Toronto has a fascinating history but just how difficult is it to do a little digging into the history of where you live?

The City of Toronto provides a guide to finding the history of your house. There may be maps, building permits, photographs and other information you can find if you're willing to spend the time searching their treasure trove of data.

You can start with online research but you'll eventually need to head over to the City of Toronto Archives at 255 Spadina Road. It's only open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. so plan your visit accordingly.

Once you get there, staff can help you get started and retrieve specific records including copies of building permits or photos.

The site archivehistory.ca recommends some of the following strategies.

• Determine whether or not your street name or address changed at any point in the past
• Consult fire insurance plans
• Check the City's aerial photograph collection, which covers most of the city from 1947 to 1972
• To determine former occupants, consult assessment rolls and city directories

If all of this sounds like too much work, third party companies like Toronto-based Caerwent Housestories will do all the work for you and offers a series of packages, depending on how nicely you want the research presented.

The basic package will set you back $550. It comes in chart-form and includes "detailed information about previous owners and occupants."

Pricier packages include things like photographs, newspaper citations, building permits and a narrative history of your house and neighbourhood.

Some high-end restaurants in Toronto are just worth the splurge. Maybe it’s your birthday, someone’s visiting from out of town, or you just want to treat yo’ self. Whatever the occasion, these are the places to head for tasting menus and caviar when you’ve got a little extra money in the bank or just want to live for today.

Here are my picks for high-end restaurants in Toronto worth the splurge.

Yasu

The set omakase menu is the only option at this Harbord Village sushi restaurant where seats are available by reservation only for $135 a person, and that doesn’t include drinks or tip. However, it does include 20 items of appetizers, sushi made with international ocean catches, and dessert.

Alo

Prepare to spend $89 a head for the multi-course tasting menu at this stunner near Queen and Spadina. You get a choice for most of the courses, and the restaurant is so beautifully decorated and the food so critically acclaimed it’s easily worth the cost.

Il Covo

Tasting menus are $75 at this romantic hideaway in Little Italy known for fresh pasta, precious small plates, cocktails and an extensive wine cellar. Beverage pairings run $50 - $90, but the drink matches the quality as the exquisite food here.

Buca Yorkville

Ball out at this Buca location in one of Toronto’s classiest neighbourhoods with the crudo misto platter for $140, a daily selection of the highest quality seafood with unfiltered Sicilian olive oil, lemon, and sale de cervia. Really splurge by adding Siberian sturgeon caviar for an additional $160.

Chabrol

Pay $245 for 28 grams of Imperial Osetra caviar with blini, egg, chervil and shallot at this restaurant in Yorkville, but you’re guaranteed close attention in this small space, and can personally scrutinize every step of your food’s preparation in a teensy open kitchen.

Canis

The tasting menu at this place near Trinity Bellwoods costs $88, $72 for a wine pairing, but the Canadian-inspired menu here has been lauded by some of the country’s top restaurant authorities.

Edulis

Really break the bank at this highly praised seafood restaurant near King and Bathurst where a 7-course tasting menu goes for $85, and an ounce tin of Imperial Osetra caviar with accompaniments goes for $160.

FK

Appetizers alone hover around the $20 mark and your entree might be close to $50, but the stunning presentation and elevated technique at this St. Clair West restaurant doesn't disappoint.

Scaramouche

In a high rise off Avenue Road, a salad alone here is going to cost more than $20 so if that shocks you, stay away. Appetizers also include 30 grams of sustainable caviar for $95 and entrees run around $50 or more for filet mignon, duck, wild halibut and the like.

Kojin

This upper level restaurant near Osgoode station that’s part of the Momofuku empire serves seafood platters for $115, sturgeon caviar for $63, and expertly aged cuts of striploin, ribeye and filet mignon for around $75.

What is open on Thanksgiving in Toronto is a bit of a mixed bag, as some shopping malls will be up and running but most of the city is taking the day off. Whether you need to do some last-minute turkey day shopping or want to spend the day out with family, let this be your guide on October 8.

Here's what's open and closed on Thanksgiving Monday in Toronto.

