CABBAGETOWN NEIGHBOURHOOD REVIEW
This week’s image: Olympic hockey gold at The Local GEST, 7 am Sunday
This week’s image: Olympic hockey gold at The Local GEST, 7 am Sunday
OPEN HOUSES
Click here to read about the open
houses in our neighbourhood.
Crimefighters
Photo: CBC
If you’ve got an issue with crime
near your home, you might want to recruit these folks. It’s been widely reported that 82-year
old Mrs Ye was accosted in her apartment at Sherbourne and Dundas by a 52-year
old man who claimed to be helping her.
Her neighbours, Chin-Hua Chen and 71-year old Jane Harris (both senior citizens) intervened and then were
helped by a homeless man who happened to be in the building’s stairwell. Mr Chen slowed him down, the homeless
man landed a few blows and then Ms Harris delivered the coup de grace with her
cane. Police now have a man in
custody and have laid a variety of assault and robbery charges. The CBC has a colourful video about the
incident .
Cabbagetown South meeting
On March 5, the residents’
association will hold its March meeting at Retsina (209 Gerrard E) at 7
pm. Superintendent Elizabeth
Byrnes and Staff Sergeant John Spanton from 51 Division will talk about
policing issues in the area.
Storytelling events
Dinny Biggs reports that three
special storytelling events are coming soon. The Toronto Storytelling Festival happens from March 28 to
April 6 – with its main stage at the Daniels Spectrum from April 3 to 6. Within the Festival, there’ll be a
special symposium about Storytelling & Social Justice on April 3. On March 29, Urban Campfires is being
held at the Parliament Street Library.
Check out the details, schedules and ticket info at the Festival
website.
Regent Park update
Photo: Daniels Corporation
The proposed revisions for the
redevelopment in Regent Park were sent to Community Council on February 25 and
they’re scheduled for the March 20 agenda at City Council.
In brief, these changes increase the
number of units for the area from 5400 to 7500. This extra density will be totally devoted to market units
and will increase the percentage of market units in the project from 60 to
75%.
The large central park will be
complete in the Spring.
Construction on the Athletic Grounds and the Linear Park will start this
year and the work on the community centre has started and will finish in 2015. A summary of these revisions with a
full set of maps is available here.
For a complete
copy of the detailed motion before Community Council, click here.
Spring yoga with Joy
Joy Craighead has been teaching yoga
since 1983. She’s just back from
India where she’s been teaching at the Himalayan Hospital and Medical
School. She offering two
eight-week series of hatha yoga classes from February 24 to April 14 and from
May 4 to June 23. Mondays, 6 to 7:30 pm, at the Kiwanis Boys & Girls Club
(101 Spruce), $85 each. Joy is
donating all proceeds from the classes to the Himalayan Hospital. Contact her at (416) 921-2683.
Thai massage at Sundara
Helen Coltrinari has recommended
Margo at Sundara (490 Parliament) for her Thai massage therapies. It’s offered on Monday, Tuesday and
Thursday afternoons from 2 to 5 pm.
Sessions are $45. You can
reach Margo at (647) 890-1830.
Helen says that her session with Margo was quite wonderful.
Congrats to Diane Flacks
Starting on March 12, Global TV
presents Working The Engels, a new comedy show that reunites SCTV alumni Martin
Short, Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin.
Diane is writing for the show.
She’s also included in Tarragon Theatre’s 2014-2015 season lineup. Her
play, Waiting Room, will be staged from January 6 to February 15. Click here to see the Global promo and
here to read The Toronto Star’s report about Tarragon’s next season.
RESTAURANTS
& PUBS
Hockey madness
When the liquor board decided to
extend pub hours into the early morning last Sunday to accommodate Olympic
hockey fans, two local spots took advantage of the opportunity. Both opened at 6:45 am for the 7 am start. At the House on Parliament (454 Parliament),
fans packed into the upper level and enjoyed the buffet breakfast laid out
downstairs. At the Local GEST
(424 Parliament), fans gathered
around the bar on both sides of the room to watch the game.
The Winchester Kitchen & Bar
The Winchester Kitchen & Bar
(51A Winchester) has closed. Its
location on the second floor of the Winchester building was a beautiful
room but it’s also a tough spot
for restaurants and clubs. On its
Facebook page, the staff have offered their thanks to their friends for three
fun years on Winchester.
The Irv
The new gastropub at 195 Carlton at
Ontario (where JAMcafe used to be) will open on schedule on Saturday
night. The interior has been
radically changed – gone is the wood panelling and the small booths. It’s now a brighter, modern room with
lots of glass and grey throughout.
Watch for regular entertainment on the weekends and try out the
specially brewed beer. The Irv’s
Facebook page has listed its weekly features and menus.
650 Bistro
Right across the street at 194A
Carlton (in the home of the former Cafune), 650 Bistro is almost ready to
open. Stefano says that the menu
will feature a Mediterranean touch.
