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- La Presse considers some different strategies to keep rue Saint-Denis in Montréal a healthy thoroughfare and neighbourhood.
- Atlas Obscura explains how the upstate New York town of Hobart made itself as a home for a used book store cluster.
- Guardian Cities explains why anti-gentrirfication activists in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin are fighting to keep their local Aldi, to continue to have low-cost food locally.
- Window on Eurasia notes a poll of immigrant workers in St. Petersburg that finds most quite like their new home.
- CityLab looks at Polish architect Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak, whose brutalism played a key role in the reconstruction of the Poland city of Wroclaw from the ruins of old German Breslau.
Last night, a link I tweeted to blogTO's report on the sudden closure of Church Street's Statler's went viral in a minor way. Massive rent increases were too much for this Village bar, notable for its performance spaces and its links to the theatre community to bear, leaving Statler's fans bereft.
Statler's closure leaves me concerned for the future of Church and Wellesley as a LGBTQ district. Given the dire economics of nightclubbing generally and rising rents on Church Street particularly, how long can this neighbourhood and its institutions persist? Condo towers, like Vox Condominiums just east of Wellesley station, have been steadily advancing on the heart of the Village from the north and the south over the past few years, and I can imagine a collapse. Will there end up being a new Village elsewhere, in Parkdale or on Weston Road or in Etobicoke? Or will nothing follow Church and Wellesley?
I am also more concerned for Toronto generally. That note about Statler's was one of three I shared that day noting the closure of other Toronto institutions on New Year's. Ten Edition Books on Spadina Avenue collapsed on New Year's after nearly three and a half decades, driven out by the desire of the University of Toronto to redevelop this stretch into student housing. On the east side, meanwhile, the famed Coffee Time restaurant at Coxwell and Gerrard, an affordable coffee place's connections to locals, has closed down permanently. (There was even a great documentary filmed about this place.)
Where are the replacements? Where are the new shops and restaurants and clubs, the new community institutions, the new neighbourhoods, to replace the old ones made increasingly unaffordable? Am I missing out on the regeneration of Toronto, or is a new monoculture taking over? And is Toronto alone in these trends among world cities. I surely think not.
Statler's closure leaves me concerned for the future of Church and Wellesley as a LGBTQ district. Given the dire economics of nightclubbing generally and rising rents on Church Street particularly, how long can this neighbourhood and its institutions persist? Condo towers, like Vox Condominiums just east of Wellesley station, have been steadily advancing on the heart of the Village from the north and the south over the past few years, and I can imagine a collapse. Will there end up being a new Village elsewhere, in Parkdale or on Weston Road or in Etobicoke? Or will nothing follow Church and Wellesley?
I am also more concerned for Toronto generally. That note about Statler's was one of three I shared that day noting the closure of other Toronto institutions on New Year's. Ten Edition Books on Spadina Avenue collapsed on New Year's after nearly three and a half decades, driven out by the desire of the University of Toronto to redevelop this stretch into student housing. On the east side, meanwhile, the famed Coffee Time restaurant at Coxwell and Gerrard, an affordable coffee place's connections to locals, has closed down permanently. (There was even a great documentary filmed about this place.)
Where are the replacements? Where are the new shops and restaurants and clubs, the new community institutions, the new neighbourhoods, to replace the old ones made increasingly unaffordable? Am I missing out on the regeneration of Toronto, or is a new monoculture taking over? And is Toronto alone in these trends among world cities. I surely think not.
- Because of a lack of support from the University of Toronto, Ten Editions Bookstore on Spadina Avenue between College and Bloor has closed down permanently. blogTO reports.
- Statler's on Church Street, a popular Village bar known for its performance spaces, closed down suddenly on account of massive rent increases. blogTO reports.
- The famed Coffee Time restaurant at Coxwell and Gerrard, subject of a documentary that looks at this affordable coffee place's connections to locals, has closed down permanently. blogTO reports.
- Gilbert Ngabo at the Toronto Star reports on how Torontonians now have now choice but to use the Presto card. My experiences reflect others' in that things have been working out for me, so far.
- GO Transit's connections directly to York University have ceased in the wake of the subway extension, as promised. Many who depended on the direct link are unhappy that it is no longer being sustained. Global News reports.