General
 

Closed

• Government offices
• Banks
• Libraries
• Post offices

Open

• The TTC will operate on a holiday schedule.

Stocking up on last minute groceries will be possible on Thanksgiving Monday in Toronto. Photo by Hector Vasquez.

Food
 

Closed

• It's worth calling ahead to restaurants before heading out — many already consider Mondays a day off.
• Most major grocery chains will be closed on Thanksgiving with a few confirmed exceptions listed below.

Open

• Fresh & Wild (2294 Bloor St. West) - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Fresh & Wild (69 Spadina Ave.) - 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Galleria Supermarket (7040 Yonge St.) - 24 hours
• Galleria Supermarket (865 York Mills Rd.) - 7 a.m. to 12 a.m.
• Galleria Supermarket (558 Yonge St.) - 7 a.m. to 12 a.m.
• Galleria Supermarket (351 Bloor St. West) - 7 a.m. to 12 a.m.
• Loblaws (60 Carlton St.) - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Pusateri's (57 Yorkville Ave.) - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Pusateri's (1539 Avenue Rd.) - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Rabba (various locations) - 24 hours
• Saks Food Hall (176 Yonge St.) - 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• The Food Depot (115 Dupont St.) - 24 hours
• The Kitchen Table (10 Queens Quay West) - 6 a.m. to 12 a.m.
• The Kitchen Table (389 Spadina Rd.) - 7 a.m. to 12 a.m.
• The Kitchen Table (595 Bay St.) - 6:30 a.m. to 12 a.m.
• The Kitchen Table (705 King St. West) - 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.
• Whole Foods (87 Avenue Rd.) - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Popbox MicroMrkt (725 Dovercourt Rd.) - 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Metro (444 Yonge St.) - 24 hours
• Sukoshi Mart (160 Baldwin St.) - 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• T&T (1 Promenade Cir) - 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• T&T (7070 Warden Ave) - 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.
• T&T (715 Central Parkway W.) - 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• T&T (222 Cherry St.) - 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• T&T (9625 Yonge St.) - 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• T&T (9255 Woodbine Ave.) - 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.
• T&T (8339 Kennedy Rd.) - 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

There's still time to pick up last minute brews for Thanksgiving dinner. Photo by Hector Vasquez.

Drink
 

Closed

• LCBO
• The Beer Store

Open

• For a list of independent bottle shops in Toronto, see this directory. Holiday hours are provided where applicable, but we advise calling ahead to confirm.

Some major malls across Toronto will remain open on October 8. Photo by Hector Vasquez.

Malls
 

Closed

• Bayview Village Shops
• CF Fairview Mall
• CF Sherway Gardens
• Dufferin Mall
• Scarborough Town Centre
• Yorkdale Shopping Centre

Open

• CF Markville (5000 Hwy 7) - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• CF Toronto Eaton Centre (220 Yonge St.) - 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Hillcrest Mall (9350 Yonge St.) - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Pacific Mall (4300 Steeles Ave. E.) - 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Promenade (1 Promenade Cir.) - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Square One Shopping Centre (100 City Centre Dr.) - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Toronto Premium Outlets (13850 Steeles Ave. W.) - 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Vaughan Mills (1 Bass Pro Mills Dr.) - 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Yorkville Village (55 Avenue Rd.) - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The AGO will be one of many attractions to visit with family and friends on Thanksgiving. Photo by Jesse Milns.

Attractions
 

Closed

• Canada's Wonderland

Open

• Aga Khan Museum (77 Wynford Dr.) - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas St. West) - 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Bata Shoe Museum (327 Bloor St. West) - 10 a.m. to 5 o.m.
• CN Tower (301 Front St. West) - 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Hockey Hall of Fame (30 Yonge St.) - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Ripley's Aquarium of Canada (288 Bremner Blvd.) - 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• The Ontario Science Centre (770 Don Mills Rd.) - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• The Royal Ontario Museum (100 Queen's Park) - 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• Gardiner Museum (111 Queens Park) - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• The Toronto Zoo (2000 Meadowvale Rd.) - 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Movie theatres

The best Sundays are long weekend Sundays and events in Toronto give you some options for how to enjoy the day. Fall festivities are happening at the Leslieville Harvest Carnival and there's a variety show under the Gardiner. Music, comedy and a big plant sale help round out the day.

