JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

If these two stories were any indication, some writers (or at least headline writers) had it in for New York City during the 1920 holiday season. Los Angeles Express, December 25, 1920 . Ms. Reed tried to portray the dichotomy between the rich and poor elements of Manhattan, but her views of the indigent and at least two ethnic communities come off like a visitor engaging in slum tourism ("The Ghetto" referred to here is the Lower East Side, then the centre of the city's Jewish population). Not that sunny California was immune to transient communities . Reed was a Los Angeles-based actress and playwright whose works bore titles like Bitter Bread and The Devil's Tattoo .  Toronto Star, December 22, 1920. The reason the reader could guess that Montreal hotels could charge more than New York's was that Quebec loosened restrictions on alcohol after an April 1919 referendum, while the Prohibition era had just gotten underway in the USA. Why not spend the holidays in M...

This is the first of a series collecting odds and ends from the Christmas and New Year's holiday season 100 years ago. Ads, editorials, recipes, and anything else that caught my eye will be featured between now and January 1. Though not quite the dumpster fire 2020 has been, 1920 was still a turbulent time - the effects of the First World War, the upheavals of 1919, and the Spanish flu were still affecting North Americans. What you'll find in many of the items I'll feature is a sense of hope for the new year, that maybe things might be settling into a new sense of normal or are (finally) pointing toward a brighter future.  First up, a selection of ads from a sector that was doing far better in 1920 than 2020: department stores. Their Christmas Eve/Christmas Day ads generally avoided last-minute sales in favour of uplifting messages, wishes for peace on Earth, or cozy domestic scenes.   Border Cities Star, December 24, 1920. We'll start in Windsor, where Smith's th...

Montreal, November 14, 2010 - JB

Rather than wrack my brain in an attempt to start this post off by waxing poetic about all things Montreal, I’m going to cut to the chase: Sarah and I recently spent a weekend there and made our stomachs very happy. Disclaimer: Two Montreal food staples we didn’t have or barely sampled on this trip: smoked meat (almost got into line at Schwartz’s, but decided to keep my rough pattern of indulging in their famous sandwiches on every other trip to the city…and I wasn’t really in a smoked meat mood this time around) and bagels (did have one as a morning snack on Saturday, was going to bring a bag home but determined we had enough stuff to lug onto the train). One related amusement: posters around the core for a musical about Schwartz’s . Hey readers: which Toronto culinary landmark deserves a song-and-dance ode?

According to Spacing's twitter feed , a Bixi bicycle with a City of Toronto logo was spotted in the mayor's office last week. While visiting Montreal in November, Sarah and I almost tested out the city's Bixi system—fears about any mishap with the required $250 credit card deposit per bike gave us pause. Racks were plentiful downtown, with many running low on vehicles. If a system is ever implemented in Toronto, it would be useful for occasional riders, those with no space at home for a bike, or commuters who take TTC one way due to bad weather and bike the other. I could see myself using it for impulsive rides (scenario: we are on a leisurely stroll downtown and are overtaken by the urge to hop on a bike). It would also be ideal for visiting family and friends who might want to go for a ride along city trails and around the islands. While researching this post, I noticed a familiar figure standing next to the Bixi pay machine in the Wikipedia entry about the s...

How secure would you feel on these balconies? I felt seasick looking at them during a lazy walk through downtown Montreal. Photo taken in Montreal, November 7, 2009 - JB PS : Over on Torontoist, blind workers and trained toasters .

After a hard day of working on the railroad, in the repair shop, or on the assembly line, isn't it nice to restimulate your nerves with a relaxing cup of cocoa? I've been on a hot chocolate kick lately, or at least versions that aren’t just Swiss Miss in a cup. I foist the blame on Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, where I fell for the lure of a cup of Vosges Aztec Elixir Couture Cocoa over Thanksgiving weekend. The Zingerman’s website describes it as: Inspired by the recipes of the Aztecs. Dark chocolate, ancho and chipotle chilies, Mexican vanilla beans, cinnamon, and cornmeal to thicken. Steamed with our Calder Dairy milk and a splash of 1/2 and 1/2, this drink is silky and rich. It packed a rich, peppery punch that felt soothing on a sunny fall weekend afternoon after gorging on the sandwich below. #46 Stan's Canadian Hotfoot at Zingerman's. More details . Locally, Soma Chocolatemaker in the Distillery District makes a mean Mayan hot chocolate. The main dra...

Massachusetts Route 2 (Mohawk Trail) Since I had never been through northwestern Massachusetts, the route back to Canada followed Route 2 through the Berkshires. The scenery and hilltop views were beautiful, especially along the Mohawk Trail segment of the highway. Few cheesy tourist traps playing on the area's native heritage lined the roadside. The road's winding nature tossed my travel time estimations out the window, which was OK thanks to hotel reservations in Montreal. I stopped for a stroll in downtown North Adams and found this vintage theatre marquee. The Mohawk operated as a cinema for fifty years , then as an event venue before shutting in the early 90s. Efforts to restore the theatre have been going on for years. Once I reached Albany, I hopped onto I-87 and stayed on it most of the drive to the border. The exception was a short jaunt through Lake George to find one of the three remaining Howard Johnson restaurants (which may be down to two if the u...

Today, Zato believes in the powerful political philosophy known as Groucho Marxism. Adherents are known to have painted-on facial hair, a knack for humourous quips and a penchant for singing Lydia The Tattooed Lady . Clip from At The Circus (1939) This stencil appears to be in several spots on the streets of Montreal . Photo taken on St. Laurent, Montreal, May 22, 2008 

Rough translation: "The garbage can, the garbage man and the citizen: it's a menage-a-trois" (or "threesome" if you prefer). Having grown used to Toronto's divided-by-garbage-type recepticles, it takes a moment to reacquaint myself with single-serving cans in other cities. (Speaking of our city's garbage, here's Spacing's take on the recently-unveiled street furniture models ) St. Catherine Street, Montreal, May 21, 2008

Is the monkey deciding whether it's worth the risk to test out this couch? More wildlife, along Rue Roy. A slight plumbing problem. Just off of St. Laurent, near Schwartz's, a cameo appearance by Alfred Hitchcock.

1) A recent Psychogeography walk, which circled the train tracks running alongside Dupont. Left: Nighthawks at the Vesta Lunch. This was my first visit to the venerable greasy spoon and I was happy to discover my stomach could handle it (mind you, I only had a roast beef sandwich, but the meat was thrown on the griddle). On the right, one of Toronto's darkest secrets - its quiet strain of anti-Wookieism. More photos from this trek on over here (Oct 20th pics). *** 2) Marche Jean-Talon in Montreal. I drove back from la belle province with a back seat full of produce, ranging from peppers to pattypan squash. Made a fantastic spaghetti sauce from a large $1 bag of baby eggplants. The orange samples on the right are typical for the market - they lived up to their "very, very sweet" billing. I could have made a light lunch out of all the chunks of apples, pears, pineapples and cucumbers that were up for grabs. I also blew a bundle on local ciders and preserves at...

In an optician's window at Duluth and St, Denis, more than eyeglasses were on display... Inside were two women with short black hair in white lab jumpsuits arranging mutilated/mutated baby dolls. The piece appeared to a statement on genetic manipulation, with videos of "ultrasounds" with deformed fetuses. It was credited to "Frank Ketchup", which isn't turning up in net searches. At St. Denis and Duluth, the mutated babies grow Between the plastic dividers Row on row - JB