Apparently, the heat of Toronto’s condo market doesn’t extend to luxury penthouses (those one-per-centers must be chilly up there)—nearly a fifth of the 161 high-end condos at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences have languished on the market for months, and some have even seen their prices slashed, the Toronto Star reports. While the developer is still trying to flog 12 units at $1,100 per square foot, a recently sold two-bedroom condo on the 28th floor was listed at about $825 per square foot. It all makes us wonder if a glut of luxury suites is ahead, with the Trump International tower opening January 31 and the Living Shangri-La and Four Seasons residences due later in the year. Read the entire story [Moneyville] »

By Philip Preville | Photography by Hudson Hayden

Toronto is a great place to visit. Just ask the people who live nearby. Residents of Halton Region, a mere 30-minute drive down the QEW, made 153,000 overnight visits to the city in 2009, more than came from British Columbia, California, Texas or Illinois. The same goes for many of Toronto’s other bedroom communities: they could drive home after the show, but they prefer to stay the night. Tourism here is a giant house party, and our accommodations are getting a major upgrade with four new five-star hotels. Last February came the Ritz-Carlton on Wellington Street. January will mark the opening of the Trump Tower, a flamboyant structure at Bay and Adelaide whose 275-metre, 90-ton spire took 12 hours to lift into place (arguably Toronto’s greatest feat of high-rise engineering since the CN Tower). Asian Pacific–style opulence arrives next summer with the 65-storey Shangri-La on University Avenue. And our own luxury export to the world, Izzy Sharp’s Four Seasons, will finally get a hometown building worthy of its brand in summer 2012: two slender glass towers at Bay and Yorkville. The Manhattanization of our hotel industry is the result of an economy that continues to dodge the disasters befalling others. Together, the new hotels will provide 989 super-luxe rooms that are sure to be a hit with tourists. They may even resurrect Toronto in the eyes of Americans, whose impressions of us and willingness to visit are still tainted by the SARS crisis. But above all, they’ll make it more fun to splurge on ourselves.

(Image: Daniel G.)

Last week we took a glance at the first instalment of Vertical Toronto, a three-part infographic on condo life courtesy of the Toronto Star. This week saw the tower o’ facts climb even higher, laden with some startling statistics. A very lopsided pie chart supports what we’ve reported about T.O.’s condo-building boom: since the turn of the century, three quarters of all new single-family homes purchased in the city have been condos. But more units means less space—the average new unit in downtown Toronto is 749 square feet, compared with 1,052 square feet for resale condos 10 years ago. If that sounds bad, try living in the smallest one sold this year: $166,000 for just 301 square feet in Regent Park (by contrast, the largest this year cost $28 million for 9,038 square feet in Yorkville’s Four Seasons). Also, in case condo-dwellers need to know, the graphic explains that it’s not kosher to fly kites, raise chickens, set off fireworks or raise poisonous snakes on their balconies. There goes the weekend. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »

(Image: Four Seasons)

The Four Seasons condo presentation centre played host to celeb chef Daniel Boulud last night, where he introduced his much-gossiped-about new restaurant, Café Boulud, set to take up residence in the new Four Seasons hotel on Bay Street. Café Boulud will have its own entrance and patio space facing Yorkville Avenue, and sit above a new bar that will celebrate the hotel group’s 50th year in business. Boulud is famed for his New York-based, globe-spanning empire of restaurants, including his most renowned, the three-Michelin-starred Daniel.

Toronto’s Café Boulud will take after the New York restaurant of the same name (there’s also one in Palm Beach). But with only one restaurant in Toronto, versus his six in New York City, Boulud joked “I can pick and choose menu items from my other restaurants—you’re going to get more for your Café Boulud here than in New York”. Though the menu has yet to be determined, Boulud says he will be guided by a farm-to-table ethos and let the suppliers and availability of ingredients craft the dishes. If it’s anything like the New York version, expect menu items like terrine de lapin, bass “en paupiette,” roasted côte de boeuf for two, and duck confit ravioli. What it won’t be is the second coming of the late, lamented Truffles, the fine dining temple the Avenue Road Four Seasons. Boulud says he wants his place to be “informal—not casual but definitely not formal”.

