With everyone from Rob Ford to the feds recognizing Toronto as a musical city, and more news about the hotly anticipated 4479 partnership with Austin, Texas, it only makes sense that TIFF would take notice and run a music-focused theme session at this year's festival. Check out some of our top picks for biopics about proverbial zeros to operatic heroes, rockers and rollers, and fallen stars.

Lucky Them

Ellie Klug (Toni Collette) is tasked with the 'lucky' assignment of tracking down a local Seattle rock star for a feature story. Sounds like a music journalist's wet dream, except he's actually her ex-boyfriend. Following her along for the ride is Charlie (Thomas Haden Church), a bumbling young music-hating documentarian who just doesn't get it.

September 6, Isabel Bader Theatre at 6:30pm | 
September 7, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 at 11:15am | September 14, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema at 6:30pm

One Chance

David Frankel (director of The Devil Wears Prada) goes meta with a bio pic based on Paul Potts (James Corden), the against the odds, operatically obsessed winner of the first edition of Britain's Got Talent. Seems like having a movie made about your zero-to-hero life is just about as overwhelming as winning the contest itself, if you ask me.

September 9, Winter Garden Theatre at 8:00pm | 
September 10, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 at 5:00pm

12.12.12

A massive rock show benefit for Hurricane Sandy presented in classic documentary style. Features footage from the likes of Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West, that you may have missed while taking washroom/snack breaks during the original multimedia screening.

September 8, Winter Garden Theatre at 8:00pm 
(Premium screening)

Can A Song Save Your Life?
Washed up producer (Mark Ruffalo) meets young ingénue singer (Keira Knightley) in this familiar sounding New York music industry drama (anyone seen The Artist?) set in a contemporary 'indie rock' context. Features cameos from Yassin Bey (aka Mos Def), and hooky catch phrase experts, Cee Lo "Eff You" Green and Adam "Moves Like Jagger" Levine.

September 7, Princess of Wales Theatre at 6:30pm
 (Premium screening) | 
September 8, Ryerson Theatre at 12:00pm | 
September 14, Ryerson Theatre at 12:00pm

Made In America
If you weren't able to make it to Budweiser's Made In America Festival in Philadelphia last year, (or this year's for that matter) you can at least experience it to some degree through the wonder of Ron Howard's lens. Jay-Z co-produced the film that features performances and interviews from Kanye West, D'Angelo, Dirty Projectors, Odd Future, Janelle Monáe, Run-DMC, Passion Pit, Pearl Jam, and more. Thankfully the music festival's presenting beer sponsor don't own a cent of the movie, so their names been dropped from Howard's flick.

September 7, TIFF Bell Lightbox at 10:15pm

BONUS

All Is By My Side
A biopic about Jimi Hendrix made without permission from the Hendrix estate, starring Outkast's Andre Benjamin, (ahem, 3000) and directed by John Ridley. The lack of purple haziness forced the production to focus on early snapshots of the psych-rockers' life. Prospects seem dubious as no Jimi tunes will be heard, but the artful use of 60s archival footage could save the day.

September 7, Visa Screening Room (Elgin) at 9:00pm |
 September 8, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema at 2:15pm | September 14, Ryerson Theatre at 3:00pm

Thanks to Grolsch for sponsoring our coverage of TIFF13Lead still from Made in America

Toronto Restaurant Openings highlights the latest restaurant openings and closings in Toronto and also gives a preview of what's coming soon. Find us here every Thursday morning.

NOW OPEN

• Weldon Park is now open at 569 College Street offering tuck shop goodies upfront and sandwiches and booze in the back.
• Humble Beginnings opened last week at 3109 Dundas West in The Junction and is now offering handmade, hyper-local fare for breakfast through to dinner.
• XOLA, a new casual and contemporary Mexican eatery is now open at 2222A Queen Street East for brunch, lunch and dinner.
• Fresh Burger, a new fast casual burger shop opened this week at 9206 Leslie Street in Richmond Hill.
• The Round Venue opens this Friday, September 6th at 152 Augusta Avenue. Though the full menu has yet to be revealed, options like cold salad rolls, short ribs and seared ahi tuna seem to veer towards an Asian focus.

OPENING SOON

• Ole Ole, a new Spanish and Mexican tapas bar is slated to open next week at 169 King Street East, the site of recently shuttered Kultura Restaurant.
• The Real Jerk is set to finally reopen in a new home at 842 Gerrard Street East near Carlaw.
• All The Best Fine Foods will open a compact second retail location this October at 483 Church Street. The gourmet food emporium takes over the 700ft site, formerly home to About Cheese.

