Best Record Store
The new location on Market Street has really worked out for Taz. With a larger collection of vinyl, both new (Feist, Sufjan Stevens), used (everything else), and reissues (The Zombies), the store is also seeing more new CDs too. “We don’t want to compete with HMV, we’re in a niche market,” said former co-owner Bob…
Best Movie Theatre
Yes, stadium seating is pretty cool, and having a New York Fries venue in the multiplex foyer offers a welcome alternative to the sugar and popcorn, but nothing beats the experience of going to see a movie in a grand, single-screen theatre, and having to choose between the comfy front seats and the balcony leg…
Best Female Film / TV Actor
The toast of the Toronto International Film Festival for her starring role in the upcoming comedy Juno and taking home the Best Actress award at the Atlantic Film Festival, Page simply has the world by the tail. We’ve been trumpeting her Hollywood ascendance for awhile now, and while the actualization is awesome, we’ll miss seeing…
Best Photographer
The self-taught Webb has made his impact as a photographer in Halifax in a traditional way. “I bought a cheap camera and really enjoyed using it,” he says. “Then I bought a little more expensive one.” Though fine art photography is what got him into his business, his client work is keeping him so busy…
Best Male Film / TV Actor
When reached on his cell phone, Dunsworth is on The Queen of Coquitlam in the Vancouver Harbour, on tour with partner-in-crime Pat Roach (who plays Randy to his Mr. Lahey from Trailer Park Boys) to a whole lot of popular acclaim. The two are on tour of the other coast. “The further west we go,…
Best Theatre Production
“You know what is weird about Beauty and the Beast? You think it’s a kids story, but I cannot tell you the number of adults I saw sitting in that theatre cheering on when Beast transforms, or getting weepy,” says Ron Ulrich, director of the play and artistic director of Neptune Theatre. “It blows me…
Best Author/Poet
“Hey, that’s great!” says Davis upon hearing that Coast readers consider her Halifax’s Best Author/Poet. “Especially because I’m a non-traditional author/poet!” Most will know Davis from her music, and she is in the midst of recording a new album with local studio wizard Charles Austin. Of her ventures as a wordsmith, we can expect a…
Best Female Theatre Actor
Stardom, amongst Coast readers, anyway, is “very nice,” says Sue Leblanc-Crawford, though she won’t be going solo and leaving behind her “pool of great actors” in Zuppa Circus anytime soon. After a busy year and a successful local run of their show Penny Dreadful in October, the theatre company will be remount the historical drama…
Best Political Cartoonist
“Since dinosaurs roamed the earth,” is how long Bruce MacKinnon has been a cartoonist, or so he says in an email. The actual date of his moving from freelancing to The Chronicle-Herald was actually 1986, which makes him certainly an institution, though one that remains as ever a vital worrier of those in power. “Both…
Best Male Theatre Actor
“Who knew?” says Jeremy Webb, over his cell from Ontario. “It’s only taken 10 years. That’s cool.” It’s been a fruitful ten years since Webb moved to Halifax, having worked as The Buzz man at the Daily News, as well as treading the boards in Halifax, recently as The Clock in Beauty and the Beast…
Best Comedian
“Whatever personal recognition I get I defer to the group,” says the modest Mark Little of Picnicface, the white-hot comedy troupe that’s getting recognition both in and outside the city, thanks to their sketch comedy and the popular videos available online. Of his own style in his stand-up, he embraces the “anti-slick”, inspired by comedians…
Best Playwright
Flattered to be honoured in this category, given his distinct from-awayness, MacIvor wishes he could be in Halifax more often, but his work keeps taking him to other cities. To keep him here, he says he’d like to start a small theatre company in Halifax, “not about a building, more about a way to work.”…
Best Dancer
“I guess people like me,” says Sayde. That’s a fair bet, as she’s out there doing her thing: specializing in hip hop at Halifax Dance and choreographing the Weather Girls, the Halifax Rainmen dance squad. Switching from gymnastics to dance in grade nine at St. Pat’s, she’s made it her passion ever since, heading to…
Best Gallery
One of the coolest things going on currently at the AGNS is work by the Sobey Prize-winning Michel de Broin. The Montreal sculptor took the $50,000 award in October, and his spherical collection of boardroom chairs—called Black Whole Conference—is on display, along with work by the four other artists under 40 years old who were…
Best Dance Company
With help from an operations grant from the Canada Council, Mocean Dance has seen a great, busy and exploratory year, sending their unique brand of visually complex, athletic dance on tour around North America. In September they premiered a new piece closer to home, called *Chain Reaction *, during a creation-based residency in Shelburne at…
Best Fitness Instructor
You may know Sherrington from his time at Nubody’s Fitness Centre, but these days you can find him through his own company, started with his wife Gina, called 360 Wellness and Fitness, which offers “personal training, boot camps and corporate fitness programs.” The sharp-eyed will note he is also a runner-up for Best Athlete, for…
Best Festival
Every year it gets bigger and certainly better, in terms of sheer selection. The 27th Annual event was also the best attended, with 33,500 cinemagoers seeing films from all around the world. Perhaps the biggest surprise was some of the festival’s best films were Canadian: Chaz Thorne’s double-threat *Poor Boy’s Game * and *Just Buried…
