do shoes grow on trees?
South of Beaverton, Ontario, the answer appears to be "yes." Photos taken on Durham Road 23, March 22, 2009
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restaurant uniform chic
Ah, the ads one stumbles upon while conducting research, such as this example of the fine outfits restaurants could order for their employees as the 70s gave way to the 80s. One might be convinced that Ms. Skinner really, really liked the colour scheme then employed by the San Diego Padres (I shouldn't laugh, given the brown and mustard yellow track suit top I have a fondness for). My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I think that the waitress outfit shown in the bottom left picture was the uniform of choice at Sir Cedric's Fish & Chips in Windsor not long after this ad was published. I haven't been there in years, but Amy informs me the fish is as good as it ever was at the downtown location—flaky portions of cod and halibut in a batter that was crunchy but not particularly greasy. Source: Foodservice and Hospitality , September 1980
southern sojourn 5: walking in memphis, driving along the natchez trace
After Stax, Amy and I headed into downtown Memphis. After parking next to a dead mall, we strolled along Beale Street and quickly determined it was the place to indulge in "big ass beer." A. Schwab Dry Goods has been in business since 1876 and smells as if the opening day air was trapped inside. Still, who can resist monkeys and a giant can of whup a**, as shown in Schwab's window? We ultimately decided Beale Street was ideal for an evening bar hop, but not for strolling on a sweltering afternoon. Though time didn't allow us to have a thorough look, we wandered around the perimeter of the National Civil Rights Museum . Built around the shell of the Lorraine Hotel, this was the site where Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated in 1968. We wandered down to the Mississipi River but didn't linger long due to the oppressive heat and haze, which didn't help our depleted energy levels. This was followed by an accidental trip across the...
see the paper bag puppets, all in a row
Photo taken at For the Love of Jo Coffee House, Port Perry, March 22, 2009 - JB
vintage metropolitan detroit ad of the day
Compact disc players were introduced to the consumer market in late 1982 . By the time this ad appeared four years later, portable players had arrived that allowed early CD buyers to listen as they wandered by Carnegie Hall. Nearly a quarter of a century later, some units of the XR-P9 continue to function . (Sorry folks - the Detroit-Windsor ads in this issue weren't that spectacular) In the August 1986 issue of Metropolitan Detroit : * Cover story on the best and worst restaurants in Greektown. The control meal at each spot was Greek salad, moussaka and grilled lamb chops. None received glowing praise. Pegasus Taverna and Olympia fared best (two stars out of four), New Hellas and Greek Islands the worst ("poor", two rating levels below one star). Among the culinary dangers of noted by writer C.J. Chandler were "woefully overdone lamb, the shade of an exhaust pipe," "Salads a la Frigidaire, with lettuce the colour of yesterday's newspaper,...
the rise and fall of a shopping arcade: bonus features
A few extras related to the latest installment of Historicist, which spotlights the Toronto Arcade . Three of the original merchants in the building, who placed ads in a guide published for the arcade's grand opening in 1884 . Note the promotion of a dental office as a "vitalized air parlour," which makes me visualize silent comedies where patients receive an overdose of laughing gas. The current Arcade Building opened in 1960, six years after the original was demolished. One of the first events held there was a travel-themed "Career Girl Show" sponsored by The Globe and Mail and the Wool Bureau of Canada. "Tiny tables with red-checked cloths and gaily colored travel posters add a continental flavor to the fashion theatre," noted the Globe in a September 27, 1960 article. Besides offering the latest in globe-trotting fashions, participants could enter draws for all expense paid trips to exotic locations like Mexico and India. "If she is...
bye bye david mirvish books
My first visit to David Mirvish Books was during some forgotten childhood trip to Toronto. If we were in town on a Sunday, Dad would drive down to Markham Street to pick up that day's New York Times —whether this provided an excuse to browse or that he couldn't purchase a copy at Sunnybrook Plaza is a question I can't answer. While he checked out the art bargains, I scurried off to the children's section as I did in most book stores. I don't remember anything specific about going there other than liking the airy feel of the place. After moving here, I dropped by regularly to check out the deals. It was usually one of my first stops upon returning from A'burg at Christmas, to check out the year-end sale. I rarely left empty handed on those occasions, usually picking up a cheap Taschen book or three. I figured something was up during their annual post-Christmas sale, when boxes of art magazines from the 1960s and 1970s were placed in the middle of the sto...
one friday night at the tikka house
As some faithful readers may know, I am addicted to Indian food . One of the places I feed my fix is along Gerrard Street, usually at Udupi Palace or one of the Siddharthas . It may come as a surprise to some that one place I hadn't ventured into until recently was the eternally-under-construction Lahore Tikka House . The main reason that I had never settled into one of their outside picnic tables or whatever form the building was in was that it didn't appear to be a spot suited for solo dining. All I ever saw were large groups passing around dishes and figured there probably weren't any set dinners for one. One Friday night, my current partner-in-crime and I pondered nearby spots to go and she remembered that I had never been in Lahore Tikka—why not tonight? We ate in one of the trailers attached to the main building. Colourful linens were hung on the wall to liven up the 70s-style wall paneling. We sat side by side to stay out of the way of the sizzling platters ...
backstreets of toronto: broadway avenue 1
Disclaimer : After a long hiatus, an old feature of this site returns. Blame it on several factors—diving into other projects, time factors, lethargy, stubborn belief in finishing one massive instalment before moving on to the next one, lumbago, etc.—choose the excuse you wish to believe. Most of the photos used in this post were shot in December 2006, in case you notice any outdated elements. The final entry in this series may include photo updates. It may not resemble Manhattan's similarly monikered main artery, but Toronto's Broadway carries its share of history and stories, from rebellion launch site at its west end to a gateway to the Don Valley park system in the east. Broadway was one of the few side streets that ran through three municipalities in pre-amalgamation Metropolitan Toronto (Toronto, North York, East York). Among its homes and buildings lies several pieces of my family's history. This three-part look will begin with most of its run through the old c...