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Ryerson shines a light on documentary photography

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Robert BurleyThe Ryerson Image Centre puts a major spotlight on documentary photography tonight as it unveils its winter programming, featuring the work of artists Robert Burley, Phil Bergerson, Pierre Tremblay, and Elisa Julia Gilmour. The centrepiece of the four exhibitions is Burley's eerie documentation of the death of the film-based photography industry, including deserted Kodak plants, empty photo booths and other signs of film's decline.

Not to be outdone, Bergerson's search for signs of the American dream reads like a contemporary update on the road photographs of Stephen Shore and Joel Sternfeld from the 1970s. While Elisa Julia Gilmour's conceptual work with Kodak Ektachrome slides underscores the transience of film in more basic, non-economic terms. Together, the exhibits offer a challenging and often haunting look at the nature of film and the photographic enterprise.

Have a sneak peek at the exhibits in this photo gallery.


The top 10 dance parties and bars in Toronto

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Dance bars TorontoThe top dance parties and bars in Toronto give movers and shakers who want to do the two-step but side-step the club ample options about town on various nights of the week. These events span the musical gamut and make for great birthday party ideas or serve as an easy way to break up the monotony of both the pub and club scene. So close the laptop, crawl out of hibernation mode and go dance.

Here are 10 great Toronto bars and recurring party nights to get your dance on.

Shindig! at The Piston
This all-vinyl 50s and 60s Rhythm and Blues dance party happens on the last Friday of every month. If you like Motown, don't miss it. A perk at this Bloorcourt bar is ample room on the dance floor. You can shake it to Shindig! without mosh pit overtones. Free before 10:30 p.m., $5 after.

Goin' Steady DJs spin Chronologic at The Garrison
This Dundas West live music venues is taken over once a month by this popular event that takes you on a trip through time, providing a survey of music across the calendar from 1890 to 2012 played in chronological order. This DJ duo has been packing Toronto venues since 2005, and helped The Boat in Kensington gain popularity. Chronologic happens monthly. Keep an eye on the Garrison's listings for the next one. Starts at 10 p.m. with a $5 cover.

Boots' N 'Bourbon
When it's not occupied by a mechanical bull, the dance floor at this Riverside saloon hosts line-dancing on Thursdays for those who are a little bit more country than rock' N' roll. Not an expert, you can get a free line-dancing lesson, too.

Muscle & Heat Is For Lovers
If you're looking for music for your soul to dance to, follow this regular disco-and-more night around Toronto. This three-member team used to be regulars at UNIT, then packed the house at Bambi's and Unlovable for some very seductive sessions. Experimenting with more offbeat venues, they recently hosted a pizza-fueled dance party at Amico's so you never know where they're going to pop up next. $5 cover.

Loving In The Name Of at the Great Hall
Dance to the best of both worlds with this hybrid night. Loving brings a live-music component to its pop music dance party. It starts out with a DJ and ends with a big band cover set, which works well in an event/concert venue like the Great Hall at Queen and Dovercourt. Some of Toronto's best musicians get together to cover Top 40 pop songs. Think Matt Murphy covering Britney Spears. $10 cover.

Footprints at the Rivoli
This DJ and design collective describe themselves as Toronto's premiere underground open format dance event. It's been around a long time, has a devout following, and brings visual components to the dance floor along with rare grooves. The DJs produce animated and live-action videos that they project during the party to beats ranging from Deep House to Funk and Soul. $5 before 11 p.m. $10 after.

Uma Nota
To change up the speed, check out an Uma Nota event for Afro-Brazilian, Latin, Caribbean, Funk and Soul music - and some culture. This Toronto event series started at The Gladstone in 2007, and now bounces between there and Lula Lounge on Dundas West. The heavy-sounding live percussion makes dancing lively and irresistible. Watch this events page for upcoming dates. $15 at the door.

The Henhouse
Already famous for its jukebox offerings, this Dundas West bar hosts dance parties at regular intervals. Every Friday you can find one of their boogie events fogging up the windows. Examples include That Time Of The Month (all-female soul, Disco and R&B), Regretro (retro tunes, song requests welcome) and Barbershop (retro-soul "jam for dudes who like dudes"). Check out their schedule here.

Clinton's Tavern
This Koreatown spot delivers more than one weekly dance party, providing options for school nights and weekends. Throwback Thursdays bring 90s Hip Hop and Rap at 10 p.m. with a $5 cover (free before 11 p.m.) and every Saturday you'll hear Shake, Rattle, Roll's 60s Rock, Pop and Soul tunes (10 p.m., $5 cover). Clinton's is a pub that might be best described with a mullet euphemism - think dive bar up front, party in the back.

Bambi's
If you can stand to get a little sweaty and don't want to pay a cover, Bambi's has subterranean dancing on Saturday nights, but get there early because it gets packed. Expect Disclosure-sounding Neo House beats.

BONUS

The Steady
New to Toronto, The Steady is a Miami inspired restaurant that just made our list of best new brunch in Toronto - but at night, this Bloorcourt spots turns into a bar that hosts everything from book launches to one-off and regular dance parties (find the queer-centric Steady on our best gay bars in Toronto list too). Recurring dance offs include Blood, Sweat, and Queers, Tramp!, The Dirty Hustle, and Deep Endz.

