From downtown to Uxbridge, the Undercover Brother knows how to have fun in the GTA. Reel Toronto's crack team of detectives has figured something out. Aside from Chicago and Good Will Hunting, we don't get too many Oscar-quality productions up here in Hogtown. You would think with so many productions we could average better than, say, Cocktail, but we tend not to do so hot. Still, there's no shame in providing some laughs, and......

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician. Last night was our first public all-candidates debate in this campaign. Hosted by the Bay Corridor Community Association in the Sutton Place Hotel, it was extremely well attended by an engaged audience. For those of us who recognize......

If you like crowds, candy, and Christmas, but hate––absolutely hate––having time off of work, celebrating holidays at the proper time of year, and snow, this weekend's Santa Claus Parade is your month-too-early Mecca. Now in its hundred and third year, the parade will begin on Sunday, November 18, at 12:30 p.m., traveling from Bloor and Christie, east along Bloor to Avenue, south on Avenue, around Queen's Park, and further south along University to Queen.......

The Toronto Argonauts can turn this Sunday’s Eastern Final into the perfect kickoff for the upcoming Grey Cup festival. If the Argos beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to reach the championship game, it'll give a huge boost to the week-long party, also known as “Canada’s national drunk.” Brad Watters, general manager of this year's Grey Cup, says that the team winning the 95th Grey Cup at home "would really turn the town on its......

At Torontoist, we're so used to writing about certain niche genres of art—graffiti art, video art, comic art, participatory art, billboard liberation art, performance art, outdoor art, nocturnal art, transit art—that we tend to forget about the encompassing category of "fine art for the commercial market." Canadian and international contemporary art enthusiasts will descend upon the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (255 Front Street West) this weekend from October 25–29 for the Toronto International Art......

Toronto has been called a city of neighbourhoods: The Beach, Yorkville, Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown, The Annex; all have their defining characteristics that make them appealing to locals as well as visitors. And when it comes down to it, most of these areas are well-defined by the intersection of two major streets. Photo by gbalogh from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Previously on A City Intersected, we visited Front Street East & Jarvis Street, one of......

Toronto has been called a city of neighbourhoods: The Beach, Yorkville, Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown, The Annex; all have their defining characteristics that make them appealing to locals as well as visitors. And when it comes down to it, most of these areas are well-defined by the intersection of two major streets. Photo by Metrix X from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. A short walk east of Union Station will take you to one of Toronto’s......

The price of oil scaled new heights yesterday, climbing up over $80 US for the first time ever. That's good news if you're an oil company, but bad news if you're a regular folk who likes to go places, or do things, or eat stuff. McDonald's Canada is going upscale. Influenced by popular chains such as Starbucks, the fast-food giant will renovate its restaurants to make them more "comfortable," creating cosiness with leather chairs,......

"Busker? Don't even know 'er!" jokes aside, Toronto's annual street performer extravaganza is back until Sunday with a new roster of bizarre talents from around the globe. Buskerfest, the last of the major summer street festivals, draws about 350,000 spectators over four days and it's the best place to see someone jam a sword down one's esophagus up close. Magicians and balloon artists are also present for the kiddies, and there are plenty of......

Been looking for a way to gain fame and fortune by exploiting your kid's intelligence? Here's your chance: this Friday is the Toronto casting call for kids to be on Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grader, the Canadian version of Fox's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader (in case you couldn't tell). Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. at The Fairmont Royal York at 100 Front Street West. You can download the application......

Artist Damien Hirst's diamond-studded skull reminded us that we used to live across the street from a lady who kept a magical Mayan crystal skull in her house. Which got us to thinking about other spooky things. So we've compiled a list of ten, supposedly haunted places in the city. Make your own ghost walk and if you do actually see a spirit, please let us know. 1. The Hockey Hall of Fame (pictured here)......

Yesterday afternoon marked the kickoff event for Woofstock, North America’s biggest outdoor festival for canines. The King Edward Hotel hosted high tea for dogs who have survived cancer, or are currently battling the disease, and their owners. While some might scoff at the idea of a tea party for dogs, you’d be hard-pressed to find an event more heart-warming. The tale of Monty the Bernese Mountain Dog, for example, is the stuff movies are......

Another day, another forum designed to unpack and solve this environmental crisis we seem to have gotten ourselves into. This one, in particular, is part of the ongoing St. Lawrence Centre Forum series. A panel of developers and architects will attempt to imagine possibilities for Toronto as the "Greenest City in North America" by 2020, hopefully thinking beyond the usual suspects of green roofs and solar PV panels.Thursday May 24, 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.......