Free events in Toronto this week have something very special in store as Dan Roosegaarde's WATERLICHT ignites the space under the Gardiner in a ethereal display of dazzling formations, and artists transform a storage facility into something much more.

Cozy cafes in Toronto feel like places you could curl up with a cup of java and a good book (ok, or more realistically, your phone or your laptop) and just hide out from the world for hours, hopefully ensconced in a cushy nook and surrounded by a pretty view.

Here are my picks for the coziest cafes in Toronto.

Dineen Outpost

Lots of marble and a wraparound seating area make this Leslieville cafe bar a serene spot for a coffee, cocktail and bite to eat. 

Jimmy’s 100

The second level of this Jimmy’s peacefully looks out over Portland, and there are plenty of nooks and crannies to lose yourself in plus a retro record player to complete the ambience.

Merchants of Green

This Riverside cafe has a Friends-like arrangement of cushy chairs and a couch for communal gabbing over java. 

5 Elements Espresso

There are lots of comfy places to park yourself and a ton of pillows to lean against at this three storey Yorkville cafe. 

Rooster on King East

Chic black floors, white walls and ornate plush furniture distinguish the King East location of this cafe. 

Broadview Espresso

Just north of the Danforth you can find this cafe with armchairs to lean back in and creamy hot chocolate topped with foamy whipped cream.

Elchi Chai Shop

Housed in a former home in cute Harbord Village, this intimate cafe with comfy pea-green plush seats is dedicated to all things chai and parotha flatbreads.

Black Bear Espresso

A big cozy couch dominates the space at this Aussie cafe near Yonge and College where you can comfort yourself with all kinds of chocolatey hot and cold beverages.

Tango Palace

Leslieville has this cafe with rugs on the floor and a bunch of armchairs that are perfect for cuddling up with a warm cookie and a cup of something steamy.

One In The Only

Lots of warm wooden, big armchairs, couches, and lots of table space at this Danforth cafe will suck you in for hours.

The southeast corner of Yonge and Gerrard has been deteriorating into a strip of empty storefront for years. 

But as of Oct. 31, the block will reach peak desolation when the handful of businesses remaining—many which have been operating there for over a decade—abandon their lots to make way for a massive 85-storey condo project..

Doner Kebab House has been serving Turkish doner for 17 years.

Eviction notices were served to longtime businesses like the 17-year-old Doner Kebab House (one of Toronto's first Turkish doner spots) and 15-year-old VIP Lounge & Billiards Club last Friday, officially giving owners until the end of the month to vacate the building at 385 Yonge St.

The kebab restaurant will close at the end of the month to make way for an 85-storey condo.

They'll soon follow in the footsteps of other venerated haunts like the late night pizza joint Big Slice, which closed in 2016, and the iconic male strip club Remington's, which gave its last lap dance just this past Sunday, in a final flight from the Yonge and Gerrard strip. 

The strip of abandoned buildings start at the southeast corner of Yonge and Gerrard.

Running south from the corner Gerrard Building, the tumbleweed block will stretch roughly 100 metres.

The condo project will take over the Richard S. Williams Block at 363 Yonge St.

Encapsulating the heritage storefronts of Yonge Street Mission, the shuttered Tea Shop 168 and now-closed Korean Grill House and Made In China, the vacancies will run all the way to the three-storey Richard S. Williams Block at 363 Yonge St., where the faded signs of Ultimate Tattoo and Jealousy Beauty still hang.

The buildings at 361 Yonge St. onwards will remain unbothered.

The project will end right at 361 Yonge St., leaving the multi-level Joe's Buffet Palace, Wanda's Belgian Waffles, and just beyond it, the iconic Zanzibar, untouched. 

Doner Kebab and VIP Lounge will join already shuttered businesses like Big Slice and Remingtons.

Originally proposed at 98-storeys, plans for the incoming YSL Residences have changed significantly, from its height to how developers plan to build around this stretch of heritage properties. 

