The wrap for June 9, 2012 | Goodbye People’s Foods, hello Famoso Pizzeria and Barton Snacks . . .

The charming Barton Snacks at the south east corner of Bathurst and Barton, one block north of Bloor. Finally, somewhere to get indie coffee after 6PM in the Annex.

By West Annex News | Here’s what’s  been happening lately in and around the neighbourhood and on the Web:

New additions to the deadpool: After 50 years, Annex diner People’s Food is folding due to a rent increase [blogTO], while Kromer Radio is closing after 55 years in business. While Kromer told The Grid they’re closing just because they’re tired, an application for a height and usage variance by the new land-owners RioCan suggests that development pressures were the real culprit. Openfile reports that RioCan’s application was turned down by the Committee of Adjustments, but the developer is expected to appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board.

Green sprouts: The tiny but charming Barton Snacks  is cheering up the south-east corner of Bathurst and Barton with espresso-based coffee drinks and premium products like ice cream from Maypole Dairy and healthy(-ish) potato chips prepared with avocado oil and reduced sodium. Manager Chris Sherwood tells us that he’ll also be serving hotdogs. The Snack is open 8AM to 10PM Monday to Friday, and 11AM to 10PM Saturday and Sunday. Finally, a place to get indie coffee after 6PM in the Annex.

And genuine Neapolitan pizza is coming to the Bloor-West Annex strip, albeit in the form of an Edmonton-based chain Famoso Pizzeria. The owners expect to have the 386 Bloor Street location open by June 21, 2012. The previous tenant was the James Joyce Irish Pub.

Busy weekend: We hope the rain holds off for the Portugal Day Parade and Picnic today. The parade starts at 11AM on Landsdowne at Bloor and then heads down to Dundas Street West for the live music and picnic in Trinity-Bellwoods Park.

If it rains, the wonderful Ring Around the City reminds us that the Raw/Vegan Festival is going on all weekend indoors at 918 Bathurst Street, just north of Barton.

918 Bathurst Street, where the Raw/Vegan Food Festival is being held this weekend

The inaugural Junction Flea market is this Sunday June 10, starting at 9AM, on Dundas Street West, one block east of Keele. If this preview of  The Vintage Cabin’s wares is in any way typical of the quality and prices of the offerings, this is a not-to-be missed event.

Then from 11AM to 6PM Sunday it’s the Annex Festival on Bloor. We’re sad this festival seems less Annex, more the same old travelling road show of vendors that you see over and over again at every Toronto street festivals. But we love the chance to walk on a car-free Bloor Street between Spadina and Bathurst once a year and enjoy the live music.

Then at 3:30PM Sunday, don’t forget to head over to the Jean Sibelius Square Park official re-opening.

The renewed Jean Sibelius Square Park, 50 Kendal Avenue in the Annex.

Good reads: YongeStreet proposes how Toronto can further densify without more condos in Right up your alley: Can laneway housing provide an antidote to our high-rise growth spurt. 

Toronto Life has a story about that 83 story condo, the tallest in Canada, that could be coming to the Holt Renfrew Centre on Bloor. Closer to home, the massive condo development including a 40-storey glass condominium planned by the United Church for the Bloor Street United Church at Huron and Bloor has local residents and Councillor Vaughan concerned [The Varsity].

The Dupont Street cycle lanes are probably safe for now despite the plotting of  Ward 17 Councilor and Rob Ford ally Cesar Palacio to get rid of them [openfile].

Ring Around the City is passing on a warning from 14 Division about a hot water scam in the neighbourhood. Two men already face charges.

And the always interesting Atlantic Cities’ website has two recent  articles we enjoyed: Why We Pay More for Walkable Neighbourhoods  and The Evolution of Bike Lanes (cycle tracks anyone?)

Neapolitan pizza in the Annex via Edmonton: Famoso Pizzeria’s big pizza oven has already arrived, readying for the opening at 386 Bloor Street West June 21, 2012

The weekly wrap for April 29, 2011

Heritage Toronto begins its 17th year of free historic walking tours all across the city with a guided walk of Madison Avenue on Saturday, April 30th, 1:30PM. [Heritage Toronto]

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U of T is giving UTS the boot. The university wants the school for brainiacs out by 2021 so the pile at Bloor and Spadina can be redeveloped. [Globe and Mail]

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Councillor Vaughan invites you to a public meeting about a proposal for a hotel and condo development at Dupont and Kendal. Join him and Planning staff to discuss the redevelopment of 328 Dupont, Tuesday May 3rd at 7:00PM at St. Alban’s the Martyr Cathedral, 100 Howland Avenue (on the grounds of Royal St. George’s College). [Ward20.ca]

