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November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on Sponsored: Bloor Annex BIA

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CHATTER: Clinton’s Tavern returns, features a monthly flea market (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on CHATTER: Clinton’s Tavern returns, features a monthly flea market (Oct. 2020)

ANNEX GLEANER CHATTER (Oct. 2020):
TANYA IELYSEIEVA/GLEANER NEWS

Clinton’s Tavern has re-opened under new ownership after closing back in February and is set to house the new Bloor West Flea Market as its Sunday special event.

The 83-year-old bar at 694 Bloor St. W. has been bought and re-opened by Echo Karaoke. The new ownership developed a menu incorporating Korean food with pub food.

“The new owners of Clinton’s are very invested in the neighbourhood. They’re very invested in making Clinton’s a great space again. It has long been neglected, and just left by the wayside, so they’re really excited to revive Clinton’s and, you know, make it that space that people love in the neighbourhood,” says Felicia Laplume, organizer and curator of the flea markets.

Laplume is converting the Clinton’s building into the Sunday Bloor West Flea Market. Laplume adds that the patio and bar are open for drinks and food while the market is running. Nonetheless, people cannot eat inside the market space due to COVID-19 precautions.

“We really want to help people understand that Clinton’s is now committed to being not only a bar and restaurant but a community space as well, and a performance space, a place for artists and musicians,” says Laplume.

Laplume, who launched the Trinity Bellwoods Flea in 2015, says one of the reasons behind the new flea is to provide more vendor and customer spaces.

“At the beginning of 2020, Clinton’s old ownership kind of abandoned the building, and in the midpoint of the summer, it was taken over by the new ownership. Clinton’s is assumed to be a historical landmark in the city, and the monthly market can help the space be revived into more of multi-purpose space, not so much just a bar but also a place where people can visit during the day.”

Launched on September 27, The Bloor West Flea Market is a curated monthly market and runs on the final Sunday of each each month from 11 am to 6 pm. Visit www.bloorwestfleamarket.com for details.

—Tanya Ielyseieva/Gleaner News

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CHATTER: A soulful performance from a Howland porch (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on CHATTER: A soulful performance from a Howland porch (Oct. 2020)

TANYA IELYSEIEVA/GLEANER NEWS

Stephanie Martin has been singing and performing her whole life. The singer-songwriter and actress has been on the national and international scene for 30 years, but when the new coronavirus hit, everything changed.

“For showbiz people, it has just been devastating. Going from working all the time and travelling and having an outlet for what we do, to nothing. No money, no fulfillment, no connection with our people, and it’s really tough,” she says.

When the government eased the COVID-19 restrictions, Martin decided to perform a small porch concert with her band, David MacDougall (drums), Chad Irschick (Rhodes keyboard), Mike Francis (guitar), and Tom Szczesniak (bass). 

“It was a relief for people to have a little bit of normal. But more than that, when you go to the theatre or when you go see a concert, you have a moment of losing yourself and losing your worries and losing your own ego and anxieties melt away,” says Martin. “I would want to encourage artists to have good ideas about how to reach people and how to provide that because it’s a service. It’s like a medical service for the soul.”

The concert wasn’t advertised much in the area, nonetheless, about 60 people attended (within the guidelines at the time of the event).

“I did it for myself, for my band, and for people. I love my neighbours. It’s amazing what’s happened,” says Martin. “It’s bizarre that it is maybe one of the most meaningful concerts I’ve ever done and that happened right on my front porch.”

The concerts took place on August 15 and September 12.

—Tanya Ielyseieva/Gleaner News

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EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Oct. 2020)

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EDITORIAL: Confusion reigns in COVID-19 response (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: Confusion reigns in COVID-19 response (Oct. 2020)

As the pandemic continues and enters its second wave, the people of Ontario, and especially Toronto, Ottawa, and Peel region can count on one thing: chaos in the rules and guidelines that allegedly exist to protect us. While confusion reigns it is clear that we need a leader who knows how to lead, and if that’s too much to ask, that leader needs better people to be following himself.