Businesses have slowly been disappearing from this strip over the past three years.

Regardless, Ryerson students, profs, and nearby businesses should brace themselves for an onslaught noise, and dust, that will last years once shovels hit the ground. 

This part of Yonge has historically been a destination for cheap eats, shops, and a couple of strip clubs.

When construction is done, this part of Yonge will have transformed from a historically grungy strip filled with beloved cheap eats and world-famous strip clubs to a towering residential area that will hover six floors taller than the Aura condo just up the street.

VIP Lounge & Billiards Club has been operating since 2002.

"We're sad and a lot of customers are sad," says Thusi Balasundram, who has been managing VIP Lounge for 10 years. "This is home for a lot of people."

Students and regulars often come to VIP to play pool for $18 an hour.

Though she's known for years that VIP would eventually have to make way for the giant condo project from Cresford Developments, she says the eviction still comes as a shock. Locals will soon have to go elsewhere for a cheap past-time that doesn't include shopping at Eaton Centre or pricey cafes.

"Why do we need more condos," she says. "Everywhere you look it's condos." 

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to explore the inside of a giant rock formation, you don't have to travel far for the experience. The Limehouse Conservation Area near Toronto is a major departure from your average hiking trail.

Limehouse was once an old limestone mine along the Niagara Escapement. Part of Credit Valley watershed, it's located about an hour away from Toronto and links to the Bruce Trail. Its many trails lead visitors through a maze of cavernous ruins that are amazing to explore.

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Entering the massive fissures gets you up close and personal with the rocks. Visitors are allowed to walk in between and climb up an down the huge formations. There are ladders situated around the site for assistance or for anyone looking for some added intensity.

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Trails meander past both natural and man-made formations, like old powder houses used to store explosives, while elevated walkways help visitors to navigate a forest area that is full of surprises.

A particularly scenic spot is the old limestone bridge that passes over Black Creek. This is Instagram heaven.

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Limehouse is a part of Ontario's Conservation Area network, making it ideal for a day trips (there's no overnight camping) to catch the fall foliage amidst a dramatic landscape that seems world's apart from Toronto despite the short drive.

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So if you don't mind being stuck between a rock and a hard place, Limehouse Conservation area should be your next great fall adventure. You'll find this natural wonderland at 12169 Fifth Line, Limehouse.

The best places to buy a suit in Toronto will set you up with a fitted ensemble for that special occasion. Whether you're looking for off-the-rack styles, something made to measure or a bespoke number, these stores will have you looking dapper regardless of style or budget. 

Here are the best places to buy a suit in Toronto.

Toronto in the 1900s didn't much resemble the city we know today. Not only was the skyline virtually undeveloped—the tallest structures were the Temple Building at 10 storeys and the Trader's Bank Building at 15 storeys—but the Bloor Viaduct was yet to link the east and west sides of the city.

Old Union Station and the Yonge Street Warf were still the main arrival points for the city, and Hanlan's Point was the place to be during the summer months.

On the flip side, what's now Old City Hall was already a towering and familiar presence, having been completed in 1899, and places like the St. Lawrence Market and the University of Toronto would be easily recognized by anyone able to travel back in time to that period.

In the 1900s, Toronto had a population of approximately 210,000 people, horses and carriages were still common on city streets, and the city suffered one of the worst fires in its history, losing almost all of the main commercial district (bounded by Bay, Wellington, Yonge, and Front Streets).

Here's what Toronto looked like through the 1900s.

1900

Toronto skyline

Board of Trade Building

Cycling club

King Street

Weston Train Station

1901

Avenue and Bloor

Eaton's factory interior

1902

Laying asphalt on Elm Avenue

1903

Jarvis Street

Entrance to U of T campus

Yonge looking north from Temperance

1904

Fire aftermath

Fire aftermath

CNE midway

Candy department Eaton's

High Park

St. Lawrence Market

Toronto Ridings

1905

Friday deals at Eaton's

Newsboy

Tally Ho showing visitors around the city

1906

Toronto Harbour map

Crystal Palace (later destroyed by fire)