- This Toronto Sun article shares the call of a brother of a victim who died by suicide at a TTC station for more action to prevent such unfortunate events.
- Steve Munro reports on the different challenges facing the TTC board in 2019.
- Enzo DiMatteo at NOW Toronto makes the case that Toronto needs to continue to address gun violence as a public health issue if it is to control this plague.
- A tall and skinny home in Riverdale that has gone on sale for $C 3 million has as many detractors as supporters. Global News reports.
- CBC Toronto notes that the new nickname of the Economist for Toronto and its tech sector, "Maple Valley", is not catching on with locals.
- Marco Chown Oved at the Toronto Star shares the story of Don Sampson, a long-time resident of the Toronto Islands who faces losing the family home there because he cannot inherit the property from his brother.
- The cast of the venerable Global Television drama Train 48, filmed on a GO Transit Lakeshore West train in 2003-2005, recently reunited. Global News reports.
Tags:
- bookstores,
- church and wellesley,
- church street,
- coffee,
- crime,
- health,
- journalism,
- leslieville,
- mass media,
- mass transit,
- medicine,
- nightclubbing,
- oddities,
- politics,
- popular culture,
- restaurants,
- shopping,
- spadina avenue,
- subway,
- suicide,
- technology,
- television,
- toronto,
- toronto islands,
- ttc,
- university of toronto,
- urban note
- The Strand bookstore in New York City is seeking to avoid being granted heritage status, in order to avoid the complications which could drive it out of business. The Guardian reports.
- The City of Edmonton, post-2014, will not regain previous levels of per capita wealth until the 2030s. The Edmonton Journal reports.
- Henry Wismayer has a heart-felt essay at Medium talking about how a London plunged into the heart of a turbo-charged capitalism is becoming increasingly inhospitable for the non-rich. Grenfell Tower beckons on the horizon.
- Guardian Cities shares photos of the homes taken over by squatters in Rio de Janeiro.
- The National, from the UAE, praises the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa as not just a regional hub but as a worthy tourist destination in its own right.
Tags:
- Toronto Life takes a look at the House of Anansi bookstore on Sterling Road, set to take on a higher profile as that street becomes bigger.
- The Globe and Mail profiles Why Not Theatre, a Toronto troupe that has opted not to acquire a permanent space.
- CBC Toronto takes a look at the campaign of Daniel Rotsztain to save the York Street pillars, legacies of old freeways turned by time into public art.
- Descendants of acorns taken from Vimy Ridge to Scarborough are now repopulating that battlefield. CBC reports.
- Yesterday, Toronto suffered its 90th homicide of the year, making a new record. CBC reports.
Toronto independent bookstore chain Type Books opened its third location earlier this month in The Junction, at 2887 Dundas Street West, just west of Keele. Yesterday I made my first visit to this location, and was enthralled. This feels like a bright and dynamic community space already--I look forward to making this one of the hubs of my extended neighbourhood, down in the west end.
- blogTO shares some vintage photos of Dupont Street, here.
- Toronto Life profiles the fantastic new location of Type Books in the Junction, at Dundas and Keele.
- Weyni Mangesha has been appointed new director for Toronto's Soulpepper theatre. NOW Toronto reports.
- The Toronto Public Library's Book Buzz notes that David Chariandy has won the 2018 Toronto Book Award with his fantastic novel Brothers.
- blogTO notes a new book, Tomorrow Is Too Late, that takes a look at the Toronto punk scene of the 1980s.
- If ever I make it to Detroit, the John K King bookstore would surely be a must-visit. Atlas Obscura reports.
- Metropolis, Illinois, is celebrating Superman. Where better to do so? Wired reports.
- Seattle, like so many cities around North America, is apparently facing a gentrification that makes it increasingly uncomfortable for too many. Crosscut has it.
- The San Francisco Bay area community of Foster City faces imminent danger from rising sea levels. CBC reports.
- Decades after the horrors of the mid-1990s, dogs in the Rwandan capital of Kigali are starting to be treated as potential pets again. National Geographic reports.
