JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

This post offers supplementary material for a Torontoist post I recently wrote , which you should dive into before reading any further.  If you're interested in sampling Kit Coleman's writing, the best compilation is Ted Ferguson's Kit Coleman: Queen of Hearts , published in 1978. Ferguson organizes excerpts from Kit's columns by theme, generally choosing her funniest bits. One major drawback of this book: no footnotes indicating which editions of the Mail or Mail and Empire the pieces were drawn from. The last chapter offers a series of "words of wisdom" from Kit. Some of her advice seems quaint, some reveals her distrust of others, some only require slight tweaking to remain relevant: The arrogance of youth would be unbearable if it were not so amusing. Candor is a virtue for which women pay most dearly. It is no use attempting to converse with cranks. As soon as you discover their crankism, fly. Was there ever a friendship between...

This post offers supplementary material for a Torontoist post I recently wrote , which you should dive into before reading any further.  Art by Ted and Pat Michener. The Toronto Star , September 11, 1976. As much as I hate the new archives databases the Toronto Public Library uses for the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star (a grocery list of reasons that would fill several posts), there are some bright spots. One is the inclusion of Star Week , which will be handy for researching television- and food-related articles. For this particular story, Star Week helped nail down Doctor Who's initial airdates on TVO. It also offered an interesting glimpse into Saturday night television at the dawn of the 1976-77 season.  None of the shows spotlighted on Star Week 's cover had staying power. Clockwise from top left: Bill Cosby - Cos . Sketch comedy/variety show. Cancelled November 1976. Tony Randall - The Tony Randall Show . Sitcom about a widowed judge. Only sho...

Source: Toronto Star , August 9, 1950. Click on image for larger version. During a recent research project, I found a handful of military recruitment ads from the early years of the Korean War, which feel appropriate to post for Remembrance Day. The Toronto personnel depot listed in these ads is long gone, having been converted to parkland in the early 1960s.

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 July 8, 2012.  This installment marked the end of the column - what was originally a summer hiatus turned permanent when the entire site wound down a few months later . A placeholder page still exists , optimistically claiming that the site is still on hiatus, but all of the content was pulled down. Fear of such a move resulted in this series of reprints. And yes, I was among those who were owed money for a time , though I eventually received it via dogged persistence. Apart from that ending, OpenFile was a good experience, providing another outlet for my writing. When word came that the column would be suspended for two months, it was a relief. I figured I would take a breather, wand direct my energy toward other projects I was working on. When I took over "Ghost City...