CLOSING

• Momo's Middle Eastern Restaurant at 196 Robert Street quietly closed for good on August 20th.
• Earth Bloor West is slated to close its doors at 2448 Bloor Street West at the end of September. The last service is scheduled for September 29th. (via Toronto Life)
• Best Grill, the middle eastern eatery on Steeles near Dufferin is reportedly deadpool. (Via Chowhound)
• Classic French restaurant, Didier at Yonge and St. Clair bid it's final adieu last week. (via Toronto Life)

Have you seen restaurants opening or closing in your neighbourhood? Email tips to liora@blogto.com

Photo of some damn nice looking cauliflower from Humble Beginnings' Facebook page

A plan to knock down the faded, timeworn Hotel Waverly and the adjoining Silver Dollar music club to make way for a high-rise student apartment building is facing its first hurdle, a city staff report hostile to the tower as proposed. "The application is not supportable in its current form," says a preliminary report on an application to rezone the property.

The proposal, revealed earlier this summer by property owner Wynn Group, would see the dilapidated 113-year-old hotel at 484 Spadina Avenue pulled down for a 22-storey mixed use building. The much-loved Silver Dollar would get a new premises on the ground floor but the old hotel and Comfort Zone, the basement after-hours club, would be out in the cold.

The 202 living spaces are slated to be a mix of bachelor, one-, and two-bedroom condos. Below, builders would dig three levels of parking with room for 70 vehicles. An additional 214 bike spaces are included in the designs.

Local councillor Adam Vaughan came out against the proposal early on, calling the tower a "terrible idea" that would likely beget a rooming house. "There's no guarantee students go in there," he said in June. "It's an idea that cannot and must not be replicated."

City staff felt the height of the tower, which falls under new Tall Buildings Guidelines because its roof would be higher than the width of the street opposite, is currently out of scale with the surrounding College and Spadina neighbourhood. They also have "concerns" with the scale, massing, floor plates, setback from the front of the lot - basically the whole package.

It's also not clear from an official standpoint whether the hotel is being demolished or repurposed, an important distinction in the planning department.

The Hotel Waverly (sometimes "Waverley") is one of the city's oldest continuously operating hotels. Canadian poet Milton Acorn lived there for many years and its battered, stained walls provide a backdrop for a persistent - and most likely false - urban myth that James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King's assassin, stayed there while fleeing cops in America.

Once a relatively upscale address offering "pleasant, homelike accommodation," the Waverly has since fallen on hard times, developing a reputation over the last 50 years as a vicious and unsightly flophouse. A brick addition tacked on to its original facade obscures the original frontage of the wood-framed structure.

Toronto and East York Community Council will have a chance to discuss the report at their meeting next week. If the tower is going to get built the Wynn Group will have to satisfy the city and get site plan approval.

The community will have a chance to have their voice heard at the mandatory consultations, which have yet to be scheduled. Do you agree with the opinions of city staff? Would you rather the Hotel Waverly was renovated?

QUICK FACTS

Type: Condo
Height: 74.64 metres (22 storeys)
Parking spaces: 70
Bicycle parking: 214
Frontage: 27.89 m
Depth: 57.97 m
Total ground floor area: 1279.8 square metres
Total retail area: 1622.47 sq, m.
Lot coverage: 87.3%
Bachelor: 48
1-bedroom: 139
2-bedroom: 15

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Images: The Wynn Group/Kirkor Architects

Toronto Star film critic Peter Howell wants his colleagues to stop Twitter-fighting and come argue about films in person. That's one of the reasons why he helped create the Toronto Film Critic's Association's TIFF party for critics and visiting journalists.

"There's this phenomenon with Twitter in particular where [you see] critics sniping at each other instead of talking about the film," says Howell, a TFCA founding member, and chairman of the party committee. "So what I hope is that getting together creates more camaraderie."

The TFCA hosted its second annual party last night as an unofficial kick-off for the Toronto International Film Festival, which begins today. It's a party Howell hopes the TFCA will host again in the future.

"At Cannes and Sundance, there are traditions where the press meet before the festivals start. Toronto's never had one. We would see each other informally but there was no real gathering," says Howell.

The TFCA, he says, is trying to create that tradition here in Toronto.

Party committee member, and host of the long-time (and now, sadly, cancelled) Saturday Night at the Movies Thom Ernst says the event is exciting because it gives critics a chance to discuss film with like-minded people.

"Seeing a film is a very solitary thing - the experience of watching it - but then getting together afterward and talking about it is sort of the continuation of the film. That's the whole reason behind writing about film and doing a film show like I used to do."

He adds, "This party brings critics from around the world, so it's a reunion of sorts, particularly for Peter and [TFCA president] Brian Johnson, who have been doing this for a number of years. They've developed relationships with critics around the world and collecting them here is a great thing."

Critics from across Canada and the world descend on Toronto for the 10-day festival, each of whom has his or her own top festival pick.

Howell says he is most excited for Errol Morris' The Unknown Known, while Ernst says Rush is his top TIFF pick.

"I was on Metro Morning and I got a distinct feeling from telling Metro Morning that Rush was my big choice that perhaps I was underselling myself, because it's a Ron Howard [film]," says Ernst. "I'm not a Ron Howard fan. But I have actually heard one critic, who I won't name, say it's a near perfect film."

