Rami Tabello of IllegalSigns.ca has teamed up with the New York–based Anti-Advertising Agency to create IllegalBillboards.org. According to Tabello's announcement, "the idea is to set up a blank web site, which can now be used by New York-based activists to keep track of research into illegal billboards and scrutiny of Department of Buildings enforcement." Tabello has already started taking a look at illegal ads in New York City over the past few weeks.......

Spotted in the north elevator of an upscale North York condo.......

Since it was built in 1887, the Alexandrina Block on College Street west of Spadina has seen numerous tenants come and go, including The Bagel music venue. Among its current elements is a 1970s-style sign promising over a dozen variety of submarine sandwiches. Those hoping for a retro experience will be disappointed as all that remains of the self-proclaimed "Rolls Royce of submarines" is the sign, fully intact and party covered by a tree.......

Spiral Beach have found themselves in a spot of trouble. As detailed a week and a half ago in both NOW and Eye, the band got hit with a $1470 bill [PDF] from EcoMedia Direct for putting up eight posters for last month's Opera House show on eight of the company's "SilverBox and Heritage Box Recycling Bins." Again, that's $1470 for eight small posters, like the one above made by Spiral Beach singer/keyboardist Maddy......

Park at your own risk near Yonge and Gloucester. Photo by rupert affen.......

Public relations is a tricky job, especially for the companies that operate illegal signs across Toronto. They've already got to deal with a site dedicated solely to putting an end to the practice, an increasingly aware and increasingly concerned populace, and those damned vandals who forgo legal means of dissent by dealing with the problem directly. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that Posterchild, a prominent member of (and advocate for)......

Dear Distillery District, We really like you, but that doesn't mean that we can't offer suggestions for improvement. We'd like to introduce your sign makers to two magic words: "during construction." They could help avoid giving visitors the wrong impression about the pride you have in the site and your stores. Wordfully, TOist.......

Photo of a Koodo mobile ad by Marc Lostracco. Two pending lawsuits challenge the constitutionality of certain aspects of the City of Toronto's sign by-law [PDF]. The first aspect is the by-law's less favourable treatment of signs mounted on walls (known as fascia signs, most commonly made of vinyl) versus signs painted on walls (known as murals). Murals may be placed more closely together, and it is generally easier to obtain planning permission to......

Little-known fact: Third-party mobile signs, such as the one above for the U of T Career Centre, are illegal in Toronto (and the City recently hired a sort of bounty hunter to drive around in a truck, seizing and impounding them). Perhaps this is one of the reasons why. Photo taken by Jonathan Goldsbie early Thursday morning at the northwest corner of St. George and Harbord. The sign has since been removed.......

In the fall of 1997, the Metro Toronto Zoo had something of a clearance sale, divesting itself of merchandise branded "Metro Toronto Zoo." On January 1st, the Megacity would be coming, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto would be no more, and the Zoo—to be renamed simply the "Toronto Zoo"—would be prepared for the change. The Metropolitan Toronto Police, however, were not quite as on the ball. Two years later, in 2000, the organization finally......

The province has ordered the City of Toronto to stop stonewalling in the face of freedom of information requests about allegedly illegal billboards. IllegalSigns.ca—"our hobby is destroying illegal billboards through the rule of law"—submitted a series of requests asking the City to release information about certain billboards. The City's Corporate Access and Privacy Unit balked. After receiving over 600 requests from the group in 2006—12% of all requests filed in the City—and after processing......

These pictures were not taken mid-transition. Photos by Jonathan Goldsbie.......

"This advertising space and/or building for lease" Photo of the west side of Yonge, at Gould, by Jonathan Goldsbie.......

This is probably not the issue these signs are trying to address. Photos taken by Jonathan Goldsbie at Innis College's men's washroom.......

The Globe and Illegal Signs report today that Titan Outdoor Canada Company has asked the courts to save its sixteen vinyl billboards from a City of Toronto removal order. Putting on its legal cap, Torontoist reviewed the notice of application [PDF]—the first step in the court process—filed by Titan in the Ontario Superior Court. The notice alleges that the City lacks the authority to regulate the distinction between different types of signs, is acting......