Sleighing at Queen's Park

St. George Street

Yonge and Front

Yonge Street Dock

1907

Bookies at Woodbine Race Track (original)

Carriage ride

Cycling in Mimico

Flagpole painter looking west on Front

Hanlan's Point Hotel and Regatta

Bathurst north of St. Clair

Old (but then new) City Hall

Old Union Station

Diving Horse at Hanlan's Point

The Grange

Confederation Life Building

Yonge Street Warf

Yonge north of Bloor

1908

Queen and James

Government House

Yonge and Queen

Dufferin Racetrack

University Avenue (with Queen's Park in the distance)

William Davies Store

Toronto Street

1909

Collecting coal

Queen and Spadina

Ruins of Hanlan's Point Hotel

Thanksgiving Monday events in Toronto are all about giving thanks for beer, food, comedy, film, metalcore and everything that makes life worth living. Pumpkin festivities continue at Downsview Park and the Gorillaz are here to perform. Don't forget to check out what's open and closed!

Queen's Quay, like so many areas around downtown Toronto, has undergone massive change over the last few decades.

Once a street that serviced waterfront industry and passengers about to embark on ferries headed to the Toronto Islands, one of our city's most southerly streets is now something of a neighbourhood unto itself, complete with condos galore, tourist attractions and office space.

But what did the street look like before all this development? Although it's probably not a place to get particularly nostalgic about, it's always intriguing to situate the city within the context of its industrial past.

Queen's Quay was born at the turn to the 20th century, when various efforts were made to expand the city southward by filling in the harbour.

Queen's Quay, 1910

Up until the early 1970s, the street bore an almost exclusively industrial character save for the ferry docks. Streetcar service arrived in the late 1920s, only to disappear some 50 years years later before its eventual return in 1989.

Looking west from Bay Street, 1927

Throughout this period, Queen's Quay was a mostly tired stretch of road, home to various silos and warehouses, and, of course, the Toronto Terminal Warehouse.

Looking south near York Street, 1927

If you weren't going to work here or destined for a ferry boat, chances are you skipped Queen's Quay altogether. Things would slowly change in the 1970s when the Toronto Terminal was converted to the York Quay Centre and the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel was built.

Looking northwest from York Street, 1927

In the years that followed, condos slowly sprouted up between these two anchors, before the street was officially extended west from Rees Street to Stadium Road in the mid 1980s.

Looking west from Bay Street, 1927

By that time, the a real estate boom was starting to gear up, and the prime waterfront property would quickly be bought up by developers. It's not all about condos here, however.

Queen's Quay and York Street, 1930

The southern tip has seen promising developments like Harbourfront Cenre, HTO park, Sugar Beach and the Power Plant art gallery.

Taxis at the ferry docks, 1931

It remains to be seen just what the character of the street will be when all the current projects are complete and ambitious and controversial Sidewalk Labs neighbourhood of the future comes to fruition.

Here are some more photos of Queen's Quay before all the condos arrived.

Royal Trust Building, 1960s

Looking east at Bonnycastle, 1960s

Looking west at Bonnycastle

Queen's Quay, 1970s

Canada Malting, 1970s

Pier 6 (now demolished), mid 1970s

Redpath Sugar, 1970s

Aerial view, 1970s

Captain Johns, 1980s

Aerial view York Quay, 1980s

Aerial view, early 1980s (future site of Scotiabank Arena at bottom left)

Queen's Quay and skyline, 1980s

Queen's Quay skyline, 1980s

The best halal restaurants in Toronto range from juicy blessed burgers to Afghan cuisine to Egyptian brunch. There's no shortage of halal-friendly eats in the city, and the best part is that it's usually pretty cheap. 

Here are the best halal restaurants in Toronto. 

Here's something you don't see everyday. Yesterday morning a Toronto police car crashed into a TTC bus stop, demolishing the shelter at Woodbine and O'Connor completely. 

Collision: single vehicle Woodbine & O'Connor
-Police car into a bus shelter
-no injuries
-no road closures#GO1852534 ^gl

— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) October 7, 2018

A police officer in his 30s was taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries after he careened off the road and hit the shelter around 9 a.m., shattering the glass and toppling over the shelter's foundation.