This isn’t Boulud’s first time to Canada—he took over two Rob Feenie-run restaurants in Vancouver (Lumière and Feenie’s) before closing them down in March of this year. He’s also opening a Maison Boulud at the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal. And while he’s not the first big New York chef to open up shop in Toronto—the Thompson Hotel brought in Scott Conant’s Scarpetta last summer, and David Chang announced he’d be opening two Momofuku restaurants in the Shangri-La in 2012—he is the first with three Michelin stars under his belt. Not that diners should expect to see him in the kitchen too often—as he told the Globe and Mail: “I never sign a contract that obligates me to spend a certain amount of days. I hope to spend much more time in Toronto, that’s for sure.”

Back in April, we reported that Daniel Boulud was another in the growing group of Michelin-starred chefs to snub Toronto in favour of Vancouver or Montreal. Not so, apparently: the National Post’s Shinan Govani confirmed yesterday the rumours that the lauded New York chef of Daniel fame will be opening a restaurant in the new Four Seasons hotel and condo complex on Bay Street (there’s an official announcement scheduled for next Thursday). This is the second Canadian hotel partnership in the works for the chef, who is opening Maison Boulud in Montreal in early 2012 to coincide with a $150-million renovation to the Montreal Ritz-Carlton. Previously, Boulud opened and subsequently closed two restaurants in Vancouver, DB Bistro Moderne and Lumière, after only two years in business.

We imagine the Toronto restaurant will likely open  in mid-2012, around the same time as the new Four Seasons complex. Boulud himself is already scheduled to be in Toronto next week for the annual Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival, so we’d bet he’ll be present for the big announcement. The sharp-eyed Govani got wind of the news by perusing the latest issue of Leaders magazine (something we vow to start doing), where Boulud’s long-time partner Lili Lynton let the cat out of the bag. One outstanding question: will the mystery buyer of the $28-million Four Seasons penthouse have room service access to the three–Michelin starred chef?

• Shinan: Daniel Boulud headed to Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel? [National Post]
• Setting the Standard [Leaders]

(Images: skyline, Seekdes from the Torontolife.com Flickr pool; Boulud, winestem)

It girl in the making Elizabeth Olson is introduced to perennial it man George Clooney. (Image: Jeff Vespa/WireImage/Getty Images Entertainment)

The first weekend of TIFF is basically one big long party, with a non-stop crush of big premieres, boldface names and tremendous amounts of running around (sleep is usually not involved). In case you missed it, here are last weekend’s five splashiest parties:

• If you haven’t already heard, the party for A Dangerous Method at Greg Goose Soho House was pretty much the best party ever. In attendance: David Cronenberg, George Clooney, Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Bono, Keira Knightley, Evan Rachel Wood, Emily Blunt, Adam Scott, Jonah Hill, Chris Pratt, Anna Faris, Jon Hamm, Alexander Skarsgård and many more. Read our recap »
• As usual, the Vanity Fair party had all the markers of a successful TIFF bash: happy (drunken) partygoers and a stack of celebrities sticking around for more than 10 minutes (Bono, George Clooney, Elizabeth Olsen, Alexander Skarsgård and more). It also featured some rather provocative posing by The Oranges’ Allison Janney. Read our recap »
• George Stroumboulopoulos once again took over the Hazelton Hotel for his trademark mix of big stars, CBC television personalities and gawkers. We particularly enjoyed seeing Jon Hamm in full-on shaggy-hair mode (compared with Don Draper, at least). Read our recap »
• There’s something about tall, Scandinavian vampires that sets the fan girls wild, which is exactly what happened at the Melancholia party when Alexander Skarsgård (Eric Northman from True Blood) showed up. Kirsten Dunst had the good sense to smile politely and stand aside. Read our recap »
• A rather more genteel time was had at the annual luncheon thrown by famed Hollywood reporter George Christy at the Four Seasons. In attendance: Kathleen Turner, Geoffrey Rush, Norman Jewison, Atom Egoyan and assorted Mulroneys. Read our recap »

