Archive for the ‘places’ Category

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Where I’m from

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

I was born and grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. As Morley Torgov put it in his first novel, it’s a good place to come from. I still miss it though, especially the incredible vistas of the Lake Superior shoreline, and yes, the all-enveloping winter snowfalls. In this article, Tiffy Thompson takes a slightly tongue-in-cheek view of what it’s like to live in the Soo.

Due to the prolific breeding of the Italians here, restaurant selection is limited. It’s all Italian food all the time, with a fattening frat boy spin (deep fried ravioli).  Two sushi restaurants have recently surfaced, hurtling us towards an unknown and cosmopolitan future (probably)

Most people have ‘camps’ that they retreat to in the summer. ‘Camp’ could mean a multi-million dollar cottage or a derelict shed. It is important to go to camp as much as possible in any weather because it is a license to drink your face off.

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Japanese tsunami pictures: before and after

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of northern Japan. The Big Picture blog has a series of pictures showing the sites of the Japanese tsuanami as or immediately after it was occurring and one year later. The scale of devastation and the scope of the cleanup are remarkable.

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Toronto map done in type

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

I’ve always been fascinated with typography. It probably goes back to the days when I was a child and visited my dad who worked in the composing room of the Sault Daily Star, laying out the newspaper in beds of lead type. (Searh the blog on “typogrpahy” if you want to see some of the posts. Type is an almost infinitely medium and it’s amazing what a talented designer can do with it.

Case in point: Ben Brommell’s Typographic Toronto map.

Although the concept is pretty straightforward, it was a labour-intensive process to fashion the final documents, which come in a few variations (in addition to the full map, there’s also a roads only version and a black & white option). Brommell thinks it took anywhere from 50-100 hours to put the map together, much of which was spent plotting out Toronto’s streets (the font is Futura in case you’re wondering). It was a little easier to do the neighbourhoods, he explained, thanks to resources like blogTO’s neighbourhood map and City of Toronto ward maps.

Update: Fixed the link.

Posted in design, places | 1 Comment »

Bummer

Saturday, January 7th, 2012

Toronto’s Dragon Lady Comics store is closing. They’ve been around, for like, forever. The usual story – declining revenue and greedy landlords.

It’s a story we’ve heard too many times before, but that doesn’t make it any less troubling: after more than 30 years in business, Dragon Lady Comics will be closing its doors for the last time on February 1. According to manager Joe Kilmartin, a combination of factors led to the store’s demise, including a drop in foot traffic after repairs to the College Street streetcar tracks, an industry in flux, declining sales, and most directly, a recent increase in the store’s rent.

As of July 2011, rent was raised about 25%, meaning they’re now paying $5,200 a month.

“We’ve been swallowing that extra amount and basically, it’s just more than we can take,” says Kilmartin. “[...] More strength to places like The Beguiling and Silver Snail, who’ve been able to keep their heads above water as long as they have. They’re wonderful people. I hope they can continue to last, because it’s just deadly right now.”

Dragon Lady, located across the street from the Royal Cinema in Little Italy, has walls covered with vintage issues of Life, Time, and Rolling Stone. (A 1954 collector’s issue of the “gentleman’s magazine” Sir! features Marilyn Monroe on the cover, with various headlines asking things like “Can humans hibernate?” and “Why do couples swap their wives?”) Shelves are packed tightly with comics, and boxes overflow with them. Featured comics on “Dragon Lady’s Must-Read Shelf” include local fare like Scott Pilgrim andKenk, offering customers a hint of native pride.

And just in case you think I’m being unfair to landords, Toronto’s oldest independent bookstore has been forced to close, after a large rent increase. And after two years, the site of one of Toronto’s best bookstores, Pages., is still vacant.

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Formerly at the corner of King and York

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

I work in the Exchange Tower, which stands on the northeast corner of Kind and York streets. I never gave much thought to what was there before, but it turns out that the corner has quite a fascinating history, having been the home of the Shakespeare Hotel. It’s history is documented in this Torontoist article.

First as a modest wooden-frame structure—two-storeys and painted white—and later as a handsome red-brick building, the Shakespeare Hotel graced the northeast corner of King and York Streets for more than 100 years, playing host to countless visitors and serving as backdrop to drama.

It would prove to be an enduringly prosperous location for a hotel as the nascent city of Toronto developed. The intersection was a short walk away from the railway station, steamers on the lake and, as Toronto grew, theatres and other amusements. King Street developed into the community’s foremost shopping thoroughfare and centre of social life.

On the south side of the intersection would stand the John Howard–designed Chewett Building, the city’s first business block, containing offices and stores and the British Coffee House. Upper Canada College and Government House were just down the street. And once public transit was introduced, passing streetcars could carry hotel guests to all corners of the city.

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Ride This Crazy Train

Monday, December 5th, 2011

I’ve been riding the GO train daily back and forth between Pickering and Union Station in Toronto since I moved to Pickering sixteen years ago. That’s about 200,000 miles on the train. I generally don’t mind the ride – the trains are comfortable enough, I can usually get a seat, and they generally run on time or close to it. There are exceptions, of course, most often in the winter – that a winter country that’s had trains for more than 150 years can’t run a commuter service reliably in the winter frankly amazes me. But it’s far better service than the TTC, even if it costs about twice as much as it should.

I’ve never been tempted to write much about what I see on the train – most of it’s pretty boring anyway. However, I just stumbled across You, Me, Ride This Crazy Train, a blog subtitled Adventures and Observations on the GO, by C. J. Smith who commutes daily from Oshawa to Toronto, so we ride the same trains. There are also contributions from readers who ride other parts of the GO system, as well as the TTC.  If you ride transit in the GTA, you’ll want to read this blog.

My daily commute on GO Transit takes me from Oshawa, Ontario to Union Station in Toronto and back. What started as Status Updates on Facebook in 2008 has evolved into this blog encouraged by friends and fellow riders. I bet you’ve had your own “crazy train” moment. Tell me about it!

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