Results tagged “doorsopen”

Montgomery’s Inn is usually a quiet place. Located in the west end at Islington Avenue and Dundas Street West, the historic house and museum barely receives more than a few dozen visitors each week. While the Inn didn’t receive a Don Jail–style turnout during Doors Open, it did manage to draw in 475 guests. We went behind the scenes to better understand the process and to see how the inn’s volunteers transform into "historic interpreters."

                         

Toronto has been contemplating its architecture for far longer than a decade, but this year's tenth anniversary installment of Doors Open was a breezy, blue-skied, picture-perfect way of reinforcing the point: we are officially fascinated by our buildings. Many of our photographers, and many of our Flickr Pool contributors, spent their weekends exploring the nooks and sometimes hidden crannies of some Toronto's most notable buildings, and we've gathered the best of their finds here for your viewing pleasure. Picture-perfect, indeed.

On Friday, as part of Doors Open, the ROM hosted "The Bold Museum": an informal discussion between Kenton Vaughan (the director of The Museum, a documentary on the construction of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal) and Kelvin Browne (the author of Bold Visions: The Architecture of the Royal Ontario Museum). We had high hopes for the event, as the ROM’s transformation is beautifully explored in Browne and Vaughan’s work, but instead of sharing their knowledge, the two spent the night discussing the merits of their creations, rather than the substance of them.

At 9 a.m. on Saturday—one full hour before the notorious Don Jail opened its heavy, ominous doors to the public for the first time in thirty years—hundreds of curious visitors were already camped out at the back entrance, chomping at the bit to get inside. Thanks to the gracious folks from Bridgepoint Health, the jail’s new owners and landlords, Torontoist was able to sneak in early to see what has got to be this year’s most riveting Doors Open venue.

ART: Today is the last day to catch Of All the People in the World, the eye-opening and visually compelling installation that we reviewed on Friday. Created by the U.K.-based theatre company Stan’s Cafe, the show brings fifteen tons of rice to the Harbourfront Centre, with each grain of rice representing one person. Throughout the exhibit, performers count and weigh different quantities of rice to convey a range of statistics, including the populations of various cities, the number of Canadians who eat fast food every day, and the number of military currently serving in Afghanistan. York Quay Centre (235 Queens Quay West), 11 a.m.–6 p.m., FREE.

Doors Open is the most rare of Toronto events: widely anticipated, universally loved, well attended, and free. Every year, tens of thousands of locals and tourists (and more than a few Torontoist Flickr Poolers) lace up their walking shoes and descend on the participating sites, learning about architecture and history while exploring rarely seen parts of the city. And with 175 buildings on the slate this year, there's lots for everyone to enjoy. But it's impossible to look at the full list of venues and not wonder about the buildings that don't appear. Maybe they've never taken part or maybe they're simply taking this weekend off. Either way, here are a few of the sites we'll miss this year.

For a decade, Doors Open has provided Torontonians with the opportunity to discover and explore some of the unique architectural gems that this city has to offer, at no charge. Since its inception in 2000, it has grown every year, both in attendance and in the number of buildings to visit, and this year's edition—taking place on Saturday (May 23) and Sunday (May 24)—will feature free access to nearly 175 buildings of architectural or historic significance, many of which are usually closed to the public. This year's theme is "Lit City: Toronto Stories, Toronto Settings," the grand finale of a three-month festival that honours literary writers who find inspiration in Toronto and use the city as a setting in their work. Libraries and buildings of literary significance have always been a staple within the official Doors Open program, but this year nearly a quarter of the venues have a prominent literary connection.

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.

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.

Photo by khalijkhazar from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Thursday evening, CEPAL (the Canadian-Palestinian Educational Exchange) presents a talk by Dr. Norman Finkelstein at U of T's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Just a few months ago, he was Professor Norman Finkelstein, but he made himself some powerful enemies, and now he's pretty much out on the street (i.e. lecture circuit). Apparently, that's not an uncommon development for academics—even Jewish ones—who are critical of Israeli policies and the advocates for same.

On September 4, the The Misshapes released their style book, and the trio of trend-setting, New Wave rock-producing New Yorkers are hitting Toronto on Thursday, September 6 in celebration of its release.

