April 30th, 2009
Hidden Treasures in North Rosedale — SATURDAY, MAY 2 – 1:30 PM
Discover the story-filled history of North Rosedale, a secluded residential neighbourhood in midtown Toronto. The site of a golf course and lacrosse grounds …
April 30th, 2009
The city clerk is publishing a live blog of the decisions and votes of City Council’s current meeting. It’s remarkably useful — you can see all the outcomes and exactly who voted for what, which …
April 30th, 2009
The “Alfred Purdy Memorial” was created by Edwin and Veronica Dam de Nogales, and is located at the North-East corner of Queen’s Park. It is made from bronze and was erected in 2008.
Purdy, who died in 2000 at the age of 82, was a member of the Order of Canada and a two-time winner of the Governor General’s Award for his collections of poetry. In 2001, husband-and-wife sculptors Edwin and Veronica Dam de Nogales of Highgate, Ont., were hired by art philanthropist Scott Griffin and poet Dennis Lee to create a statue.
April 30th, 2009
This weekend, everyone should be out walking. The annual Jane’s Walk takes place this Saturday and Sunday (May 2 and 3), and there are over 100 walks to choose from all over Toronto. They are given by …
April 30th, 2009
Last week, the new Shops at Don Mills opened at Lawrence Avenue and Don Mills Road, in the heart of the pioneering 1950s suburb developed by EP Taylor.The new commercial property, developed by Cadillac Fairview, is an example of a “lifestyle centre”, replacing an earlier mall that was demolished, despite some local opposition, in 2006.
As built, Don Mills was meant to be self-contained, with housing of various types (detached ranch-style houses, townhouses and low-rise apartments), industry, and community uses such as shopping, recreation, and schools. The original mall, opened in the 1950s and one of the first Eaton’s stores to open outside a city’s downtown core, was originally outdoors, with covered walkways, as was the fashion of the time. A renovation in the 1970s expanded and enclosed the mall, which served as the natural meeting space and community hub of the neighbourhood.
The new lifestyle centre is almost “back to the future”, bringing the stores back outside facing private lanes with parallel and angled parking, almost like a genuine neighbourhood retail strip. There’s bike racks, stylized versions of the old Eucan garbage bins, benches, and speakers playing background music.
It is hard not to notice the new stores opening have a up-market mix, compared to the old mall, which while tired, had more neighbourhood-oriented stores like a Shoppers Drug Mart (moved across Lawrence to a new strip plaza) and a Home Hardware. New stores target a more moneyed clientele - indeed, one of the features of the complex is valet parking next to the parking garage at the northwest end of the development. However, one of the new stores is rather exciting - McNally Robinson, a small Canadian chain of book stores, is one of the anchors - finally some local competition in the large-format bookstore market against the Reisman empire of Indigo/Chapters.
April 29th, 2009
The cherry blossoms are in bloom at the University of Toronto (s-w corner of Robarts Library, corner of Harbord and Huron). They’re lovely, worth checking out if you have a chance.
The cherry …
April 28th, 2009
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o[/youtube]
My trip to Copenhagen has got me all a’twitter about bikes, so I thought I’d share this truly insane video of bike tricks by Danny MacAskill.
Do any of Spacing’s readers know if there any good videos like this based in …
