JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

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...

After Mom finished firing up the BBQ for dinner on Good Friday, I walked around town, trusty camera in hand. Amherstburg's Burger King, shuttered in 2004. It was the first fast-food burger chain to roll into town when it opened in the late 80s. Big disappointment, as BK was my least favourite of the majors (Harvey's was our preferred choice, until they changed the fries). My main memory of BK was during rehearsals for Grease in grade 12 - the cast had a hankering for flame-broiled food, so I volunteered to drive over. Since most of them were petite, there might have been 8-9 people crammed into my '86 Calais. Across the road, White Woods Mall ( photo from Christmas ) is in its death cycle, with Wal-Mart as its rumoured replacement. Amherstburg was one of the many towns to receive Carnegie libraries . This one, located at the SW corner of Richmond and Sandwich, dates to 1911 and was in danger of closing until the access elevator on the left was built. Not shown: a ...

Here we have a nice, WASPy, suburban middle-class BBQ at the dawn of the 1960s. Mrs. Early has worked all day preparing her famous Bourbon-Style Salad. She taste-tested the dressing several times during preparation, hence her stare into a void, not at Mr. Early in the doorway. Mr. Early occasionally casts a bemused glance towards Henderson and Miss Jones. He suspects they may be having an affair. This doesn't bother Mr. Early, since it leaves him more time to spend with the lovely Mrs. Henderson. Where is Mrs. Henderson? She's at home watching Tommy, who's recovering from a bout of recalcitrant plebney. Henderson's expression tells you all you need to know about what's going down with Miss Jones, though he is puzzled why she spends an extraordinary amount of time with his sister Hilda. Early Times was smooth stuff alright. Mr. Early had secured a case for the BBQ, which was emptied. Many secrets were revealed, one marriage ended, many hand and facial burns re...

Previously : Detroit Dating Advice ( One ) | ( Two ) Ontario Drinking Rules Continuing with our ongoing look at Detroit in 1970 through the eye of a hipster guide, it's time to find a place to eat. Bob's Picture Bar (Grand River & Cass) - "About forty years ago Bob came up with this rather grand scheme of chronicling human progress by covering the walls of his bar with pictures (and spicing up uninteresting periods with cartoons from Esquire). Unfortunately for the historically-minded, it looks as if human progess stopped about 1940...the floor is so uneven your knees may buckle as you walk." Cabaret LaBoheme (Ponchartrain Hotel) - "If a genuine bohemian ever walked in the here he would probably be booted the 23 floors down." Flaming Embers (Grand Circus Park) - "This is the place to go to get your bad $1.29 steak for $1.76. And you get to watch as they scorch it." Ham Heaven (E. Congress) - "The sign of a good sandwich s...

Time fades away... It was five years ago today that my father passed away. Sure doesn't seem like that much time has past, proving the clock moves faster with age. In his memory, I have posted nearly two dozen photos spread across his life on Flickr. Here's a few stories to go along with them, even if he hated tributes like this. Dad always said A Christmas Story was an accurate reflection of his youth, which this picture bears out. The crying kid, the scary-looking Santa...all that's missing is a request for a BB gun. I suspect this was shot at Eaton's around 1945, slightly early for the Punkinhead books I flipped through at my grandparents. A couple of shots from the early 50s. On the left is his dreaded childhood suit. Except for the end of his teaching career, I rarely recall him heading off to the classroom in jacket and tie and this explains why. The city was still in its stiff, stuffy "Toronto the Good" phase as he grew up, which helps exp...

While preparing an upcoming entry, I couldn't resist scanning this page from our many family photo albums. We guess the date is sometime in March of '79, as these were close to Amy's 2nd birthday pictures (which makes me 3-1/2). Poor Amy seems to be slumped in the shot with Granddad, or subtly hinting to Dad that she'd rather play with the doll than pose for the 127th shot that day. What was in those sandwiches to cause those hand and facial gestures? At least they made Nana laugh. The meat looks like some sort of overprocessed loaf, the kind I haven't eaten for 20 years (no mac n' cheese or pizza loaf will touch these lips now!). - JB

Our next stop was Frankenmuth , which bills itself as "Michigan's Little Bavaria". An odd place for a tourist town, tucked in between Michael Moore and Michigan Militia territory. Flint is 15 minutes to the south - if you're seen any of Moore's films, you'll know why we bypass it, though Dort Hwy (M-54) is a hoot for its alternating pattern of auto body shops and massage parlours. You know you're headed into tourist country when the first site you pass is a giant year-round Christmas store. Having exhausted our holiday cheer on Dec 25th, we drove along. Dinner was our sole stop. I'd passed through Frankenmuth, but never dined on the chicken dinners the town built its reputation on. Zehnder's has served up monster dinners for decades, in a building that began as a hotel in 1856. Popular place - at 4:30 there was a long line, which moved swiftly. While they waited, I walked out to Main St and snapped some pics. Buggies take the old Christ...

