Ford sure hates those streetcars

So, they've wrapped up construction for the seasons on the new street car tracks on Ronces. Too bad the city couldn't think it was important enough to let car drivers know that the year-long park-where-ever-you-please-apaloosa is now over. Since they've widened the sidewalks on certain stretches, especially the block just south of Howard Park, if anyone parks in the curb lane there, the streetcars can't get by.

Guess what, traffic chaos has ensued. Of course the simple solution, to have a tow truck waiting around to tow the cars (and make a fabulous amount of money in fees/fines). I guess that would not make people hate street cars any more. I smell a Ford or two behind this fiasco (plus several Hondas and at least one Beemer as of a few minutes ago).

Wild Wings?

Man between the new job and it getting to be winter, it seems to be a struggle to find some time to spend in the neighbourhood doing anything worthwhile to write about! Anyway, I've been checking a new place out "Wild Wing" which recently opened up on the former premises of Gino's.

I for one, really miss Gino's. It was my place to go once every week or so for a panzerotto with the tomato sauce (the meat sauce never seemed to sit well with me), have a pint or two on the patio and enjoy a summer weekday eve. For a while I stayed away from Wild Wing since I prefer the pubs with local character and unique menus to the chain-operation places. Gino's had character. Pretty well everyone who grew up anywhere in the west end and extending as far away as Mississauga had at least heard of the place (maybe its just the crowds I run with). I'd been there several times over the years with numerous different people.

Gino's passing caused a bit of upheaval in the neighbourhood. This summer saw some of the regulars uneasily trying to find their places at one or another of the bars on Ronces. Not only were there a handful of suddenly jobless waitresses wandering about in a daze wondering what to do with their life, but even some people who used to live above Gino's ended up being displaced. In a way it worked out for me, because while I enjoyed the food at Gino's I pretty much kept to myself regarding most of the patrons (with one or two exceptions). Meeting some of the refugees on my own turf somehow made me a bit more interested in what had transpired.

Anyway, back to Wild Wings. Sometimes, my regular hangouts are packed to the rafters on game night and I'm forced to go a bit further afield looking for a table to have dinner and catch up a bit on some work. And so I ended up at Wild Wings. With no internet service the first time I showed up, it seemed pretty certain that until the summer rolled around and the patio opened up, I would likely steer clear of the place.

My second visit wasn't too much better. Not even sure why I came that time, must have been very busy everywhere else. In any case the bar tender gave me the same story I was told the month before "We're going to get the Internet put in by next week." Yeah right. Too bad I took a look at the menu. Being a bit of a completist, I noticed that the place has some 50 or so different wing sauces to chose from. I was not even aware of it at the moment, but my brain had already decided that I would eventually try as many of them as humanly possible before I die. That night I ordered the Mesquite flavour. Not bad, not great.

About three weeks later I rolled in again and this time the Internet hook up was still "coming in next week." Luckily I remembered that another place across the street that I frequent has a network and I was able to hook up to it. This time I ordered the "Lock, Stock, and Barrel" flavour. Not bad, not bad at all.

So tonight I'm feeling bored of all my regular spots. Soup just doesn't seem to be what I want. heck I'm not even feeling hungry. And there's no parking anywhere convenient on Ronces. So off to Wild Wings. Score. The waitresses are all smiles and pleasantries. and guess what, they finally (after how many months?) have a wireless service available. Too bad it doesn't seem to be working. Oh well, Pho Nho is still broadcasting even though it looks closed today. And now I'm actually feeling hungry. Maybe I'll knock another flavour off of the list today. Oh, and there are waaay more than 50 flavours. On a closer inspection I'd say there are close to 100 different ones. This is going to be a tough job (and I bet a good number of them are not going to be to my liking).

In any case, I am perhaps a bit surprised to find myself shilling for some faceless corporation. But, there you are. I guess I'm saying I might make it back here a few more times. I also think that I know which flavour I will be having..... Oh, the waitress just took my pint glass away while I was tyoing and I still had a couple of sips in it. I really, really, really, don't like that. But I'm in an excellent mood today so I think I will let this one slide. The "Wild West" flavour - BBQ and golden mustard, better be something fierce.

Sidewalks are shaping up

Well, the street is still more or less a big mess, but things are really starting to come together. The crews are working ovetime (it's 7:45pm right now and they are still out there) putting in new sidewalks. Its a bit hard to visualize right now how its all going to look when its finished. There are these ramped extensions on the road where the sidewalk meets the street car line. As I undertand this will make it easy for people to load onto the street cars directly from the sidewalk. Makes you wonder though what will happen if a street car breaks down. How will cars be able to pass?

Anyway, I was talking to my dry cleaner Frank and he was quite skeptical about whether the end of the construction is near or not. But I'm hopeful that it won't be too much longer and that this street will be even more awesome than it was before. Only thing I am going to really, Really, REALLY regret is that the free parking currently available is going to end once the construction is finished.

Oh well.

Pho soup for you!

So I am starting to think of Roncesvalles Village as soup central. Since I tend not to be too hungry in the evenings and since a pint of Guiness is enough to fill anyone up at least half way, I've taken to ordering soup for dinner. I think I've mentioned before the usually delicious soups of the day at Dizzy's and recently I had an excellent (and rather spicy) seafood chowder at Loons. That one had a nice grab bag of yummy sea creatures floating around in a thickish stew. Of course there are half a dozen places that serve excellent borscht along the street and a few that have decent schav.