Recently, the City of Toronto requested that the province re-impose Stage 2 type restrictions on bars and restaurants with indoor dining. The city provided no evidence, at least none shared with the public, that these venues are a specific source of coronavirus transmission. Yet, the province has heeded the request. By most accounts, restaurants and bars have done a really good job keeping patrons and workers safe by making their establishments meet every rule the health authorities insisted upon only to be suddenly shuttered now for at least 28 days. By the way, there are no new restrictions on daycare centres or places of worship, which can remain open.

In almost the same breath, Premier Doug Ford called upon Ontario residents not to have family and friends over for Thanksgiving, and to confine themselves to dining with the people they live with. He added perplexingly, “don’t kiss and hug your aunts and uncles.” Is the suggestion that there are a lot of people having their turkey with the aunts and uncles who they live with? Or, does he recognize that no one is listening to him anymore? So what he is really saying is that he knows everyone will have family dinners anyhow, but when they do they should just avoid kissing relatives.

No one seems to be correlating the spike in cases to the return to schools. If children tend to be asymptomatic then how do we know they are not super spreaders? It’s not just the schools themselves but all the other interactions that people are having that are enabled by it. The potential for exponential increases is on our doorstep and before we know it the ICU beds will be full of COVID-19 patients, with no room for those suffering from other life threatening medical conditions. 

One needs to look behind the curtain to see who is feeding Ford theses back-of-the-napkin plans. Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams seems to have a vote of confidence from both Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott. This seems to be the bulk of his fan club. Williams endorsed the back to school strategy, which the province said was backed by advice from Sick Kid’s Hospital. It was not.

At a press conference on August 27, in response to a question about the risks posed to teachers when schools re-opened for in-person learning, Williams drew a comparison to health-care workers who he said were not being careful when they “go home, casually go around and don’t wear a mask, go off to the mall or wherever and expose yourself.” According to the province’s own data, 2,642 health-care workers at long-term care facilities have contracted COVID-19, and eight of them died. Williams does not see this as something they contracted while on the job.

Dr. David Fisman, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, tweeted that William’s resignation is “long past time, to my colleagues who say this in private [yet] are reluctant to speak out publicly: we don’t have a lot of time.”

Ford needs new advisors. We need coherent, consistent, fact-based policy. Show us the facts, Mr. Ford, on how this virus is spreading. Otherwise, it just looks like you are making it up as you go. People will stop listening to you, and it may be true that they already have.

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FORUM: Inclusionary zoning is the answer (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on FORUM: Inclusionary zoning is the answer (Oct. 2020)

Growth in affordable housing is impossible without making it mandatory

By Mike Layton

The city’s need for affordable housing has never been more apparent than over the course of the pandemic. The public seems to have taken notice. My colleagues and I have been working on this issue and asking for additional and substantial investments in housing for more than a decade. We believe that housing is a human right and we need the funding and policies in place to treat it as such. 

Not a week goes by when we don’t hear about a major condo or luxury rental development displacing cultural institutions in our city such as Sneaky Dee’s concert venue and restaurant, for example. Our neighbourhoods are changing, and prices are going up. 

With the power that the current provincial government gives developers, the community benefits that can be achieved through private developments are extremely limited. Now is the moment to change that.

In mid-September, city staff released a report on Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) that could transform the state of affordable housing in Toronto. The proposed policies put forward a framework outlining how this tool – which would require that developers include a certain amount of affordable housing in new residential buildings – might be employed. 

Short of significant intergovernmental investment in affordable housing – the likes of which our city has not seen in decades – IZ is Toronto’s best chance to finally build the units desperately needed by our low- and moderate-income residents.

Implementing the strongest possible IZ framework is especially important now. 

As a city councillor, I am seeing countless first-hand examples of how the pandemic is threatening Torontonians’ housing stability. Many who have lost their jobs or had their hours reduced have been unable to make rent, and the provincial government is now allowing landlords to evict them. 

Finding affordable alternatives will be next to impossible for most. I personally know families where four or more individuals have been forced to share a one bedroom apartment, and this type of situation – always unacceptable, but especially dangerous during a pandemic – will only become more common. 

