After more than twenty months of renovations that saw the building completely gutted, the S. Walter Stewart branch of the Toronto Public Library is finally reopening tomorrow. If you grew up in East York, you're probably familiar with the building. Named after a long-serving member of the East York Public Library Board and now part of the amalgamated Toronto Public Library, S. Walter Stewart was originally opened in 1960 as the Borough of East......

What's the most fun you can have in the days following a big snowstorm? Unlike many winter sports, snowshoeing is relatively inexpensive and requires little in the way of specialized equipment. Other than the snowshoes themselves—a decent pair costs less than a good pair of skates—you need only some warm layers of clothing, a sense of adventure, and as much time as your legs can stand. It really couldn't be any easier to learn,......

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......

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......

Say good-bye to your mushy Macs, tart Grannies, foreign Fujis, and sweet Ladies, and say hello to your new favourite apple, the Honeycrisp. Known to aficionados as one of the sweetest and crispest apples around, the Honeycrisp is just starting to make its seasonal appearance at farmers' markets and better fruit boutiques throughout the city. Honeycrisp apples are a bit of an open secret among those in the know. Many lust after the delicious......

Toronto has an unusual problem: too many mayors' offices. After the dying years of the last century saw Metro's five cities and one borough reduced into a single bureaucratic mess, the city was left with the prickly issue of what to do with the palatial digs of Alan Tonks and six mayors left sitting barren in the far-flung civic centres and City Halls throughout the megacity (which, when pronounced with the proper cynical inflection, rhymes......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. • The big story this week was the arrest of six kids for the murder of a 17-year-old boy in the Flemingdon Park area. On July 15, 2006, the victim was stripped and assaulted over several hours by a group of people outside a housing complex on Grenoble Drive, finally succumbing to......

Everything you ever wanted to know about the new Quebecois nation but were too afraid to ask, courtesy of Metafilter. But more importantly, Snoop Dog was arrested after a performance on Leno. Everyone who is surprised, raise your hand. What, no one? Royal LePage Realty is listing a house in East York for the grand total of $1, something we thought was just a trick used by eBay sheisters trying to unload wholesale iPod cases.......

Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death for war crimes, and may be hanged within the next few months. What does the international community say? U.S. President George W. Bush calls the verdict "a milestone in the Iraqi people's effort to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law". The UN and European Union criticize the former Iraqi leader's death sentence. Vatican representative, Cardinal Renato Martino, calls the sentence "eye for an......

In today's news, Canada joins the global chorus in support of sanctions against North Korea as it threatens more nuclear tests. Korea promises to greet sanctions as an act of war. The US says it won't invade and wonders what more the dictatorship wants. The Toronto Korean Senior Citizen's society and Canadians teaching English in North Korea are nervous. Toronto Police Union head Dave Wilson was re-elected by a narrow margin of 24 votes yesterday.......

A coalition of Ontario municipalities created to fight Toronto's garbage may collapse, writes the London Free Press. Police have found one man dead and another wounded in an East York housing complex near O'Connor Drive and Eglinton East. Over at Flemingdon Park, a woman was shot and a security guard escaped injury when the shooter's gun jammed. The Toronto Star is gathering opinions on our public toilets. Peter Nadorvolgyi writes, "Some of the public washrooms......

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. Cole will be running in Ward 20 alongside former TV broadcaster......

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. Anne-Marie MacDonald and John Sewell are among some of the readers and to lighten things up we have music from Caitlin Broms-Jacobs and friends, the Flying Bulgar Klezmer......

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. This Saturday, Scarberians will be picking their own City Idol. The event starts at 6:30pm at the Scarborough Civic Centre. Monday sees the final for......

In the absence of any 'Rock Against Harper' campaigns (which of course would be taking cues from Rock Against Bush), the only role Canadian music has in this election is in regards to that file-swapping scandal. Perhaps Canadian politicians realise the counter-effect partisan media had in the 2004 US presidential election, or note how ineffective Bono was at garnering the Edge 102 vote in the last election. In any case, Marilyn Churley, NDP candidate for......

The best outdoor spot in the city do the forbidden dance? We'll see you there this weekend... 1. Mallory Green (Mallory Crescent and Moore Avenue) Mallory Green is the granddaddy of all outdoor locals for risky activity. The park recovered from its late 80s reputation as ideal homeless housing, and managed to make it though the 90s when it was a rumored drug-drop-off spot. Now Mallory Green only does what is does best: provide an......

On the eighth extreme heat warning, the city offers these cool* hangouts: Etobicoke - 399 The West Mall (Burnhamthorpe and Hwy 427) East York - 850 Coxwell Avenue (Coxwell and Mortimer) North York - 5100 Yonge Street (Yonge and Sheppard) Metro Hall - 55 John Street (John and King) But if Civic Centres aren't necessarily your scene, and you don't want to be an electricity swine, run through the following low temp checklist and you'll......

A friend of a friend of a second cousin of TOist, a Canadian in Japan, sends us this dispatch following the Cancontent mini-tour that shook up Tokyo last week. Note how capital letters are used to express disatisfaction over the show's early start time : WE MISSED METRIC LAST NIGHT! ARRRRRGGGGH. THE GUY WHO ARRANGED OUR TICKETS THOUGHT THE SHOW STARTED AT 1900H -- AND IT DID, THE NIGHT BEFORE IN OSAKA, WHEN METRIC WASN'T......