Toronto's Mink Mile is about to get even swankier. That's because the Williams Sonoma on Bloor Street is being replaced by the French luxury brand Hermès.

According to Retail Insider, Hermès will move from its current spot at 130 Bloor St. W. Its new digs will include 12,000 square feet of space spread over two floors. 

This location will be one of its bigger maison stores - there are already maison stores in cities like Seoul and Shanghai.

Retail Insider first reported that Hermès was moving into 100 Bloor St. W., back in 2015. But after Williams Sonoma closed this past week, it looks like the new Hermès should open up sometime this fall. 

The Toronto Blue Jays unveiled a new set of alternate uniforms this morning and they're looking super patriotic.

These new uniforms are red and white in honour of Canada's sesquicentennial, or its 150th anniversary.

We are excited to unveil our new alternate red and white uniform 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦#WT2017pic.twitter.com/1RnkKSpS3g

— Blue Jays (@BlueJays) January 20, 2017

According to Sportsnet, the Jays will don their red and white duds for every Sunday home game as well as certain games during the month of July. 

If you're a competitive gamer, your hard work and screen time might just pay off. That's because the University of Toronto launched a new eSports scholarship that's set to be awarded in fall 2018.

Alumnus Victor Xin, a managing partner at Toronto's Athena Capital Partners, is funding the scholarship.

Back in 2008, his graduating year, he started U of T's eSports club as well as the University of Toronto Cyber Games, the first on-campus esports tournament in North America. 

“There are trailblazers on campus who are rallying a different set of students to build campus organizations focused on an alternative way of learning to lead and succeed in life,” said Xin in a news release.

“Society may not recognize them yet, but we shouldn’t let them fall through the cracks.”

The Victor Xin Scholarship in eSports will go to a full-time undergraduate student in the faculty of Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering with a minimum 3.5 GPA. 

According to U of T, "The recipient will demonstrate a passion for esports or gaming through engagement in a leadership role or participation in extra-curricular clubs or activities."

As Metro News reports, this scholarship is worth $1,000. The University of Toronto joins a growing list of North American schools to offer one.

Winter has set in. It’s dark. It’s dreary. And it may seem like all the fun activities have come to an end. But we’re a resilient bunch, and the cold weather won’t keep us down for long. Luckily there are a variety of new classes and facilities to get you moving even in the cold winter months.

Here are some ideas for new ways to stay fit in Toronto this Winter.

Keep biking through winter using Fat Bikes

Fat bikes are built to handle winter weather, navigating snow and ice on thicker wheels. Now you can rent a bike at Sweet Pete’s Bike Shop at the Brick Works, go on a group ride or take a Learn-to-Fat bike session. Guided fat bike rides are offered every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Don't forget to bring water and wear lots of layers.

Sweat it out doing Hot Pilates

While there’s no shortage of hot yoga classes in the city, hot pilates is now a thing. The 60-minute Inferno class at Bikram Yoga Yonge will have you looking forward to cooling down outside. While Bikram Yoga has had studios in Toronto for a long time, this class is new to the schedule and they're one of the few places that offers it in the city.

Run on the boardwalk

A Saturday morning run on the beach, followed by a hot beverage at Sweat and Soda might be the perfect start to your weekend. Each run starts at 9 a.m. with a 10-minute stretch outside the cafe, followed by a 7, 9 or 11 KM route along the boardwalk.

Run and then do yoga

Yoga for Runners combines running and yoga every Thursday at the Academy of Lions in association with Lululemon’s new menswear store. No matter what type of weather, meet the crew outside Academy of Lions for a run, followed by a yoga session at The Local.

Get fit at the Sony Centre

The Sony Centre is offering a range of fitness classes until Spring. Perfect your ballet pose with Barre classes until the end of January, or take circus classes in March to test your acrobatic and strength moves. Classes are in the evenings. Also, free yoga is offered every Tuesday and Thursday until June during lunch hours and evenings.

Thanks to Mayfair Clubs for sponsoring this post.

Last week, a Toronto restaurant in Koreatown made international headlines after its menu got lost in translation.

A Toronto diner posted a picture of what looks like the menu from Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu to Reddit. It showed that the restaurant offered various levels of spiciness in its dishes, ranging from extra spicy to white.

