Everyone you pass seems to wanna say hello: brand new all purpose all season TORONTO thread

break out the deck chairs it's -3

I wore a dress to work today to celebrate.

Will be visiting in June.

good stuff, Ned.

think i might go to the new AGO this weekend...

...i haven't been.

other important topics:

subway gunman still on the loose!
do you know of any impressive lobbies? i need to take pictures of them.
good shows coming up: what? where!?
favorite unfinished condos
huevos rancheros at insomnia on bloor: how good?
diversity?

How was the AGO? I still haven't been.

didn't go! ended up getting v v drunk both fri & sat and was really only fit to nod in and out of "scenes from a marriage" during daylight hours.

i was thinking maybe id take a day off work and check it out when it's not as crowded. i'll report back if i do.

AGO is OK. I like the big gallery behind the new glass front. That's cool. Rooms and rooms of GroupOfSeven, and about 4 roooms of David Milne both seem a bit much, although I like both. A good but small section of Inuit art. On the down side, some poor or even non-existant labelling. And miles and miles of European ceramics on the ground floor? why? I know they were donated by a major supporter of the gallery, but still...

I liek the crazy stairwell at the back, and the view over the Grange.

re: AGO when i was home over xmas i went with my mom and we took a really cool tour of an archaeological dig currently underway in the grange. we got to see a bunch of usually closed parts of the old house and the tour was structured as a guide to the dig: why it was started, how the artifacts are dug up and analysed, you even got to take a look at the tour director's office.

it was pretty neat to got a sort of "process" look at a real archaeological dig. i don't think they're offering the tour much longer so i'd go as soon as u can.

Ned Raggett has continually been on vacation since 1997, except for two nonconsecutive weeks spent working in late 2004.

Sounds about right.

Toronto has been too damn cold lately, I feel like I live in a freezer

xxxpost....unfinished condos = the best kind of condos! How about the crazy looking NBlox thing: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080207.re-mays-0208/BNStory/RealEstate which has now been redesigned as something more dull, http://torontoloftsforsale.jeffreyteam.com/torontolofts/cubelofts.htm, which still is completely incongruous at College and Ossington? Hopefully never gets built. Just north of there on Shaw is the remains of a church, which has had hoardings up around it advertising some snazzy condo for the last 5 years, as well.

impressive lobbies, though...TD Centre? CBC building? the ROM (sort of)? Jeez, there must be some, but I can't think of any offhand.

good shows: Neko Case at the Trinity St Pauls church in April, for one.

Insomnia on Bloor for huevos, I can't help you there. Musa down on Dundas does good brunch, with grilled fruits with their eggs.

ha the insomnia thing was rhetorical really -- they're very good!

here are some impressive lobbies (ive just been doing this this week as a way to pass time at lunch + just got a new camera). fun times.

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk105/kdfo/lobbies-1.jpg?t=1233022541

i actually work in td at the moment and the longer im there the more i appreciate the simple lines and big spaces and neutral grounds and the way everything fits together from every angle you look at it. i took some pictures there tonight and it looked lovely.

also nblox is rad! but looks like you might kind of have had the whole street looking in your living room?

oh, I thought Nblox looked like it would have been kinda cool, but the new design looks boringsville.

Will have to try Insomnia...been living merely a few blocks away for several yrs now.

Nice lobbies!

In spite of my animosity towards the AGO in general, its new manifestation is a zillion times better than what it was before it went under the superstar-architect knife, if only for the collection on display (much of which I have still have to see, but still: Enclaves dedicated to Robert Smithson! Most of the big Minimalists, all that stuff I love, etc.).

20-FEB-09 WITCH (J Mascis) HORSESHOE 19+ $10.50
21-FEB-09 BLITZEN TRAPPER HORSESHOE 19+ $10.50
24-FEB-09 K'NAAN MOD CLUB 19+ $16.00
20-MAR-09 CUT COPY CIRCA 19+ $15.00
16-MAY-09 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE SOUND ACADEMY $23.00

so nice today

wish i was there x

almost made it to the AGO but :\ accidentally got drunk at the village idiot across the street w/ gf and didnt make it. instead bought a giant fern at canadian tire and carried it home about 7 blocks and wrecked it in the process. updates re: future failed ago attempts to be forthcoming, im sure. u are a torontonian abroad, jed?

garbage strike day 2 and people are already dumping their garbage in parks.. Wtf?? LCBO stands to be on strike tomorrow but thankfully the Beer Store will still be open :D

Joey Pants says the garbage in Christie Pits was actually left over from Sunday night: http://torontoist.com/2009/06/a_city_within_a_garbage_dump.php

so far, not many overflowing streetcorner garbage cans, though!