I've recently also gotten onto a pho kick, since this Vietnamese beef noodle broth is more or less a meal in itself. I've got a couple of favourite haunts, one in thje Junction another close to my gym. But the Cafe Pho Nho is so far the only pho restaurant I've come across in the Ronces area. It's not bad as these places goes and sure hits the spot after a hard routine in the gym when I want something that features both liquids and carbs. Only drwaback is that for some reason they serve the hot sauce and the hoisin sauce mixed up in one bowl. Not I like hot foods, but I can imagine others wouldn't, so I advise asking ahead for them to bring the sauces separately. Also, if you are used to the S.M.L.XL paradigm of pho ordering, you might be a tad confused. This place only has one size, which would be around an L at most places.

Anyway, enjoy.

Six Points Jazz Orchestra - Mini review

SPJO during their first set at Gate 403

I'm pretty glad I went to see the Six Points Jazz Orchestra on Saturday afternoon. I caught the first set and a half and would have stayed for more but I had to be downtown and the Gardiner was closed so did not want to risk being late. (Am I the only one who thinks Rob Ford payed someone to close the Gardiner this weekend just to increase his chances of winning the mayoralty? - umm God save us all - oh right, forgot that the only other credible option is Furious George - where can I go hide for the next 4 years or so? - will there be a refugee centre set up in Hamilton?)

Anyway, back to the SJPO. I enjoyed their music, what can I say.... You weren't expecting a real review were you? I'm not really much of an authority on jazz, so other than saying I enjoyed it, I can't really give you much more.

The Gate 403 on the other hand was a bit hectic that afternoon. Since SPJO turned out to be such a popular draw (the place was packed) the Gate ought to put another server on staff next time SPJO does a show. I'd say they missed out on more than a few sales since there was a bit of a wait between orders.

A summer fav looks to have winter legs

Sitting at Loons tonight having a fewski (I'm working okay, so it doesn't count) anyway, I tend to frequent this place a lot in the summer, but once it gets cold I tend to stay away. Big mistake. They've got some guy tonight called Chris Angel? singing. Good stuff man. He's playing a lot of my favs from the 80s and 90s. Might have to come back a bit more often.

Here's the Loons website: http://www.loonspub.com/

I'd include a picture of the two Muskoka chairs that I love to sit in on the patio in the summer, just lazying an eveninf away, but their website is set up in a way that tech-dummies like me can't snag photos off of. Oh well, go see for yourself.

Six Points Jazz Orchestra

Just as a reminder to all, the Six Points Jazz Orchestra will be performing at Gate 403 tomorrow afternoon. They are going to play 3 sets starting at 12pm and ending around 3pm. Don't miss it. I'll see if I can post a few pictures and maybe a mini review in a few days.

Konstrukshun?

Is it just me or does it seem that construction on the street car tracks has slowed down or even stopped of late? It seems to have been quite some time now that the parking in front of Dizzy's, which is currently my fave place for dinner due to the delish soup specials, has been blocked because of the lane reduction on that part of the street. Not much seems to have happened on this stretch for a couple of weeks now.

Speaking of delish soup, Dizzy's should really vary it up a bit more like they did in the summer. The last few times I've been here, its been either the tomato chipotle or the potato with whatchamacalit. In fact I think I had tomato chipotle three times in a row last week. Its yummy, don't get me wrong, but I kind of want my soup of the day to be different from yesterday's soup of the day. Is that too much to ask?

Congrats to our chief sponsor

The membership of Ukrainian Credit Union Limited today voted to go ahead with a proposed merger with So-Use Credit Union. So-Use's membership also voted for the merger on Wednesday evening. I'd like to extend my congratulations to both organizations, which together become even stronger than before.

My holiday at Kaszuby

Sure I'm a month or so late and all, but here are a few shots of the cottage I rented from some local Ronces folks.

View of the beach from the cottage

The quiet beauty of the lake

At the entrance to the property

The beautiful Cathedral in the Woods.

Polish Festival lives on... Sort of

Well, despite the Polish festival having been cancelled for this year, in some ways it carried on nonetheless. The festival had a booth at the Toronto Ukrainian Festival on Bloor this year and it seems that several other kiosks with a Polish theme also made do by setting up on Bloor Street last weekend. Somehow, that was very comforting to me. Two years is much too long of a time to go between Polish Festivals on Ronces so I was able to get at least a partial fix this year. I'm still kicking myself for not having a camera though, would have taken a photo of the very sympathetic young lady staffing the booth.

My Place is MAD

I headed over with a couple of friends today to My Place at the corner of Bloor and Jane for a launch party featuring Mad Heads XL. What a blast! Here's a bit of video from the event where the band does a cover of Don't worry be Happy. I apologise for the crappiness of my cell phone video capture.

Sushi invasion

Is it only me or has the two-decade long proliferation of Sushi restaurants in Toronto finally reached Roncesvalles? I think I just noticed Sushi restaurant #3 on this street today as I was driving up the street. I've heard from friends that the one next to The Film Buff near the south end of the street is quite good. It's just a little hole in the wall with maybe for seats and built mostly for takeout. I'm going to have to try it out to see for myself. Anyone have any recommendations as to where the best sushi is on Ronces?

Construction might suck, but good design rocks!