Some claimed this was racist, while others noted it was merely a poor translation. 

Now it looks like the menu's been changed — at least temporarily. 

Toronto Food Events rounds up the most delicious 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.

The Interior Design Show is in its nineteenth year, exhibiting at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this weekend.

Priding itself on showcasing the premier design trends that will be all the rage in the coming year with a mix of local and international talent, this is the place to be if you’re on the cutting edge of interior design.

National Director of IDS Canada Karen Kang predicts 2017 will be “an awe inspiring and ultimately exciting year for design” thanks to the fusion of tech, design, and graceful outdoor living, and if what’s on display from Toronto’s creators is any indication, she’s absolutely right.

One of the most “awe inspiring” items highlighted at this year’s show was the Gweilo lightform created by Partisans Factory, an architecture and design firm based in Toronto, launched in partnership with LightForm. The inspiration came from the idea that light itself could be a sculpture.

On the opening night of IDS, designers from Partisans were sculpting lightforms live, heating up giant sheets of glass and slowly, gently bending them into completely unique, handcrafted shapes. They range from twelve-inch-tall ones to humongous sixty-inch-tall lamps.

Newcomer to the Toronto design scene Jalice Interiors was on the floor, bringing their simple, clean, but colourful and fun style to the show. They mainly specialize in stylish but functional home furniture.

Steven Henderson is an artist, designer and maker based on Dupont Street who primarily creates with Ontario wood and metal to create very minimal but finely crafted benches and tables.

Brothers Dressler make these incredibly funky “branch” chandeliers and shelves that are instantly recognizable, using Ontario wood.

This impressive lamp by Storyboard Furniture, named Sharpe’s Hedra, is created from 36 pieces of paper and 11 pieces of wood salvaged from Toronto’s urban forest. You can find all these designs in the Ontario Wood area designed by blackLAB architects.

Toronto custom design company Morgan Clayhall makes furniture and art that’s a little less organic and a little more edgy, eschewing curves for sharp corners.

Land Art Design on Mimico Avenue is part of a central Open Air exhibition area at the show featuring towering teepee-like structures that highlights exterior rather than interior design. In business since 1966, Land Art Design creates imaginative outdoor architecure.

Nina Zupanc for Se has a bright display featuring her retro-modern “whisper boxes,” “stay armchair,” and “smoke tables” that will have you rewatching Mad Men.

Brass lighting by Lightmaker Studio in Toronto is recognizable for their segmented, swooping zig-zag, branch, betty and atom lighting designs.

With a dance floor in the middle of everything and too many Toronto designers to name, don’t miss our city’s annual design blowout.

Remember all of those Americans who said they'd move to Canada if Trump got elected? Well, it's now inauguration day and it doesn't look like there's been a mass exodus yet.

However, according to data collected by real estate service provider Royal LePage, there's been an increase in Americans inquiring about Canadian real estate.

Right after Trump won the presidential election, Royal LePage says its website had a surge in US-based web traffic. Year-over-year, its web traffic from the US went up nearly 74 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2016. 

Ontario, unsurprisingly, got the most page views with regional listings well up over this period. 

Earlier this month, the company conducted an online survey of 1,226 Royal LePage real estate advisors across Canada - 40 per cent believe that American interest in Canadian real estate will increase this year.

Nearly 63 per cent of those surveyed said that the Greater Toronto Area was the most desirable spot "for U.S. parties making inquiries into a home purchase since October 2016." 

Naturally, since this survey was conducted within a single real estate company, these results should be taken with a grain of salt. It'll be interesting, however, to watch what happens in the coming months. 

The first scheduled subway closure of 2017 takes place this weekend, when the TTC shutdowns down a section of Line 1 for the ongoing implementation of the Automatic Train Control (ATC) signal system. 

There will be no subway service on Saturday and Sunday between St. George and Downsview stations. Notably, this will be the first shutdown during which the TTC tries out a new shuttle bus strategy that'll witness increased east/west service from routes departing from the Yonge Line instead of replacement buses along the entire route.

