One of the highlights of spring in Toronto, High Park's cherry trees are blossoming. The trees, donated to the city by the citizens of Tokyo, are located in a sloping grove near Grenadier Pond and are a wonderful sight at this time of year. The trees are approximately 80% in bloom at the moment, making this weekend the perfect time to visit, as long as heavy rain doesn't destroy these delicate flowers. See the......

In the midst of Toronto's condo madness, it becomes clear that the only thing sacred is the almighty dollar. If a space can be broken up and parceled out, a developer will appear instantly to stake out the territory. So it should come as no surprise that one of the most recent victims of this trend is a century-old neo-gothic church. Formerly known as Centenniel United Church, the building sits just south of Bloor on......

Beyond its picnic areas, tennis courts and manicured gardens, High Park is a thriving ecosystem. The Western Ravines and Beaches Discovery Walk explores some of the park’s wild areas, as well as some of the neighbouring regenerated wetlands. The walk starts at the Bloor Street entrance to High Park. Passing the picnic areas and a concession stand, the Discovery Walk signs lead you down into a ravine beyond the domain of cyclists (in theory)......

With this year's Toronto International Film Festival kicking into high gear, it seems appropriate to look back to the advertising for its tenth edition, back in the days when it was known as the Festival of Festivals. Besides today's ad, Toronto Life also featured an article on the festival, highlighting its first decade and offering a preview of that year's fare. The "Tribute to" event was scratched for 1985, after the debacle surrounding the......

Contributor Tony Makepeace is taking us for some spins around our city with his fantastic VR panoramas. You can look up, down, side to side, in and out—pretty much every direction but back at yourself, which would be kind of creepy. Say hello to Panoramaist: the Toronto shoe-gazer's worst enemy. Click the preview image above to launch the QuickTime VR panorama in a separate full-screen browser window. Panoramaist is best viewed on a fast computer.......

About every two weeks, Torontoist looks to fill up all the square feet in your abode. Eschewing the Ikea catalogue, delve into the unique design shops, interesting sales, and easy do-it-yourself projects that can be found scattered throughout Toronto. In photo: (A) Three ties from Harry Rosen and Armani, $0.75; (B) Oak-framed light box with chipped glass, $9; (C) Two worn wooden picture frames, $1; (D) Rodney's Oyster House shucking platform and shucking knife, $0.50;......

A month ago, Torontoist brought you "Great News About the Revue Cinema"—remember? We're not the type to leave our readers hanging, so we have an update! The ever-optimistic Revue Film Society released the following on July 9th: "Realtor Matt Mysak has a challenge for fellow real estate agents in the High Park area: Match my donation. Mysak has contributed $2,000 to the campaign to save the Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles Ave. 'I consider it......

Tonight, The Fifteenth Annual Scream Literary Festival launches its six-day festival with readings by Dennis Lee and Souvankham Thammavongsa at The Gladstone Ballroom. Performances by George Elliot Clarke, and robots belonging to Shapour Shahidi are also promised, and it sounds like audience members are invited to make art with weird, old science textbooks. This year's festival “considers the strange alchemy of poetry and science, through readings, panels, and performances.” On July 9th, the festival......

MP Peggy Nash and MPP Cheri DiNovo protest the closing of Toronto's swimming pools. At 8:30 this morning, hundreds of protesters gathered at the corner of Keele Street and Glenlake Avenue to save their community pool slated for closure next month. Extremely fit-looking senior citizens with youthful energy wore bathing suits, goggles, and swim caps. Young children, chanting “Save our pools! Save our pools!” waved signs which read, “Swim skills save children’s lives,” and......

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)......

There are things that go on in this city at night that are far weirder than the leather-clad teenagers on Queen West. Did you know that vampires stalk High Park? Or that Toronto Police Services crossed into another dimension to investigate a suspicious death? No? Then you should check out Karen Bennett’s Fantastic Toronto project. Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing drew our attention to Bennett's labour of love. Bennett, a writer, photographer, panelist, and......

Spring launch season slows this week, but finishes strongly with new poetry collections by national treasures bill bissett and David McFadden. Tomorrow night, help David celebrate his Selected Poems: Why Are You So Sad?, edited and introduced by Stuart Ross. Here’s Stuart, from the intro: "David's poetry, like David, is social. It's interested in people, and in trees, squirrels, dogs, and oceans. It's also social in that it wants to be read, and it......

Every weekday, we pick an 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! HDR keeps growing in popularity and ~EvidencE~ provides us an ample number of great shots to pick from in that style, but we couldn't help choosing this jubilant photo instead. Between the excitement of the fisherman and the hearty laugh of......

FYI: the cherry blossoms in High Park are finally bloomin'. Toronto-resident Matthew Vienneau is using the powers of the internet to help find his sister Nicole, who has been missing in Syria for the last 37 days. Matthew is calling upon anyone with friends or family in Syria to help him find her whereabouts, and has a blog dedicated to the mission. Talk about paranoid: army contractors from the U.S. Department of Defense filed......