Best Hair Salon
As soon as you stroll into the Granville Street lobby of Thumpers, you know you’re in for some high-end care. It’s all class, reinforced by the hard-to-find products available behind the counter: Bumble and Bumble, The Art of Shaving and DuWop cosmetics. Plus, there’s the personalized service from the 16 or so stylists, for example:…
Best Halifamous Person
“I’m super-flattered,” says Plaskett upon hearing of his repeat Halifamous honour, on the line from Austin, Texas where the Emergency is opening for The Tragically Hip on a US tour, though he hopes his new status is “based on some musical merit” and not just because he strikes such a distinctive lanky profile in our…
Best Hairstylist
The Hair Design Centre grad has been with Thumpers for three years, building relationships with clients by thinking about them in the shower. Well, not just there. “I genuinely care about them, I think about what we’ve talked about,” says Greene. Greene’s personal care and savvy has earned him fans beyond our town, including LA-based…
Best Filmmaker
It’s been a big year for Mr. Eisener, who hobnobbed with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and had his faux film trailer, Hobo With A Shotgun, play as part of the Grindhouse screenings across Canada. “We’ve just finished the first draft of the Hobo With A Shotgun feature script,” says Eisener. If that wasn’t enough,…
Best Blog
“We started it as a way to share top-ten lists that we would make up and send back and forth through e-mail during the downtime at work. We just thought they were funny enough to let other people have a read,” writes mad blogger Tom England in an email. There’s plenty more than lists up…
Best Real Estate Agent
What started as “a bit of a joke” has now become arguably the most recognizable realtor image in town. “My partner started calling me ‘Rosie the Realtor,’ and I thought, I can do you one better.” Halifax-bred Porter bought a house in Dartmouth in 2000, which inspired her to get into the realty business. With…
Best Film
It hit the big screen over a year ago and made a big splash at the Canadian box office, with its $1.3 million opening weekend now in the record books as the highest grossing weekend for an English Canadian movie. The distillation of the TPB cultural phenomenon, 7 seasons of a TV series into 90…
Best Athlete (Female)
Furneaux has been Nova Scotia athlete of the year five times. She earned a silver medal at the K4 (four-person kayak) 200m race at the World Championships at Lake Banook in 1997, the gold at the World Championships in Hungary a year later in K2 (two person) 200m, two gold medals at the 1999 Pan…
Best TV Production
The seventh season came and it went, and all was quiet in Sunnyvale Trailer Park. “No eighth season,” was the official word. Fans were disappointed, to which we might say, “Don’t you have some offs to fuck?” The creative team took a well-deserved rest after seven consistent summers shooting in Dartmouth and Cole Harbour, plus…
Best Radio Personality
A rock radio veteran, Bobby Mac first served with Q104 in the early 90s, before “the computers took over,” and he went to work doing public relations for The Dome. “They weren’t ready for my zaniness then,” he says, laughing. Now, four years back on the air on the morning show, he loves his work.…
Best Website
People say this site is basically populated by six guys who live in their parents’ basements during the day and go to indie rock shows at night. (Oooh, they are so going to burn me for that.) The fact of the matter is, even if only a small number of hipsters actually post, half the…
Best Computer Store
First off, it sounds like “Green-Leaf.” Wade Prue and Jeremy McNeil, who own Greenlyph, say the name was the choice of the former owner, though McNeil says “your guess is as good as mine,” as to what the name means. A one-stop computer component and custom system shop, Greenlyph started four-and-a-half years ago selling used…
Best Way To Meet New People
It’s no big surprise in this town, especially since this choice won last year. But then, why is it when someone asks you and your sweetheart where you met, and it was a bar, you’re ashamed to admit it? OK, forget that. Rather, answer me this: As someone who has never met anyone in a…
Best Cheap Drinks
You can’t manufacture authenticity, you have it or you don’t, just like you can’t suddenly decide to be cool. Gus’ is a veritable lighthouse of authentic cool in the north end, the one reliable place left north of North since the demise of the North End Pub where you can see some of the best…
Best Activist Organization
In a year when the environment found its way to forefront of concerns for pretty much anyone with a conscience, it makes a lot of sense that the EAC would be at the top of Coast readers’ list. The EAC has become the de facto rep for sustainable living in the province, this past summer…
Best Flower Shop
“We get to work with some of the most wonderful works of art nature or god ever created…when I see the power of one little blossom, it’s pretty phenomenal, an unbelievable response,” says Neville of My Mother’s Bloomers. Single-named Neville—like Cher without the attitude (or hair), he says—has made his mark on Halifax with both…
Best DVD Rental Store
“Our box-set selection. We stand out in that respect,” says manager Paul Boisjoli. He’s not kidding, with over 3,000 box-sets in stock, you can take home a whole season of a new (or classic) TV series or thematically connected movies, for one or two weeks. The Quinpool location caters largely to the university community in…
