Queen Street, Saturday night - image by Stephen Downes

"Best thing about this city are the all-night bowling alleys. There's nothing like the quality of people who hang out in these places....You can spend all night talking to squeegee kids and lonesome drifters who'll let you drink their Thunderbird. We've got wonderful taverns like The Paddock and The 360, where you can always get a pint of warm lager and some fried smelts. And, hey, I like that women can show their breasts on the street. I'm a big proponent of that."

Only cable-access TV could make a star of a sock puppet. Ed the Sock, the caustic, cigar-gnawing host of Ed's Night Party, began his talk-show career on local short-lived cable shows before landing his big-time gig at City TV. Sharing the couch with low-rent guests like Punky Brewster, Adam West and Dana Plato, Ed and co-host Humble Howard, broadcast weekly half-hour shows of locker room humor and cable-quality sleaze. Now entering his third season, the cotton/nylon malcontent continues to blow smoke in the face of conventional talk shows and mainstream TV. "Ed's Night Party" is now seen across Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand.

This used to be at City Search: Toronto until that site dissappeared.