A beloved yoga and spin studio in Nepean is shutting down after 15 years in business due to a big rent increase. The owners say they bent over backwards to try to find a solution - but the landlord wouldn’t budge. Robyn Bresnahan hears why commercial rents are through the roof and talks to a small business owner who worries this will change the fabric of Ottawa - for the worse.

Le Hibou is a place of near mythical status in the Ottawa music community. A tiny coffee house on Sussex Drive where the likes of Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen played. Robyn Bresnahan hears memories from those who were there in its heyday and explores whether Le Hibou could ever rise again.

When the “Mole Mobile” came to Ottawa over four days, it was overrun with people. Robyn Bresnahan spoke to people who waited hours to see a dermatologist.

Time for some trash talk. The city’s main dump is filling up. And one of the options councillors are considering for the future is burning Ottawa’s garbage. Robyn Bresnahan dives into the debate with a politician in favour of incineration and a waste expert who thinks the idea is rubbish.

From the best of This is Ottawa: She was told to try hairdressing. Instead, she picked up a wrench. Despite a shortage of skilled trade workers, women are still under-represented. Robyn Bresnahan visits a Manotick automotive garage to hear what life is like for the only woman who works there.

(Originally published June 10, 2024)

From the best of This is Ottawa: A young girl was kicked in the chest by a horse -- causing a rupture to her heart. The child was airlifted to hospital by a specialized team from CHEO. Robyn Bresnahan hears the story and gets a chopper ride with the crew responsible for emergency care in the air.

(Originally published February 2024)

From the best of This is Ottawa: From its opening in 1982, the Yangtze restaurant on Somerset Street became a destination for lovers of dim sum. But in the fall of 2024, the family-run business closed and the building was sold. The woman who grew up at the Yangtze tells Robyn Bresnahan about the bitter sweet good-bye.

(Originally published October 2024)

From the best of This is Ottawa: In 2018 a boutique hotel called The O’Brien opened to great fanfare in Gatineau Park. The derelict mansion overlooking Meech Lake had been given a multi-million dollar facelift - funded by taxpayers. But the following year, it closed. Robyn Bresnahan investigates.

(Originally published September 16, 2024)