JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

A post sometime back about my memories of Woolco also spurred memories of Bananas magazine. Little information about Bananas online, other than its editor was Jovial Bob Stine, who later cashed in for Scholastic as R.L. Stine, writer of the Goosebumps line of pre-teen books. Bananas mixed entertainment features, music reviews and MAD-style humour. A strong KISS fixation runs through the late 70s issues. The magazine ran out of steam in the early 80s, after it switched its focus to video game articles and humour - judging from the later issues we had and those for sale on eBay, Bananas peeled its last in '84. Amy and I found most of our issues at Woolworth's - earlier ones (including the very first issue, c. 1976, with features on Chico & The Man and Mad cartoonist Don Martin) at Southland Centre in suburban Detroit, late 70s/early 80s in Leamington. I'm guessing the chain had a remainder deal with Scholastic, as back issues of Dynamite! and related mags wer...

The Warehouse scanner will have a busy weekend. Over the next few days, various pictures from the past decade will make their way onto Flickr . Digging through old discs and preparing old pictures from London for a "then and now" feature I intend to do after my vacation are the driving force behind this. As a teaser, here are a couple of pages from my university residence's zine, The Arts House Forum ...mostly because these were already on disc. Usually put out once a year, it was an excuse for a bunch of us to sit around the hall and cut up magazines and photos. This spread from 1996 features a little-known corner of Guelph musical history. The band members wrote their bios, though I added a detail or two ("appalling stage presence" derives from a heavy-listening-of-late-60s-Mothers-of-Invention-albums phase I went through at the time). Sadly, that is my chicken-scratch handwriting. - JB

Caught little of Doors Open on the weekend. Got a late start on Saturday, so I drove down Jarvis, figuring there might be enough time to crawl from mansion to mansion. Long lines at 3pm scuttled that idea. My mind raced to figure out any location that wouldn't be overwhelmed. Cue my first visit ever to Fort York. I arrived in time to latch onto the final guided tour of the day, a trip around the barracks. The group started with around 10, ended closer to 25. One family was mildly annoying in the first barrack as hey fiddled around with loud, static-filled walkie-talkies while the guide was speaking. When discussion came to the enlisted soldier's diet, a stern-faced, baseball-cap wearing woman had a stream of questions about the "caloric intake" of a soldier. She seemed distressed that they ate so little. She also barked at the walkie-talkies. She then made a lengthy speech about class warfare, before returning to "caloric intake". The guide appeared ...

The view from my department's 10th floor office of the gridlock on the southbound lanes of Yonge. A solid line of cars to the horizon. One of the reasons I'm glad I live within walking distance of work. Saw some road rage on the way in, due to drivers unfamiliar with the fine workings of the Yonge/Soudan/Berwick intersection (a van stopped in the middle of Yonge produced a symphony of horns). - JB UPDATE #1: It's almost 11 AM and traffic is still crawling down Yonge. Wonder how many people decided to chuck it. UPDATE #2: Coming back from lunch around 1, there were still a few confused souls asking a TTC staffer by the SW Yonge-Eg entrance to the subway station why there was a barricade in front of the escalator to the station. Traffic on Yonge has returned to normal. UPDATE #3: Surfing the web, Toronto is mad. Very mad. If comments are taken literally, lynch-mob mad. I originally had posted some comments asking people to catch their breath, thinking maybe the heat ...

After reading their site for awhile, I went out on a Toronto Psychogeography Society walk last night. An article in the Globe this weekend was the final push I needed to check them out. Last night's trek: Liberty Village. Near the Toy Factory Lofts, we wandered by a warehouse full of tables, chairs and antique furniture. The haze in this picture is due to the dust encrusted on the window, likely from the heavy construction in the area. Down by the Gardiner, we wandered into an abandoned building. I had never really in one before, though I've been curious about sneaking into one ever since discovering various sites on Detroit's abandoned gems. My overactive spider-sense kicked in early - a few initial creaks from a corner sent half the group scurrying out of the building. When nothing popped out, we wandered back in within a few minutes. Though there was enough light filtering through to not make it a blind trip through the building, most of the items required a ...

Among the many things I did over the long weekend was snap some shots of the Inn on the Park demolition. Once the abode of the jet set, the hotel gradually declined until its closure early last year (though my family stayed there a few times in its Holiday Inn phase and found the rooms were fine enough for them). The following pictures were shot under wind tunnel conditions. The grey, drizzly skies felt appropriate while looking at the remains of the complex. Until I drove around the site, I hadn't realized just how run down the exterior had become, especially on the side walls at the back of the east tower. The lobby entrance, facing Eglinton. Note the crooked light. Graffiti artists making use of a temporary canvas, next to a site directory. I almost succeeded in creating enough shadow to shoot this picture of an interior sign by the east side ballroom entrance. Almost. The fate of the west tower (in front of the east). The rest of the property is slated to...