Best Activity To Do With Your Parents
It really is the best solution. You and your parents are unlikely to enjoy the same theatre, music and cinema, but food is a good bet. Maybe, if you’re lucky, they’ll also pay. Plus, being in a public space provides great opportunities to spring on them that new business venture you’re about to embark on…
Best Naturopath
“I treat the whole person using non-invasive measures,” says the extraordinarily busy Sarah Baillie. With her day filled with clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, stress and lifestyle counseling and homeopathy, she’s noticed an increasing demand from the public in what she does, which means that the mainstream medical profession has to take notice. “ There’s a…
Best Activist
It is amazing that Fuller has time to sleep. Besides being the Marine Conservation Coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre and a former chair of the organization’s board, she’s been heavily involved with Imagine Bloomfield, the non-profit set up to help make the Bloomfield Centre reach its potential as a community resource, and helped renovate…
Best Furniture Store
Former NSCAD students Christopher Joyce and Susanne Saul turned their passion for design into a contemporary furniture business in 1995, which is still growing in downtown Halifax and St. John’s. “We definitely bring in things we know will be popular,” says manager Leslie MacDougall. “We do special orders and sell directly off the floor. If…
Best Hotel
It has 297 rooms. Twenty-three thousand square feet of meeting space. It was visited by the Queen (twice) and Princess Diana (once). Yuk Yuks comedy club is in the building. There’s an indoor pool. A hot tub. Café Pronto serves Starbucks coffee. An $8 million renovation is in the works. Formerly of the Casino Hotel,…
Best Beach
It’s only a half-hour drive from town and it offers a number of different sandy stretches, including the somewhat-notorious nude beach, and plenty of dog-friendly trails popular with sojourners, hence the go-to choice for Coast readers. Though, as with any coastal retreat outside the city, there’s no saying what the weather is going to be…
Best Spa
The big news is that the most popular spa with Coast readers has moved into the new building at the corner of Hollis and Salter. The new location “allows us to offer even more,” says owner/manager Linda Brigley, including a creative hair studio, a new patio and a view of the harbour, along with the…
Best Athlete (Male)
OK, so he started out the season a little slow. So what. You know he’s going to be one of the leading scorers in the NHL just as he was the last two years. It’ll be hard to top the trifecta of awards he picked up for ‘06-’07—the Hart Trophy, the Art Ross Trophy, and…
Best Musical Instrument Store
Buckley’s has been open in Halifax, under a variety of names and owners, for 80 years. If that wasn’t enough to impress in sheer karma, they also run a busy music school in their Quinpool location. “We’ve got multigenerational stuff going on here,” says president, owner and “chief bottle-washer” Ken Foote. “From ages 4 to…
Best Laundromat
Fourteen years is a long time running a small business, and it’s no easy job, says Bluenose owner Bill Zelios. Still, people love him, and his wife, Maria, for what they do. People love them for the 14-hour days they put in, for the 27 regular, 2 double and 1 triple-sized washers, and the 15…
Best Biking Trail
There’s no denying the natural wonder surrounding the trails through Shubie Park, the kind of close-by resource that makes living in Halifax a marvelous thing. Check out the Shubenacadie Canal, once a part of a Mikmaq waterway connecting the harbour to Cobequid Bay and the Bay of Fundy. If the history doesn’t immediately appeal, or…
Best Tailor
The family business has had locations all over Halifax for the past 40 years, though has stayed put in Park Lane since the building went up. Richard Daniel, manager and tailor, says he was taught everything he knows about the business from his father, who started it. “I went to Dalhousie and took costume and…
Best Councillor
Dawn Sloane is in the midst of her second term representing District 12, Halifax downtown, and has a laundry list of things that she’s helped accomplish and that keep her busy: Getting the Grand Parade “turned into a park instead of a parking lot,” sprucing up the George Dixon Centre, placing garbage cans in the…
Best Optical Store
“We have a bright and colourful dispensary with a touch of whimsy and we offer a worldly collection of frames that are unique,” says owner Doug Gaudet, carefully articulating the appeal of his operation, stressing the selection of frames you won’t find anywhere else in town. Gaudet says it’s also their cutting edge technology as…
Best Manicure / Pedicure
“A lot of the girls are very passionate about what they do,” says Lauren Bell, the manager at the Summit at Park Lane. “We focus on education, you leave better educated about your feet and how to take care of them.” With a focus on home care, a visit to the spa will give you…
Best Free Event
In 2007, the 21st edition of the festival, it was called “Shows Without Walls”: 500 performances that took place along the waterfront. Magicians, jugglers, mimes, drummers, dancers, acrobats, escape artists, fire-breathers, illusionists and living statues competed for our attention over those nine days in August. At some points it was hard to know where to…
Best Tattoo / Piercing Joint
“Utility is awesome,” says Christine Landry, the studio’s in-house body-piercing expert. “We have two of the best tattoo artists in the city, Andy Ferrier and Mike Power.” The staff at Utility also don’t mind random body modification inquiries, about pretty much anything. “Even if you want to come in and ask if it hurts, we…