Aside from the festival's most exciting films, what else will cause the most disagreement amongst the critics (in real life or in the Twitterverse)? Ernst says the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner Blue is the Warmest Color is sure to cause debate ("Anything that has strong sexual content can divide people"), while Howell says Canadian directors will be divisive ("People tend to debate the Canadian directors a lot, because we sort of feel we own them in a way. I think you'll find some pretty energetic debate over directors").

Though the critics certainly don't agree on much, the Toronto Film Critics Association hopes to create an atmosphere for healthy discussion.

"We've been around since 1997," said Howell. "We thought we should try to encourage critics to communicate more."

FILM CRITICS ON THE BEST AND WORST OF TIFF

Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail:

Film you're most excited to see at TIFF: Frederick Wiseman's AT BERKELEY. He's a great chronicler of institutions, and his latest, at 83, sounds like a really interesting look at the famous university during various crises.

The one thing you need to survive a day at the festival: Gum. I know I'm sometimes annoying people near me by chewing but it keeps my breath tolerable from drinking too much coffee. It also helps keep me awake if I'm under-slept.

The one thing you want to do during the festival if you have any spare time between working/eating/sleeping: Take a 45 minute or hour-long walk along Queen Street West and then up through Kensington Market, back along college and back down Spadina to Dundas and wander through Chinatown back to the festival. It's like visiting three or four neighbourhoods in one and clears your head after a lot of movies set in other places.

Best part of TIFF: The best part of TIFF is catching a movie that's unexpectedly great. Also, I enjoy the camaraderie of other journalists. There's a kind of exhausted esprit de corps during the festival we don't have the rest of the year.

Worst part of TIFF: Waiting, in all its myriad forms: Waiting in line-ups, waiting for movies to start, waiting for talent to be ready for interviews, waiting for the congratulatory speeches to be over, waiting for the end of the same preview spot you've seen 20 times, so you can get on with the film.

Mark Adams, Screen International, The Sunday Mirror:

Film you're most excited to see at TIFF: Filmwise? 12 YEARS A SLAVE, though also keen on THE FIFTH ESTATE and DALLAS BUYERS CLUB. I saw the brilliant GRAVITY in Venice.

The one thing you need to survive a day at the festival: Stamina and a love for the movies. Festivals are exhausting places, so also having a few friends around makes them bearable.

The one thing you want to do during the festival if you have any spare time between working/eating/sleeping: No idea. I do nothing else but work/eat/sleep....be nice to see beyond the mile radius of the cinema

Best part of TIFF: Discovering somethings special/seeing friends for dinner.

Worst part of TIFF: Trying to rush through crowds when you realize you have gone to the wrong cinema.

Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Film you're most excited to see at TIFF: Errol Morris' THE UNKNOWN KNOWN

The one thing you need to survive a day at the festival: Water, and plenty of it.

The one thing you want to do during the festival if you have any spare time between working/eating/sleeping: See a great old movie. Hoping to see restoration of ROME, OPEN CITY this time.

Best part of TIFF: The closing day awards brunch.

Worst part of TIFF: Having to deal with studio-imposed review embargoes that apply to Canadians, but not Americans.

Thanks to Grolsch for sponsoring our coverage of TIFF13

At the outset of the 20th century, St. Clair Avenue was a narrow stretch of road, bordered by stretches of farmland and broken by a series of ravines to the east of Yonge Street. Thanks to various annexation efforts, the majority of the street fell within the city of the Toronto by 1911, at which point the construction of streetcar track ushered in a development boom that would rapidly change the character of the street. Hey, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Prior to this boom, development was concentrated in two main areas: Yonge St. and then all the way over at Weston Rd. Photos of the street in the late 1920s, when the tracks were re-laid, show remarkable change from the sleepy road of prior decades. Perched atop the old Lake Iroquois shoreline, St. Clair was growing up — and the city along with it.

This was the period when the sweeping Stockyards came to the Keele area. Along with the Canada Packers Plant, a smattering of abattoirs could also be found in the area. Some evidence of this past industry can still be spotted along Gunns Road, though the massive retail development (incidentally named after the Stockyards) on the old Bunge property will likely push out the remaining meat packers in the years to come.

To the east, between (Old) Weston Road and Bathurst, the street developed as a retail drag servicing the residential areas to the immediate north and south. With the exception of the Loblaws complex, the stretch of St. Clair between Bathurst and Avenue road, is mostly retail free, marked by the reservoir at Spadina and Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, which was built in 1914. The other side of Yonge is also primarily residential until the street temporarily terminates at the Moore Park Ravine. While it resumes to the east of the Don Valley, the Toronto Archives has curiously few photos of this section of the street.