Shuttle buses will only run on the northern part of the route, between Lawrence West and Downsview. Passengers heading north from St. George are encouraged to head east to the Yonge Line and then catch a bus or streetcar to return to west. 

The reason the TTC is doing this is construction along the route that the shuttle buses normally take, but it might be the better way in general. This is also the plan for subsequent Line 1 closures over the course of the year.

Subway service will resume on Monday morning. The next closure is scheduled for February 25 and 26.

The best new design stores in Toronto are defined by their heart. These places aren’t only selling cute and eclectic knick-knacks, furniture, and other design items to spruce up your apartment and your life, they’re bringing the love by repping independent designers.

Here are the best new design stores that opened in Toronto during 2016.

Ever year during the Toronto Design Offsite Festival, the Gladstone opens its doors to artists and designers, letting them transform its hotel rooms and hallways with immersive installations.

This year's Come Up To My Room was curated by Jana Macalik and Christophe Jivraj as well as director of exhibitions Lukus Toane. 

The show runs until Sunday and it's $10 to get in. So stop by and wander through.

Check out the Gladstone's transformation in this photo gallery.

Toronto's real estate market burned red hot throughout 2016. Last year, we once again smashed a record for home sales. The market might, however, be showing signs that it's very slowly starting to cool down.

As Global News reports today, based on Toronto Real Estate Board data, between November and December 2016, the average price of a detached house dropped nearly 4 per cent - the biggest decrease within the past two years.

Global notes that it's normal for this number to dip between November and December, but this drop is greater than the declines witnessed in both 2014 and 2015.

If you've passed by St. George and Harbord streets lately, you might have noticed something strange happening at the most prominent building on the corner. Robarts Library looks like it's been attacked by a colourful alien parasite that's wrapped itself around the building's exterior. 

Alas, the scenario is not quite that dramatic, though the strange-looking coating the library currently touts is rather fascinating. The foam substance affixed to the facade of the building is actually designed to protect its most precious books. 

The section of the giant building that's been encased by foam is the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library, which is home to materials that date back as far as 1789 B.C. The collection of books here is essentially priceless and must be maintained with the utmost care.

Recently moisture has put the collection at risk of damage thanks to the aging windows and insulation of the building. Protective needed to be taken to keep water away from the highly valuable books.

"The Fisher building has been experiencing condensation forming on the inside of the concrete walls," explains John Toyonaga, the manager of the library.  

"For preservation reasons, the environment of the building is set at 20c and 50% relative humidity year round. When the temperature outside drops down below freezing for extended periods, the concrete building starts to cool from the outside inwards. When cold meets the warm moist air inside, condensation forms on the interior."

That might not sound like a big deal, but when you're dealing with hundreds of thousands of rare volumes, it's a major priority to maintain ideal environmental conditions. 

As for the multi-coloured appearance of the foam, Toyonaga notes that "companies dye their spray foam (ours is purple) so that the applicator can see where the new application is going to meet the previous application."

Eventually, once the foam dries and is exposed to the sun, it will change back to its original yellow. It's certainly less intriguing to look at when it's a uniform mucus-like colour, but it won't be visible forever. Once it's been installed across the entire building, it'll be sprayed with precast concrete to blend in with the rest of Robarts. 

What the rare books library was able to do with this exterior foam is to address the moisture problem without shutting down operations or moving any of the valuable books. So, no alien parasites, but a success story for an important piece of Toronto's cultural heritage. 

It was nearly impossible to get tickets to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Rings in Concert this past December. 

I thought I'd surprise my LOTR-obsessed partner with tickets for his birthday, but the show had long sold out when I finally inquired about getting seats.

After repeatedly calling the box office and checking the TSO website daily, I somehow managed to snag two tickets to the Saturday night performance; who knew the symphony was so popular all of a sudden?

As Joshua Kosman recently reported in San Francisco Chronicle, movie nights are becoming part of the repertoire at concert halls across North America. Long-standing orchestras are looking for innovative ways to bring in a new audience, and film might be doing the trick.

“We’re seeing that across north America that film concerts are becoming an important part of the season’s program," says Kendal Egli, director of market and sales at the TSO. 

"Other symphonies, like the Toronto Symphony, are finding that this does make the orchestra more approachable and more relevant to the life of a city and the next generation of great audiences," he continues.