Best Drag King
“It’s like being a drag queen. Well, its not just like drag queens, it’s exactly opposite,” says Casey Lockhart, better known as Ben Dover, the King of Halifax Drag Kings. Lockhart adopted her alter ego in 2000, inspired by drag performers of all stripes both here and in Toronto, and Ben Dover became the first…
Best Jewellery Store
With 30 years in the business, Fireworks has seen a few trends in jewellery design come and go. “There’s a trend towards yellow gold,” says owner Judy Little. “Bracelets are coming back… it’s sort of a power piece for a woman, on the arm, not on the hand.” There are new bracelets for men, anticipating…
Best Massage Therapist
Including two years of massage through school, Michael Butt has hit the six-year mark, with an average of 7 or 8 patients a day. Though he read a statistic that the average career duration for a massage therapist is 6-10 years—something “which sounds reasonable, it’s quite hard on your body”—he tries to stay fit and…
Best Lake
If it wasn’t already well known for having won in this category last year, the flooded former quarry located just beyond the Armdale Rotary (I know it’s a roundabout now, I just can’t get it into my head just yet) is now immortalized in song, in Jenn Grant’s gorgeous “Dreamer,” from her Orchestra for the…
Best Veterinarian
The new addition to repeat Best Veterinarian winner Carnegy Animal Hospital this year, to add to their collection of high techerie—ultrasound, radiology and orthepedic equipment—is laser surgery. “Declawing cats has become much more humane,” says hospital administrator Mary-Clare McLaren, who points out that two advantages of the laser are “no pain and no bandaging.” The…
Best Drag Queen
Having recently celebrated his fifth anniversary as April Showers, Tim Richards has channelled Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Kylie Minogue onstage, often at Reflections. “I love performing,” he says, despite the fact that the gist of his work isn’t always understood by the wider public. Showers once performed as Alanis Morissette, wearing nothing but a…
Best Place To Buy Condoms
“We’re an education-oriented sex shop,” says owner Shelley Taylor, which nicely differentiates what they do from the average dildo emporium or fetish boutique. Though the store was started with idea of working with women and the queer community, half of Venus Envy customers are now men, and it offers for customers regular readings, workshops and…
Best Optometrist
Gaetan Lang sees all age demographics in his practice serving the Bayers Lake and Fairview communities; kids, students, seniors, “and everybody else in between.” Seventeen years as an optometrist with 14 at that location, Lang has seen changes in his patients as well. “It’s very multicultural. I find that exciting.” He says the keys to…
Best Hiking Trail
Once you get in from St. Margarets Bay Road, it won’t take long for you to begin to feel as though you’re nowhere near a city of 300,000 inhabitants. The paths vary, from the root-lined and muddy to the clear, smooth and long, depending on which way you go. If you pack a lunch and…
Best Travel Agency
You may think of them as an agency for students, and that is still a big part of what they do, under the aegis of the Canadian Federation of Students. But the company found that graduates were still keen on using their services, hence the fact they do a whole lot of adventure travel as…
Best Member Of The Provincial Legislature
“I had a private member’s bill come into affect, that was very exciting,” says MacDonald, once again your favourite MLA. The Protection of Persons in Care Act was created to protect “people who are very often vulnerable, people with disabilities and elderly people with frail health. A process is now available to make sure they’re…
Best Pet Supply Store
“We’re a start-from-scratch kind of place,” says owner, manager and zoologist Kyra Foster, who with an investment from her mother, opened the Pet Place with this mission statement: “We’re here to help animals, better nutrition, better safety, better comfort.” That includes a stock of organic and raw foods for dogs and cats (soon to include…
Best Mechanic Shop
Derrick Munroe has been a mechanic for a quarter century, over 20 years of that spent at Todds South End Car Care. “So long I can’t remember when,” he says, laughing. Munroe is the manager of a four-mechanic operation that has seen the south end neighbourhood change over the years, and the automobiles change with…
Best Place To Skateboard
The fact that this place won its category by a veritable landslide means something. It means we are fortunate enough to have a professional skate park in our town, one that draws any and everyone in the vicinity that knows what they’re doing on a board. It means the place is a massive success, and…
Best Yoga Instructor
Webber first was turned onto yoga in the early ‘90s when he was a runner. “Stretching was an issue, I was stiff and inflexible in the hamstrings as any runner is.” He found the meditative singularity of yoga “captivating and intriguing,” and it was “the minimalism of it, not struggling with a piece of equipment,”…
Best Member Of Parliament
When reached at her Ottawa office, McDonough is pleased to be remembered while in the capital, in the Coast readers’ Best of Halifax, but seems to be having an exasperating week following the Throne Speech, which she says “exuded a message of fear and loathing. It’s a government that has become as cynical as the…
Best Men’s Clothing Store
