Results tagged “kingstreet”

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Advertising company Astral Media Outdoor bid successfully for the right to provide Toronto with new street furniture almost two years ago. Their contract calls for them to supply, among other things, new trash bins to replace the city's existing ones (both the Eucan-provided "silver bins" and the several varieties of plastic city-owned receptacles). The Astral bins debuted last year during an exhibition at city hall. Now, they're starting to appear on downtown streets for general use. Torontoist has spotted the bins as far north as Yonge and Davisville, as far west as Little Italy, and as far south as King and Bathurst, where two of the new cans now sit near the southeast and northwest corners of the intersection.

We got all fired up last week when we started working on Four Brothers and found Mark Wahlberg is the king of Toronto action films. We figured we'd try to dig up a couple more in celebration of what we've dubbed "Marky Mark Movie Month." It didn't take us long to find the New York–set, recently-released Max Payne was a natural choice for where to go next.

Winter must be a difficult time for construction site voyeurs. Fortunately for them, the Toronto International Film Festival Group has a solution: TIFFG is asking Toronto's photographers to help document the development of their new Bell Lightbox building at King and John streets. It's a neat idea—anybody can take pictures of the construction and upload them to the Lightbox's Flickr pool, and, after the festival in September, five weekly pictures will be displayed on the Lightbox website. Select photos will also be purchased from the photographers and used in publicity for the building as part of the opening ceremonies in 2010.

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.

The next time you're walking along the wooded trails near the marsh in E.T. Seton Park, you may find a weathered sign overlooking a wet meadow. Still barely legible, it reads: Trees in this area were planted by the Outing Club of East York in honour of Charles Sauriol who was instrumental in the preservation of this valley August 1980 The Outing Club of East York's Diane Vieira told us that in its early...

It has been said—possibly by a beer commercial—that Toronto has two seasons: "winter and patio." That may be a little oversimplified, but Torontonians are famously reticent to eat or drink indoors if it remains clement enough outside to snag oneself a seat on a terrace. The wrap of TIFF festivities, and the migration of stars from our streets back to fairer climes, usually heralds the last few days when one can enjoy a beverage in the sun without the benefits of a scarf or some fashionable gloves. It is also when some of the more well-heated dining rooms gear up for the hectic stretch between now and Christmas, as many Torontonians also like to deal with lower temperatures through gastronomic distraction.

Stage Struck: 100 Years At The Royal Alex, a free exhibition commemorating the Royal Alexandra Theatre's centennial, opened yesterday at the Toronto Reference Library. Torontoist was at the opening to oggle at the rare playbills, posters and other paraphernalia that would make any theatre geek weak in the knees.

Torontoist just bought a new bike. It's blue and shiny and for some reason hasn't been stolen yet. In celebration of this fact, here are three bike-related items we thought you'd be interested in.

Toronto legend Edwin "Honest Ed" Mirvish has died. He was 92.

Hot on the heels of our review of the National Post's new Posted Toronto blog, they've reported that Toronto icon and terrifier-of-tourists Zanta, né David Zancai, is leaving.

Yesterday, the province gave Toronto $52,000 to test recycling programs in apartment complexes as part of the goal to divert 70 per cent of waste from landfill by 2010.

Yesterday, Environics released the results of a study commissioned by Goodyear Canada about driving attitudes. It found that 74 percent of Canadians hate drivers “who engage in road rage/impolite gestures.” Another 72 percent are angered by motorists who tailgate or follow too closely, who allow their doors to hit the car next to them, or who speed up to block others from passing or changing lanes. Environics' Vice-President of Consumer Research David MacDonald added that those who were most critical of other drivers were guilty of their own bad driving habits. Speaking of tragic ironies: Tuesday, at the height of morning rush hour, we saw the crumpled remains of a Porsche Carrera and a Dodge Infiniti—the result of a collision at the corner of University Avenue and King Street. One of the drivers was adamant that he was in the right because he had the green. But the police officer at the scene said, “yeah, but you’re supposed to let them finish making the left-hand turn.”

If your dog is a cancer survivor, the folks who bring you Woofstock want to meet it. They’re organizing the Doggie High Tea, a 50-dog tea party for dogs who’ve had cancer, complete with cookies and specially brewed “tea” (their quotation marks, probably best not to ask). The event will also feature the Doggie Designer Challenge, where “8 Doggie Designers will present their most fetching outfits.” Fetching. That’s cute.

The TTC proposes an "experiment" to make King Street West (between John and Spadina) a pedestrian-and-streetcar-only zone during the summer of 2008, much to the chagrin of business owners on the restaurant strip. However, the plan would allow a single lane to remain open for taxis and deliveries.

Whether you're Scottish or not, it's always fun to celebrate Robbie Burns Day on January 25th. The day is to celebrate the life and death of Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland who wrote such ditties as Auld Lang Syne and Comin' Thro' the Rye, the poem which is said to have inspired J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. He is also known for drinking a lot and womanizing even more, and by the time he died at the ripe old age of 37 in 1796, he had fathered nine children.

As is traditional for Christmas Day, most of the news is bad.

We've recently noticed that the so-called Entertainment District is experiencing a noticeable lull in, well...entertainment.

Overheard at a King Street eatery, 10:00 PM Tuesday.

According to a tip we got, Tattoo, the King Street sidewalk artist, is back at it and doing another piece. The destruction of his work in March by city staff sparked tons of blog posts and mainstream media coverage.

Sarah Teitel is a woman, who on first introduction, is a dizzying whirlwind of talent and to say she wears more than one hat would be an extravagent understatement.

Girl 1: Yes!