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The local condo boom is good for business at Hazelton Lanes.  The Yorkville mall announces a $10 million makeover and a 50,000 square foot Whole Foods expansion. [Yonge Street]

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What to do if the City has removed your bike from a bike ring. Duncan tells you how to recover it. [Duncan's City Ride]

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And, about the election:

The real swing factor in Trinity-Spadina isn’t the downtown condos. John Bowker nails what’s a stake in our fair riding. [All Fired Up In The Big Smoke]

The battles for Bathurst Street are among the key races in the city. [InsideToronto.com]

“There is a special place in hell for the inventor of inflatable thunder sticks.” Rick Mercer spends a week on the campaign buses and planes of each of the three federal leaders. [Macleans]

Does Parliamentary crime pay? Peter Russell trembles at the thought of the message sent by a Harper win. [YouTube]

Do not adjust your set. Andrew Coyne really has endorsed the Liberals. [Macleans]

Anyone but Harper? Catch 22 and Project Democracy have tools to help you decide how to make your vote count. And since strategic voting can’t help stop Harper in Trinity-Spadina, consider signing up with VotePair.ca to swap your vote with someone willing to vote strategically in a riding where it can.

The weekly wrap for April 15, 2011

Sonic Boom at 512 Bloor Street West is celebrating Record Store Day on Saturday, April 16th, with live bands playing from 1PM to 9PM, and guest DJ. Details are on the Sonic Boom website. [Sonic Boom]. Meanwhile, the imaginative window displays are earning more plaudits. [blogTO]

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The young and the selfish.  Kate Allen reports how condo dwellers in the new buildings below Queen St. bring their conservative values from the suburbs and are changing the mix in Trinity-Spadina. [thestar.com]

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A bike store, an art gallery, a day nursery, an art supply store, a several fashion-related shops. Bert Archer reports on the results of the public meeting about the proposal to convert the Leal Rentals building at 555 Dupont Street. [YongeStreet]

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What’s your house worth, and how will it affect your taxes? Catherine Farley discloses the latest data on property values in the city of Toronto. [thestar.com]

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Finding beauty in Toronto’s post-war architecture. Alexandra Shimo interviews Michael McClelland, architect of the Wychwood Barns conversion. [YongeStreet]

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Toronto 1818: population 1000. Adam Bunch displays a historic map, and links it up with census information for a fascinating glimpse of the beginnings of the city. [The Toronto Dreams Project]

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DON’T FORGET: Trinity-Spadina all-candidates debate: 

Date:  Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Time:  7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Location:  Trinity-St Paul’s United Church, 427 Bloor Street West
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Visit the Weekly Wrap archive for previous weeks’ columns.

OLDER POSTS >>

The weekly wrap for April 8, 2011

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Three local shops shine in blogTO’s “Best fruit and vegetable stores in Toronto”.

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Three local restaurants join Veggielicious, Toronto’s celebration of all things vegan April 9th to 24th.

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RoFo, redressed. Shayla Duval renders the Mayor’s revealing image in NOW magazine fit for human eyes. [The Conquelicot Projects]

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Battle of the Bubbies is on at Caplansky’s gefilte fish derby on Saturday, April 16th at 4:00PM [Taste T.O.]

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Too cool for hot dogs. In what is fast becoming Bloor Street’s most boring and sterile stretch, the Mink Mile’s BIA has banned hotdog carts. [cbc.ca]

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Ten million trees, storing 1.1 million metric tonnes of carbon. Nate Hendley adds up the numbers for Toronto’s urban forest. [OpenFile]

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BlogTO rounds out the week with a nice reference guide to cycling in Toronto, and reviews of Curbside Cycle and The Bike Joint.

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Review: Zero Hour. The Life of Zero Mostel, at the Al Green Theatre until April 16th, 750 Spadina at Bloor. [Mooney on Theatre]

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Visit the Weekly Wrap archive for previous weeks’ columns.

EARLIER POSTS –>

The weekly wrap for March 25, 2011

In 2008, we labelled Earth Hour “when you care enough to make a token gesture.” Then we found some local businesses didn’t even care that much. See who earned the A’s and F’s on our inaugural Earth Hour Report Card. [West Annex News]

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A nine-storey, 163 unit condo is coming to Bathurst and Bloor. The old Loretto College property at 783 Bathurst Street will have 163 units and ground floor retail. [Keeping It Real Estate]

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Skirt gets the Urback treatment. And as usual, blogTO’s crack Annex reporter has more questions than answers. [blogTO]

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The most vibrant cities share one thing in common: They are messy. Trying to clean up and remove the clutter of the city is to throw away the lifeblood of the city itself. [The ABCs of Urbanism]