Hooker Harvey's is going to have less business:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontarios-top-court-legalizes-brothels-in-bid-to-protect-prostitutes/article2381372/

I actually thought this was going to be about that Harvey's...which I always associate with the Edge or Larry's Hideaway (can't remember which).

Heh, no. Hooker Harvey's is just fresh on my mind since I was on Jarvis the other day.

Not working, I hope. (Sorry, that was uncalled for.)

Hah! No. But as a Pulp fan, I did make a reference to how fun it would be to see my husband on Jarvis.. there's a 12 year old inside me.

u are a torontonian abroad, jed?

no, i'm a scotsman who often visits toronto. i'll be there this summer to visit my best friend, sarah. if any of you go drinking and dancing out west and know a crazy scottish lassie it's probably her.

bump 'cuz we might have a new resident by the name of ljubljana!!

ooh thanks FFM! Yes, should be arriving in September for grad school for (deep breath) 4 years, and I was wondering whether anyone had any advice about how early to look for an apartment for early September?

you can starting looking in june but july is yr best bet for sept. 1st

Thanks - I'll probably go for v early July then. Should endear me to the city, it'll be a blessed escape from DC weather by then.

:/ haha well

Is that a warning about winter? Or another kind of :/?

Not winter, summer. Toronto gets hot. Hope you find a place!

Ah, ok. As long as it's even a little bit less humid that here, all will be ok...

FWIW the last time I found an apartment in the city it was through Craiglist, but you may also try kijiji.ca, viewit.ca

main free weeklies are thegridto.com nowtoronto.com - don't think the first has apartment listings but the latter might

also handy: http://bedbugregistry.com

you could also modify this IFTTT use to send you apartment listings?
http://lifehacker.com/5875340/automate-your-job-search-with-the-webapp+supercharging-ifttt

Thanks, I will delve into all of those and I'll definitely come back with annoying questions re: specific areas to live in. Also been thinking about the grad accommodation option, if only to meet people, but it's relatively expensive and the people will all be 25, waaahhhh....

Hah! Yeah, I could see that being a biiiiiiiiit annoying. Rent here in general is on the higher side, sadly. I've got a steal of an apartment in the 'downtown suburbs' and I'm not leaving til we have our house down payment.

its obv too early to use but padmapper collects all the major online rental listings and tranports them into google maps. its a p handy way of searching for an apt

toronto landlords are subhuman monsters so the u of t grad school housing is probably less (relatively) expensive than youd think

Noted, thanks!

haha that post was... perhaps... excessive i have just not had a lot of apt hunting luck in this city :/

np, I am steeled for probs. I applied to the grad housing so that I have the option, though it may already be full. A room in a 3/4 bed apartment is $864 per month (or about 100 more for a slightly bigger room). That does cover utilities including internet.

yah thats probably slightly above market but if its really close to u of t its not terrible. most roomshares in the westend are either 700+ or total shitholes unless you luck into something where the ppl have had the place for a long time or s.thing

Yeah my friends recently upped their limit for a 2br to $1400 to find something good... Under $1k solo is almost always a basement sadly

Tbh although it'll be a wrench in some ways to share again, I'm not sure that living alone is the best way to face the massive lifestyle change from long working days filled with people and immediate work stuff to relative loner life at grad school.

Oh and obv let me know if your nicest, friendliest and yet most understanding-of-space-needs friends and acquaintances are looking for a roommate.

Argument with roommate over pedestrian crossing rules. She claims that the red hand appears when cars can move. I say the red hand means don't start crossing, and that until it appears, even with 1 second left, you can start crossing and you have the right of way while in the intersection.

Sadly, argument was occasioned by this, which happened right next to where I used to live: http://www.cp24.com/news/woman-dead-after-bloor-street-hit-and-run-1.2400141

Eep, I definitely think of the red hand as the warning sign that the direction is about to change, "so hurry up"

Red hand (flashing) definitely appears before the cars can move.

oh yeah, sorry, I should have said that I thought the *static* red hand, not flashing, is the signal not to start crossing. But now I think perhaps my roommate is right: you're not supposed to step out once the hand starts flashing. Sometimes it gives you 20 seconds of flashing hand on a not-wide street, though! No way I'd stand there for those 20 seconds and not cross...

BTW, FFM, spotted you way ahead of me on Queen's Park the other day. Guess how I knew it was you :D

Aww! I hope if you passed me, you'd want to say hello :)

the ambiguity in the street signs is the stupidest & most dangerous thing, i think. i can't answer which of the above it is; a friend told me that pedestrians are allowed to cross in each circumstance, but that the difference relates to whether cars either a) ~cannot pass~ b) can pass if no pedestrians are crossing. idk.