I've been seeing these Construction Sucks signs all over Ronces for a couple of months at least and I keep meaning to put an image of one of them up here. Now I've finally got around to it.

Once again I have to congratulate the local business community for making the best of the tough situation with the street being ripped up for so long. Instead of whining about it to the rest of the world (which rightly or wrongly does not care) they are trying everything they can to help people understand that its business as usual here. From the free parking all along the street during construction, to the pro-active marketing, these folks are doing it the right way.

Also, as a guy who used to be quite involved in the design industry I am impressed to see that who ever came up with this idea was smart enough to go to a professional designer. It looks so much more professional than something slapped together by an amateur with desktop publishing software. Somehow, it makes me even happier to live in Roncesvalles Village knowing that the businesses here have good taste and good sense!

Gate 403 - Mark this down in your calendar

I just found out that a friend of a friend will be performing at the Gate 403 on October 23. I know it's a bit early to be planning what you will be doing in the fall, but I hear they are worth checking out.

The band is called the Six Points Jazz Orchestra, or if you prefer snappy acronyms, you can just refer to them as SPJO. I am not much of an authority on Jazz, but one of the band members used to play with Skaface back in the day so that got my attention. I am booking this show into my calendar. Hope to see you there. I'll post a reminder about this once we get closer to the date of the show.

You can read more about the band here:
http://www.myspace.com/sixpointsjazzorchestra

For more info on live acts at Gate 403 visit this link:
http://www.gate403.com/calendar/2010-10

Shout out to a neighbouring blogger

I happened, completely serendipitously, to stumble upon a blog about the Junction that seems to have just popped up on one of my web-tracking gadgets. It's called Unction in the Junction and it can be found right here Unction in the Junction blog. I like the Junction almost as much as I like Ronces, so I think I'll be tracking that blog too.

Getting Dizzy at the Dizzy

Sitting at the Dizzy on Ronces planning out a presentation on a new product offering we are going to launch soon that I have to show the Big Kahuna tomorrow. Glad this place has an internet connection since my abso favourite place doesn't (Boo Intersteer) and today the Intersteer has my fav dinner special, the Corn Flake encrusted chicken with mac and cheese. Oh well, you guys lost a sale today.

Anyway, I like Dizzy for the soup. Have I mentioned that before? I have never gone wrong with their soup yet. Plus guys, the blond waitress that works here is a total hottie. Anyway, got to run, the soup is here and I don't want it to get cold, or the beer to get warm. Cheers.

Air show pictures

Well these two pictures are really the best I could do. They show one of the acrobatic teams flying in formation.




The two little dots at the bottom of the second picture are planes. I swear they are!

A thank you to our sponsors

I just wanted to write a short note of thanks to Ukrainian Credit Union Limited for agreeing to expand their support for this blog. They've got a branch not very far away, the nearest one is actually just over in Bloor West Village at 2397 Bloor Street West. You can learn more about them at their website: www.ukrainiancu.com

By the way, Ukrainian Credit Union Limited will be one of the key sponsors of the Toronto Ukrainian Festival on Bloor West Village Sept. 17-19. They are sponsoring the headline act MadHeads XL who are a ska/reggae/ukrainian folk fusion band. More information on the festival can be found here: Toronto Ukrainian Festival

Airshow

One of the real joys of living in Roncevalles Village is that some perennial events that make Toronto what it is happen just on the periphery of our little neighbourhood. Caribana is one. The Airshow that closes off the CNE's final weekend is another.

Both events of course bring out the grumbling curmudgeons who can't stand anyone making a bit of noise or having fun for even one second. But, I for one look forward to these kinds of annual happenings. There is nothing quite so comforting as the sound of powerful jet engines screaming by. I usually can't even see then planes from my window, I just feel the house shake from time to time.

Not till I drag my butt out of bed in the early afternoon and get out onto the street can I see the majestic planes being taken through their paces by the talented and daring pilots. The best site this year was a large passenger jet swooping low over the buildings at the foot of Roncesvalles Ave, and out over the lake. You don't often get to see a plane that close up in the city.

Due to the persistent low cloud ceiling I thought for sure the event would be a no-go this year. But no, only the first day was canceled. Sunday and Monday seemed to go off without much of a hitch.

I tried taking a few pictures, but I guess my camera can't really zoom that far to catch fast flying jets doing formations high in the sky. Oh well. I'm sure you've seen pictures elsewhere.

As to Joe Fiorito's surreal condemnation of the Air Show in the Toronto Star a few days ago, all I can say is get a grip Joe. There are more than enough real issues for you to tie your panties up in a knot about.

Organic Streetscape Projekt hammers it home

I'm going to go off on a couple of tangents here that I don't intend to hit very often in the context of this blog. But the show today brought back a lot of great memories for me. To set the context a bit, this was an art show with the stated goal of taking Ukrainian-Canadian, Ukrainian, Serbian and Canadian culture, tossing in some gypsy and folk spicing and shaking it all up together to see if anything decent can come of it.

In short, my answer is duh! Of course. If you can listen to this style of music without wanting to dance yourself into a primitive oblivion then you are a cold stone indeed. I have some criticism that I will express shortly, but I want to say first, very emphatically indeed, that my overall take was extremely positive and that I am very glad that I came and I have to say that anyone who failed to come missed an event that does not happen every day or even every 100 days.

