JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

This week's Warehouse back-to-school special: book covers of your favourite Marvel heroes. Whether these are as fascinating as the vendor's name is up to you, our humble customer. Disclaimer: As the dimensions of the covers are not specified in the ad, we cannot guarantee that these will fit every project. We are also not responsible if the book cover owner starts peppering their speech with "Sweet Christmas!" or "Hulk smash!" Source: Amazing Spider-Man #163, December 1976 - JB

The official start to the Ontario election campaign is September 10th, but we are effectively in the heat of battle now. Party platforms are creeping into media outlets, campaign offices have secured real estate and nasty commercials have started. For politcal junkies, September is going to be a fantastic month. The Warehouse isn't one to be left out in the cold, so the WEC desk is back in business. From now until voting day, expect occasional entries on odd sights during the campaign, sign aesthetics and whatever else tickles our funnybone or makes us want to lob pies at the party leaders. *** In the Warehouse's home riding, incumbent Michael Bryant has been in reelection mode for awhile. Several weeks ago, Bryant campaign workers staffed a booth outside Davisville subway station, offering up sweaty commuters a cool drink. Along with other regional Liberal MPPs, Bryant ads have popped up in bus shelters that aren't explicitly election posters, but pretty much are....

Pittsburgh, PA to Amherstburg, ON Had I followed my original plan, the subtitle of this post would swap Amherstburg for Cleveland, as I had intended to spend a night by Lake Erie. When I saw the first mileage marker on my way out of Pittsburgh, I realized it was going to be a short drive to Cleveland...which also made me realize that I was well within driving distance of A'burg. As fatigue was creeping on me, I decided I could save some energy (and a few dollars) and head home. With this new plan, I also decided to switch routes. I had been to Cleveland several times, but never through central Ohio, so this seemed like a good opportunity to explore as I slowly drifted back to the Great White North. One stop at a Welcome Centre later, I was off the Ohio Turnpike and onto the back highways. First stop: Kent. Several pictures from the site of the 1970 Kent State Massacre . Wandering around, I couldn't get Neil Young's song out of my head.. A set of pillar m...

1,236: ONE FINE EVENING ABOVE THE BRICK WORKS When photos don't turn out so hot in their original form, it's Photoshop to the rescue...or at least a chance to play with images like a kid who's been unleashed with a box of crayons (though in my case, that usually meant scribbling indecipherable stories in my picture books). The lookout above the Don Valley Brick Works provides a great view of the city, especially at night. From the onetime top of a quarry , one can look over to the downtown skyline or traffic whizzing by on the Don Valley Parkway. Despite the latter's presence, it is a peaceful spot. Unlike the last time I was up there, we didn't have to escape via a private backyard . Note how the lights on Bayview, DVP and other area roads combine in the top picture to form a golden string of light that winds it way into downtown. It resembles an illuminated trail to carry people from the darkness into the distant city, even if the path is winding its ...

We suspect most heroes follow the Thing's route of relaxation, as did readers of Fun and Games . This comic book/puzzle magazine hybrid had a short, 13-issue run, which ended a month after this ad appeared. The series had a Canadian link, as it was developed and drawn by Halifax cartoonist Owen McCarron . We won't dig too deeply into what exactly turned Spider-Woman on. Marvel Super-Heroes began its life as Fantasy Masterpieces in 1966, a series that reprinted a mixture of 1940s superhero tales and late 1950/early 1960s monster stories. The latter were dropped when the title changed with issue #12 in 1967, replaced by new stories intended to introduce new characters or spotlight existing ones without a series, a la DC's Showcase (with the exception of a Spider-Man tale in #14 not drawn by the web-spinner's regular art team). With #21, the title switched to 1960s Marvel reprints, including early tales of the X-Men and Daredevil. The Hulk took over the lead repr...

Hamilton Avenue A separate city located within the boundaries of Detroit, Highland Park could be a poster child for how far urban blight and decay can go. Recently, Amy and I drove along Hamilton Avenue (where this shot was taken) and the surrounding neighbourhood. We've driven through many rough-looking parts of Detroit, but this may have been among the bleakest sections we've ever gone through. We lost count of the number of hollowed-out businesses, wide-open apartments, burned-out homes and lots returning to a natural state. Hamilton Avenue There are numerous factors for this state of affairs. Ford Motor Company, which built the Model T in Highland Park, closed its plant back in the 1950s. "White flight" began shortly thereafter, accelerating after the riots south of the city in 1967. Two decades later, Chrysler moved its world headquarters to the suburbs. City finances deteriorated to the point that the state stepped in to handle the city's fiscal a...

