Toronto Life articles from May 2001

Toronto Life archives from May 2001

Sibling revelry: (Lili and Zev Shalev).
May 1, 2001... The ground floor of U8TV feels temporary. A ficus sits in a pot that still has its bar-code sticker. The receptionist's desk is on wheels; so are the TVs placed in the windows for the club kids passing by on Richmond Street. Siblings Lili and...

Great white (Chris) Noth.
May 1, 2001... Raptors games, Leafs games, dinner at Biff's, dinner at Bistro 990--Chris Noth wasn't exactly reclusive during his visit here to shoot the NBC movie The Judge,costarring Edward James Olmos and Lolita Davidovich. But fans who wanted to ogle the...

Public signs of rejection (Ceri Marsh and Russell Smith).
May 1, 2001... Close friends and acquaintances were not the only ones affected by the breakup earlier this year of the junior literati's most public and party-friendly romantic couple: Fashion-ista Ceri Marsh and novelist Russell Smith. Careful readers of The...

Hockey violence: (hockey players raise money for Covenant House).
May 1, 2001... There was nary a phyllo canape to be found at the eighth annual Maple Leaf-hosted fundraiser for Covenant House. Rotund sportos with shiny double-breasted suits and greasy moustaches fed their faces with roast beef sandwiches and Richard Ds at...

Open mike night: (Fioria Sigismondi - video artist).
May 1, 2001... The AGO's Jackman Hall is a rather sedate theatre space, most often home to Cinematheque movie buffs, who are such purists they don't even eat popcorn while watching films. Floria Sigismondi planned to shake the place up. The avant-garde video...

All work, no play: (Peter Mansbridge).
May 1, 2001... It was an innocuous little article. The subject was local television personalities who host charity events: Mike Bullard and his golf tournaments, MuchMusic VJs and their politically correct fundraisers, Suhana Meharchand and her gazillion or...

Chariots for hire.
May 1, 2001... Dilapidated cars, long waits, disgruntled drivers and perilous rides--no wonder city council announced plans to overhaul taxi service in Toronto. But that was three years ago, and other than a handful of cosmetic changes (digital cameras, a...

Garth vs. Darth: (celebrities).
May 1, 2001... They're back. Three years ago, Garth Drabinsky exited Livent in a hail of allegations, civil suits and criminal charges. This month, he returns as the producer of The Island, a play about-we kid you not--a couple of prisoners. As for Darth...

(Jimmy Hill - illustrator and bartender).
May 1, 2001... JIMMY HILL RAN A SPEAKEASY ON YONGE STREET, ACROSS from Britnell's bookstore. He had an apartment above the Isaacs Gallery in which he'd installed a vintage saloon-style bar. Sipping a scotch in his living room, you could easily imagine you...

Channelling history: in a digital, many-channelled universe that suffers from an obsession with the present. History Television has carved out a devoted following ...
May 1, 2001... THOSE WHO REFUSE TO UNDERSTAND HISTORY, a wise man once said, are condemned to relive it on cable TV--which in this part of the world means History Television, the Toronto-based network that's been pumping out an attractive and eclectic account...

If it's Tuesday, this must be Vienna: (opera singers Michael Schade and Russell Braun).
May 1, 2001... What do you do if you're a brilliant opera singer in a city that is ambivalent about opera? If you re Michael Schade or Russell Braun, you become an international commodity. The downside: it's a semi-nomadic life characterized by an unnatural...

Fashion victim: when he paid $82 million (U.S.) for Club Monaco in 1999, Ralph Lauren acquired one of the hottest retail chains in North America and made Joe Mimran rich ...
May 1, 2001... ON THE MORNING OF AUGUST 18 LAST YEAR, Joe Mimran and Sol Nayman walked into a downtown Toronto hotel room prepared for a showdown. The 47-year-old CEO of Club Monaco and his long-time right-hand man were meeting with their boss from corporate...

Story of sprawl: we used to be light-years ahead of other jurisdictions in balancing green space and development. No longer. Now Toronto is the third-fastest growing city in North America ...
May 1, 2001... AT ONE END OF SETTLER'S PARK, in southwest Markham, is a two-acre triangle of sloping land--a tiny open space traversed by a gravel path and bounded by a woodlot. Down the hill, a tributary of the Don River meanders through the picturesque...

14 very short stories (hardly stories at all) from the suburbs.
May 1, 2001... 1 In the Low Ones Teepler, on the corner? Bought it in '99 for one-two. Remember Hersh? Paid one-one in '97 for that monstrosity, let it go in January for one-four. Garber, Pinsky -- they could each get one-two, one-three now, easy. Oh --...

Postcards from the edge: the GTA's population will rise by some two million people over the next three decades, pushing the frontier ever outward ...
May 1, 2001... [PHOTOGRAPHS]

More (stories) from downtown.
May 1, 2001... 1 Directions Of course I know it, it's just a short walk from here. You go straight to the end of the block, turn left at the Starbucks, and keep going until you hit another Starbucks. Cross the road, and it's just past the second...

Homes sweet homes: the clusters of neo-traditional houses you see sprouting up all over Toronto are offering more than square footage. They're selling nostalgia ...
May 1, 2001... STEPHEN AND JENNY HANDRIGAN are talking about their dream house. We're sitting in their living room, a cozy and pleasant refuge from the rainy night outside. The furnishings are antique, the tables dotted with sepia-toned photographs of...

Doggy style and elite meat.
May 1, 2001... Hot dog You serious puppy lovers know who you are. And here's some news: so does Old Navy. The ubiquitous American uber-outfitter, finally arriving this month with 12 locations slated to open across southern Ontario, has something in store...

Room service: Tom Payne's radical makeover of the Hilton called for two-storey lanterns, exposed concrete and $25 million ...
May 1, 2001... THINK OF THE WORLDS CONJURED UP BY Toronto's major hotels. The Four Seasons--Louis XV chairs with splashes of chinoiserie and antique porcelain--is about opulence reined in by taste. The Inter-Continental conveys its choosy European personality...

Well-suited: Chris Tyrell and Jim Searle.
May 1, 2001... The Hoax Couture boys have been dreaming up splashy corsets, gowns and over-the-top men's suits since 1985. While the pair is adept at shifting sartorial gears for others--they dress such diverse celebs as diva Molly Johnson, the lads from 'N...

New York City's finest: talented chefs, inspired menus, spectacular settings and patrons with deep pockets. Manhattan restaurants have it all ...
May 1, 2001... STRIDING DOWN PARK AVENUE ON A COLD, sunlit morning, my son and I are debating a practical question: how many meals can we fit into three New York days? To him, the answer is purely mathematical; to me, lacking his limitless teenage appetite,...

Tasting notes: (wine).
May 1, 2001... Out of Africa The vineyards of South Africa's Western Cape stretch from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. After decades of apartheid-induced isolation, the 300-year-old wine industry is finally regaining worldwide recognition; exports have...

(Toronto restaurants).
May 1, 2001... Restaurants are rated on a five-star system by A LA MODE O-do *** 1/2 [NEW REVIEW] Chef Masayuki Tamaru, late of the Fifth, and his co-chef, Kazuaki Sakashita, combine their talents to produce unfused French and Japanese cuisines...

Gardiner Expressway east, 1955-2001.
May 1, 2001... When plans for its construction were announced in 1954, the news had reporters writing with the same kind of wonder they usually reserved for the future of space travel. "How would you like to drive through Toronto during rush hour at 50 miles...