By Perry King When a sports team wins a league title in their inaugural season, they’re going to get some attention. But somehow, the Toronto Nationals, an expansion franchise of Major League Lacrosse (MLL)—the National Lacrosse League’s (NLL) outdoor lacrosse counterpart—did the deed in the quietest way possible. “We came together at the right time. […]

[Read more →]

By Beth Macdonell In what seems to be a response to the city issuing an increased number of fines last year, Richard Lambert, co-owner of The Social (1100 Queen St. W.), is asking the city to rezone the address to allow it to operate as a nightclub. The Social previously operated under a restaurant license, […]

[Read more →]

By Jacob Arnfield It’s no surprise that as the election year proceeds, the question of how best to improve our streetscapes is rearing its head. Recently, the Board of Trade ranked Toronto’s long commutes worst among global cities of comparable size, the TTC is under heavy scrutiny, and bike lane proposals are being met with […]

[Read more →]

By Emina Gamulin Snowdon Pharmacy (264 Bloor St. W.) has had many tough times in its 104-year history, but the changes the provincial government proposes to cut drug costs may be the biggest challenge the community institution has faced thus far. The government announced its plans that as of May 15, pharmacies will no longer […]

[Read more →]

By Jacob Arnfield The brainchild of original editor Deanne Fisher, The Annex Gleaner originally had a mandate to represent and foster our local community and we’ve stuck to our guns. This month marks 15 years of the paper being published. Fisher recounted why she felt it necessary to start a local paper back in 1995. […]

[Read more →]

By Perry King With U of T’s bittersweet playoff loss to against York University Feb. 24, Nick Snow capped a memorable university athletics career that almost did not happen. The last five years were a maturing experience for Snow. The basketball program gave Snow the chance to see and compete in basketball games worldwide, and […]

[Read more →]

By Beth Macdonell “All the skills I have, I use to protect mother earth,” said Danny Beaton as the early morning sun shines across our table at Future Bakery (483 Bloor St. W.). The photographer, filmmaker, flautist, writer, and teacher has kept an office at the corner of Brunswick Avenue and Bloor Street for 20 […]

[Read more →]

Courtesy: Lily Barnes By Emily Landau To outside eyes, Lilly Barnes may be a woman of the world, but her world ends in the Annex. “My kids tease me—they say I act as if I get a nosebleed north of Dupont,” she chuckles. Barnes has lived in the Annex for almost six decades, where she […]

[Read more →]

By Leigh Beadon Mutual friends arranged that we meet in a respectable downtown restaurant in Toronto. She wore a black, crushed velvet jump suit and a sultry pink tam over hair that was still thick and blonde nearing 70. She stole the wine glasses That’s how Roy MacGregor described Elizabeth Smart in an Ottawa Citizen […]

[Read more →]

By Rebecca Payne This June, the Annex Residents’ Association and the Heritage Toronto will dedicate two plaques to commemorate the grassroots community action that helped halt the construction of the planned Spadina Expressway. One is proposed for the northeast corner of Spadina Road and Bloor Street West, and the other for the Kendall Street subway […]

[Read more →]

By Beth Macdonell In the early 1990s, residents and merchants of Kensington Market successfully organized to increase garbage pickup days from two to three days a week. Now, it will be seen if the newly formed Kensington Business Improvement Area (BIA), will be able to make a similar move by reversing a decision by Toronto […]

[Read more →]

By Claude Saravia Chad Mutchler was watching from a friend’s roof that cold Feb. 20 when a fire ripped through the Queen West neighbourhood just before dawn. It took 150 firefighters in 30 trucks to extinguish the six- alarm inferno that destroyed a section of Queen Street West, between Bathurst Street and Portland Avenue in […]

[Read more →]