Innehållsförteckning för April 2025 från Toronto Life

Fury Road Kate Lunau’s feature about Toronto’s irreconcilable bike lane battles unleashed a tsunami of reader responses. Comments ranged from laudatory to vitriolic. “Pro Tip: either don’t drive downtown or plan extra time for the congestion. It’s not the bike lanes that are the problem. It’s too many cars in a small area! I will never understand why people get so impatient in their cars. You have the capacity to go 100-plus kilometres per hour in your 4,000-pound metal box on wheels—relax.” —@DJBenToronto, X “Remove the bike lanes. They sit empty while there are dozens of cars crawling in traffic.” —@love_paddling, X “The article on bike lanes is the reason many of us dislike bike lanes. You make the assumption that everyone has your life. They have no kids. They…

LAST MARCH, SOMEWHERE DEEP IN THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA’S GILDED FORTRESS AT FRONT AND BAY, AN ANONYMOUS TIP ARRIVED LIKE A THUNDERCLAP. Someone claimed to have seen RBC’s chief financial officer, Nadine Ahn, hugging and kissing the bank’s new vice-president, Ken Mason, as they exited the elevators at the Royal York hotel, just steps west of the company’s headquarters. Both were married with kids, but the complaint wasn’t about infidelity. Mason, the tipster knew, had been rapidly promoted, which came with a sizable bump in pay. The top tier of banking is cutthroat and laced with envy, and for good reason. High-ranking staff are paid handsomely, with a tantalizing buffet of stock options, benefits and other extras. As a VP, Mason’s annual perks allowance alone was $17,000. (Ahn’s was…

WHO: MARTIN GRZADKA and MONIKA WILK, owners of wealth-management firm Wilk Grzadka Group, and their sons, HENRY, 11, and OSKAR, 9 WHERE: Burlington Martin Grzadka and Monika Wilk bought their urban barn–style house in Burlington’s Shoreacres neighbourhood a decade ago. The place has salvaged barn beams in the ceiling and light wood accents throughout. It also had a 2,500-square-foot finished basement, but it was a bland and neglected space, and they barely used it. In March of 2023, the family travelled to Marrakech for a vacation and stayed at a Nobu hotel. In the serene lobby, the boys played pool while Monika and Martin drank mint tea on an armless sofa, admiring the space’s calming sepia colour scheme and curvy furnishings. Back home, they decided to transform their basement into…

I WAS BORN IN 1971, the youngest of three boys, in Saint John, New Brunswick. My father was bipolar; he self-medicated with alcohol and emotionally abused my mother. When I was 11, my mom left to protect herself. After that, my dad would come and go. But, for the most part, my brothers and I fended for ourselves. In high school, I got into BMX biking. I was naturally athletic and always willing to take big risks for a trick. A bruise, a sprain, even a broken bone—which happened more than once—didn’t deter me. After graduating, I briefly attended university on a full bursary before flunking out because I blew the money on partying. For a few years, I spent my time cycling, thrill-seeking and hanging out with my girlfriend,…

In an effort to stick it to America’s belligerent orange despot, I’ve been buying Canadian-made products at the grocery store and mall, but I can’t quite bring myself to give up Netflix, and my friend has been sanctimoniously criticizing me for it. Meanwhile, I recently caught him pouring Kentucky bourbon into a Wiser’s bottle. My question is two-fold: How much should I let global politics contort my life? And should I call my friend out on his hypocrisy? —Patriot Games, Islington UD: No one should twist their habits into a pretzel to meet someone else’s arbitrary standards. If you want to buy Canadian, do what you can to support the cause. If your friend continues to police your choices, you have my blessing to snap back. Beyond that, try not to…

In a sense, Crews and Tangos was born of a gay marriage. It was originally two separate establishments located in a pair of 1850s rowhouses: Crews, a gay bar at 510 Church Street that opened in 1994, and Tango, a lesbian bar at 508 Church that opened four years later. In 2004, they merged, embracing the guiding philosophy that would come to define Crews and Tangos: everyone is welcome. The three-storey brick building became the heart of the Church and Wellesley Village, a homing beacon in particular to young queer people looking for a place to belong. The drag shows are now the stuff of legend, and patrons dance until closing, leaving fake eyelashes, rhinestones and boa feathers scattered in their wake. A testament to its lasting success: Crews and…

