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By Melinda M, February 27, 2010 10:37 am

This is the third edition of our new series where we profile neighborhood businesses and ask them a set of 8 questions about running their business on Ossington.

Located at 15 Ossington, just north of Queen, Silver Falls Vintage is an upscale vintage shop with art gallery Hunter and Cook in the back.

We asked Lindsay from Silver Falls Vintage our 8 questions about her business and here are her answers:

What’s your business?

Silver Falls Vintage.

How is your business unique?

I sell vintage clothing and my boyfriend Jay runs an art gallery in the back called Hunter and Cook.

How long have you been in business here?

Just over a year.

What drew you to be here on Ossington?

The action!  I couldn’t think of another spot to be really.  We got in at the right time before the rents started going crazy.

What changes have you seen on Ossington since your business has been here?

The weekends in the summer are nuts on this strip!  I used to live on Argyle Street 15 years ago and the neighbourhood was super sketchy. I would run home from the bus stop.  Now the only thing you have to be afraid of are drunken, suburbanite douchebags.

How do you see your business and Ossington five years from now?

We are closing the gallery in the spring and will be converting the space into an antique shop.
I hope Ossington gets a few more cheap, daytime food places.  More daytime business in general.

What is your favorite spot on Ossington, other than your own? and why?

I love the Vietnamese restaurant Pho Tien Thanh. I probably eat there too much……
And TAN coffee! My pal Marilyn is the owner- I probably drink too much coffee as well.

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By Melinda M, February 26, 2010 1:52 pm

This is the sign in the window of 214 Ossington: “Our House, opening soon.”  We know there has been a lot of construction going on inside the space, located right next door to our beloved dry cleaners. We had heard talk there was a lounge going in, and we did peek in last week and see a bar inside a long deep room.

The only reports we can find are from a September article in Compendium Daily speculating on another name for 214 Ossington.

That’s all we know, so please, anyone who knows more than us (you’re out there!), do tell! Will we have a new lounge, bar, or combo lounge-bar-restaurant to hang out in soon? We’ll let you know when we do!

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By Melinda M, February 23, 2010 11:02 am

This is the second edition of our new series where we profile neighborhood businesses and ask them a set of 8 questions about running their business on Ossington.

Our profile today is of art gallery MKG127. Located on the east side of Ossington at Argyle Street, MKG127 is a contemporary art gallery which showcases artists from Canada and around the world.

And now, 8 questions with Michael Klein of MKG127.

What’s your business?

art gallery

How is your business unique?

I’ve had people come in and ask “what is this place ?”
I often show work that challenges people’s idea about what “art” should look like.

How long have you been in business here?

Opened June 2007

What drew you to be here on Ossington?

I thought the strip between Queen & Dundas felt like a unique, self contained little village. There were a few galleries that had located there too.

What changes have you seen on Ossington since your business has been here?

Many more places to eat & drink.

How do you see your business and Ossington five years from now?

Probably the opposite of what I would predict.

What is your favorite spot on Ossington, other than your own? and why?

I have a lot of favourites but here’s a couple I’ve been frequenting recently.
Superior Dry Cleaners, they do a great job , quick and  very reasonable, recently even did a little repair job for me for free. I had the same hair stylist for about 20 years and when he retired last year I didn’t have to look very far for his
replacement, I tried Viva Hair, got a great cut, nice price & incredibly convenient.

MKG127 is located at 127 Ossington Street.

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By Brians, February 21, 2010 8:56 pm

This weekend the National Home Show is taking place at the Direct Energy Centre in the Exhibition Grounds. The show is absolutely enormous. There are over 700 exhibitors, and have a fancy dream home and such D-List Celebrities as Ty Pennington. The real fun of the show is checking out the new stuff around the show. I was there working on the booth for HomeStars, my day job, manning a booth we have down there. One of our local Ossington businesses has a full booth down at the show which I stopped by and said hi.

It seems that our local supplier of everything from paint, to tiles, to lumber (everyone should know they have a big lumberyard behind, down the alley, where they keep all sorts of building material too big for the store) has a full booth at the show. They do more than just being the local retail location. They are also designing and building kitchens and bathrooms with their design centre.

On the HomeStars site they’ve got a good lot of reviews, but it’s all for their retail work rather than their design work.

I like all the neat tubs and hardware they’ve got on display.

One of the booth visitors:

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By Melinda M, February 20, 2010 2:20 pm

UPDATE: Like Gordon Lightfoot, despite what they’re saying online, Semolina Bakery is not dead. Walked by this morning, the lights are on, the sign is outside, and customers were being served. Perhaps they are looking for someone to take-over their lease, but they haven’t fully closed yet.
It looks like we were correct and Semolina Bakery at 188 Ossington Ave has shut it’s doors for good. Seems they couldn’t compete with the countless other bakeries in the area.

