Alessandro Settimi, well known to South Bayview folks as the Mad Italian, has opened a second location at 639 College Street in the heart of Little Italy. Alessandro and his family also operate the first location of their excellent gelato bar at 1581 South Bayview (next door to Homefront).
Prashanta Yoga to open on Davisville
by •
The transformation of the old Davisville Mini Food Mart into a Yoga studio is apparently nearly complete. As we told you many months, ago the two storey building at Davisville and Cleveland was being renovated for that purpose. Today the building sports a sign which states Prashanta Yoga, Coming Soon. It will be pleasant to have such an enterprise in that neighborhood although the renovation has taken a long time. The front door, which stands close to the bus shelter, is still surrounded by building materials. The new purpose for this address is a good one. Earlier story Agnes Macphail lived here
by •
It’s not generally known that Agnes Macphail (above) the first woman elected to Parliament, lived for a period at the structure at the corner of Millwod Rd and Donegall Dr. It’s a duplex with addresses of 220 Millwood and 2 Donegall. Local historians and others are trying to have the home recognized in some way, perhaps with a plaque. Mary Macdonald, of Heritage Preservation Services, has been trying to achieve this for more than ten years. She’s still trying. It appears Macphail lived here in the upstairs apartment following her defeat in the 1940 general election when she began writing for the Globe and Mail and other publications. Agnes Macphail’s remarkable career as an Ontatrio MLA, MP, the Canadian Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and many other organizations, is well told in the linked Wikipedia entry. The elegant photo above is from Wikipedia and was taken by the famed Canadian portrait photographer Yousef Karsh. Also see Town Crier articleIs media fuelling Sheen’s disintegration?
by •
One of a number of stories on this theme now appearing. From time to time the media are required to ponder whether their reliance on the cash register makes them complicit in doing terrible damage. We’re just asking.
Sleuth will move on Sunday, March 20
by •
The Sleuth of Baker Street, 1600 South Bayview, will be carrying out books and other inventory on March 20 and taking them to its new location on Millwood Ave at Sutherland. The plan is to re-open at the new location on March 24, 2011.
Changing the face of Walder Ave.
by •
Walder Ave, the short street running north from Eglinton Ave E. to a cul de sac north of Broadway, is being re-made. As in the general area, modest bungalows and smaller homes continue to be bought up, demolished and replaced with larger, two storey structures. Three such homes side by side are awaiting Castleton Homes to change the face of this part of Walder. Billboard to kick off fund-raising campaign
by •
Brooke Biscoe of the arena board has messaged supporters that the campaign kicked off today to raise the $2.5 million community portion of the cost of building the second rink at Leaside Gardens. At the meeting Expansion Committee Chair Paul Mercer and Councillor John Parker summarised the long journey from the time the idea of building the second rink was first discussed in 1998 until today. Thanks were expressed to the many people who have been helpful. To help raise awareness of the second rink the board has installed a billboard on the north-bound face of the billboard along Millwood in the Arena parking lot. Check the Facebook page. Stories from today’s meeting filed by the Sun and Star24th of May target for Shoppers Drug
by •
Word around the Shoppers Drug Mart is that the store will open at its new location up South Bayview on the 24th of May weekend. This year the holiday falls on Monday, May 23, 2011.
Tsunami unlike any you have seen before
by •
At about 15 seconds into this recording a sequence of the most graphic tsunami flooding begins. This of course is from among the many pictures coming from Japan this morning where an 8.9 earthquake has struck.
Canadian money to be made of plastic
by •
The Bank of Canada has announced that it will soon start to make Canadian currency out of plastic. The new banknotes will have a markedly smoother feel from traditional paper money and will be harder to counterfeit. Most interesting CBC.ca story here.
Water repairs come back to Millwood
by •
Work has moved south as workers make yet more repairs to the water system on Millwood Road. Earlier this week when these pictures were taken, the street was fully blocked between Bayview and Donegall. Even the east lane way was blocked (upper right) by the contractors, Rabcon. The best information we have is that it remains only for natural gas lines to be installed on Millwood before it can be restored to its proper condition. But apparently there has also been a need for water connection repairs. Check previous. RBC finds homeowners are confident
by •
The Royal Bank has injected what appears to be a bit of common sense into the worry about whether homeowners can afford their houses. We have seen many recent alarms about an impending collapse of the housing market because people won’t be able to carry the interest. It all seemed rather overdone and now the RBC’s annual outlook suggests that Canadians agree. The bank’s survey suggests 85 per cent of respondents think they are doing a good job of paying off their loan obligations, and 73 per cent think they are well positioned even if the housing market were to drop. Maybe homeowners are too optimistic but there can be no doubt that they are a good deal more serious than many U.S. buyers about holding their homes and paying off the mortgages. The ethic is different. History may be helpful too. The story of the housing market in Canada includes the 1980s when interest rates rose to astronomical levels. That certainly slowed down purchases and depressed prices but did not collapse the entire market.
