JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

Source: the Globe and Mail , March 19, 1976. Click on image for larger version. "A master plan for Aquatic Park in Lake Ontario calls for expenditures of $26 million for a 5,000 seat ampitheatre, campsites, a wildlife area, fishing piers, and accomodation for 1,500 power and sail craft," opened a 1976 Globe and Mail article on future plans for the Leslie Street Spit . The plan also provided for the private sector to build attractions like hostels, hotels, and a "20-acre marineland park." A Metro Toronto and Region Conservation Authority official noted that over 150 potential uses for the site were studied so that the proposed park would complement, not compete, with existing recreational facilities along the waterfront. Under the plan, the public would enjoy unrestricted access to 70 percent of the park's shoreline. The article doesn't address the pressing concern of what to do with the quonset hut in the middle of the spit , whose naming rights wer...

When reading Toronto's early newspapers, you have to remember that half of what you're reading is either partisan sniping or satirical attacks. That little context is provided for most of these attacks can drive a researcher mad, unless you're already deeply immersed in the subject. Reading these stories at random can be a head-scratcher - you know it's supposed to be funny, but you're not sure why. And then there are times when a great headline lures you into an attack piece. Take the case of the following headline I stumbled upon in the January 12, 1849 edition of the Toronto Mirror : Death from Intense Cold Naively, I thought Toronto might have endured a cold snap 165 Januarys ago similar to the new ice age we've enjoyed this month. Maybe this headline topped a tragic tale of a victim of deep freeze. Nope. Instead, the story "mourns" a rival newspaper, the original incarnation of the Toronto Standard (whose modern-day namesake has endur...

Source: The Telegram , October 14, 1961. Click on image for larger version. An amazing fact: if this was the first accident on the DVP, it occurred a month-and-a-half after its first section (Bayview/Bloor to Eglinton Avenue) opened. Were drivers that much more careful in 1961, or was it plain old luck that nobody else had spun out or suffered a fender bender? If you're wondering when the DVP experienced its first traffic jam, the answer is: August 31, 1961, the day it opened. Star reporter Fred Hollett was brave enough to experience the DVP's first evening rush hour. I rode the new five-mile section of parkway yesterday during its first evening rush-hour. And it was a five-minute trip from Dreamsville to Nightmare junction. Dreamsville was the Danforth Ave. entrance to the parkway, where I had all three lanes to myself for nearly a mile. Nightmare Junction was the Eglinton Ave. exit where hundreds of motorists celebrated the parkway's official opening with one o...

While doing some research for the next installment of Torontoist 's "Meet a Mayor" series at the city archives this week, I found a photocopy of the following letter to the editor, submitted to the Toronto Star in late 1972. Seems this correspondent was no fan of our first "rebel mayor," William Lyon Mackenzie. Source: Toronto Star , December 5, 1972. Click on image for larger version. The writer was wrong to state that Mackenzie's writings had never been republished; Oxford University Press published a curated selection of our fiery first mayor's opinions in 1960 ( The Selected Writings of William Lyon Mackenzie ).  The letter writer's tone echoes sentiments felt by the Family Compact and their Tory allies during the 1820s and 1830s, who were as guilty of "yellow journalism" as Mackenzie. *** Speaking of former mayors, here are the questions to round two of our Jeopardy-style quiz: 1) Who was Robert John Fleming ? The street...

Before we go into round two, here are the questions to yesterday's answers (from top to bottom): 1) Who are the Howlands? (William Holmes Howland 1886 to 1887, Oliver Aiken Howland 1901 to 1902). Some may try to claim Rob and Doug Ford, given the latter's penchant for assisting his brother. 2) Who is Fred Beavis?  I wrote about the hat draw for The Grid . 3) Who is  Henry Sherwood ? Mayor from 1842 to 1844, Sherwood expired while traveling through Bavaria in 1855. ending a career which also included an eight-week stint as the attorney-general of Canada West. 4) Who is John Shaw? Here's a fuller excerpt of Shaw's remarks on the opening of (Old) City Hall in September 1899 (Shaw served as mayor from 1897 to 1899): Why people will spend large sums of money on great buildings opens up a wider field of thought. It may, however, be roughly answered that great buildings symbolize a people's deeds and aspirations...It is now the most attractive place in Toronto, ...

