There's nothing particularly remarkable about spotting wildlife in the Don Valley, but wildlife in the middle of the Don Valley Parkway is another matter entirely. Most animals shy away from traffic and roads, but this solitary groundhog took up residence south of Eglinton Avenue in the highway median between the north- and southbound lanes of the Parkway several months ago. It's frequently visible from the northbound lanes during the afternoon and evening, and has......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Ducks crossingBY MIKE DeBIASIO UntitledBY UWAJEDI Haunting TreesBY ANTONIELE Flash Lightnin'BY FIGHTOFFYOURDEMONS-- UntitledBY ROOM929 Urban HawkBY AARDVARK. I Heart UBY METRIX X UntitledBY DIFFRACT......

Frequent northbound travellers on the Bayview Extension have probably noticed the "Pottery Road" street sign pointing to a glorified supermarket driveway at the top of the hill, just south of Moore Avenue. Some may even have wondered how it relates to the more familiar street of the same name almost 1.5 kilometers to the south, winding up the valley wall to Broadview Avenue. The answer to this puzzle is that the two Pottery Roads......

Who knew there was a connection between the TTC and the Titanic, and not just that both are often associated with the words "transportation" and "disaster" (ba-dum-bum)? An exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre features four Toronto streetcar tickets salvaged from the world's most famous shipwreck by a 1987 expedition. The tickets are believed to have been the property of Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen, a wealthy Toronto socialite who was sailing home from England when......

While most people hid inside during yesterday's deep freeze, the few who chanced the icy sidewalk of the Overlea bridge near Don Mills Road received a little smile if they happened to look down: some overly cheerful person had stomped out a big happy face between the cross-country ski tracks in the Don Valley 30 metres below the bridge. Although we can't condone overt cheerfulness—especially when the wind chill is minus a jillion—we'll admit......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. Even before November's provincial election, Kathleen Wynne was a force to be reckoned with. As the Liberal Education Minister,......

Most people wouldn't associate Toronto with abandoned roads, but a few of them dot the city if you know where to look. One of the better examples is this surviving portion of old Don Mills Road as it climbs north out of the Don Valley. The current Don Mills Road is to the right in the picture above. The original road was realigned and widened in the 1950s to connect the new community of......

Ever marvel at the architecture of Casa Loma, Osgoode Hall and the Ontario Legislature in Queen's Park? Those lovely red-brick buildings, dear friends, are the legacy of Toronto's vernacular building material—sweet slabs formed from the banks of the Don herself. From 1889 to 1980, the Don Valley Brick Works made some of the highest quality brick in the land. Why, in 1893, the Don Valley brick was crowned Best Brick at the Chicago World's......

The next time you're walking along the wooded trails near the marsh in E.T. Seton Park, you may find a weathered sign overlooking a wet meadow. Still barely legible, it reads: Trees in this area were planted by the Outing Club of East York in honour of Charles Sauriol who was instrumental in the preservation of this valley August 1980 The Outing Club of East York's Diane Vieira told us that in its early......

As the early days of autumn bring cooler temperatures and colourful displays of nature, many city folk long to get onto some of the GTA's best hiking trails. If you think that a solitary drive out to the Bruce Trail is your only option, think again. If you can't or simply don't want to drive for an hour or longer just so you can be at one with nature, many local clubs—including the Toronto Bruce......

Given the chance to provide insider knowledge about Toronto to a well-known travel site on behalf of your city and fellow residents, what juicy local secrets would you reveal? Lucky Toronto members of Travelocity.ca presented with this very challenge seemed to buckle under pressure. Based on a poll of its members, this year’s Toronto finalists in Travelocity's 25 Canadian “Local Secrets, Big Finds” were Café Diplomatico and Riverdale Farm. While we can all agree......

Yesterday, after spending the morning and early afternoon at Day 1 of the Cabbagetown Festival (article to come), Torontoist decided to go for a relaxing bike ride through the Don Valley. Clearly the relaxing part of the plan didn't pan out, as we happened to be first on the scene of a wild brush fire, the flames of which were moving rapidly west and south thanks to unusually hot and dry conditions. Then, while......

A little bit of whimsy has been lost along the embankment of the Don Valley Parkway. One of the most light-hearted pieces of graffiti in the city has been recently whitewashed out of existence, leaving Bloor line subway riders without the biggest word they ever heard. Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay, so it goes.......

Spring launch season slows this week, but finishes strongly with new poetry collections by national treasures bill bissett and David McFadden. Tomorrow night, help David celebrate his Selected Poems: Why Are You So Sad?, edited and introduced by Stuart Ross. Here’s Stuart, from the intro: "David's poetry, like David, is social. It's interested in people, and in trees, squirrels, dogs, and oceans. It's also social in that it wants to be read, and it......

Every so often (mostly when we get lazy, or leave our cameras at home), Torontoist will exploit the hard work of the talented photographers in our Flickr Pool and feature some of their photos of an event here on Torontoist. For now, we're calling it In The Pool, but we reserve the right to change the name later. Photo of the Don Valley Brickworks (550 Bayview Avenue) by marty_pinker from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. This......

This Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., you can enjoy the inaugural weekend of the Don Valley Brick Works Farmers Market. Many of your favorite vendors from Toronto's other organic farmers markets will be there, including Chocosol, who might just let you ride their bicycle powered chocolate blender. You can also buy your weekly loaf from St. John's Bakery or Alli's bread, and pick up your spring veggies from several local organic......

