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.

Vintage Ad #756: Floral Revitalized Air Parlours
Vintage Ad #757: Sutherland's Cheap Music Store

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 wise, any young woman about to be wed should take her fiance at least once to this show. Besides containing all sorts of trousseau suggestions, a visit may help the young couple to decide where to spend the honeymoon." No reviews of the calypso singers were provided.

Big Retail for Lease at the Arcade Building

Empty Arcade
The Arcade Building as it currently appears. The ground floor retail concourse is devoid of services and independent businesses that once lined it, as the current owners attempt to attract one or two "big retail" tenants. Passers-by can still enjoy the light show on the front of the building.

Career Girl Show ad source: The Globe and Mail, September 26, 1960 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

past pieces of toronto: knob hill farms

-
Image
From November 2011 through July 2012 I wrote the "Past Pieces of Toronto" column for OpenFile , which explored elements of the city which no longer exist. I've republished all but two of those pieces on this website.  Here's the first of the final pair, both of which provided good lessons for future writing. Prepare yourself for a lengthy preamble.
Read more

past pieces of toronto: the mynah bird

-
Image
From November 2011 through July 2012 I wrote the "Past Pieces of Toronto" column for OpenFile, which explored elements of the city which no longer exist. The following was originally posted on May 20, 2012. Advertisements, (left) the Toronto Star , April 22, 1966 (right) the Globe and Mail , July 26, 1967. In an August 1967 article, the Globe and Mail ’s Blaik Kirby set the scene for anyone curious about entering one of Yorkville’s oddest coffee houses. “The Mynah Bird is a fetid room in a former Victorian home, with a tiny triangular stage behind bars in one corner. There are two other rooms in reserve if needed. You enter through a hallway, passing the piranha and the caged mynah bird after which the place is named. Hanging rushes conceal the high ceiling. The walls are red flecked wallpaper. The lights are low, with candles on each table. One of the two friendly go-go girls ushers you to a seat, and soon reappears on the stage. She is slightly plump, with lo
Read more

the smiling men of pasadena 2: the eternal smile of "uncle bill" haas

-
Image
The December 31, 1920 edition of the Pasadena Post spotlighted (mostly) grinning photos of the paper's staff and local businessmen. Given my penchant for going down research rabbit holes related to anything quirky I stumble upon, this series will look at some of the stories behind the smiling faces.  Pasadena Post, December 31, 1920 . "That ponderous body of his simply shakes." There's descriptive language you just don't see any more.  From the accounts I've found, it seems William A. Haas was a classic old-time entertainment PR man, full of stories and tall tales to go along with his eternal smile. When he died in 1941, his obituary included many claims that might not hold up under scrutiny. He unsuccessfully ran for coroner (possibly in Iowa) against future president William Howard Taft. He suggested that William McKinley be promoted as the “Advance Agent of Prosperity” during the 1896 presidential campaign. He planted the idea of motion pictures in Thomas E
Read more