Writing by Erin Obourn. Photo by Leilah Vayid from the Uma Nota Facebook page

Polar Vortex Toronto

Today in Toronto: Come Up To My Room, Godard Forever, Interior Design Show, Trust, A Titanic Comedy

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Today in TorontoAttention fans of art and design: Come Up To My Room 2014 is filling the Gladstone with curious installations tonight, while The Toronto Interior Design Show 2014 will begin at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. For you existential lovers there's TIFF's huge line up of Jean-Luc Godard programming, and a "secret" Trust show at the Drake Hotel. Cold or not, you should probably go out tonight.

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

This Week in Film: The Devil's Knot, Paul Verhoeven, Stephen King, Pandora's Box, 8 Fest

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Toronto FilmThis Week in Film rounds up noteworthy new releases in theatres, rep cinema and avant-garde screenings, festivals, and other special cinema-related events happening in Toronto.

REP CINEMA

Flesh + Blood: The Films of Paul Verhoeven (January 24 - April 4; TIFF Bell Lightbox)

There are two likely occasions that prompted this retrospective (other than the fact that there has never been a Paul Verhoeven retrospective in Toronto before, but that's a criminal matter for another time and place): one is the the upcoming release of the RoboCop remake, which is destined for equal parts 'why God why' and 'yes Oh yes' reactions next month; and the other is the mid-April release of local critic Adam Nayman's book It Doesn't Suck, which defends Verhoeven's misunderstood cult classic, Showgirls.

Before we get to either that film or the original Robocop, though, we'll get to explore Verhoeven's little seen and discussed early Dutch work, two of which will be screened this weekend.

Screening this week in Flesh + Blood:

Kingdom of Fear: Stephen King on Screen (January 17 - April 5; TIFF Bell Lightbox)

Stephen KingIf you're like me, you were introduced to the world of supernatural/thriller/horror fiction through Stephen King. Not that I read any of his novels as a kid, I was just so utterly in love with Carrie, Misery, and The Shining that he became my first "based-on-a-book-by" auteur. You can imagine the euphoric nostalgia I was overcome with, then, when this series of twelve King adaptations was announced for the Lightbox. Now, if only some of them can hold up for non-ten-year-old me.

More in rep cinema this week:

SPECIAL EVENTS

Silent Sundays: Pandora's Box (Sunday, January 26 at 4:15PM; The Revue)

Padoras Box"It doesn't really get better than Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box, does it? Brooks fled Hollywood and escaped to the German film industry to seal her fate as an indelible force in silent film, forever to be remembered as the sensual, yet naïve; unintentionally vampish and victimized Lulu. Under the direction of master G.W. Pabst, the film's cinematography, costumes, and narration are almost unparalleled in the medium.

In short: Pandora's Box is a masterpiece and Louise Brooks is a legend here - visually, as well as in her acting style. Her realism was so ahead of her time that audiences and critics rejected her; a dismissal that history has, luckily for us, rectified. Flappers at heart unite; this is a Silent Sundays not to be missed! Featuring live piano accompaniment by William O'Meara."

FILM FESTIVALS

The 8 Fest (January 24-26; Polish Combatants' Hall)

Luther PriceLuther Price, Narcisa Hirsch, Claudio Caldini, Jorge Honik & Laura Abel. Don't know who they are? Now's the time to find out. Spotlighting Argentine Experimental filmmaking to kick things off, the 8 Fest brings Toronto three nights of screenings, performances, workshops, and artist talks, showcasing new work - from fresh faces to some of Toronto's more prominent artists - and canonical films from the archives of the beloved small gauge format.

NEW RELEASES

Devil's Knot (Varsity)

You may have heard about a little news story about a group of guys called the West Memphis Three. In case not, perhaps you've heard of a movie called Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, which spawned two sequels, or West of Memphis, which played at TIFF in 2012.

Still no? Well, Toronto filmmaker Atom Egoyan has you covered. For the first fictional telling of the infamous murder case, and hopefully the last of any kind for a very long time, Egoyan reined in Hollywood superstars Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth and, as in the aforementioned films, chose to focus on the truly interesting meat of the story - not the still-unsolved murder case, but the plight of the three convicted boys/men.

Also opening in theatres this week:

  • After the Dark (Carlton)
  • The Final Member (The Bloor)
  • I, Frankenstein (Carlton, Scotiabank, Rainbow Market Sq.)
  • Jai Ho (Cineplex Yonge & Dundas)
  • Linsanity (The Bloor)
  • Mourning Has Broken (The Royal)
  • The Past (Varsity)
  • The Selfish Giant (TIFF Bell Lightbox)
  • Whitewash (Cineplex Yonge & Dundas)

Lead still from Devil's Knot.

New barbershop is old school and modern all at once

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barber shop dundasWith dark laminate wood floors, exposed brick, and an elaborate silver tin ceiling, this new barbershop just north of Trinity Bellwoods seamlessly blends modern design with classic barbershop aesthetics. Marked by an old school barber's pole and old school black leather chairs, it's a place to be pampered that still feels nothing like a salon.

Find out more in my review of Bellwoods Barbers.

5 winter beer events in Toronto for 2014

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Beer Events Toronto WinterWinter beer events in Toronto are typically fairly sparse, which is unfortunate given that the winter is the very time we most need an excuse for socializing and drinking. Thankfully, if you look hard enough, there are still a few events this season that are worth donning the Sorels and braving the various polar vortices for.

Here are five such events.

