Filmmaker, GUILLERMO DEL TORO, really likes us. The “Pan’s Labyrinth” director has a long history with this city, producing several films here over several years. – including “Mimic”, “Blade It”, “Mama”, and now “Pacific Rim”. “I love TORONTO, I love it with a passion. I love the cinematheque, I love the bookstores, I love the restaurants, I love the people, and above everything else I love the crews. They’re the best in the world.” Mr. Del Toro spent a year in Pinewood Studios on the Lakeshore making “Pacific Rim” in one massive 250,000 square-foot studio and two smaller ones. TORONTO streets stood in for HONG KONG and TOKYO.
Once upon a time the site of today’s Ontario’s Legislative Assembly building, QUEEN’S PARK, was home to King’s College, which was founded during the reign of George IV. After the College relocated, its old building was converted into the University Asylum for the Insane, which remained there for 30 years.
In 1888-89, the Asylum was demolished, and that’s when the Legislative Assembly building came into being. Officially opened in 1893, Queen’s Park was named in honour of Queen Victoria. The ‘pink palace’, as it’s known locally, is surrounded by greenery, and at the rear is one of the city’s most beautiful parks. Off to the side – the University of Toronto’s St. George campus.
They’re found in more than 30 countries, and we have them too. Little Free Libraries are decorative wooden boxes about the size of a large birdcage mounted on poles, filled with books free for borrowing, open 24/7. The idea germinated in WISCONSIN 4 years ago, and TORONTO’s first Free Library appeared in the Beach neighbourhood in 2011, thanks to 80-year-old Bill Wrigley. <PHOTOS – above>
There’s a website, complete with plans for building a Little Library of your own – 
MOUNT ALLISON UNIVERSITY alumni remember ‘a great artist and a great Allisonian’, ALEX COLVILLE (’42). Mr. Colville, an iconic Canadian painter, taught in Mount A’s Fine Arts Department from 1946-1963. He left teaching to devote himself to painting and print-making full-time from a studio in his home on York Street in SACKVILLE, New Brunswick.
Mr. Colville died on 16 July 2013 at his home in WOLFVILLE, Nova Scotia at the age of 92. His wife, Rhoda, died on 29 December 2012. They’re survived by four children, all of whom are subjects in his paintings.
<PHOTO ABOVE – COLVILLE HOUSE near the Mount Allison campus, Sackville, New Brunswick, by D. Gordon E. Robertson>
The most intricate exchanges aren’t usually found in the largest cities. NEW YORK CITY comes up short; the ramps aren’t long enough. The best ones appear to be in TEXAS, his next project, Peter says that state is full of great freeway designs, and between HOUSTON, DALLAS and SAN ANTONIO his hands will be full for days. “TEXAS has the greatest concentration of these interchanges that I’ve found (on Google),” he says. <PHOTOS BELOW – 3) Detroit; 4) Albany; 5) Phoenix 6) Chicago>
<PHOTOS ABOVE – 1) Art Deco clock, RC Harris Water Treatment Plant by Loozrboy/wikimedia; 2) Chandeliers, Canada Permanent Building, Bay Street; 3) Garden Court Apartments, Bayview Avenue; 4) Doors, 357 Bay Street, Jake/39>
<PHOTO ABOVE – Round Room, the Carlu, College Park, 
ORTLAND, Oregon loves bikes. Now, a small fleet of electric-assisted three-wheelers (trikes) are delivering coffee beans, beer, baked goods, bike parts, office supplies, hot tubs, etc. in 60-cubic-foot cargo boxes, each with a capacity of 600 pounds.
B-Line Sustainable Urban Delivery was founded in 2009 by entrepreneur FRANKLIN JONES. His company makes up to 150 deliveries a day, using a fleet of six trikes. Mr. Jones predicts this year’s revenue will reach $400,000 – some of which comes from advertising.
The MAZZOLENI, with 237 seats, is named after Dr. Ettore Mazzoleni, principal of the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1945-68, and director of the Conservatory Orchestra. It opened in 1901 as the Castle Memorial Hall, with a chapel and stained glass windows on the ground floor, and a library on the lower level. By the 1960s, the University of Toronto, which used the space as a lecture hall, bricked up the windows and removed a rear balcony. Beginning in 1996, the Hall and the entire Conservatory were restored.
GLENN GOULD – arguably the Conservatory’s most outstanding pupil – studied theory, organ, and piano, graduating at the age of 12 in 1946 with an ARCT diploma of the highest honours.
Toronto Savvy 