June 28

This week’s image:  Cabbagetown’s gardens are gorgeous right now - warm days, lots of rain, smart gardeners.


CABBAGETOWN NEIGHBOURHOOD 
REVIEW

LOCAL NEWS 

St James Town official community consultation
Tuesday July 10. 6:30 to 9 pm, Church of St Peter and St Simon-the-Apostle (525 Bloor E). 
The City of Toronto is holding an official consultation about the development proposal for new buildings in St James Town.  The plan proposes a new network of streets and open spaces,  a public park, a 51-storey tower on Wellesley just east of the Food Basics store, a 10-storey mid-rise building and four 3-storey townhouse blocks - in total, 887 new residential units.  In addition, the developers want a 5-storey commercial and retail building next to 280 Wellesley and expanded retail in the current Food Basics store.
The City planner is Thomas Rees who can be contacted at (416) 392-1791 or thomas.rees@toronto.ca 

Cabbagetown South heritage district
Photo: City of Toronto Archives
A team appointed by the City’s Heritage Preservation Services is studying the Cabbagetown South neighbourhood as a first official step to establishing a Heritage Conservation District here.  The team will hold a community consultation on Thursday July 5 from 5 to 8 pm at Central Neighbourhood House (349 Ontario).  There’s also an online page where details of the study are available.  

July Strawberry Social
The Winchester Park Residents are again offering yummy strawberries and cream at their annual Strawberry Social.  It happens at Winchester Square Park (Aberdeen and Ontario), Saturday July 7 from 2 to 4 pm.  Drop by and meet your friends.  Free while supplies last.

Congrats to the new CRA Board
The 2018/2019 Board of Directors for the Cabbagetown Residents Association was selected at its annual meeting on June 13.  Marc Simmons will serve as its President.  The people in the photo include (from lower left) Sam Richardson, Kelley Teahen, Shawna Pereira, and Tina Card and (from upper left), Des Ryan, Kate Steinmann, Tyler Fleming and Jim Clark.  Plus Colin Burns and Carolyn Jarman who aren’t in the picture.  
The CRA does valuable work in our community - best wishes to the new Board.  Check out the Association’s website.  

Bike Share
A new Bike Share station opened at Amelia and Sumach on June 22.  It has eleven bike slots.

Music on Parliament Street
Check out the Double A Jazz Band at Spruce and Parliament.  Saturday afternoon, June 30, noon to 3 pm.  Congrats and thanks to the band’s sponsors, the Cabbagetown BIA.

Barbara Hall’s new job
The #TorontoStrong Fund has appointed Barbara Hall as its administrator.  The fund was set up following the awful April 23 attack by the van driver on Yonge Street south of Finch. It has currently collected $3.5 million for the victims’ families  There are 10 victims and 16 survivors of that attack.  Donations will be received until August 31 and then the entire amount will be distributed by September 28.  For more information about the Fund and for donation links, click here.  

2018 Streetscapes in Bloom
Every year, the Cabbagetown Preservation Association nominates a group of gardens for their impact on their surrounding streets.  Judges check out the gardens four times and look at the plants, the hard landscaping, the design and the gardens’ maintenance plus the gardens’ overall impressions.  The winner is announced in the Fall and receives a watercolour painting of the garden and a glass medallion on a metal crook.  
This year’s nominees are 1 Rose Avenue, 57-59 Winchester, 16 and 68 Metcalfe, 266 and 340 Carlton.

Cabbagetown Farmers’ Market
The Market runs weekly from 3 to 7 pm every Tuesday, rain or shine, until the Fall in Riverdale Park (Sumach and Winchester).  
Every week, new vendors are arriving.  On Tuesday, the Smoke Bloke was back with his tasty smoked salmon.  Toronto Bee Rescue is there with lots of news about their group plus a batch of locally made honey.  Fresh  produce is rolling right in - strawberries, raspberries, lots of green veggies.  Don’t miss out.
Visit the Market’s Facebook page.  

Lookin’ good
And thirsty.  Ron found Frogpond winery at the Cabbagetown Farmers’ Market and he picked up a nice bottle of cabernet franc.  We’ll get a review from him later.