That makes sense, schlump (or rather, puts the non-answer more clearly).

FFM, try and stop me saying hello if I passed you! I considered running to catch up with you but realized you were headed in a different direction and I was already late. Made me happy though.

Aww! I work there for the summer so if you are around at noon any day and feel like picnicking, let me know! :)

I'll even try not to say "Aww!"

ooh, maybe next week? I'll send you an email after the weekend, this week is a bit bananas but a picnic soon would be fab.

haha i've been taking work out to the lawn north of queen's park and sitting in the sun for the last couple of weeks

its pretty glorious

Look for the giant redhead, Lamp!

And that would be nice, R - June 14-28 I'm out of town but before or after is good :)

Let's do after - this week is a washout!

Sounds good, this is NOT picnic weather :) Message me!

Heard a brief interview with Tory at the Little Italy street festival today. Usual stuff, but he didn't sound to be under the influence of beer, crack, or anything. Very different approach to these gatherings.

what up Toronto. I'm in town (from Australia) and signally failed to find this thread in advance to ask if anyone would fancy a pint this week. But! if anyone would fancy a daylight pint between Saturday and Saturday, express polite Canadian interest and I will check this thread, especially if I can get a sim with data.

(Or if yr going to FFS on Wednesday, or have JFL passes, we can wave in crowds.)

after three days Rogers are unable to activate the sim they sold me ftr, what is wrong with your country

same thing happened to my parents a couple of months ago.

I am in this city til Monday afternoon, anyone FAP?

This is still the Toronto thread, right?

I mentioned this video store closing down last year--someone made a short film about it. I still haven't watched more than half the 20-some films I bought at the closing sale.

Never got a haircut there.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/08/02/after-51-years-house-of-lords-hair-salon-on-yonge-st-set-to-close.html

I've got until October 1--will need to find some more hair first.

Toronto thread very active...The last Queen Video, the one on Bloor, is closing.

http://www.blogto.com/film/2019/03/queen-video-closing/

This was really useful if I wanted to re-watch something like Olivier Assayas's Cold Water. The Queen St. sale was great, so I'll be there on the weekend for sure. I think Bay St. Video is all that's left now.

Might be time to do the Eric Allen Hatch thing

There's a different poster for this concert saved where I saved photos, so I must have posted that on ILX somewhere--not on this thread, evidently.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/varsity-2.jpg

bummed that Soundscapes is closing, i work like a block from that place so i was looking forward to popping in there during work breaks once *gestures around* all this is over

I wasn't a regular customer, but I was in there 10 days ago to meet a friend--bought Yo La Tengo's There's a Riot Goin' On. No indication that I could see that they were about to close, unless I missed it.

Bummer! Used to go often when i lived there and would visit on my marathon shopping walks when visiting town. Still shopping at Sonic Boom online. They seem to have adapted well?

I've bought a lot of stuff from Soundscapes over the years, it was my favourite "new record" store after Sam's closed. A few years ago, they reduced their stock by about 75%, and I wondered if a closure was eventually inevitable.

Yeah it was a great spot for CD's and then became this hybrid CD/vinyl shop with a large book and magazine section and some videos too?

I used to pick up my concert tickets there too.. if that was any % of their business it is a brutal time now.

A piece on the closing:

https://www.blogto.com/music/2021/04/toronto-record-store-permanently-closing-people-city-heartbroken/

The owner seemed like a good guy--he remembered Nerve, and he put a book of mine in there on consignment. (He also lost it, but never mind.) I don't feel this like most of you do, though. The record stores that meant the most to me--the original Vortex, Driftwood, Cheapies, Records on Wheels, Sam's--are long gone.

An venerable old Toronto club is reopening:

https://nowtoronto.com/music/a-first-look-inside-the-rebuilt-silver-dollar-room

There was a night, probably '87, where they had Schoolly D playing one room and Pussy Galore the other. (I opted for Schoolly.) A friend reminded me of something Chuck Eddy said at the time: "That's a lot of swear words in one building."

The only kind of thing that makes me really miss Toronto: earlier this week, they screened a bunch of Michael Snow films on 16mm at Jackman Hall, which is where the Cinematheque had been located before the Lightbox opened. (I liked it better when it was in Jackman Hall.)

https://nowtoronto.com/news/canadian-retailer-bad-boy-furniture-is-officially-bankrupt-heres-what-that-means-for-customers-who-made-a-deposit/

Who'll be getting their deposit back? Write your own joke. Famous Toronto furniture chain founded by Mel Lastman, who was a one-man circus during his term as mayor.

