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Gape at Celine Dion’s shoes, for a good cause

(Image: Roel Schroeven)

The Manulife Centre Ron White store is set to become a regular Bata Shoe Museum at 1 p.m. tomorrow with the unveiling of a display of signed and donated shoes from Celine Dion, David Foster, Paul Anka, Nikki Yanofsky and Charice (familiar to Gleeks as Sunshine Corazon). The event kicks off the Ron White Foundation’s 15th annual shoe drive, which has given more than 21,000 shoes and boots to the needy over the years. Also on display will be shoes from such past donors as Matt Damon, Robert Kennedy Jr., Mia Farrow and Michael Cera. To participate, bring a pair of lightly used winter shoes to any Ron White location or to the Avenues level of the Royal York.

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 10, 2010 | 12:42 pm

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Martin Sheen joins Royal York Hotel picket line for 20 minutes

Fight the power, Marty! (Image: Brian McGuirk)

His son may have been spotted at the Drake’s rooftop patio, but Martin Sheen seems to prefer a more street-level approach to tourism. We loved Sheen as the union leader who takes on the crooked stock player Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, so it’s fitting that he sported a sign saying “On Strike for Justice Unite Here!” as he picketed with Royal York Hotel workers this morning. “I’ve been a union member all my adult life. I’ve been involved in labour struggles all my adult life, and I support it,” he told the Star. We’re not sure if Sheen knows the exact reasons for the strike, but he joined in the fighting of the power for 20 minutes before dashing off to the premiere of his movie The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez.

• Martin Sheen joins hotel workers’ Royal York picket line [Toronto Star]

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

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 9, 2010 | 11:15 am

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TIFF troubles: Royal York workers set to strike tomorrow

The Royal York: now with DIY laundry service (Image: Steve Harris)

Last week, a bedbug scare and a one-day workers’ strike at the Hyatt Regency had TIFF organizers in a tizzy. This week, Royal York staffers are threatening to walk out on Friday, one of the busiest days of the film festival. Nine hundred hotel employees have been working without a contract since July and voted in favour of a strike last night. “The main issues are not that different from the Hyatt; it’s mostly about job security—having enough hours and shifts so workers can support their families,” said union spokesperson Cristal Cruz-Haicken. Timing the strike to TIFF is strategic, but the Royal York isn’t exactly a hub of festival action—a walkout wouldn’t be as damaging as a Hyatt strike.

• Royal York hotel employees vote to strike [Toronto Star]

The Informer

Cityscape

July 6, 2010 | 9:34 am

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Prince Philip and 250,000 homes left in the dark

Lights on, lights off (Image: John R. Southern)

A large part of the city was in the dark yesterday evening as a power outage swept Toronto’s financial core and west end at 4:45 p.m. due to a transformer explosion near Kipling station. David Miller turned into a superhero, rescuing a man stuck in the TD Bank Tower, and Twitter overflowed with panicked Torontonians as thousands of tweets poured through the #blackoutTO and #DarkTO feeds. But even though Toronto Hydro unofficially called this power-out a “biggie,” according to CTV’s Twitter feed, we’re pretty sure the Duke of Edinburgh, who had the lights turn out just as Lieutenant Governor David Onley was about to address him at the Royal York Hotel, disagrees. We hope Prince Philip doesn’t think Toronto’s trying to tell him something.

• Power outage hits Toronto [Globe and Mail]
• Power outage in downtown Toronto turns out lights at royal event [AM 770]
• David Miller responds to man’s tweet for help [Toronto Star]

The Dish

Weekly Lunch Pick

April 19, 2010 | 8:29 am

3 Comments

Where to eat lunch this week: Epic Restaurant

The ultimate power lunch: the three-course prix fixe at the Royal York makes for refined, delicious multi-tasking

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The Dish

Bottoms Up

March 9, 2010 | 12:20 pm

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Wayne Gretzky goes back to his pre-Olympic work: promoting wines, curling

