Results tagged “downtown”

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Once a week, the editors of each site—from LAist to Londonist—compile some of their most interesting posts into a brief blurb. It's Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse, and it appears, across the network, every Sunday.

City officials to David Miller: don't tax booze. They reasonably pointed out that consumption taxes don't work when people can just drive thirty minutes to evade said taxes. In response, Miller pouted and ran up to his room, refusing to come out for dinner.

Former Torontoist contributor Ted Healey came across a great find at the Wellesley & Ontario condo and townhouse development known as "The Star of Downtown." Previously the subject of an Ugly Stick here on Torontoist, the condo's advertisements have seen plenty of scorn since they were put up. The latest addition to the front facade is thanks to someone named Defy, who has decided to give a voice to the gay urban professionals artificially posed around their sweet new townhouses.

In the summer heat, Toronto’s downtown can seem like a sun-baked, arid domain of asphalt and glass. Scattered throughout the concrete desert, however, are a few oases of green. The Downtown Discovery Walk links the squares, parks and parkettes that can be found in the city’s busy core. And don't worry too much about the heat; there are plenty of places to duck into for shade, refreshments, and air-conditioned comfort along this route.

Downtown Toronto experienced a hotel boom during the first half of the 1970s as modern skyscrapers and buildings like the new City Hall changed the face of the core. Among those that made their debut: the Sheraton Centre (1972), the Holiday Inn on Chestnut (1972), the Chelsea (1975), the Harbour Castle (1975) and, opening its doors 32-years ago this week, the Hotel Toronto.

The Toronto Book Awards were established by City Council in 1974, and have honoured Torontoish books of literary or artistic merit ever since. The Awards Committee, Camilla Holland, Brian Jantzi, Winona McMorrow, Sarah Rotering and Herman Silochan, recently announced this year’s nominations. Your 2007 shortlist is:

The best things in life are free: long walks on the beach, make-outs in the dark and, for one day a year, comic books. Comics nerds around the globe will unite in spirit this Saturday to celebrate Free Comic Book Day, which means a trip to your local comic book store will result in a handful of free stuff and a general sense of well-being.

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs.

Downtown corners are speckled with hot dog vendors selling wieners to hungry pedestrians. There are no salad bar carts, no roti carts, no souvlaki carts, and no Chinese bun carts. Food vendors on the street sell hot diggity dogs due to Toronto's strict public health bylaws:

Food preparation must be limited to the reheating of precooked meat products in the form of wieners or similar sausage products to be served on a bun. Hazardous raw meats (hamburger patties, steaks, shish kabobs, farmers sausage and chicken) must not be cooked on the cart.

Whether public surveillance cams make you feel all safe n’ cosy, or whether you find them an egregious infringement on your right to litter, tag, and engage in other anti-social behaviour, the Toronto Police Services Board wants to talk to you about it.

If you’ve ever lived in one of Toronto’s older homes (like Casa Loma, pictured left) or apartments, you have probably wondered this: Why do the city's otherwise charming Victorian houses lack closets? The most frequently given "explanation" is that in olden times, homes were taxed by the room, and that closets were included in this count. Another legend offered up by amateur historians is that, back in the day, people only had a couple of changes of clothing, and that a peg on the wall was sufficient for their storage needs.

Every week (or so), two Torontoist staffers square off to debate an issue that's important to our city. We invite our readers to join the debate in the comments section following the post.

Tonight, the Toronto Public Space Committee presents the fifth of six films screening at the Bloor Cinema as part of its ongoing Streets to Screens fundraising film series (which also includes monthly screenings of public space-themed NFB shorts at the Toronto Free Gallery).

SENTENCE: 7/10 whacks

The answer to that groan-inducing question is the Latvian House (491 College St.) where the Downtown Urban Design Event (DUDE) show starts tonight at 6pm and runs through the weekend. Exhibitors include: socially responsible fashions from Passenger Pigeon (all their clothing is made with organically grown and ethically produced materials), our friends from the Monster Factory, pottery, jewelry, pins and more.

Downtown hosted the annual Santa Claus Parade on Sunday, kicking off another season of gratuitous shopping. In related news, the Nintendo Wii was released and quickly sold out.

