245 Carlaw...24 years ago..It was empty

 I had the first Studio in that building.You see, one time I broke into the place to find a cool location to do a shoot.I was wandering around when I bumped into Adam Krehm,and Jonathon,the owners.After reprimanding me for about two minutes ( because I sort of busted  a window ),Adam and I started to chat.He couldn't believe that I loved the place so much.He  offered to build me a studio, but only if they could show it to future potential renters.  So...in the fairly deep pigeon shit, we drew out a 40x40 studio plan..And it was built.I moved in .The building  was completely empty except for myself ,Randalls' Fine Art black and white lab, and a bunch of pigeons.. At night it was a bit scary to be  there.Sometimes if I left the windows open the pigeons would fly in to nest..I liked them sitting behind me on my half-wall.Then they started shitting on my prints.It took about a year for them to move on.And then I missed them.

One time when the upper floor was not being heated ,the water pipes burst. I came home to find fire trucks out front  and  a fast river running down the stairwell to the front entrance.I ran in while the firemen yelled at me to STOP.I ran up the stairs ,knee deep in water to rescue my newly purchased  lighting  gear.The idea of loosing it to a burst pipe was too much for my young mind.Fortunately the concrete floors were about 100 years old and had been heavily used .There were gentle pathways that somehow coaxed the water to flow away from my studio doors.

My studio and contents were safe and dry.

After that the entire building was heated normally.  245 Carlaw became a creative hot-spot for the next 20 years or so.It was full of commercial photographers, and a few fine arts types.Then it became a bit gentrified and many moved on.I stayed in that building till 2002.It was a wonderful time.