In this occasional feature, two Torontoist staffers face off to debate an issue that is important to our city. We invite our readers to join in the debate in the comments section after the post. Signs, signs, everywhere signs. The beginning of the year marked the first anniversary of a controversial and radical ban of all nearly outdoor advertising in São Paulo, Brazil. While Toronto's advertising problems are certainly not as serious as São Paulo's,......

"Upper Canada Lower Bowel Clinic Inc." Greatest thing ever? Photo taken by Jonathan Goldsbie at U of T's Jackman Humanities Building (formerly the Medical Arts Building). Thanks to J.D. McGregor of the English Department for the tip.......

Torontoist likes its java joints in all shapes and sizes. Whether it's a mom-and-pop lunch counter that has fired up the pots since Confederation, multinational chains, or the latest in fairly traded barista artistry, Toronto is home to a wide variety of places where one can find an honest cup of joe and a comfortable place to sit. Our latest discovery may be the city's coziest coffee counter. Located on College west of Bathurst,......

Signs telling people not to feed birds in Nathan Phillips Square were suddenly installed and just as suddenly removed over the past week, reports the Toronto Star. Torontoist thought the signs gave some pretty compelling reasons for their all-too-brief existence. Feeding birds distorts their nutrition, migration, and breeding patterns. Also, guano is a nuisance (as many bike and car owners will tell you) and a health hazard, even if in less than Dr. No-like......

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,......

Somewhere, Dave Meslin is weeping with joy. Today marks the launch of Rami Tabello's IllegalSigns.ca: an incredibly ambitious project that, through its comprehensive analysis of billboard advertising in Toronto, ties together a number of the loose ends of the broader public space movement. What Tabello has found – and has the hard evidence to back up – is that "half the billboards in Toronto are illegal." They have "thus far identified 350 illegal billboards,"......

Since 1999, technical writer Dave Till has maintained a sort-of-secret online shrine to Toronto's forgotten industries. We say sort-of-secret because every couple of years a blog like Metafilter or a website like cbc.ca will discover it, and his server would take a tremendous hit. So Till has moved his collection of images of old business signage—those faded, hand-painted signs advertising novelties and dry goods known as Ghost Signs— to Flickr. Till, who grew up......

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! Signs like the one above, captured by Torontoist Flickr pool member bitefight, are disappearing all over the city, which is sad. Who doesn't love them? There's something about the proportional imperfections in the hand-painted letters that coverys far more......

We liveblogged the civic election as it happened. Continue reading to see the night's transcript. More Torontoist coverage of Civic Vote 2006: Design Daytripper: Election Signs The Last Minute Voter's Handbook Chasing the No-Giambrone-Mobile When Your Landlord Hearts The Other Candidate Hotter Than He Should Be......

The mayoral debate at the St. Lawrence Centre last night was a success. 27 out of the 38 candidates showed up including LeDrew, Miller, Pitfield and this guy, who is young enough to be their kid. We stink, or at least our garbage does. It's probably why a Superior Court judge has given the Halton Recycling Plant a big thumbs down and ordered it closed till next year. A lawyer is filing complaints that the......

A TTC janitor might just be subject of one ot those TTC employee ads after spotting a four-year old boy that was snatched and Amber-Alerted. A 34-year old woman was also arrested. The Post reports on what happened to the Redpath Sugar sign on the waterfront. Bob Rae and Carolyn Bennett are both now officially in the Liberal Leadership race. A car ran into a streetcar on Queen and River injuring three people. Spacing Wire......

A quick look around our sister sites brings back some ISTeresting stories. --- After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this... Austinist read a book about Olympian......

-the latest issue of Spacing has artist Marc Ngui's designs for 8 new neighbourhood-appropriate 'wayfinding' signs available for you to download and turn into buttons. And you know how we feel about buttons. -evidently not enough drivers making like Big Bird, as 59 Torontonians were killed in traffic accidents last year. -a key sign we're well into January... -don't bang your head on this sign warning you to not bang your head. Now my head......

There are dozens of reasons why city council's attempts to place an almost outright ban on postering is just plain misguided. What's surprising is that this isn't the first time that the city has tried to clamp down on visual clutter. The City of Toronto Archives, in their exhibit "Signs of Urban Life," make it crystal clear that the "eye sores" of posters, sandwich boards and every other type of ad is nothing new and......