Egli notes the TSO first introduced its movie series in 2012-2013 season and it's only grown in popularity; this year, there are only a few tickets left for Disney's Ratatouille on Family Day weekend.

“The audience feedback we’ve had is overwhelmingly positive and I do see the same patrons returning to non-film concerts at the TSO," says Egli.

"It’s really the experience of getting into a seat and experiencing a film that you know and love on a new level where the orchestra really brings the score to life."

For him, it's also about introducing audiences to some of the best contemporary composers of our our time and illustrating how music can act as a character in a movie.

Kosman writes that it's also exciting to see these multi-layered production come together. TSO production manager Alaina Viau says there's plenty of technical wizardry that goes on behind the scenes to get these movie concerts ready. “It’s a way bigger process to get the film on stage,” she says.

But sometimes not everything goes as planned. Viau explains that there are always two versions of the movie playing at a time: a main and a backup.

During the first performance of LOTR, however, both lines went down. After about two minutes, it was up and running (perfectly in sync with the orchestra, of course), but for the remaining two shows, the production team had one main and three backups on, just in case. 

Glitches like that are all part of the magic of a live performance, a type of performance other Toronto theatres are getting in on too. The Sony Centre also runs movies in concert, including Harry Potter and the Philsopher's Stone in June.

“At the end of the day," says Egli, "It’s a great way to break the ice for people coming to the symphony."

Over two years have passed since the University of Toronto announced that it would demolish the McLaughlin Planetarium to build a new museum and academic facility.

During this period, the plans for the future of the site have changed a number of times, but the iconic dome building from 1968 that once dazzled visitors with a view of the heavens remains slated for a wrecking crew. 

Ever since the planetarium closed down in 1995, there have been calls for its return, but the campaign to preserve the building as monument of mid-century modernist architecture in Toronto has slowly been building since it was launched after U of T announced its fate as part of redevelopment plans. 

Spearheaded by Jeff Balmer, an ex-pat professor of architecture at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, the efforts to prevent its demolition are rooted not just in its architectural pedigree, but also its use-value.

"In a perfect scenario, U of T would work to resuscitate the Planetarium to its original purpose," Balmer explains. "During its decades-long period of operation, [it] was highly successful, both in terms of its educational mission... and in terms of its financial performance."

The Ontario Science Centre has a planetarium but it pales in size compared to McLaughlin, which served an educational purpose first and foremost (stoner trips to see the Pink Floyd laser light show were secondary, though fun). That purpose, argues Balmer, has never been more important.

"In a post-fact world, where the fundamental principals of scientific knowledge is being undermined, public planetariums like those in New York, Chicago, L.A., (and once upon a time, Toronto) are significant standard bearers for science education and a bulwark against attempts to undermine public confidence in science."

The campaign to preserve the building has been endorsed by Docomomo (both the international and US divisions), an organization that seeks to catalogue and protect modern architecture, which has helped to bolster the cause.

Balmer has also submitted the McLaughlin Planetarium to the 2018 World Monuments Watch, a list published every two years that catalogues important cultural heritage sites under threat. Inclusion here would help to put the planned demise of the building on more people's radar.

If the broader public discussion surrounding the McLaughlin Planetarium has been mostly quiet as of late that's probably because there's been very little news about its replacement.

A year ago, U of T announced that Diller Scofidio + Renfro would work with architectsAlliance on what will be called the Centre for Civilizations and Cultures, though not designs have been publicly released as of yet.

I'd suspect that calls for the preservation of the planetarium will increase as the redevelopment process moves forward and demolition becomes an imminent threat. In the meantime, Balmer's Facebook group and petition to save the building continue to grow.

He's had some success with preservation in Toronto before, having been a leader in the successful drive to hold Ryerson accountable to its agreement to preserve and re-install the Sam the Record Man sign (which is finally supposed to happen this year). Mid-century architecture can, however, be a tough sell.  

Toronto has a troubling relationship with modern buildings, which are often devalued because they're not old enough to be deemed worthy of saving. The list of important buildings that we've torn down from this period is a cultural tragedy. Many would like to save the McLaughlin Planetarium from a similar fate.

