Toronto Ryerson's Mattamy Athletics Centre + Loblaws at the Gardens | ?m | ?s | Ryerson University | Turner Fleischer

I was acquainted with Yolanda Ballard for several years in the 90's (ya, I know...) anyway she referenced the apartment on occasion (the "penthouse apartment") in the Gardens and that always intrigued me. I never heard mention of it before or since. It seemed a mythical place for me in my mind, I'd love to see what's left of it and where it is located within the building or at least photographs of the suite.

I'm a big fan of Radio City Music Hall and I tour it most times I visit there, each tour over the years is just a little different. On one tour back in 2002 we were taken through the roped off former private suite of Samuel Rothafel which is not only a stunningly decorated apartment but a true look behind the scenes of where one of the movie maestros of the period lived. It was heaven!
 
Actually, speaking of Ballard, I hadn't realized he had a plaque with his name and handprints installed under centre ice, and only found out a couple years ago when they used the Gardens for Nuit Blanche.

I wonder what they'll do with the plaque now that the ice surface is being removed. I'd personally love to see it reinstalled in the floor of the frozen foods section.
 
The existence of Rosie DiManno (and Marcus Gee) make one long for much-heralded collapse of print media. I don't know exactly what will come with the rags are gone, but I'm interested in seeing it.
 
don't be sorry. Rosie should be sorry.

My Harold Ballard story:
Harold Ballard once gave my mom a $1000 tip when she was a waitress in St Catharines like 30 years ago. On his way home from a game in Buffalo he stopped by her restaurant and ordered that everyone in there had to leave and he paid everyone's bill so they could go. He then had the 3 waitresses (my mom included) running around with all sorts of requests including having them change his ashtray every time he tapped his cigar in it. The owner knew it was Ballard so he didn't stand up to him, which really pissed my mom off at the time. Then when he left he gave each of them a $1000 tip, which in like 1980 would be pretty amazing to get. So for a guy who was a sexist jerk, he seems to have surprisingly been a pretty good tipper.
 
jn_12 said:
I thought there was a ban on posting anything by Rosie Dimanno? Did anyone manage to make it through the first sentence?
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I'm puzzled as to why DiManno has a column in the Star. She seems so out of place compared to their other writers... just the other day Hume posted an article praising this same Gardens conversion. Two of her recent rants: this one about the Gardens conversion, and the one last week in support of the MLSE sidewalk vandalism reveal a totally bizarre and shortsighted view of this city.

Here she claims to live in the neighbourhood, yet describe a totally imaginary "half dozen" grocery chains in the 'hood, and proclaims that we should be shopping at (similarly imaginary) mom'n'pop stores like butchers and bakers. Really? All I can think of in the area are the overcrowded Metros in the Merchandise building and at College Park, and a couple Rabba's, which are essentially overblown convenience stores. Please name me one decent butcher, baker, or "fishmonger" within a few blocks of the Gardens.

Car-free downtowners need to carry their groceries home, so an accessible location is key. Specialty shops are nice, but really, are you going to buy laundry detergent, dried pasta and Cheerios at the butcher? Get real. Most downtown grocers I can think of are not at all suburban -- they are smaller, and have little to no parking. Nothing like the sea of parking lots in the burbs. The Gardens proposal includes a bit of underground parking, but the vast majority of shoppers will walk, cycle, or transit there. Making the downtown core livable is a step forward. Keeping this gaping relic of a building vacant for another decade due some misguided nostalgia for a past era that will never return would be a tragedy.

Betcha $19.67 DiManno does her weekly shopping at a grocery store in the burbs, then drives it all home in her car. Or else she never cooks and eats only takeout and restaurant food.

What a nonsensical and short-sighted rant. Things like grocery stores make the downtown livable for regular folks. This is good, not bad! And most of the Gardens will still be used as a skating rink and athletic facility -- I'm utterly mindboggled (it's a word now, I just invented it.) What is her alternate suggestion?
 
PukeGreen said:
I'm puzzled as to why DiManno has a column in the Star. She seems so out of place compared to their other writers... just the other day Hume posted an article praising this same Gardens conversion. Two of her recent rants: this one about the Gardens conversion, and the one last week in support of the MLSE sidewalk vandalism reveal a totally bizarre and shortsighted view of this city.

Here she claims to live in the neighbourhood, yet describe a totally imaginary "half dozen" grocery chains in the 'hood, and proclaims that we should be shopping at (similarly imaginary) mom'n'pop stores like butchers and bakers. Really? All I can think of in the area are the overcrowded Metros in the Merchandise building and at College Park, and a couple Rabba's, which are essentially overblown convenience stores. Please name me one decent butcher, baker, or "fishmonger" within a few blocks of the Gardens.