After every long weekend we wait to read the stories about the wacky things that the OPP catch on our roads. This weekend doesn't dissapoint with a badly maintained trailer hauling three donkeys, a drunk couple that followed each other home in separate vehicles, and families moving junior to his college dorm with furniture insecurely fastened. All and all, the OPP gave out 3000 tickets province-wide with around 550 of these being in the GTA. Sadly, four people died in accidents this weekend.

A 12-year old girl who has been missing for two days has been found after an exhaustive search in the city's east end. She had run away after a fight with her parents.

All this recent talk about the Docks losing their liquor license has everyone talking about noise complaints and the densification of the city. Living right in the heart of Downtown Toronto and near a sports club that thinks it's appropriate to open their large street facing windows and blare really terrible jock-rock at 1:00 am, Torontoist is pretty familiar with the noise complaint process. Most of the time the noise stops within an hour when...

Gather the girls up and nevermind the boys, they'll be glued to their seats in pubs across the city watching the footie finals. And as much as we admire the players, um, "athleticism", maybe this weekend should be spent primping, with a peppering of pampering? Downtown Diva is putting on an afternoon of spoils with the Glow Summer Beauty Event- shopping, beauty demos, designer treats and did I mention the martinis? Yes, there will be martinis. Summertime afternoon tippling? What could be better? Going on July 9, between 12pm-6pm at Mink Nightclub, 150 Pearl Street. Go for the beauty treats or go for the martinis, just gather up the girls and go. For ticket info, click here: Glow Summer Beauty Event Tickets.

Newmindspace, the dynamic duo that brought you subway parties, bubble sit-ins, neighbourhood games of capture the flag are teasing us with their latest event, Flight of Fancy. The event, which Kevin and Lori are trying to make their largest ever in Toronto, is happening this Friday, 7pm, somewhere Downtown. Get on their mailing list to find out where. And pass the word, bring a friend.

As a grand finale for the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, the Dave Brubeck Quartet performed an incredible set last night at Massey Hall. Although the group of four could have been called Dave Brubeck and the Geriatrics, these jazz cats were tighter than David Bowie's pants in Labyrinth. 85-year-old Brubeck was absolutely amazing. With Bobby Militello on alto sax/flute, Michael Moore on double bass (no, not THAT Michael Moore), and Randy Jones on drums, the group captivated an attentive audience with two hours of jazz brilliance. The 2 hours seemed like 5 minutes as the old men swung through a selection of jazz standards as well as Brubeck’s own compositions.

Hundreds marched around Downtown Toronto for the Stop the Violence walk on Sunday but this weekend, around Toronto, there was a different story. Police reported that three people were shot: one of them was a 13-year old boy who walked into Etobicoke General Hospital with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The last time a vote was this close the Supreme Court had to be called in. Last night's Downtown and East York final for City Idol went to three ballots and a run-off before Desmond Cole (shown here in between Boy Reporter and fellow finalist Karen Sun) was picked by a raucous crowd at Lula Lounge to be downtown Toronto's first City Idol.

We have not one but two civics related events tonight in Toronto. At Trinity St. Paul's church just near Bloor and Spadina we have Jane Jacobs: A Public Celebration. There have been plenty of smaller celebrations for the life of Jane Jacobs but one more never hurts.

Come next Tuesday, Toronto will have its first four City Idol winners. Last weekend part-time Grad student and Ministry of the Environment employee Bahar Aminvaziri won the title of City Idol for North York. She's declared that she's running in crowded Ward 26, vacated by Mayoral candidate Jane Pitfield.

Council voted 39-2 in support of the City's 2015 Expo Bid. The next step involves courting the Provincial and Federal governments for funding. Queen's Park and Ottawa are expected to foot a huge chunk of the bill, including $2.8 billion for cleaning up contaminated soil near the lakefront, and a possible $700 million deficit after the event.

Howard Moscoe's big mouth strikes again. According to the Star this time his target was Frances Nunziata. When the councillor complained about bus service in her ward the TTC chair quipped ""Councillor, I leave walking the streets to you." Nunziata felt that the remarks painted her as a prostitute. Moscoe later apologized. Moscoe seems to be a big hit with the women of council, earlier this year he insulted both Jane Pitfield and Karen Stintz when he organized a tongue-in-cheek office poll asking "How far will Lady Jane go?"