[PHOTO] ABC Books, still around

[NEWS] Five NYR Daily links: Colombia, slavery, churches, journalism, Shakespeare&Co (@nyr_daily)

• The NYR Daily shares a report from Colombia, about the ways in which the filling of the Hidroituango Dam interacts with Colombia’s other social and political issues, here.
• Sean Wilentz makes the compelling argument at the NYR Daily that the young United States was a critical venue for antislavery movements, here.
• The NYR Daily tells the stories of two churches, one white and one black, as they merge, here.
• The NYR Daily shares the stories of a half-dozen pioneering, but overlooked, black woman journalists in the United States, here.
• Caitlin O’Keefe tells at the NYR Daily of how Paris bookstore Shakespeare and Company played a key role in the growth of feminism, here.

[NEWS] Ten JSTOR Daily links: Beowulf, grain and beer, Sinclair, birds, TV, books …

• JSTOR Daily considers race as a subject for discussion in Beowulf.
• JSTOR Daily suggests the possibility that grain was domesticated not to produce bread, but rather to produce beer.
• JSTOR Daily looks at how the wild rice of North America resisted efforts at domestication.
• JSTOR Daily notes the Outer Banks Brewing Station, a North Carolina brewery powered by wind energy.
• JSTOR Daily shares a classic essay by Upton Sinclair from 1906 on the issues of the American economy.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the history of the pet bird in the 19th century United States.
• JSTOR Daily considers the ways in which streaming television might not fragment markets and nations.
• JSTOR Daily reports on how Sylvia Beach, with help, opened legendary Paris bookstore Shakespeare & Co.
• JSTOR Daily reports on the surprisingly democratic origins of the Great Books of American literature.
• JSTOR Daily reports on how the horror movies of the 1970s and 1980s captured a new female audience by having more appealing girl and woman characters.

[URBAN NOTE} Five Toronto links: Corso Italia, Danforth, Davenport Diamond, books, Graffiti Alley

• blogTO notes that Corso Italia is one of the hubs of Latin American food culture in Toronto.
• The Danforth Music Hall recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, NOW Toronto notes.
• The cancellation of a mural for a rail bridge in the Davenport Diamond is a shame. The Toronto Star has it.
• This bookstore at Queen and Ossington looks particularly unique in conception. blogTO reports.
• Melanie Zettler at Global News talks about the origins of Toronto’s Graffiti Alley.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Hobart, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Wroclaw

• La Presse considers some different strategies to keep rue Saint-Denis in Montréal a healthy thoroughfare and neighbourhood.
• Atlas Obscura explains how the upstate New York town of Hobart made itself as a home for a used book store cluster.
• Guardian Cities explains why anti-gentrirfication activists in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin are fighting to keep their local Aldi, to continue to have low-cost food locally.
• Window on Eurasia notes a poll of immigrant workers in St. Petersburg that finds most quite like their new home.
• CityLab looks at Polish architect Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak, whose brutalism played a key role in the reconstruction of the Poland city of Wroclaw from the ruins of old German Breslau.

[URBAN NOTE] On the closure of Statler’s and the fate of cities

Last night, a link I tweeted to blogTO’s report on the sudden closure of Church Street’s Statler’s went viral in a minor way. Massive rent increases were too much for this Village bar, notable for its performance spaces and its links to the theatre community to bear, leaving Statler’s fans bereft.

Statler’s closure leaves me concerned for the future of Church and Wellesley as a LGBTQ district. Given the dire economics of nightclubbing generally and rising rents on Church Street particularly, how long can this neighbourhood and its institutions persist? Condo towers, like Vox Condominiums just east of Wellesley station, have been steadily advancing on the heart of the Village from the north and the south over the past few years, and I can imagine a collapse. Will there end up being a new Village elsewhere, in Parkdale or on Weston Road or in Etobicoke? Or will nothing follow Church and Wellesley?

I am also more concerned for Toronto generally. That note about Statler’s was one of three I shared that day noting the closure of other Toronto institutions on New Year’s. Ten Edition Books on Spadina Avenue collapsed on New Year’s after nearly three and a half decades, driven out by the desire of the University of Toronto to redevelop this stretch into student housing. On the east side, meanwhile, the famed Coffee Time restaurant at Coxwell and Gerrard, an affordable coffee place’s connections to locals, has closed down permanently. (There was even a great documentary filmed about this place.)