Whenever I glance at the 50 cent/$1 bin outside of any used book store, there are always one or two titles good for a laugh. In Ann Arbor, this dose of comedy relief is provided by the rolling cases outside Dawn Treader Book Store on Liberty St. Love that title. Alas, a late 80s teen novel about a bunch of misfits calling themselves "obnoxious jerks" was not enough to make Amy or I part with 50 cents US, despite the teasers on the back. Further research reveals that the writer is currently a columnist for Forbes and PC World magazines. Reviews from Amazon . But wait, what is that book The Obnoxious Jerks proudly stands on top of? Since neither of us wants to know about fish tanks exploding or marine lust, we passed on this one. Turns out this was a Canadian book ! Another case that proves my theory that Ann Arbor is the graveyard for Canadian publishers (I've lost count of how many Canadian remainders I've seen over the years - Dad used to buy monst...

Last weekend was my sister's birthday, the last she'll see with a two in front of it unless science proves otherwise. Along with Mom, we hopped in my car and headed over the border. The day started off in Ann Arbor. After dropping Mom off at Briarwood Mall, Amy and I headed downtown. The sun brought the city out, as finding a park became a challenge. Result: the highest I've ever had to go at the Maynard-Liberty garage. Garage notes: Dad used to go on about the acoustics in the deck, before it was renovated. Our most amusing experience was one afternoon we were stuck behind a pair of giggly co-eds in a battered VW van that broke down every 50 feet. Nobody around us seemed bothered by the slow trip out of the garage. Parking so high has its privileges. From our spot, I pointed the camera east towards State St. Across the street from the lot was a long line-up outside the Michigan Theatre. The draw? The Muppet Movie . Our main stop was Encore Recordings, where e...

While back in A'burg over the weekend, I scanned a pile of material for future use on this site and elsewhere. While flipping through some of my father's old yearbooks, I couldn't resist using these finds. First up, an excerpt from the graduate section of Leaside High School's 56-57 Yearbook, Clan Call . Take a gander at the first name on the class list for 13D: Before anyone asks, my father was a minor niner in 56-57 and didn't know her. Yearbook pics #2 and 3 come from the 1964 edition of U of T's yearbook, Torontoensis . Interesting story behind this one: for years, my father only had the 1962 (his first year) and 1965 (his grad year) editions. He found the 1964 book, as he found many things, at a Windsor Public Library book sale. Why this book was sitting in Windsor may be explained by the law grad on the left. Even more interesting is the law grad on the right end of this row.   Before anyone asks, my father was an arts undergrad and knew neit...

Judging from this ad, nostalgia for Woodstock set in quickly...or at least the cash-ins did. If you weren't there for the brown acid, you could throw on the soundtrack and wear these beauties. "Never-to-be-repeated event", hah! Warner Brothers must have hoped to milk the peace, love and music train. They released the film and soundtrack and owned the publisher of Star-Spangled War Stories , National Periodical Publications (aka DC Comics). It may seem ironic that Woodstock jewelery was advertised in a war comic, until you've actually read any from that era. When artist Joe Kubert took over as editor of most of DC's war line in 1968, the stories took a less embracing view towards warfare. Bullets appeared at the end of stories, proclaiming "make war no more". Since none of the ongoing characters had series set in the present, writers and artists had more liberties to address modern concerns It helped that many of them had been WWII vets, drawing on t...

While on a recent late-night stroll around the neighbourhood, I brought along my camera for company. While it refused to answer my questions about life and humanity's place in the universe, it agreed to snap some shots of Mt. Pleasant at midnight. Left : The smell of fresh-fried fish & chips occasionally greets me at the bunker after a long day's work, thanks to Penrose Fish & Chips. A neighbourhood fixture for five decades, take-out traffic remains heavy. It's not uncommon to see folks unwrapping their paper-wrapped fried bounty as they walk down the street. I'm still spoiled by memories of the light, non-greasy batter at Sir Cedric's in Windsor - I've tried Penrose twice and found the food fine, but the halibut can be on the skimpy side (the chips rock, but I only eat fries 3-4 times a year tops). Toronto Life review . Right : Fairy-tale royalty reigns in the window of Sugar's Costumes . Considering their specialty, one wonders who'd ...