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.  Source: the Globe and Mail , November 14, 1966. While the Globe and Mail ran a picture but no article regarding the November 12, 1966 appearance of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable show in Hamilton , the Star did the opposite. For some reason, Nico's name was spelled ENTIRELY IN CAPS throughout Gail Dexter's review. A sampling: The films are simple enough--The Underground and Edie [Sedgwick] and NICO and lots of black leather projected on a huge screen to intense rhythmic noise. The action builds to a sado-masochistic climax and then The Underground comes on stage. The group plays with a persistent heavy beat so loud that the floor of the new gym vibrates, and they play for two hours with lights, films, and optical patterns flashing behind them. Songs like "Heroin" (it's my life and it's my wife) to which Gerard ...

Background: besides writing Past Pieces of Toronto for OpenFile, I tackled several other assignments for the site. One was this piece, originally published on August 8, 2012. Source: Toronto Star , November 10, 1970. Rob Ford’s recent hospitalization for asthma, stomach and throat issues raises questions about what would happen if the mayor endured an extended period of time in a hospital bed. While it’s likely he would pass on most of his duties to Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, previous top municipal officials haven’t let ailments like a broken pelvis prevent them from performing official tasks. Such was the case with Borough of North York Mayor Basil Hall. What landed Hall in North York General Hospital on November 6, 1970 was an attempt to touch up the paint in the basement of the home he had recently moved into at 87 Forest Grove Dr. When he stepped from one ladder to another, Hall lost his footing and fell to the concrete. “There was no chance to break the fal...

This post offers supplementary material for a Torontoist post I recently wrote , which you should dive into before reading any further. Source: the Toronto Star , April 5, 1973. It was nice for a change to read about a development project where the nearby residents weren't convinced the sky was going to fall. Unless there's a secret back story missing from both the media coverage and the personal correspondences I leafed through while researching this article, it sounds like the developer did everything right to reassure the community that all would be well.  Besides the Avenue-Bay-Cottingham Ratepayers' Association, the neighbouring Annex Ratepayers' Association (ARA) was consulted. In a letter to alderman Ying Hope, an ARA representative wanted to "commend the process of community association consultation in the development of the project."  Not that there weren't opponents. In a letter to the city clerk, Hazelton Avenue apartment building owne...

Background: besides writing Past Pieces of Toronto for OpenFile, I tackled several other assignments for the site. One was this piece, originally published on March 22, 2012. Subway construction along Yonge Street, 1949. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 16, Series 574, File 2, Item 4992. Click on image for larger version. Throughout the debate on whether LRTs or subways should be built in Scarborough, the construction of the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way has been a persistent bogeyman. Vilified by ardent subway supporters such as Mayor Rob Ford as one of the biggest disasters in Toronto transit history , the work carried out on St. Clair has been criticized for its delays and impacts (real and imagined) on local business and traffic. Those who imagine fewer hardships building a subway than a surface line may want to examine the miseries that surrounded the construction of the original Yonge line , which was far more disruptive to the local landscape than what occurred on S...

This post has been expanded and moved to Tales of Toronto .

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 June 10, 2012. Source: Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto Volume 2 . For a building that launched one of Toronto’s greatest assets, the Toronto Mechanics’ Institute (TMI) had a history that historian Donald Jones once described as “disasterous.” Established at a public meeting in 1830, the TMI (known as the York Mechanics’ Institute until 1834) was intended to provide for “the mutual improvement of mechanics and other who become members of the society in arts and sciences by the formation of a library of reference and circulation, by the delivery of lectures on scientific and mechanical subjects…and for conversation on subjects from which all discussion of political and religious matters is to be carefully excluded.” It was inspired by a wave of mechanics institutes...

Click on image for larger version. Here's one for Toronto theatre historians - a one-page guide to who the Star believed were the movers and shakers in the local theatrical scene as the 1970s wound down. Among those listed is Gina Mallet, who passed away earlier this month . Source: the Toronto Star , July 14, 1979. Click on image for larger version.

Background: besides writing Past Pieces of Toronto for OpenFile, I tackled several other assignments for the site. One was this piece, originally published on March 6, 2012, written at a time when Rob Ford was in the doghouse with most of City Council over public transit and people were discussing his hold on Toronto's agenda as if he was leading a minority.  One of the few pictures I've taken within a close proximity of Mayor Rob Ford, snapped during a press conference announcing the city's War of 1812 celebration plans, December 8, 2011. During the past month, consequent of the battle between City Council and Mayor Rob Ford over the transit file, there have been declarations that Toronto’s chief executive is being placed in the same position as a premier or prime minister charged with a minority government , despite there being no formalized political parties at City Hall. While previous City Councils in the pre- and post-amalgamation City of Toronto have...

Source: The Downtowner , November 14, 1979. Click on image for larger version. Hands up, who has called the area encompassing the original town of York and St. Lawrence Market "the Lower East Side" in the past week? Anyone?