(Image: walknboston)

Every year celebs from all over the world flood into the city for TIFF, but for many, it’s the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario that’s the real star throughout the month of September. Just in time to combat post-summer blues, the AGCO grants certain venues the rights to the elusive 4 a.m. last call. While last year’s list clocked in at 44 venues This year’s list of venues with extended hours finally caught up with last year’s, bringing the current number to 44—some of them not open to the public (we’re looking at you, Windsor Arms) and others open for one night only. Check out the list of late-night watering holes after the jump and stay tuned for updates on extended hours, as more are expected to roll in before the festival.

Boiler House
55 Mill St., 416-203-2121
Approved for September 12 to 4 a.m.

Brant House
522 King St. W., 416-703-2800
Approved for Sept. 8 to 19 to 4 a.m. (morning of Sept. 19)

Brassai
46 King St. W., 416-598-4730
Approved for the following dates: Sept. 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17 to 4 a.m.

The Bovine Sex Club
542 Queen St. W., 416-504-4239
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

The Bowery
55 Colborne St., 416-901-2332
Approved for Sept. 8 to 19 to 4 a.m. (morning of Sept. 19)

Century Room
580 King St. W., 416-203-2226
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Cherry Cola’s Rock N Rolla Cabaret
200 Bathurst St., 416-703-6969
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Cheval
604 King St. W., 416-363-4933
Approved for Sept. 8 to 19 to 4 a.m. (morning of Sept. 19)

Club V
88 Yorkville, 416-975-4397
Approved for September 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Cobra
500 King St. W., 416-361-9004
Approved for Sept. 8 to 19 to 4 a.m. (morning of Sept. 19)

Crush Wine Bar
455 King St. W., 416-977-1234
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Dolce Social Club
647A King St. W., 416-361-9111
Approved for the following dates: Sept. 10 and 17 to 4 a.m.

The Drake
1150 Queen St. W., 416-531-5042
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Duncan Street Tavern
11 Ed Mirvish Way
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

The Fifth
225 Richmond St. W., 416-979-3000
Approved for Sept. 8 to 17 to 4 a.m.

Four Seasons Hotel
21 Avenue Rd., 416-964-0411
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Fox and Fiddle
280 Bloor St. W., 416-966-4369
Approved for September 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

F-Stop
420A Wellington St. W., 416-977-4933
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Gabby’s
309 King St. W., 416-979-9790
Approved for the following days: Sept. 13, 16 and 17 to 4 a.m.

Goodnight
431 Richmond St. W., 416-364-0734
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

The Hideout
482 Queen St. W., 416-910-2015
Approved for the following days: Sept. 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17 and 18 to 4 a.m.

The Hoxton
69 Bathurst St.
Approved for Sept. 8 to 17 to 4 a.m.

InterContinental Toronto
225 Front St., 416-597-1400
Approved for Sept. 8 to 17 to 4 a.m.

Maison
15 Mercer St., 416-341-8777
Approved for Sept. 9 to 13 to 4 a.m.

Marben
488 Wellington St. W., 416-979-1990
Approved for Sept. 8 to 17 to 4 a.m.

Maro
135 Liberty St., 416-588-2888
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Mavrik Wine Bar
676 Queen St. W., 416-214-9429
Approved for Sept. 9 to 18 to 4 a.m.

O&B Canteen
330 King St. W., 647-228-4710
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Ocho
193-195 Spadina Ave., 416-593-0885
Approved for the following days: Sept. 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, and 17 to 4 a.m.

One
116 Yorkville Ave., 416-961-9600
Approved for Sept. 9 to 4 a.m.

Park Hyatt Roof Lounge
4 Avenue Rd., 416-925-1234
Approved for Sept. 9 to 14 to 4 a.m.

Revival
783 College St., 416-535-7888
Approved for Sept. 11 to 4 a.m.

Ritz-Carlton
181 Wellington St. W., 416-585-2500
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

The Roosevelt Room
328 Adelaide St. W., 416-599-9000
Approved for Sept. 8 to 17 to 4 a.m.