The young lads involved, Ludy Dobri a band of mostly musicians from Ukraine plus one guy from Canada (but of a Ukrainian background), and Worldly Savages, started by a guy who is not (corrected Dec 23/10) originally from Serbia, provided the main attraction/entertainment of the evening. Their style of music takes some traditional slavic tunes, speeds them up, mixes in some eastern influences and even some vaguely ska-ish beats and comes up with something that I suppose could be compared to klezmer, though that would not be entirely accurate.

The setting was the Snowball Gallery on Queen Street just east of Roncesvalles Avenue and the walls were festooned with art by a number of young Canadian and Ukrainian artists and included one particularly interesting piece which was in fact a collage of many separate drawings created by random people in the street who were asked to commit to paper via words or drawings what the concept of a "Ukrainian Toronto" evoked in their minds. My favourite was done by a guy who is married to a Ukrainian, but who is not Ukrainian himself. His drawing managed to at one and the same time deliver a very stereotypically visual presentation with some very nuanced content that only someone who is married to a Ukrainian could possibly know.

The best art piece in my opinion was a video installation featuring a young woman singing in a traditional villager style, but mixed in a club style. And this is where I shall begin to digress into my critique which isn't really a critique at all but just some observations.

The theme of the evening as presented by the MC was that Ukrainian-Canadian culture (serving as a proxy here for any hyphenated identity brought in from the old world) can be stifling and is often dictated by the "keepers" of the culture who are more likely than not, more traditional than the people in the countries they left behind. I must say that I pretty well agree with this sentiment.

She then continued on to say that these particular young men are lashing out against this heinous oppression and proceeded to read a letter written by an anonymous "figurehead" of the Ukrainian-Canadian community who, while recognizing the talent of the group and giving them some due merit, nonetheless was appalled by their apparent partaking of the pleasures of life. Yeah, the letter writer is a douchebag. And one day, when these guys get jobs and tire of what they are doing now, the same person will wonder why the youth are so apathetic.

This brought me back some 15 years when I was in a sense part of a previous iteration of cultural iconoclasts who wanted to shake the tree of what we were brought up with and see what fell out. We also received a similar letter or two, even though what we were doing was not in our opinion all too controversial. There are always haters out there who just don't get young people, creative people, or people who want to have fun. Despite the controversy then, I still have people now who remind me of our creative work and ask if I have any plans to revive it. My answer is always a very firm "probably not".

All I want to say to these young men (and women as there were many women represented amongst the artists) is that there are more people out there who appreciate what they are doing, than there are jerks who don't. They probably know it, and are probably using the "antagonism" as a catalyst for creativity, which is great.

But, and perhaps they don't quite realize this themselves, they are a product of their upbringing / environment. The speeches reminded me of a Ukrainian wedding, where everyone and his drunken uncle gets up to read a letter from the "old-country". And the music, though fresh, ragged, intense, nonetheless tugged at the deepest roots of those ingrained lessons we learned. I had to physically stop myself from jumping onto the dance floor and kicking a few steps of the hopak. I'm certain I was not the only one there who felt that way. One particularly fun-loving couple that looked like they were in their late 40s-early 50s actually did dance a little bit off to one side. Though those people should rightly have been the object of the scorn of the youngsters putting on the show, they weren't, simply because they were letting loose in their own way, which I think in the end was the whole point.

So this is my way of saying, I am very happy to see young people embrace their identities whatever they may be and even in the process of throwing off those parts that stifle rather than enrich the identity, nonetheless manage to add to the culture, grow it, keep it alive and constantly move in a new, yet strangely, and very comfortingly familiar direction.

A final note, and as a forty something male, I have noted this in ever expanding spheres of life, the young ladies are putting their male peers to shame. The boys are great musicians, they played with a ferocious, creative energy that envigorated everyone in the room. But their controversy appears to revolve around the fact that someone doesn't think smoking pot and then picking up instruments is a great idea.

The women on the other hand presented works of art that really dug deep into the psyche of the Ukrainian-Canadian identity. Some works cut jagged lacerations across the very beliefs that those young women's parents, grandparents, great-grandparents held close to their hearts. Some works pushed traditional culture to edges that have not been crossed before as far as I know. And yet I did not feel in the least that the artists were rejecting the culture they grew up in, they were simply expressing publicly the fact that they are not and cannot be some sort of mummified exemplars of an ideal their predecessors imagined. The countries their forebears came from are truly "imagined countries" a phrase that several previous generations of Ukrainian-Canadian writers, thinkers and artists have aptly applied to that golden city that was the Ukraine of their parents' dreams.

So you ask, where is the criticism? Well, and this may not be entirely fair, but Ludy Dobri seems to suffer from the same curse that every band worth listening to that has ever come out of either Ukraine or the Ukrainian diaspora suffers from. Namely, they rock 100x more powerfully live than on CD. Komy Vnyz, Braty Hadiukyny, VV, Mandry, The Ukrainians, Taras Chubay (even Ron Cahute for pete's sake, though please don't kill me for putting him in with the rest of the aforementioned bands) all have blown me away at concerts, but their CDs seem only a pale simulacrum of the real thing. The only exception to this rule seems to be the band Okean Elzy who have decent recorded music, but suck on stage.