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The Tarragon announces its new season. Richard Ouzounian says it’s “a nicely balanced mixture of Canadian works, old and new, with cutting-edge drama from the rest of the world.” [thestar.com]

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What is inclusionary zoning? Paul Carlucci interviews Adam Vaughan and others about the answer to Toronto’s housing problem. [YongeStreet]

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Getting Real 4. An event to unveil an in-depth report on the Canadian documentary industry’s bill of health, presented at the Annex Live March 31, 2011. [DOC Toronto]

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Av & Dav, then and now in pictures. Lost Toronto compares the intersection 50 years apart. [Lost Toronto]

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Theodore 1922. Catherine Lash gives a rave review for the men’s fashion store at 497 Bloor Street West. [The Wedding Co.]

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Every Friday, the Weekly Wrap collects articles from around the web about or of interest to residents of the West Annex.

Read last week’s wrap (click image to open):

For columns from earlier weeks, visit the Weekly Wrap archive.

The weekly wrap for March 18, 2011

O Guu, wherefore art thuu? Steven Davey reports on the latest delay in the much-anticipated opening of Guu SakaBar, and provides the newest projected opening date: Sunday, March 20th. [NOW]

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Better late than never. In 2009, the Clean Air Partnership demonstrated that better bike infrastructure would be a boon to Annex businesses, completing the work that myopic consultants missed in the City-funded Bloor Street Visioning Study.

Fast forward two years, and Lindsay Tsuji breaks the story of how the Annex Residents Association has finally woken up and endorsed bike lanes on Bloor [Annex Gleaner], while Derek Flack envisions what those bike lanes might look like. [blogTO]

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The last Jewish retail bakery in downtown Toronto. Renee Ghert-Zand profiles Harbord Bakery’s artisan traditions. [Forward.com]

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Local and organic long before it was fashionable, Robyn Urback finds that Kharma Co-op at 739 Palmerston is the neighbourhood’s hidden treasure. [blogTO]

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Since 1913, it’s been known as the Madison, the Midtown, the Capri, and the Eden. Eric Veillette gives us more history of the Bloor Cinema. [Silent Toronto]

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But the photos are nice. Robyn Urback wilts trying to profile the flower shops at Av & Dav. [blogTO]

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Every Friday, the Weekly Wrap collects articles from around the web about or of interest to residents of the West Annex.

Read last week’s wrap (click image to open):

For columns from earlier weeks, visit the Weekly Wrap archive.

The Weekly Wrap for Friday, March 11, 2011

Targeting Layton Liberals along the Bloor subway line. Instead of doing the hard work of taking on Harper, Jane Taber says the NDP are back to poaching voters from the Liberals. [Globe and Mail]

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The evolution of a street: from ghost town to hip destination to tarnished outdoor mall. Corey Mintz discusses why your great neighbourhood has terrible restaurants. [OpenFile]

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Power to the people. Edward Keenan reports on how Hart House is harnessing the energy from exercise equipment and using it to generate electricity. [YongeStreet]

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No more dreams of a backyard in suburbia. Cody Winchester looks at the fight for family-sized condos in downtown Toronto [National Post/Montreal Gazette]

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Does Ford rule by fiat, or is council still supreme? Cityslikr fills you in with a backgrounder about what the TCHC debate was really about [All Fired Up In The Big Smoke] Daniel Dale gives a pretty good blow-by-blow-of the special meeting of Council on March 9th [thestar.com] and CitySlikr calls out the cowardly councilors who chose to stay silent during a debate about whether Toronto is still a representative democracy. [All Fired Up in the Big Smoke]

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Speaking of our eroding democracy, Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy reviews a show about another side of the G20 featuring arrestees’ portraits and stories [Torontoist] while the Fifth Estate presents the gripping G20 documentary You should have stayed at home. [cbc.ca]

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What do you know about the stop at Wychwood Barns? Videographer Darren Alexander profiles the work of a decidedly different kind of food bank [YongeStreet] during Stop for Food, a fund-raising prix fixe dining event running in selected Toronto restaurants until March 31st. [thestop.org]

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A reminder that the Canadian Music Fest is in town to March 13th, with shows scheduled at local venues the Annex Wreck Room, Clinton’s, Free Times Cafe, Lee’s Palace, Rancho Relaxo, Sneaky Dee’s, Sonic Boom, and others.

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It’s in the Economist so it must be true: bike lanes make economic sense. R.A. analyzes the data. [The Economist, h/t Tim Kraan]

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Every Friday, the Weekly Wrap collects articles from around the web about or of interest to residents of the West Annex.

Read last week’s wrap:

For columns from previous weeks, visit the Weekly Wrap archive.

