Hearn Generating Station

Peter suggested we visit the Hearn Generating Station for Luminato this year. It's a decommissioned power plant located on Toronto's waterfront. Our friend, Jeff Wesseling, joined us too.

Opened in October, 1951, it was a coal-fired electrical plant until 1983 when it was converted to natural gas. It ran that way until it closed in 1995. In its peak, during the 1960s, it employed nearly 600 people.

It's still owned by Ontario Power Generation, but has been under lease to Studios of America since 2002. They've shot a bunch of TV shows and movies such as Suicide Squad, Pacific Rim and 2015's Robocop there.

The Hearn is an amazing looking building. It's largely empty and in a crumbling state. But that's what gives it its gritty, industrial charm. It's great for taking photos. Sort of like all those abandoned buildings in Detroit, except that it's generally safe. We did see some people trip on the uneven ground though.

For Luminato there were a number of performances (musical and otherwise). We didn't see any of them. We just walked around taking pictures of the structure and viewing other free art exhibits there.

One draw was the huge 2-story mirror ball hung from the ceiling at the east end of the building. When the light shone on it it lit up the whole east part of the building.

After shooting most of the first floor from 7:00 to 8:00, Peter and I made our way to the back to shoot the mirror ball. Peter got a few shots before I walked over to join him. That's when the lights reflecting off the mirror ball went out.

We waited for a few minutes... then a few more... then some more. Nothing. The lights never came back on. It was only after asking a volunteer there that we found out that they shut the lights off so as not to disturb another performance that was going on there. I asked how long the performance was and the girl said, 2-1/2 hours!

Well, of course, we weren't going to wait that long to be able to take some shots of the mirror ball. So we walked around some more taking other photos.

While taking a break on the main floor at the Van Houtte coffee station (where they were giving out free cups of their fancy coffee). We noticed the mirror ball lights went on again. Peter and I rushed out to get some shots while Jeff waited (having taken his shots earlier).

It turns out that they turned the lights back on for a short intermission before turning them back off again when the performance resumed. No matter... we got our shots. Whew.