Anyway, you will have several more chances to see Ludy Dobri as well as Worldly Savages both at the upcoming Bloor Street West Ukrainian Festival, as well as other venues around Toronto and the rest of Canada. I highly recommend that you take the time to go see them. These guys know how to have fun, and if you begrudge them this indulgence, you are an old fogey. They are also "doing" something. They didn't just sit around the bong and laugh at how stupid their father is, they went and organized a pretty impressive art evening... well, okay, their girlfriends did all the heavy lifting on the organizational side, but still, they inspired their girlfriends to make this project a reality. And they drew a much bigger crowd than I have often seen at events that the older generation puts together.

Key to images:

1. Ludy Dobri; 2. Playing the Hammered Dulcimer; 3. The lead dude from Worldly Savages; 4. Part of the rather large crowd, and boy was it hot in there! I should have figured an art gallery on Queen West wasn't going to feature A/C.

Nu-Folk and Gypsy-Punk visit Roncesvalles

On Thursday a "nu-folk" happening comes to our little part of the world. The Organic Streetscape Projekt is a Canadian tour based around a collaboration between Ukrainian and Canadian musicians and artists that will include several exhibits and shows in several cities as well as collaboration with Toronto gypsy-punk troupe WORLDLY SAVAGES and other special guests.

The first event in this tour will take place in the Snowball Gallery on Queen St. West, just steps east of Roncesvalles Avenue.

The evening will feature a live performance by folk group Ludy Dobri from Ukraine and installations by local and international writers and artists. The event is meant to be a collaborative show on the theme of Ukrainian-Canadian identity and the intersection of folk tradition in a contemporary world.

I mention this event since I have run across the Ludy Dobri several times now busking on the streets and in the parks of Toronto and have enjoyed the sound they create. So I was happily surprised to find out today that they will be performing around the corner from me.

Show starts at 8pm I believe.

Read more

Listing of other Ludy Dobri show dates and locations

My first Ronces-related holiday

Just a few more days and I will be trekking into the eastern stretches of our fair province to spend a week at a rented cottage. First time I've ever rented a cottage. So this should be an interesting experience.

It started about two months ago when I saw a notice hanging on a bulleting board at the Timothy's that a local couple, Sandra and Peter, were offering their cottage for rent. I took down the phone number and eventually called and reserved a week for myself.

I'll let you know how it works out. Hopefully it is a blast so that I can put in a nice plug for a neighbour!

Brunch on Ronces - Chez Brad's

Looking for a great place to have brunch? Try Brad's which is located near the intersection with Geoffrey, one door down from Timothy's. Went there again yesterday after a bit of an absence. Usually I have the three egg breakfast with sausage (best breakfast suasage I've had in Toronto - most places they are too greasy, or too salty, or too rubbery - here they are just perfect).

This time though I tried something new. Went for the brioche french toast. Great choice if a little bit waaay to sweet! I had the toast with caramelized bananas and blueberry sauce. MMM-mmmm-yum!

Brad's has a front section where you can dine while watching what goes on in the street, a rear room, that is a bit quieter, more intimate, and a great little sun room out backk that opens to the outdoors.

The brunch menu is only available on Saturday and Sunday. I've only eaten at Brad's during the week once. The daily menu is not well suited to my own personal likes and dislikes, however I have heard great reviews about the regular menu from several other Ronces regulars, so chances are, its just as good during the week.

Construction Follies

The rebuild of the street car tracks has reached High Park Avenue. It's a bit chaotic in terms of navigating the street and parking and such. But I am very happy that the local BIA has taken an intelligent approach to the whole thing. Not like the putzes up on St. Clair. Those morons made things worse for themselves by bogging the construction process down in the courts and ended up hurting themselves even more. I hope other BIAs take look at the results here. Sure business is down for a lot of stores, but only two have shut down so far as I can tell and the construction will be done within a year of starting. Not five years later like on St. Clair.

Plus the BIA here negotiated a deal with the city so that all street parking is free until the construction project is over. That was a brilliant move as far as I am concerned (plus it has saved me a fortune in parking charges! Thank you very much Roncesvalles VIllage BIA!!!! You folks are straight up in my books. So don't let the construction deter you from visiting this great neighbourhood.

Odds and Ends

Every neighbourhood has things that have beeen there forever, and I am sure someone somewhere knows the why and what and who of it all. But for most people who pass by the oddities forever remain simply odd. One such oddity in the neighbourhood is the lettering on this building found at the intersection of Dundas St. and Howard Park Ave where the street car lines merge.



Can anyone provide any insight on what this is all about?

Street Car Hijinks Pt.2

Construction is now well under way as these photos attest. Too bad the day I have my camera handy no one is trying some boneheaded driving manoeuver. The first picture is looking south, the second looking north at around Marion St. at the south end of the neighbourhood. Hope the businesses in the area don't lose too much business before this is done. I'm still visiting all my regular haunts in the area despite a bit of a hassle with parking.

Street Car Hijinks

The TTC started relaying the street car tracks on Roncesvalles last week (Finally!). So far they are only at the south end, but already its making me have to pull all sorts of interesting parking manoeuvers to get to some places. Benna's Bakery and The Film Buff are both in the construction zone and both are shops that I frequent.

Anyway, today there was a bit of chaos on the street. Some guy pulling a really long trailer was trying to get from one of the side streets onto Ronces. With the big ditch in the middle right now, there was no way that he could do it simply. By the time I came on site it already looked like he had been stuck for a good 10-20 minutes. The cops had to shut down the only lane going north and try to direct him, back and forth, gradually turning inch by inch into the street. There were several close calls as his wheels almost dropped into the construction ditch. Finally they gave up and decided to lift the whole thing. As I was heading from The Film Buff, they were placing the trailer onto blocks and reading a large Bobcat to lift the rear end and swing it over into the street.