Cabbagetown Regent Park Museum Historical Tidbit
By Sally Gibson.  
Image - Funeral St. James Cemetery, June 1866, Toronto Public Library 
On June 5, 1866, a funeral procession wended its way from the Drill Shed at Simcoe Street along King and up Parliament Street to the St. James Cemetery north of today’s Wellesley Street. The town was in mourning. Shops were closed. Crowds bearing black badges lined the streets. Church bells tolled. A regimental band played the Dead March.
At the cemetery, the coffins of five Queen’s Own Rifles volunteers who had been killed at Ridgeway fighting a force of Irish Fenians invading from the U.S., were laid out in front of Cumberland & Storm’s elegant chapel, St. James-the-Less. In this moment of intense Imperial patriotism immediately before the creation of Canada in1867, the funeral for Great Britain’s gallant fallen was duly recorded in the Illustrated London News of June 30, 1866,
accompanied by this illustration. 
Fenian hopes for an independent Irish Republic remained unmet.
For more Cabbagetown history, photos and videos visit the CRPM Facebook page


ANNOUNCEMENTS
Short-term housing needed for a Syrian family of six.  Their sponsors include Community Matters Toronto and several local residents.  They’re arriving on July 8 but the lease on their St James Town apartment starts on September 1. They need a temporary 2 - 3 bedroom space for the summer.  Please contact Stephen Watt at stephen_watt@hotmail.com 

PLAN YOUR SUMMER MOVIES

Movies in Corktown Common
Cinematic Cities Series
Eats and treats at 7 pm by Buster’s Sea Cove and Choco-Churros.  Popcorn at the festival canteen. Free admission - suggested donation is $10.  Corktown Common (155 Bayview at River)
Thursday July 5, 9:15 pm - Roman Holiday featuring Audrey Hepburn in her Oscar-winning first feature film role and Gregory Peck. The evening’s short film is Long Branch about two strangers who travel to the furthest edges of Toronto for a little romance.

Movies in Regent Park
Under the Stars
Pre-show at 7 pm with fun activities for the whole family.  Popcorn and refreshments. Regent Park (just east of Sackville and Dundas), at sundown, free. 
Wednesday, July 11 -  Cinderella

Movie in the park - the community’s choice
Cabbagetown BIA
6 pm, food vendors by Freshed Right Salad & Juice Bar, Absolute Bakery and The Women's Development Network with Yonge Street Mission.  Free - Riverdale Park West  (201 Winchester) 
Wednesday July 18, 8:45 pm - Fantastic Mr Fox.  
The organizers ask that you RSVP on Facebook.

IN THE MEDIA

Project Red Brick
Toronto Police Service launched Project Red Brick earlier this Spring.  One action resulted in dramatic gun and drug seizures in Regent Park.  On June 12, Ieva Lucs did an online story for CBC News.  

Sun shades on the slides
Photo:  City of Toronto
Last summer, a two-year-old girl was burned when she used the slides in the playground at Corktown Common.  At first, the Parks Department barricaded the slides to stop kids from using them.  Staff have now installed overhead shades to keep the metal cool.  Read the CBC’s story here.  

Sidewalk Toronto
The City of Toronto has joined up with Alphabet (Google’s parent company) to develop a new neighbourhood - a 12-acre site called Quayside on the waterfront at the foot of Parliament Street.  Several community consultations have resulted in changes to the plan. There are also several profound outstanding issues to be settled.  As a result, the development plan’s timetable has moved back to the Spring, 2019.  David Rider wrote about the issues and their impact in the Toronto Star.  

Sidewalk Labs’ headquarters
Photo: Tanya Mok, blogTO
307 is the new office space for Sidewalk Labs (307 Lakeshore E). It’ll open to the public on Sundays from noon to 6 pm for tours and events starting June 30.  blogTO has looked at the space and done a nifty article with plenty of photos.   

COMING EVENTS

Canada Day celebration
At Spruce Court playground (Sumach and Carlton).  There’ll be a terrific menu - hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, devilled eggs, cookies and ice cream.  Bring your own goodies to share with everyone.  Monday July 2, noon to 3 pm.

ROM Walk - Necropolis
Wednesday July 4, 6 pm.  The Necropolis is the final resting place for early pioneers, rebels and radicals, politicians and hundreds of ordinary people.  It’s Toronto’s oldest non-denominational cemetery. The tour meets at the Gate House (200 Winchester).  Free.

Taste of Regent Park
The Taste starts on Wednesday July 4 and goes until August 29 in the Big Park on the north side of Dundas at Sackville.  It’s part of a full evening’s activities.  The open-air market starts at 5 pm, a community meal at 6 pm and the movie series Under The Stars at 9 pm. Check out the review in The Daily Hive.  

