Category: Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Amidst the merriment at Pete Forde’s 29th birthday party last night (Happy birthday, Pete!), I got a bit of news that concerned me: someone I know is missing.

“Take a look at this,” said my friend Rochelle as she unfolded a piece of legal-sized paper. It was a flyer with the word “MISSING” in large block letters across the top. What really caught my eye was the photo.

“That’s really weird,” I said, “the photo — she looks just like someone I knew from where I used to get my hair cut. Skater-girl type, really skinny, name’s Alex…”

I was so taken by how much the photo looked like Alex that it took me a moment to look at the missing person’s name: Alexandra Flanagan.

“Oh, shit,” I said, double-checking to make sure I wasn’t misreading the flyer.
I know her.”

The missing person wasn’t someone who looked like Alex; she is Alex, and she’s been missing for over a month.

Meeting Alex

I met Alex in 1999 at the House of Lords. It’s a cheesy rock-and-roll hair cutting place located on Yonge street’s main drag of head shops, grey market electronics stores and fast food joints. I still went there because one of their hairstylists, Roxy, had been cutting my hair just the way I like it for years.

One day, while waiting for Roxy to finish working on the customer before me, I was working on my laptop in the waiting area. I heard a voice say “Hey, you’re that guy who plays the accordion.”

I looked up from my laptop’s screen to see a skinny skater-girl type in her early twenties looking at me. She wore a raver shirt and baggy skater shorts and held out her hand.

“I’m Alex. I work in the back — I do hair colour. You ever need a colour job, come see me.”

“I’m Joey,” I replied, shaking her hand.

For years afterward, I’d run into Alex on a regular basis. I’d often run into her while grabbing a bite to eat in Chinatown, and a couple of times, I either joined her table or she joined mine. I also ran into her at dance clubs and DJ shows several times — and once, she did me a very big favour when I was on a date from Hell. I owe her one.

What’s Known About Alex’s Case

Here’s what Xtra, a local paper serving Accordion City’s Gay Village (the neighbourhood centred around Church and Wellesley) ran in a story dated August 2nd:

Posters seeking information about a woman who was last seen in Barrie dotted Toronto’s Church-Wellesley Village starting on Jul 20.

A spokesperson for the Barrie Police Service says 33-year-old Alexandra Flanagan has been absent from work and has not contacted her friends or family since Jul 8.

Flanagan, who identifies as a lesbian, spent several years living and working in Toronto’s queer village, including at the House of Lords hair salon on Yonge St at Isabella.

According to Barrie Police, Flanagan was last seen in Barrie on the evening of Jul 8 walking toward her Wellington St apartment with a male friend. The friend told police he left her at Sunnidale Park, but that 30 minutes later when he tried to call her there was no answer. When she didn’t turn up for work the next morning, Flanagan’s family got worried.

Sheffer says Flanagan was wearing khaki capri pants, a black belt and a black tank top with pink flip-flops when she was last seen. She is five-feet, one-inch tall, weighs 100 pounds, has red hair and green eyes, and has piercings in both eyebrows.

For more details about what is known about Alex’s disappearance, see:

• The Barrie Police Service’s “missing persons” page for Alex’s case
• Help Find Alexandra Flanagan — a Facebook group created by Alex’s sister and close friends

The High Park Organic Market has become a Saturday morning ritual with me and the Ginger Ninja. We set out for the market — located beside the Grenadier Restaurant, a nice ten-minute walk south of Bloor Street — to buy vegetables to turn into a salad or stir-fry from lunch, as well as some homemade bread and cake loaves.

I took these photos during our shopping trip yesterday.

All the fruits and vegetables in the market are organically grown on smaller farms, and many are grown locally. This usually means that what you’ll find at the market is fresher and often tastes much better. We once bought some locally-grown garlic that was very flavourful — the kitchen filled with the smell of fresh garlic after we’d only cut the garlic; we hadn’t even cooked it yet.

It’s not just fruits and veg, they’ve also got homemade bread, cakes and pies. We’re really fond of the banana-chocolate chip loaf.

The High Park Organic Market is open through the summer:

• Friday 12 p.m. -7 p.m.
• Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.