Results tagged “neighbourhoods”

The Drake Hotel is not quite a country of its own yet, but it will soon open its first embassy—in Rosedale.

Parkdale was established in the late nineteenth century as a suburban enclave where middle-class families could enjoy parks, the lakeshore, and the new exhibition grounds far from the bustle of the central city. Over the course of the twentieth century, Parkdale became increasingly seen as a slum at the end of a downward spiral. Then, in more recent years, the neighbourhood has been resurrected as a gentrifying urban village. So goes the commonly accepted version of Parkdale's history.

Many Torontonians are unaware that Chinatown East even exists, let alone that a significant landmark—almost a decade in the making—opened last week at Gerrard and Broadview. The Zhong Hua Men ("Chinese Arch") brings a higher profile to Chinatown East, and gives the district a gateway that its famous cousin on Spadina surprisingly doesn't have.

Where's the heart of Toronto?

Walking down Spadina Avenue between College and Dundas streets, you might completely miss them, so well do they blend in with the street scene. But stop by one of Chinatown's many municipal trash bins, let your eyes wander up slightly, and you might see one, attached to a utility pole, doing its best imitation of a yellow-jacket. Chinatown has some new signage, and the gist seems to be that you really must drop that bag of miscellaneous rotting crud someplace else, no matter what language you speak.

One of the less expected results of the city workers' strike, about to enter its second month, has been that its most visible effect—you know, the garbage on city streets—has not accumulated consistently across neighbourhoods, even neighbourhoods adjacent to one another. Our daily Strike Watch feature has demonstrated as much: while some stretches of the city's main streets seem to only get progressively dirtier, others seem to have their level of cleanliness ebb and flow, and others seem to have never gotten near dirty in the first place. While some credit for the cleanliness should go to the elusive but much-heralded management staff tasked with cleaning up parks and streets, some of the city's Business Improvement Areas (or BIAs)—the organizations that watch over commercial strips across the city—have been quietly stepping in and up, too.

Mark Giesbrecht—better known as Mark the Litter Guy in the areas of the city that he patrols and cleans up in exchange for donations—has been tending to Queen Street West for long enough now that, when the West Queen West, Queen West, and Parkdale Business Improvement Areas (or BIAs) went looking to hire someone to help clean the area up, he was a natural choice.

Yesterday, there was no mistaking Councillor Adam Vaughan's undertone for anything but indignant pride. He couldn't quite manage to mask it, if indeed he was even trying; it was of the sort a proud uncle might exude when reintroducing to society a formerly wayward nephew who, with uncle's guidance, has finally managed to shake the old seedy dress and manners.

As part of each hand as they are called, her Luminato project celebrating the history of Jewish life in Kensington Market, artist Reena Katz was to organize a game of Mah Jongg between seniors from the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care and grade eight students from Ryerson Community Public School. (Mah Jongg is "a game that originated in China, migrated west, and was popularized with North American Jewish women during the 1920s.")

Following a protracted day of heated debate over a plan that should really have been a no-brainer, City Council wisely passed the measure that would remove the reversible centre lane of traffic on Jarvis Street (one which should never have been added in the first place) in return for a four-kilometre stretch of curbside bike lane. Opponents complained that not many cyclists use Jarvis Street and it was therefore unfair to add a few minutes to Rosedale commuters' travel time; proponents say that the street operates like a downtown highway, and that the unusually narrow lanes are a deathtrap for cyclists—and therefore a deterrent. Drivers gripe that people on bikes are aggressive; cyclists answer that eighty kilos of pugnacity is no match for 2,000 kilograms of steel. And so on, and so on. The acrimony between cyclists and automobilists may have yet to be assuaged, but even kids in kindergarten learn the importance of sharing.

At approximately 5:45 p.m. on December 21st, 2008, Torontoist received a phone call from Boy Reporter. "The parade's been cancelled." "What?" "It's been cancelled. Because of the wind."

View Torontoist's 2015 Toronto map (2.5 MB .PDF)

In July 2006, City Council approved a staff report recommending names for the new streets created as part of the redeveloped Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) property at 1001 Queen Street West [PDF]; one of these was White Squirrel Way, in reference "to the rare white squirrels that nest in the vicinity."