BREAKING: Single vehicle collision involving Toronto Police cruiser and TYC shelter. Details forthcoming. O’Connor and Woodbine. @TPSOperations is on scene investigating. @680NEWStraffic@CityNewspic.twitter.com/09qxtgenAF

— Ken Townsend (@KenTownsend) October 7, 2018

No further information has been released regarding the crash, and roads remained open after the incident. 

View of the damage caused by a truck at South Kingsway + Ripley. A bus shelter, hydro pole and mailbox are destroyed. No serious injuries reported. Intersection remains closed for investigation. @CityNews@680NEWSpic.twitter.com/LODyevmtRX

— Tony Fera (@tonyfera1) October 7, 2018

Apparently yesterday was bad for bus shelters: another bus stop by South Kingsway and Ripley was wrecked after a truck crashed into the area, destroying a hydro pole and a Canada Post mailbox in the process.

#UPDATE: Police have located the driver and he is now facing two charges of impaired driving and fail to remain.

— CityNews Toronto (@CityNews) October 7, 2018

The driver, who was allegedly drunk, fled the scene after the incident but was apprehended by police shortly after. They are now facing charges.

Cute restaurants in Toronto might look incredible on Instagram, but to really get the full effect you have to actually go in person. Why order delivery through an app and eat at home when there are so many extraordinarily pretty places in the city to enjoy an aesthetically pleasing meal?

Here are some cute restaurants in Toronto you need to see with your own eyes.

Cafe Cancan

Dine on precious plates of French fare like sprinkle-topped eclairs and luxe brunches accompanied by rose or champagne in this pretty pink-wallpapered pastel restaurant in Harbord Village.

Blondies Pizza

Painted entirely pink and marked by a cool neon sign, even the pizza boxes have cute designs like polka dots at this itty-bitty Leslieville joint.

Hanabusa Cafe

Not much is more delightful than fluffy, jiggly Japanese souffle pancakes, but they’re somehow even more pleasing in this minimal space in Kensington Market where the chairs have little bows on the back and there are plants everywhere.

Sugo

Red checkered tablecloths provide the ideal backdrop for picture-perfect plates of Italian food, listed on a hand-lettered old-school-style menu at this Bloordale restaurant.

BBs Diner

There’s a cool gradient colour effect on this pink building down an adorable side street in Little Italy. With a picnic bench patio facing a church and vintage booths inside salvaged from an old Chinese restaurant, the only thing more eye-catching than the design here is the food.

Bar Reyna

Sleek metallics and sophisticated finishes blend cool with cute at this Yorkville restaurant, but the prettiest part of this place is probably the back patio with twinkly lights, boho graphic patterning, little planters, wood and brick.

Baddies

Bleachers, milk crate tables, marble and artsy wallpaper make this little Bloordale Aussie brunch spot so cute.

SoSo Food Club

Awash in a pastel colour scheme that pays homage to Hong Kong of days past, this Chinese restaurant sets the cuteness bar for Dundas West high with original artwork, neon, tile, velvet and pink chopsticks.

La Palma

A custom pattern on the walls that blends boldness and delicacy ties everything together at this breezy Dundas West all-day Italian restaurant.

Mercat del Carmen

This teensy tapas bar on West Queen West with scarce seating, lovely tiling and warm wood doubles as a darling marketplace and cafe.

It's hard to believe with this erratic autumn weather, but Turkey day is officially over, meaning Toronto is well into fall and by logic, one step closer to winter—brr. 

While we're still waiting for this humidity to cool off and the leaves to finally turn colour, the question we're all really wondering is when exactly the city will experience its first snowfall. 

Of course, the first arrival of flurries is never finite. What we do know is that this year's winter will be colder than the last one (to be it fair, it was a warm one), though how much frostier is hard to say. 

Historically, November is the standard month for first snow sightings of the year, averaging between Nov. 17 and Nov. 27 for the past 11 years.

The only exceptions to that rule were in 2015 and 2009, the latter being the first snowfall in 162 years to fall outside of that window .

Last year's first snowfall in the GTA came on Nov. 10, on a night when the temperature hovered below -8 C but felt like -18 C. 