"Because Toronto is such a desirable place to live, it has undergone tremendous development pressures, pressures that have led to an acceleration in the demolition of buildings throughout the city," Balmer notes. 

"This calls for a renewed focus on preserving what’s worth keeping, while allowing for the inevitable loss of older building stock of lesser merit... McLaughlin is clearly worthy, not only for its architectural merits, but because of its significance as a public institution remembered fondly and that served a vital public service."

Beer delivery in Toronto can be a godsend. While not all of these services guarantee quick turnaround times, until The Beer Store starts delivering (right now you can only pre-order online), these are your best bets. 

Here are my picks for the top beer delivery services in Toronto.

Delivery Services

Always Bottle Delivery

Get everything you know and love from The Beer Store delivered to your door. You can fill out an online form or call to get brews within one hour, as promised on their website. It's cash-only for this one. The

Beer Guy

Delivery in under two hours is what this service advertises. It has over 100 drivers, features a handy party drink calculator, and often has product sales of its own.

Beer Liquor Delivery 

Pick what you want from the Beer Store and this service, which accepts various payment types, will deliver it in under an hour. Delivery fees start at $9 and just like its name, it's pretty straightforward.

Dial 4 Bottle

This service charges a $6.99 delivery fee and will deliver booze and convenience store items for free. It accepts all forms of payment (including Paypal!) and also delivers straight from the Beer Store.

Fast Delivery Service

From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday) order online or by phone with no minimum orders necessary. It promises one hour delivery and accepts cash only.

Home Delivery Canada

You can either order online or call this service, which also delivers straight from The Beer Store. It delivers all across the GTA during Beer Store hours and takes cash or credit cards. 

Max Alcohol Delivery 

Like many of its cohorts, Max takes all forms of payment, offers one hour delivery and operates during Beer Store hours. It charges $8 plus 10 per cent of the cost of your order.

Toronto Dial-a-Bottle

The original since 1985, this Toronto fave will take your empties (just warn them in advance) and deliver straight from The Beer Store. It takes take Interac and credit cards, charges the same price as the stores with a delivery fee of $9.

Breweries
 

Cool Beer

While Cool Beer isn't the finest ale in the market, it definitely does the trick when you need a beer fix. It delivers all over the GTA, but be warned: orders under $150 will be charged an additional $16.95 delivery fee. You have to place an order online and they require 24 hour notice.

Great Lakes Brewery

Thanks to a service called Penguin Fresh, you can get this local brew delivered to your doorstep. . This one is for non-urgent orders because it promises next day delivery.

Collective Arts Brewery

You probably know this Hamilton Brewery for its  gorgeously designed  labels and its partnerships with bands. It'll deliver to your home (if you live in Ontario) in about a week's time.

Half Hours on Earth

This brewery will ship anywhere in Ontario once a week on Mondays. It's a small brewery located in Seaforth, and you'll need an account to sign in and order its craft beer.

Steam Whistle

Steam Whistle might be the big party experts, but it delivers more than just kegs. It'll deliver 24 packs of bottles, cans and tall cans starting at $47.95 with a three-case minimum and operates within regular business hours. 

Apps

Thirstie

This New York-based app is now available in Toronto and works with local beer delivery services to get you your booze. It charges a $10 delivery fee.

InstaBuggy

There's a $35 minimum for an order from this online grocery store delivery service. Depending on where you live, you can get your booze in about an hour. 

Design trends in Toronto right now favour the big, bright and beautiful. Decorating your home will be a fun task thanks to the whimsical styles and pieces that are soaring in popularity this year. I spoke with a host of design experts across the city to find out the hottest trends right now. 

Bringing colour back

Gone are the days of a monochromatic life. "Thanks God we're moving out of grey!" says Urban Mode owner Myrlene Sunberg. Her shop has been around for 40 years and she's noticed a big move back to colour. Expect to see dusty greens and pinks .

"People are being a bit more adventurous in Canada, moving away from neutrals into moody rich tones, purples and dark blues," says Michael Murphy, the marketing director at Avenue Road. Textures, colours and a move away from the perfect Etsy-looking living space is where we're headed.

