Toronto is a beach city and summer isn’t over yet. We checked out all 11 designated swimming beaches from a swimmer’s point of view. Continue reading
Author Archives: Schuster Gindin
1000 Strings in Yonge Dundas Square
1000 Strings create a transcendent aural spectacle in Yonge Dundas Square. Continue reading
Drama in our Neighbourhoods – Toronto’s Porch Theatrics
Stroll through a neighbourhood on a warm summer evening, as we often do, and the gardens and front porches, empty chairs or people sitting out, parked bikes and strollers all hint at details of private lives. Continue reading
SIGNPOSTS
Although some urban change is in the direction of interesting and unique, most is more like the malling of the city. Continue reading
CAFÉ INSTRUCTIONS
A café gives strict instructions on how to behave while you’re there. Could it really be the type of place that once fostered tolerance and civility? Continue reading
OAKWOOD COLLEGIATE: The School that Built a Community
Before there was a neighbourhood, streets or public transit, there was a school. Since 1911, Oakwood Collegiate has been an anchor at the heart of a community. That is how we used to do city building – first the infrastructure, then the housing. Continue reading
BUILDING PLANTER BOXES: Making a Garden Out of a Garage
A brick garage disintegrates and is replaced by giant planter boxes with their own irrigation system. Here’s how it was done and the delicious produce. Continue reading
MUSIC IN THE BARNS: The moment that spark hits the stage
Carol Gimbel, founder and artistic director of Music in the Barns, generates the visionary experiential concerts performed in a repurposed transit carbarn at Artscape Wychwood Barns. Continue reading
CENTRE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION: Can a bit of real estate change the world?
The CSI creates and animates co-working spaces, connecting and supporting people who are trying to make the world they want to live in. Continue reading
STREETCARS: Visible History
A visit to New Orleans evokes reminders of the city’s rich streetcar history and prompts contemplation of the construction frenzy in Toronto that has demolished much of our urban history leaving us to suffer from antiquities envy. Continue reading
Going Out to the Movies
Two movies that are worth leaving the house for. Rosewater and CitizenFour are engrossing and moving; they add context and nuance to the nightly news and our daily lives. Continue reading
Killarney: An Iconic Wilderness Preserved by Artists
Killarney Provincial Park is the only park in the world founded by artists. Only four-and-a-half hours from Toronto, its pristine state is awe-inspiring. Continue reading
TORONTO FOOD POLICY COUNCIL
Did you know we have one? Toronto’s Food Policy Council, the first in North American, was established as a subcommittee by the Board of Health in 1991. Continue reading
LOW DOWN WALKING
An October walk through Cedarvale ravine, an easily overlooked topographical treasure. Continue reading
Don’t become a victim of Election Fatigue!
It’s true, it feels the mayoral campaign has been going on since the beginning of time. And it all seems to be about the personalities instead of issues. Don’t let that put you off. Continue reading
Novel Objects
Martha Baillie is a novelist who produces more than a manuscript. In constructing her fiction she sometimes fabricates artifacts – objects and evidences of the world she is creating. Continue reading
Midnight Cherries
UPDATE 2018! Bountiful harvest of our local hidden-in-plain-sight treasure. Continue reading
CREATING PUBLIC ART
We follow a sculptor as he proposes and gets a commission then proceeds to turn the winning concept into a larger-than-life work of art that will withstand the ages. Continue reading
ART IN THE CONDO CANYONS
Facing the wall of condos that separates the city from the lake we encounter astonishing new public art. Here’s a sampling. Continue reading
POPS: Putting the Public in Private
With no big blocks of real estate left for parks in our dense urban landscape, the city has been creating public areas in the spaces between and around new condos and commercial developments. These are POPS (Privately Owned Publicly-Accessible Spaces). How do they work and how can we use them? Continue reading
THE CITY AS CYCLISTS’ GALLERY
Art Spin is a local art event and tour on bicycles. Two of our intrepid contributors took the challenge on a recent summer evening. They saw art installations, performances (musical and theatrical) and had some great food. Continue reading
AND IF YOU KNOW WHERE YOU STAND…
In a small corner park on Vaughan Road is an artwork called the Community Totem, created by the people who live around there. The installation grounds that little park in time as well as geography; in depth of history and in breadth of the local population. Continue reading
SWITCHING SIDES OF THE LAKE
A dual citizen reflects on bridging the distance home. Continue reading
FOOTBRIDGES
City footbridges are rarely glimpsed through car windows; they are revealed to those tramping obscure footpaths or meandering the lakeshore. Here are some favourites. Continue reading
AN IMMIGRANT ALL OVER AGAIN?
How long does it take to become Canadian? Not simply to obtain citizenship, but for an immigrant to be at home here in Canada. The main conclusion of a just-released report is that even after living in Canada for decades, if you lose your job you are worse off than when you arrived… Continue reading
HOMES
Photo essay by Schuster Gindin. Home in Toronto. Continue reading
AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CRANE Photo Series
Construction workers below grade at a site on Yonge St north of Dundas as they begin the tower. Continue reading
WHOSE CITY?
Condo construction downtown seems an overnight transformation of our city. Meanwhile the speed at which the city moves to direct and control growth seems glacial. What can chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat do? Continue reading
CRANES, CRANES, CRANES
Everywhere you look, this is what you see. Continue reading
LIVING TORONTO 