Vintage postcard of the Toronto General Hospital (1913) from Mars Discovery District. Encounters with government bureaucracy can be stressful ordeals at the best of times; at the worst, when things don’t go your way, they can be incredibly frustrating. Apparently, this is true even if you’re a Polaris Music Prize–winning musician. Former Torontoist contributor Carly Beath pointed us toward Owen Pallett recounting his recent travails with the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care......

For some men, a suit feels like an unnatural and constricting male uniform; a way of burying individuality in the conventional business attire of dark suit, white shirt, and tie. There are certainly a fair share of businessmen, bankers and lawyers wandering through the PATH corridors beneath the Financial District who carry themselves in exactly this fashion. For those attuned to the subtle details of masculine appearance, however, the suit offers a perfect canvas for......

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city. Before Chapelle became super-famous, he was just another bank tower janitor. Ah, the drug comedy. Do it right and you can......

Provincial Conservative leader John Tory, battling to stay employed in the face of disaffected fellow partiers who want to hold a leadership review next month, says in a letter on his website that he has travelled the province listening to members and coming up with ideas to address their concerns. The Tories are lucky; a leader who also had a job as an MPP probably wouldn't have time for stuff like that. Provincial education......

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Each Sunday, the editors of every site—from LAist to Londonist—choose their most interesting article, a list which is compiled into the network-wide feature Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse. Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city's......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. From A Certain Distance #2 (Financial District) BY LEPAGEJP......

A new free service called Operation Red Nose launches tomorrow that provides volunteer designated drivers to get drunks and their cars home safely. The service already runs in places like Sudbury and Aurora, and now festive partygoers in the Distillery District can try it out this Wednesday, December 12 to Saturday, December 15. The program is fairly flexible since drivers can request service as often as necessary to get from one place to the......

Some Canadian cattle will now be allowed into the United States following a 4-year ban in the wake of several cases of "mad cow" disease. American Homeland Security regulations will still require that any bovines wishing to cross the border carry a valid passport. The latest UN report on climate change says that global disaster is a safe bet if we don't change our carbon-emitting ways by 2012. It's all good for Canadians though, as......

Poor OCAP. They can't even complain about the police watching them without the police watching them. At noon on Wednesday, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty held a press conference (not a rally or an action or a march but a press conference) at the northeast corner of Dundas and Sherbourne, and there was about one police officer for each person in attendance (around twenty). As eight or so cops casually observed the conference from......

Last week, we reported on a confrontation at College and McCaul Streets where a cyclist stabbed a motorist in the neck and face with a screwdriver. Police have arrested Yonan Inwia for assault, but give no further details. It's stories like this that need Rosie DiManno: "Yonan Inwia fell roughly to the ground, his hands reaching out in a Christ-like fashion to break the heavy fall. Little did Yonan know, today he would be......

Researchers doing one of the shittiest jobs in the nation have gathered up schoolyard cigarette butts and determined that teens are smoking large numbers of contraband cigarettes. The study was funded by the Canadian Convenience Stores Association, which believes we should protect our kids by ensuring they only indulge in healthy store-bought smokes. Police are optimistic that security cameras in the Entertainment District will provide evidence in Monday night's wild shootout. The cameras could have......

It is entirely possible that in 6 months, the only building standing on the south side of Queen Street West between Abell Street and Dufferin Street will be Woolfitt's Art Supplies. For those of you not that familiar with the 'hood, that is roughly the distance from the Drake to the Gladstone on the other side of the street. Just yesterday, the nabe sometimes referred to as The Art and Design District lost its......

The Entertainment District got a little more entertaining early Monday morning as an innocent bystander was wounded in a wild movie-style shootout involving at least four gunmen. Mayor David Miller called for a crackdown on gun smuggling as part of his strategy of blaming all problems in Toronto on forces outside of his control. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled tax cuts yesterday, including corporate and personal income taxes reductions and a one-cent drop in......

They're in cabs, ATMs, and the Entertainment District, and they're about to be in all TTC vehicles. By next June, every one of the TTC's 1.5 million daily riders will be photographed multiple times over their journey. A part of the TTC's $18-million security plan, the commission will install up to 12,000 cameras throughout the system—in key station areas and on streetcars, buses, and subways. The intention is to provide police with evidence if......

For the next four months, twenty of Toronto's garbage bins throughout the Financial District will be given a reprieve from displaying ads to instead serve as big, beautiful, magenta frames for some rather lovely photography. The redesigned bins––which sport photos on the front and back and an artist bio on the sides––are part of the Magenta Foundation's Flash Forward exhibit, in conjunction with the bins' owner, EcoMedia Direct Inc. (Incidentally, EcoMedia also has 3,580......

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 funkaoshi from Flickr. On the southwest edge of Trinity-Bellwoods Park lies the quiet intersection of Queen St. West & Crawford St.......

Photo by Shari Kasman. Despite the less-than-ideal weather this weekend, the Queen West Art Crawl was a hit. Torontoist contributors Soloman Lam, Kevin McBride, Shari Kasman, and Miles Storey wandered the "Art and Design District" equipped with cameras, just in case you missed the action.......

