Sticky Step Twenty-Three: Intercontinental Hotel/Proof Vodka Bar - 220 Bloor St. West

About twenty minutes after checking his phone on Augusta Ave. in Kensington Market, stops to lace up a loose sticky boot and watches Toronto's hardest working super-heroine, Mother Wonder. Tearing the roof off a getaway car and foiling the driver's attempt to steal a moon rock from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Mother Wonder really gives him the business after missing out on her scheduled spa night. Meanwhile, Lucas checks his message-less phone again. Just what the heck happened to RooBarb, anyway?

Mother Wonder gets that moon rock back for the ROM, but does she have Proof?

Where exactly is it that Mother Wonder metes out her spa-night justice? I'm not sure, really, but with Lucas's established movements within a very set time-frame and the mention of the ROM by Mother Wonder, I thought the scene may have played out somewhere close by. Like just across the street and a few doors down at 220 Bloor Street West, the Intercontinental Hotel's vodka bar, Proof.

Proof Vodka Bar at 220 Bloor Street West.

At first glance, the location looks similar, but after taking pictures and comparing them with the panel in question, I'm either way off or there's been some changes to the street geography in the past few years. As always, if I do discover I've hunted down the wrong location, I'll be sure to update once I've gotten back on the right track.

Next up: The Human-Lizard finally finds the trouble he's been looking for when he takes on Warshell at the Art Gallery of Ontario!

-DE

Sticky Step Twenty-Two: Community Vehicle Reclamation Project/Bungalow/Comic Pile - 273 & 254 Augusta Ave.

A little over a half an hour after checking his messages on the marquee of the Royal Cinema, Lucas makes his way further east into Kensington Market. As he walks north towards College St., the Human-Lizard passes by the vintage furniture store, Bungalow, the (now-defunct) comic shop, The Comic Pile, and parked right at the curb of Augusta Avenue as Lucas walks past is the Community Vehicle Reclamation Project, commonly referred to as Kensington Market's "Garden Car."

The Human-Lizard makes his way along Augusta Ave.

First conceived in 2006 as an alternative to publicly destroying a car as part of an anti-car advocacy group protest, they decided instead to convert the car into a giant planter. For many years it served as both a promotional feature and fresh herb garden for the Kensington Market restaurant, La Palette, before it's relocation a few blocks south on Queen St. West, in the city's Fashion District. Since then, the Garden Car has persevered in one form or another, becoming one of the neighbourhood's most iconic landmarks.

Kensington Market's "Garden Car."

Directly across the street from the Garden Car, at 273 Augusta Ave, is Bungalow. One of Kensington Market's many vintage clothing shops, Bungalow stands apart from the rest of the pack by also dedicating equal focus to vintage Scandinavian-designed furniture and housewares.

Bungalow at 273 Augusta Avenue in Kensington Market.

The Comic Pile opened at 254 Augusta Ave in 2013, but relocated to Baldwin St. where it soon after closed up shop. Cafe Novo, which moved into the storefront space previously occupied by The Comic Pile on Augusta, relocated themselves after a dramatic rent increase at it's High Park location, before also shutting down operations. Currently, 254 Augusta Ave. is home to Livelihood Cafe.

Cafe Novo (now also closed) where The Comic Pile was first located at 254 Augusta Ave.

Next up: The Human-Lizard checks his messages yet again as Mother Wonder gives up spa night to dish out justice.

-DE