Toronto News ~ Toronto Focus
Total 646 Posts
The kids are off school this week, enjoying their March Break. I thought that would make this the ideal week to avoid the office. I took a week off to sleep in and chill with the family. It's the middle of March, and I haven't worn pants all week. That's
On March 26, Rob Ford will announce something. Speculation is he'll announce he's running for mayor of Toronto. I hope he's announcing he's quitting politics for an on-air gig at AM640. Four years ago, after having enough of Rob Ford's Neanderthal comments, I wrote a definitive list of Rob Ford
A few Toronto bloggers are hosting an event they're calling The Guide to Social Media Success: The Ultimate How-To with the Toronto Blog Stars. As you'll see in the promo YouTube video below, it's featuring "the top three bloggers" in this city. I must admit, I hadn't heard heard of
In honour of Canada's golden Olympics, culminating in Sidney Crosby's golden goal, the CN Tower went gold last night. [via photocentric]
Adam Giambrone, member of Toronto City Council and chair of the TTC, wants to be mayor of Toronto. Now that his affair with 19-year old university student Kristen Lucas has been revealed, he's got some heat to deal with first. With a name like Giambrone, the fist natural reaction is
A few years ago, I shared my memories of Elmer the Safety Elephant. Elmer was a character who would visit my primary school back in the 80s to teach us about bike safety, not walking on train tracks and such. I just received the following email regarding Elmer the Safety
I waffle between loving the TTC and hating the TTC. On any given day you can find me singing the TTC's praises or wondering why a world class city like Toronto is so under served by its public transit system. Here's a nice YouTube video sendup of the infamous TTC
Anne Mroczkowski was let go by Rogers' Citytv yesterday. Two years ago, I had this idea to create Toronto-centric Valentine's Day cards. I started with four and the plan was to add to the collection until I had a dozen or so. One of my initial four featured Anne Mroczkowski
For those Torontonians planning their New Year's Eve festivities, don't forget that the TTC is offering free service from midnight to 4am. I'm pretty sure other transit systems in the GTA have free service as well. GO Transit, for example, is free from 7pm on December 31 until 2:10am
Toronto weather is currently Hoth-like. See for yourself.
Mayor Miller will be in Copenhagen to represent Toronto as Chair of the C40 at the Climate Summit for Mayors. This video is being shown at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. This is what our city is doing to fight climate change. Is it enough?
I have fantastic memories of attending Maple Leaf games at Maple Leaf Gardens. As a kid in the 1980s, I'd get to one or two games a year, usually against bottom-feeding Norris Division teams, where's I'd sit in the Greys and cheer like hell. I loved that old barn, so
I like records. Toronto's going for a pretty awesome one today. If we can make it to midnight without a snowflake falling from the sky, it will be our first snow-free November in 162 years. (David) Phillips said that besides the lack of snow, this November has been warmer, drier
You know how much we Torontonians love our signs. I previously examined our love affair with signs after Ed Mirvish passed and I wondered what would happen to the Honest Ed's sign when that property is eventually re-purposed. Prior to that, there was the united cry to save the Sam
A mondoville tweet led me to a fantastic Flickr photoset from Dave Till entitled Toronto ghost signs. Before the invention of modern billboards, sign painters used to paint advertisements and company names directly onto building walls. These gradually fading painted signs are known as ghost signs.Here are a few
Right after getting married in the mid-90s, my wife and I moved into a bachelor apartment near Yonge and Bloor. That's when we discovered the best movies, the films critics raved about and the masses rejected, could always be found at The Carlton cinema. We've since moved west of the
YouTube user Retrontario frequently uploads fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips never fail to bring back a ton of memories for me, so I feature them from time to time. I love this footage from Global TV circa 1986. It's simply a drive around downtown Toronto to the smooth sounds of
As I mentioned in my review this afternoon of today's Toronto Santa Claus Parade, I've now gone to six in a row. Prior to that, I missed at least fifteen, the years between my childhood and fatherhood. The parades I've witnessed these past six years include all new floats and
I took the kids to the 2009 Santa Claus Parade today. It was my sixth parade in a row, so I've got it all down to a fine art. I know when to arrive, where to score great seats for the kids and how to keep them warm and entertained
The 105th Annual Santa Claus Parade is next Sunday, so I just made my annual visit to http://www.thesantaclausparade.ca/ to make sure the route and starting time hasn't changed. I haven't missed a Toronto Santa Claus Parade in several years, and I don't plan to miss it next
You've likely heard that Toronto city hall officials are considering a new Toronto Sales Tax. Why shouldn't the most expensive city in Canada gouge us a little more? The new city sales tax, which would be applied to anything bought in Toronto, would be on top of provincial and federal
This is pretty cool. Toronto is promising to build a city that thinks like the web. The first step in this progressive initiative is OpenTO, the City of Toronto's official data set catalogue. At OpenTO you can access City data, get information about City data and the City's OpenTO initiative.
A great site for reading about reported ghosts and hauntings in Toronto (and the rest of Ontario) is Toronto Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society. In their Toronto public buildings section you can read ghost stories about the Mackenzie House, Casa Loma, the Royal Conservatory of Music, Lower Bay Station, the
The City of Toronto has revealed 10 locations where residents will be able to get H1N1 influenza vaccinations. They are: Location Address Metro Hall - Rotunda 55 John Street East York Civic Centre - Lower Level 850 Coxwell Avenue North York Civic Centre - Members Lounge 5100 Yonge Street North
The Toronto Star recently redesigned their website. Here's a screen cap of their current Sports page. I like it. It's clean and simple, and content is king. I like their use of white space and padding. It's definitely an improved site. It's tough going for the newspaper industry. Their web
