History
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Hey Presto! The strange history and modest potential of the soon-to-be closed TTC subway booths
The future arrived in Toronto in 1948, but it was hidden away from view, in a 19th century transit garage on Sherbourne St. Six years before the...
By Gerry Flahive -
Beverly Mascoll, a trailblazing Black entrepreneur
At this year’s Academy Awards, Hair Love won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. The six-minute film tells the story of an African American father...
By Cheryl Thompson -
When Poverty Mattered: The 1970 uprising at the Social Planning Council
Editor’s note: Excerpted from the book When Poverty Mattered, Then and Now, by Paul Weinberg (Fernwood Publishing, 2019). There is something both...
By Paul Weinberg -
PODCAST: Spacing Radio 042, The revitalizing power of heritage
This episode was a live panel discussion, moderated by our host in London, Ontario. The “Heritage Matters in Conversation” event was put on by...
By Spacing Radio -
A comparative look at Toronto’s CLRVs
At the end of December 2019, Toronto’s iconic CLRV streetcars will depart from city streets after more than 40 years serving the city. While these...
By Brian Doucet -
LORINC: Jagmeet Singh’s historic campaign
In 1990, Norman Inkster, then the commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, recommended to the federal government that Sikh Mounties be allowed...
By John Lorinc -
Time for public art: the New Toronto Courthouse construction site mural
As readers of my column know, I am an avid promoter of site-specific artworks, and I’m not alone. The kinds of conversations we are having today about...
By Sarah Ratzlaff -
Fascist neighbours: Thanks to Mussolini’s rise, Toronto’s Italian fascists were energetic in asserting their worldview
During the 1920s and 1930s, Italian Torontonians witnessed the establishment and expansion of a sizeable fascist element within their community. Benito...
By Daniel Panneton -
Women’s urban citizenship: the history of purpose-built apartments for women
From turn of the century boarding houses to today’s condo boom, housing has long been both the gateway and the barrier to the city for single working...
By Kate Nelischer -
REID: On Public Etiquette
It’s not a coincidence that words for people who understand good etiquette – polite, urbane – are related to classical words for cities (Greek polis...
By Dylan Reid -
Stories, Struggles and Song: Cantonese Opera in Toronto
Cantonese opera is in my genes. Whenever my mother put me and my two younger sisters down for our afternoon nap, she’d crank up the turntable and play an...
By Arlene Chan -
Doug Ford’s TTC subway upload and Margaret Thatcher’s cautionary tale
As the province contemplates major structural change to Toronto’s transit system, I want to offer London’s rocky history with transit...
By Tricia Wood