ROFL for real—Sunday May 6 is World Laughter Day 2007. Founded in 1998 by Dr. Madan Kataria, this event is now celebrated in over 50 countries, and there are more than 5000 laughter clubs around the globe. Everyone has heard the saying “laughter is the best medicine”—it may well be true. Laughter is an effective way to reduce stress, which is implicated in many serious illnesses such as heart disease, depression, and cancer. It......

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! Torontoist is wondering if this yak is the most popular animal at the zoo. Originally looking to catch just an extended tongue, gardinergirl found a deliberate attempt at clearing some airways. Cropped to frame the pink mass with mounds......

Almost 20 years ago, in 1988, over 300 scientists and policy-makers from 46 different countries and organizations came together to discuss the crisis of climate change in Toronto. It was called “The Toronto Conference,” and their final statement began with the following sentence: "Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment, whose ultimate consequence could be second only to a global nuclear war." In other words, they were a little concerned. At the......

Hey, have you been outside? It's hella cold. Yesterday kicked-off the LCBO's new bottle recycling program, and the homeless dig it. It's estimated that the program could increase the recycling of wine and spirit bottles by 30-40%. My dad can chase down your dad. After his minivan was stolen with his 3-year-old son inside, Derrick Lahey jumped into the family car and hunted down the perp - the van was found less than a......

Minimum wage has been raised from $7.75 an hour to $8. Small victory or small potatoes? Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri DiNovo calls the increase "appalling" after the recent pay hike Toronto MPPs were granted that range between $22,000 and $39,000 per year. DiNovo has been campaigning to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour to decrease poverty amongst the women, children and immigrants who typically hold minimum wage jobs. Conservatives argue that the......

Parents watch their kids toboggan in High Park on Christmas Day, 1910. Photo courtesy of William James/The Toronto Archives. That little weather icon above our logo is starting to get pretty depressing. With 8 days left until Christmas, there's still no snow on the ground, and with the exception of the few centimeters that we had just over a week ago that quickly melted, there's barely been a speck in the sky since last......

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.......

Between July 2003 and January 2006, photographer Geoffrey James took his panoramic camera across our city, taking shots of areas as diverse as High Park, Dundas Square, Kensington Market, Regent Park, and Liberty Village. Those photographs are collected in his newly-released book, Toronto, and the shots tell a story of a city in flux, both confident in its history and insecure about where it's headed. Besides photographs, Toronto also features an expansive introduction by......

United Church Minister Cheri DiNovo and the NDP have taken Parkdale-High Park away from Sylvia Watson and the Liberals. The NDP won the riding with 41% of the vote, despite the Liberals summoning 11 cabinet ministers and high profile members like Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy to campaign with former city councillor Sylvia Watson. 20,000 or so names are going to be taken off the city's voting list because the city has been unable to......

Students at Toronto area colleges and high schools are coping with the shootings at Montreal's Dawson College. The murders also has parents of high-school age children worried. Students in the GTA are doing better on provincial math and reading tests sadly those in Toronto-proper need more work. Sean Penn apparently missed that no smoking sign. The actor was caught smoking at a TIFF press conference and now the province is investigating whether the hotel should......

Sure, we all know John Travolta's in town after the notorious man-kissing episode at Hamilton Airport two weeks ago. But he's not here for the film fest. Instead, he joins Queen Latifah, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, and Michelle Pfeiffer as part of the cast of Hairspray, a 2007 remake of the 2002 Broadway musical remake of the original 1988 film comedy. (Whew! We recycle the past quickly, don't we?) Torontoist went to see the......

Paramedics dispatched to a house fire in west Toronto ended up on the Danforth because of a duplicate street name. Even worse, the fire may have resulted in the death of a 65-year old woman. This begs raises the question: why hasn't the city fixed the problem? The Star reminds us that the city has actually done a study about this problem (there are about 100 or so duplications around the megacity) and done nothing.......

Gord Perks, well known environmental columnist, activist and NDP candidate in Davenport during the last federal election, is running for city council in Ward 14 (Parkdale-High Park). Current councillor Sylvia Watson will be running in a September provincial by-election to try and fill the seat vacated by Gerard Kennedy. Perks wasn't able to unseat Liberal Mario Silva in Davenport but Ward 14 is another matter. He'll undoubtedly get help from the NDP and MP Peggy......

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. It seems that the Feds are stiffing Toronto about $6 million in homeless funding. The shortfall means the city can't sign service agreements with social organizations. Construction of new facilities for the homeless will also be affected. Thank you Ottawa may we......

For all of those who think Dream in High Park or Scream in High Park just doesn't rock out enough, this Saturday ALL CAPS! is taking over Dufferin Grove Park with eight bands including the Diableros, Stop Die Resucitate and DD/MM/YYYY. The all-ages festivities starts at 2pm and goes until 7pm. It's PWYC and don't forget to wear sunscreen and drink plenty of fluid kids.......

Jane Pitfield is opening a campaign office in the Junction area, close to Mayor Miller's High Park home. Both campaigns are gearing up for the fall and raising money. Mayor Miller is going grassroots and offering anyone who puts up raises $100 for his campaign an "I Public housing around the GTA is falling apart. The Toronto Community Housing Corporation estimates that it needs $225 million in repairs. A Toronto man saved two others from......