If there's one thing the photos below show, is just how closely linked St. Clair's history is linked the presence of streetcars. From the old car barns at Wychwood to the passenger safety zones of the the 1920s, to the still-remaining loop at St. Clair Station, the streetcar has been a ubiquitous presence on the west side of the street for just over a century. Also worthy of note are the various ravines that the St. Clair traverses, geographical features that posed significant engineering challenges when laying out the street and its tracks in the first place.

One final note about St. Clair's name. According to Allan Gould in his Toronto Street Names, it derives from a sort of double mistake. Albert Grainger, who lived on a farm near Avenue Rd., marked what was then the Second Concession with a sign that read "St. Clair," in tribute to the hero from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. It should have read "St. Clare," but the theory goes that Grainger adopted the misspelling he had seen in a program from a travelling performance of the narrative. When surveyors spotted his misspelt sign years later, they adopted the name.

PHOTOS

Hunting group on Bathurst north of St. Clair, 1900s

Southwest corner of Yonge & St. Clair, 1911

Northwest corner of St. Clair & Dufferin, 1911

Southwest corner St. Clair & Dufferin, 1911

Northeast corner Spadina & St. Clair

St. Clair and Caledonia, 1911

Looking west on St. Clair towards Bathurst, 1911

Looking east along St. Clair at Vaughan, 1912

TTC Car Barns (now Wychwood Barns), 1915

Mt. Pleasant & St. Clair, 1922

Southwest corner of Yonge & St. Clair, 1923

Looking east on St. Clair at Mulock, 1923

St. Clair Bridge under construction, 1924

Oops at St. Clair & Rushton, 1926

Looking east on St. Clair at Oakwood, 1927

Looking east on St. Clair at Rushton, 1928

Looking east on St. Clair at Christie, 1928

Looking east on St. Clair at Wychwood, 1928

Avenue Rd. & St. Clair, 1928

Looking east on St. Clair at Vaughan, 1928

Looking west to Bathurst on St. Clair, 1928

Abattoirs in the distance near Weston Road, 1930

Private property on St. Clair west of Keele, 1933

St. Clair Resevoir, 1934

Canada Packers stockyards, 1940

Granite Club, west of Yonge on St. Clair 1947

Brand new St. Clair Station, 1954

St. Clair Station streetcar entrance, late 1950s

990 St. Clair West, 1957

Spadina & St. Clair, 1958

Stockyards near Keele, 1959

Loblaws property on St. Clair east of Bathurst, 1974

Alternate angle

Yonge & St. Clair, 1980s

Photos from the Toronto Archives

Toronto's newest boutique hotel officially welcomed itself to Queen West with a launch party that snaked from its restaurant through to its roof top patio.

Check out all the looks in our Style section.

The best lounges in Toronto are sophisticated, stylish and serve delicious cocktails. These places are perfect for those nights when you're sick of waiting in line for hours just to pay a ridiculous cover to grind up against sticky strangers while chugging an overpriced beer in an attempt to impress drunk people you will probably never see again. Instead, these lounges emphasize an experience that is light on the lager and heavy on the hedonism.

Here are the best lounges in Toronto.

See also:

The Best Nightclubs in Toronto
The Best Cheap Drinks in Toronto
The Best Pubs in Toronto
The Best Cocktails in Toronto

Photo by Phil Marion in the blogTO Flickr pool.

Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray is wishing he put a few more marks on his new subway map. The plan unveiled to media on Wednesday showed just two stops en route to Scarborough, one at Lawrence and one at the end of the track, but the finished product could have "3 or 4 stops." "We have some room to play with," he told the CBC.

Meanwhile, the opening of the line may be at least ten years away and it could be five years before construction begins, according to a report seen by the Toronto Star. SRT riders would spend four years on shuttle buses and subway riders would have to get off at Warden while the line is built. Can the extension survive given Toronto's history on subways?

A Toronto-based Tory MPP will stop claiming a $20,000 allowance for having a second home in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Tim Hudak says. Peter Shurman, the PC representative for Thornhill and the party's finance critic, billed taxpayers $20,719 last year, the maximum permitted, under an allowance that compensates MPPs who live more than 50 kms away from Queen's Park. Shurman said he couldn't afford both homes on his $112,500 annual salary. Yikes.

Improper refrigeration caused the benign maple bacon jam that topped the CNE's cronut burgers to turn into raging, stomach-churning hulk, according to Toronto Public Health. An investigation in to Le Dolci, the Dundas West bakery that produced the topping, and Epic Burgers and Waffles found faults with both companies.

Watch out: the celebrities are about. TIFF rolled in to town last night, and the chance to spot someone familiar from the movies is at an all time high in Toronto. The CBC has a photo gallery of faces from the red carpet, including Benedict Cumberbatch and David Cronenberg.

Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot has spoken out against the potential loss of the Sam the Record Man signs. In an open letter, Lightfoot calls the signs "a reminder of the huge role Sam Sniderman and his store played in the cultural life of Toronto." He thinks the signs should be "preserved and remounted" in the interests of history. Do you agree?