Wayne and Walter Gretzky: His wish is our command (Image: Karon Liu)

Bedlam ensued at the Royal York Hotel last week as Wayne Gretzky mingled with guests, signed autographs and sipped wine from his very own label: 99 Estates, which makes 12 wines, ranging from chardonnays to rieslings to icewines. The event, held for members of the hotel’s loyalty program, was intended to promote the Great One’s vino and remind the world of two things: that proceeds from sales go to support young hockey players and that Canada is really great at curling. “My American friends came up with a theory that we created curling so that we could win a gold medal,” said Gretzky. “I said to them that they should make a third division that’s coed so that we can win another gold there.”

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The Dish

Neighbourhoods

March 2, 2010 | 11:29 am

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The Path Guide: 24 spots worth getting lost for

(All photos by Karon Liu)

Even those who were born and raised in Toronto have a hard time navigating the city’s underground labyrinth, with its dead ends, identical food courts and utterly useless maps—not to mention the complete lack of sunlight, which can drive a person mad. Still, the world’s largest below-ground shopping complex is like a city of its own, with lots of unique shops, restaurants and attractions that are worth the slight possibility of getting cabin fever. An added incentive for people going to a game or a concert: most of the restaurants offer free parking. Here are 24 places to check out.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

August 5, 2009 | 4:20 pm

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CanCon at TIFF: Atom Egoyan’s latest and Heath Ledger’s final film among newly announced titles

Even though it’s just a press conference, the announcement of TIFF’s Canadian lineup is considered to be the unofficial pre-gala kickoff for locals. Homegrown filmmakers, actors and distributors packed into the Royal York’s Imperial Room yesterday to pose for the camera and decimate the open bar and buffet table in a manner befitting this country’s underfunded film industry. Since a British film—Creation—was chosen for opening night, a Canadian project was widely expected to close the festival. Organizers didn’t disappoint. The honour went to The Young Victoria, a look at titular queen’s early years on the throne directed by C.R.A.Z.Y. filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée. Other notable announcements included:

• Atom Egoyan’s Chloe, about a wife (Julianne Moore) who hires a PYT (Amanda Seyfried) to catch her husband (Liam Neeson) in the act of cheating;
• Reginald Harkema’s follow-up to Monkey Warfare—Leslie, My Name Is Evil—will have its world premiere;
• Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the tale of a travelling theatre show staring Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Heath Ledger in his last role. A Canada-U.K. co-production, this one just squeaked into the CanCon category.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

July 3, 2009 | 1:57 pm

1 Comment

Follow the Tweeter: More Toronto chefs, bars and restaurants hop on the Twitter wagon

The mighty T: Increasingly, Twitter is everywhere (including Toronto kitchens)

More T?: Twitter gains popularity among T.O. foodies

Chefs and restaurateurs across the city are heading into the Twitterverse in a big way. Since our last roundup of Toronto foodie feeds, the popularity of the on-line service has exploded, with Grant van Gameren, Anthony Walsh, Dufflet Rosenberg and many more joining the fray. We find ourselves addicted to the culinary dispatches from these local epicureans (unlike most inane tweets that detail what’s for dinner). Here, our latest guide to who’s tweeting what.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

July 2, 2009 | 4:28 pm

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Rotten timing: The strike and the city’s restaurants

Pile it on: A mountain garbage continues to grow at a temporary dumping site (Photo by Martin Reis)

Pile it on: A mountain garbage continues to grow at the Christie Pits dumping site (Photo by Martin Reis)

Restaurant owners aren’t exactly singing “Solidarity Forever” these days. With such services as garbage collection and permit processing halted during the city worker strike, restaurateurs are getting increasingly frustrated. Carmine Accogli, chef-owner of The Big Ragu, is fuming after contending with lineups at temporary garbage transfer stations. “Other than the city worker’s contentious behaviour regarding what’s right for them and disregarding the rights of everyone else, they’re not offering us much—except filth in the streets,” he says. “Summerlicious this year is going to stink.” And he means that literally.

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