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Toronto Life Magazine November 2014
City News
Memoir: I couldn’t shake the abuse and despair I saw on a First Nations reserve
In 2010, I spent four months researching a book in Kashechewan, a troubled First Nation on James Bay with a population of...
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Life
The Wattpad Cult: why Toronto’s buzziest tech start-up is a self-publishing app beloved by teen girls
Wattpad occupies three floors of a handsome Greek Revival building on the touristy stretch of Wellington East. The office, if you...
Go see a haunting new musical by John Mellencamp and Stephen King
Like all great ghost stories, this one begins with a haunted house. In 1996, John Mellencamp , the singer-songwriter known for...
City News
Dear Urban Diplomat: should I rat out my landlord for stealing cable?
Dear Urban Diplomat, I live in a ground-floor suite and pay my own utilities, including cable. My landlord lives above me, and we...
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Style
Great Spaces: four extremely cool laneway houses
Some of Toronto's most spectacular homes are tucked out of view, nestled in narrow alleyways that run between city...
City News
Ten things Chris Hadfield can’t live without
The web-savvy spaceman’s first book is being turned into an ABC sitcom, and he has a follow-up out this month. Here, the 10...
Style
This Old Coach House: a century-old house in the Annex that’s as quiet as a cottage
The People: Klaus Nienkämper, 43, and Marisa Simunovic, 40, who together run the King East design store Klaus. The Place: A...
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City News
Paycheque to Paycheque: what it’s like to live on minimum wage in Toronto
In June, Ontario’s minimum wage rose from $10.25 to $11 an hour. That’s a record in Canada, only matched by Nunavut, but still...
Style
Steel Beauty: a wonderfully mod metal box near Dupont and Shaw
The People: Steve Bugler, the 52-year-old owner of Radiant City Millwork, and Valentina Nedelcu, a 52-year-old engineer. The...
Life
The Bank of Mom and Dad: confessions of a propped up generation
It seems like every 30-something couple has an embarrassing financial secret: their boomer parents are covering their mortgages, child-care costs and other expenses
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Style
Tall Order: a 2,000-square-foot tower in Corktown with almost no interior walls
The People: Julie Dyck, a 43-year-old jeweller, and Michael Humphries, a 44-year-old mobile app designer. The Place: A...
City News
Best Seats in the House: a guide to the celebs and Bay Streeters who cheer on the Raptors
The high-profile spectators who’ve made Raps games the hottest ticket in Toronto sports Half the fun of NBA fandom is peeping...
Style
Live-Work-Play: a laneway house in Carleton Village with an amazing courtyard centrepiece
The People: Peter Tan, 44, and Christine Ho Ping Kong, 47, the husband-and-wife team behind the custom woodworking and design shop...
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City News
Dear Urban Diplomat: am I a delinquent mom for leaving my six-year-old in a car?
Dear Urban Diplomat, I recently left my six-year-old son in the car while I ran into a store. The window was down, he was...
Real Estate News
The Chase: two Toronto expats conduct a long-distance hunt for a dog-friendly pied-à-terre
A pair of French bulldogs complicates a couple's condo search
Food & Drink
Small-Batch Wonders: gorgeous red wines that won’t break the bank
This party season, skip the show-offy bottles for reds with a little more nuance (and a lot less sticker shock) As the holidays...
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Food & Drink
Cure All: five wild alternatives to everyday charcuterie
It wasn't so long ago that artisanal, specialty butcher shops were a rariety and outlier restaurants like the Black Hoof were only...
City News
Dear Urban Diplomat: my barista’s first name offends me—what can I do about her?
Dear Urban Diplomat, A barista at my local Starbucks, near Yonge and Bloor, is a Persian woman named Nazi, and she wears a name...
From the archives
The Man Who Would Be King: Inside the ruthless battle for control of the $34-billion Rogers empire
Edward Rogers expected to run the family empire after the death of his father, Ted. But the board squeezed him out
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City News
Brampton mayor Susan Fennell on phone bills, nice cars and “smear campaigns”
Susan Fennell’s poll numbers have plummeted over allegations of reckless spending. The Brampton mayor, running for her fifth...
Food & Drink
California Dreaming: Montecito delivers grown-up food to the Entertainment District
Celebrity chef and farm-to-table pioneer Jonathan Waxman and his director-pal Ivan Reitman bring a grown-up restaurant to Adelaide...
Culture
Is
Strange Empire
good enough to save the CBC?
