Category Archives: City Building

Of Reyner Banham and Charlie Mingus

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(We here at All Fried Up in the Big Smoke are doing our damnedest to adhere to a very strict American boycott policy. Since we don’t pay anyone for contributing to this site, technically speaking, we’re not purchasing a U.S. product with today’s post. And besides, our Los Angeles correspondent, Ned Teitelbaum, is one of the good ones. With the subject matter being public transit, a favourite topic of ours, look at it as endeavouring to build a bridge between two beefing allies, no tolls applied.)

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Charles Mingus gave free concerts on the Red Car. Reyner Banham missed it. Continue reading →

Into the Sunset

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There are more than a few of you reading these words, I’m sure, of the few of you here reading these words, thinking, What the fuck is this site even? Old men ranting old men things. Old people reminiscing. Erratic politic opining. Continue reading →

Toronto, the Bad Driving

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Driving. (A companion piece to a post from last September).

I recently spent a few weeks overseas, some of the time in a couple cities comparable in size to Toronto. Sydney, Australia and Singapore.

In neither place did I ever sit behind the wheel of a car, doing the actual driving. Mostly because the wheel was on the wrong side of the vehicle, and I may just be getting too old to handle that kind of cognitive dissonance. Motoring habits and clutch-pedal foot rusted into place. Continue reading →