The Roundhouse Winter Craft Beer Festival, January 25
A uniquely Canadian event, this festival will actually take place outdoors at Roundhouse Park on Saturday, so if you're attending, bundle up. The first 500 to arrive will receive a bitchin' commemorative toque, but if you don't plan on being early, be sure to bring your own. The festival will showcase beers from the Ontario Craft Brewers, specifically Steam Whistle, Black Oak, Great Lakes, King,Left Field, Mill Street, F&M, Wellington, Neustadt, Niagara College, Beaus, Amsterdam, Lake of Bays, Sawdust City, Railway City, Silversmith, and Grand River.

There will also be food from Smokes Poutinerie, Rashers Bacon Sandwiches, Gorilla Cheese, Beaver Tails, Reunion Island Coffee, Dobro Jesti, and even country-style comfort food from Boots & Bourbon Saloon. Tickets for this one are technically already sold out, so cozy up to someone smart enough to have bought already or hope you can snag one of the very limited tickets that will be available at the door.

The Tallboys Big Smoke Bands and Brew Festival, January 24-25
Appropriately enough, this event at the Garrison will feature bands and brews. Featured bands include Cai.Ro, Basecamp, Adaline, Wolf J. McFarlane, Army Girls, Kashka, Warm Myth, and Highs. Featured breweries include The Publican House, Duggan's, Nickel Brook, Great Lakes, Wellingson, Junction Craft, Hogtown, Cameron's, and Collective Arts. $15. Ticket includes sampling glass and two drinks. ($25 for a two day pass)

Black Oak's Brews N' Boards Board Game Night, January 30
With all the recent hullabaloo about the opening of Snakes and Lagers, it seems to me that people have forgotten that the good folks at Black Oak Brewery were on to the fun of board games and beerslong before it was cool. In keeping with their tradition, they'll be hosting another evening of dice rolling, longest road building, little metal dog moving, and Pop-O-Matic bubble popping at their brewery this month where you can bring your own game and enjoy some board games, pizza, music, and, most importantly, Black Oak beers. $10 gets you beer and some pizza and the Black Oak bottle shop is open for all your retail beer needs.

Great Lakes' Untethered · February 6
To celebrate the LCBO release of their beer Harry Porter and the Bourbon Soaked Vanilla Bean, Great Lakes Brewery will be hosting a party at The Loose Moose. Appropriately, it will be an evening of porters and you'll be able to sample Harry Porter from the keg, can, and cask if you want, and there will be a coffee porter on tap in addition to a still-secret sixth porter (spoiler alert: it has cherries in it). The event is free to attend and open to the public.

Brewer's Backyard Golidbocks and the Three Beers · February 17
The Brewer's Backyard series at the Evergreen Brickworks will kick off this year with a winter event and is probably your best bet for a family-friendly beer outing this season. Festivities will be held indoors at the Brickworks Young Welcome Centre and will take place during the family friendly hours of 11am-4pm. As the name might suggest, there will be four beers featured from Indie Alehouse, Great Lakes, Nickel Brook, and Amsterdam and those beers will vary in strength for Papas, Mamas, and Babies (*please don't give your baby beer). Food will be provided by Indie Alehouse. Free admission, tickets available for beer and food.

BONUS

The Society of Beer Drinking Ladies Inaugural Gathering
Formed by "a group of Toronto ladies passionate about all things craft beer," SBDL gatherings will be events to "enjoy awesome beer, awesome food and awesome women togetherness the last Friday of every month." Women are encouraged to bring a beer that you've had and love as well as one that you've been itching to try. It's $10 to join, with $5 going toward snacks and $5 toward charity. The location will be kept a secret until a couple days before the event when they'll email attendees.

*Before this post went live, the inaugural event sold out. Stay tuned to the group's twitter feed for news about the next event and check out this Fat Girl Food Squad article on The Society for more info.

Ben Johnson also writes about beer over on Ben's Beer Blog. If you're cool, you'll follow him on twitter @Ben_T_Johnson

What do you think of these new Ontario Place designs?

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toronto ontario placeThe first landscape architects' plans for a tiny slice of the former Ontario Place land have been released to the public, and the province wants your advice about how to proceed.

Designers LANDInc and West 8 have been working for more than a year to produce a near-complete blueprint that promises to turn a derelict stretch of prime waterfront land into a 7.5 acre green space tied to the waterfront cycling trail. There will be rocks, trees, and sculptures, the team says.

Ontario Place, with its famous Cinesphere and Ed Zeidler-designed floating pods, closed permanently in early 2012 following several years of declining attendance and escalating costs. John Tory, the chair of the revitalization panel charged with repurposing the land, promised "a state of the art public park" by 2017 shortly after the announcement.

toronto ontario placeRight now the stretch of land in question is an apocalyptic wasteland of concrete and scrubby grass with expansive views of downtown, Billy Bishop airport, and the Toronto Islands. It was last used for parking and storage when the waterfront attraction was still operating.

The new park will be divided into two rough areas: upper and lower. Higher elevations will be devoted to forestry and trails while areas closer to the water will be home to lawns, programming space, and even a "romantic garden" with neatly landscaped rocks. A looping multi-use trail will tie both areas together.

toronto ontario placeThe final design that incorporates the results of a public survey is due to be unveiled in the summer. This particular piece of the larger Ontario Place revitalization is due to be finished by 2015.

What do you think of the concept? Does the proposed park make the most of the land? Are you pleased the province is committed to making the offshore islands a natural space?

