Toronto Boom Town is a film by Leslie McFarlane for the National Film Board of Canada. It studies the contrast between the sedate Toronto of the turn of the century and the thriving, expanding metropolis of 1951.
June 20, 2026
Toronto News ~ Toronto Focus
Total 655 Posts
I don't own an iPad, nor an iPhone, so I'm not as interested nor up-to-date with the Apple iOS 6 news. But I am an observer of technology trends and it's been impossible to surf the web without hearing about the Apple iOS 6 Maps controversy. Apparently, Apple has replaced
In 2012, I've spent a good chunk of time in Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin. I visit these cities as a tourist, doing some homework, marking up a map and hitting the streets with my camera. I don't visit Toronto this way, as I've always lived here. I often wonder
I just read a comment on Reddit that suggests if you order "cold tea" after the 2am cut-off for selling alcohol in bars and clubs in Toronto, they'll serve you an unmarked teapot with cold beer in it. I had never heard this before. Toronto, I must know.... Is this
This map of Toronto shootings thus far in 2012 comes courtesy of Toronto Police Service. Gunfire erupted at a block party on Danzig St., in the Morningside and Lawrence Ave. E. area of Scarborough, just before 11pm last night, killing 2 and injuring 21 others. Here's the map. What strikes
I've never been to Captain John's floating restaurant in the water at Yonge and Queen's Quay. I've walked by it a hundred times but never felt the urge to go inside. Now, it's possible I'll never get that chance. Waterfront Toronto rescinded its lease for the watery slip at the
Indigo Books and Music won't renew their lease for the World's Biggest Bookstore on Edward Street near Yonge and Dundas. When the lease expires at the end of 2013, it will likely become a suburban type big-box store, like a Home Depot or Best Buy or Wal-Mart. The World's Biggest
Titled as found on Reddit. The pic is a spoof of some new Apple thing announced at the WWDC. You fanboys can have your closed systems... I doubt I'll ever buy another Apple product in my lifetime.
Andy Gray from Sports Illustrated is tweeting Toronto-centric pictures this afternoon. I'm a Toronto-centric kind of guy who loves sports (and gets Sports Illustrated every week), so I'm collecting them all here along with Andy's accompanying tweets and some commentary from yours truly. AG: Jack Morris, Dave Stewart, Todd Stottlemyre
Toronto is a big city, but this past week we've had more than our fair share of news that transcends our borders. Many of us are wondering "what's next?". Luka Rocco Magnotta The MSM learned the name Luka Rocca Magnotta on May 30 when the Torontonian was identified as the
People sure had fun with the images of a flooded Union Station yesterday. Here are a few of the more popular pix that are floating around.
The Canadian Design Resource is sharing this warning about Toronto. They don't know the original source, so if you do, please let us know in the comments. I can dig it.
This is a great National Film Board of Canada documentary from 1982 with fantastic footage from our city 30 years ago. This feature documentary studies one of the city’s most visible yet most anonymous character: the taxi driver. Filmed by day and night, the film offers an entertaining and
This is what it looked like behind City Hall yesterday. Guillermo del Toro is filming his big budget film Pacific Rim here, and I thought this photo was pretty cool. Fellow Wire fans will enjoying hearing that Pacific Rim stars Stringer Bell. That's good. That's like a 40-degree day. Ain't
I'm going to steal a topic I heard on Mike Stafford's show yesterday. I accidentally tuned in to a repeat of his show in my car last night and they were discussing the influx of possums in Toronto recently. I saw my first possum about five years ago, but haven't
For April Fools Day, Google Maps has introduced a new view they call "Quest". Quest mode lets you see everything in 8-bit. "8-bit Quest Maps is our Beta Maps technology and has certain system requirements. Your system may not meet the minumum requirements for 8-bit computations.Here's how Toronto looks
This is a nice little parody of the Pet Shop Boys' West End Girls. The draw is great Toronto footage and better-than-you'd-expect lyrics. I didn't even know there was a Bessarion Station! Good job, Red Gecko Productions.
I sat down this evening to write about my supreme disappointment with our professional sports franchises. Then I remembered I wrote this entry two years ago. Disappointment with Toronto's teams is par for the course. Last night, I watched the Raptors because of all the Linsanity hype. I was pretty
About four years ago, I had a pretty good idea. I wanted to create Toronto-centric Valentine's Day cards featuring local prominent figures, past and present. Here are the few I threw together. Feel free to take this torch and run with it. We've still got time.
I've mentioned I have a Toronto City Hall informant. I call him / her Cardinal. Cardinal just sent me an email following the city's deal reached with CUPE local 416 to avert a strike. Here's Cardinal's email, in its entirety. just so you and your blog followers know.... ford claims that
It's all about subways. Just ask our mayor Rob Ford. From the National Post: The power struggle over what transit to build in Toronto continues at City Hall, with Mayor Rob Ford telling reporters, at his weekly weigh-in: “It’s all about subways.” An excerpt of the scrum follows.Reporter:
I'm about to head out to see American Idiot, so I checked the weather via my Ubuntu Linux desktop. Here's what I saw: Freezing fog? What the hell is freezing fog? According to the National Weather Service: Freezing fog occurs when the water droplets that the fog is composed of
Over on Reddit there was a discussion about people's best Toronto hacks. Basically, any hacks for saving time, money or effort in Toronto. Here's a few of the hacks posted there. You can get a dozen free bagels on your birthday at What a BagelThere's a change machine at the
The city had all those love padlocks removed from Toronto’s Humber Bridge yesterday. 40 or so of these symbols of eternal love got snipped with only a couple remaining. This photo from the Toronto Star shows one of the survivors. It was simply too big for the clippers. Moral
So this just happened... The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has sold its 79.53 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to Rogers Communications and BCE for more than $1.2 billion. BCE is fancy talk for Bell. That's right, Bell and Rogers now each own 37.5%