(This is the first time I've looked at Now in at least three years--a print issue, longer than that. Unrecognizable. Do they still have a print version?)

no print version, digital-only, they were bought out by a media influencer type who refuses to pay the former staffers who were running the previous iteration without pay for at least months if not longer, of course he has no obligation to do so but still, fuck Brandon Gonez

Ah...Starting poking around, and they have the Bad Boy story up, but when you click on movie reviews, three of their seven "Latest in Movies and TV Reviews" are dated September 2023, one is January 2023, and the other three are September 2022. Bizarre.

Not in mourning.

(I mean, I don't like seeing people not getting paid, just a general comment on how much I disliked them through the '80s, '90s, and beyond.)

Blaine Lastman (Bad Boy Jr.) was a student at my dad's school; he forbade him from calling a limousine to bring him fresh clothes when his got dirty. Now there'd probably be a lawsuit about it.

The last Now I read was the week of the pandemic shutdown; I saw another current issue in the gutter some months later. If anything, I miss the upcoming event pages, they were basically my entire connection to events in the city by 2020. If some online source exists with the same scope and ease of browsing, I'd love to know about it.

Sorry, Blayne Lastman.

Right, said the same thing in some other thread: disliked the writing (especially the music coverage--got to like John Harkness over time), used the listings religiously for keeping track of screenings around town.

if you disliked Now's writing, wait until you read The Grind (free newspaper that you can find in some downtown subway stations), I appreciate them in theory bc they're lefties, but god the prose in those pages is dogshit

Lucked into a $3 copy of The Flyer Vault yesterday, Daniel Tate and Rob Bowman's book of music posters for live shows around town through the '60s/'70s/'80s (and few later than that). Just skimming, but I can only find one I was there for: Black Flag at Klub Domino, June 16/1982, $10. I posted this a few years ago, but it's been taken down so I'll repost it myself (quality very poor). When the two people separate at 1:37, you can catch a brief glimpse of me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TU3tw7pgZU

There are flyers for famous shows friends still talk about: the New York Dolls at the Victory Burlesque Theatre, October 27/1973 ($4, Rush opening), the Ramones at the New Yorker, September 24-25/1976 ($5) and the Talking Heads at OCA, January 28/1977 ($3, the Diodes opening).

Seven years ago, after I moved back to Toronto (four years in Montreal, one year in L.A.), I did a typical normal Toronto thing when I had to walk from A to B, I grabbed a NOW and read as I walked, and I was struck by the fact that I was, for the first time in five years, "reading about local politics", "reading about recent art openings", "reading about the latest in theatre and dance", "reading local book reviews", and so on. However you feel about NOW in particular, having a non-curated but mostly-locally-focused content rag was invaluable and it sucks that it's gone.

If some online source exists with the same scope and ease of browsing, I'd love to know about it.

For music listings, I'd recommend subscribing to Michael Barclay's "Airplane on the Highway" substack (title subject to change). He posts well-curated local listings once a week and generally great pieces every other day. I just finished reading a compelling interview he did with Patti Schmidt (late of Brave New Waves)

Where I did approximately 40% of my university drinking in the early '80s:

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2025/09/30/toronto-imperial-pub-closing-november/

They had a pool table and a jukebox with Peggy Lee's "Fever" (which everybody played and I got throughly sick of). And a waitress named Tina I had a crush on.

(Upstairs, I should clarify for any Toronto people who know it--only ventured into the downstairs bar a handful of times.)

That's a shame. Imperial was always the go-to "let's meet there" spot, good sweaty food and good beers

i went to school right by there and remember the upstairs being a little rough / worn down... and don't think i ever hung out on the main floor!

When anyone asks, my standard answer about leaving Toronto six years ago is that the only thing I miss outside of friends are the rep houses and the Lightbox. I was looking up something in my email archive and found this from 2007--three years before the Lightbox opened, when it was still the Cinematheque up the street (housed in AGO):

I just finished ordering a bunch of stuff for the summer, so hopefully we can meet up at some point.

Duel in the Sun 06/19/2007
Killer of Sheep 06/23/2007
Jules and Jim 06/29/2007
The River 07/10/2007
Spirit of the Beehive 07/13/2007
The Lady Vanishes 07/20/2007
The 400 Blows 07/26/2007
Late Spring 07/27/2007
Tabu 07/31/2007
The Leopard 08/13/2007
Ordet 08/17/2007
Pierrot Le Fou 07/28/2007

I definitely miss that. (Actually, that was even better than what the Lightbox turned out to be.)