As far as quirky names go, This Ain't The Rosedale Library is one of the city's most charming. Following the legendary bookstore's move to Kensington Market after more than two decades on Church Street, someone has amended the declarative moniker on the former storefront to make it even more definitive. Photo by Marc Lostracco.......

Image: Cicada Design/Diamond + Schmitt Architects If you seem to be noticing Ryerson everywhere these days, you're not imagining it. Though it's been around since 1948 and been granting degrees since 1971, it's only during the last few years that the university has embarked on a massive expansion plan and branding campaign, drastically raising its physical and academic profile. Devoid of any real charm for decades (save for the 1852 partial façade of the......

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician. Last night was our first public all-candidates debate in this campaign. Hosted by the Bay Corridor Community Association in the Sutton Place Hotel, it was extremely well attended by an engaged audience. For those of us who recognize......

Renda Abdo knew that she'd have some explaining to do about calling her boutique nightclub, located in the north end of the Village, "Straight." The name was ambiguous. Was Straight exclusive to straights? (Imagine if "Gay" opened in the middle of club district.) Or did it mock them? Straight was a response, Abdo explains, to the attitude that the Village had become irrelevant, a view laid out in a front page Star article with......

The AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) holds condom stuffing parties every first and third Wednesday of the month to make packages of condoms, lube, and info on ACT and safer sex. ACT delivers the packages to clubs and venues in the Church and Wellesley area as part of its community outreach program to reduce the risk of transmission of sexually transmitted infections. In 2007, volunteers helped ACT create over 120,000 condom packs. The parties......

Toronto has been called a city of neighbourhoods: The Beach, Yorkville, Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown, The Annex; all have their defining characteristics that make them appealing to locals as well as visitors. And when it comes down to it, most of these areas are well-defined by the intersection of two major streets. Photo by gbalogh from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Previously on A City Intersected, we visited Front Street East & Jarvis Street, one of......

Lit lovers should head over to Church Street today for the Writing Outside The Margins festival of queer literature, the first of its kind in Toronto. The Gay Village stretch of Church Street will be closed from 11:00 a.m. to 7 p.m. to accommodate stands selling everything from children's books, fiction and poetry to sci-fi, erotica and comic arts. There will also be two stages for readings and performances, where you'll get to participate......

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams addressed an enthusiastic crowd last night at the Hot House Cafe on Church Street, as part of what organizers billed as a "Summer Celebration" of the Irish peace process. Adams is on a speaking tour of North America to thank supporters of Friends of Sinn Fein, a non-profit fundraising group whose Canadian chapter, located in Toronto, was launched by Adams in 2001. Adams was one of the principle negotiators of......

It's hardly breaking news that women are particularly under-represented in the industrial trades industry. The student thesis Pink Nail Project aims to change that, seeking to raise awareness for women entering non-traditional occupations—particularly the male-dominated skilled trades, like construction, auto mechanics and plumbing. With Toronto in a perpetual state of construction and good contractors difficult to pin-down, the market is potentially lucrative for a skilled tradesperson. In fact, mechanics are one of the top......

bill bissett is Canada's world champion hippy poet freak. Best known for his phonetic (funetik) spelling, it's fair to say that bissett's poetry anticipated the text messaging age by several decades. What once seemed like an avante garde approach to language now seems like the inevitable evolution of communication. He's the poet laureate of SMS. Tomorrow night, bissett launches his latest book of poetry, ths is erth thees ar peopul, at the This Ain't......

Shameless, the Toronto-based publication "for girls who get it," has made a name for itself as an inclusive, progressive alternative to mainstream girls’ publications, where the dominant message is one of surface over depth. Staffed by volunteers, Shameless’ mandate is to give voice to a diverse group otherwise characterized as singularly boy and diet-crazy. This Saturday, Shameless will be launching its latest issue and welcoming a new editorial team with a party friendly to all......

Happy December Torontoist readers! The LCBO will start charging an extra 10- or 20-cent deposit on wine and spirit bottles in February in order to encourage recycling. Bottles can be returned to The Beer Store along with your Red Cap empties. Save up enough of them and those bottles can be recycled right back into your hand, chilled and containing a delicious elixer of satisfaction that you are doing your part for the environment. A......

The Tories are taking a chainsaw to Status of Women Canada, closing three-quarters of the organization's regional offices, including Toronto's. Heritage Minister Bev Oda insisted that the budget cuts and office closings will streamline the department and make it more efficient. Just like a business! Because government should be run like a business! In other comedy news, the Liberal leadership convention started yesterday. Given the choice between Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Gerard Kennedy and......

Since 2004, signs have hung on the southeast corner of Maple Leaf Gardens promising an historic Loblaws Real Canadian Superstore. "Soon you'll discover a store filled with fresh flavours, shops and services," the billboards cheerily stated, but the Gardens at Church and Carlton has loomed a decrepit shell since it went dark in 2001, despite some minor action hosting the filming of Cinderella Man. The last Leafs game was on February 13, 1999, where......

Tonight, in All Hallow's Eve tradition, Church Street will be blocked off from 5pm to 11pm, Alexander to Wellesley so that aspiring and professional Drag Queens can drag. The blocked traffic usually runs later because the tourists that come to view the aforementioned drag queens inevitably keep it closed until the bars let out. Church Street fills up with the best outfits ranging from clever (The Sock Monkey/Sea Monkey couple always amaze me with......

This Torontoist was walking down Church Street and passed by The Stag Shoppe, the gay village's latest sex paraphernalia shoppe. Outside, huddled in the corner of the doorway is Bob, a husband of an old co-worker back from our bar-working days. He's all of 5 foot nuthin', 100lbs wet with overgrown My Name is Earl facial hair styling. If you passed him on the street, you'd think him a pocket biker, not someone who sells......

...They want you. They want you as a new recruit! Anyone who's seen Pride parade in the last ten years have seen the Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps, Toronto's gay and lesbian colour guard. Since 1994, they've wowed crowds from Montreal to St Catherines with their camp and flashy routines at straight and gay functions alike (Montreal/Toronto Pride, Oshawa Santa Clause parade, Welland Rose parade). This Torontoist remembers the roar of the mob when the group......

The Triim Show closed off Saturday's Pride festivities at the Labatt's South Stage. If you haven't been down to Church Street this weekend, there is still one more day of fun at Pride Toronto. The Parade starts at 2pm on Sunday afternoon at the corner of Bloor Street East and Church Street, moves westward to Yonge Street, proceeds south on Yonge Street to Gerrard Street, moves eastward on Gerrard Street where it finishes at......

Suggested tag-line: Woolf one down today! Carried by a trailor on Church Street.......

A little bit of graffiti on Church Street. Torontoist hopes you're not all groggy this Monday morning.......

...

Eye editor Bert Archer reminded attentive readers that the alt-weekly would soon be adding to Church Street's crowded media scene (Now, Fab and Xtra are already there). Archer even posited that Church be affectionaly dubbed Toronto's Fleet Street. We see the logic of this idea. Especially when there are so many young and eager Ryerson journalism grads just waiting to make their mark. Up-start "youth" rag, Dose has also been hiring job-desperate university students to......

On a long weekend last summer, Defence Minister Bill Graham and PM Paul Martin went up north for some rest and relaxation. Hanging around the campfire, guzzling some brews, the two buddies got to talking. After Bill told some story about a nightspot on Church Street, it occurred to our Prime Minister that it was time for a practical joke. Martin and Graham then came up with a plan to trick their friend Jack Layton:......