Finally, if you've ever wanted to wake up to a classic Rob Ford rallying cry (and who hasn't,) now's your chance. Newstalk 1010 has made an MP3 of Ford cheering "subways, subways, subways, Scarborough, Scarborough Scarborough" available for download. Creative uses welcome.

IN BRIEF:

• $40M meth lab bust one of largest in Ontario history [CBC]
• Sexual assault reported at York campus [CBC]
• Man in mobility scooter dies after collision in northeast Toronto [CBC]
• Green Mountain Coffee lays off 120 in Toronto [CBC]
• Building permit delays blamed on staff shortage [Toronto Star]

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Jonathan Castellino/blogTO Flickr pool.

The photos of the week collect each of the editor-selected photos of the day into one post for a contest to be decided by our readers. Sponsored by Posterjack, the photographer whose image receives the most votes will be awarded with a voucher code for a 24"x36" poster print of their work.

All the rules and fine-print can be found in the original announcement post on the blogTO Flickr page. One thing to add, however, is that the voting period ends at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, after which the winner will be contacted with the good news.

For those photographers whose images are featured below, please feel free to give us a little information about your shot — i.e. where and when it was taken — in the comments section. Who knows? Maybe your description will sway voters in your favour!

Lead photo by Elie Dahdouh.

2.
Photo by Phil Marion.

3.
Photo by Kat NLM.

4.
Photo by Cobby17.

5.
Photo by Michael Mitchener.

6.
Photo by Adrian Berg.

7.
Photo by thericyip.

Hidden down an unassuming lane-way on Spadina Avenue, in an unspectacular coach house, is the bike repair shop/underground cinema/event venue, CineCycle. It may not look like much from the outside, but CineCycle is home to an impressive collection of films and, as its name suggests, is also the go-to spot to fix a bike.

By day, CineCycle owner Martin Heath, a cyclist and bike enthusiast, says he does the repairs "that other people find impossible." In the evenings and on the weekends, Heath clears the bicycles from the shop and rents out the coach house for film screenings, live performances and special events.

CineCycle's walls are adorned with bicycle art, film posters and articles about the venue (and its predecessors - Heath has been fixing bikes and screening films for decades in various locations around the city). A large 9 by 12 foot projection screen hangs from the ceiling at one end of the room, with row upon row of film reel canisters stacked below.

One need only read CineCycle's schedule to get an idea of why this venue stands out within Toronto's sardined film scene.

For example, CineCycle will host a 16mm loop "film projection performance" with live music on Friday, August 30, and a curated film screening hosted by the Process Reversal Collective on September 3rd - all events are open to the public.

One Sunday a month, Heath also screens a film from his personal collection of "probably about 500 films" - a collection he's grown, in part, by rescuing reels from the garbage.

"A storage facility was moving and they abandoned a lot of films," he explains. "I was able to salvage them."

The films he reclaimed are mostly of the Hollywood variety - like the 1974 sci-fi/fantasy Zardoz, starring Sean Connery (look it up) - but Heath also has a significant number of silent films and rare finds like his collection of Scopitones.

"Scopitones were made to be shown in jukeboxes to promote musicians' records. The performer would lip synch to the camera - it's like the first music video, only it's on film and it was in the jukebox," he says. "Most people haven't heard of them." (But you might get a chance to see them when Heath screens his Scopitones during Nuit Blanche.)

The films, the bikes and especially Heath himself (the man offers a wealth of knowledge on films, projectors, festivals and, of course, bicycles) are three great reasons to check this place out. If you're in the mood for a completely unique experience, ride your bike over to CineCycle.

CineCycle is located in the lane behind 129 Spadina Ave. You can learn more about the cinema and book your bike repair via their web site.

Photos by Jesse Milns

This new Liberty Village ice cream shop exclusively sells Kawartha Dairy ice cream, whose retail stores located throughout cottage country are a delicious highlight of many weekend getaways. With autumn just around the corner, this bright and cheery place is sure to bring a welcome taste of summer to nearby condo dwellers all year round.

Read my profile of The Perfect Scoop Ice Cream Shop in the restaurants section.

Toronto Food Events rounds up the most delicious events, festivals, pop-ups, winemaker dinners, supper clubs and other food related happenings in Toronto this week and next. You can find us here every Friday morning.

THIS WEEK

• The 29th annual Vegetarian Food Festival is on at the Harbourfront Centre this weekend September, 6th to 8th. The free event includes food, live entertainment and a meatless marketplace.
• Taste of the Kingsway takes place this weekend September, 6th to 8th on Bloor just outside of Royal York Station.
• Toronto Beer Week begins Thursday, September 12th and in celebration there are events happening all around the city. Highlights include Doors Open at Mill St. Brew Pub (21 Tank House Lane) on Saturday, September 14th from 3pm to 9pm; and, Brewers Backyard at the Evergreen Brick Works (550 Bayview Avenue) on Sunday, September 15th.
• Senses Restaurant at the Metropolitan Hotel (328 Wellington Street West) is offering a modern Chinese pop-up menu for the duration of TIFF.
• Street Eats at City Hall will bring together food trucks and vendors to offer $7 lunch specials in support of United Way on Tuesday, September 10th from 11am to 2pm.