MORE IMAGES:

toronto ontario placeA small portion of land at the extreme east end of the Ontario Place islands will be landscaped
toronto ontario placeA view of the lower part of the trail near the water
toronto ontario placeHigher elevations will deliver expansive views over Lake Ontario
ontario placeAccessibility to the water is the key component of the plan

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


Toronto Restaurant Openings: The Greek, Bindia, Mr. Mike's Pizza, Kintori, Bar Buca (yet again)

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Toronto restaurant openingsToronto 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.

OPEN NOW

  • King West has a new takeout counter, The Greek is now open at 567 King Street serving up salads, pita wraps and skewers. Oh, and fried halloumi!
  • Bindia at 16 Market Street is now open and serving up a menu that majors in kebabs, tandoori and curries. (via The Grid)
  • Albion's Pizza Shawarma is now open at 1030 Bloor Street West in Bloorcourt Village.
  • Newly opened Mr. Mike's Pizza Company at 269 Morningside Avenue is serving up pizzas, wings, poutines and panzerotti.

OPENING SOON

  • After lots of false starts, it looks like Bar Buca (75 Portland Street) is finally set to open in a week and a half. (via Spotlight City)
  • Kintori, a yaktori bar from the team behind Guu, Kinton Ramen and JaBistro, is slated to open next month above the newly opened noodle shop at 668 Bloor Street West.
  • As reported earlier this week, Left Field Brewery is making 36 Wagstaff Drive in Leslieville it's new home base and retail outlet.

RECENTLY REVIEWED

CLOSING

  • KO Burgers at 366 Bloor is closing at the end of the month.

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

Photo from Bindia

The top 5 unbuilt mega projects in Toronto

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toronto metro centreIn an parallel universe, Toronto is home to a pioneering offshore community with canals instead of streets. The CN Tower looks weird - it's probably not even called that - and most of the central waterfront is consumed by a complex that includes a massive CBC headquarters and a reworked Front Street.

There are grand avenues and wide European-style traffic circles, the Eaton Centre doesn't exist, and the tallest building in the city is a bizarre semi-transparent affair at College and Yonge. A commemorative plaque at its base recalls the long lost Eaton's College Street store, which was knocked down to make way for the massive structure.

Oh, and there might just have been a few more downtown subway stations.

None of these wonders came to pass, of course, but they all came tantalizingly close. With David Mirvish and Frank Gehry's King West mega condos currently going through the approval process (or dis-approval, as the case may be), here's a look back at several massive Toronto projects that never made it past the concept phase.

METRO CENTREtoronto metro centreIn the 1960s, faced with hundreds of acres of surplus railway lines, sidings, and train sheds, two of Canada's biggest rail companies were keen to cash in and develop their massive and increasingly valuable holdings.

The Metro Centre proposal, the brainchild of Canadian Pacific and Canadian National, would have created a "city-within-a-city" between the Gardiner, Bathurst, Front, and Yonge. "4.5 million square feet of office space, 600,000 square feet of commercial space, and 9,300 residential units," Mark Osbaldeston says in his book Unbuilt Toronto.

The subway bend at Union Station would have been shifted south to Queens Quay, creating three new stops, a new transit hub for buses and trains would be built over the tracks, and there would be a new convention centre and English-language CBC broadcast centre.

Metro Centre got remarkably far: Metro Toronto, the now defunct senior level of government, gave its approval, as did the City of Toronto and its planners, but a group of concerned citizens successfully appealed the decisions at the Ontario Municipal Board, resulting in demands for additional parkland and smaller towers.

The mega project - the biggest ever pitched in North America - fizzled when the 1972 municipal election delivered a major idealogical shake-up at city council. The CN Tower, Roy Thomson Hall, and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre were the only pieces ever realized, albeit to different designs.

HARBOUR CITYtoronto harbour cityImagine living on the Toronto Islands. No, not those - the ones made out of infill just west of the disused airport runway.

Harbour City, the brainchild of the Toronto Harbour Commission, would have been an offshore community stitched together by canals and lagoons. The low-rise, mixed-use buildings, arranged in clusters, would provide living space for 60,000 people from a range of financial backgrounds. Urbanist Jane Jacobs was on board: "Harbour City is probably the most important advance in planning for cities that has been made this century," she said. What could go wrong?

The proposal would have closed Billy Bishop airport and moved it to the Port Lands (where it could handle extra capacity) and likely turned the Toronto Islands into a park. Harbour City wouldn't have been Venice North - a ring road would have provided vehicular access to the community from the foot of Bathurst Street.

Like Metro Centre and the Spadina Expressway, both still real prospects at the time, Harbour City was sunk by local opposition and a fortuitous change of government. In 1972, the feds decided its new international airport would be built in Pickering instead (still waiting) and the plans faded forever, which was probably for the best. The winters would have been hell.

JOHN MARYON TOWERtoronto john maryonFor several years, Eaton's management was earnestly devoted to knocking down its beautiful, historic Toronto stores for faceless office complexes. Case in point: John Maryon Tower, a proto-CN Tower that could have erased the company's College Street store in the early '70s.

Had it been built, the roof of the triangular concrete, steel, and glass tower would have been higher than New York's original World Trade Centre. At its core - literally - would have been a giant radio and TV antenna; tall downtown buildings were deflecting signals, which was one of the reasons the CN Tower became a necessity.