La Société
131 Bloor St., 416-551-9929
Approved for Sept. 8 to 17 to 4 a.m.

South of Temperance
20 Adelaide St. W., 647-477-1444
Approved for September 9 to 4 a.m.

Spoke Club
600 King St. W., 416-368-8448
Approved for Sept. 8 to 17 to 4 a.m.

Stirling Room
55 Mill St., 416-364-3900
Approved for September 9 to 19 to 4 a.m. (morning of the 19^th)

Thompson Hotel
550 Wellington St. W., 416-640-7778
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Traffik
287-291 Richmond St. W., 416-597-9206
Approved for Sept. 9 to 4 a.m.

Tryst
82 Peter St., 416-588-7978
Approved for Sept. 8 to 4 a.m.

Ultra
314 Queen St. W., 416-263-0330
Approved for Sept. 8 to 17 to 4 a.m.

Windsor Arms
18 St. Thomas St., 416-971-9666
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Wrongbar
1279 Queen St. W., 416-516-8677
Approved for Sept. 8 to 18 to 4 a.m.

Check out TIFF.TO for all the latest gossip, star spotting, red carpet photo galleries and more »

(illustration: Gluekit)

Back in the 1990s, I starred as the Red Queen in Alice: The Rock Opera, a student production at the Claude Watson School for the Arts in North York. My costume was a red power suit with eye-gouging shoulder pads and a giant heart cut out of the back. There were lengthy hallucinogenic Alvin Ailey–inspired dance numbers. The Caterpillar sucked on a bong instead of a hookah. It was, of course, beyond terrible. But at the time, we thought our creation had hit on something scintillatingly deep. The show’s source material—Lewis Carroll’s beloved 1865 children’s classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—and the way it revelled in the topsy-turvy nature of reality—was alluring to our rapidly expanding (i.e., hash-addled) adolescent brains.

Alice has proven equally irresistible to dozens of filmmakers, theatre directors and opera librettists. There was even a 1953 elementary school production in Queens that has gone down in history as Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s first collaboration (Simon played the White Rabbit, Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat).

This month, a ballet based on the book is opening at the Four Seasons Centre. It’s a first-ever co-production between the National Ballet of Canada and Britain’s Royal Ballet, lavishly staged by the illustrious English choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (whose decade-old breakout modernist ballet, Polyphonia, was revived by the New York City Ballet earlier this year). The show was the hottest ticket in London this past winter, playing to sold-out houses and receiving standing ovations from audiences that included Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles and Kate Middleton. Modern ballet fans have come to expect splash and spectacle, and Alice delivers, with wildly fantastical sets heightened by cunning optical illusions. Alice’s descent down the rabbit hole is staged with the help of dazzling light projections, as are her fluctuations in size—not an easy thing to convey when one is working with a tiny dancer on a very large stage. The Cheshire Cat is played by several dancers, who separate and come together like an ephemeral Trojan horse. The Caterpillar’s psychedelic interlude is enhanced by dancers in barely-there Aladdin-esque costumes doing the worm.

While the staging is splendid and the choreography polished, Wheeldon’s Alice, like so many previous adaptations, is ultimately hobbled by the wild and woolly narrative. The problem with Wonderland, as Alice herself is constantly pointing out, is that nothing makes any sense. In Carroll’s authorial imagination, we visit Wonderland through Alice. We hear her thoughts, and we sympathize with her feelings and frustrations in a way that just isn’t possible in more externalized, visual art forms. In dance, theatre, opera and film productions, Alice often seems strangely removed from the action, an alienated spectator rather than an active participant. While Lauren Cuthbertson did an admirable job in the ballet’s title role in London, her episodic journey was without a defining arc. There is, after all, only one way to go on the trip through Wonderland, as the King instructs the White Rabbit in court: “Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end; then stop.” Not exactly a recipe for dramatic success. So why all these adaptations? The answer is a riddle in itself.