UPCOMING

• Origin Liberty (171 East Liberty Street) will host JAM a dinner on Monday, September 16th. The tasting menu will be featured for $89 per head. Reserve a spot via phone.
• Beau's Lobster Boil returns to Whippoorwill (285 Bloor Street West) on Thursday, September 19th. tickets are $65 for the seafood feast complete with buttermilk biscuits, iced tea and pie.


• Beer writer Stephen Beaumont launches his new book, The Pocket Beer Guide 2014 at The Rhino (1249 Queen Street West) on Thursday, September 19th. the evening will also include the premier Ontario screening of Beer Hunter: the story of Michael Jackson.
• The Toronto Underground Market returns to the Evergreen Brick Works (550 Bayview Avenue) for their 2 year anniversary on Saturday, September 28th. Tickets go on sale today Friday, September 6th at 10am online.
• Clube Ceia Portuguese Supper Club is slated to take place Sunday, September 29 at 6:30pm at the Aphrodite Cooks Studio (201 Weston Road, Unit 101). Tickets are $62.50 for the 5 course dinner.
• The Group of Seven Chefs presents Tavern Dinner, a 5 course tasting menu at 7:30pm on Monday, September 30th at The Saint (227 Ossington Avenue). Tickets are available now for $55.

Photo of the shrimp tacos from Buster's Sea Cove

David Cronenberg: Transformation, shown as a part of the TIFF Future Projections programme, showcases the work of six contemporary artists influenced and inspired by the filmmaker's 40 year career. Transformation is the fine art portion of the upcoming retrospective on Cronenberg's work, The Cronenberg Project, to be featured in the Lightbox's fall programming. With works ranging from photography, installation, video art and one totally mind bending hypno-chamber, this exhibition is a multidisciplinary, multi-sensory experience which taps into the mood and tone of Canada's horror master.

Here's a glimpse of David Cronenberg: Transformation now on at the MOCCA.

With another Labour Day in the books and a bit of cool in the air, it's back to school for students across the city. We headed over to Ryerson to catch a glimpse of what the student body is wearing during the first week of classes.

Check out all the looks in our style section.

We've recently rolled out a new home for all the contests we run on blogTO. Check it out here. Our Contests hub page will always feature the latest contests we're running on the site with easy to scan details about need to know deadline dates and prize info. At the moment, we currently have three contests you can enter including chances to win TIFF tickets and tickets to an invite-only TIFF party.

Check all the contests out via this link.

The Drake Hotel hosted a mod-rock themed party, Down the Line, on September 5th to celebrate the launch of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. People flocked to the trendy West Queen West hotspot to hear Keys N Krates, see Toronto artist Baby Steinberg's new pieces and get inked by an in-house tattoo artist free of charge. It was a unique way to welcome another year of TIFF and a good time all around.

Check out how the event went down with our visual recap.

20 years ago, Toronto was planning a different extension of the Bloor-Danforth line, this one heading southwest deep into Etobicoke. Had it been built, we would be riding the subway to Sherway Gardens, Cloverdale Mall, or maybe even Mississauga city centre by way of Dixie GO station today.

The proposed addition first surfaced with Premier David Peterson's 1990 "Let's Move" plan, itself an expansion of the province's sweeping Network 2011 transit program. That original blueprint called for a full-length Sheppard subway, a downtown relief line, and Harbourfront and Spadina LRTs.

The proposal was floated again under Bob Rae's Liberal government in 1993 as part of the planned $2.5 billion rapid transit expansion program that promised a longer Spadina subway, the ill-fated Scarborough West line, and a lost 3.2 km lengthening of the Scarborough RT to Sheppard Avenue, among others, to be completed before 2003.

Though the Bloor-Danforth extension wasn't one of the headline acts - merely an "additional project being considered" - the province completed an environmental assessment on the three-stop route to Sherway Gardens and seemed to believe it was feasible.

The Bloor-Danforth line had already been extended several times. The original route ran from Keele in the west to Woodbine in the east from 1966 until 1968 when extensions to Islington and Warden were opened simultaneously. Kipling and Kennedy stations were completed in 1981 with plans for a light rail connection at both ends - the SRT was the only one ever realized.

The westward addition to the Bloor-Danforth line would have run 3.7 kms underground from Kipling station, roughly parallel with the CP tracks, and terminated with a stop to be named West Mall at Sherway Gardens shopping centre. An additional extension under Etobicoke Creek to Dixie GO station and a stop at East Mall were also included as possible future additions.

The project reared its head again in 2002 when the TTC included it as an option in its Rapid Transit Expansion Study. That document pitched a new section of track from Kipling to Sherway Gardens via East Mall and possibly five more stops en route to Mississauga city centre.

