JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

Before reading this post, check out the related article on Torontoist . Source: Mail and Empire , January 16, 1926. One mystery I didn't resolve was the exact nature of Dick Fudger's chronic illness. At first, given that he had spent winters in California, tuberculosis or another respiratory ailment crossed my mind, as the trend during the period was to send those with such diseases to the southwest in the hope that the drier climate would alleviate their misery. As I read more, it appeared health was only one of the reasons he often headed to the West Coast—business matters and family were others, since he had married in California. Whatever malady plagued Dick Fudger for most of his life, it was played a role in curtailing his studies at Oxford and prevented him from taking on more than a ceremonial role during World War I. Perhaps it was kidney or liver disease, or a bad heart? Was the exact affliction not mentioned in any source, even fifty years later, out of courte...

(Click on ad for larger version) Intellectual Digest sounds as if it was attempting to be the brainier version of Reader's Digest , or skim the alternative press much like Utne Reader did later on. The highfalutin' name likely did little to bolster sales outside of intellectuals/wannabes. Based on the issue dates that pop up in a Google search, this ad may have been a last attempt to attract readers—I'm guessing that the publication ran from 1970 to 1972. The Toronto Reference Library has a few reels in their periodical microfilm cabinets that may prove a research distraction someday. Source: Saturday Review , May 27, 1972 - JB

...or at least how one could achieve fame, according to a Toronto-based 1920s humour magazine. Illustration by Jim Taylor. Source: Goblin , March 1925 - JB

Before reading this post, check out the related article on Torontoist. And now, for your eager eyes, the seafood platter at Danakas Palace that Pierre Trudeau (pictured on the left) liked so much the owners renamed it in honour of his position. Whether the story is true or not, it's not surprising a seafood platter would receive such an honour, as restaurants in the vicinity of Danakas Palace loved showing off their ensembles of lobster, shrimp and other sea creatures in full-colour ads targeted to business executives and tourists—a show of hands from anyone who's ever actually eaten the "award winning" seafood platter showcased in every Toronto visitors guide by Fisherman's Wharf since the dawn of man? It often seems like a seafood platter is designed to look attractive and draw as much money out of a customer as possible. I won't deny having succumbed to the allure of a broad sampling of delights from the deep. During my university days at Guelph, t...

I have a nasty habit of starting series of entries and never getting around to concluding them. Tales of roadtrips that stop mid-vacation, profile of local streets left hanging for several years…I’m sure I’ve annoyed a few readers over the years waiting for resolutions to cliffhangers that may never arrived. There are no guarantees this won’t happen in the future (I am a busy guy), but maybe a few of the missing pieces can be filled in. Prime example: a roadtrip down south I took with Mom and Amy a few summers ago . We last left the intrepid travellers on the outskirts of Nashville after a leisurely drive along the Natchez Trace Parkway . Someday I promise to tell tales of Music City. Someday. But not yet. Today's tale was inspired by a conversation at a party last week with fellow Torontoist writers about train travel and southern adventures. I mentioned a large event my family had accidentally stumbled upon…

Found in front of a salon ("Karma") on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, April 18, 2010 - JB

Given Snoopy's attempts at submitting stories to publishers (usually involving a horrible pun or cliched phrase ), it seems appropriate that everyone's favourite beagle would be the Peanuts character chosen to grace a motorized pencil sharpener. If Snoopy can't sharpen your pencil, he will offer you a cookie as compensation...at least he will if you visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California. *** Mad House began in the late 1950s as Archie's Mad House , featuring the usual hijinks from Riverdale. Over the years the series underwent numerous format and title changes, with the constant being the house-style art. After a period chronicling the adventures of the stylish rock band Mad House Glads , the series became a full-fledged horror title and was labelled as part of the short-lived 70s incarnation of Red Circle Comics . Under an alluring Gray Morrow cover are four tales, of which the first two are: * Never Bother a Dead Man (story: Mar...

It's obvious that once upon a time there was a plaque in front of the atom-inspired fountain atop the Rosehill Reservoir. The only hint of the fountain's age is the centennial symbol laid into the surrounding stones. This salute to a water molecule was built after the reservoir was covered over in the 1960s for economic and environmental reasons (including fear of nuclear fallout). Rather than the glow of nuclear attack, the reservoir and the fountain find themselves bathed in a cool green light...or at least they did on this particular evening. This was my first visit to the site and it struck me as a place you could lie on your back on the grass, stare at the surrounding apartment towers or planes flying overhead and contemplate any crazy thought drifting through your head. More photos from an evening's stroll around the reservoir and the surrounding neighbourhoods and ravines can be found on Flickr . Photos taken April 22, 2010 - JB

This slice of "teen humour" was a space filler in a 1960s issue of Teen Titans that was so decayed that it accompanied a week's worth of the Globe and Mail and half-a-dozen cereal boxes to the recycling bin instead of finding its way to a Goodwill or comic book shop. Probably the most interesting element is the artist: Mort Drucker , whose work for National/DC was usually found in its war titles. At this point, he was also a decade into his run as one of the key artists for Mad , where he gradually became the chief artist for the magazine's movie and TV satires. As for the comic itself, Siskoid's Blog of Geekery tells you all to need to know ...or maybe all you really know is that the villain Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Aqualad took on was a robot named Honey Bun. Honey Bun . Source: Teen Titans #8 , March-April 1967 - JB

A list of the pieces I've written for Heritage Toronto's website: 125 Years of the Queen City Yacht Club (June 15, 2014): tales from the Island-based boating club. Arena Gardens (March 6, 2013): the original home of the Maple Leafs, later a roller rink. The Paradise Theatre (February 6, 2012): a small, former rep house on Bloor West. The Toros - Toronto's Other Hockey Team (January 26, 2012): adventures in the World Hockey Association. The Loblaw Groceterias Building (September 13, 2011): the former head office of the grocery empire. The Davenport Extension (July 18, 2011): extending Church Street from Bloor to Davenport. The Princess Theatre (April 20, 2011): a fire couldn't fell this theatre, but University Avenue did. The Queen's Hotel (March 15, 2011): a look back at the predecessor of the Royal York. Grand Union (February 9, 2011): a short history of Grand Union and Steinberg's/Miracle Mart in Toronto. 1955 St. Andrew Electio...