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 June 24, 2012. Advertisement, Books in Canada , May 1971. According to veteran Star books columnist Philip Marchand, the test of a good bookstore was simple. “Take a real reader, a habitual browser of books. Imagine that person walking by the bookstore en route to somewhere else. Can he or she resist the temptation to enter the bookstore? To while away a few minutes—well, half-an-hour—instead of attending to business?” The Book Cellar in Yorkville met his criteria, especially its magazine room: “Facing away from the from the Hazelton Lanes courtyard, the room is both quiet and cheerful. To stand there in the afternoon sun, browsing through magazines, listening to strains of Vivaldi or Billie Holiday, is to experience peace.”

The following offers supplementary material for a recent Torontoist post , which you should read first before diving into this post. Don River flood, looking south from Wilton Avenue (now Dundas Street) bridge, March 27, 1916. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1231, Item 1170. Click on image for larger version. The City of Toronto Archives’ online treasure chest of images includes plenty of pictures of floods along the Don River between 1916 and 1920. A few stories about those shots, starting with the March 28, 1916 edition of the Globe : Swelling of the Don, Humber, and Credit Rivers by the heavy rain of yesterday put much land around Toronto beneath a tide of ice and rushing water, while the flooding of the Canadian Northern Railway yards at Rosedale to a depth of four feet suspended traffic to and from Toronto over their lines for some hours, the eastbound afternoon trains being cancelled…So far as the Don is concerned, this is the worst flood since 1897. One of the remarkabl...

Toronto’s Fringe Festival is currently marking its 25 th year, which provides me with a good excuse to look at the first edition I attended, way back in 1999. At the time I was winding down my days in Guelph. Still recovering from the black comedy of working at the Ontarion , I was searching for work, hoping to avoid returning to Windsor. I had just moved into the cheapest place I ever lived in, the entire top floor of a house near Edinburgh and Paisley, a summer sublet which set me back $140/month. Looking for something to lift the gloom of job hunting, I decided a trip to Toronto was in order. I’d read about the Fringe for a few years, and its ticket prices fit my budget. I’d pick a show at random and hope for the best. Flipping through the program doesn’t reveal what I saw that year. No tickets slipped inside, no performances circled, no clippings. So I checked a journal from that time. Nada. Then I remembered I had an IKEA box full of clippings from my first few years ...

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...

Source: Family Circle , July 29, 1969. With the current heat wave slamming Toronto, it's tempting to run to the nearest beach to keep cool. But when even a dip in the lake isn't enough to cool you down, yet you want to remain outdoors, desperate measures are called for. Which brings us to this beach beauty's innovation: the human spinning top. As you spin in your preferred direction (I prefer clockwise), air flowing through the portholes will keep you cool as a cucumber. Spinning might make you dizzy, but who says that keeping cool and stylish doesn't come without costs?

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 February 26, 2012, and has been modified to replace incorrect information. This article also formed the basis of a piece I wrote for Heritage Toronto in March 2013 . Arena Gardens interior, between 1940 and 1960. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 964. How to eliminate competition: according to veteran Star sports columnist Jim Proudfoot, when Conn Smythe built Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931 he was determined that the Maple Leafs’ former home on Mutual Street would never host another professional hockey game. One morning, he sent a message to staff at the old venue offering all of them work at his new facility. The catch? The jobs were only available until Smythe left for lunch at 12:15 p.m. The staff raced up to the construction site on Carlton Street, le...

This post offers supplementary material for a recent Torontoist article , which you should read first before diving into this post. Mosaics by J.E.H. MacDonald on the arch of the entrance to the Concourse Building. Photo taken June 18, 2013. Whatever your opinion on the merits of facadism, it is a relief to know that the surviving pieces of J.E.H. MacDonald's work on the Concourse will live on in its successor. I wonder if anyone has approached Oxford Properties to include poetry in the foyer as the Concourse originally did. There are several approaches that could work: Restore the poetry that graced the Concourse in 1929. Add in appropriate verse from poets of that era who weren't represented in the Concourse. Assign current poets to provide fresh verse. Utilize poetry about Toronto.

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 6, 2012. Shopsy's, Spadina Avenue north of Dundas Street, 1968. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1567, Series 648, File 246. To what lengths would loyal customers go to grab a sandwich from Shopsy’s? During a severe snowstorm in the mid-1940s, one man skied over to purchase a pastrami sandwich. Such was the dedication regulars had during the deli’s 60-year run at 295 Spadina Avenue. The business began in 1921, when Harry and Jenny Shopsowitz opened an ice cream parlour in front of their home on Spadina, just north of Dundas Street. A selection of deli items was soon added, with corned beef based on a family recipe from Poland becoming the specialty of the house. In her novel Basic Black with Pearls , writer Helen Weinzweig depicted the deli during its early yea...

While sorting through the stacks of magazines residing in the official warehouse coffee table, I came across the lone issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland I've ever possessed. Fueled by the horror movie boom on television during the 1950s, editor Forrest J. Ackerman cultivated many a budding film buff with a mix of classic movie stills and articles geared to a younger audience. I picked up this issue out of curiosity amid a stack of 1970s Marvel black-and-white magazines for 50 cents at the K-W Bookstore in downtown Kitchener years ago. Juvenile, but fun to flip through for its great images and breathless prose. Not mentioned on the cover of the Bicentennial month edition is the second-longest feature in the issue, a profile of a long-running British sci-fi television series which had been shown in a few American markets since 1972: Doctor Who .

This post has moved over to Tales of Toronto .