Where are the replacements? Where are the new shops and restaurants and clubs, the new community institutions, the new neighbourhoods, to replace the old ones made increasingly unaffordable? Am I missing out on the regeneration of Toronto, or is a new monoculture taking over? And is Toronto alone in these trends among world cities. I surely think not.

[URBAN NOTE] Twelve Toronto links (#toronto, #topoli)

• Because of a lack of support from the University of Toronto, Ten Editions Bookstore on Spadina Avenue between College and Bloor has closed down permanently. blogTO reports.
• Statler’s on Church Street, a popular Village bar known for its performance spaces, closed down suddenly on account of massive rent increases. blogTO reports.
• The famed Coffee Time restaurant at Coxwell and Gerrard, subject of a documentary that looks at this affordable coffee place’s connections to locals, has closed down permanently. blogTO reports.
• Gilbert Ngabo at the Toronto Star reports on how Torontonians now have now choice but to use the Presto card. My experiences reflect others’ in that things have been working out for me, so far.
• GO Transit’s connections directly to York University have ceased in the wake of the subway extension, as promised. Many who depended on the direct link are unhappy that it is no longer being sustained. Global News reports.
• This Toronto Sun article shares the call of a brother of a victim who died by suicide at a TTC station for more action to prevent such unfortunate events.
• Steve Munro reports on the different challenges facing the TTC board in 2019.
• Enzo DiMatteo at NOW Toronto makes the case that Toronto needs to continue to address gun violence as a public health issue if it is to control this plague.
• A tall and skinny home in Riverdale that has gone on sale for $C 3 million has as many detractors as supporters. Global News reports.
• CBC Toronto notes that the new nickname of the Economist for Toronto and its tech sector, “Maple Valley”, is not catching on with locals.
• Marco Chown Oved at the Toronto Star shares the story of Don Sampson, a long-time resident of the Toronto Islands who faces losing the family home there because he cannot inherit the property from his brother.
• The cast of the venerable Global Television drama Train 48, filmed on a GO Transit Lakeshore West train in 2003-2005, recently reunited. Global News reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: New York City, Edmonton, London, Rio de Janeiro, Addis Ababa

• The Strand bookstore in New York City is seeking to avoid being granted heritage status, in order to avoid the complications which could drive it out of business. The Guardian reports.
• The City of Edmonton, post-2014, will not regain previous levels of per capita wealth until the 2030s. The Edmonton Journal reports.
• Henry Wismayer has a heart-felt essay at Medium talking about how a London plunged into the heart of a turbo-charged capitalism is becoming increasingly inhospitable for the non-rich. Grenfell Tower beckons on the horizon.
• Guardian Cities shares photos of the homes taken over by squatters in Rio de Janeiro.
• The National, from the UAE, praises the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa as not just a regional hub but as a worthy tourist destination in its own right.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: House of Anansi, Why Not Theatre, York Street, Vimy Ridge, murder

• Toronto Life takes a look at the House of Anansi bookstore on Sterling Road, set to take on a higher profile as that street becomes bigger.
• The Globe and Mail profiles Why Not Theatre, a Toronto troupe that has opted not to acquire a permanent space.
• CBC Toronto takes a look at the campaign of Daniel Rotsztain to save the York Street pillars, legacies of old freeways turned by time into public art.
• Descendants of acorns taken from Vimy Ridge to Scarborough are now repopulating that battlefield. CBC reports.
• Yesterday, Toronto suffered its 90th homicide of the year, making a new record. CBC reports.

[PHOTO] Ten photos of Type Books in The Junction (@typebooks, #typebooksjunction)

Toronto independent bookstore chain Type Books opened its third location earlier this month in The Junction, at 2887 Dundas Street West, just west of Keele. Yesterday I made my first visit to this location, and was enthralled. This feels like a bright and dynamic community space already–I look forward to making this one of the hubs of my extended neighbourhood, down in the west end.