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.

For today's ad we decided on a brief break from depressing recent headlines, and instead present you with a serene scene from the east end courtesy of CKFM radio’s long-running series of neighbourhood snapshots. Though the boardwalk will be more crowded today thanks to the heat and the lack of photographers shooing everyone else away, we suspect a few minutes at Balmy Beach or any park along the waterfront will act as a restorative, or at least allow time for you to collect your thoughts, contemplating the world from a bench.

Cities are mutable, both culturally and creatively. Driven by a sometimes carnivorous impulse, the metropolis feeds on its own past, the various pasts of its individual neighbourhoods, in order to evolve into a future version of itself. But what remains of the past? Can we track the cultural, artistic, and social bonds of an area, map the essence of any given ’hood in its progression through time? How is the integral artistic spirit of a place—in the form of art, music, theatre, and storytelling—kept alive in the present?

If you were a baseball fan in Toronto during the summer of 1981, the best place to catch a game was a neighbourhood diamond. The Blue Jays played so poorly during the first half of the season that when major league players went on strike in mid-June, it was a relief to long-suffering fans (the team lost 11 straight games before the walkout). While the Blue Jays didn’t make it to the World Series, Toronto was home to championship baseball action that October thanks to the effort of the Cabbagetown Group Softball League (CGSL) to bring the fifth edition of the Gay Softball World Series (GSWS) to the city’s east side.

February 5, 1981, 11 p.m. Patrons of four bathhouses in downtown Toronto (The Barracks, The Club, Richmond Street Health Emporium, and Roman Sauna Baths) were surprised by 200 police officers in a series of coordinated raids. Law enforcement officials claimed that the raids were the result of six months of undercover work into alleged prostitution and other “indecent acts” at each establishment. Those inside the baths were subjected to excessive treatment by police, especially when it came to verbal taunts about the sexuality of those assembled at the four bathhouses. The raids marked a turning point for Toronto’s gay community; as the protests that followed indicated, people weren’t willing to endure derogatory treatment deriding their lifestyle from the police or from any others in spheres of influence.

Tony Fernandez had good reason to jump for the Star’s camera in 1989: when today’s ad was first seen by the original owner of this scorebook, the Jays were transforming what appeared to be a long, losing season into an American League East title.

Source: the Financial Post 500, Summer 1988. For today’s featured ad, we hand writing duties over to the longest-serving mayor of North York, Mel Lastman. In his introduction to the semi-advertorial book North York: Realizing the Dream (Burlington: Windsor Publications, 1988), the Bad Boy describes how his municipality’s miraculous new downtown is one of the [...]