Phil Miner is both a salesperson and made-to-measure guy at Duggers, and is excited by the fact local guys are dressing with style in mind for the first time in 20 years. “It’s about putting things together… consciously contrived. It’s going to make Halifax a lot more colourful.” Hugo Boss remains as popular as ever,…
Best Physiotherapist
As the name suggests, the clinic’s mandate is to help people with chronic pain, degenerative disorders and injuries on a personalized basis. “I designed this clinic to allow that personal attention,” says Matheson. “It allows me a more flexible schedule to work individually with a patient.” His approach is mobility-based, strengthening through slow motion exercises…
Best Place To Go Swimming
When one Coast reader voted for Williams Lake in this category, she or he also wrote parenthetically, “But don’t tell anybody.” It is kind of a secret, but because so many of you know it and are willing to share, probably not for much longer. The lake lies off Purcells Cove Road, hidden behind a…
Most Important Local Issue
Since 2004, Halifax has held the extraordinarily dicey honour of being the crime capital of Canada, and though this year it has been reported the violent crime rate is dropping, you wouldn’t know it from what we hear on the news and on the street. And that’s for the best, the more it is reported…
Best Newspaper Writer
In winning this category again, Stephen Cooke is humbled. “It’s not just an entertainment writer, but a newspaper writer,” he says. He’s too modest to say so, but certainly his encyclopedic knowledge of music, film, and local culture keeps him at the top of this list. “I’ve been around for awhile so I guess I’m…
Best Women’s Clothing Store
The on-hold music at Biscuit is this strange pump organ tune, but it somehow suits the carnival atmosphere of the popular Argyle Street boutique. “Biscuit is the brand we sell,” says owner Wendy Friedman. “We see ourselves as your style editor, no matter what the brand or name.” They have about 150 brands available, some…
Best Place To Study
Archives, special collections, journals, newspapers, computers, microforms, maps, photos, statistical data and more books than could be read in ten lifetimes are stored at Killam. If you’re looking for the graduate theses of every Dalhousie student, they’re here: 8,650 titles, stretching back almost 120 years, from the pre-1960s focus on the humanities to the more…
Best Candidate For Mayor
Well, isn’t that handy, since Fougere has announced she’ll be running. Having served on Halifax Regional Council since 1998, representing District 14 Connaught-Quinpool, Fougere has a pretty good idea of what important issues a Halifax mayor should be looking at in the future. “Transportation. It’s always top of mind,” she says. “And not just public…
Best Professor
MacIntosh has a schedule crammed with courses—including introduction to philosophy, a 3rd year history of 20th century philosophy as well as an Advanced 4th year graduate program exploring his own work—and he’s earned the appreciation of his students in discussions of the rational and irrational, our duties as “rational beings and moral beings” and the…
Best Salesperson
“Like, totally the people,” says Johnny MacDonald, when asked why he enjoys his work. And as for the highlights of a very busy year that’s passed, his third at Biscuit, he mentions the expansion—“We broke through the wall!”—and a trip with owner Wendy Friedman to Toronto to have a look at new fashions. “I’ve seen…
Best Nightclub
“The secret is that it’s a very happy place,” says Mike Schmid, manager at Reflections. “That’s the atmosphere and it feeds itself.” The mix of DJ nights, live music and “anything goes” talent shows, along with a special kind of laissez faire attitude from the staff makes for a no-labels, inclusive kind of place. “Our…
Best Effort To Improve The City
Though The Coast’s intrepid environmental reporter Tim Bousquet detailed the problems surrounding the Harbour Solutions project earlier this year in a cover story (“Harbour Solutions stinks,” March 08, 2007) our readers are still happy to see the city doing what it can to remedy a 250-year-old problem. One-hundred and eighty million litres of sewage per…
Best News Anchor
“Common sense is badly named,” says Steve Murphy, laughing and thanking this reporter for calling to speak to him in the morning, hours away from deadlines. Murphy kindly remarks that winning in this category and making the cover of The Coast in November ‘06 was “the highlight of the year.” This year he’s been busy…
Best Second-hand Clothing Store
“The store is more about the space,” says owner Maureen Court. “The clothes are here just to decorate the place. People come in to hang out.” A consignment store that caters largely to the university crowd, Court has seen her business grow over six years in existence, selling jackets that go for $200 (“people are…
Best Rainy Day Haven
Should you be embarrassed, oh Coast Reader, for choosing the monolithic BLIP multiplex as your place to escape the rain that comes so frequently in this seaside town? Nah. With 17 screens, you’ll probably find something to see that’s worthwhile, and with so many quality films never showing downtown, heading to Bayers Lake is your…
Best Place To People Watch
First runner up: Harbourfront Second runner up: Halifax Public Gardens
Best Antiques Store
“We’ve got such a wide variety of stuff… a thousand different things,” says store owner and manager John Beatty, who has been running Urban Cottage for six years. Along with his keen eye for what people want and what they’d be willing to pay for it, the store’s pricing structure keeps the customers coming back.…
Best Shoe Store
