Get your bathing suits out people—spring may finally be here, with the temperature expected to hit 9° today and a sub-tropical 15° tomorrow. (Disclaimer: the phrase "get your bathing suits out" is not intended to recommend or endorse the practice of swimming in Lake Ontario. Residents should always consult with their toxicologist before bathing at beaches in or around the GTA.) Minimum wage in Ontario is going up from $8.00 an hour to $8.75......

Photos by Miles Storey Whatever the critical analysis of Earth Hour last night—Toronto Hydro is reporting a 9% drop in power during the hour—its success seems assured by the large number of people who attended events and the awareness generated. Walking around downtown, there was a palpable buzz that Torontoist hasn't felt in the city since Nuit Blanche. In addition to the free concert in Nathan Phillips Square, there were successful gatherings all around......

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. Wherefore art thou (and thine career), Kenneth Johnson? In our very first Reel Toronto column, we established a core principle: Toronto's......

If you like dancing and the TTC, this is probably the sweetest thing you will see today (other than, maybe, that Spadina Bus video). On Saturday afternoon, Jared Alleyne––inspired by Toronto's Improv Everywhere–inspired stunts like the Eaton Centre freeze and the no-pants subway ride––organized a small group to fill a Yonge-University subway car with spontaneous, unsolicited, and definitely unchoreographed dancing. We'd say more, but the video above pretty much does all the talkin' for......

Weeks of record-breaking, finger-numbing, Antarctican weather are leaving Torontonians frozen across the city—and someone thinks it's hilarious. Who could be cruel enough to snicker as you stand miserably in a pool of slush, waiting thirty-something minutes for the streetcar that was stopped up by unprecedented snowfall? On February 16, the jerks themselves want to watch, photograph, and videotape you at your frozen-est... inside the Eaton Centre. Frozen, that is, in time. Would you believe the......

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. Ray of LightBY DOSHA UntitledBY SHUTTERNEWBIE  Toronto Eaton CentreBY UNDOMESTIC Toronto at 7amBY DUCKTROLL Workingman's BluesBY MOVEMENT ON THE WIRE InspectingBY INVENTOR_77 Waiting......

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. Eaton Centre Double Exposure 120 Format BY METRIX X......

As the crowds descend on the Eaton Centre and Queen West for last minute shopping, the Queen streetcar becomes the hottest spot in town. With shoppers in down jackets squeezing into the car, the experience most resembles warm sardines packed in a tin, and it smells equally appealing. Hey! Anybody got a can opener? Illustration by Kevin McBride.......

Photo by karlofun from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. So Christmas is a week from... yesterday? Well, shit. Might be time to get on that gift-buying thing. If you're like us, you can count the number of shopping days left on one hand and the number of presents you've bought on the other—including three bottles of wine, two of which you will be driven to drink yourself after spending a mere ten last-minute minutes in......

A couple weeks back, Spacing Wire posted this brilliant old TTC ad that made us hungry for more forgotten gems of Toronto advertising. The video in question was uploaded by a user calling themselves WNED 17, and their entire archive is made up of similar videos. In fact, their profile page provides a mission statement: "Youtube user WNED17 is proud to present repeat portions of broadcast captured in the 1980s and early 1990s via......

Continuing a historic tradition of corporately sponsored holiday cheer, the 35-foot "Swarovski Crystal Wish Tree" was formally unveiled last night at the Eaton Centre. The star-studded event––a Children’s Wish Foundation fundraiser hosted by Justin Trudeau (yes, the Justin Trudeau)––drew a sizeable crowd of shoppers. Very few members of the audience seemed to actually know what they were lining up to see, though, as the tree was hidden by an enormous curtain for the better part......

Few companies inspire the kind of product lust that Apple does, and it's no secret that Mac users can be somewhat evangelical about the company from Cupertino. To many Apple fans in Canada, it's sheer torture that TV shows and movies aren't yet available in the Canadian iTunes Music Store, or that the iPhone is taking so damn long to cross the border. In the United States, the iPhone has been the must-have tech......

The above image viewed from afar might lead you to believe it is just a photo taken in a dimly-lit subway station. We were almost tricked, too! However, it is actually a screenshot from the newest Half-Life 2 mod by a team of five George Brown thesis students, which is called City 7: Toronto Conflict. The story goes something like this: The Combine, some kind of invading alien force, has turned the CN Tower......

A lot happens in and around Toronto, but we can only write about so much in a week. Here's the best of the rest, in a new weekly feature we're calling Superfluist. Superfluist will appear every Friday night. First a monkey escaped. Then, elephants did. And now, a bear has! Animals are apparently not big fans of being captive. Weird, right?The semi-famous Enrique Inglesias was at MuchMusic.This weekend (starting tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.) is......

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......