There’s a lot that city staff have gotten right in this report. The affordability period for units created through IZ would be 99 years, which means this housing stock would be protected for future generations. IZ housing would also comprise a mix of sizes, ensuring that affordable family-sized units are built.

More good news is that the report’s definition of “affordable housing” would take into consideration tenants’ incomes, and not just average market rates. As of July, the average monthly rent for a 751 square foot Toronto condo (approximately the size of a 1-bedroom) was $2420. With the suggested IZ formula, a one-bedroom would cost $491 for a one-person household in the 30th percentile of incomes, and $806 for one in the 60th. 

But when it comes to the proposed set aside rate – how much of a building is required to be affordable – the report falls short. Toronto city staff are proposing that only 5-10% of a condo’s residential floor area be dedicated to affordable units, and 2.5-5% in purpose-built rental buildings. They are worried that higher rates will discourage development. But the reality is that Toronto could set much more ambitious IZ requirements, and developers would still be able to make their buildings – and their profit – happen. 

Additionally, city staff have suggested that developments be exempted from the policies if they have fewer than 100 units in some locations, and 140 in others. Last year, the Ford government hindered Toronto’s ability to employ IZ outside of Major Transit Areas. The city should be aiming to maximize IZ’s outcomes where it is permitted, rather than impeding them further. 

In the coming weeks, as Toronto starts consulting on these proposed policies, residents must let the city know it is imperative that we create as many units, in as many buildings as possible. Now is our moment to shift the power from developers to people, and to begin to turn the tide of the housing crisis.

Please let me know if you would like to become more involved in this process and I will be sure to share opportunities to make your voice heard, and make a difference.

Mike Layton is the councillor for Ward 11 University-Rosedale.

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FORUM: Waiting on a second-wave plan from Mr. Ford (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on FORUM: Waiting on a second-wave plan from Mr. Ford (Oct. 2020)

Development proposals sneak through during crisis

By Jessica Bell

The cooler weather has arrived, but there is no respite from the coronavirus. The second wave has begun. The spread of the new coronavirus, the need for affordable housing and concerns about development along with developer and affordable housing pressures, are the key issues I’m hearing about this season.

Cases of COVID-19 are rising fast largely in response to the Ford government’s decision to move to Stage 3 and ease restrictions in July. The case counts are increasing at the same time as schools reopen, flu season begins, and businesses are just starting to recover from the spring shutdown. The timing couldn’t be worse.

It is vital the government release an effective second-wave plan that includes tighter restrictions as directed by public health, an increase in the capacity and number of testing sites so sick people don’t have to wait four hours to get a test like they do at Toronto Western Hospital, an investment in schools which includes the  hiring of more teachers to reduce class sizes, and the implementation of paid sick leave so people can stay at home and not expose others. We got a taste of normal life in August. Let’s all do our part, and that includes the government, so we can eventually live normal lives again.

The pandemic has turned the ongoing tension between neighbourhood interests and big development into a massive migraine. Premier Ford has used the pandemic to justify his decision to override Toronto’s noise rules, which means residents from 666 Spadina Avenue to Yorkville to Robert Street can be exposed to construction noise, including non-essential construction, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. I fully support the move to support essential construction, such as testing sites for the coronavirus, but residents deserve more peace and quiet from non-essential construction than what they are currently getting.

The development proposal to build a 13-storey condo at Bathurst and College to displace the beloved Sneaky Dee’s bar has highlighted once again how our laws favour developers over community needs for affordable housing, good schools, and great venues for music, art, and small business. We can’t just grow, we need to grow well.

As your representative to Queen’s Park, I am advocating for laws that will give the city and the people of University-Rosedale more say over what developers can build, and what they should give back to the community in return. For a start, Toronto should be exempt from the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal, which allows developers to hold up and contest planning decisions made by a democratically elected council. Both the city and the province should require developers to give back more to the community in the form of community benefits agreements, affordable housing, and higher fees to fairly contribute to the amenities residents need, including parks, schools, and transit.

