[PHOTO] Towards the Earlscourt war memorial, Prospect Cemetery

[PHOTO] Looking east, St. Clair at Dufferin

[PHOTO] Dufferin/St. Clair Library

[PHOTO] Two photos of St. Nicholas of Bari Catholic Church

St. Nicholas of Bari Catholic Church, at 1277 St. Clair Avenue West in the heart of Corso Italia, is a bit of an unusual church, built to fit into the streetscape of this traditionally Italian-Canadian neighbourhood. Still, the stained glass windows stand out, even from across the street at twilight.

[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.

[PHOTO] Looking east, St. Clair at Dufferin

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: HTO Beach, street art, transit, Draper Street, real estate

• Toronto’s HTO Park, a fake beach on the waterfront of Queens Quay, has been flooded out by Lake Ontario, too. blogTO reports.
• This open-air street art museum around Dundas West is an ingenious idea. blogTO reports.
• David Hains at Spacing explains how the TTC plans for major sports events, like the recent Raptors series.
• One house in Corso Italia has just gone on the real estate market for the first time since 1919. The Toronto Star reports.
• The row of vintage homes on Draper Street and its recently passed keeper are memorialized nicely here. The Toronto Star reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: #winterstations, Toronto Islands, King Street, 401 Richmond, coffee

• Muriel Draaisma talks at CBC about the art installations selected for this year’s iteration of Winter Stations, including a “Pussy Hut”.
• The City of Toronto has, unaccountably, decided not to allocate all the money needed to repair the Toronto Islands after last year’s flooding. CBC reports.
• Mayor John Tory talks about the various plans–some new, some I think old–to bring more people to King Street during the transit experiment, over at the Toronto Star.
• This Toronto Star article about changes to taxation that will let downtown arts centres, like 401 Richmond, not get priced out of their homes is older but still quite important.
• blogTO notes local upset in Corso Italia that the local Starbucks, at Dufferin and St. Clair (not far from me!) is set to close. (I’ve never been there, which I suppose helps clear up any mystery around the closing.)

[URBAN NOTE] Corso Italia in the Future

After visiting Toronto’s Little Italy, I really don’t have any excuse for not visiting Corso Italia, do I? After all, as raphinou told me, Corso Italia is the older of downtown Toronto’s two Italian-Canadian enclaves, and it’s just north of me.