Back in March, I posted a series of ads of meat products with varying degrees of edibility produce by Burns & Co. in the late 1940s. Fine products such as Spork , Speef and tinned fried hamburgers . Turns out I missed at least one ad in the Burns campaign. The potatoes in the hash are finely chopped alright - it's hard to distinguish them from the corned beef or whatever bovine byproduct was tossed in the vat. One can still find versions of franks n' beans in the musical fruit section, but how many claim to have a "delightful oriental-spiced tomato sauce"? My guess? A dash of soy sauce. As for the chile con carne, how spicy is a Spanish smile? If compared to types of pepper, would such a smile rank as bell, jalapeno or Scotch Bonnet? Source : National Home Monthly, July 1948

Day 6: Pittsburgh, PA (Part 2) The rain started up again as I left the Strip, scotching plans to wander around the core of the city. I drove around, tangling myself up in a mess of one-way streets, crossing the three rivers a few times. Not many opportunities to shoot pics out of the car, but I managed to capture these shots of Heinz Field (home of the Steelers) and the incline railway. With no sign of the rain ending, it seemed like the perfect time to head to the Carnegie Museums on Forbes Avenue. The Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural Science share the same complex, with floors of each museum colliding into each other, especially due to renovations and installations. If you tire of the arts, you're only steps away from nature. A room of chairs. The Great Love , Robert Indiana, 1966. I associate this with a US postage stamp from my childhood collection. Bob, The Vigilant Fire Company's Dog , H. Rebele, 1863. From the museum's websi...

While I never owned a plug-into-the-TV video game system until I was pushing 30, I often played with Atari, Colecovision, Videorama, etc. at many friends' homes growing up. I usually passed level one of play about 20% of the time, but it was fun. Digging through stacks of cartridges to find the next game to get royally clobbered at. Now you can create your own mythical games thanks to the Atari 2600 Label Generator . Digging through the closest cache of pictures, here's a piece of Canadian history turned into thrilling gameplay... The game: English and France are at battle for control of Quebec in 1759. Players choose a blue (France) or red (England) soldier to shoot at the enemy to win the battle of the Plains of Abraham. Bonus points for shooting at the occasional bird that flies by...but beware of the poop they spew! Bonus Feature: There is one Atari commercial that sticks out in my mind, mostly because I was razzed by my peers for admitting I hated it. Several ki...

On our way back from a family vacation to Ottawa, we stopped in Merrickville. Mom quickly discovered was full of her kind of gift and home decor stores. Among them was a Christmas store, in which Mom was like a kid in a candy shop... ...with one notable exception. I was the first to run into Santa. His bulging eyes, lifelike craftsmanship and axe-murderer demeanour caused me to jump. This picture does not do his eyes justice - a side view would review they protruded at least an inch from their sockets. Mom and Amy looked in disbelief. Other customers shared my reaction. I wondered if it was a Halloween item in disguise, for those people who want something scary for October, but secretly can't wait for those radio stations that switch to an all-Xmas format on November 1st. I definitely wouldn't want to see this Santa coming down my chimney, unless I was fully armed.

Would you trust your deepest problems that you cannot discuss with anyone else to a person who looks as if they just walked off the set of a B-movie western? Perhaps that was the level of comfort the editors believed would help the lonely hearts this Depression-era spin on the friendship ad would have appealed to. Given the time period, I suspect Joan received a mailbag full of woe. Source: National Home Monthly , May 1935 

Need to an an evil touch to statues of beloved local entertainers? Just make a trip to the nearest convenience store! While out on a Psychogeography walk a couple of weeks ago, we noticed that as we snapped pictures of group members posing with the statue of Al Waxman in Kensington Market, a weird red glow glared back at us from Al's eyes. It turned out that red gummy bears had been strategically placed on the statue. All that was needed was minilights to add a glowing, statue-come-to-life effect. Squiddity has a full write-up on this particular walk , which introduced many of us to parts of Kensington we didn't know (the rooftop CN Tower model? Ornate back alley gardens?) along with pictures . I've posted a set on ye olde Flickr site . Photo taken at Bellevue Square Park, August 2, 2007 - JB

Recently, I was contacted by the proprietor of I'm Learning to Share for background information about a 78 he found, Sunday in Toronto/The Toronto Subway Song , recorded by local bandleader Ozzie Williams in the early 1950s. We swapped a few e-mails, resulting in crossover entries on our sites (it's the wondrous Warehouse age of collaboration!). Check out the partner post for pics of the record and more . For the dawn of the Yonge subway line, check out the thorough history over at Transit Toronto . As for no fun on Sundays... Once upon a time, Toronto shut down on Sundays. If you were a good, upstanding, preferably Protestant citizen, Sunday was strictly for church and family. Shopping? Evil. Recreational sports? Devil's work. Member of a faith whose holy day was any other day? Sorry! The overreaching moral views that created the Sunday blue laws stretched into other areas, producing effects like a strong film censor office and a labyrinth of laws regarding t...