The eponymous Maryon was an expert in tall buildings and he confidently predicted his design would deflect winds of up to 200 km/h and stand for "1,000 years."

Eaton's was forced to back off when things began to go awry down on Queen Street. The company had been unable to build another much-desired office complex (more on that later) and declining sales later in the decade ensured Maryon's mega tower died and stayed dead.

CAMBRAI AVENUE AND VIMY CIRCLEtoronto cambrai avenueFor the most part, Toronto's street grid has remained relatively untouched by mass reconfiguration. Unlike Paris, which had its famous avenues carved out en masse by Baron Haussmann in the 19th century, Toronto has never been significantly made over, though proponents of the various downtown expressway concepts tried.

Cambrai Avenue, Vimy Circle, Passchendaele Road, the principal features in Toronto's ill-fated make-over plan, would have carved through the area between Front, Spadina, Queen, and Yonge to create a large traffic circle (Vimy) just south of where Osgoode station is now, and two broad streets, one running north from Union Station to Queen (Cambrai), and another winding from Wellington and Spadina to Queen and University (Passchendaele.)

The principal features of the plan, a revised and distilled version of an earlier scheme, all took their name from key battles of the first world war. St. Julien Place, a small public garden, was imagined in the centre of Cambrai Avenue, just south of Queen.

The project was halted (for the most part) by the will of the people in January 1930. A question on the municipal ballot sought authorization to finance the project just months after the stock market crash and, not surprisingly, the "no" voters prevailed by about six per cent.

That said, the now lost Registry of Deeds and Land Titles office and the extension of University Ave. to Front St., both pieces of the plan, were built.

EATON CENTRE TOWERStoronto eaton centreBefore Eaton's conceived of its downtown shopping mall, an entirely different scheme was in the works for Queen and Yonge that involved the destruction of Old City Hall for, you guessed it, office towers.

Eaton's wasn't erasing itself, far from it. A new flagship store and shopping atrium - the largest in the world, no less - was planned for the northwest corner of Queen and Yonge. Behind it, at the expense of the recently defunct Old City Hall, would rise a whopping 69-storey central tower, three office buildings (two 57-storeys, one 32,) and a 20-storey cylindrical hotel, a nod to the new City Hall building just to the west.

The collection of matching towers would be set in a large swath of open space, similar to Mies van der Rohe's TD Centre.

The original Eaton Centre seemed destined to become reality when Eaton's abruptly pulled the plug amid discussions about retaining Old City Hall in May 1967. The company said the proposed stipulations and limitations had made the project unsustainable and its executives refused to meet with officials from Metro Toronto who were keen to reach a deal.

The blueprints went in the garbage for good in 1967. In 1968, the Eaton Centre mall as we know it was proposed.

For more unbuilt delights and greater detail on several of these mega projects, Mark Osbaldeston's Unbuilt Toronto: A History of the City that Might Have Been and Unbuilt Toronto 2: More of the City That Might Have Been, both of which provided details included in this post, are well worth a read.

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

Images: City of Toronto Archives, Toronto Telegram Archives, Toronto Public Library.

Is John Tory set to join the 2014 Toronto mayoral race?

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John Tory Toronto mayor raceJohn Tory appears set to enter the 2014 Toronto mayoral race according to a report published in the Toronto Star today. While the article leaves a smidgen of doubt as to the ultimate plans of the former leader of the Ontario PCs, it sounds as though he might already have a campaign platform worked out, one that focus on transportation, youth employment, economic development and a more cohesive city hall. Should Tory run, the report suggests he'll kick off his campaign in late February.

Tory's name has been bandied about in speculation regarding this year's election (as happened in 2010 before he formally declared he wasn't running), but questions surrounding his past political failures, his relationship with Rob Ford, and the demands a campaign would put on his family have led to doubts surrounding his possible entry into the race. Although far from definitive, today's news suggests he's getting closer to tossing his hat in the ring.

What do you think? Is Tory what Toronto needs? Will he finally experience a lasting political victory if he runs?

10 stores that should open a location in Toronto

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uniqlo toronto locationHere in Toronto, we've become pretty spoiled for choice when it comes to shopping. Our years of cross-border envy have been soothed by dozens of U.S. and global retailers often making Toronto their first stop in Canadian expansion. We've racked up locations for Anthropologie, Loft, Intermix, J. Crew and Kate Spade in recent years -- and there's a shiny new Nordstrom in the Eaton Centre's Sears space to look forward to. (To say nothing of Toronto's huge wealth of awesome local retailers!)

We may have it good, but of course, we're never truly satisfied. I've rounded up 10 stores I'm still praying to see pop up on our home turf. Until then, I'll be saving space on my credit card...and waiting.

Uniqlo
We've got plenty of fast-fashion options to choose from here in Toronto, but for many, Uniqlo has become a great white whale, an ever-unreachable (at least, until you go to NYC on vacation) mecca of multicoloured khakis and inexpensive merino sweaters. Canadians have been asking for years when the Japanese chain will move north; last spring, rumours swirled that Hudson's Bay was inking a deal to distribute their products, but all's been quiet on that front since then.

Reiss
Back in 2011, Kate Middleton and Prince William released their engagement photos, and the fashion world immediately went ballistic over Kate's cream-coloured 3/4-sleeve dress. That little ruffled number quickly proved to be the biggest sale this U.K.-based clothing chain ever made; it put them on the map globally, but Reiss had been a favourite of sharp-dressed Brits for years. Currently, Canadians after their elegant cocktail dresses and sharply tailored separates have to order online.