Sneaky Dee’s is one of many cultural institutions facing closure. Many music, theatre, and dance venues, from Lee’s Palace to The Free Times Cafe, are struggling to survive in the face of pandemic restrictions, shrinking revenue, rising rent costs and development pressure. These venues entertain us, challenge us, and tell our stories. They need our help. I encourage you to contact our office and suggest ways to help our creative sector. 

Finally, one silver lining has emerged around the gloomy cloud of being a renter during the pandemic in the most expensive city in Canada: three years after the motion was approved, the City of Toronto has finally begun enforcing its new short-term rentals rules. This motion restricts short-term rentals to one’s primary residence. We expect this move will return many units to the long-term rental market, and provide relief to condo dwellers who want to replace the overnight partygoers with long-term neighbours. Starting this September, short-term rental hosts are now required to register with the City of Toronto. Please contact 311 if you want to initiate a complaint against an illegal AirBnB listing. 

These improvements to our housing market happened because we fought for them. If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, it is that change can happen very quickly; we just need to steer that change in the right direction.

Please contact my office if you have questions or concerns. Make sure to stay safe by social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing when required.

Jessica Bell is the MPP for University-Rosedale.

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FOCUS: A literary trailblazer (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · 1 Comment

Jay Macpherson paved way for next generation of female professors

A young Jean Jay Macpherson during her teaching years. COURTESY VICTORIA UNIVERSITY

Correction: On page 11 of the August 2020 issue of the Annex Gleaner, in the annual Grading our Greenspace section, Jay Macpherson was misidentified as “he”. This error was brought to our attention by Alexandra F. Johnston, professor emerita, Department of English, Victoria College, University of Toronto. The Gleaner regrets the error.

By Mary An

Jay Macpherson Green at 255 Avenue Rd. was named after Jean “Jay” Macpherson in 2013, one year after her death. She was a much-loved English professor to writers including Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee, and Alexandra Johnston. Her legacy, however, extends beyond a park and inspiring a handful of successful Canadian writers. 

Born in London, England, in 1931, Macpherson didn’t like being called by her first name, so she chose to go by “Jay.” At nine years old, she was brought to Newfoundland as a war guest, and then moved to Ottawa where she studied at Carleton University. She continued her studies at McGill University before finally landing at the University of Toronto (U of T). At Victoria College she studied under the renowned literary critic Northrop Frye, and began publishing her own contemporary poetry in 1949. She won many prizes, including the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry, the Levinson Prize by Poetry magazine, and the University of Western Ontario President’s Medal for The Boatman. She even established her own small press: Emblem Books, where she published distinguished writers including Dorothy Livesay, Alden Nowlan, Al Purdy, and others. 

All of these achievements are impressive enough, before even considering what she accomplished in her career. Macpherson did what was nearly impossible for a woman in 1957 – she became one of five female professors in the English department at U of T. 

Macpherson was considered to be an “excellent teacher,” and an outstanding friend by both Margaret Atwood and Alexandra Johnston. 

In her fourth year as an undergraduate, Johnston lived in the same building on campus with Macpherson when, as the story goes, she heard a knock on her door at 10 p.m. 

“It was Jay, in her dressing gown with her braid down her back, handing me back a marked essay,” she said in an interview with the Annex Gleaner. “It’s not the sort of thing professors do, going out of their way like that.”

Johnston is now a retired Professor of English at Victoria College, and between 1981 and 1991, acted as the first female principal of the college. Johnston says that as a teacher,  Macpherson took on the role of mentor and by doing so, helped pave the way for a new generation of female academics.

“She was the link between the senior generation who had been teaching since the 1940s and the new people who came on in the 1960s,” Johnston said, adding that Macpherson also proved herself to be someone with an enormous heart. “Even during the last years of her life, she looked after another elderly colleague, who was in a wheelchair, and did everything for him,” Johnston said. “She exhausted herself doing it, but none of us could compel her to stop.”

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LIFE: Paying homage to local characters (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on LIFE: Paying homage to local characters (Oct. 2020)

Vibrant mural meant to appeal to children

MARY AN/GLEANER NEWS

By Mary An

At the intersection of Bloor Street West and Major Street, the Annex has welcomed a new mural. With help from the City of Toronto’s StreetARToronto grant, the Bloor Annex Business Improvement Area (BIA)  held a competition last year to fill the wall in a way that would best represent the neighbourhood. 

