For those who crave local food, the long winter of parsnip and rutabaga soup is coming to an end. The surest sign of spring is the sight of farmers pitching their market tents for the year ahead. You know what that means: you'll be able to add fresh local asparagus and radishes to that soup any day now. Toronto supports a handful of year-round markets including the old reliable St. Lawrence and a relative......

The proposed big box development in Leslieville has been getting a lot of attention lately, and not because it's a welcome addition to the retail streetscape in the east end. The land, the soon-to-be-former home of Toronto Film Studios, is currently zoned for employment purposes, which means that it's supposed to be used to provide jobs that pay better than retail. The city and SmartCentres, the property developer, have danced all the way to the......

Ever since Torontoist wrote about the little house at St. Clair and Dufferin—known affectionately as "Toronto's Little House" (OK, why don't you think of a more creative name, smarty-pants?)—it's received an enormous amount of local and international attention. So much attention, in fact, that it was famously associated with a potential purchase by comic/dancing machine/talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, although tiny houses are presumably much easier to give away than tiny dogs, so what was......

For the forty-sixth year, St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church brought together the community of Little Italy with a procession marking Good Friday. Torontoist was there, capturing some of the faces of the neighbourhood event.......

Jarvis Street, circa 1910. (City of Toronto Archives) Torontonians should be ashamed at what happened to Jarvis Street. The city's first paved road was once the grandest tree-lined boulevard around, bracketed by the mansions of some of Toronto's wealthiest movers and shakers. Then, in the 1940s, the stately Jarvis boulevard was transformed: trees were pulled down and sidewalks ripped up to make way for the automobile. Jarvis Street was turned from a gorgeous historical......

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 David Urbonas from Flickr. Since the inaugural Yonge & Bloor installment of A City Intersected, Torontoist has made every attempt at......

Photo by Hanoian from Flickr. Considered a traditional Vietnamese dish, pho actually only came onto the foodie scene about 100 years ago, tracing its roots to the French occupation and the desire to create a dish that was a happy medium between Viet (the noodlage) and French (le boeuf) cuisines. History lessons aside, pho is a low cost, low fat and healthy way to fill your tummy. It tastes really damn good too.......

All photos by Kristin Foster. After a blur of relatives, feasts, and gift wrap, some of us have returned to the confines of the office for peace and quiet while others are on the couch. Welcome to the Holiday Hangover! Torontoist told you what was going on for Christmas Day, now we've found a great way of avoiding Boxing Week in the comfort of your own neighbourhood. With 49 outdoor rinks maintained by the......

In every neighbourhood there is one dude who goes a bit overboard with the Christmas lights. It's the stuff of bad Christmas movies. But few go quite as far as the Lindsay family, who seem to be trying their best to outdo the ZooTV tour. Every year since 2000, the Thornhill family has dressed up their home with a bigger and better light show. The lawn lights are buried under snow right now, but......

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 sono salvo from Flickr. Baldwin Street, a lush strip that runs between Spadina Avenue to the west and McCaul Street to......

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place. Everyone in Eastern Canada noticed that there was a snow storm on Sunday. No doubt, people in many places have had a tough time getting around as a result. Toronto and many other cities talk a good talk about pedestrians being at the......

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place. Sometimes what makes a city great are small, less obvious things that make you smile, or better yet, engage your environment in a more active way. Around Ottawa, you can find swap boxes like the one shown above on telephone poles or construction......

A new free service called Operation Red Nose launches tomorrow that provides volunteer designated drivers to get drunks and their cars home safely. The service already runs in places like Sudbury and Aurora, and now festive partygoers in the Distillery District can try it out this Wednesday, December 12 to Saturday, December 15. The program is fairly flexible since drivers can request service as often as necessary to get from one place to the......

Photo by William Self from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It seems like everyone in the city is looking for a new place to live. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of competition to find that oh-so-perfect abode, and you’ve only got a few (relatively meagre) resources at your disposal to help you in your search. Luckily for you, we have your back.......

Near Manulife Financial: Bloor East citizens would like less poo in their public spaces. With condo fever gripping the still-shabby southeast corner of Bloor and Yonge due to the future One Bloor 80-storey tower, the Bloor East Neighbourhood Association (BENA) met Wednesday night at the Rogers Centre (333 Bloor Street East) to discuss how their little stretch of street could be transformed to rival the world-class reputation of Bloor West. BENA, representing ratepayers along......