Cos
Many North American fashionistas aren't even aware that H&M has an upscale sister brand. But if you've ever picked up a British fashion magazine, you've likely been exposed to Cos and its sleek, minimal, fashion-forward aesthetic. Items clock in between $100 and $300 -- not exactly H&M pricing, but far more reasonable than the Celine and Jil Sander designs the brand hopes to emulate. A New York location is set to open in Soho this spring. With any luck, a Toronto location can't be that far behind. (Then again, that's what we've been saying about Uniqlo all these years).

Madewell
J. Crew is slowly taking over T.O., with a third location set to pop up on Bloor this spring. Not so for the the chain's kid-sister store, Madewell -- though they ship their adorably vintage-inspired weekend basics cross-border, they've yet to set up shop in Canada. (And when they do: Look out, Urban Outfitters).

DSW (Discount Shoe Warehouse)
No, it's not the same as The Shoe Company. Imagine a huge store -- the size of a Winners or Marshalls -- stocked with nothing but significantly marked-down brand-name kicks. Canadians could probably find the same pieces on their home turf with some careful digging, but the treasure-hunting opportunities at a well-stocked DSW are massive.

Muji
Where Uniqlo is cheap and cheerful, Muji is cheap and very, very serious. The clothing is all neutral, and the housewares -- the Japanese brand's claim to fame -- come in black, white, and various shades of wood varnish. It may seem like a stark aesthetic, until you inevitably give in to the store's organizational pull and buy a million minimalist wood bins and caddies for all your clutter. Canadians can shop at their online store, but there are no brick-and-mortar locations north of the border.

See Eyewear
Toronto is spoiled for fantastic places to buy eyewear already, but you'll likely still want a pair of each of their bold, kitschy plastic frames. (And with lenses included, you could probably snag a couple of them.)

Opening Ceremony
The Brooklyn-based clothing company is synonymous with oddball cool - check their collaboration with perennial It girl Chloe Sevigny for proof. Their own designs share shelf space with pieces by Rodarte and Proenza Schouler in their boutiques, all of which sounds pretty good to me. In case that Toronto location never happens, Canadians can find OC pieces on SSENSE

Catbird
Currently, the jewelry company single-handedly responsible for making thin knuckle-height rings into a fashion craze has only one store (in their native Williamsburg, Brooklyn). But if they ever decide to expand, we think their mix of sweetly minimalist jewelry and gifts would fit right in on, say, Roncesvalles. You can still find a few of their pieces here in town at Easy Tiger and A2Zane.

Trader Joe's
No, it's not a clothing or design store, but Canadians have been driven as far as piracy in order to get their fix of this U.S. grocery chain's wares. Cult favourites include pumpkin butter, chocolate-covered potato chips, and this writer's personal favourite, their lemon pepper fettucine. Mmm.

What stores do you think Toronto is missing? Add your suggestions in the comments.

Photo of Uniqlo

The Best New Restaurants in Toronto, 2013

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best restaurants torontoThe best restaurants that opened in Toronto during 2013 draw on diverse sources for inspiration, though there are at least a couple of recurring themes. Snacks, a.k.a tapas or bocaditos, played a major role on menus across town, as did wood-fired cooking of all types, including slow and low smoking and flash-fired pizza-baking. Also worth a note is the clip at which new restaurants continue to open in this city. This is a culinary boom time, one which shows no signs of slowing down.

Here are the best new restaurants in Toronto from 2013.

See also:

The Best New Restaurants in Toronto, 2012
The Best New Restaurants in Toronto, 2011
The Best New Restaurants in Toronto, 2010
The Best New Cheap Eats in Toronto, 2013
The Best New Brunch Restaurants in Toronto, 2013
The Best New Bars in Toronto, 2013

Letterman devotes Top 10 list to latest Rob Ford video

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Letterman Rob FordAlthough Rob Ford got short shrift on the Daily Show last night, his return to the late night talk show spotlight continued with some air-time on Letterman last night in the form of the Top Ten list. The subject is appropriate if not altogether that creative, namely the "Top Ten Things Rob Ford Might Be Saying in This Video."

As was the case on Kimmel, Letterman leads into the bit by noting that things have been relatively quiet on the Ford front for the past while (he even erroneously suggests that Ford was in rehab), and bemoans the lack of entertainment being provided our crack loving mayor before dropping the list. It won't knock you off your chair, but there's a few funny ones here.

Frozen Ashbridges Bay


How to celebrate Chinese New Year 2014 in Toronto

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Chinese New Year TorontoChinese New Year (CNY) is upon us once more. Despite the seemingly high degree of publicity it gets here in our beloved Greater Toronto Area, it still pales in comparison to some of the other larger metropolitan areas around the world, like Singapore, where you better hope that you stocked up on groceries before the event hits, lest you end up staring at closed signs throughout the city. Then again, this isn't Asia. I get it. But I still want to be able to get my BBQ pork at T&T during the new year period.

Despite the increased exposure it now enjoys, the whole rigmarole surrounding Chinese New Year is still often not completely understood by many. What's with the tacky red decorations? What's up with those red packets? Does everyone eat out? Will Tom Brady ever win the Super Bowl again? Fear not, I'm here to help you navigate some of the basics of CNY.

