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Love Letter From a Commuter: Why the Don Valley Should Be Protected
Dear Don Valley, It is 9:39 a.m. on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, and I am driving down the Don Valley Parkway, heading to Centennial College for my first day of school. Up until today, I have never been a commuter; I have always lived close to school, so driving every day from my small hometown north of the city is rather new to me. Already I find the bumper-to-bumper traffic along the DVP to be as tedious and exhausting as the constant exhaust fumes that are spewing out of engines all around me. But there is one silver lining: as I take the exit at Don Mills Road and the…
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Designing a Neighbourhood: The Go-To Design Hub
I met Armin Martiros, the owner of Design Lab, on a bright, warm day. His shop, similar to that day, was warm and bright. While walking along Pape Avenue, I stopped at a storefront window, displaying one small, white sofa covered with a fluffy, ash-grey blanket, some pillows, and a matching side table. Drawn in by the design, which resembled a cozy, nicely furnished home, I decided to have a look inside. The first thing I noticed was that the space was filled with personalized everyday items, things appearing both practical and pretty. Later, after browsing the shop’s webpage, I saw that cushions, lamps, Acapulco chairs, sofas, curtains, colourful glasses,…
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A Night of Fun and Laughter on the Danforth
It was an unusually warm night in late October when I threw on my faded denim jacket and worn-out Converse to make my way toward Comedy Bar on the Danforth for the first time. Wedged between an unassuming cigar shop and a residential building with plain, grey-scale facades, the massive sign that spans the venue is hard to miss. “Comedy Bar” sits across the top in glowing red letters. Details on the headliners, showtimes, and website shine below, framed in beaming yellow show lights. As I walked toward the illuminated sign, I thought about the first comedy show I attended. I was in my early twenties, struggling to get through…
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Goodbyes Are Only Temporary: Danforth, Coal Mine Theatre Is Not Going Anywhere
“We were going to find a place along the Danforth or we were just going to stop,” says Ted Dykstra, co-founder of the Coal Mine Theatre (CMT). The relocation of this admired East End theatre had one priority leading the search—to remain on the Danforth. “We feel very grateful and lucky,” says Ted of being able to stay along the Danforth at their new location, 2076 Danforth Ave., following a tragic fire at the previous location in September 2022. For the past seven years, the CMT has been bringing never-before-seen theatre to this neighbourhood. Their ambition has been to bring highly acclaimed plays to Toronto. Despite the non-existent grants or…
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Independent Bookshops Remind Us of the Value of In-Store Browsing
When Amazon packages can be delivered to your door within 24 hours, it’s easy to fall into the trap of shopping for books online. But by shopping online, you miss out on the pleasure of getting lost among the shelves and the chance to connect with people who are passionate about reading. Re: Reading Used Books (548 Danforth Ave. at Carlaw) and the Scribe (375 Danforth Ave. at Chester) are two independent bookstores that truly capture the magic of in-store browsing. Re: Reading Used Books Re: Reading Used Books carries books and movies in a wide range of genres, but the atmosphere of the store is a homage to sci-fi.…
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A Community United: The Danforth Multifaith Commons and Beyond
Walking into the Saturday morning Shabbat services at the Danforth Jewish Circle, you notice Jesus staring down at you from the stained glass windows. You also notice the overwhelming warmth and friendliness you’re greeted with. The Danforth Jewish Circle is an inclusive Jewish congregation that operates out of the Eastminster United Church, at Danforth and Jackman avenues. The East End United Church (EEU), the Danforth Jewish Circle (DJC), and the Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation (NUU) are three different religious congregations that share this building and collectively form the Danforth Multifaith Commons (DMC). The concept of the DMC intrigued me from the start. It’s not every day that you see three…
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How We Immortalize Our Cats: From Ancient Pottery to Etsy Shops
As a kid, I grew up with three cats. In the 90s, that meant we filled albums with Kodak photographs we got developed at Walmart. Photographs of us—my family—with our beloved little guys and some of just Rex or Chloe or Max, alone, because we needed to bring that love we had for them to life, to put it somewhere tangible, somewhere we could look at and hold in our hands. Obviously, this is not a unique experience. The rise of kitty fame on the Internet makes that ever clearer. But we—humans, lovers of cats—have been filling proverbial albums with Walmart-developed photos for as long as cats have been domesticated,…
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People of the Danforth
There’s a peculiar phenomenon that I stumbled across on the internet the other day: The Danforth Community group on Facebook, filled with missing pets and keys, business ventures, quirky events, and a bunch of really lovely people. After my initiation (my request to join was approved), it felt like I had opened a treasure chest of community secrets. I dug through hundreds of posts discussing matters related to the Danforth, and honestly, I got jealous. I don’t live on the Danforth, nor do I visit the area often, but looking through the group unleashed an itching curiosity as to what made their community page so lively—the members were so helpful…
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Cooking Up a Community
Two days before this article was due, my husband, friend, and I were sitting at Mezes on the Danforth. We hadn’t planned to eat there—it was a last-minute, panicked decision when the other plan for my article fell through. I had changed the topic of this piece so many times that I had absolutely no clue what I was going to write, and decided that, if nothing else, we’d have a great meal at Mezes. I’ve been coming to Mezes for almost ten years after a friend and I did a quick “where should we eat on the Danforth” search in 2013. My husband and I even considered getting married…
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Little Big Libraries
Reading is the root of most of our interesting thoughts. Once we immerse ourselves in books, especially in children’s titles, we end up creating unfathomable associations inside our brains. Think genius girl who avenges abuse of authority through telekinesis, angry lonely kid who becomes king amongst monsters, or underpants superhero with “wedgie power.” Along the same line, a book exchange initiative, like the Little Free Library, can forge the most incredible connections between people. It was American film director John Waters who famously recommended not sleeping with people who don’t have books; not letting them explore us until they have explored the world of libraries. Although I wouldn’t go as…