This unique, vibrantly colored mural was painted with children in mind, and features key Annex residents. The artist wanted to capture different personalities through colour.

“It’s nice to paint something that is child-friendly because a lot of murals are beautiful, but they’re more for adults,” Daniela Rocha, the artist, said in an interview with the Annex Gleaner.

Behind the bushes, on the left side of the mural, a young boy with the name ‘Oscar’ on his cap is captured riding a bike. This drawing of Oscar was not originally planned. Rocha said she added him because he would often visit her while painting. 

“He would be super excited about it – like he would just talk to me, and he was super sweet. So, I thought it was like a nice surprise,” she said. 

Rocha’s mural also depicts Ted Winick, who was known to be a strong pillar of the community, who died in May, 2019. Winick appears as a man playing chess next to a dog. Winick and his wife Heidi Winick were co-owners of the Spirit of Math schools located in Toronto. He was also the founder of the Chess Institute of Canada, where he not only taught chess but also taught valuable life skills to youths and supported the community for many years. Winick passed away in June 2019, and Rocha was asked to include him in the mural as an homage.

“Daniela submitted her work and it was accepted. Then, last minute, we asked her to add the little chess player in the corner,” Melanie Ramsay, Project Administrator of the Bloor Annex BIA said.

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SPORTS: Baseball Leafs look back on the season that wasn’t (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on SPORTS: Baseball Leafs look back on the season that wasn’t (Oct. 2020)

With Christie Pits locked down, local players endured a rare summer off the diamond

Grant Tamane lays down a bunt at Christie Pits as Johnathan Solazzo (seated on cooler) looks on. After a season lost to the pandemic, the Toronto Maple Leafs hope to resume playing baseball in 2021. R.S. KONJEK/GLEANER NEWS

By R.S. Konjek

For Toronto Maple Leafs outfielder Grant Tamane, it’s been 20 years. Third baseman Johnathan Solazzo figures it to be 23 or 24.

That’s how many years it’s been since they last spent a summer without playing baseball.

 “I did find myself randomly driving to Christie Pits a couple times this summer.”

—Damon Topolie, Manager

Team manager Damon Topolie tops them all. He started playing T-ball at age four, making it more than four decades since he hasn’t played organized baseball in some form.

This is the story of the Leafs’ 2020 season, the season that wasn’t.

Not long after the COVID-19 shutdown in March, the City of Toronto announced the cancellation of several longstanding events including Pride, Luminato, the Caribbean Carnival and the CNE. Most parades, cultural events, and neighbourhood festivals were cancelled. 

The city also called “time” on major sporting events.

Back then, summer still felt a long ways off, but the Leafs – members of the Inter-county Baseball League (IBL) – found their season hanging in the balance.  

In April, three of the league’s eight clubs suspended operations for the year. The remainder, including the Leafs, hung together to wait out the shutdown.

As spring turned to summer, the Leafs hoped that a shortened baseball season could still be played. 

Taking a cue from the scene at Trinity Bellwoods Park, team owner Jack Dominico envisioned a scenario where fans at Christie Pits could be spread out using social distancing circles placed around the hillsides that surround the Leafs’ ballpark. 

Players were told to stay in shape. Solazzo gathered some weights from his neighbours and assembled a homemade gym where he could work out.

“Gyms were closed and it was too cold to go out, but I was still working out, hoping and wishing for a season,” he says.

The league formulated plans for a one-month regular season, followed by a month of playoffs.

Unfortunately, the clock ran out. “It was really close,” says Topolie. “We were days away from starting a season, but municipalities would not release their parks [for organized sports]. In order to start a season we needed to start at the beginning of July, but parks were not released until the middle of the month and others at the end of July.”

On July 9, the IBL announced that it was cancelling an entire season for the first time in its 102-year history.

For the Leafs and their fans there was disappointment, but it could have been worse. Unlike other ball clubs, the Leafs do not charge admission, so they will not take the same financial hit those that rely on ticket sales to fund operations.