While regional differences do exist between overseas Chinese communities, in this post I will just outline some of the common denominators that most of these groups have (which is what you will most likely see in the GTA).

Here's a quick guide on how to celebrate Chinese New Year in Toronto.

THE DECORATIONS

There seems to be an unwritten rule among Chinese households and businesses to put as many tacky-looking red stickers up when CNY rolls around. Each of these decorations, much like the rest of Chinese culture, have their own specific meanings, which usually have something to do with prosperity, luck, or happiness in the new year. They're usually joined by garish pictures or cartoony depictions of an animal signifying what year it is (the coming year is the year of the horse.)

The colours also have meaning. Red symbolizes luck and happiness (which is also why you'll see a lot of red at Chinese weddings), while the gold represents...well...gold, which is another way of saying monetary fortune or wealth. If you want to be really authentic, hang any 福 (fu = meaning luck) signs you come across upside down. It's meant to signify that luck is arriving since the word for upside down in Chinese is a homonym for the word to arrive.

WHERE TO GET THEM

Chinatown is teeming with small stores that sell these, as are many Asian supermarkets. It's also almost a slam dunk to find them at any of the T&T Supermarket locations, but if a less chaotic browsing atmosphere is what you're after, go out of the downtown core and to little mom & pop shops inside malls like Pacific Mall or the delightfully ugly New Kennedy Square. Each decoration shouldn't cost more than a few bucks, but you can get really big and/or ornate ones for close to $20.

RED ENVELOPES

The most well-recognized symbol of CNY, the red envelopes (known as hongbao in Mandarin or laisee in Cantonese) are given by married couples to single people, but especially children. In order to receive these, the children would need to respectfully wish the seniors a happy new year and also wish them luck, prosperity, and all that other good stuff. This is all worth it because of what's inside: moolah.

The colour is almost always red but occasionally I've seen gold ones. When you put money in them, there's also a saying among certain circles not to give amounts in multiples of four (i.e. $40) as the Chinese word for four is a homonym for the word death. So whatever you do, do NOT give $44 because ain't nobody got time for that.

WHERE TO GET THEM

Along with those previously-mentioned Chinese stores and supermarkets, many banks actually give them out if you request them (alas, with no money inside). You will also find blank red envelopes given out as gifts in many Asian snacks too (such as the ever-popular Hello Panda cookie snacks, ubiquitous in Asian supermarkets).

THE FOOD

Chinese New Year is synonymous with good food and good times with family and friends, not unlike a giant New Year's/Thanksgiving celebration. Fortunately, there are many restaurants that excel in this, and many of them have their own special CNY menus that (usually) serve 10 people or more. Make sure you order a fish dish, as the Chinese word for it is a homonym for abundance.

WHERE TO EAT

Some of my favourite restaurants for CNY are listed below. Please note that the special menu is usually not posted until very close to the actual New Year's date itself. The regular menu items are usually still available too, giving you plenty to choose from.

Asian Legend
This large restaurant chain has always been a staple for my family and has locations downtown as well as in the suburbs. They have a multitude of special set menus for CNY, such as the Spring Happiness Set Menu, good for 8 people ($228) which covers everything from Peking Duck to steamed fish. If you wish for a feast fit for a king, you can go all the way up to the gargantuan Royalty Dinner, which has a 5 pound lobster as part of its opulence ($498).

Gourmet Malaysia
This large family restaurant is the perfect place to try out Yu Sheng, a fish-and-vegetable salad which is a CNY tradition in South East Asia among the Chinese immigrants. Many of their special menus will incorporate this dish, along with their staple dishes like laksa and curry, offering you a wonderfully unique CNY experience not unlike what you would get in Singapore or Malaysia.

Chung King
Home to one of the best Peking Ducks in town, this restaurant at the back parking lot of Pacific Mall is always rammed with visitors during the CNY period. They also usually have some special menu items, but make sure you try their crispy beef along with the aforementioned duck from the regular menu. Absolute perfection.

ENTERTAINMENT

There's always oodles of visually striking performances when CNY rolls into town. Many places have the traditional lion dance show, meant to bring good fortune to usher in the new year, while others have a cornucopia of variety acts such as martial arts demonstrations or Chinese astrology predictions. After covering your house with CNY decorations, receiving your red envelopes, and enjoying your large meal, make sure to check out many of this year's exciting performances. Here is a small sampling of where you can go catch all the hoopla.

Royal Ontario Museum (FREE with admission)
The ROM offers a range of interesting activities on January 25th (a full week before the actual CNY date), with Chinese musical performances, Tai Chi demonstrations, a lion dance, and even a Chinese tea tasting ceremony. Activities start at noon.

Chinatown (FREE)
Starting at noon at Chinatown Centre and Dragon City Mall, you can catch lion dances, martial arts demonstrations, and Chinese opera at both locations on February 1. The Toronto Zoo will also make a special presentation, meaning you may catch a Panda Mascot sighting.

Pacific Mall (FREE)
This shopping centre for all things Asian has performances on various days, starting from a real-time New Year's Eve countdown party at 10 pm on January 30, a full-blown celebration festival on 2:30 pm on January 31, and the always popular lion dance performances going from store to store within the mall on February 8 at 12:30 pm.

How to you like to celebrate CNY? Add your suggestions to the comments below.

Writing by Darren "DKLo" Susilo. He hangs out on the twitter and his own mansion.