The grand dame of Toronto's performing arts venues, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, celebrates its 100th birthday tomorrow. To mark the event, the Mirvishes have organized a free open house from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., during which you can go on a self-guided backstage tour, eat free grub at the BBQ in front of the theatre (weather permitting), or catch a tribute performance from the original members of the 1969 Canadian cast of Hair.......

Toronto came in 5th in the livability survey of the Economist Intelligence Unit, behind Vancouver, Melbourne, Vienna and Perth. While we can rightfully be proud of our score, it's kind of like being one of the kids who sits in the front of the room near the teacher while all the cool kids like New York and London are having a lot more fun down in the 40s and 50s. The Supreme Court has......

If there is one thing Toronto is world-class in and world-renowned for, it is dance music. Toronto sees some of the world's most famous international music acts play its bars and clubs every weekend, and according to a recent article in Toronto Life, they bring with them at least $125 million in economic activity. Well, music enthusiasts, bartenders, club district employees, club owners, event promoters, and young people beware: a nightlife crackdown is coming......

"Oh my God, my blow-up doll has been brutally murdered!" shrieked the young woman from the southeast corner of John and Richmond as she clutched her fake-blood-soaked inflatable companion. "My only friend, and someone brutally shot her! The horror! Why hasn't the police security camera done anything about it?!" Early Saturday afternoon, the Toronto Public Space Committee's Cameras in Public Spaces campaign performed this bit of street theatre in the Entertainment District. It was......

Beyond the month of February, it is not often that Torontonians have a public opportunity to celebrate their city’s black legacy. But they’ll get one this weekend at the 15th annual Marcus Garvey Celebrations. The celebrations, which honour the iconic Jamaican American revolutionary, will this year also pay tribute to Torontonians Lucie and Thornton Blackburn in commemoration of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in Ontario. The Blackburns were African American......

Author/artist Douglas Coupland is in town Thursday at the Monte Clark Gallery for the opening of a new exhibition of collages, The Penguins. The promo material says, “This is one of several shows he has prepared (and is preparing) looking at the relationship between books and visual culture.” We could argue that almost all of his work walks that line, and even while we wildly applaud, it’s the reason why he doesn’t garner props from......

Stage Struck: 100 Years At The Royal Alex, a free exhibition commemorating the Royal Alexandra Theatre's centennial, opened yesterday at the Toronto Reference Library. Torontoist was at the opening to oggle at the rare playbills, posters and other paraphernalia that would make any theatre geek weak in the knees. Organized by the Toronto Public Library, the Stage Struck exhibit features photos, design sketches, scripts and souvenir books that highlight the long history of the......

Though it is a rare sighting in Toronto, the luminous body pictured on the left is not Joel Black’s UFO. It’s a chandelier by award-winning glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Originally from Tacoma, Washington, Chihuly is a highly prolific artist known for massive architectural installations, some of which exceed nine metres in length. Chihuly’s works are found in over 200 museum exhibitions around the world including in the Distillery District’s Sandra Ainsley Gallery, where his motley......

Can a transit system foster love for a city? Torontonians may scoff, but Londoners will nod. The underground—better known as the Tube—is often cited as a reason why so many Londoners take pride in their city. One trait of the Tube—and possibly something that Toronto can learn from—is the way in which stations are named after the city’s neighbourhoods and landmarks. A journey where you board at Notting Hill, travel past Marble Arch and St.......

This summer, Toronto has offered up a multitude of ways to eat healthy. Between the new farmer’s markets and events such as Tasty Thursdays and today’s Street Treats Fair at Nathan Philips Square, fresh, local, healthy food is available all over the city. But eating healthy is only part of the equation when it comes to your total wellbeing. True, the summer months are usually a lower stress, more casual, care-free time for most people,......

The flags will be at half-mast Thursday at all civic buildings and an entire city is saddened by the loss of "Honest Ed" Mirvish at the age of 92. The Mirvish family has released public details about the funeral: Friday, July 13 Beth Tzedec Synagogue 1700 Bathurst Street, just south of Eglinton Avenue [map] 11:00 a.m. (a strictly private family Shiva will follow) Donations can be made in lieu of flowers to the Ed......

If a poll were held to declare an official anthem for the city of Toronto, what song would get your vote? Well, whatever your answer, prepare to change your mind, as Torontoist submits this video of local karaoke hero Angelo Tony Luongo's "I Love You My Beautiful Toronto." In this lovingly rendered tribute, Angelo somehow manages to capture the quintessential Toronto experience. He recalls growing up in a multicultural landscape while hanging out with......

Toronto legend Edwin "Honest Ed" Mirvish has died. He was 92. The philanthropic businessman was a crucial part of Toronto's reputation as a world-renowned theatre centre, and had been mostly out of the public eye after contracting a severe case of pneumonia in 2003 and experiencing deteriorating health ever since. Mirvish died at St. Michael's Hospital at 1:30 a.m. Mirvish was born in Virginia on July 25, 1914 to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. His introduction to......