Tags:
[BLOG] Some Friday links
Feb. 16th, 2018 12:24 pm- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares photos of rings around a distant galaxy's central black hole.
- Inspired by Finland's Olympic team, the Toronto Public Library's The Buzz shares some interesting books on knitting and for knitters.
- Centauri Dreams notes the surprising news that the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies actually have the same mass. This changes everything about what was thought about the future of the Local Group. D-Brief also reports on this news.
- JSTOR Daily notes how the conversion of tobacco fields into solar farms is not just potentially life-saving but economically viable, too.
- Language Hat rounds up links relevant to the discovery, by field linguists, of the Malaysian language of Jedek.
- Lingua Franca, at the Chronicle of Higher Education, shares a story from Lucy Ferris of Paris of old and the bookstore Shakespeare and Company.
- The LRB Blog notes that the privatization of military officers' housing in the United Kingdom was another disaster.
- Marginal Revolution considers if Los Angeles is the most right-wing major American city, and what that actually means.
- The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that, even in the face of subsidence in Groningen around gas fields and cheap wind energy, even the Netherlands is not moving away from oil and gas.
- Drew Rowsome reports on porn star/actor Chris Harder and his new show, Porn To Be A Star. (NSFW.)
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel examines the factors which distinguish a good scientific theory from a bad one.
- The Volokh Conspiracy makes a decent argument that the politicized pop culture fandom around supreme court judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg is not good for the future of jurisprudence.
- John Scalzi, at Whatever, reviews the new Pixel Buds from Google.
Tags:
- agriculture,
- anthropology,
- astronomy,
- blogs,
- books,
- bookstores,
- california,
- cities,
- energy,
- finland,
- france,
- futurology,
- google,
- health,
- language,
- libraries,
- links,
- malaysia,
- military,
- netherlands,
- physics,
- politics,
- popular culture,
- popular literature,
- science,
- sexuality,
- social sciences,
- southeast asia,
- space science,
- technology,
- theatre,
- united kingdom,
- united states
One place in New York City that I was very curious to see was an Amazon Books, most specifically the chain's newest New York City location (opened in August of last year) on West 34th Street opposite the Empire State Building. I have been an intermittent customer of Amazon for almost fifteen years. What would a bricks-and-mortar location look like, especially one wholly Amazon in origin and not a recently bought chain with an established identity like Whole Foods?
It turns out that it looks a lot like an established high-end bookstore. All the books were facing out, with no spines that I could see, each book being classified not only by genre but by online ratings. The electronics section was large and abundant, with plenty of Kindles and Alexas on display. This translation of the online bookstore into the physical world seemed pretty faithful, actually. The store's most visible problem to me is that its paper shopping bags dissolve far too quickly in the rain.
It turns out that it looks a lot like an established high-end bookstore. All the books were facing out, with no spines that I could see, each book being classified not only by genre but by online ratings. The electronics section was large and abundant, with plenty of Kindles and Alexas on display. This translation of the online bookstore into the physical world seemed pretty faithful, actually. The store's most visible problem to me is that its paper shopping bags dissolve far too quickly in the rain.