Fun shapes and bright, light colours like this pink Muuto living room will be popping up in home design this year. Urban Mode

A punch of personality

Along those same lines, Rebecca Meredith, the buyer and curator at Style Garage, says the trend is more playful and messy. It's about "fusing colour and individual personality in your home as opposed to this monochromatic aesthetic we've been seeing for years," she explains.

She continues: "We're not trying to make everything picture perfect and beautiful, we want to make things individualistic as opposed to everything looking the same."

The large magnolia rug for The Rug Company by Vivienne Westwood. Avenue Road.

Slow Furniture

"Handmade is a major movement," says Murphy of the many pieces Avenue Road is seeing made by artisans in Europe. People want to go behind the scenes to see how pieces are made.

"There's a huge push for local, natural products, fibres, materials ... and recognizing where your product is from, who's making them and the stories behind the process," says Meredith. 

"Locally designed or crafted items are more popular then ever because of this. There are a lot of brands in Canada and people are more and more interested in that," says Cheryl Wilkinson, communications manager at Light Form. 

The Circa floor lamp has pedestal for objects and USB port. Light Form

Functional lighting

As living spaces in the city get smaller, it only makes sense that design becomes more functional. "Now they have features like USB ports to charge devices, they have shelving built in or lights that are built to showcase objects inside of them," says Wilkinson.

She's noticing a big sway towards functionality in lighting design, such as lamps that are also tables or have built-in sound systems. "We need to be smarter about what we're putting in our space," she says. "Designers are thinking more than ever about how we live."

Jamaal Merrick has always been fascinated by transit. "When I was a kid I used to play with model train sets, and my mom used to take me to daycare on the TTC, so I’d always want to sit in the front and look out the window," he says.

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Sep 28, 2016 at 6:07am PDT

Merrick, who does marketing in the telecommunications industry, runs the Instagram account @jamaalism. He's amassed nearly 33,000 followers by posting almost monochromatic shots of the city - the TTC's one of his primary subjects.

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Jun 11, 2016 at 4:30pm PDT

"My mom told me the stations were my first words, like being able to say out the subway stations and stuff like that," he jokes. "I don’t know, can’t confirm or deny that."

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Jan 5, 2017 at 10:12am PST

Along with shooting the TTC, Merrick often wanders through various parts of the city and like to go off the beaten path. One of his favourite spots is along the Don Branch, an abandoned railway track that crosses through the Don Valley. But Merrick was out exploring before he got into photography.

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Jan 9, 2017 at 12:00pm PST

After a trip to Egypt a few years ago, Merrick was disappointed with the quality of the photos from his point-and-shoot camera. For his next adventure, this time to Iceland, he bought a DSLR.

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Sep 7, 2016 at 3:07pm PDT

In August 2014, he came across a blogTO post about popular Toronto Instagrammers. “In my mind, I was like, I didn’t know this was a thing," he says. He soon deleted all the food photos from his feed and made it public - he's been posting his photography to it ever since. 

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Sep 14, 2016 at 2:10pm PDT

Since he never had any formal training, Merrick learns from those he shoots with, including @bora.vs.bora.

A photo posted by Toronto TTC 🚇 #ttczone (@ttczone) on Aug 12, 2016 at 11:38am PDT

He also started another account called @ttczone to throw the spotlight on other Torontonians who photograph our transit system

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Oct 4, 2016 at 5:45am PDT

Because Merrick works downtown, but lives in Thornhill, he often shoots before or after work, or while on the way to visit family in other parts of the GTA. "On my way from A to B, I’ll just take a little detour," he says. "I just try to sneak it in whenever I can.”

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Jul 21, 2016 at 5:03am PDT

Although Merrick notes that his photography hasn't really changed how he interacts with the city. 

A photo posted by Jamaal 🍀 in & around Toronto (@jamaalism) on Jan 18, 2017 at 5:25am PST

“A lot of the things I shoot, I think that I’ve always enjoyed," he says. "It wasn’t photography that led me to these things, it was more photography let me capture the things that I love.”

This small, worn-out bungalow right near Christie Pits just sold for almost exactly double the asking price. Listed on the market at $499,000, it was snatched up for $988,018 just six days later. On paper that sounds nuts, but given property values in the area, this one was clearly priced to sell quickly. 