One of the latest crazes in the drink aisle is pomegranate. Previously known as either an ingredient in Persian dishes or that funny red fruit that's neat to pluck the seeds out of, many companies have jumped on the bandwagon to promote its antioxidant levels. I'm waiting for the inevitable Larry King pomegranate AM radio ad. Loblaws has jumped into the fray with half-a-dozen pomegranate-based or related products, including today's test subject. Aside: Loblaws' attempts to compete with Wal-Mart have turned me off. I used to like their grocery chains the best, but now...meh. Business papers have reported on Loblaws' struggles with their supply chain, as the company has moved too quickly into building Real Canadian Superstores. These problems are glaring whenever you walk into their stores: half-empty shelves, items in permanent disarray, specials not in stock, etc. The household items I have tried lack quality (storage containers with lids that won't stay on...

Wendy's was on an advertising roll in the mid-to-late 80s, hitting gold with the "Where's the Beef" campaign. Two others stick out in my mind: one where a customer is told to "step aside, please, step aside" and today's find, 1985's "Russian Fashion Show". None of these drew my family into Wendy's (we were Harvey's diehards until they changed the fries), but they lingered on in memory. Ask my sister how many times I've brought up this ad with no provovcation. Some background on this commercial, from Bernice Kanner's 1999 book The 100 Best TV Commercials : The commercial, called the best Cold War spoof since Dr. Strangelove , first aired during the week of the Reagan/Gorbachev Geneva conference. Viewers flooded the company's Ohio headquarters with complaints that it could jeopardize the preace process. "People don't really take commercials like these seriously," director Joe Sedelmaier said. "The...

Back in 2003, I looked at some of the divine dishes to be found in 1960s Better Homes & Gardens cookbooks due to be purged during Christmas housecleaning. I hung onto 1967's Jiffy Cooking for pure novelty value, as well as how much it reveals about its era. Besides the dishes mentioned in the original entry, consider these for your next shindig. Shockingly, none of today's recipes involve frankfurters. Canadian Bacon Stack Ups - layers of ginger-infused mashed sweet potatoes between slices of Canadian Bacon, topped with canned cranberry sauce. "...served with crisp relishes and asparagus spears make a picture-pretty dinner for the hungry family." Dip A La Spaghetti - dry pasta sauce mix, sour cream and green pepper, recommended as a dip for "crisp vegetables" and Fritos. Tamale Hero Sandwiches - canned tamales tossed on top of sub buns. The picture above is described as "An informal teen-age record party - teen-agers will devour the...

While driving along Kingsway near Royal York on Saturday, came across this oddity. Was this a typical Etobicoke or Kingsway neighbourhood design? This combo now appears to serve as lawn decoration, as a later set of standard Etobicoke signs also mark this intersection. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with road signs. Toronto was a smorgasbord, with the variants of the classic Toronto white sign, the differing blues of Etobicoke, York, North York and Scarborough and the green in Leaside and East York (though the later blue "EY" signs weren't a bad replacement). Essex County was full of variations. I loved old metal signs that looked out of place with the new (rusted large signs in Anderdon, long skinny signs that barely hung onto their wooden poles in Colchester, classy black and white in St. Clair Beach, decaying Toronto-style white in Kingsville) or rural signs with lettering that either appeared to be hand-drawn (Colchester North) or punched out on a stencil...

This installment takes us to the residential streets of the East Annex, where 19th century homes run smack into modern shopping in Yorkville. . Most of the historical information in this entry comes from an October 1993 Toronto Historical Board Report, East Annex Heritage Conservation Study . The street was named after Arthur Radcliffe Boswell (1838-1925), lawyer, 14-time commodore of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and mayor of Toronto 1883-84. Boswell's main accomplishment in the latter role was taking care of the city's 50th anniversary celebrations in 1884, as described in Victor Loring Russell's Mayors of Toronto : Involved in the preparations from the beginning, Boswell received a great deal of praise for his handling of the official duties, and during the public events was the epitome of the congenial host, attending all the events from early morning until late at night. Immaculate, yet robust and extremely enthusiastic, Mayor Boswell was the hit of the fair...