WHO: NICOLAS BURBANO DÍAZ, a designer; DAVID DESLAURIERS, a retired investment banker; and their French bulldog, OSKAR WHERE: Summerhill In 2020, Nicolas Burbano Díaz and David DesLauriers bought a narrow two-storey semi in Summerhill. Two years later, they knocked it down and embarked on a modern rebuild, which included upgrading the basement. “With small city lots, you have to maximize every inch,” says Nicolas. Their contractor, the Fifth Wall, completed the job last March, and the couple moved in soon afterward. The 800-square-foot lower level, like the rest of the house, is warm and minimalist, with Venetian plastered walls and ceilings and arched doorways. It’s decorated with a mix of high-end designer and vintage furnishings, including an Angelo Mangiarotti–style travertine table. The space serves as a study, a meeting space,…

On February 18, This City Live—Toronto Life’s signature event presented with Tricon Residential—brought together leading voices in urban development, real estate and policy at U of T’s Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus. Lively discussions kept the audience’s attention, including a spirited exchange on housing policy, during which industry leaders debated the role of government in affordability. Talks covered everything from transit to economic growth, with sharp insights and competing perspectives making for a compelling evening. As the night wrapped, one thing was clear: solving Toronto’s big challenges will require bold ideas—and even bolder action. THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS PRESENTING SPONSOR: EVENT SPONSOR:…

“I’m going to tear up the first time I see a fan wearing my jersey” —Jade Kovacevic, p. 20 The premier is nothing if not a savvy opportunist. He shoehorned a winter election onto the agenda before the RCMP could wrap its Greenbelt investigation, before Bonnie Crombie had a chance to raise a war chest and mount a viable campaign, and before Pierre Poilievre could win at the federal level—because when Ottawa goes blue, Ontario usually votes red. And it worked. He cruised to a third-straight majority, but not because he offered dazzling solutions to the housing crisis, the health care crisis or the GTA’s crippling gridlock. He won big after promising to protect Ontario from Trump’s tariffs, and he played his Captain Canada schtick to perfection. Seven-plus years into…

“We used to spend $2,500 a year on Uber Eats. Now it’s zero” DENNIS MATHU, 29, AND STEPH GORDON, 28 WHAT THEY DO Both are content creators covering personal finance WHAT THEY MAKE $140,000 combined WHERE THEY LIVE A one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo in Corktown REGULAR EXPENSES RENT: $1,940 a month. “We’ve been in this condo for almost seven years and have no plans to move,” says Steph. “We love the neighbourhood.” INTERNET: $73 a month with Rogers. “I always call in January to negotiate a better deal for the new year,” says Steph. GROCERIES: $640 a month. “We walk to No Frills with our little cart,” says Dennis. TRANSIT: $100 a month. “We both work from home, so we save a lot on transportation,” says Dennis. TAKEOUT: $0. “We used…

In early April of 2020, Lori Chen felt a lump in her breast while she was in the shower. The Toronto-based pharmacist was 36 years old and had a two-and-a-half-year-old son, and it was early in the pandemic, when much of the world was in lockdown. She cried for days. Lori decided to focus on her family and the things that were within her control. She started chemotherapy, underwent a mastectomy and began to feel that her life would soon return to some semblance of normal. That was until an echocardiogram in October 2020 revealed that she was in imminent danger of heart failure. Lori, who had no symptoms of heart disease, says this new diagnosis was even scarier than discovering she had breast cancer. “When I thought of heart…

WHO: MORGAN MARLOWE, CEO of Perkopolis; RICHARD JOYNT, VP of partnerships at Perkopolis; and their sons, HENRY, 15, and ANDREW, 11 WHERE: Lawrence Park Morgan Marlowe and Richard Joynt’s basement transformation was part of a larger overhaul to their 6,000-square-foot home. They bought the property in September of 2023 and had planned to just redo the floors, but when they realized that would also involve updating other elements like the wall trim, they decided to do a full-scale reno. They enlisted designer Cynthia Ferguson and project manager Urban Blueprint to transform the home’s interior with vibrant colours and patterns. “Our previous houses have been all greys and whites,” says Morgan. “I wanted colour and lots of it.” The 1,800-square-foot basement is the home’s central hangout. The boys host a steady…

Like Mom’s Jonathan and Benjamin Mishaev’s mother made them Israeli-style schnitzel when they were growing up. At Limon, they prep it the same way, forgoing the typical European process of pounding the chicken into thin cutlets. Benjamin seasons his with a signature shawarma spice blend to add warmth and depth, then coats it in a mix of panko and traditional breadcrumbs for maximum crunch. Served with a choice of sides. $28. 1968 Queen St. E., limonbeaches.com Plum Job Maven chef and owner Shauna Godfrey channels tonkatsu vibes with her schnitzel, brining chicken breasts overnight before coating them in panko for a super-juicy inside and an ultra-crispy outside. Her brownbutter plum sauce—made with salted and fermented plums, shallots, and white soy—is a kind of hybrid between umeboshi and the plum sauce…