Monthly Archives: August 2011

08.31.11
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CTV anchorman Lloyd Robertson, 77, calls it a wrap; LISA LAFLAMME TAKES OVER

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.

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08.31.11
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WHERE IN TORONTO WOULD YOU FIND SOMETHING LIKE THIS? – HIGH PARK ZOO NO DOUBT

The zoo inside High Park is located on Deer Pen Road and is accessible via the Parkside Road entrance. There is plenty of parking in front of the zoo’s entrance.  The zoo is open all year long from 7 am till dusk. There are 6 or 7 enclosed areas on either side of Deer Pen road where the animals of the zoo live. You can find bison, deer, llamas, peacocks, highland cattle, etc.

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

08.21.11
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Ruth Orkin’s ‘American Girl in Italy’ – an iconic image with a Toronto connection

One of photography’s most recognizable images, American Girl in Italy (1951), is the work of Boston-born <ABOVE – Ruth Orkin (1921-85)>.  The famous picture shows a young woman walking past a lineup of sidewalk romeos in Florence.  The woman, then 23, is NINALEE CRAIG.  She was born in the US and now lives in TORONTO.  In 1951, Ms. Craig quit her job in New York, boarded a ship bound for Europe, and spent six months traveling in France, Spain and Italy.  In a dollar-a-day hotel by the Arno River, she met another adventurer – film maker and photographer, Ruth Orkin.  The two of them went out one morning and shot pictures of what it was like to be a young, single woman traveling abroad.

The most famous of those photographs, was created in only two takes.  Ms. Craig walked past the whistling lineup twice, the reactions were spontaneous and undirected, and the image became a classic.  Ms. Craig spent a Saturday afternoon at STEPHEN BULGER PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY, (wearing the orange-coloured shawl in the picture), signing books and cards.  She said “this is a symbol of a woman having an absolutely wonderful time.  It’s not a symbol of harassment.”

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