“What is there not to like? Shoes are like diamonds for us. This is like a candy store!” says Sanela Gajic, the friendly sales associate with a passion for footwear. Kick Ass Shoes pleases its many customers with lines from Marc Jacobs, Stuart Weitzman, John Fleuvog and Betsey Johnson, which are “fun for the younger…
Best Karaoke Night
It’s the rustic, living room atmosphere that makes it OK to get up there and do your best Idol impression. That, along with the friendly staff, says host Mimi Andriopoulos, makes this the place to be on Wednesday nights. “More importantly, it’s the customers. They’re wicked. And they’re not too serious about it.” Andriopoulos raves…
Best Place To Stalk Celebrities
One abashed Coast reader responded with a “you’ve got to be kidding” to this category, but we have no shame, and neither do ‘Shoe frequenters who crane their heads around more than a family of meerkats. The Argyle stalwart with the many cozy nooks and crannies and the direct Seahorse access (escape the paparazzi!) has…
Best Bike Store
Carter (“It’s what everyone calls me, but my first name’s ‘Dan’”) is the rookie at Idealbikes, having been there for about six months. He applauds the “sense of community” in the store amongst the staff, and being there on Barrington to help out the daily commuters who make the bicycle their prime means of transit.…
Best Sporting Goods Store
“We just got in a lot of new skis,” says team leader and acting manager Mike Cogdon, whose personal specialty is telemark skiing and trail running. Given that it’s November, the snowsports additions make a lot of sense, though things are always changing at MEC. “There are constantly new products in the store in every…
Best Dentist
Maybe it’s Dr Daniel’s effervescence, a good quality in a dentist, that keeps him at the top of this category. Even in an email, this repeat winner’s expressions are punctuated by cheery exclamation marks. He writes of his 30 min. complimentary smile design consultation, which allows patients “options for improving their smile!” He’s also quick…
Best Place to Drink Alone
There aren’t many places in town that have this kind of atmosphere, welcoming the solo drinker. Of course, you don’t have to be alone to enjoy a beverage or a meal at Tom’s. There’s just something about it, maybe the fact the once-smoky, former cigar bar has both the comfy booths and the tables, a…
Best Place To Take Out-Of-Towners
“I’m down with your rainy town…with the biggest port around,” is how Ontario-native Sarah Harmer described Halifax, and the waterfront is what gets the most points for impressing those from away. And why not? Even if the fog is rolling in or there’s an occasional hurricane, being near the ocean, checking out the restaurants, tourist…
Best Corner Store
What the secret of Big General’s success? “The best customers anyone could ask for,” says owner Fred Saud, describing them as “carefree, easy to deal with,” and counting a large number of students in that number. “We have a variety of pretty much everything,” says Saud, noting the typical pop, chips and chocolate goes out…
Best Pick-up Bar
There’s a good reason you see those line-ups down Brunswick street on a Thursday night. The wet t-shirt contest is infamous, as is the sexy legs contest, and then there are the dancers, that cage, the second stage, the VIP section overlooking the downstairs and DJ Smooooth Steve and DJ Fierce keeping the tunes thumpin’.…
Best Public Space
By the time you read this, the popular central Halifax Victorian green space will be closed to the public. For some reason the gardens’ meditative beauty, inspiring Haligonians for 140 years, can only be appreciated from May 1 until October 31. Quiet strolling, hand-holding, enjoying a reflective moment in the centre of our urban landscape,…
Best Comics Store
“It’s akin to theatre, film and to prose, but it’s a little different,” says perennial winner in this category, Strange Adventurer Cal Johnston, about his trade, comic books. He says that despite graphic novels and trade paperbacks finding their way into bookstores, the name “graphic novel” is something of a misnomer, and a hurdle to…
Best Student Hang Out
Open since ’74 (renoed in ’05), the Gorsebrook gets top marks for its theme nights: pirate nights and beach parties and the annual Alexander Keith’s birthday bash. That and the fact it’s a little cooler than your typically divey student bar. “It’s the oak and leather,” says bar manager and SMU grad Lorne Caborn. Students…
Best Local Getaway
Recovery from Juan and a particularly ravenous insect has been slow, but it hasn’t stopped us from visiting, alone or with the hound, or attending the annual Shakespeare in the Park shows. A recent flurry of replanting, some 15,000 new trees, should see the density of green increase in the near future, though a positive…
Best Flea Market
A friend of mine once found a moose head, with antlers, for $50, at the Sunday flea market located at the Halifax Forum, near the corner of Windsor and Almon, in that big ol’ bingo room. If you have a moose, or just the head, that you’d like to be rid of, they will provide…
Best Second-hand Furniture Store
1819 Granville, 423-3010 First runner up: Wyse Buys Trading Inc., 195 Wyse Road, Dartmouth, 464-0010 Second runner up: Finer Things, 2797 Agricola, 456-1412
Best Computer Repair
1078, 422-2453 First runner up: PC Medic, 2760 Robie, 455-4357 Second runner up: Mysterybyte Service Centre, 38 St Margaret’s Bay Rd, 477-3066
Best DVD Rental Store
6086 Quinpool, 425-3029 First runner up: HMV, 5523 Spring Garden, 425-1084 Second runner up: HMV, Mic Mac Mall, 21 Mic Mac Drive, Dartmuth, 463-3950
Best Tattoo Artist
