News   Jul 12, 2024
199 Church Showcases Heritage Facade and Artwork at Street Level
 1.3K     0 
News   Jul 12, 2024
Six Points Plaza Redevelopment Advances With 36-Storey First Phase
 1.1K     1 
News   Jul 12, 2024
Trading Spaces: Can Real Estate Conversion Help Boost Housing Supply?
 390     0 

Church-Wellesley Village

Cute dog and nice leg! :)

I understand where people are coming from with the lack of friendliness. It definitely helps to have friends with whom you can go out with and especially if you have very outgoing friends who say hi to everyone :)

That said, it's a lot easier to meet friends than to find a relationship. I've been single for 2 years. I wouldn't call myself "straight-acting", I could never use that term for myself. But people generally are surprised that I'm gay. I just like people who aren't super-flamey. A little flaming is fine, say if you get excited about a new episode of Desperate Housewives or something I dunno. I have no problem with being friends with flaming gays though. They're fun to hang out with.

When is the next UT forum meet? We should have a gays-only one. :p
 
Zelda's Vamooses

Zelda%20story.jpg.jpg


Not exactly good news, especially with Crews/Tango still closed and Bigliardi's set to become a Pizza Iolo.
 
Zelda's departure comes as a surprise to me. The new address is the former Arrabiata (Living Well before that). Posters have been in the window for a few weeks advertisting that it's re-opening as The Golden Sun. Maybe Zelda's is taking the second floor? :confused:
 
Darkstar416 said:
Zelda's Vamooses

Not exactly good news, especially with Crews/Tango still closed and Bigliardi's set to become a Pizza Iolo.
Click to expand...

Likely, the landlord decided on a rent increase and they made a break for it. Locating on Yonge does gives them a chance to tap into different markets, like the suburban tourists crawling the street who may want to experience a "lite" version of gay Toronto with Zelda's costumed servers and drag shows. I think that stretch of Yonge from Bloor to College has passed Danforth as the most restaurant dense street in the city. Plus, with Alibi gone, Gladmans is holding the flag on Yonge all alone.

It's not good news for Church, but not exactly bad news either. It of course depends on what moves in and when. The patio is the only one fronting Church and losing it would definitely change the feel of the street, but I doubt it will be touched unless the enitre property is renovated. The interior of the building could use a major rethink though and a better performance space could be created. Patio season is over now and the street can survive a hole there for the winter, as long as it doesn't turn into a Crews situation where we don't know when or if something will come back.
 
Last edited:
Darkstar416 said:
Zelda's Vamooses

Zelda%20story.jpg.jpg


Not exactly good news, especially with Crews/Tango still closed and Bigliardi's set to become a Pizza Iolo.
Click to expand...

Wow, who saw that coming? This is a huge loss to the neighbourhood. The food was just average and slightly overpriced but a fun place to go with friends especially if you could manage to negociate a table on the patio in the summer.

Now if I recall correctly Zelda is actually going home. The two fellows who started the Living Well on Yonge Street in the early 80's (with a few coffee pots, pastries and a microwave oven) opened their second enterprise (was it called Zelda's? I can't remember) on Wellesley E. of Church in the mid 90's which is now sells casual sporting attire (formally "Feed Me More" pet foods), then moved over to their Church Street digs when Toby's went out.

Pizza Iolo makes amazing pizza, but I was hoping for something in former Bigliardi's to actually draw people to the neighbourhood as opposed to another pizza joint.

deerparker said:
Zelda's departure comes as a surprise to me. The new address is the former Arrabiata (Living Well before that). Posters have been in the window for a few weeks advertisting that it's re-opening as The Golden Sun. Maybe Zelda's is taking the second floor? :confused:
Click to expand...

If memory serves, the second floor is very small.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Pizza Iolo makes amazing pizza, but I was hoping for something in former Bigliardi's to actually draw people to the neighbourhood as opposed to another pizza joint.
Click to expand...

Is Pizzaiolo really taking over the enitre space of Bigliardis? From the outside it seems like it could easily be split into two long narrow spaces. I've never been inside, so I am assuming there is some depth to the building, but if not, than I guess one space is all you can get.
An annoying thing about that block is that all the storefronts are several feet above or below sidewalk level. It makes for good window seats for people inside, but when your outside it seems kind of dead. That newish restaurant Xyclo(?) is especially notable for this. You can walk past without knowing anything has moved in there. From the inside though, it's great being five feet up to look out on the street.
 
Last edited:
Jonny5 said:
Is Pizzaiolo really taking over the enitre space of Bigliardis? From the outside it seems like it could easily be split into two long narrow spaces. I've never been inside, so I am assuming there is some depth to the building, but if not, than I guess one space is all you can get.
Click to expand...

I've been in the Bigliardi's section many years ago. It's fairly wide and quite deep plus I think the kitchen is at the back so it goes back further. There was also some kind of betting joint at the south side of Bigliardi's which I've never been in, I don't know how big it is in there. This is a huge space for a Pizzaiolo, the two that I've been to at Yonge & Hayden and in the Annex are fairly small spaces with limited seating. As you suggest, Bigliardi's is a big space, I wouldn't be surprised to see it split up.
 
androiduk said:
^ The former owner of Living Well/Zelda's sold out and started Kuda Furniture. He used to also own the building at 692 Yonge but I don't know if he sold it.
Click to expand...

There were definitely two guys who started up The Living Well Cafe, if memory serves I think they were cousins. A good friend of mine worked there for a couple of years shortly after Living Well opened, I'll see if she remembers their names. Their partnership did expire some years ago, possibly when Zelda's came into the picture. One of them still owns/runs Zelda's, I'm quite certain of that.

There's not a lot of night life over at Yonge & Isabella like back in the 80's & 90's, I don't know if Zelda's will survive there.
 
To be fair, that wasn't even Zelda's for that long. Zelda's used to be on Wellesley IIRC. I can't remember what the current/former location was before it was before it was Zelda's. It's odd because I was just in Zelda's on Friday night before heading out to Fly and there were signs inside that said they were "renovating".
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
To be fair, that wasn't even Zelda's for that long. Zelda's used to be on Wellesley IIRC. I can't remember what the current/former location was before it was before it was Zelda's. It's odd because I was just in Zelda's on Friday night before heading out to Fly and there were signs inside that said they were "renovating".
Click to expand...

Zelda's was on Wellesley for perhaps 2 or 3 years then moved to where Toby's used to be on Church in the late 90's. I can't recall what was in Zelda's on Wellesley before they went in there but after they moved out it became another restaurant, then a pet supply store and is now a sports shop (clothing and such).
 
MTown said:
^Calgary and Ottawa?

Cause it sure as hell isn't Montreal and Vancouver.
Click to expand...

I will mitigate with what you consider pretentious in Toronto is what I would say is basically people just not having any time (for you) or the whole tall poppy thing that outsiders from the ROC get worked up about (which can seem pretentious especially if you have these preconceived ideas about the city). Montreal and Vancouver are certainly more laid back but hardly more inclusive.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top