I wish I had my camera with me. It was quite a sight, with tons of people gathered around for a look. The moral of this story is, if the sign at the far end of a one way street says "Local Traffic Only", it might be a good idea to pay attention and not drive in with a 50 foot trailer. I would have hated to be the driver, total embarassment!

Oops! I did it again

So, I've been renting a lot of movies this summer. One of the reasons is that Ronces has one of the city's best independent video rental stores - The Film Buff. They carry a lot of obscure titles that either don't make it to the big chains, or end up lost among the hundreds of big releases along the miles of "New Release" shelves. The Film Buff only has about three meters worth of New Release shelving and things get moved to the regular shelves much sooner than they do at the big outfits.

Add to this the fact that The Film Buff charges less for the rental, lets you keep the movies for longer, and has a late fee of 25-50 CENTS!!! depending on the movie, how can you go wrong? Oh did I forget to mention the ice cream parlour that is attached to the store? No wonder there is always a crowd of people out side, families, youngsters on dates, friends sitting around chatting. Its a real community sort of place.

So I've been renting all manner of films that I likely would never have even known existed. I'm focusing mainly on zombie, post-apocalyptic, and noire, with a sprinkling of horror, sci-fi, foreign and historical dramas (I highly recommend Zombieland to anyone who has a dark sense of humour, also the Defendor - come one you just can't go wrong with Woody Harrelson).

But I guess that eventually, seeing so many movies means you end up appreciating each individual one less. This just happened to me yesterday. I rented a movie called "Capitaine Alatriste" a Spanish movie starring Viggo Mortensen. Something seemed familiar about it. But as I stared at the cover I saw nothing obvious.

Well, once I popped it into the dvd player,turns out I think I've seen it. Though still not too sure, since I have for sure seen the opening sequence and a scene or two after that, but the rest does not seem familiar. Did I rent it and then fall asleep watching it? Was it so boring that I couldn't bear to watch it to the end? I don't know. I ended up pulling that one out and trying to watch "Army of Darkness". Now that's a funny enough film, but I guess I was tired or something, fell asleep before the army of skeletons was even properly awakened. Oh well, I'll have to watch both films tonight.

Truth be told

Muszę teraz spać

We interrupt this blog for a historical investigation

A lot of people have asked me where the name Roncesvalles comes from. Being a well-read gentleman of leisure I have always assumed that it was named in honor of the courageous last stand of Rolland who was covering Charlemagne's retreat from Spain.

Oh land of France, oh blissful, pleasant land,
Today laid desolate by such cruel waste!
Brave French, I see you die on my account,
And I unable to protect your lives!

But no! Through the magic of the internet I have discovered that the name derives instead from a battle during the Napoleonic Wars. Colonel Walter O'Hara who was one of the original developers of this area fought in Europe during this time and named the street after the Battle of Roncesvalles (1813). O'Hara was also involved in suppressing the Rebellion of 1837 led by William Lyon Mackenzie.

That's a bit of a shame, I liked my own story a bit better, much more romantic really. Anyway, I leave you with another moving quote from the Song of Rolland:

Count Roland lifts the horn up to his mouth,
Then sets his lips and blows it with great force.
The hills are high; the horn's voice loud and long;
They hear it echoing full thirty leagues.
King Charles and his companions hear it sound.
The king declares, "Our men are in a battle."

Man that's punny!

Below is a photo of a poster with a funny little play on words. Lodz is a city in Poland and the name is pronounced somewhat like "woods". I thought it was quite clever.

The Portrait Gallery Part 1

Well, I got a bit bored today. Waiting for tomorrow when I'll be heading downtown to take in a few of the football games. In the meantime I pulled out my pastels and drew a few portraits. I'll admit I'm not the best artist in the world. In fact I completely suck at drawing people's faces. But I really like the feel of tracing someone's outline with pastels. You really have to use your fingers to mix the colours and shades on the paper and get the effects you want. Anyway, here's a few that I ended up doing tonight. (and yes I am as bad at photography as at art)

Boo hoo hoo

They closed the Queen of Tarts. Is there nothing sacred left in this world? Below is an image of the store front. I guess I should have bought more cookies from them.

The people that make the street

Stopped by my dry cleaners today. One of the best services ever invented as far as I'm concerned. It literally takes me about an hour per shirt if I iron them myslef, and they still don't come out quite the way I want them to. For a couple of bucks a piece at the dry cleaners, I have perfectly pressed shirts ready in a couple of days. Yeah I know, not that earth shattering of a relevation.

The place is run by a guy called Frank who is one of the most genuine and friendly people on this street. With the gift of gab, as well as wide and deep experience in running a business in this end of the city, he's probably the first person that I got to know when I moved back here.

One thing I really like about Frank's shop (Aspen Cleaners, located just north of the TD Canada Trust) is that he doesn't use as much starch as a lot of other places do. I find that starch makes certain fabrics take on a shine that looks like the shirt is "worn". Not a great look as far as I'm concerned.