Ferrier may also be the busiest tattoo artist in the city, which makes a lot of sense, given his winning this category again. People know him and come from far and wide (Montreal, Toronto) to feel his ink. “He’s super busy right now,” says body-piercing technician Christine Landry, covering for Ferrier while he’s inking a…
Best Home Accessories Store
1819 Granville, 423-3010 First runner up: Linens ‘n Things, 180 Chain Lake, 876-1176 Second runner up: Thornbloom, 5640 Spring Garden, 425-8005
Best Sex-toy Shop
1598 Barrington, 422-0004 First runner up: Night Magic, 5268 Sackville, 420-9309 Second runner up: Sexy Girl, 443-8234
Best Second-hand Record Store
1593 Market, 422-5976 First runner up: CD Plus, 1592 Barrington, 422-1559 Second runner up: Random Play, 1577 Barrington, 445-1056
Get on side
To the editor, I bike to work down Quinpool and Cogswell, to the Scotia Square area. Having sidewalks on both sides of the street seems excessive for the areas of Rainnie Drive, Cogswell, all the way around Citadel Hill and the Common. The sidewalks that don’t have homes off them can, and should, be turned…
Wagon needs new wheels
To the editor, Please get off the green mythology wagon that says government has to pay for all solutions to the environmental crisis that we, as consumers, have created. I am highly concerned about global warming and the health issues that an increase in bicycling would help to address, but I am sure that the…
Psst! Take action
To the editor, Re: Joanne Gidney’s letter, “Not eating this up,” Letterhead, November 1: You had an eloquent and convincing argument about how environmentalism has been co-opted by the consumerist paradigm and about how more collective measures are the answer to our environmental woes. And then you arsed it all by saying that this was…
Rats to cat plan
To the editor, Re: “Claw enforcement,” November 1: First off, thanks to Lezlie Lowe for her informative article on our local anti-cat councillors—3.3 million dollars, that’s $3,333,333.33. Three million for containing and killing cats. It kind of makes me feel sick to my stomach right now, but not as sick as I will feel when…
Diva on the Common
It’s official as of this morning: Celine Dion is bringing her world tour through Halifax to play the Common on Saturday, August 23, 2008. This ends months of speculation and hilarious-to-watch struggles between mayor Peter Kelly and the professional concert planners at Events Halifax over how to follow-up to September 2006’s Common concert with The…
You’re too stupid to have an opinion
I don’t have the answer to Halifax’s problem with street violence, and neither do you. Certainly the mayor doesn’t have the answer, nor the chief of police, nor a random city councillor. That’s because there’s not likely to be some magic pill that will solve this thing—no single configuration of police deployment, parental supervision, lecturing…
Best Theatre
Editor’s note: With its latest Best Theatre win in 2007, Neptune was elevated to the Best of Halifax Hall of Fame. Two-thousand and seven was the most successful year in the 44-year history of Neptune Theatre in terms of bums-on-seats. More people took in a Neptune show than ever before. These days, with so many…
Best Visual Artist
Developing an individual yet respected and coveted visual style isn’t easy, but Seth Smith and Paul Hammond’s art company, specializing in pop poster art, has done that and more. Yo Rodeo! has put a face and image to up-and-coming Halifax indie rock, having worked with most of the local lights, including Seth’s band Dog Day,…
Best Camera Store
Though Atlantic Photo has been on Spring Garden since 1942, the current store looks a little different these days. “We’re a combination of two stores in one,” says owner Brian Griffin. “We target the consumer and professional.” Atlantic Photo can provide for all your digital camera needs as well as, on its second floor, canvas…
Best Car Dealership
It’s been a good year for Hillcrest VW, with the introduction of the CitiGolf and CitiJetta, entry-level priced vehicles based on older model Volkswagens and “decontented,” or without some of the standard features of the newer cars. “They’ve been very popular,” says general manager Mike Velemirovich. He also gives props to his in-house crew of…
Best Independent Bookseller
“It’s been wonderful,” says Heidi Hallett, owner of Frog Hollow, of her first full year of running the store, which she took over from longtime former owner Mary Jo Anderson. “There’s always so much to do in a little independent bookstore and there’s been so many amazing books.” She counts the launch at the Seahorse…
Secret identity
Gamblers, art collectors and bargain hunters take note of this fundraiser: Eastern Canada’s answer to the Banff Centre, The Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, is bringing a giant secret to Argyle Fine Art (1869 Upper Water). More than 300 postcard-sized pieces of original art will be auctioned off at $50 each, but you won’t…
Signal strength
The truly bizarre “Let’s out-do Moncton” complex that has taken hold of our local politicians and media lately is, well, weird. It’s like we’re playing Kristen Wiig’s uber-insecure Penelope character from Saturday Night Live. “I’ve hosted 400 concerts, so…and our Rolling Stones concert had Kanye West and a really, really big stage, so…and our city…
Bro-sketeers
Statues (from Sudbury, on Deranged Records) make their triumphant return to Halifax this Sunday, November 4. Sounding like a mixture of The Replacements, The Buzzcocks and ’80s power pop, Statues are generously giving Haligonians a few chances to fall in love and write their names on your binders in Wite-Out, with an all-ages show at…
Potters’ wheel keep turnin’?