No words about this ad. Just sit back and enjoy a beautiful illustration. Source: The Atlantic Monthly , January 1924 - JB

Before reading this post, check out the related article on Torontoist. ( larger version ) I plowed through loads of material in preparing this week's Historicist column about Dominion Stores, which was in danger of turning into a 176-page book without pruning. There's so much material on the cutting room floor that there will more "bonus feature" follow-ups than usual—think overstuffed four-or-five DVD version of a movie. Today's post zeroes in on the celebrations for the chain's sixth anniversary in 1925. Besides the ad above, the September 18, 1925 edition of The Globe carried two pages of food-related articles and congratulatory ads from Dominion's suppliers under a celebratory banner. Among the featured stories: “Groceries at Lower Prices Are Sold at Dominion Stores Because of Large Purchases” The longest article explains how Dominion uses its ability to buy in bulk to deliver lower prices (even if, as a government commission discovered a d...

A spacey, slightly creepy Bicentennial-era clothing aimed to make you smile at A. Smile. If the facial hair on the dude in the front fused into one strand, and his ponytail(s) were repositioned, he'd resemble 1970s comic book character Man-Thing . Source: Rolling Stone , May 20, 1976. Cover to Man-Thing #1 (January 1974) by Frank Brunner. - JB

While researching an upcoming Historicist article, I flipped through a stack of issues of The Link , an in-house magazine for employees of Dominion grocery stores from the mid-1920s. Besides corporate gossip, inspirational poetry from the likes of Kipling, announcements of new store openings and updates on how recreational sports teams were doing, there was an occasional article on food handling and merchandising. Today's tips come from the July 15, 1924 edition. Remember: nobody likes dry Kraft cheese. - JB

Just as the baseball season is moving into full gear, a round of lazy YouTube surfing resulted in three clips of the clubhouse celebration after the Detroit Tigers cliched the American League pennant on September 17, 1968. From the following day's edition of the Toronto Star . I'm guessing that it wasn't the Star 's sportswriting style of the day to place "the" in front of a team's name: Tigertown is nursing a monstrous hangover today after a noisy horn-honking celebration of Tigers' first American League pennant since 1945. You can hardly blame the celebrants. It was a long time between drinks. By the scoreboard in Tiger Stadium, it was 10:19 when Don Wert stroked a wrong-field single to right field with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to score Al Kaline with the winning run in the 2-1 triumph over New York Yankees. But officially Tigers had been champions for 20 minutes. That was when Boston Red Sox compl...

( click here for full-size version ) A few months ago, we posted a lengthy advertorial from man-about-town Brett Halliday that lavished praise upon a new hotel. Further journeys through the back pages of the Toronto Sun have been rewarded with many more examples of his purple prose that inspire me to go the extra mile in my writing (within reason or for ultimate comedic effect). Whenever I read old Halliday pieces, I marvel at what unfolds before my eyes. Before jumping into the "review" of today's restaurant, Halliday ponders a deep question about life that he had recently been asked: When asked recently if I had my life to live over again, would I like to observe any changes, my answer was an emphatic no! I have not lived through a war, experience depression, yet I have had my fair share of growing, struggling, and reaching a stage in life that has emcompassed a span of exciting events. I have watched man stamp out disease, fly faster than the speed of sou...

While strolling along Spadina Avenue near Queen Street on Good Friday, we noticed a store that sent out conflicting messages about its state of operations that day. On the one hand, the doors were wide open. On the other, a piece of copy paper held in the middle of the doorway by a line of Scotch tape told passers-by there wasn't any reason to stop in. The owners should have used one more "very" to push the point across with no room for questioning. I was amazed the thin line of tape held up so well, unless there were gobs of it at either end hidden from public view. If someone was determined to go in and see what was up, unless they had a back problem it would have been easy to duck under the tape. The sign doesn't answer a key question: if this store was very, very, very closed, why were the doors wide open? Was it: An opportunity to cool down the interior in the face of the summer-like weather? A ruse to draw potential customers back another day? The wo...

I may be developing a taste for grain-based dished stuffed into animal casings. First an annual helping of haggis, now, after a recent meal at Caplansky's Delicatessen , kishka. Sarah and I didn't steal one, though other items we had for dinner alongside it were criminally generous (howdy seemingly bottomless basket of fries that comes as a side with sandwich combos!). I liked the savoury kishka more than Sarah did, partly due to her mixed feelings about the smoked meat gravy (a side order of which was like getting a second sandwich), partly because it was stuffed in "derma," which sounded too close to "epidermis." After another meal at Caplansky's on Good Friday, we think we may have settled into our standard orders: medium smoked sandwich with cabbage borscht (a sweeter, meatier version of the cabbage soup I remember my family buying at an annual Mennonite bazaar near Leamington during childhood) for me, salad with smoked turkey and an extra dol...