Never a Wayward Word
To read A.J. Liebling today, 35 years on, is to weep for the absence of such a wickedly skilled scourge. We so need him By David Hayes, The Toronto Star; April 26, 2009 The Sweet Science and Other Writings by A. J. Liebling (edited by Pete Hamill) The Library of America, 2009 1,057 pages, Of the […]
Renter-activist has eye on Queen West
by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, June 14, 2008 Walking the three blocks of Queen West that separates The Gladstone Hotel from The Drake Hotel, Misha Glouberman points out the bars that have opened or are at various stages of construction. “The density of bars in this neighbourhood is incredible,” he says. “People think noise and bars […]
The art of coach house lodging
Historic outbuilding makes winsome abode for collector at a crossroads in his life By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, October 20, 2007 In addition to my girlfriend, Jennifer and I, the guest list for a recent Ed Jackson dinner party included a horde of Mickey Mouse dolls, a detachment of plastic Mounties, a dozen or so Fisher […]
Shameless, driven, mortgage-free
Megan Griffith-Greene and Jeromy Lloyd have put off home ownership to chase their dreams By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, August 4, 2007 Smart, savvy, independent-minded teenage girls don’t have a lot of choice in magazines. There’s Seventeen (“Get the latest fashion, beauty, dating, and health tips. Plus, win freebies, take quizzes, and check your […]
Notes on a Scandal
Jan Wong’s explosive “pure laine” charge in her Dawson College pieces ignited a firestorm. But the Globe and Mail’s crime was to run for cover and let its star reporter take the fall. Here’s how it happened By David Hayes, Toronto Life, May 2007 ON AN OTHERWISE uneventful Wednesday last September, Kimveer Gill, dressed in […]
A winning recipe for living well
Restaurant owners pour savings into shared business By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, October 28, 2006 One of my favourite urban rituals is brunch and there’s nowhere in Toronto I’d rather have it than at Le Petit Dejeuner. It’s a small restaurant on King St., just east of Jarvis, around the corner from St. Lawrence […]
Everyone has a moving day story
By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, October 14, 2006 It’s moving day, Pack your bed quilts and get away, If you spend every cent you can live out in a tent, It’s moving day. Caught up in the agony of moving day, few of us would be humming this jaunty Vaudeville tune. We’d be too […]
Dog’s life not ruff for Dixie
Landlord doesn’t mind pets in building. Very few complaints from neighbours. by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, June 17, 2006 Yip yip yip yip yip yip. Who’s that at the door? A visitor at 10 o’clock on a Tuesday night? Oh, I see, it’s that tall writer with the shaved head who lives in number […]
Gay Talese Undone
By David Hayes, The Globe and Mail Book Review, May 6, 2006 A Writer’s Life By Gay Talese (Knopf, 2006, 430 pages) Gay Talese is arguably the greatest non-fiction writer alive, and on the evidence found in his new memoir, A Writer’s Life, also one of the most tortured. Once a newspaper reporter, he chafed […]
Different Strokes for Different Folks
By David Hayes, The Globe and Mail Book Review, January 7, 2006 The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting By Darren Wershler-Henry (McClelland & Stewart, 331 pages) In my living room, under a kidney-shaped, glass-topped coffee table, sits a Remington No. 2 portable typewriter, given as a Christmas gift to my mother in 1928. […]