Results tagged “queenwestfire”

According to the Post, the Ontario Fire Marshall has declared that the cause of the massive February Queen West fire will remain a mystery. "[Fire investigations manager Chris] Williams" told the paper that "a team of 10 investigators, including forensic specialists and engineers, pored over piles of charred physical evidence, but there was simply too much damage, leaving them with no choice but to label the cause 'undetermined.'" It's bad news for the former property owners, but great news for those who enjoy wildly speculating about the fire's cause. (Did you know that if you re-arrange the letters in "Queen Street West Fire" you get "Queen St Fire=Teers"? Or that "Home Depot" backwards is almost "Top Demon"? Someone should really investigate that.)

A month after the massive fire that gutted half a block of Queen Street West between Bathurst and Portland at least two of the businesses whose stores were destroyed in the fire have relocated and are planning to reopen soon. Meanwhile, the site has emerged from a blanket of snow and ice revealing what little remains of the businesses and homes razed by the fire.

Duke's Cycle has just announced on their web site that their new location (until they rebuild on Queen Street) is going to be at 452 Richmond Street near Spadina Avenue, just a few blocks away from the store that burned down last month in the massive Queen West fire. They join National Sound in quickly re-establishing themselves in the neighbourhood.

It's a Monday night. It's St. Patrick's Day. Your buds have been bombed off Irish car bombs and green Steamwhistle since noon, but you've shirked the shamrock fever all day, calling it purposeless partying.

Following the massive fire that devastated half a block of Queen Street West last month, National Sound, a stereo and electronics equipment store established in 1968 and made homeless by the fire, will be "coming soon" to 644 Queen Street, a block west of its old location. Duke's Cycle may open as early as April 1st, though they've yet to reveal where.

Photo by Caesar Sebastian.

Last week’s fire on Queen West didn’t only destroy some of the neighbourhood’s best stores; it also put the dozens of people who lived in apartments above the shops out of a home. Some of these folks didn’t have insurance and lost most of their possessions. Many of the artists who lived in the buildings lost their work, and thus their source of income.

Sarah Lazarovic––curator of the garage-based Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada––is painting a portrait of a Torontonian (be they Mirvishes or Meashas) every day. Each Monday, we'll feature one of those portraits here.

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.

There’s an eerie similarity between images of last week's Queen West fire and The Great Fire of 1904. The largest fire in Toronto history consumed one hundred and four buildings—leaving in its wake skeletal brick facades and mounds of rubble. Incredibly, neither fire claimed any lives.

Keri and Charity are two residents who lost everything on Wednesday morning. By that afternoon, a Facebook group (called Ker-ity) had already been set up with the sole purpose of helping them replace what was lost. Torontoist was alerted to the efforts by Erin Dermo, Managing Director of The Ten Spot (less than a block away from the blaze), who has been approaching local businesses to see if they can donate anything that might help. So far, aside from The Ten Spot’s own contributions, nearby businesses like Heel Boy (yes, they donated shoes), The Bier Markt, and Brazen Hussy have all been very generous with much-needed items and gift certificates. The coordinators of the drive (including Dermo and yoga instructor Caren Cooper of Jivita Yoga) are accepting clothing, shoes, and gift certificates at Essensuals Salon (678 Queen Street West). They're also asking for people who have any household items to offer to hang onto them until a storage space or apartment can be found. Don't have any stuff to give? Hey, money always helps—they're accepting Paypal donations at donations@kerity.ca and they'll also be opening a TD Canada Trust account in the next day or so. Check the Facebook group for further details.

Today's blaze was not only devastating to the residents of Queen Street West who now find themselves homeless, but also to the business owners who served the community. Duke's Cycle—second home to many of the city's bicycle couriers—has been run by the same family in the same location since 1914. The owners of National Sound, which operated in the area for forty years and at that location since 1988, don't have fire insurance. Clothing design shop Preloved lost their entire one-of-a-kind spring collection. Suspect Video was the essential destination for fans of obscure and hard-to-find films. Some of the destroyed historic brick and timber buildings were built as far back as the 1860s, and were only recently granted heritage protection.

Exclusive images from the massive fire on Queen Street. More shots after the jump.

Photo by aardvark from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.