It was a sunny place, all blond wood and white paint, with coffee and Wi-Fi strong enough to fuel “remote work” before anybody even used the term.Īlso on 3rd Avenue, on the other side of Washington, was Bev’s Wine Bar, opened in ’95, a low-key hang with a loading-dock patio that was a throwback to the neighborhood’s industrial roots.
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A little dingy and smoky when it opened it in 1991, it really came into its own 20 years later, in the 2010s, by which time it was serving a full café menu-pancakes in the morning, tuna melts in the afternoon-to a clientele that looked younger and cleaner and better-dressed by the day. There was Moose and Sadie’s, the seminal coffee shop on 3rd Avenue North. But who keeps records on soul? Well, hopefully, they’ll track down some old-timer who held onto their wits long enough to sing about the Golden Age of Peter Kirihara, when Loopers from antiquity could achieve full cultural expression solely by living in each of his three neighborhood joints. He also ignored questions on why he was one of only three members of council to vote against funding for Pride and other major cultural events and organizations.How do you find the soul of a neighborhood? Years from now, historians will determine their mileposts for the origins of what we now know as the North Loop-they’ll dutifully research whose idea it was to use an old streetcar line as its marketing handle, note when the first mixed-use condo was built, document when it landed its first real grocery store. And he wondered, in a council speech, whether a transgender person is “a guy dressed up like a girl or a girl dressed up like a guy.”įord did not answer on Monday when asked why he decided to attend the flag-raising. He also argued that only gays and drug users get infected with HIV. As a city councillor, he said it was “disgusting” that council was awarding a $5,000 grant to a group making a video about coming out of the closet. Ford denies that a video exists and that he uses crack.įord was unpopular with the gay community even before he became mayor.
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In a video in which he appears to be smoking crack cocaine, he also appears to use an anti-gay slur to describe federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. His predecessors Hall, Mel Lastman and David Miller all attended the parade.įord is a conservative who opposes same-sex marriage. Wynne, the first openly gay Ontario leader, and former mayor Barbara Hall received the warmest welcomes.Ĭouncillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, the event’s emcee, said she was told by the mayor’s staff Monday morning that even they did not know if he would come.įord plans to skip the parade for the third consecutive year to continue his tradition of spending the Canada Day weekend at his family’s Muskoka cottage. Premier Kathleen Wynne and councillors of all political stripes attended the Pride event on Monday. The mayor also attended the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia flag-raising events this year and last. So it’s nice to see him here,” said David Mitges, 56, whose own rainbow flag was temporarily borrowed by the mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford. His job as the mayor is to stand up for everyone, and I think that’s sort of been lacking. “Every movement towards recognizing that people are equal, and sort of standing up for people, is important for a city. I don’t know how genuine it was, given his past statements and actions. “He should’ve done it three years ago,” said Toby Zanin, 51.
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The crowd cheered again when Pride’s co-chair thanked him for attending “for the first time.” Fewer than five of the dozens of spectators in attendance appeared to jeer him. He got louder cheers when he read the Pride Week proclamation others delivered in his absence in 20.
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Mayor Rob Ford attended his first Pride Toronto event Monday, participating in the raising of the rainbow flag and drawing qualified praise from the gay community he has repeatedly angered.įord, who has never marched in Pride’s signature parade and who voted two weeks ago against funding the festival, received tepid applause upon his noon arrival at the annual flag-raising event on city hall’s green roof.