The house itself isn't worth much. This has rebuild written all over it, even if the real estate listing touted it as a renovation opportunity. There's just not much square footage to work with. A modern version of the townhouse-style building immediately south would be a better route, particularly given that the property features laneway parking.

The area has tons going for it. The future residents here will only have to walk a few steps to enjoy one of the city's best parks, the subway is under a five minute walk away, and retail and restaurant options in the immediate vicinity have improved immensely over the last five years (there were already three major grocery stores nearby).

The Essentials

• Address: 139 Christie St.
• Listing price: $499,000
• Time on the market: 6 days
• Selling price: $988,018

Why it sold for the price it did

Even back in 2015, the average price for a detached home in Seaton Village was over $2 million. While this house is at the western edge of the neighbourhood (sometimes designated separately as Christie Pits), the value of the property itself was high enough to start a bidding war that ended in a quick sale way over the asking price.

Was it worth it?

The Toronto real estate market is bonkers, but this house was listed too low in the first place. The lot isn't big enough to allow for a big house to be built in place of this bungalow, but it would easily handle a modern townhouse. The selling price plus the cost of a new build would still come in well below the average detached price in the area.

Toronto's party scene is forever evolving, whether we're on postage-stamp sized dance floors or in warehouses. But over the past six months, something different has been bubbling up. It's Toronto's techno scene, and it's expanding at a rapid rate.

Who knew this traditionally hard, fast, abrasive and alien kind of dance music would be the coolest thing to happen to Toronto's party scene in quite some time? 

Techno's sound and vibe differ based on who you ask, and a growing number of DJs and promoters makes it impossible to get everyone's opinion on it. 

One unified consensus about Toronto techno, however, is that it's ready to push our dance scene to new heights.

"If I had to give Toronto techno an identity, it’s difficult because everybody definitely has their own voice," says Jeff-Antoine Cote, also known as Acote. He's a local techno DJ on the rise. "I would say it’s young and that’s good because there’s room for it to grow."

Cote talks about people coming from other places to make up the Toronto techno scene and how those influences but their own spin on the genre. That makes it a bit more loose and free here. 

Take Fahad Ahmad from one of the city's biggest techno promoter collectives, Format. He moved here from Pakistan and has been making his own music for years.

"This last year and a half has been pretty crazy," says Ahmad. "It’s fun and it’s an exciting time for sure, but a big uphill task. It’s still Toronto and and people are are definitely more on the easier listening side of things."

Ahmad raves about the New York and Berlin techno scenes with their 48-hour warehouse parties, and while Toronto is nowhere near that level, collectives like Format, It's not U it's Me, Box of Kittens and Apollo Inc are pushing forward.

One of the main reasons for this growth is the family aspect. "There’s no competition in the techno scene; it’s too small of a scene to have that," says Ahmad.

What makes Toronto techno gatherings stand out is that we're not afraid to mix other genres at one party. It's all about the venue and the crowd and less about techno purism. 

Cindy Li, who has her own nights called Work in Progress, says the scene has definitely grown to the point where there are multiple parties on one weekend to chose from. 

"There are more people doing events and lots of different crews popping up, which is really exciting to get different perspectives of what they’re listening to," she says.

Li also mentions goth kids who like the hardness and darkness of the genre. Techno definitely isn't a catch all for electronic music. It's often fast, aggressive, and spooky but energetic and powerful at once.

Sara Dziri, DJ name Sadziki, created her own kind of techno through her party Souk Sessions. With it, she blends Arabic music with techno. She's part of what makes Toronto's blossoming scene so rich.

"The techno crowd in Toronto is pretty open minded by also hungry," says Dziri. "I feel like there was a time where not much was happening or it was always the same and people still want to go out but don’t necessarily find the right place or event.

"Now you feel like when they come to a party they’re excited and they want more."

Without the pressure of being from Detroit, where techno was born in the 1980s, or from Europe, where you can party for three-days straight, Toronto DJs and promoters aren't afraid to mix genres and crowds.

"Toronto is ready for something new and ready to try things," she says. Head to bars like Bambi's, spots on Geary and often nights at Coda or Nest and hear for yourself.