While we doubt that Toronto’s cultural elite emptied bottles of PBR at their private clubs a century ago, we sense the local importer had a good feel for who this brew could be marketed to: germaphobes and health purists. The claims of cleanliness also make us wonder how lax local brewers were toward sanitizing their [...]

A pack of about 40 middle-aged people, men and women, charge into an alleyway south of Queen Street. They are all—including the men—wearing pink dresses and running shoes. Someone produces a small insulated lunchbox, and inside are a few dozen Dixie cups of pudding. Everybody takes a cup and slurps it down. Whoever made the stuff used Baileys instead of milk. And so what's actually happening is that all these people are on the street, in downtown Toronto, at about 4:00 p.m., and they're doing pudding shots.

An LCBO employee tests out the first self-serve liquor store in Metropolitan Toronto. The Telegram, February 22, 1969. The provincial government has recently mused about loosening Ontario’s liquor laws to allow greater mobility at outdoor festivals and other special events for those with a beverage in hand. We shouldn’t expect any rapid changes though—alterations to [...]

Source: The Toronto Star, March 5, 1915. Trusting the judgment of her faithful nurse, the morose, near-suicidal patient took the tipple of Wincarnis. And another. And another. She wasn’t sure if the promised “new life” ran through her veins, but at least she was temporarily distracted from the other pressures of this mortal coil. Wincarnis [...]

It’s a little surprising to see police finally ticketing scooters parked on the sidewalk (which many people don’t realize is illegal), but a couple of unexpected gifts from a stranger may have taken the edge off these two unexpected gifts from a parking enforcement officer. Torontoist Flickr pool contributor intrepidacious spotted this charming slice of [...]

The usual way for a driver to avoid eggnog-fuelled destruction during the holidays is for them to travel with a designated driver. This is a tried-and-true method of avoiding being the only perp at the station who smells alluringly of nutmeg. If, for whatever reason, it’s not a viable option for you (maybe all your [...]

Photo by kalleboo. For a while, it looked like the furry little critters inhabiting Toronto’s waste-addled sidewalks and gutters were the only ones getting a break this week. It’s bad enough to have the trash piling up in the city’s green spaces, themselves untended for the duration of CUPE local 79 and 416′s labour action; [...]

Every Saturday at noon, Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today. Front page of The Star on November 19, 1924. In the heady 1920s, Ontario was a dry province. After the war, the Ontario Temperance Act, which originally prohibited public consumption and [...]

Every Saturday morning Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today. Advertisement, The Toronto World, January 1, 1909 How do you ring in the New Year? A glass of champagne at a party? A round of drinks at a bar? A century ago, [...]

Anyone who’s ever let out a big “harumph!” at movie theatre patrons munching on Burger King and Taco Bell during a flick isn’t going to like this. Beginning Dec. 10, Cineplex Odeon is poised to allow alcohol in designated auditoriums at Varsity Cinema, pending approval from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Booze is [...]