Monthly Archives: August 2011

08.31.11
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CTV anchorman Lloyd Robertson, 77, calls it a wrap . . .

On Thursday, September 1, 2011 a significant broadcasting record was broken, when Lloyd Robertson wrapped up his final newscast on CTV.  After 41 years at the top of his game, Mr. Robertson has anchored Canada’s top-rated national news through the terms of eight prime ministers, three Olympic Games, the moon landing, Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the death of Princess Diana and 9-11.  He’ll go on to do other projects at CTV.

PHOTOS - Lloyd Robertson and his successor Lisa LaFlamme; Lloyd near the beginning of his radio broadcasting career at CJCS Stratford.

08.31.11
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Toronto’s ‘Brigadoon’ – the bohemian village that vanished . . .

Pierre Berton wrote, “it was our ghetto, our Bowery, our Chinatown, our East Side, our Soho, our Montparnasse – an intriguing island in the heart of downtown Toronto, whose doom has been predicted (wrongly) for so many years.”

Gerrard Street Village, between Yonge and Elizabeth Street, was the city’s bohemia from the 1920′s until the late 60′s and early 70′s.  Ernest Hemingway called the Village home.  Margaret Atwood, Milton Acorn, Al Purdy, Michael Ondaatje, Joe Rosenblatt, Avrom Isaacs, David Mason, Ken Danby, Robert Bateman, Lawren Harris, Albert Franck and Marilyn Brooks all walked its streets.  Some lived above the candy-coloured stores, ate at the Limelight or Mary John’s Depression-era restaurant, and frequented the bookstores.  Today, you’d never know the Village had even existed.

All that’s left of this charming little enclave – now called the Discovery District – is a block-long row of Victorian houses.  It’s a lost village, living on in the memories of those who loved it once upon a time.

PHOTOS - Toronto City Archives and David Mason Books

 

08.30.11
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Heads explode in Vancouver as it drops to #3 on Economist’s ‘Livability List’!

And look who’s #4 . . .

1. MELBOURNE, Australia
2. VIENNA, Austria
3. VANCOUVER, Canada
4. TORONTO, Canada
5. CALGARY, Canada
6. SYDNEY, Australia
7. HELSINKI, Finland
8. PERTH, Australia
9. ADELAIDE, Australia
10. AUCKLAND, New Zealand

For the first time in almost a decade, Vancouver isn’t considered the most livable city in the world, according to rankings by The Economist released Tuesday, August 30, 2011.  The annual survey ranks the living conditions of cities around the globe based on stability, health care, culture, education and infrastructure.

08.25.11
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At last, Toronto gets its aquarium . . . ‘Aquarium of Canada’ opens in 2013.

Construction is well underway for a brand new aquarium, at the base of the CN Tower.  The AQUARIUM OF CANADA will open its doors during the summer of 2013.  The $130million attraction will contain about 13,500 sea creatures, and will include a shark tunnel.

Follow the progress of Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada online at . . .  http://www.ripleyaquariums.com/canada/

08.25.11
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Arthur S. Goss (1881-1840), and his legacy of 35,000 Toronto images

Just north of Arthur Goss Lane, at 20 Metcalfe Street,  is the former townhouse of TORONTO’s first city photographer.  For 37 years, Mr. Goss, a Cabbagetowner for most of his life, spent his time photographing day-to-day life in our city.  The accumulated trove now resides in the City Archives, and some of it can be seen online.

PHOTOS – 1) Constructing the Prince Edward Viaduct, July 18, 1917  2) Slum housing in the Ward, site of the City Hall skating rink, 1913;  3) Woodville Avenue Dump, 1914; 4) new bubble drinking fountains, April 13, 1917;  5) Sandwasher, water filtration plant, 1914;  6) inside the Civic Abbatoir, 1914;  7) a tuberculosis patient in a hospital tent, 1912;  and his most famous picture – the Group of Seven artists + Barker Fairley meeting at the Arts and Letters Club on Elm Street, 1920 (left to right – Varley, Jackson, Harris, Fairley, Johnston, Lismer and MacDonald).  CLICK ON IMAGES TO MAKE THEM BIGGER.

08.25.11
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New York City’s pro-bike Transportation Commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan . . .

60% of New York City’s bike riders (Quinnipiac Poll)  have given a thumbs up to Janette Sadik-Khan and the Bloomberg Administration for creating nearly 400 miles of on-street bike lanes since 2002.

Transportation Commissioner Sadik-Khan, a biking enthusiast herself, has steadfastly pushed to expand the network.  Her initiative is a resounding hit with cyclists: the number of people using the bike lanes has swelled 1.4 % in the past year alone.  Only Staten Island has voiced disapproval.

“Anyone can see that bike lanes are good for all New Yorkers,” says Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives.  “Separate spaces for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers keep everyone out of each other’s way and out of harm’s way.”

08.22.11
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Toronto Botanical Garden, 777 Lawrence Avenue East at Leslie – it’s a beaut!

TORONTO’s best combo of parks, gardens and ravines can be found in the upscale Lawrence Avenue East/Leslie Street area.  Easily accessible by public transit, bicycle and automobile, the Toronto Botanical Garden, Edwards Gardens and Wilket Creek Park lead from one into the other.  And it’s all FREE, including the parking.

Toronto Botanical Garden, 777 Lawrence Avenue East, is one of Canada’s finest urban gardens.  It’s compact, somewhat hilly but easily walkable, and offers free tours (May to September), Tuesdays at 10 am and Wednesdays at 7pm.

Edwards Gardens, 775 Lawrence Avenue East, is a former private estate garden featuring an extensive rockery, rhododendrons and wildflowers bordering the Wilket Creek Valley, with perennials, roses, an arboretum and a Teaching Garden on its uplands.

And Wilket Creek Park is part of our city’s crisscrossing ravine system, with several kilometres of paved bike trails.

From the EGLINTON SUBWAY STATION take Bus #54 Lawrence Avenue East, or Bus #51 Leslie East.  http://www.torontobotanicalgarden.ca