By now, you've likely heard about some marketing brainiac's bright idea for an ad campaign, illegally erecting giant logos for a car company in our city's ad-free public parks. There has been some discussion about whether or not to give this story further dissemination lest it draw even more attention to the manufacturer and confirm the adage that any publicity is good publicity, even if it's negative. But let's mention them: it's Audi. Audi......

Each weekday morning, we pick an image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve! TORONTO (1963): With Toronto's population now at a staggering 1.8 million, the businessman is finding it difficult to get to his down-town office on time. Above is an image predicted by Mr. N. Bytepusher of what Metro Chair Frederick Gardiner......

Parking metre rates to rise by at least 50 cents. City drivers complain that it makes shopping more expensive. City cyclists point at the city drivers and laugh. The city drivers responded by shaking their fists and telling the cyclists to get the hell off the road. At this point, things deteriorated rapidly. Elsewhere, the era of free parking is coming to an end in Missisauga. Delegates at the Thailand conference approve a global warming......

“You can try to take away my coffees and my creams. Go ahead. I’m still here. I’m still going to get re-elected." Councillors Giorgio Mammoliti and Paul Ainslie scrapped it out yesterday in city hall over free coffee. The delicious roasted bean elixir is offered free to city councillors and costs taxpayers $20,000 per year. The Art Gallery of Ontario announced a landmark donation of $10-million from twenty of Toronto's most prominent Italian-Canadian families.The......

Ah, "beautiful music." A term rarely attached to current radio formats, this middle-of-the-road mix was the mainstay of many powerhouse radio stations in the 1970s. Two versions of the format tended to exist: • Stations that played mainly light instrumentals, covers of popular tunes, Mantovani and Percy Faith, all to be used as inoffensive background music. • Stations that mixed these tunes with Broadway selections, crooners, lighter pop acts and heavy servings of news, sports,......

Each weekday morning, we pick a recent image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve! Taking photographs is often about exploring the world around you -- whether it's snaps on vacation or checking out somewhere you're not supposed to be. There's something thrilling about capturing forbidden virgin terrain. Many Toronto photographers earn their trespassing......

Torontonians are, to say the least, an opinionated bunch. So instead of a simple "Best Of" list to cap 2006 off, the Torontoist staffers have racked their brains about everything (books, songs, restaurants, people, places, stores, newspapers, politicians, musicians, and a lot more) to bring you their choices for the very best and the very worst of our city this past year. It's Torontoist Love/Hate 2006, and you can find a new one every......

+ Don Valley Parkway closes for the weekend, starting at 11 PM tonight. We suggest taking mass transit. + Man killed in knife fight near Morningside Avenue in Scarborough. + Miller critical of Porter Airlines deal that offers airfare discount for federal employees. No kidding. + Segways allowed on streets and sidewalks in Ontario as part of a pilot project. Only "Canada Post delivery people, police officers and disabled people over the age of......

Save Our St. Clair, the group that fought against the St. Clair right of way has reared its head again. The group has backed four candidates whose wards run along the route of the right of way. Three of them are incumbents (Palacio, Nunziata and Michael Walker). John Sewell who's running against the right of way's strongest defender Joe Mihevc gets a strong thumbs up from SOS. The three main mayoral candidates seem to still......

If you stand very quietly in the Don Valley this weekend, somewhere around Todmorden Mills and the Brickworks, you might see them - tiny little women bent at the waist and wearing black. Trowels in hand, these mostly Greek and Slovenian women patiently search the valley floor for the first dandelion shoots of the season. When they spot their prizes they scoop them out in one silent, efficient gesture and are gone, vanished into the......

Horror of horrors, we're going to have to brush up on our own listening skills since our favourite sharp-eared correspondent Ann is going home for the holidays. To assuage our heartbreak, here's a parting shot from her, which she overheard at a museum in the Don Valley. Concerned Mom to small son who is kissing a cabinet: Sweetie, why are you kissing the cabinet? Little boy: Because I love it so much! Man who......

Whatever you do, don't say nobody warned you! Between Gerrard Street and Lakeshore Boulevard, and Yonge Street and the Don Valley Parkway, the power will out for at least 4 hours. Beginning at around 10:45 today, the lights went out in Toronto's downtown core - almost exactly seven months since it last happened. Please excuse our tardy posting schedule today, as Torontoist is obliged to take to the streets and direct traffic once again. Attention......

Michael "Walker City Councilor" Walker vs. David "The Broom" Miller The Issue: How does Toronto respond to the crisis in South Asia? The Sides: Walker wants to send $1 million to help tsunami victims in South Asia, while The Broom wants to send a team of city emergency workers. Walker says: "Quite frankly, I thought this was going to be a love-in at council." Miller says: "[Toronto's emergency management offices] has not ever been activated......

During the 1970's, the area just behind the Bayview extension overlooking the Don Valley was half-developed for the Hampton Park apartments. The apartment building was constructed but never completed due to zoning restrictions, and the unfinished building gave most neighbourhood residents the "spooks." The Hampton Park apartments, known as the Bayview Ghost, kept the area undeveloped and uninhabited for decades, a trend that continues today. Reading this old NOW magazine description of the Bayview Ghost......