Owner Katalin Koltai reveals enduring appeal of Country Style   By Clarrie Feinstein Despite the recent closing of Honest Ed’s and the constant turnover of Annex storefronts, Country Style has stayed firm in its place at 450 Bloor St. W. for 55 years. The only adjustment made to the Hungarian restaurant was a two-month renovation […]

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Three Annex veterans recall war service By Annemarie Brissenden Georgette Caldwell remembers the exact moment she decided to join the Women’s Royal Naval Service. It came after the first firebombing of London. Walking along the churchyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral, “you could smell the wood burning, and the cobblestones underneath my feet were still steaming.” […]

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Crossing Bathurst Street with A Different Booklist   By Annemarie Brissenden The Postman, a 2015 play about Albert Jackson, Canada’s first Black postman, opens with an invocation. “Toronto the Good. Toronto, the White. Toronto the Christian, Irish, Scottish, English. This is happening right here in this neighbourhood: Harbord, Major, Palmerston, Brunswick, Euclid, Borden,” says Jackson. […]

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  READ MORE NEWS (JANUARY 2017): Laneway living

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Landlord shuts Pacifico Life storefront By Geremy Bordonaro It was 2 p.m. three days before Christmas when she got the telephone call. Tamara Hirsh was working in the recently opened location of her medical marijuana dispensary when her landlord, Yong Jo, called and told her that the 444 Bloor St. W. storefront had to be […]

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Without missing a beat, Freeman Real Estate and Spirit of Math spanned wing-on-wing to make sure one of the area’s holiday traditions would continue to fly. Thanks to their efforts, nearly 500 hundred turkeys flew off a giveaway table set up at 988 Bathurst St. last December. [pullquote]“Certainly we want to continue doing it next […]

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The Toronto Police Service is looking for three men in connection with an assault and robbery of a taxi driver near Russell and Robert streets on Dec. 18 at approximately 3 a.m. It is alleged that the three men were picked up by the taxi a short distance away before asking to stop near the […]

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Rise attributed to Entertainment District By Geremy Bordonaro Rapid population growth and the proliferation of night clubs within the ever-expanding Entertainment District appear to have led to an increase in crime last year in 14 Division, but that trend has not migrated to the Annex. According to the Toronto Police Service’s year-end report, violent crime […]

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Recommendations for mandating community participation By Annemarie Brissenden Four local residents’ associations, collectively representing the north end of Ward 20, banded together late last month to submit commentary on the province’s review of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). In their letter to the Province of Ontario’s planning policy branch, the Annex Residents’ Association (ARA), Harbord […]

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In December, after just three weeks in business, the Pacifico Life marijuana dispensary at 444 Bloor St. W. was shut down by the building’s landlord. It paid the price for operating outside the current federal law governing the sale of that drug. The government has promised changes to the law including decriminalization, regulation, and retail […]

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More how nice! The stages of voting reform! by Joe Proportion (December 2016) Previously rejected police car designs! by Designed Without Public Consultation (November 2016) The sincerest form of flattery! by Dow Indepols (October 2016) A warm carbon blanket! By Hock Estique (September 2016)

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