But the most important thing about Frank is that he really knows how to engage with his clientele and make something mundane like running the weekly dry cleaning errand seem less a chore. Plus my son appreciates the little knick knacks he sometimes scores like a pocket magnifying glass, a chocolate square or a cranberry juice.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have never viewed any other dry cleaning operator I've dealt with as anything other than a deliverer of a grudgingly justifiable cost of being able to dress presentably. Frank on the other hand feels more like a trusted member of my personal brand team.

I'll try to remember to take a photo of his store front and post it later.

The Cat in the Kapelusz

Tonight I was sitting reading this month's issue of Harpers on the patio of the Chopin restaurant. I go there once in a while for the potato pancakes with goulash that come with a side order of some divine coleslaw-like stuff and grated beets. Best potato pancakes that I've had since the Lviv restaurant at the corner of Jane and Bloor closed several years ago.

Anyway, the reason I mention this is that while I was sitting there, I had the opportunity to exchange a couple of words with Pan Leszek. Pan* Leszek is somewhat of a fixture in the west end of the old city of Toronto. When I first moved here in the mid 90s, I could not help but notice a short, ancient gentleman who strode purposefully up and down Bloor Street West and Roncesvalles Avenue in a pair of khaki shorts, a military-style khaki shirt and a wide brimmed hat reminiscent of some sort of scout hat.

I'd heard a lot about the man, but had never had a chance to speak with him. Well, lo and behold, this evening he came up to me and asked me about the magazine I was reading. We exchanged a few pleasant words. He told me about how he used to be a teacher at the university of Warsaw before WWII and I told him about my grandfather who studied journalism at the university of Krakow in the 1930s. He told me a bit about his work with Radio Free Europe after the war and how that took him to such far flung places as North Africa and Viet Nam. I found out his mother was Ukrainian and used to play the bandura.

The man looked more than ancient when I first caught sight of him 15 years ago, and he still looks ancient today, but he's a spry and healthy old fellow and I hope to see him around for many more years.

* Pan is an honorific that is somewhat difficult to translate into English. As far as I know it is prevalent only among the Polish, Ukrainian and Belarusan branches of slavic speakers. In the old days "Pan" essentially meant Lord as in the guy who owned the property that the villagers toiled on. But since the abolition of serfdom in the mid 1800s, Pan transformed more into a title of respect that could be applied to just about anyone. Neither Mr. nor Sir in English quite connnote the same meaning. You would properly use Pan to refer to anyone who is older than you, or in a higher "social" station, but also among friends of equal stature using the honorific Pan is a way to show respect. I believe the feminine equivalent is Pani.

WTF Department

So I'm sitting on the patio of my local Timothy's. It's reaally the only place on the street that you can get a coffee, free internet and a patio seat all in one package. Anyway, there's a woman sitting at one of the tables. She gets up to go and cleans up a couple of mugs while she's at it. She leaves a book on the table and goes inside.

I wonder for a second or two if the book is hers or if it was there before she came. Anyway, I go about my business. A minute or two later, out of the corner of my eye I see an older gentleman shuffle past. I don't actually see him taking the book, but its not on the table anymore. I debate whether I should say anything, but figure since the book was on a table other than the one the woman was sitting at, maybe its his and he forgot it.

Fast forward about 5 minutes later, the woman comes out with a new coffee and looks perplexed. "Did you see my book?" she asks. I say yeah, its walking down the street with some guy with a cane. "You can probably catch him," I suggest helpfully, but feeeling dumb now that I didn't stop him.

She goes after him, but comes back empty handed. Hee must have ducked down the alley or something. A spry little criminal he was.

Things that only happen in Ronces Department

This Sunday, I'm sitting aaround the apartment when I hear some singing. For a few minutes it sounds like its coming from some nneighbours TV annd I ignore it. But it gets louder, and suddenly I realize that something is going on outside.

Looking outside I see a mass of people on the street being led by a procession of priests and altar servers with banners and flags and crosses. By the priests robes, I figure they're Roman Catholic and the singing sounds like its Polish to me. So I figure its somme sort of religious procession. You know like at Easter or something where the parisioners circle the church three times.

But suddenly they all stop at a house a few doors away. The altar servers roll out a carpet and one of the priests gets on his knees and sings a hymn or two. Looks like they are blessing the house. People are gathered all around. A line of what looks like boy and girl scouts flank the priest. People are milling around everywhere, singing and ringing bells. I figure, better get out the camera.

The first shot below shows the priestly party in front of the house they are blessing. The other shot shows a bit of the crowd in the street.

Tomato/Tomato

By the way, I usually refer to Roncesvalles by a shortened "nickname" Ronces (pronounced: RON-sees). Its just the way I heard it years ago from a friend that used to live here. I've also seen people spell the shortened name as "Roncey", "Roncy" or "Roncees". Ima stick with the one I like.

It was a rainy day

(just for kicks, read the title with the same accent that the guy on the old Pizzaville commercials used to use)

Anyway, I'll start this blog off with some general street shots. You'll notice two things, one I'm not a very good photographer and two it rained much today. All week actually.

The first image is of Roncesvalles Ave. looking south from the intersection with Howard Park. I wanted to get a shot of the street car going by but forgot to turn off my wipers. Oops. Since there won't be many street cars on Ronces for a while this is the only way to get one into the blog, by catching the College or Dundas car passing by this intersection (or the Queen and King cars at the south end).



The next shot is looking south from the High Park Ave. Intersection about halfway down the strip. It's around 3 pm but looks like the evening because of the clouds.






