There is good advertising and there is bad advertising. There is even good guerilla advertising—depending on who you ask. Take, for instance, Boston's "Mooninites" promoting the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film, which polarized (and paralyzed) the city; last week's Fashion Targets Breast Cancer Tees, which polarized Torontoist commenters; or, now, GJP Advertising's party streamer installation on Queen Street, just outside of Nathan Phillips Square. Earlier this month, as a promotion for the party store......

The Spadina Expressway was probably the most high-profile megaproject in Toronto that was never built, but it's also just one of many. For his OCAD thesis project, David Kopulos has detailed a host of construction projects that were planned for Toronto, but that never materialized—both the reviled (such as the Expressway) and the intriguing—on his website, Toronto Pending. Each entry explains what the proposed structure would have been and why it wasn't built, alongside......

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! Power outages plagued the downtown core when a hydro panel in a buried electrical vault outside the Eaton Centre caught fire. With the system on a network, it initially seemed to have only affected the south side of the......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. • An investigation is underway about a man posing as a police officer who is allegedly stealing personal belongings in the Entertainment District. The guy apparently uses imitation police equipment to gain entry into clubs, then steals unattended purses and mobile phones. Real cops are mandated to carry specific identification, which they......

“Desire” is the unifying theme behind most of the ten art and craft exhibitions currently on view at the York Quay Centre down at Harbourfront. In The Object(s) of Longing various artists present items that suggest nostalgia and yearning – Andrea Vander Kooij transforms an everyday fire extinguisher and hose into a uniquely appealing object by rendering it in plush fabric. Another group show lining the walls, Re-Collect showcases artists’ groupings of the collected objects......

Anti-ad activists have long argued that pervasive outdoor advertising is hazardous to our mental health. Turns out they have the potential to be physically menacing, too. Torontoist was on the scene earlier this afternoon after a huge ad came down from the side of Eaton Centre, causing the closure of Yonge Street to vehicles between Dundas and Shuter. No word yet on whether anyone was hurt, though it appeared that only the ad itself......

As the countdown to Christmas kicks into high gear (only seven more days to go!), it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season. Between shopping for presents, visiting with friends and family, and waging a pathetic battle over pine trees, many of us forget to consider those in need. While donations and contributions are needed year-round, many charities and non-profit organizations rely on generosity shown during the holiday season......

Torontoist has noticed an abundance of lost pet notices downtown this month, and what could be sadder, really? We don't know if it's a time of year when pets go missing more often, but we do know it's unlikely to be a result of a Halloween ritual blood sacrifice. Many shelters south of the border report that most of their missing animal calls come on the heels of July 4th fireworks, which often scare a......

A shooting near the Eaton Centre last night reminded local media of last year's Boxing Day shooting of Jane Creba. The Star is reporting that shots were fired at a car at the intersection of O'Keefe Lane and Shuter St. Blocks away from the Eaton Centre. As of right now, no victims have been reported. Police have canvassed local hospitals for people with gunshot wounds but found no suspects. They are also asking business owners......

Whilst out for a walk on yet another balmy (read: malodorous) night, this Torontoist and her partner in crime noticed the very large billboard for Roots on the west side of Yonge at the Eaton Centre, featuring a very languid Wayne Gretzky. Now, this is really apropros of nothing, but it shocked and amused us nonetheless: when did Wayne morph into what seems to be a blonde k.d. Lang? We were perturbed, as those caught......

Torontoist saw the aftermath of the falling Eaton Centre billboards but sadly couldn't post it until now! We always knew all those Eaton Centre billboards were a threat to public space but we didn't realize they were also a threat to the public! Yikes. The Spacing Wire has more.......

Torontoist would like to self-select himself to be the Joan Rivers of the Untitled Art Awards. TUAA is arguably the city's best known visual arts award and judging from the nominees list a good chunk of the city's visual arts elite should be showing up. Last year's show had the Mayor eating an improvised meal to avant-garde jazz, acceptance speeches and beer, it was held at a brewery. What TUAA is missing is red......

Canada wins gold in curling! At the onset of these Winter Games, Torontoist was busy giving dinner-time speeches about how under-sold the games were, and how underwhelmed we would be with them. It's a rare event, but we were wrong. It looks like a certain portion of the population has caught "Olympic Fever." Who knew. Pictured: Spray-paint support on Mt. Pleasant just south of Lawrence (top). Weirdos watching curling in the Eaton Centre today......

The real-life Soup Nazi Al Yeganeh will finally open his new store next week at the Eaton Centre. The grouchy soup salesman made the announcement last April, via a group of Canadian business men, and will attempt to expand to 100 franchises over the next five years. Probably a wise decision, the purveyor of gourmet soups is careful not to mention the word 'nazi': The Original SoupMan (TM) will celebrate the long anticipated grand opening......

-The One of a Kind Show started yesterday, with artisans from all over the country hawking their wares. It's a bit of a trek out to Exhibition Place (the show, which seems to get bigger every year, is housed in the National Trade Centre), but it's worth it for the jam sampling alone, and it sure beats the Eaton Centre for charm and choice. Runs to December 4th. -If the One of a Kind is......