[URBAN NOTE] Seven New York City links
Jan. 17th, 2018 04:35 pmThis extended feature from The New York Times makes the case that New York City's subway system desperately needs the massive funding it needs, else the city itself start to fall apart. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/magazine/subway-new-york-city-public-transportation-wealth-inequality.html
A New York City plan to divest from companies that could be assigned responsibility for climate change and sea level rise is certainly a provocative idea. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/10/new-york-city-plans-to-divest-5bn-from-fossil-fuels-and-sue-oil-companies
The NYR Daily celebrates the life of Fred Bass, the man who built The Strand bookstore in downtown Manhattan. I visited Monday; his life's work remains a success. http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/04/fred-bass-maestro-of-the-strand/
Kim Stanley Robinson's thoughts on New York City are worth sharing. (The passage in _2312_ where his protagonist went up the Hudson by a flooded Manhattan _was_ one of the best parts of that book, to provide an example other than this novel he wrote.) https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43d39m/sci-fi-author-kim-stanley-robinson-talks-about-new-york-2140
I have to admit to quite liking the Met's ideal of potentially free admission for all, though I suppose that if this gorgeous museum needs the funding ... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/arts/design/the-met-should-be-open-to-all-the-new-pay-policy-is-a-mistake.html
Former TTC chief Andy Byford is now in New York City, overseeing the MTA. I wish him luck. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/01/16/torontos-ex-transit-boss-andy-byford-rides-subway-on-first-day-of-new-new-york-city-job.html
The traffic safety program of the city of Toronto remains vastly underfunded compared to that of New York City. http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2018/01/16/while-new-york-city-s-vision-zero-results-are-lauded-toronto-s-have-been-lacklustre.html
A New York City plan to divest from companies that could be assigned responsibility for climate change and sea level rise is certainly a provocative idea. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/10/new-york-city-plans-to-divest-5bn-from-fossil-fuels-and-sue-oil-companies
The NYR Daily celebrates the life of Fred Bass, the man who built The Strand bookstore in downtown Manhattan. I visited Monday; his life's work remains a success. http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/04/fred-bass-maestro-of-the-strand/
Kim Stanley Robinson's thoughts on New York City are worth sharing. (The passage in _2312_ where his protagonist went up the Hudson by a flooded Manhattan _was_ one of the best parts of that book, to provide an example other than this novel he wrote.) https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43d39m/sci-fi-author-kim-stanley-robinson-talks-about-new-york-2140
I have to admit to quite liking the Met's ideal of potentially free admission for all, though I suppose that if this gorgeous museum needs the funding ... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/arts/design/the-met-should-be-open-to-all-the-new-pay-policy-is-a-mistake.html
Former TTC chief Andy Byford is now in New York City, overseeing the MTA. I wish him luck. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/01/16/torontos-ex-transit-boss-andy-byford-rides-subway-on-first-day-of-new-new-york-city-job.html
The traffic safety program of the city of Toronto remains vastly underfunded compared to that of New York City. http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2018/01/16/while-new-york-city-s-vision-zero-results-are-lauded-toronto-s-have-been-lacklustre.html
Eliot's Bookshop was a bit crowded on its final day of operation, all books going for $C 1 eacha. It is testament to the store's inventory that it remained as full as it is now. With this store's departure, a key node of Yonge Street will be gone for me and many others. After I paid for my last purchase, I made sure to thank the owner for his business' many years of operation.
- Must the TTC try to compete with Uber, and how? I wonder if the comparison between the two even makes sense. The Toronto Star reports.
- blogTO notes that beloved Toronto bookstore Eliot's is closing, with a fantastic sale. I think I will be making at least one visit there.
- John Lorinc at Spacing notes that Sidewalk Labs' negotiations with regards to Quayside have hit some problems.
- Toronto Life shares some of teenage photographer Lia Denbok's stunning photos of homeless people in the city.
- MacLean's has a brief article/a> sharing the suggestion of novelist Michael Redhill, author of Giller-winning Bellevue Square, that Torontonian authors have come of age in being able to deal with their city.
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
Nov. 14th, 2017 03:32 pm- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the remarkably enduring supernova iPTF14hls, which seems to have attained its longevity through massive amounts of antimatter.
- blogTO notes plans for the construction of a new public square in Chinatown, on Huron Street.
- James Bow shares a short story of his, set in a future where everyone has a guaranteed minimum income but few have a job.
- A poster at Crasstalk shares a nostalgic story about long-lost summers as a child in Albuquerque in the 1960s.
- Bruce Dorminey reports on Universe, a beautiful book concerned with the history of astronomical imagery.
- The Everyday Sociology Blog explores the latent and manifest functions of education for job-seekers.
- Far Outliers' Joel talks about the Red Terror imposed by Lenin in 1918, and its foreshadowing of the future of the Soviet Union.
- Language Hat links to a lovely analysis of a Tang Chinese poem, "On the Frontier."
- Language Log notes how the name of Chinese food "congee" ultimately has origins in Dravidian languages.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money takes note of the suspicious timing of links between the Trump family and Wikileaks.
- Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen recounts his visit to an Amazon bookstore, and what he found lacking (or found good).
- The NYR Daily notes the continuing controversy over the bells of the church of Balangiga, in the Philippines, taken as booty in 1901 by American forces and not returned.