The last picture is looking north from where Roncesvalles Ave. meets King St., Queen St. and the Queensway.

Sure, these are not the prettiest pictures of Ronces, but that is just the magic of this place for me. Rain or shine, snow or sleet, there's lots of life on the street here. When I first moved back here a couple of years ago, there was a big snow storm soon after. The city was piled high with snow. Yet that Saturday everyone was out, going about their business. Mothers pushing strollers, shoppers hauling bags full of rye bread and kolbassa, the local panhandlers manning their usual spots, only the parking enforcement people seemed to be curiously absent.

It was a huge change from what I experienced living in the suburbs for a number of years prior. There, after a snowfall, the only time you see someone on the street is when they go out to shovel or snoblow their driveway. Otherwise, everyone is holed up in their homes.

I don't know about you, but I like to live in a place where you don't feel cooped up any time the weather turns a bit inclement.

An intro of sorts

Roncesvalles Village is a leafy, friendly community in the heart of Toronto. It offers a mix of commercial and residential on a human scale. It is inhabited by well established families, young hipsters and recent immigrants just days or weeks into their Canadian experience. Million dollar homes share space with dirt cheap tenements and basement apartments. A street car running down its main commercial artery (Roncesvalles Avenue) connects the neighbourhood to the vibrant city that is Toronto (the more observant might notice that the streetcar has disappeared for a while as the city prepares to rebuild the tracks and possibly realign the tracks, vehicle lanes and parking in the process).

Roncesvalles Village is probably (and quite unfairly) one of the least known of the exciting communities that make up the west end of the old (pre-amalgamation) city of Toronto. High Park, Bloor West Village, Parkdale, heck even The Junction and Swansea Village, probably ring more bells with more residents of our megalopolis. Even the unofficial designation for the place “Little Poland” enjoys more currency than Roncesvalles Village. Each of Roncesvalles Village’s neighbours has its pluses and minuses. But when looked at from a perspective that takes into account the quiet solitude of one’s own backyard or porch, affordability, liveability, community vitality and the ease of access to a wide range of businesses and services, Roncesvalles Villages easily out ranks all of its better known cousins.

Toronto is a highly multi-cultural place. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a place in the city that doesn’t feature a polyglot mix of people from every corner of the world. But there are all sorts of areas where one group or another congregates in sufficient numbers to make themselves felt. There’s a handful of China Towns, a Little Italy or two, Greektown and communities of Hasidic Jews, Somalis, Dominicans, Costa Ricans, Newfoundlanders, Coptic Christians, gays, bank executives, Benfica supporters and countless other areas in the city that are identified with a particular group. In Roncesvalles Village, the groups that stand out tend to be from Eastern Europe. Various groups are represented here, but in terms of a “street presence” you can pick out the Poles, with delis, bookstores, restaurants, community centres and churches dotting what you might call the south end of the neighbourhood running up from the Queen/King/Queensway intersection all the way to Howard Park Avenue. The north end of the stretch, roughly from the intersection with Howard Park Avenue up to Bloor Street, features a smattering of Serbian establishments.

Ukrainians, a group more closely identified with High Park and Bloor West Village, and south-central Etobicoke, are nonetheless heavily represented among the residents of the neighbourhood too. Of course just about everyone else is here too! There’s a Greek Orthodox church on Sorauren Avenue a couple of blocks east of Ronces, a Coptic church on Queeen St., many Asian restaurants and fruit shops, and even a Republican or two.

This is the place that I first moved to when I came to Toronto some twenty years ago, a bright-eyed youngster with the world before me. And with so many experiences both good and bad under my belt, I’m back here again and can’t really imagine a greater place. In fact I live only about four blocks away from my old place which was just across from St. Joe’s hospital. The new joint is a few blocks north of the very same.

I love the fact that the street itself has just about everything that I need to enjoy life, but I also appreciate that living here I am not far from anything else that might turn my fancy. A few short blocks away along Queens Street I can be in the heart of Parkdale, another of Toronto’s sorely underappreciated neighbourhoods. Rapidly gentrifying, it nonetheless still has the gritty feel of an artistically minded community. Further west along Queen I can be more of a “hipster” and sample the bars and clubs that now stretch from the Gladstone and Drake, all the way to the trendiest sections of Queens St in the downtown core. To the west, I’ve got High Park for picnics with my son, and Bloor West Village for drinks in the old haunts with buddies from a different time.

Heading North? Why it’s just a short hop over to The Junction, probably the only neighbourhood in Toronto that could possibly turn my amorous gaze away from Ronces. I’ve also lived there, though I moved before the referendum allowed demon rum to stalk The Junction’s streets. Perhaps this may seem counterintuitive to the folks that would like to legislate fun out of existence, but The Junction has seen more than a doubling of real estate prices since the dry law was defeated. Not only that, but with the tripling of prices on Queen Street that has driven out the starving artists, The Junction has (probably temporarily) become the last outpost of the artistic community in the old city of Toronto before it is forced to decamp for good to the Lakeshore in Etobicoke and places further west.

Enough of my nattering. The purpose of this blog is to show you Roncesvalles Village in all its glory, tragedy and just plain boring everydayness. Enjoy reading about it. If you are smart, you’ll come and visit us. If you are smart and can convince a financial institution to spot you the money then I hope one day to see you strolling down our main street looking like you own the place.