Forty-five years ago today, the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, defeating the Montreal Canadiens in a six-game series. Few could have imagined that nearly half a century later, fans would still be waiting to see the team hoist the trophy again. Over the next two days Torontoist will look at the good and bad [...]

1912: Take a decent head shot of the store owner/employee/mascot and place it on a nattily-dressed cartoon body. Frame ad with promises of “free trousers.” Appeal to the customer’s sense of being a smart consumer who knows to spend money when he senses clothing that will make him the fashionable envy of his friends. Use [...]

Like many classic fairy tales, the saga of the Three Little Pigs has been interpreted in numerous ways. There’s the Walt Disney version, which popularized the question “who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” In the Looney Tunes universe, the pigs were a cool jazz trio pestered by a wolf from Squaresville. Last week, the [...]

When it comes to foreign cuisines available in Toronto, Danish food doesn’t cross most people’s brains. Ask the average joe to name an edible from the land of Hans Christian Andersen and most will draw a blank, stare, or describe the eponymous breakfast pastry. Yet for 20 years, thanks to backing from a Danish government [...]

During an April Fools’ Day TTC meeting in 1980, Metro Toronto Chairman Paul Godfrey became the first person to purchase a Metropass. Like the first batch of actual users, Godfrey had a two-part pass: a laminated photo ID card (passholder number 000001) and a portion replaced monthly. Perhaps sensing the spirit of the day, he [...]

“Whitney Houston a stunning singer who’s going places” read a headline on the front page of the Star’s entertainment section on April 24, 1985. The prediction proved true, even if some of the singer’s fans wished there were a few places Houston didn’t go—deep into drug addiction, for instance, before her death on Saturday. But [...]

Born out of what could be called “Expo 67 envy,” Ontario Place was originally designed to be a park where the cultural and economic accomplishments of the province could be celebrated, with a side order of entertaining diversions. While the early exhibits flopped, Ontario Place became a spot where children played, teens saw their favourite [...]

When management at Telemedia decided to switch CJCL’s phone-in sports commentary show to a magazine format in the fall of 1989, they looked to Canada’s public broadcaster for inspiration. Prime Time Sports was to be the athletic equivalent of As it Happens, a promise that Star sports media columnist Ken McKee felt placed “a large [...]

Dear readers, there are a few core, dogmatic principles you must accept as premises under which Reel Toronto could not exist. The most important, voiced in our first ever column, is that none of this would be possible without the greatness of one Steven Guttenberg. Unquestionably, the Police Academy films are at the heart of [...]

With the eviction of Occupy Toronto, St. James Park will gradually return to its former, emptier condition. But the temporary landscaping changes the protesters created with their signs, tents, and yurts did not constitute the first physical redesign of the park. Over the course of the past 50 years, as this gallery shows, the site [...]

The courtesy suggested in today’s ad only went so far. After two more decades of drivers pinning in public transit vehicles, legislation forcing vehicles to yield to buses became provincial law on January 2, 2004. We suspect there were drivers who took fiendish glee in purposely cutting off buses one last time on New Year’s [...]

“Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.” Jack Layton knew the meaning of the advice he gave in his last letter well, as many people said he didn’t have a chance during his first run for municipal office in 1982. He entered one of the most closely watched races that November, when political heavyweights were all but certain to nab the two seats up for grabs in Ward 6. The Star's candidate profile of Layton emphasized several issues that remained key concerns throughout his municipal and federal political career.