Photo by gbalogh from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. The Star's Jack Lakey, aka The Fixer, is invaluable. There is no better way to elicit a favourable response from the City bureaucracy than by sicking him on a case of civic neglect. It really is the most consistent way to get things done in Toronto. (The TPSC got Viacom to fulfill their contractual obligation to put street names on transit shelters simply by getting him......

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place. December will bring about the demolition of the building at the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor to make way for the gargantuan condo development known as One Bloor East. Urbanist is generally supportive of the condo boom since it means more people......

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 Cari Miller What are we doing at Bayview & Eglinton? It’s a fair enough question to ponder. After all, there’s not......

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place. While Toronto has been making headlines in recent years for its investment in artistic institutions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, and the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Ottawa has been in the spotlight of late because......

Poor OCAP. They can't even complain about the police watching them without the police watching them. At noon on Wednesday, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty held a press conference (not a rally or an action or a march but a press conference) at the northeast corner of Dundas and Sherbourne, and there was about one police officer for each person in attendance (around twenty). As eight or so cops casually observed the conference from......

Photo by Try Hank from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. The entries are in for our Posted Toronto/Torontoist Flags For All Neighbourhood Flags Contest, and the batch is pretty eclectic. Steven Murray from the National Post and Torontoist's Marc Lostracco offer their commentary, along with the artist statements. Read on to see the designs and to vote on a winner!......

The View From Afar is a photo series that will look at what's happening in other cities for inspiration, lessons in what not to do to your city, and other tips for the urbane urbanist. This week's installation of The View From Afar comes from Highway 5. Dundas Street turns into Highway 5 west of Mississauga, and along this route you can see how suburbia encroaches on rural areas and displaces them.......

Is there an age limit for trick-or-treating? While there appears to be little consensus on this head-scratcher, a national hunger-focused campaign is giving college students the opportunity to trick or treat, guilt-free. This All Hallows' Eve, 3,000 volunteers from Humber College, U of T, and Ryerson University will don spooky costumes and go door to door collecting non-perishable food items for Trick or Eat 2007. They’ll be collecting on behalf of Meal Exchange, a......

Sunday afternoon is the Toronto Public Space Committee's third annual Human River Walk, a trek along the course of the buried Garrison Creek, from Christie Pits to Fort York in a parade of blue, symbolically bringing the river back above ground for one beautiful afternoon. Along the route, there will be music, performances, and stories about the history of the creek, the neighbourhoods, the trees, and Toronto's stormy relationship with its water. But, above......

There has been a lot of debate recently about how and to what extent corporations should be allowed to fund community initiatives. City Hall is currently ablaze with lobbying and ambivalence as we draw nearer to City Council's vote on land transfer and vehicle ownership taxes, a decision that could easily blow the door open to more private sponsorship of community services and public space. Meanwhile, over three hundred volunteers from twenty companies, including......

Sold in April and refurbished this summer, Toronto’s smallest house is on the market again! Built in 1912 and occupied for twenty years by Toronto contractor Arthur Weedan and his wife, the baby bungalow was originally intended to be a driveway. Located at St. Clair and Dufferin, this little piece of prime real estate sold earlier this spring for a whopping $139,000. Given its spatial challenges—and its price tag—the 300-square foot house is a......

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......

After intense public backlash over a boneheaded plan to expropriate the storied Matador Club and obliterate it into a paved slab, the Toronto Parking Authority has backed down. Thanks in large part to the Save The Matador movement, today's afternoon TPA meeting experienced some expropriation of its own when about forty supporters descended upon Meeting Room B to vociferously protest the the Council-sanctioned demolition. The matter will return to City Council to be officially......

Developers had to do very little to attract new homeowners into the rapidly expanding, brand-spankin' new city of Mississauga in the 1970s. Open spaces, parkland, recreational venues, shopping plazas, and day care spaces were among the tidbits thrown to those looking at suburban creature comforts. Most of all, new homeowners wanted easy access to rustic jug milk stores. This development may have touted itself as "excitingly different," but parting from the norm could only......

Photos by mishkaoutofcontrol from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Except to its frequent clientele, Toronto's legendary Matador Club is best known as the setting to Leonard Cohen's "Closing Time," which laments a place that "got wrecked by the winds of change." The Matador's been around since 1914. Built as a dance hall for WWI soldiers, it then became home to a bowling alley, and finally ended up as a quirky, late-night hangout with strong country......