420 Smokehouse
Photo: blogTO, Jesse Milns
Virginia has been tinkering with her
menu. She’s now added a thick
peameal bacon sandwich, reuben,
smoked meat poutine, fish and chips, a bacon burger, pulled pork, and two kinds
of chicken wings. Open from 11:30
am to 11 pm, Tuesday to Sunday, 420 Parliament
Stout’s busy schedule
March will be a busy month for Erin
and her staff at Stout Irish Pub (221 Carlton). Of course, St Patrick’s Day rings a big bell in an Irish pub
– so she’s celebrating with a four-day event. She’s also brewing a special beer (coconut and lemon grass
IPA) to mark International Women Day on March 8. And she’ll be having an hour-long candlelit event on Earth
Day. Watch for details about each
event as the time approaches.
Academy Awards weekend
The Flying Beaver (488 Parliament) has a two-day extravaganza lined up for
the Oscars. On Saturday, the
evening starts at 7 pm with the Oscar Trivia Game and continues at 9 pm with “And
the Winner Is IV”. It’s an evening
filled with your favourite songs from the movies. On Sunday, the entire Pubaret is devoted to the Oscars on the
big screen TVs – watch the winners while munching on lobsters.
The Local GEST (424 Parliament) invites you to come as an actor in any
nominated film (past or present) or in your Red Carpet Attire. There’ll be prizes for the best
costumes and an Oscar Trivia Pool.
From 6 pm on Sunday.
Music on the weekend
Check out the new place, The
Irv (195 Carlton). There’ll be live acoustic music from 9
pm to 1 am on Saturday. It’s
opening night for the pub so it should be an interesting evening.
The Paintbox (555 Dundas W) features Ilios Streyannis and his band,
Solar Panel, with Chris Pruden (keyboards), Mario Potestio (guitar) and Mike
Pelletier (bass) on Saturday at 8 pm.
$10 cover with a prix fixe dinner for $30. On Sunday from 5:30 pm, the teachers from the Regent Park
School of Music present “Yo Teach, play me a tune.”No cover charge.
Sunday afternoon jazz at The
Local GEST (424 Parliament)
welcomes Melissa Lauren and her trio at 4:30 pm.
The Dominion on Queen has the Paul James Band at the Sonic Blues party on
Saturday at 9 pm. $10 cover. 500
Queen E.
THEATRE
& DANCE
New Ideas Festival, March 12 to
30
A three-week festival of new
writings, experimental theatre and works-in-progress at The Alumnae Theatre (70
Berkeley). There’s a new program
every week and a playwright reading every Saturday at noon. This year, 15 new
works are presented, each ranging in length from 10 to 60 minutes. For the detailed week-by-week program
and tickets, click here.
Norman Conquests
Back at Soulpepper with three plays
making up the series – Table Manners (February 27), Living Together (February 28, 8 pm) and Round and Round the
Garden (March 3, 8 pm). The trilogy
continues to March 8. 50 Tank
House Lane, Distillery.
Auditions at CCDT
The Canadian Contemporary Dance
Theatre (509 Parliament) is holding auditions on Sunday March 2 from 10 am to 1
pm for Company Dancers or Company Apprentices ages 14 to 20. Each dancer will perform one ballet and
one modern class. All auditioning
dancers must have three years experience in ballet or modern dance. $30 audition fee. Contact Deborah Lundmark at
dlundmark@ccdt.org
CLUBS & PUBS –
DAILY LISTINGS
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27 TO
SUNDAY MARCH 2
Contact info
Alice’s Place, 554 Parliament St,
(647) 931-9088
Dominion on Queen, 500 Queen St E,
(416) 368-6893, www.dominiononqueen.com
Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St,
(647) 347-6567, www.pubaret.com
Local GEST, 424 Parliament St, (416)
961-9425, https://www.facebook.com/thelocalgest
Mill Street Beer Hall, 21 Tank House
Ln (Distillery), (416) 681-0338, Facebook and
http://toronto.millstreetbrewpub.ca/
Paintbox Bistro, 555 Dundas St E,
(647) 748-0555, www.paintboxbistro.ca
Stout Irish Pub, 221 Carlton St,
(647) 344-7676, www.stoutirishpub.ca
Under the Table, 568 Parliament St,
(647) 351-1533
If there's a cover
charge or tickets are sold, we’ve listed the prices. Otherwise, the event is
free.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27
Flying Beaver
7 pm, Benefit for “Stand-up against
domestic violence” $10/advance & $15/door
Local GEST
8 pm, Music night with Jeff Barnes
& Noah Zacharin
Under the Table
8 pm, Movie night with $4 appetizers
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28
Flying Beaver
7 pm, Whiskey Jack (unplugged),
$15/advance & $20/door
9 pm, The legendary Carole Pope,
$20/advance & $25/door
SATURDAY MARCH 1
Dominion on Queen
9 pm, Paul James Band “Blues party”
$10
Flying Beaver
7 pm, The Oscar Trivia Game
9 pm, And The Winner Is, IV
Trivia game only $10, The Winner
$15, both shows $20
Paintbox
8 pm, The Solar Panel Band, $10
cover, $30 3-course dinner.
SUNDAY MARCH 2
Alice’s Place
4 pm, Karaoke
Flying Beaver
4 pm, Tea Dance, no cover
5 pm, Lobsters & Oscars
Local GEST
4:30 pm, Sunday Jazz with Melissa
Lauren
7 pm, Academy Awards
Mill Street Beer Hall
1 pm, Jazz brunch
Paintbox
5:30 pm, “Yo Teach, play a tune”
with staff from the Regent Park School of Music, no cover
