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......

Last night at the beautiful Winter Garden Theatre, the winners of the 28th Annual Dora Awards were announced in a ceremony hosted by the hilarious Rick Miller (of MacHomer and Bigger Than Jesus fame). The Doras are basically Canada's version of the Tonies, except you can't watch them on TV and see Molly Ringwald and John Stamos jazz-hand their way through a radical new interpretation of Hello, Dolly! As one might expect, the whole......

In a recent argument in favour of the heritage value of the Sam's sign, the billboards in Yonge-Dundas Square were compared to "banner ad slots on a Web page" due to their ephemeral nature. Well, the same could be said of our cultural institutions. The agenda of the June 25th meeting of City Council's Executive Committee [PDF] contains a report recommending that the naming rights of the Hummingbird Centre be resold [PDF]: The financial......

So much for preserving Toronto's cultural heritage—it looks like pretty much the entire stock of Sam The Record Man's flagship store is going up for auction. On Wednesday, June 27th at 10:30 a.m., Benaco Sales Ltd. will hold an auction on location inside the flagship, at 347 Yonge Street. Contents include "Outdoor neon records, unique neon signage, Olde English Shoe shine stations, Antique English Pub Bars, Store Fixtures, Marquee Signs, Pos and Security systems,......