Dance Dance Dance
Party organizer Gina Dineen is moving her event to the Fall.  Let’s hope it goes ahead - lots of Cabbagetowners have wanted another big dance party.  She’ll contact you if you’ve already shown interest online.

BUSINESS NEWS

O Canada, Eh!
Whether you’re celebrating the Canada Day long weekend in the city or at the cottage, these Canadian-themed mugs and outdoor rugs are sure to be crowd pleasers. Shop local - eh - at Kendall & Co (514 Parliament).  Store hours - 10 am to 6 pm,  weekdays, 11 am to 5 pm, Saturdays and noon to 4 pm, Sundays. http://kendallandco.ca/fyi/retail

Congrats St Jamestown Steak & Chops
Lianne Phillipson and Jerry Agar from NewsTalk Radio 1010 had a tasting contest to find Toronto’s best burgers.  St Jamestown Steak & Chops rated #1 in the beef burger category - it was Lianne’s personal favourite as well.  Read what they had to say in Lianne’s blog.  

NOW Magazine Reader’s Choice
One more day to nominate your favourites.  Nominations in each category for the Readers’ Choice Awards will close on June 29.  The more nominations that a business receives, the more likely it is to be included on the final ballots. There are six different groups with scores of individual categories in each one. 
Final voting will start on July 19.  
Click here to read about the awards and to make your nominations.  

RESTAURANT NEWS

Summerlicious starts Friday July 6
Summerlicious is the season’s celebration of good food in 200 great restaurants across Toronto.  Each one offers a prix fixe meal - lunch at $23, $28 or $33 and dinner at $33, $43 or $53.  The full list is available online.   
Three local restaurants are participating -
Archeo, Italian, 31 Trinity - Distillery, (416) 815-9898, Lunch $23, dinner $33, website.  
Boku, Japanese, 42 Gristmill Lane - Distillery, (416) 368-8686, Lunch $23, dinner $33 website.  
F’Amelia, Italian, 12 Amelia, (416) 323-0666, Dinner $43, website

Cyril’s soup of the week  
Cyril has released his July schedule of available soups. 
Saturday June 30: chunky corn soup flavoured with Indian spices and coconut milk.  For added flavour and a nice colour contrast, serve it with quartered cherry tomatoes, sliced radish and a small dice of avocado.
Tuesday July 3: tomato-watermelon gazpacho
Saturday July 7: lemongrass and coconut noodle
Tuesday July 10:  green gazpacho
Saturday July 14: carrot-ginger
Tuesday July 17: mango-cucumber
Saturday July 21: lemon, lentil and corn.
Containers are $9 each for 24 oz/700 ml.  
He delivers (in Cabbagetown) on Tuesdays and Saturdays. He’s accepting payments by e-transfers and cash.  Place your orders at his email address, cyril@merryberry.ca

Beats & Eats
Every Saturday afternoon in July from noon to 4 pm at Paintbox Bistro (555 Dundas E).  Enjoy the plant-powered menu and hear the music of Lost Worlds DJs - peruvian, afrobeat, ska, laid back reggae.    

Breakfast and coffee in the Distillery
Arvo and Balzac are each serving terrific new breakfast items.  Plus, of course, wonderful coffee.

Arvo (17 Gristmill Lane) has French brioche with Earl Grey cloud, berry compote, maple nut crumble and seasonal jelly.

Balzac (1 Trinity Street) has listed three new breakfast cups - Greek yogurt parfait, coconut chia pudding and steel cut oatmeal. 

COMING AND GOING

El Charro
Photo: Hector Vasquez, blogTO
Sadly, El Charro has closed its Parliament Street location.  It’s moved - its terrific burritos are now available in a new spot at 788 Broadview.

Welcome to a bunch of new restaurants

Jugemu Sushi (193 Carlton) is now open in the lower level at Zakkushi on Carlton.  Menus and more info available online.   

Wing House (420 Parliament) is open - lots of big TV screens are now showing the World Cup.

Tokyo Ramen.  In the former site of Under the Table (568 Parliament).  Renovations are underway - opening date tba.

ON STAGE

A Secret Chord: A Leonard Cohen Experience
Soulpepper (50 Tank House Lane) is bringing back its popular Leonard Cohen show. Twelve performances - five of them in afternoon matinees.  Saturday July 7 to Sunday July 29.  For more info about the performers and for tickets, click here.  

