When Rocco Mastrangelo Sr. and his younger brother Paul established Café Diplomatico in 1968 under its original name, Bar Diplomatico, patio dining was unheard of in Toronto. With the help of two city councillors, it took the brothers a year to convince Toronto Public Health that it was safe for customers to eat outdoors, and […]

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Budget-conscious theatre buffs rejoice: The Tarragon Theatre is offering a pay-what-you-can 2021-22 subscription season. Artistic Director Richard Rose wants to make the shared experience of theatre broadly accessible after a pandemic year that has kept audiences and actors apart. 

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Christie Pits Park will soon be getting an official beer in its honour. The Henderson Brewing Company, in partnership with Friends of Christie Pits Park (FCPP), is developing a limited-edition brew that will be available mid-August. 

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Brett Lamb’s Editorial Cartoon for the July 2021 issue of the Annex Gleaner.

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Ontario parents have been eagerly awaiting the “robust” plan for a safe re-entry back to classrooms Premier Doug Ford promised in June. The past year has been brutal for both the education and mental health of Ontario students, as they have spent more time out of classroom than young people in any other part of the country. However, the 26 page document outlining how the government intends to keep student’s safe does them no favours: it late (coming out less than a month before the start of school) and is little more than a carbon copy of last year’s failed plan.

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The violence and tactics on display by the City of Toronto in Trinity Bellwoods Park, Alexandra Park and Lamport Park this month is a deeply troubling use of resources and force. The number of armed police present to forcefully remove handfuls of residents experiencing homelessness is disgraceful. idn’t have to be this way and we cannot police our way out of poverty.

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Canada is battling deadly heat waves, volatile weather, intense humidity, epic storms that threaten to overwhelm our city infrastructure, and catastrophic forest fires that are making our air so unhealthy to breathe. Yet we still have leaders who are failing to take the bold steps necessary to lead humanity out of this environmental crisis.

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The Gardiner Museum for Ceramic Art sees museums as more than buildings, but also as communities, that’s why they’re offering free exhibitions, public art projects, family clay activities, outdoor dining, wellness workshops, performances, and more all summer. Better yet, they’re all outside.

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It’s a Sunday afternoon in July at Christie Pits Park. Standing near the baseball diamond, Alan Ross leans back and casts his gaze around the field. “I want you to make a note that I’m doing this under protest,” he says with tongue in cheek, in response to a request for an interview. “I’m not an interesting person.” Baseball fans at the Pits would beg to differ. To many, “Al the Ticket Man,” is a living legend.

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The Annex is seeing a rapid increase in the number of legal marijuana dispensaries. There are five stores either operating or set to open on a stretch of Bloor Street West between Markham and Major streets. All are within 450 metres of each other.

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At first glance, the brightly coloured mural in Karma Lane behind Palmerston Avenue appears to be a children’s project. But a closer look reveals it to be a Gen Z manifesto to eco-anxiety: a skull’s empty eyes gaze in terror as the earth is engulfed in flames, a larger-than-life thermometer glows red, and a plastic cup bobs in the ocean waves. “I’m so scared,” are the only words.

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