Summer in Toronto means an abundance of excellent music and food. This Thursday evening, the Music Gallery will satisfy both with a party to celebrate the end of their 2006-7 season. Expect a tasty selection of edibles and listenables: the lineup includes Kanaka with Paradigm Brass Ensemble, Tim Hecker, Katherine Liberovskaya and Phill Niblock with guest Matt Rogalsky, and, of course, the prerequisite burger (vegetarian-friendly options will be available).

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.

Ever wanted to know what goes on in the kitchens at the Royal York Hotel? Or see if the interior of the Gooderham Flatiron Building is as cool as its exterior? Or finally know what’s in that loft above the Pure Spirits building at the Distillery District?

Members of comedy group Asiansploitation will stare at you until you come to their show: (left to right) Brian Lee, James Cheng, Sandy Chen, Max Minagawa, Glenn Gabriel, and Gary Chan. Photo by Sushant Verman.

27 Front Street East, 2 blocks East of Union StationHaving attended a number of these things, Torontoist humbly recommends that they're worth going to if, A) you want to learn more about the nature of our energy and environmental challenges, and/or B) you want to learn more about the possible solutions. If, on the other hand, you already have some ideas about what you could personally do to make a difference, you might want to invest your time in actually doing them instead of sitting in a dark room listening to people talk.

You might think the pace of life in Toronto is hectic, but we don’t even make the list when it comes to being the fastest rodents in the rat race.

Comedians Dawn Whitwell and Elvira Kurt wanted to start a comedy movement. So they created Girls School, an all-woman comedy tour featuring some of Canada's most hilarious performers. The reason they chose the name and the all-lady lineup relates to research showing that students in all-girl schools perform better academically than those in co-ed schools. It follows that female comics would feel freer on stage with some sisters.

Earlier this week, we told you how you can be a part of a Ryerson student's short film of a hundred couples making out. Today we bring you news of how you can contribute to another Ryerson student's short film, also concerning making out—as well as singing and dancing and going on a killing spree.

Now the ghoul kids from Thrill Toronto are back with plans to Thrill the World. The plan is to stage a simultaneous dance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with thousands of dancers in over 100 cities on October 27, 2007. "Everyone asks why 'Thriller,' " says choreographer Ines Markeljevic, the driving force behind Thrill The World. “But everybody knows it and it’s very easy to learn." And the main purpose for the event is, simply, to get more people dancing.

To some people, Groundhog Day is a silly little day where some rodent-like critter gets 15 seconds in the news cycle to flip a coin and tell us if there's going to be a short summer or not. Or for some, it could be all about the 1993 classic starring Bill Murray about a crazy day that repeats itself over and over and over again.

One of Toronto’s newest literary series, Toronto Wordstage (which is run by Allan Briesmaster, John Calabro, Beatriz Hausner, and Lucianno Iacobelli) celebrates its 13th edition this evening with a stellar line-up of writers.

That’s right, on Saturday, November 11, Toronto will be hosting the 2006 Rock, Paper, Scissors World Championship. The sport that’s settled a thousand disputes between drunks, children, and drunk children will see it’s best and luckiest players vying for a $10,000 prize and bragging rights for the next year. Teams already signed up this year include Team Smoot, Balls Deep, and BJs for Spanky.

If you read last week's Now you'll know all about cover girl Elizabeth Shepherd and her trio's recent swinging set at The Jazz Cafe in London. Now back on home turf, Elizabeth brings her amazing voice, killer chops and strong compositional skills for a set to celebrate the release of her debut album, Start To Move, at The Supermarket tonight, accompanied but of course by her trio. Tickets are $10 and the doors open at 9 pm. Go so you can tell your kids you were there once Elizabeth is all big and famous.

If you're like Torontoist, you've spent this grey winter staring out from streetcar windows contemplating the city's facades as you zip by. But while they may look amazing on the outside, it's time for the city to to pull a little Shanghai Surprise with the 7th Doors Open Toronto this Saturday and Sunday.

Some people say that Montreal's John Lennox sounds like early Dylan, but we have trouble imagining Bob rhyming "basketball" with "booty-call" and making it work. Catch Lennox and his band playing songs off their great new album this Sunday at the Rivoli- doors open at 8.

Jeff, a.k.a. Ninjalicious, passed away on Tuesday, August 23, 2005 at age 31. Over the past year, he had been battling a failing liver and an incurable cancer.

On the eighth extreme heat warning, the city offers these cool* hangouts: