JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

The golden gateway for several generations of snowbirds... *** I rarely use the Ambassador Bridge whenever I visit the Detroit area these days. The view is nice, and it makes more sense to use it to head to certain destinations, but I like to line the pockets of the Detroit International Bridge Company as little as possible (it was nice to see, if only briefly, the president of DIBC taken away in handcuffs for contempt of court after the company refused to comply with a court order to demolish various structures that never should have been built). Currently cars coming from the south on the American side have to follow a long, looping detour that seems designed to tempt you into buying gas from the DIBC before returning to Canada than serve as a practical detour around construction and the remains of a bait shop on 23rd Street. My most recent trip across the bridge was over Christmas, when I packed several family members into the car for a daytrip to Ann Arbor. The border guar...

Over thirty years later, Conn used many of the same selling points that Mr. Sousa stands by when they produced a short promotional film called Mr. B Natural . Forty years after that, Conn's efforts to promote the fruits of their quality craftsmanship provided the material for one of the funniest segments of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 . With a tagline like "cultivate your musical bump" this ad cries out for MST3K -style riffing and/or groan-inducing double entendres from hecklers at the back of the town square or orchestra hall. Ad source: Photoplay , November 1923 - JB

Montreal, November 14, 2010 - JB

Taken during a New Year's Day 2011 walk in the Annex (don't remember exactly which street). - JB

A man dragged a few blocks under a streetcar. A stoned mentally ill man in a police standoff for a couple of hours. A TTC fare hike that vanished as quickly as it was proposed. Two bomb scares by the local CSIS office caused by the same person (who left his keys in the ignition). A police officer killed by a stolen snow plow. All this (and a story or two we're probably forgetting) since yesterday morning in Toronto. No wonder this newsboy looks frazzled. But, as a man on the bus this morning (either Eglinton East or Lawrence East, don't remember which one I hopped on), proclaimed, "smile, it's Wednesday!" Illustration taken from the June 25, 1859 edition of the Toronto Weekly Message - JB

One of many recipes from corporate test kitchens discovered amid a slow sweep over the holidays through the Warehouse's collection of magazines that were never returned to the publisher. The item that sets this jello-marshmallow mold apart from all others? Chopped bits of angel food cake for a heavenly touch! Source: Canadian Living , May 1983 - JB