The 27 Club
A Soulpepper Concert, July 14 to 28.  It’s an exploration of the music by performers who died at the age of 27 - Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse.  Ten performances - tickets available online.  50 Tank House Lane 

Music City in the Distillery
Every weekend through the summer, the Distillery stages its Music City series on the Trinity Square stage.  Two performers usually appear each day.  
On Saturday June 30 - Allison Brown at 2 pm and Abigail Lapell at 4 pm.
On Sunday July 1 - Moscow Apartment at 2 pm and Duff Thompson at 4 pm.

CLUBS & PUBS – DAILY LISTINGS

THURSDAY JUNE 28 TO SUNDAY JULY 8

For contact info about these clubs and restaurants, see the list at the bottom of this page.  
If there's a cover charge or tickets are sold, the prices are listed.

THURSDAY JUNE 28

New Town
Oki Doki Karaoke

FRIDAY JUNE 29

Alice’s Place
10 pm, Karaoke
New Town
Oki Doki Karaoke 
Quincy
African weekends with DJ Fox and a guest DJ

SATURDAY JUNE 30

Distillery - Trinity Square Stage 
2 pm, Music City with Allison Brown and 4 pm, Abigail Lapell
Dominion
9 pm, David Deez 
New Town
Oki Doki Karaoke

SUNDAY JULY 1

Alice’s Place
4 pm, Karaoke
Distillery - Trinity Square Stage 
2 pm, Music City with Moscow Apartment and 4 pm, Duff Thompson
The Tilted Dog
4:30 pm, Sunday afternoon jazz will return next week. 

MONDAY JULY 2

Stout Irish Pub
7:30 pm, Headscratchers Trivia

TUESDAY JULY 3

Stout Irish Pub
7:30 pm, Headscratchers Trivia

WEDNESDAY JULY 4

Alice’s Place
9 pm, Karaoke
The Tilted Dog
7:30 pm, Smart Ass Trivia with Porter

THURSDAY JULY 5

Alice’s Place
Karaoke
Mill Street Brew Pub
5 pm, Live music
New Town
Oki Doki Karaoke
The Tilted Dog
8 pm, live music with Jeff Barnes and Noah Zacharin

FRIDAY JULY 6

Alice’s Place
10 pm, Karaoke 
New Town
Oki Doki Karaoke

SATURDAY JULY 7

Distillery - Trinity Square Stage
2 pm, Music City with Tay Sera and 4 pm, Ben Kunder
New Town
Oki Doki Karaoke
Paintbox
Noon to 4 pm, Beats & Eats, Lost Worlds DJs

SUNDAY JULY 8

Alice’s Place
4 pm, Karaoke
Distillery - Trinity Square Stage
2 pm, Music City with Swamperella and 4 pm, Ian Foster
New Town
Oki Doki Karaoke 
The Tilted Dog 
4:30 pm, Sunday afternoon jazz with Ambiance

CONTACT INFO

ALICE'S PLACE
554 Parliament St, (647) 931-9088, 
ARVO
17 Gristmill Lane, Distillery,  (647) 352-2766
CORKTOWN KITCHEN
354 King St E, (46) 901-1188
CRANBERRIES
601 Parliament St, (416) 925-6330, 
DOMINION PUB & KITCHEN
500 Queen St E, (416) 366-5555, 
EL CATRIN
18 Tank House Lane, Distillery, (416) 203-2121, 
HOUSE ON PARLIAMENT
454 Parliament St, (416) 925-4074, 
IMPACT KITCHEN
573 King St E, (416) 306-1986, 
THE IRV
95 Carlton Street, (647) 350-4787, 
JOHNNY G’s
478 Parliament St, (416) 928-1358
THE LOCAL GEST
See below - The Tilted Dog
MILL STREET BEER HALL
21 Tank House Ln, Distillery, (416) 681-0338, 
MILL STREET BREW PUB
21 Tank House Ln, Distillery, 
ODIN
514 King E, (647) 350-6346,
NEW TOWN
413 Parliament Street
PAINTBOX BISTRO
555 Dundas St E, (647) 748-0555
QUINCY AFROKITCHEN & BAR
326 Parliament, (647) 989-9127, 
https://www.facebook.com/cometoquincys/ 
SOULPEPPER
Young Centre, 50 Tank House Lane, Distillery, (416) 866-8666,
STOUT IRISH PUB
221 Carlton St, (647) 344-7676,
THE TILTED DOG
(Formerly The Local GEST)
424 Parliament. (416) 961-9425
http://www.tilteddogpub.ca/events/