- The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer wonders why Canadian incomes and productivity have historically been 20-30% lower than those of the United States, and why incomes have lately caught up.
- Roads and Kingdoms considers the simple pleasures of an egg and cracker snack in the Faroe Islands.
- Strange Company considers the bizarre 1910 murder of Massachusetts lawyer William Lowe Rice.
- The Volokh Conspiracy notes an Australian publisher that suspended publication of a book in Australia for fear of negative reaction from China.
- Arnold Zwicky shares some photos of his orchids, blooming early because of warm temperatures.
Tags:
- astronomy,
- australia,
- blogs,
- books,
- bookstores,
- canada,
- china,
- chinatown,
- chinese language,
- communism,
- conspiracies,
- crime,
- economics,
- education,
- faroes,
- flowers,
- food,
- former soviet union,
- futurology,
- imperialism,
- india,
- links,
- new england,
- north america,
- parks,
- philippines,
- photos,
- russia,
- science fiction,
- social sciences,
- sociology,
- south asia,
- space science,
- toronto,
- ukraine,
- united states,
- war,
- west norden
- Will 698 Spadina Avenue be torn down for new U of T student housing? blogTO reports.
- A variety of Toronto museums are going to be offering free admission until November 30th. Inside Toronto reports.
- There are good public health initiatives for Toronto to move to cleaner transportation technologies. The Toronto Star reports.
Eliot's Bookshop, located the intersection of Yonge and Wellesley at 584 Yonge Street. Since my first visit to Toronto in 2002, and long before then for others, Eliot's has been a centrepiece of Toronto's used book market, the three stories of the building being packed with used books of all kinds spilling off their shelves. How sad, then, that rising property taxes on Yonge mean that Eliot's will have to close up shop, the owner of the building and the bookstore hoping to find a more profitable business to take over his lease.
Tags:
- In the Toronto Star, Emma Teitel wonders how long Church and Wellesley will last as a hub as the queer community develops and migrates away.
- Trevor Corkum, also in the Toronto Star, explores the important role of the Glad Day Bookshop in modern Toronto's gay and literary scenes.
- Brian Bradley tells the story of Craig Russell, an early drag queen who became a star and started a still-living cultural tradition of drag performances in Toronto.
- In NOW Toronto, Vaughn Grey tells the story of how he successfully escaped Jamaica to claim refugee status in Toronto.
[NEWS] Some Wednesday links
May. 31st, 2017 11:37 am- Bloomberg looks at the recent surge of Chinese investment in Southeast Asia.
- Culture.pl looks at why Nietzsche falsely claimed Polish ancestry.
- Foreign Policy suggests that this is a new age of German prominence in the West.
- The New Yorker finds Amazon's new brick-and-mortar bookstores lacking.
- The Toronto Star shares claims that learning a second language provides mental benefits.
- Universe Today notes the discovery of potentially habitable super-Earth Gliese 625 b.
- Vice's Motherboard notes how the popularization of ayahuasca-driven spirit quests has actually hurt traditional users.
- Vox notes the latest Russia-Ukraine history fight on Twitter.
[BLOG] Some Wednesday links
Mar. 8th, 2017 11:34 am- Centauri Dreams looks at evidence that Ceres' Occator Crater, an apparent cryovolcano, may have been recently active.
- Crooked Timber's John Quiggin wonders what would have happened had Kerensky accepted the German Reichstag's proposal in 1917.
- Dangerous Minds looks at some fun that employees at a bookstore in France got up to with book covers.
- Cody Delistraty describes F. Scott Fitzgerald's utter failure to fit into Hollywood.
- A Fistful of Euros hosts Alex Harrowell's blog post taking a look at recent history from a perspective of rising populism.
- io9 reports on a proposal from the Chinese city of Lanzhou to set up a water pipeline connecting it to Siberia's Lake Baikal.
- Imageo notes a recent expedition by Norwegian scientists aiming at examining the winter ice.
- Strange Maps links to an amazing graphic mapping the lexical distances between Europe's languages.
- Window on Eurasia argues that Russia is on the verge of a new era of population decline, and shares a perhaps alarming perspective on the growth of Muslim populations in Russia.