The weekly wrap for March 4, 2011

From Nathan Phillips to Tiananmen to Tahrir, people are talking about how plazas, squares, and other public spaces are good for democracy. George Hunka reviews the work of Dr. Tali Hatuka on the influence of urban design on civil protest. [EurekAlert!]; Mohamed Elshahed says Tahrir + Twitter = Revolution in Social Media, Public Spaces. [Places, h/t Mark Jull]; and John Allemang examines the exponential power of public spaces. [Globe and Mail] .

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Relax, there’s nothing wrong with your short-term memory. Pizza Gigi really has reopened. Gizelle Lau finds Sammy Crimi back at work at the ovens this week. [Toronto Life]

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Good Dog premieres Sunday night on HBO. John Semley chats with Ken Finkleman about his new series, partially shot at 102 Albany Avenue and in St. Alban’s Square. [EYEWEEKLY.com]

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Playgrounds for grown-ups. Leah Sandals explores the installation of outdoor gyms in Julius Deutsch Park (formerly Cecil Street Parkette) and Sally Bird Park. [OpenFile]

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The Bloor-Annex BIA intends to take away your right to free speech. Lindsay Tsuji exposes the BIA’s disturbing and unilateral decision to prevent postering on Bloor Street West with decorative pole covers that resist tape, glue and staples. [Annex Gleaner] and Jake Tobin Garrett, in celebrating Toronto’s messy urbanism, says mess is in the eye of the beholder. [Torontoist]

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Skirt opens at 476 Bloor Street West. Bert Archer takes a look at the new tenant in All Things Tea’s old space. [Yonge Street]

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Get your Paul Bunyon on. Justin Skinner says the College and Manning Backyard Axe-Throwing League is looking for members. Really. [InsideToronto.com]

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More indie coffee. Jason Rehel profiles Hub Coffee House and Locavorium at 1028 Shaw Street, near Christie Pits. [National Post]

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Every Friday, the Weekly Wrap collects articles from around the web about or of interest to residents of the West Annex.

For previous weeks’ columns, visit the Weekly Wrap archive.

The weekly wrap for February 25, 2011

Is the Green Room back? David Topping examines how the restaurant–closed down in September 2010 with the worst health inspection record in the city–managed to re-open. [OpenFile]

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The stations of Scott Pilgrim? The National Post staff have suggestions for Toronto’s own film icon statue. [National Post]

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The  malling of downtown. Siri Agrell looks at how the big boxes are shoe-horning themselves into unlikely spaces to chase downtown condo dwellers. [Globe and Mail]

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A 4000 square foot rival for Noah’s at Bathurst and Bloor. Bert Archer profiles Qi Natural Foods’ massive new shop, Herbs and Nutrition, in the former Payless Shoe Store premises at 572 Bloor Street West. [YongeStreet]

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Soon gone, but not forgotten. Derek Flack explores a collaborative effort to collect images of Toronto urban art using Google street view. [blogTO]

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Harbord and Spadina, 1899 and 2010. GBC finds two views of the intersection, taken 111 years apart. [Lost Toronto]

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The City Hall Press Gallery strikes back. Sort of. Jonathan Goldsbie reports on the media’s attempt to prevent our MIA Mayor and brother from continuing to freeze out the Star. [OpenFile]

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It’s not just us. Joel Kotkin laments that the world’s largest cities are failing in their traditional role of giving the poor a leg up into the middle class. [Metropolismag.com]

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Every Friday, the Weekly Wrap collects articles from around the web about or of interest to residents of the West Annex.

For previous weeks’ columns, visit the Weekly Wrap archive.

The weekly wrap for February 18, 2011

What does $1 million in pot look like? Derek Flack examines the marijuana haul taken out of Pizza Gigi on Harbord Street. [blogTO]

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Like the bike union, but for parks. Catherine Porter looks into a new lobby organization devoted to rescuing Toronto’s green space. [thestar.com]

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Confabulation at the Gladstone. Come out and hear our neighbour David Woodhead Thursday, February 24th at 8PM. [Gladstone Hotel]

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Raccoon Nation. Nicole Baute reviews the new documentary on the secret lives of  Toronto’s urban raccoons, airing on the CBC February 24th at 8PM. [thestar.com]

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Is our fear of heights misplaced? Edward Glaeser discovers how skyscrapers can save the city. [The Atlantic]

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Where’s the mayor? John Lorinc enquires with Rob Ford’s press secretary about the mayor’s disappearing act with the press. [spacingtoronto]

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Every Friday, the Weekly Wrap collects articles from around the web about or of interest to residents of the West Annex.

For previous weeks’ columns, visit the Weekly Wrap archive.