Toronto Food Events: Winter Craft Beer Fest, Beer & Butter Tarts launch, Vegecursion, Chef's Challenge

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Toronto Food EventsToronto 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.

THIS WEEK

  • The outdoor Roundhouse Winter Craft Beer Festival is on this Saturday, January 25th from 11am to 5pm at Steam Whistle Brewery (255 Bremner Boulevard). A new block of tickets were released earlier this week, but only a very limited number remain available at the gate.
  • Vegan chef and cookbook author Doug McNish leads a Handy Knife Skills class at Marni Wasserman's Food Studio (510 Eglinton Avenue West) on Monday, January 27th from 7pm to 9pm. Tickets are $115.
  • Beer and Butter Tarts celebrates the launch of the first food-themed literary journal with nibbles, beer and booking readings at The Rhino (1249 Queen Street West) starting at 7pm on Tuesday, January 28th.
  • Vegecursion, a vegan food tour hosted by the Toronto Vegetarian Association leaves from Jimmy's Coffee (191 Baldwin Street) at 6:15 on Wednesday, January 29th. Tickets are $75 and include 6 tastings and hot beverages.
  • Le Dolci (1006 Dundas Steet West) is offering an Introduction to Cupcake Decorating class on Friday, January 31st from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Tickets are $80.

UPCOMING

  • The Depanneur (1033 College Street) and chefs James Vigil, Neal Hughes and Christina Izquierso present a supper club dinner titled Ode to The Greats featuring dishes inspired by their favourite chefs. Tickets are $40.
  • Chef's Challenge: The Ultimate Battle for a Cure will see top fundraisers compete alongside local culinary talent and Food Network stars in support of women's cancers care and research at Mount Sinai Hospital. The gala event takes place Saturday, Februrary 8th at the Toronto Congress Centre (650 Dixon Road). Registration is still open.
  • The 5th Annual Groundhog Day Challenge will take place at a new venue this year. The event hosted by Cava chef Chris McDonald moves to Richmond Station (1 Richmond Street West) and will take place Monday, February 3rd. Tickets to taste the pork-themed challenge are $60 though the line-up of participating chefs has yet to be announced. (via Zagat)

Photo of Smokes Poutinerie, one of the vendors at Winter Craft Beer Fest

Rob Ford makes Toronto proud on Jeopardy!

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rob ford jeopardyAs if the late night talk show attention wasn't enough, Rob Ford can put another notch in the belt thanks to an "appearance" on Jeopardy! last night. Sure, it's a nothing clip, a funny little reference to the drama that's played out in this city over the last few months, but you can bet that those who fear Toronto's reputation has taken a hit on account of our "crack smoking mayor" will cite this as further proof that we are, indeed, an international laughing stock.

Answer: "In 2013 Rob Ford, mayor of this 4th-largest city in N. America, first said he smoke weed, not crack...then yes, ok, crack, too."

Question: What is Toronto?

Uncontrollable lolz ensue...

The TTC wants to make life better (seriously, maybe)

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ttc streetcarThe TTC is considering shifting some of its streetcar and bus stops to the nearest traffic signal or pedestrian crossing in an attempt to improve safety and make surface vehicles more consistent for motorists. It's also thinking of relaxing the rules regarding transfers.

Many of the city's 10,000 or so surface stops located mid-block, away from a safe crossing point, posing a hazard for pedestrians and making it hard for drivers to predict when they will need to stop.

"Experience has shown that, the further away a stop is from a traffic signal, the more likely customers are to jaywalk across a street at an unprotected location," a TTC staff report on the matter says.

Implementing these changes would mean longer distances between stops on certain routes, especially through the downtown core. The diagram below shows how stops could be spaced further apart at traffic lights on Queen between Spadina and Church.

The TTC is considering the changes after discussions with the city's Transportation Services division about how to reduce traffic congestion in Toronto. Spacing stops further apart would, the TTC believes, improve the flow of traffic for all road users.ttc streetcar stopsAt the same time, the TTC board is also discussing implementing time-based transfers instead of the current continuous-trip system. In English, that means issuing transfers that a good for a certain period of time - 90 minutes or 2 hours, say - allowing for quick stops at the coffee shop or grocery store en route.

Right now, transfers are only valid as long as the rider keeps moving toward their destination within the TTC network. Exit the station or step off the streetcar and you'll be expected to pay again.

Implementing the system, which customers have been asking of the TTC for years and is commonplace in other jurisdictions, would cost up to $20 million a year in lost revenue. A 90-minute transfer period would result in a $12 million annual loss, for example.

The TTC might not have the money to spare in its budget but abuse of the current transfer system costs around $14.8 million every year, it estimates. The loss would also be further offset when the electronic Presto fare cards are finally rolled out across the transit network, hopefully in time for the Pan-Am Games (but probably not.)

What do you think of these proposed tweaks? Do you think positioning bus and streetcar stops at crossings and traffic signals make sense? What about time-based transfers?

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

Image: Stephen Gardiner/blogTO Flickr pool, TTC.

The Junction gets a new wine bar (and more)

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Wine Bar JunctionThis long-awaited wine bar has finally opened in the Junction, bringing with it a oenophile-friendly environment, but also an unfussy menu of Italian and Mediterranean cuisine that's sure to bring the novices out to play as well. Will the neighbourhood flock to its new wone-focused restaurant?

Read my profile of Bricco Kitchen and Wine Bar in the restaurants section.

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