The CBC's new feminist western is as gripping and gritty as any premium cable drama. But can it help reverse the beleaguered...
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Private School Guide
The Private and Independent School Directory Spring 2025
Big Stories
Deep Dives
Dancing Queens: Patrons, staff and performers share their wildest memories of Crews and Tangos, Toronto’s most storied drag bar
Crews and Tangos has been enforcing the rules of the Village for more than 30 years: wear what you want, kiss who you want, but don’t forget to tip the drag queens. With a condo development looming, we asked around for tales from the iconic spot
Deep Dives
The Joy of Sex with Strangers: A Toronto hotwife’s adventures in ethical non-monogamy
Three months ago, I was a suburban mom in a monogamous relationship. Now I’m sleeping with people I meet online—with my husband’s blessing—and we’ve never been happier. Don’t judge us until you’ve read our story
Deep Dives
The Scandal, the Firing and the Fallout: Anatomy of a Bay Street fiasco at RBC
Nadine Ahn was a high-ranking executive at the bank. Ken Mason, her subordinate, was rapidly promoted. Then someone claimed to see them canoodling at the Royal York, tipped off HR and triggered an inquisition
Deep Dives
Edward the Conqueror: The unlikely ascent of Canada’s telecom king
Edward Rogers was dismissed as a meddling nepo baby—until he muscled out his siblings, acquired his competitors, cornered the telecom market and became the dominant force in Canadian sports
Deep Dives
Lady Parts: Inside Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen’s new show,
Small Achievable Goals
The
Baroness von Sketch Show
alumnae have elevated joking about women’s issues to an art. Their new show takes aim at menopause. How funny is that?
Deep Dives
Murder in the Blue Mountains: The story behind the killing of Ashley Schwalm
Ashley and James Schwalm had what seemed like a fairy tale life—two wonderful children, fulfilling careers and a gorgeous home close to the private ski club where they’d fallen in love. Then Ashley’s remains turned up in a burned-out car at the bottom of a ditch, and all signs pointed to her husband
Deep Dives
Dark Horse: Inside the fall of Eric Lamaze, Canada’s most famous equestrian
For years, Lamaze was the world’s top-ranked show jumper, living an enviable life filled with fancy cars, international travel and adoring fans—the kind of life a person might do anything to protect
Deep Dives
Dividing Line: How the Bloor Street bike lane turned the city into a battlefield
A few kilometres along Bloor has become Toronto’s most contested strip of concrete, igniting fights over congestion, safety and the future of downtown
Deep Dives
The Chosen One: At just 23, Scottie Barnes is the new face of the Raptors—and the team’s best chance of salvation
Barnes is shouldering the weight of an impatient, basketball-mad city, a hit-and-miss team, and his own colossal ambitions. Does he look worried?
Deep Dives
Almost
Famous: Inside the Beaches’ rise to rock stardom
A viral earworm about a breakup turned the Beaches into Toronto’s hottest export. Now, the panty-throwing, stage-diving, all-girl rock band is seducing fans around the world
Deep Dives
“I was nearly beaten to death by my partner. The case was dismissed because it took too long to get to trial”
How an overburdened justice system is failing survivors of intimate partner violence
Deep Dives
Brave New Year: The ultimate try-anything-once bucket list for 2025
For inspiration on wonderful, wild and even some slightly reckless experiences to enjoy in the year ahead
Deep Dives
The stars of the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres on finally having a league of their own
After kicking off a new chapter for hockey with the PWHL, Natalie Spooner, Sarah Nurse and Blayre Turnbull are blazing a trail for women in sports
Deep Dives
The 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2024
Our annual ranking of the people whose courage, smarts and clout are changing the world as we know it
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Food & Drink
Sort-of Secret: Amelia’s Market, a Geary Avenue grocer selling local goods and light lunches
Like lovely cheese plates paired with glasses of Ontario-made wine
Food & Drink
“There’s more attention now on shopping close to home”: How Broadfork Produce is connecting Toronto’s top chefs with Ontario farmers
And the west-end supplier is opening to the public soon
Food & Drink
The US tariffs are coming for your espresso martini
With Kahlúa no longer available at the LCBO, Toronto bartenders are getting creative
Food & Drink
These Ontario-made booze collaborations are coming to a restaurant near you
Toronto bars and restaurants are partnering with their favourite distillers, winemakers and brewers to produce custom-made drinks. Here, nine crushable new concoctions