Overheard by Robin Hatch at the Beaches Bake Shop two Sundays ago. A girl in a Baby Phat coat and Apple Bottoms jeans and a guy wearing Sean John and Fubu, both with "seemingly inauthentic Brooklyn accents," are paying for their coffee.

When it comes to Toronto's neighbourhoods, even well-versed out-of-towners have probably heard of Rosedale, High Park, the Annex, and the Beach. But Amesbury? Alderwood? L'Amoreaux?

            

"When I saw the January Adult [Metro]pass," artist Valentine Makhouleen wrote on his blog on Monday, "it reminded me of everything that is miserable about January in Toronto—gray skies, traffic on St. Clair, packed streetcars, unbearable cold and hospital pajamas. This mood is further reinforced by TTC through inconsistent type, bold borders, hideous out-of-place patterns, lack of a balanced grid and inconsistent spelling." The current passes, he wrote, lack "personality."

When we tried out the bench prototype at the street furniture unveiling at City Hall in June, it was one of the few items we were pretty much okay with. But because Astral Media can't do anything right (when it comes to street furniture and billboards, anyway—their other divisions seem to be functioning relatively well), they've managed to screw this up, too.

Photo by Jenna Marie Wakani from the NDP's Flickr photostream.

There goes another chunk of the 'hood. The ground is all chewed up, the renta-fence is in place, and Queen West's on-street parking just got a little bit worse. The cars have been kicked off the corner lot at Queen and Portland streets, ready for the construction crews to move in. The neighbourhood is a big step closer to getting ninety more condo suites, anchored by a big-box Home Depot. May, 2010, is the projected date for occupancy.

Photo taken just after midnight on Friday by Jonathan Goldsbie. The "For Renovations" part of the sign has since been torn off.

For every condo high-rise that goes up, a parking garage does down. Several levels usually. But in many of the downtown towers, especially along Queen’s Quay, not all the young and eligibles who live there have cars. Some simply don’t need them, others have made a conscious decision, whether financially or ecologically based, not to have one, says a resident who wishes to remain anonymous because she’s in breach of her condo agreement.

Have a closer look at the posters on 234 Augusta Avenue after the jump.

Anyone remotely interested in urban or social studies should be fairly captivated by AZURE Magazine's latest hulking tome, a special issue entitled "How To Build A Great City." In it, AZURE explores the staple themes: bike lanes across the world, the value of subway lines versus a city's (or in their case, town's) total monetary intake, and a piece that, as always, showcases how painfully far we are behind the Danes. Make no mistake, these articles aren't a rehash of pop journalism tripe capitalizing on fashionable themes; AZURE's triadic focus has always been "Design, Architecture, Art" and the content of the publication is always refreshing and informative. To wit, columns examining architecture as it relates to its surroundings give hope where we're accustomed to being saddled with the cheapest, most convenient, and worst examples of building conceivable.

On Monday morning, Astral Media unveiled prototypes of its new line of "street furniture" at City Hall. On Wednesday, we took a look at the garbage bins. On Thursday, the advertising pillars. Yesterday, the transit shelters. Today, everything else. (Also check out Karen von Hahn's disparagement of the street furniture in the Globe.)

On Monday morning, Astral Media unveiled prototypes of its new line of "street furniture" at City Hall. On Wednesday, we took a look at the garbage bins. On Thursday, we looked at the advertising pillars. This morning, the transit shelters. (Be sure also to read Christopher Hume's review, which makes our less-than-kind assessments look like raves.)

On Monday morning, Astral Media unveiled prototypes of its new line of "street furniture" at City Hall. Torontoist was going to review all of the items at once but decided that some merited their own posts. Yesterday, we took a look at the garbage bins. Today we look at the advertising pillars. Friday, the transit shelters, and on Saturday everything else. (Be sure to read Spacing's coverage, too.)

In the opening voiceover for his Oscar-winning animated short Ryan, Chris Landreth explains, "I live in Toronto, a city in Canada where I see way too many shades of grey for my own good health." This line occurred to us as we attended the official unveiling of Toronto's new "street furniture" at City Hall Monday morning, a celebration of the all-new shades of grey about to trickle onto our streets.

Photo of Shamez Amlani by Yvonne Bambrick.