These seats are empty now, but they won't be after today, as Mayor Miller and the 44 other city councillors take office. We found out recently that councillors are seated randomly, which explains why during the last council term loyal lefty Adam Giambrone sat right next to dogged mayoral critic Denzil Minnan-Wong. We're curious where Adam Vaughan will be sitting; we hope it's right next to tree advocate and Front Street Extension booster Joe......

The Whoof... Joe Cocker Spaniel... Sha-na-nauzer... Santana's Litter Helper... Woofstock is back and bigger than ever! This year's largest outdoor festival for doggie and doggie lovers is changing venues and heading to the St Lawrence Market, closing off Front Street from Scott to Jarvis with Market in between (banking the Flatiron Building.) With over 150 exhibitors, this free (no money) event will sure to elicit a Pavlovian response from dog, dog owner and dog......

The biggest drill we have ever seen has been tunneling its way into Front Street for the past few weeks. We're not sure why. Ah. Well, that explains everything. We fondly recall the tunnel project of '96. That was a mighty fine tunnel project.......

Chinese architect Yongsang Ma has won the Mississauga competition to design the Absolute tower in Mississauga. The lithe looking glass tower was a heavy favourite to win the contest and he beat out six other finalists. Queen West residents group Active18 and bird-friendly condo development WestSide lofts trade press conferences and barbs tommorow (thanks Spacing Wire!). Active18 is showing the press the results of its recent Queen West community design charette and WestSide lofts is......

Izakaya: All Style, No Seasoning Izakaya has TOist seeing red. For months, we’d walked by and heard of the fancy new kid on the block, but were afraid to go, because of its emphasis on design and seeming lack of Japanese authenticity and street cred. (TOist doesn’t like inauthentic food of any kind, unless it does so with an ironic wink and a nod.). But hunger and curiosity proved to be our demise. In a......

Every December for as long as Torontoist can remember the holidays have been marked by a certain Friday morning when CBC's Metro Morning (our must-listen morning radio since childhood) just doesn't quite sound the same. The strange echo and laughter of a live audience can only mean one thing: we've missed the CBC's holiday open house yet again. Every year we swear that we'll haul our cookies down to Front Street to meet the voices......

Woman on Front Street: So she points to her white head of hair and says 'I don't have much time left!' and...well, you know she is European.......

Things have heated up over at the St. Clair Pro-ROW site, as the anti-transit group SOS (which is an acronym for Destroy Our City) have caught wind of it. Transit guru James Bow, editor of Transit Toronto, is pushing for calm heads and civil debate. What could be the future of Toronto's streetcars will be on display at the Toronto Hummingbird Centre, 1 Front Street East this Monday, October 24th from noon until 5 p.m.......

The Governor General Literary Award nominations were announced yesterday morning at the Nicholas Hoare bookstore on Front Street. The joint was packed to the gills with media and publishing types, sucking back java and nibbling at fruit trays as Russell Smith announced the English-language shortlist. Torontoist was pleased to see that retribution was in store for Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road, previously (and, the general consensus is, egregiously) overlooked on the Giller shortlist. Most......

Front Street stood in for forties-era London yesterday, and filming seemed to be going smoothly except for the poor fellow whose name was singled out for censure by the woman with the bullhorn. Torontoist doesn't know what future cinematic masterpiece we may have witnessed the making of, but we are rather fond of those charming red phone boxes, and we wish the film company would leave a few along our downtown sidewalks.......

If you've ever felt the urge to bump uglies at one of the city's fine outdoor love venues, the second installment of our Ist List this week should be a good fit. 4. The Front Street Fountain (behind the Gooderham Flatiron building) It started out with some playful splashing; just frivolous flicking of fountain water when no one was looking. But when the water went down the back of his shirt it made him shiver,......

Shinan blows us away this morning, with revelations of a blackberry throwdown over at a certain Front Street Cube. There's only so much hair gel at the CBC, and therefore there can only be so many hipster hosts. What we didn't realize was that there was still a contest between played out Ghomeshi and Hour of glory Stromboulopoulos. But apparently there is. And apparently Ghomeshi is trying to rise above that unfortunate gig talking......

Torontoist just returned from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and was feeling very establishmenty, having been confronted by a flag-waving gaggle of Free Tibet soul-seekers walking out the Front Street entrance. Wearing a tie (and not ie. a string of prayer beads and a lovey attitude), your TO-ist was apparently mistaken for one of the hundreds of businessmen trapped inside the MTCC listening to the Prime Minister. The puffy, pouty prince of Parliament was, you......