The downtown Mississauga option was screened from further consideration because Peel region didn't support the project as part of their official plan, preferring instead a dedicated bus rapid transit corridor (now under construction) and an extension of the then-proposed Eglinton subway line.

The last sign of life came in 2006 when TTC Commissioner Peter Milczyn asked city staff to investigate the possibility of a one-stop extension to Cloverdale Mall, at Dundas and Highway 427. The owners of Honeydale Mall were hoping to sell and were offering their land, directly between Kipling and Cloverdale Mall, for free, according to Milczyn. The surface track would have cost an estimated $145 million.

The westward extension was sunk because of its low priority status and concerns the area lacked the density necessary to make the line profitable. Kipling station, despite its connections to bus lines, the airport rocket, and a GO station, isn't exactly the thriving hub it was hoped, either. Mississauga buses prefer to stop at Islington station and density around the terminus has been slow to materialize.

According to the TTC, all talk of the project has reached the end of the line. Spokesman Brad Ross says there are "no such plans at this time" to pursue any extra track at the subway's western terminus.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Images: TTC/Ontario, City of Toronto Archives

Nikki Beach is a club concept that combines classic all-white decor with delicious foods and a relaxing ambiance. With permanent clubs in 12 cities, Nikki Beach has debuted a pop-up club at The Spoke Club from September 5th to 8th in honour of the Toronto International Film Festival. The opening night of Nikki Beach was celebrated with delicious drinks, gorgeous views and amazing decor.

Check out the posh proceedings with our visual overview of the space.

Weekend events in Toronto is our guide to events happening this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Here's what's happening in Toronto this September 6-8, 2013.

FILM

38th Annual Toronto International Film Festival
Over 300 films from 60 countries will be playing in Toronto over the next ten days and the first weekend of festival is key to securing bragging rights of having seen the best films first. Most of the parties are industry only so purchase a pass or individual tickets and earn you industry cred by going the way of cinephilia. Tickets are selling out fast but there's always the rush line to fall back on and if not that, well, the bars are open late. Check out TIFF's website for the full 2013 schedule.
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West) passes and ticket prices vary

TO Indie Film Festival
Not into that other bigger festival? If indies and smaller crowds are more your thing, the Carlton Cinema plays host to the TO Indie Film Festival over the next nine days. Each night, two feature films will be screened with six short films for just $8. The festival includes films and music videos from around the globe by a diverse set of directors working within all genres. Go small, go local, go TO Indie.
Carlton Cinemas (20 Carlton Street), September 5-14, $8

For more film and TIFF coverage, check out our Film section.

FOOD

29th Annual Vegetarian Food Festival
Toronto herbivores and meat-despising foodies gather at Harbourfront Centre this weekend for the 29th Annual Vegetarian Food Festival, where a diverse offering of healthy and natural cuisine will be displayed for the public to eat. With three marketplaces, a screening of The Ghosts In Our Machine and even comedy from vegetarian stand-up Jamie Kilstein, this festival has everything to help you learn and relate to the veggie-only lifestyle. The festival begins tonight and runs through Sunday evening. Check out festival.veg.ca for the full schedule.
Harbourfront Centre (235 Queen's Quay West), September 6-8, 2013, 6PM Free

Taste of Kingsway
Bloor West West can sometimes feel like a small town and Taste of Kingsway is the local neighbourhood gathering. This year's festival is more carnival than a culinary feast with midway rides, beer and wine gardens, a dog show and lots of clowns and face painting but the community is so quaint, it's worth a visit. Running all weekend with a full schedule of activities, Taste of Kingsway is family-friendly but undoubtedly entertaining festival. And, of course, there will be foods.
The Kingsway BIA (3029 Bloor Street West), September 6-8, 2013, 9AM Free

Cabbagetown Festival of the Arts
Cabbagetown Festival of the Arts hosts a pre-party of sorts with One Night in Cabbagetown, a food-tasting neighbourhood gallivant. Purchase a $10 ticket and access four different restaurants from a list of ten, sampling their food and drinking their booze. Explore the neighbourhood so you'll be well acquainted with Cabbagetown when the festival begins on Saturday. Festivities run until 11PM tonight.
Parliament Street and surrounding area 7PM $10

For more food listings, check out our Toronto Food Events post.