If you're going by ye olde Farmer's Almanac, the long range forecast is predicting the first signs of this year's snow showers to hit as early Nov. 1. The rest of the month is expected to fluctuate between flurries, rain, and mild temperatures averaging around 5 C. 

Whether that means full-fledged snowfall or just a light dusting is obviously impossible to say at this point.

Regardless of when it starts, though, the most important question might be how it ends.

The dragging last days of winter are always the worst, and if you'll recall last year's season ended with deceptively warm weather before battering us again with torrential freezing rain. With Mother Nature, you just never really know.

Events in Toronto this week range from soup to hardcore punk, Justin Timberlake to yoga. The Bunz Flea is back with a big assortment of handmade goodies and Toronto After Dark is set to scare you silly. There's lots of free stuff happening, too!

I knew houses in Rosedale were nice, but not this nice! This century-old home is stunning. It’s like they’ve restored it to its former glory. The interior is classic and elegant, yet dramatic with a hint of regal.The main floor has the large principal rooms, including living, dining room, family room and kitchen.

My favourite room is the dining room with the French doors that lead outside, the crystal chandelier and the candelabras on the wall. It reminds me of Beauty and the Beast for some reason.

The family room and kitchen are open concept giving you lots of room for the family to hang out during meal time.

The breakfast nook is lovely with a view of the backyard thanks to the floor-to-ceiling wall of windows.

The backyard is massive and has a saltwater pool and plenty of lawn space. It looks like the perfect place to hold a backyard cookout in the summer.  

On the second floor is the master bedroom, library and a second bedroom.

The master bedroom is cozy with a fireplace for those extra cold winter nights.

There’s also a huge five-piece en suite and a large dressing room.

The library is quaint with wood panelled walls and built in shelves. It makes the perfect reading room or home office.

On the third floor are the other bedrooms. Two of the rooms are quite small and have low ceilings so aren’t as airy as the other rooms in the house, but the fifth room, which doubles as a study, is spacious and bright.

There’s more living room in the basement with a spare bedroom and large rec room.

Specs

• Address: 8 Dale Avenue
• Price: $5,388,000
• Lot Size: 51 x 192.1 feet; 51X195.79 feet on the west side
• Bedrooms: 5 +1
• Bathrooms: 4
• Parking: 4
• Walk Score: 39
• Transit Score: 93
• Listing agent: Donna Thompson
• Listing ID: C4260018

Good For

Summer BBQ parties. The backyard is surprisingly large for being so central. Plus, a saltwater pool means your house is almost guaranteed to be the go-to hang out spot when the weather is hot.

Move On If

You can’t afford that Rosedale lifestyle. While it’s not Bridle Path-expensive, at over $5 million this place is certainly isn’t cheap.

Toronto mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat has been on a roll this week. After proposing gender parity, rent-to-own, tearing down the Gardiner Expressway, and more, she's gearing up for the vote later this month.

Now, Keesmaat is proposing a new strategy to transform public land. The former chief city planner wants to turn publicly-owned golf courses into usable public space for everyone, not just some golfers. 

We have an opportunity to take the public land currently occupied by City-owned golf courses and turn it into space that the public can access year-round without having to pay for access. Read more: https://t.co/AooBFNcVSu#Keesmaat4Mayor#TOpolipic.twitter.com/OhuCvYu8JV

— Jennifer Keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat) October 8, 2018

She has set her sights on three courses: Don Valley Golf Course, Scarlett Woods Golf Course and Dentonia Park Golf Course, which she says are losing the city money. 

The city's upcoming 2018-2026 capital plan leaves about $10 million for improvement on these courses, and Keesmaat says that money is best spent on converting them to more usable public space. 

Members of the community will be consulted under her plan, to see how the space is best-used. It could be a new community centre, an arts hub, parkland, or anything else that is desired and needed in the area. 

Things to do in Toronto are practically unlimited. Whether you're looking for a culinary adventure, an artsy night out, or a nature getaway, Toronto has something for everyone all year round. 

Check out all 50 essential things to do in Toronto in this photo gallery.