With a summer of Sunday afternoons unexpectedly wide open, how did the players occupy their time?

Tamane gave yoga a try, and got himself a dog. 

“Being stuck at home I had a large amount of time to myself, which made me really want a dog,” he says. “I ended up building a fence in my backyard and adopting a two-year-old Husky/Shepherd mix from a rescue. She now takes up all my time, since I get to bring her to work!”

Topolie and Solazzo found ways to bring some baseball into their summer. 

Topolie provided private lessons to younger players, sometimes up to a dozen sessions a week. 

“I did find myself randomly driving to Christie Pits a couple times this summer,” he adds.

In August, Solazzo and teammate Marcus Knecht accepted an invitation to a home run derby organized by the IBL’s Guelph Royals. Eight different players from around the league participated in the event at Hastings Stadium in Guelph.

Accepting the invitation was “a no-brainer,” Solazzo says. 

“It was awesome to see the guys, just to talk shop and see faces you haven’t seen all year.” 

Although neither Leaf won the derby, Solazzo enjoyed the experience and hopes it can become an annual event.

A few swings of the bat in Guelph will go down as the only baseball action for the Toronto Maple Leafs this year, but they are already thinking about 2021.

Topolie will be back as the team’s manager and he also hopes to continue playing. Solazzo confirms that he will be ready to go.

“I am very eager to play ball in 2021,” Tamane says. “I’m just not sure if it will be baseball in the IBL or a local softball team. I live in Paris, so my commute to Bloor and Christie was getting harder and harder each year, but I do it because I love the sport and my teammates are family.”

If things return to normal in 2021, the Leafs will take to the diamond in early May.

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NEW IN BUSINESS: New restaurant opens mid-pandemic (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on NEW IN BUSINESS: New restaurant opens mid-pandemic (Oct. 2020)

Entrepreneur invests in community on a wing and a prayer

Inder Singh, owner of the new Wild Wings in the Annex, took the brave step forward of opening up a restaurant in hopes of supporting his new community. MARY AN/GLEANER NEWS

By Mary An

Braving an uncertain future for business in the pandemic, this August, Inder Singh took the bold step of opening a restaurant across from Spadina Station. 

Singh is now a proud franchisee of a Wild Wing where many different varieties of chicken wings and other spreads are available from morning until night. 

“We have to adapt to this new normal now, we can’t just sit back and rely on the government to do everything for us,” said Singh,  in an interview with the Annex Gleaner.

Before Singh opened his restaurant in the Annex neighbourhood, the previous proprietor was evicted due to unpaid rent. 

Knowing the potential risks, Singh still took the chance of opening his restaurant. 

“Even if I don’t make money, at least I’m creating jobs for my employees and at least they have something to bring home to put food on their table,” he says.

Singh opened a Wild Wings restaurant in Kitchener with his brother-in-law before opening a second location in Toronto. 

The pandemic forced him to make cuts to his Kitchener restaurant, but he chose to open the Toronto location to assist employees who would have otherwise lost their jobs. 

“Because of COVID, business was slow. He had the option to lay me off, but instead, moved me to Toronto,” says Hardeep Singh, Manager of the Annex location of Wild Wings. 

“It’s like a family here. Inder is a nice guy and is very supportive,” says Hardeep.

Some other new restaurants to Bloor St.:

Indian Desire opened at 469 Bloor St. W. a few months ago and offers an “artistic take on traditional Indian dishes.” COURTESY INDIAN DESIRE INSTAGRAM
Also new to Bloor is Knockout Chicken at 490 Bloor St. W. The second location of this nascent chain, its first location is at 206 Augusta Ave. in Kensington Market. BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS
Eat BKK has moved its Thai street food from a spot in the Annex Food Hall to its own location at 513 Bloor St. W. BRIAN BURCHELL/GLEANER NEWS
Kendell Garcia and his partners saw the opportunity to open a new Scotty Bons restaurant in the Annex as the pandemic created a vacant space on Bloor Street. Scotty Bons offers a mix of the various Caribbean islands’ flavourful food, including sandwiches, roti, and poutines. Garcia, pictured above, is in front of his first restaurant location in Scarborough. The new Annex location will be located at 402 Bloor St. W. TANYA IELYSEIEVA/GLEANER NEWS