This week was yet another goldmine for people to make fun of our fine city's mayor. Even Jeopardy got into the act . Which got me to thinking...what if there was a category on everyone's favourite quiz show dedicated to Toronto's mayors? Thanks to a clue screen generator , we have made this possible. Over the next two posts, test your knowledge of our city's past chief executives! Here's the first quintet of questions. Place your answers in the comments section. Enjoy...and no cheating! Answers will be posted with round #2 tomorrow!

This post offers supplementary material for an article I wrote for Torontoist , which you should read before diving into this piece. An illustration of Powell escaping the rebels on December 4, 1837. I wasn't able to figure out the exact documentation for it, though it was suggested by the fine folks at Mackenzie House that it probably belongs to the National Archives. The image was sourced from this article about William Lyon Mackenzie and the rebellion .

Click on image for larger version. Don't click on it expecting to go to any of these stories. Foods you shouldn't eat. Celebrities you shouldn't care about. Items that could change the destiny of humanity. Forgotten child stars as they look now. Sensationalistic photo galleries depicting people who require quiet, sensitive help. You know what I'm talking about: those squares of content, usually at the side or bottom of a webpage, which drag you into an infinite hole of linkbait. There are whole sites whose grand purpose is to link you to links that will link you to links that will link you to linkbait links. The depths you can plumb are depressingly impressive. After seeing one roundup o' linkbait too many, a light went on in my head: what if this stuff had existed a century ago? The result: the collage above, based on what a websurfer might have run across had the internet existed in January 1914. Some of the faux links are based solely on...

\ Source: the Toronto Sun , November 1, 1985. The Warehouse starts off 2014 with from a visit from our old pal Brett Halliday, purveyor of advertorial delights in Toronto for decades. Today's selection could be classified as an outright ad, as it lacks the tidbits about the entertainment scene, local retailers, and pieces of wisdom which usually broke up Halliday's advertorial columns.  The tone's the same, as is the colourful language. When was the last time you heard anything referred to as a "neon of activity?" Dammit, let's revive this phrase!  SPEAKER 1 : I'm bored tonight.Where shall we go? SPEAKER 2 : Let's go to ( fill in the trendiest neighbourhood in your city or village )! I hear it's a neon of activity! SPEAKER 1 : Good enough for me. Or, we could go to ( fill in the second-trendiest neighbourhood in your town or crossroads ). I hear it's a gaslight of activity! SPEAKER 2 : Better toss your cyberpunk gear on if ...

Source: the Mirror , December 13, 1972. Click on image for larger, readable version. Now that my apartment has more or less been cleaned up, time to sift through the mess of files on my computer. Buried in folders with titles like "Future Story Ideas," "Toronto Ads," and the vague "Misc.," are loose ends I've collected over years of research, waiting for their moment in the spotlight. Sometimes, the news cycle rewards the long waits these .jpg and .pdf files endure in the bowels of the Warehouse-o-matic 3000. Others are useless until the right time of the year rolls around. Take the story above, a 1972 profile of North York's finest Santas. I suspect that any jolly old St. Nick 40 years on who gently but firmly tells a kid they're a greedy brat would receive a warning at the minimum, an escort by the security guard elves at the maximum.

  Advertisement, Safari , March 1957. There are standard tropes generations of newspapers have relied upon to fill up that tiny piece of front page real estate which no other story can stretch into. One is the "aw, isn't that 100-year-old-person cute!" trope. These tales often came over the wires, and had zilch to do with the city it was published in. For example, take this tale pasted in the middle of the March 27, 1952 edition of the Telegram : 'Eye For Girls' He's Not Old At 102 Galesburg, Mich - March 27 (AP) - "I still get a kick out of seeing a pretty girl," mused William Ridler as he observed his 102nd birthday today. "When I don't any more, I'll know I'm getting old." Imagine the Upworthy-esque headline were this published today: "If You Fear That Lust Fades With Age, This 102-Year-Old Man Will Change Your Mind."

This post offers supplementary material for a Torontoist post I wrote several months ago , which I am revisiting in light of the passing of Nelson Mandela. Front page, the Toronto Star , February 11, 1990. Click on image for larger version. Note that amid the history-making headlines about Mandela's release from prison, a Toronto buffoon made his way to the front page. In this case, it's Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard, who would pass away two months after this edition.  Advertisement, Now , May 29, 1986. The Toronto Arts Against Apartheid Festival proved controversial during its organizational stages. When the United Way announced the event in November 1985, it gained support from local business leaders. "Here's the time for this city to show where it stands," noted Xerox Canada president David McCamus. Yet there were criticisms that such an event over-politicized the United Way, stretching its mandate beyond distributing funding to organizations wi...

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...

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...