When one door closes, another opens maybe? There has been lots of activity right next door to Semolina, but no word yet what is being built behind the papered windows.

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By Brians, February 19, 2010 10:15 am

I received a note the other day through this blog from Jim Likourezos, who is running in Ward 19 (ours) now that Joe Pants is running for Mayor (god help us if he wins) as well as a flyer in my mailbox. It’s the first candidate we’ve seen so far.

His webpage says he’s for “responsible government”, which really doesn’t help us out much. (not that we don’t like responsible government, but give us some more!).

So, to help us get to know him he’s holding a couple of meet and greets in the area, although unfortunately none on Ossington… yet.

The first of his meetups is at Victory Cafe on Monday the 22nd at 7pm

The second meeting takes place at one of my faves, the Wheat Sheaf Tavern the next night at 7pm also.

I’m sure he’ll be heading and meeting up with us here on Ossington soon. Reposado, Sweaty Betty’s and The Painted Lady make for good meet-up locales, and the local business owners would love to find out more about him.

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By Brians, February 15, 2010 8:57 pm

On the way home tonight we saw this sign on a storefront beside Opera Bob’s on Dundas.

It looks a little small to be a full sized grocery store but perhaps a fine foods shop? The name of the store seems to be City Store, with small print below that says “Groceries.” Can anyone fill us in on what’s going in here?

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By Melinda M, February 7, 2010 12:15 pm

Still trying to decide how to spend your Super Bowl Sunday? If you want to watch the big game or do something less sports-oriented, here are some choices in the Ossington/Dundas area.

The Painted Lady is hosting a SuperBowl party with large screen TVs and a special menu including varieties of hot dogs. They are even conducting a football pool so you can really have something to root for.

Reposado celebrates “Superbowl Stupor” at 5PM with free munchies and $5 tall boys.

The Dakota Tavern continues with their usual live music lineup starting with Lickin Good Fried at 7 and house band the Beauties at 10p.

Communist’s Daughter hosts their regular Sunday afternoon jazz starting 4:30ish.

The Garrison’s Wavelength series continues tonight with bands playing from 9p- late.

You can check out some art at AWOL open til 5 with a new exhibition this weekend.

There are likely more events happening, but this is a start. Have a great Superbowl Sunday!

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By Melinda M, February 1, 2010 4:00 pm

Toronto Life has caught up with us today and their Daily Dish column is all about the openings of Bohmer and Salt.

They have an interview with Chef Boehmer and discuss his menu and the layout of his restaurant, which he plans to open this month. Additionally, there is more info on the retail space next door, which, he says, will feature prepared meals, cheese, meats, sauces and vinagrettes, all prepared by him and other local chefs. Sounds like they’ll be filling a void on our strip!

Not as much space is devoted to Salt, but they do mention it will be opening it’s doors any minute, just like we said!

Boehmer has a great sense of where Ossington fits in Toronto’s culinary scene, and where he fits on Ossington. I’ll take his quote from the article, “Everyone has their own niche, so there’s no competition. This is the street for food, and there isn’t another place like this in the city.”

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By Brians,

We’re adding a new series here on the Ossington Blog – Ossington Business Profiles. They are a short set of questions we are asking the business owners on the street about running their business on the Ossington strip.

Appropriately, our first profile is on Sweaty Bettys, one of the first hip places to be on the strip. Sweaty Bettys has been around since before Ossington was known by the rest of the city, and was an out-of-the-way place often frequented by celebrities who wanted to find a more secluded place to go. It’s still small and quaint, but busier with a broader audience. It’s still one of my favourite patios in the city.

So here it is: 8 questions with Pol Cristo-Williams, from Sweaty Bettys:

What’s your business?

Sweaty Betty’s

How is your business unique?

We tell people to piss off and they still keep coming back. Totally unique.

How long have you been in business here on Ossington?

5 years for Sweaty Betty’s, and my wife had an art gallery at the same location for two years before that. And we had The Sparrow Restaurant for a couple of years before it became Delux.

What drew you to be in the neighbourhood?

My wife. She’s cool. (see above)

What changes have you seen since your business has been here?

People shoot each other way less.

How do you see your business and Ossington five years from now?

Probably knocked down and turned into a Starbucks. That, or it’ll be full of aging hipsters who don’t really like Betty’s, but agree to still go there because the beer is cheap and it’s walking distance from home.

What is your favorite spot on Ossington (other than your own, of course)?

Downtown Lumber. They sell everything. And Jaiden’s Petals. Flowers are nice.

Any other thoughts on the neighbourhood you’d like to add?

Um, if Pantelone leaves, do we get our street back?