as the sun moved across the sky.  The crack in the ball faces south so perhaps it does work as a sundial after all?  The crack curves up towards the sky.

  We had to exit the same way we came in.  Afterwards we went  around and peered through the crack at the back of the ball.

  We then went around the front to see if there were any other creatures in the water or plants around the sundial.  Thankfully when we went inside the sundial we were all alone.

  From the Sundial Folly you can see the Toronto Islands ferries as they bring passengers back and forth.

  If you take a ferry ride over to the islands, you can get a good view of the sundial.  This photo above was taken from the ferry.

  When you look at your photos of Toronto's waterfront again you will notice the sundial.  In our photo above it is tucked down beneath the condos in the bottom right corner.  We suggest you find the time to visit Sundial Folly.  We had a ball.

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This location is near Queens Quay. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World:
Sundial Folly

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Post # 220

Merhorse VS Giant Clam

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  90 Cordova Avenue
Date: June 2018
Website:  www.ranee.ca

  We were taking a walk on Islington Avenue headed towards the many painted murals that can be found along Dundas Street West.  Not very far north of Islington subway station there was a fountain outside of an apartment building that caught our eye.

  To us it looked like a group of baby pacifiers pointed to the sky.  Very interesting, we thought.  As we turned around we caught a glimpse of something on the other side of Islington.  It looked like a woman riding a large white horse.  Very interesting indeed!

   As we drew closer we realized this was not a regular horse but a seahorse.  It looked like a regular horse rearing up on its hind legs, except it didn't have hind legs.  Instead it had a tail like a fish. We have chosen to call this a "merhorse".   In Greek mythology, Poseidon was pulled across the water on his chariot by a team of hippocampi (seahorses).  Poseidon is known as the god of the sea.  He is also known for creating the horse.  So if he wants to spend his day out on the water with half fish, half horses pulling him around, who could stop him? 

   The sculpture sits outside of some rental apartments on Cordova Avenue.  From the opposite side it appears that the merhorse has no hind legs or tail.  We couldn't find any real history about this sculpture so we are inventing our own.  To us it looked as if the horse probably did have legs and then something happened to the sculpture.  Maybe it was damaged?  We do not know.  Maybe it came from part of another larger sculpture?  In order to help support the sculpture it was decided to put some blue rocks.  Now with the legs missing a tail was added.  If you look at the picture of the tail above it does look to be made from different material and is much whiter than the rest of the horse. Sorry, the merhorse.

   Now who is the natural nemesis of this mighty water stallion?  Why of course it is the giant clam.  A real giant clam lives off of algae and opens its mouth when there is sunlight so the algae inside it can photosynthesize.  When there is no sun, it closes its mouth again.  It does not spend its day chomping on various sea creatures.  This still doesn't mean you should go sticking your hand inside a giant clam any time soon.

  The woman riding the merhorse is not your average woman either.  She is a mermaid.  Closer inspection reveals that she is not your average little mermaid.  She has two legs with flippers instead of just a tail.  Some research shows that this makes her a siren or two-tailed mermaid.  This would definitely make it easier to ride a horse instead of always going side saddle.  A two legged mermaid is also not as unusual as you might think.  Now where have we seen one before....

  Only everywhere!  The Starbucks logo features a two legged mermaid.  You can see her green legs up on each side of her head.  Earlier versions of the logo even used to show her full body.  Melusine is one character from folklore who is half woman, half fish and who had her husband swear an oath that he would never watch her bathe.  This way he does not realize she is part fish.
  This sculpture is a very interesting piece of art that brings up a lot of questions both about its creation and what it is depicting.  Yes, there is a Starbucks at Bloor & Islington so grab a coffee and then spend some time trying to figure it all out.

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This location is near Islington subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World:
Merhorse VS Giant Clam

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Post # 218

Holy Matrimony Murdoch

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  56 Queen Street East
Date: May 2018
Website:  www.metunited.org

  When William Murdoch and Dr. Julia Ogden finally got married, we were there. Well not really, since they are from the fictional television show Murdoch Mysteries that takes place in the early 1900s. What we did do was visit the place where the wedding episode (season 8 episode 4) was filmed. That's about as good as we can get.

 Murdoch and Julia were married at the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto.  We visited the church during Doors Open Toronto 2018.  It is located at the corner of Queen Street East and Church Street.

  According to a plaque outside the church it is designed in a High Victorian Gothic style.  The cornerstone was laid in 1870 and the church was dedicated in 1872. The plaque also lists other important dates for the church including a fire in 1928 which required the church to be rebuilt. Most of the walls, tower, stained glass and narthex are original. A narthex is a long narrow enclosed porch usually along the west entrance of a church, but you already knew that.

   According to one fan's calculations, Murdoch and Dr Ogden married in May of 1902.  That was well before the fire.  Let's take a look at some of the scenes from the episode.

  There is a reception tent set up just beside this thin pathway on the east side of the church (photo above).  Mrs. Brackenreid is trying to get everything to run smoothly.

  When Dr. Ogden arrives in her horse drawn carriage, she comes around this little curved brick path.   Murdoch is quickly ushered in through the front doors of the church so he does not get an early glimpse of his bride on their wedding day.

  When Julia does finally enter the church she proceeds down the aisle. Inspector Brackenreid is the one who gives her away.

  She heads down the aisle towards Murdoch who is waiting up at the altar.

  The church is filled with their guests. 

The Brackenreids are up front on the right.

  Despite wanting to leave to try and solve a case, William and Julia do finally get married and head through these glass doors.  The couple above obviously is not from the early 1900s.  William and Julia were also dressed at their best.

  During Doors Open we also got a glimpse of the actual gown that Julia wore at her wedding.

  Shaftesbury is the company that produces Murdoch Mysteries.  At their offices they had Julia's gown on display along with other costumes and props from the show.

  Shaftesbury's offices are located on Logan Avenue.  We found it amusing that another show they produced, The Listener, has a main character called Toby Logan.  "Hmm, I like the name Toby, but he needs a good last name."  "I'm going to go outside for a smoke."  "I've got it!  Logan!  It just came to me."

   During the Murdoch Experience 2014 we even signed a guest book for the happy couple and were given some special Murdoch Mysteries cookies.  This was before the episode aired. Now we have also been inside the church.  Congratulations again to Julia and William on your marriage.  We wish you many more seasons together. Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us.

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Map of Our World
Metropolitan United Church
Shaftesbury

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Post # 217