After seven years in their current home at 2207 Gottingen, the Turnstile Pottery Co-operative and their kiln will soon be on the move. They’re just not sure where they’re going yet. The co-operative, currently 10 members strong, received notice early last week that they have to vacate their current digs by the end of November.…
If I had a Roche launcher
Your mission for this week: light a candle and send good reiki energy to both Rose Cousins and Jill Barber. Both of Halifax’s sweethearts have been nominated for Canadian Folk Music Awards, which will be presented on December 1. Cousins and Barber are up against Bruce Cockburn, who I think we all can agree, has…
Shoptalk-lets
The Blockbuster, Little Caesars and Koolex Kleaners branches on Queen are still open. All three stores are getting an external face-lift, but inside, everything’s business as usual…The former home of the Great Canadian Bagel on Spring Garden will soon be home to new boutique Hibiscus, set to open around mid-November…Rumour had it that a branch…
Comp’ trollin’
Apple-certified and locally owned computer training centre Splice Training Inc. also moved recently, from its former home above the vacant Sam the Record Man store, to a new office two buildings down the street at 1668 Barrington (once part of Salter Street Films). Besides being fancy, the company’s new wheelchair-accesible location will also help students…
City movers and shakers
Staff at the Spirit Urban Spa (1566 Barrington) spent last weekend packing the place up. That’s a good thing. The spa opens in its new home at 5150 Salter (in the Salter’s Gate development) today. The new larger facility features a state-of-the-art hair studio, a patio (and accompanying harbourfront view), new steam showers, a schmancy…
Revamped Rodeo
Feeling a little bit country? Head to Burnside, cowboys and girls—The Rodeo Lounge (121 Ilsley) is currently in the process of a major expansion. First on the agenda: famed mechanical bull “Ozzy” is getting a whole room to himself and becoming a permanent fixture of the bar. “At this point, we set him up four…
Dinner music
Popular consensus is that we wouldn’t have music without musicians and we wouldn’t have food without farmers, so this Saturday, November 3, Musicians For Farmers is going to create a perfect pairing of food and music. I picture the North Street Church as in a drawing from one of those Christian handouts, where they imagine…
Ericka Low
Although she was living and performing in Saint John, New Brunswick, many people in Halifax were affected by the terribly early death of violinist and music teacher Ericka Low, on October 22, at age 30. A Masters of Music Performance grad from the University of Ottawa, Low was a soloist for the Ottawa Symphony, Ottawa…
da bomb
Remember the good ol’ days when fake bombs were funny? Not any more apparently…This story comes from Canadian Press: a 15-year-old North River boy and his buddies put together a bomb made out of three hot dogs, a clock, calculator chip, two wires and a hair pin, and then wrapped it in electrical tape. Then…
SAVAGE LOVE
Q I am currently dating a guy who is nice, funny, has a good “dating resume,” i.e. never married, good job, no issues. I have a good time when we are together and he treats me fine. The problem is that we have the most ridiculously boring sex. Super vanilla, totally predictable and I never…
Saw IV
Nothing. That’s exactly what’s good about Saw IV, yet the latest yearly installment pulled in an expectedly big opening weekend. This could be an opportunity to pontificate declining viewer standards, and how the prospect of so many Saw fans is somewhat frightening (especially the ones on IMDb boards who trade ideas for torture traps.) But…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Creative destruction: It’s what you Sagittarians out there are best suited for right now, says Rob Brezsny.
The Veil
The Veil is visually stunning and totally engrossing. It is as intricately woven as the fine carpets that adorn the foyer at the Neptune Studio. It is a story that spans 85 years in the turbulent life of Khanoom, a Persian princess who escapes the palace harem and experiences much of the political and social…
Dan in Real Life
There’s a deliberate simplicity to Dan in Real Life. In telling the story of an everyday father, director and co-writer Peter Hedges (Pieces of April) constructs an everyday movie. It’s a character-driven, family-centric comedy that’s post-theatre shelf life will be owed to viewers who just want to watch something “nice.” A place for movies like…
Mo’ money, Mo’ pizza
Liz Feltham checks the buzz surrounding Morris East, Halifax’s new source for fancy pizzas.
Shades of grey
One morning, at 5am, Brenda Rooney and her husband Robert propped up a video camera in Alexandra Township, South Africa, to film a documentary. But there was a hitch: They needed their car to be in a safe place, but they didn’t want it peeking out of the shots. Then, one woman, who was a…
Free wheelin’
Now they’re going to charge us for riding our bikes. I am apoplectic. I am banging my head against the wall. OK council, don’t get your knickers in a knot. I know what Gloria McClusky told CBC: “We are not in a position where we’re going to bring licensing in for bicycles at this time.”…
Spirit in the sky
With a family tree like Cara Luft’s, it’s no wonder she’s a songwriter. The Winnipeg-based illuminated optimist comes from a long line of talented folk musicians; her parents performed professionally as a duo in Calgary during her childhood, her grandpa was a big-band guitarist and teacher, not to mention her great-grandfather, who was a renowned…
Decide and conquer
He had already been concerned, but September 12 was the day when the Chebucto road-widening project literally arrived at Joe MacDonell’s front door. “I don’t have the figures in terms of square footage, but from what we were told, the property line would come right up to our front step,” he says. MacDonell’s property, which…
Swinging a dead cat law
On October 16, HRM councillors finally closed the books on years of debate about whether or not to take a stab at regulating cats in the municipality. In a close 11 to nine vote, councillors decided to start treating cats a lot like they treat dogs, requiring their owners to register them and control their…
Hard copy
At the opening reception for his solo show at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, internationally acclaimed, contemporary Atlantic Canadian ceramist Léopold Foulem stood in front of the puzzled crowd defending his ceramics as art. “Shouldn’t a teapot be able to hold tea?” asked a woman near the back. “Yeah, they do have a purpose.…
Talking points
Never doubt city council’s ability to suck. Last week’s meeting—the same one where the crazy cat by-law was passed—hit a new low when council voted to consider bringing back licences for bicycles. Councillor Krista Snow floated the idea, suggesting that licence fees could help pay for cycle-centric spending like bike lanes, and a majority of…
Claw Enforcement
Out he trots, no matter the weather, my cat Ralphie. He likes to sniff at the weeds, dig in the garden a bit, drink from puddles, sleep half-falling-over on top of the fence. He barely comes in between May 1 and the end of October. We offer him toys, four pairs of hands to scratch…