Car-free downtowners need to carry their groceries home, so an accessible location is key. Specialty shops are nice, but really, are you going to buy laundry detergent, dried pasta and Cheerios at the butcher? Get real. Most downtown grocers I can think of are not at all suburban -- they are smaller, and have little to no parking. Nothing like the sea of parking lots in the burbs. The Gardens proposal includes a bit of underground parking, but the vast majority of shoppers will walk, cycle, or transit there. Making the downtown core livable is a step forward. Keeping this gaping relic of a building vacant for another decade due some misguided nostalgia for a past era that will never return would be a tragedy.

Betcha $19.67 DiManno does her weekly shopping at a grocery store in the burbs, then drives it all home in her car. Or else she never cooks and eats only takeout and restaurant food.

What a nonsensical and short-sighted rant. Things like grocery stores make the downtown livable for regular folks. This is good, not bad! And most of the Gardens will still be used as a skating rink and athletic facility -- I'm utterly mindboggled (it's a word now, I just invented it.) What is her alternate suggestion?
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If you walk 3 minutes up Church Street north of the Gardens you'll find a cheese specialty store called About Cheese, Reither's Fine Foods (butcher and a lot of imported German fare which is amazing) and of course there's Cumbrae's Meats (butcher) with naturally raised (read, the meat here once ate real grass and are hormone free) fresh chicken, beef, lamb, pork etc. Pusateri Fruit Market is a few stores north. There's also a Chocolatier in the C+W neighbourhood! Super Fresh Mart has all the daily basics stuff at really great prices, better than Rabba & roughly about the price point as No Frills.

I'm not defending DiManno - trust me, just pointing out that she is right on ONE point in her "piece".

I always carry two of those fabric bags in my knapsack. On my way home each day I pick up a few groceries that I need like milk, OJ, fresh fruits & veggies etc. which I have listed in my Grocery app. on my iPhone. About once or twice a month I grab my "granny cart" and head to either No Frills or Metro to pick up dry type things that I need. It also works great when I pick up a big bag of dog food at Feed Me More pet supply store on Church Street. Who needs a car in a neighbourhood like this?
 
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Have you ever actually been in the area surrounding the Gardens? One of the better butchers in the city is just up the street (Cumbrae's), along with a solid cheese shop and a gourmet deli that has all kinds of imported specialty items and fresh meats/fish.

As far as supermarkets within easy walking distance of the Gardens are two Metros, a Sobey's, a No Frills, and a Food Basics. There's also a handful of "mom and pop" neighbourhood grocery stores (SuperFresh, Little Bee, etc) and three of the ubiquitous Rabbas that come to mind.

In all honesty, the local market probably is saturated as far as grocery stores go. That said, I'm glad to see something go in there. I would've preferred a Home Depot or a Rona or something of the sort (there's hardware stores around, but if I need a 2x4 or a sheet of plywood I have to drive), but a Loblaws is better than watching the Gardens sit and rot.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
If you walk 3 minutes up Church Street north of the Gardens you'll find a cheese specialty store called About Cheese, Reither's Fine Foods (butcher and a lot of imported German fare which is amazing) and of course there's Cumbrae's Meats (butcher) with naturally raised (read, the meat here once ate real grass and are hormone free) fresh chicken, beef, lamb, pork etc. Pusateri Fruit Market is a few stores north. There's also a Chocolatier in the C+W neighbourhood! Super Fresh Mart has all the daily basics stuff at really great prices, better than Rabba & roughly about the price point as No Frills.
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Cool, sorry guys, my bad. Whenever I'm in that area I'm on an east-west trajectory. I'll give DiManno those points for sure! Still stand by the rest, though :)
 
jn_12 said:
uh... I was just commenting that it was incredibly unique that the rink would be located on anything but the ground floor. As someone who spent their life in hockey arenas the idea is incredibly weird to me.
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Are you talking about professional or just regular public hockey arenas? I'm pretty sure that the ice at Madison Square Garden is on something like the tenth floor.

All you need is ramps wide enough for a vehicle to navigate to get a zamboni up there.
 
^ It's already been brought up that MSG is not at ground level. I responded by saying that I was aware of it, but I was talking about public arenas. Someone else mentioned that the Washington Capitals practice facility is on the 7th or 8th floor of an office building, which I wasn't aware of. It's still an incredibly unique feature for a public rink.

I'd like to see the floor plans because not only would the zamboni need access to the 3rd floor, it would need to dump its snow somewhere. Unless they plan on having to go up and down large ramp every hour (which again, seems incredibly strange to me). Part of me wonders if they even have the room for a large ramp and perhaps they might have to use an elevator.
 
That's what I thought when I read this earlier, a large freight elevator of some sort that could serve all levels (including retail, garbage etc.) and a snow melter at that level should be an easy enough fix.
 
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