I spent most of the weekend on the road: Saturday in the Buffalo area, Sunday roaming through Wellington and Dufferin counties. Not much to report about Saturday, other than I find a $2 copy of Time Out London's Cheap Eats guide, which should prove valuable a month from now. Sunday began with brunch with a friend in Guelph, which served up two of my weaknesses: eggs benedict and back bacon. After, I headed north of the city, destination unknown. Near Elora, I drove by this attractive site. I think someone decided to set up an open-air apartment in the middle of Pilkington Twp, to get closer to the land...or somebody arrange a load of crap they dumped. Here's two more shots to help you decide. I drove into Elora and stumbled upon a book sale held by the Elora Festival . It was the kind of sale Dad would have returned home with books by the boxload, like the Essex County Library sales of my childhood. Prices were in his range (25 cents to $3). It was day two, but a l...

Since the Warehouse knows you love vintage educational films with modern humourous commentary, we are proud to bring you one of the loopiest representatives of the genre, 1957's Mr. B Natural . Here's how Ken Smith described today's presentation in his book Mental Hygiene: Classroom Films 1945-1970 : C.G. Conn, a manufacturer of musical instruments, sponsored this film - and what a film it is. Mr. B Natural is an elflike character played by a middle-aged woman named Betty Luster, who was probably a summer-stock Peter Pan. As Mr. B Natural, she wearts a powder blue Robin Hood cap and blazer covered with musical notes and delivers every line as if it were punctuated with three exclamation marks. Mr. B Natural represents "the spirit of fun in music" and has come to earth to help twelve-year old Buzz Turner discover that being in a school band (stocked with Conn musical instruments) can be "fun, fun, fun!!!" Buzz certainly needs help. He's a shy b...

Over by Brunswick Avenue came the surprise sight of a springtime stroll through the city: Constuction boards have gone up at the old Hungarian Castle site. It looks like the "black hole of Bloor St" will soon pass into history, if this remains the plan . Until I looked at the old picture, I was also convinced a fresh coat of paint had been added, as I had pictured the top of the building as grimy black. My brain scrambled the top with the black, fence-adorned street level portion. Guess the heat seeped through my head. Also snapped a pic of the current state of the ROM Crystal.

I spent Saturday out by the airport for the annual Good Food Festival . Early afternoon was a wise choice, as I never had to wait long for samples, unless the folks behind the booth were prepping a fresh batch. I spent two-and-a-half hours making the rounds, until I was too stuffed to try any more juices, curries or ice creams. As with any show, there were hits and misses. HITS Most of the items at the Irie booth. I dropped most of my cash here, walking away with a bottle of coconut curry sauce, a jar of pineapple jam and two free packs of garlic pepper & herbs seasonings. Lots of pepper jellies this year, all tasty. Highest thumbs-up to Simply Awesome Red Pepper Wine Jelly. Heavenly, but with a heavenly price tag (though I suspect it would have been worth it). From agricultural producers, the beef farmer's BBQ sliced beef was good, as was the Purple Sweeties sweet potato soup. Lots of egg products - I was surprised how good the microwavable Omelette Express was, wit...

Time for another trip in the local wayback machine, to live music venues and clubs from twenty years ago. Descriptions are taken from the "Hot Spots" section of the Dec/85 issue of Toronto Life , written by Melanie Reffes and Susan O'Connor. First off, spots that still exist, if in name only. Venues names are the ones listed in the magazine (i.e. Cameron Hotel instead of Cameron House), links are from the current incarnations. ALBERT'S HALL - An upstairs tavern that happens to feature the best blues and R&B acts from in and out of town (Etta James led off Dec/85) . Downstairs is the Brunswick House (no official website found for current incarnation) , a beer barn covered floor-to-ceiling in mucky pop art. The walls boast photos of wet T-shirt contestants. The draft is cheap. Carla and Irene do requests such as Is That All There Is? on the mournful old piano. THE CAMERON HOTEL - A sign in front reads "This is Paradise". Here is where Queen Street...

Context: this tale was inspired by a window display at George's Trains on Mount Pleasant Road. Outside every large city, there lie charming small towns rich with character and history. One such place near the Warehouse is George City. George City was founded in 1863 by Silas "Stinky Si" George, when he needed a place to hide after gunrunning for both sides during the American Civil War. George found the area, then known as Sulphur Gulch, a great hideaway for fellow tradesmen, as well as a great place to hide his poor personal hygiene. George was killed in a gunfight in September 1866 after he lost a card game and couldn't round up the 20 pounds of carrots his opponent, "Jackrabbit Slim" Hausenphefer demanded as payment. In tribute, the settlers renamed the town in George's honour and hold "Carrot Days" each September, complete with reenactments of George's final fight and "best Bugs Bunny imitation" contests. Our first s...