Results tagged “queenwest”

"Today, we're going to go from Manila, Philippines to Toronto, Canada," began Byron Abalos as he stood before a rapt group of about twenty SummerWorks tourists, ready to embark on the inaugural run of the Lola Lita SummerWalk ("Lola" means grandmother in Tagalog). "It’s going to be a very personal tour, looking at Queen West through the eyes of my Lola Lita."

A group of schoolchildren sit down at a table, armed with notebooks and pencils in hand. It's dinnertime, and they're ready to be served. But tonight's specialty won't be Macaroni à la KD, nor a plate of crustless PB & J. These kids are dining inside of Queen Street's finest eateries, and to them, it's not quite kid stuff. Once the dishes are cleared, the kids get down to business―laying on the table their uncensored, audacious opinions.

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."

The perfect t-shirt. Everyone wants it. Everyone wants to believe it exists, somewhere, either after weeks of shopping or years of wear (all so easily undone with one mistake in the wash). So few actually have it.

On a clear Tuesday evening, a twenty-ish, canvas-shod scruffster shuffled east from Bathurst onto Wellington and, looking either very lost or very uncomfortable, turned hesitantly into the gated patio of Marben Restaurant. He exchanged a few words with a sleek, formidably stiletto'd woman, and, miraculously, slipped inside.

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.

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.

Torontoist is ahead of the game for previewing some of the best music choices this week (Queen West fire benefit, Forest City Lovers' CD release) but Musicologist will give you one more recommendation—just for kicks.

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.

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.

Fire at Queen and Bathurst. Adios to Duke's, the Suspect Video outlet, and a bunch of other cool places. Check out Torontoist's coverage of the fire here and here and here––Queen West will be closed until next week.

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.

Photo by David Topping.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

As the crowds descend on the Eaton Centre and Queen West for last minute shopping, the Queen streetcar becomes the hottest spot in town. With shoppers in down jackets squeezing into the car, the experience most resembles warm sardines packed in a tin, and it smells equally appealing.

Showdown's hot picks for cold season include cropped leather jackets and cute jumper dresses. Photos courtesy of Showdown Vintage. Why Showdown Vintage isn't like Toronto's 1348 other vintage stores: 1. It's not really a store. Staysail Shedd, Mick Jackson and Andrew Pepall launched Showdown as an eBay retailer in April 2006, using their combined years of vintage-picking expertise to sell the coolest of Toronto's castoffs to customers all over the globe. But with a...

This weekend, resist the urge to do the same old bar hop and try a more sophisticated means of indulging your party ADD: the art show hop. Okay, so we just invented that term, but the city does have three rad art happenings going on almost simultaneously this Friday, November 30. And we say, why choose? To start your adventure, knock back a whiskey for warmth and head down to the Harbourfront, where the...

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...

The Entertainment District got a little more entertaining early Monday morning as an innocent bystander was wounded in a wild movie-style shootout involving at least four gunmen. Mayor David Miller called for a crackdown on gun smuggling as part of his strategy of blaming all problems in Toronto on forces outside of his control.

After decades of being situated as an icon of Queen Street West, it has been revealed that Citytv will be moving to a new high-profile location: Dundas Square.

No matter which generation you're from, chances are you have been influenced in one way or another by puppets. Lamb Chop, Elmo, Kermit, Casey & Finnegan, and even Ed the Sock have been huge puppet figures in popular culture. So why not relive your childhood and come on down to a puppet play this Saturday afternoon?

Slightly different beginning to our Film Friday today, because we’d like to highlight the fact that our favourite film in ages, Reprise (pictured above), was released on DVD this week. We really feel it should have been given the same kind of cinematic release it’s getting right now in the UK, rather than an astonishingly bare-bones DVD transfer with burned-in subtitles, but what are you going to do? You really have to see it anyway. It was one of our top picks from TIFF 2006, and is still as vital as ever (and Eye’s Jason Anderson agrees).

As we mentioned in our Nuit Blanche photo album, the culprit behind that "Quick Lobotomy" sign you may have seen at Queen West's Tri Service Centre is our very own fauxreel. Earlier this morning, he posted a video on YouTube of his exploits, featuring some of the messages that he received from outraged/intrigued Nuit Blanche participants. It's lobotoriffic!