PARTY

Bellwoods Block Party
This is a new market/party taking place each month just south of Trinity Bellwoods in the back lane behind 198 Walnut Street. Look for a mix of designers, food vendors, vintage dealers as well as live music. Oh, and it's BYOB, so think party as much market, and you're there.
Saturday, September 7, 198 Walnut, Unit 7, Free

MUSIC

4th Annual Toronto Bicycle Music Festival
The 4th Annual Toronto Bicycle Music Festival is a pedal-powered, traveling music festival that goes from The Esplanade to the Grange to Trinity Bellwoods. Performers range from bands like Birds of Chicago to The Strumbellas to a Choir! Choir! Choir! ensemble on wheels. Meet up with other festivalgoers on your bike in David Crombie Park at 12:30PM and spend the next seven hours biking and listening to music as you tour throughout the city.
David Crombie Park (99 Scadding Avenue), September 7, 2013, 12:30PM Free

Cassette Store Day at Sonic Boom
In honour of the first ever Cassette Store Day, Sonic Boom is hosting a cassette fair at which DIY artists and labels will gather to offer up their releases and talk shop. There will also be live performances and a tape exchange. Bring a non-perishable food item, please.
Saturday, September 7. Sonic Boom (782 Bathurst), Free

YLMC's Kubrick II: A Clockwork Orange
Cinephilia is in the air and Young Lions Music Club is feeling it. Doing TIFF the right way, YLMC's annual film appreciation party is an ode to late great filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. Setting up shop in Adelaide Hall, this theme party will be like stepping on to the set of the 1971 sci-fi drama A Clockwork Orange, complete with actors playing roles from the movie. Weaves and Omhouse will play sets throughout the evening and Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene will DJ the night. Prepare to be thoroughly creeped out.
Adelaide Hall (250 Adelaide Street West), September 6, 2013, 10PM $17 advance, $20 door

Grolsch Open House
Located at John and Pearl streets, the Grolsch Open House will play host to a variety of performances and installations over the festival's opening weekend (Sep 6-9). Musical guests include Beliefs, Holy Family, Grounders, Choir! Choir! Choir!, and Brendan Canning, who seems to get tapped whenever the words Toronto and music are uttered in the same breath. There will also be food trucks to help fuel hungry festival goers. Check out the full lineup here.

For more music listings, check out our This Week in Music and September Concerts post.

BOOKS & LIT

Fisher Small Press Fair
The Fisher Small Press Fair is a one-of-a-kind, first-time-ever type of fair. A rare look inside a very rare library, the gorgeous Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library opens its doors to the public for an exhibition showcase celebrating the printed book. Small presses like Coach House Books, Porcupine's Quill, The Aliquando Press, BookThug and more will present bookmakers and their rare works in a marketplace-like setting beneath five floors of rare books. If you're really looking for something different to do this weekend, this is the place to spend your Saturday.
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto (120 St. George Street), September 7, 2013, 10AM Free

MARKET

The Junction Flea
This weekend marks the second Sunday of the month which means that the Junction Flea taking place in its home base at 2803 Dundas West. Now alternating each month between its prime Junction spot and Evergreen Brick Works, this little flea market that could has grown into a Sunday favourite amongst craft collectors and antique seekers. The gates open at 10AM if you're on the hunt for records, collectibles or clothing from another era from good people with great prices. The market closes at 5PM.
2803 Dundas Street West, September 8, 2013, 10AM $2

NATURE

Nature and Heritage Hikes
Evergreen Brick Works doesn't really believe in lazy Sundays, which is why they are crazy enough to have started a Sunday morning hiking club. Traveling through the Don Valley trails, Nature and Heritage Hikes injects a little bit of Toronto history into the morning exercise routine with different themes each Sunday. This weekend, the nature hike will explore the Lower Don's floodplain by route of Moore Park Ravine and Rosedale. Tag along by meeting at the Brick Works and be prepared for a 2 hour walk.
Evergreen Brick Works (550 Bayview Avenue), September 8, 2013, 10AM Free

THEATRE

The Crimson Leaf
Well, this just sounds dramatic: Two women in two eras question love and relationships in The Crimson Leaf, a one-act drama opening at Al Green Theatre this Saturday night. A young woman who is pining for love and searching for inspiration stumbles upon The Crimson Leaf, a collection of works by 19th century Persian poet Maryam, whose story then comes to life onstage. There is only one performance of this play so be sure to grab tickets through the Al Green Theatre box office or online at thecrimsonleaf.eventbrite.ca.
Al Green Theatre (750 Spadina Avenue), September 7, 2013, 8PM $25

For more theatre listings, check out our This Week in Theatre post.

ART

An Te Social
Artist An Te Liu hosts an art party to rival the AGO. This Friday night, the An Te Social will fill the Gardiner Museum with the sculptures of Liu's latest exhibit MONO NO MA as well as boozy guests, food and DJs. Ceramic sculptures created by Styrofoam packaging are the idea behind MONO NO MA, which translates roughly to "thing no space." By using remnants of the contemporary world, Liu explores spaces around the things we consume and discard daily. This opening reception is not quite the usual with the $50 price tag but it is an exclusive party with plenty of perks (beer, wine and food from a la Carte Kitchen are included). If parties aren't your thing, the exhibit remains at the Gardiner until November 11th.
Gardiner Museum (111 Queen's Park), September 6, 2013, 6PM $50

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Photo by Ben Roffelsen in the blogTO Flickr pool