Nearly a century and a half after the publication of Alice, its characters and settings are still as compelling, its sentiments as funny and fresh. Even its whimsical-yet-buttoned-down aesthetic—as defined by John Tenniel’s iconic illustrations—are fashionable again. In Britain, minimalism is rapidly being replaced by the ornate and velvety pleasures of the neo-Victorian revival. There’s the rise of lace in contemporary women’s fashion and tweed in men’s. And there’s the success of art-world darling Polly Morgan, a young taxidermist who delights in coiling dead white rats in champagne coupes. The chic London hotel Home House, with its block print wallpaper, dark wood and elaborate floor-to-ceiling bathroom tiles, looks exactly like a place Carroll would have wanted to hang his hat. But despite its ability to stay current, Alice still firmly resists being reimagined. That’s because, as a work of art, the book is much like the character of Alice herself: curious yet circumspect, and utterly unchanging in the face of the chaos raging all around.

Alice is ultimately hobbled by its wild and woolly narrative. The problem with Wonderland, as its heroine is constantly pointing out, is that nothing makes any sense

There’s a much more self-serving reason producers keep diving down the rabbit hole: for all its shambolic plotlessness, Alice has an excellent track record at the box office. In addition to myriad film and television adaptations, there was the famously sanitized 1951 Disney movie Alice in Wonderland. More recently, there was Tim Burton’s computer-animated live-action adaptation starring Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Mia Wasikowska as a teenage Alice. It earned over a billion dollars at the box office and a place in cinematic history as the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time, despite being pretty much panned by critics.

The netherworld into which Alice falls is such an anxious, nonsensical place that it’s a wonder we keep following her there. And yet we do, over and over again. Artists will continue trying to improve (and cash in on) Carroll’s universe. But for me, there will only ever be one plucky little girl, one white rabbit and one maniacally grinning cat. The others are simply not the real thing. They seem to me, just as Alice did to those portly twins, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, little more than a self-indulgent dream—tinny banjo renditions of a great symphony.

Daniel Boulud at his eponymous restaurant in New York (Image: winestem)

First Jean-Georges Vongerichten, then Daniel Boulud, then Gordon Ramsay, and now Daniel Boulud again. That’s three Michelin-starred celebrity chefs that have passed over Toronto to open Canadian outposts in Vancouver and Montreal. Boulud (who made his name at  Le Cirque and Daniel, among others) announced today that he would open a new restaurant, Maison Boulud, at the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal.

The announcement comes after his two Vancouver restaurants, DB Bistro Moderne and Lumière, were shuttered after short, two-year stints (Dale MacKay, of Top Chef Canada fame, was the chef de cuisine at Lumière). At the time, Chowhound rumours emerged suggesting that the celebrated chef was in talks with Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel. While Boulud confirmed he was “looking closely” at Toronto, there is no concrete news on that front. Maison Boulud is set to open in early 2012 and will coincide with a $150 million renovation to the Ritz-Carlton Montreal. At least we still have the bragging rights for nabbing David Chang first.

• Daniel Boulud Opening a Maison Boulud in Montreal [Eater]
• Star chef Daniel Boulud to open Montreal restaurant [Globe and Mail]

She’s regularly described as the finest Verdi soprano of her generation, the successor to legends Leontyne Price and Zinka Milanov, a woman with a voice that can blast you back into the row behind or leave you dangling on a floated pianissimo. American-born Sondra Radvanovsky, who moved here eight years ago after marrying a Canadian, is adding the Four Seasons Centre to the list of stellar international houses that have featured her name on their marquee. She’ll be singing the tragic title role in Aida, a first for her, and the first time the COC has mounted this Verdi favourite since 1986. For all its reputation as an elephant-heavy spectacle, the Egyptian extravaganza is also an intimate quartet about patriotism, homeland, love and jealousy. There isn’t a more Italian combo than that. Read our Q&A with Radvanovsky after the jump.

You’ve been singing professionally for 20 years. Why take so long to try out Aida?
It’s not an easy feat, so I waited until I was ready. As you age, you have greater stamina and can push your voice more. Plus, I have now sung all the roles that a soprano should before tackling Aida: Luisa in Luisa Miller, Violetta in La Traviata, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Lina in Stiffelio, Elisabetta in Don Carlo. Each of these roles is a bit more challenging vocally than the next.