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ARTS: Global pandemic month eight: the show goes on (Oct. 2020)

November 2nd, 2020 · Comments Off on ARTS: Global pandemic month eight: the show goes on (Oct. 2020)

Discover a wealth of Culture Corridor programming on-line

By Meribeth Deen

Remember festivals? Remember movie theatres, parties, the crush of humanity drawn to the streets because there were places to go, things to see, and people to meet? Sometimes eight months feels like forever, even though we got a dose of sunshine, could set foot into museums, and got re-acquainted with dining out. 

It’s October, people, and not only are we facing ineffective patio heaters but also spiking levels of daily infection and a provincial death toll that might make you want to stay in and open up your old friend, the computer. 

If there’s anything that this pandemic has taught us it’s how to use Zoom, and that artists will keep making art anyway. 

So instead of hopping on a subway to be there in person, let’s have a look at Bloor St. Culture Corridor’s virtual offerings.

First stop, Hot Docs. As a Hot Docs member endless adventure is at your fingertips at any moment. Want to travel the world in search of the juiciest fruit? Watch The Fruit Hunters, by Yung Chang (Up the Yangtzee.) Want to meet the Jane Goodall of Giraffes? Her name is Anne Innis Dagg, and you can learn all about her and her journey as a woman in science in The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, by Alison Reid. Want to hang out  with Noam Chomsky between debates, or chill with the Beatles in India? You can do all that, and much, much, more. A $59 “bronze” membership will get you free access to all special films and online events each month, plus a discounted rate for Curious Minds courses.

Next stop, the ROM. The museum will absolutely save the day if you’ve got a kid home from school with a cough or a sniffle. Every Tuesday at 2 p.m., ROM Kids Coordinator and Camp Director Kiron Mukherjee will go live on Instagram Live to combine his passion for children’s education with storytelling to bring to life science, history and art for you and your loved ones in the comfort of your own home. Kiron will share activities, easy at-home crafts, behind the scenes anecdotes and fun facts—all connected to the ROM collections. You can also simply browse the ROM’s collection with a continuously growing database of art and artifacts.

On October 15, uncover the little known history of Kensington Market with Vivian Felsen, brought to you by Miles Nadal JCC, The Toronto Workmen’s Circle and The Committee for Yiddish. A Toronto writer and translator, Felsen will tell the story of how she came to discover the mostly forgotten yet truly remarkable literary activity of this largely working-class, Yiddish-speaking community, and the uniqueness of its language and its writers between the years 1910 and 1950.

Between October 15 and December 3, you can sing and connect with others from the comfort of your home, with Alex Fiddes’ virtual specialty choir. As described on the Miles Nadal JCC website: Each session will include an optional live virtual social component, a live choir rehearsal session, and a taped choir session released as a YouTube video. 

The live choir session will include real time discussion of the music, followed by a warm up. For the taped portion, the vocal parts have been sung and recorded by the music director and layered together, which means as you sing, you will hear all the vocal parts in the mix, similar to the real thing. You will have access to the chart, vocal tracks, and instrumental tracks, as well as the taped session so you can practice and sing as much as you like. There is no pressure to perform. You are encouraged to sing for the love of singing.

Finally, step into someone else’s shoes. The Bata Shoe Museum will be presenting Dr. Kimberly Alexander, a professor of history from the University of New Hampshire, discussing the long-term impact of 18th Century issues alongside Creative Director and Senior Curator Elizabeth Semmelhack who created the exhibition on Patriotism and the Politicization of Shoes, 1760-1780s.

So yes, the pandemic is still terrible and Halloween might be a bit of a bust this year but, Toronto’s creators are still there for you. Be there for them in return, by tuning in the way we must in 2020.

Comments Off on ARTS: Global pandemic month eight: the show goes on (Oct. 2020)Tags: Annex · Arts