You’re famous for your Verdi. What is it about the man?
I love his long lines of music and his amazing melodies—audiences come out of the theatre humming. Also, Verdi wrote everything that he wanted you to do in the music. What other composer indicates five pianos, to make the atmosphere soft, soft, soft, soft, soft?

Your Facebook page has a link to A Gluten-Free Guide. What’s that about?
I travel with my own supply of food, because the gluten seems to create a mucus that gucks up my vocal cords. I look six months pregnant when I eat a lot of gluten. I get this big, poochy belly. But alcohol, no problem.

Convenient, seeing as you have a Niagara wine named after you.
Yes, you can have a bottle of me, which is so much fun to say when friends are over. It’s a merlot–cab franc mix from a little vineyard in Vineland called Alvento. The owner approached me after a performance at Covent Garden and, over supper, asked if he could name one of his wines after me. Now I can buy a bottle of Sondra. It’s neat.

Are you excited about singing at the Four Seasons Centre for the first time?
It’s such an amazing building, inside and out. The acoustics are just about perfect, and the space is neither too large nor too small—an audience member can feel like they are part of the action. I recently sang at the Arena di Verona in Italy, which can hold up to 25,000 people. This will be much easier. There are greater opportunities for subtle acting, thankfully, because Aida is so often more about the pomp and circumstance than the real story.

Do you have any pre-performance superstitions?
I’m not the kind of singer who has to step onto the stage with her right foot instead of her left every time, and I don’t have a shrine to Maria Callas in my dressing room. I do, however, always say a little prayer to my father, who passed away when I was 17, to help me do the very best that I can—but I never ask for perfection.

Aida, Oct. 2 to Nov. 5, Four Seasons Centre.

(Image: Sondra Radvanovsky photograph by Ken Howard and Terrence McCarthy; photo-illustration by Wes Duvall.)

Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech

On Friday morning, Carrie Wolfe, the vice president of publicity and promotion for Alliance Films, was packing up her headquarters at the Intercontinental in Yorkville. After 11 years of building buzz for Oscar noms like Frieda, The Young Victoria and Eastern Promises out of the Bloor Street hotel, Alliance is moving its TIFF office down to King Street for 2011 to be closer to the Bell Lightbox. Though the 13-year film fest veteran was running on her final fumes of adrenaline, she offered to take a minute and share with us the people, performances and publicity coups that made her year at TIFF.

On Alliance’s Oscar contenders
The King’s Speech for sure—potential best picture, Colin Firth for acting, Geoffrey Rush for acting. Also Blue Valentine, the performances in that.

On managing the exponentially larger festival
You didn’t get the paparazzi and the fans and all that going on in front of all the hotels when I first worked it. I remember walking Salma Hayek from the Four Seasons to the Intercon not all that long ago when she was in for Frieda. And now you can’t do it.

On the move to King West
The places we needed to go—the Four Seasons and the Hyatt—were right here. But for the press, it wasn’t the most convenient thing having to travel to the press screenings and then get back up [to Yorkville] for interviews, because schedules got so packed.

On her biggest deal
We released Insidious, which sold the night of the premiere. Up until that point, no other film had sold the day of the premiere.

On the enduring appeal of Toronto
Everything’s cyclical, but each of those festivals—Cannes, Venice, Toronto—have kind of found their place. Toronto is the biggest North American film festival. I haven’t seen less desire from filmmakers to bring their films here.

The name's Gosling, Ryan Gosling. (Image: Vito Amati/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)

Kevin Spacey is pretty much the only noteworthy dude we’ll see on the (very wet) red carpet today for the premiere of Casino Jack, but the Four Seasons is still seeing celeb traffic. Ryan Gosling was spotted leaving the Studio Café around 1:45 p.m. this afternoon; his film with Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine, had its TIFF premiere last night. Williams wasn’t in town for the gala, but Gosling turned up on the red carpet in a light grey suit and shades.

= Find this story on our Celebrity Sightings Map, where we plot the locations of stars spotted throughout Toronto