JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

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 orginally published on November 21, 2011. For four decades, solo or as a pair, the spinning neon records of Sam the Record Man were a Yonge Street landmark. Tacky to some, a reassuring sight to others, they lured music lovers into the store to linger. When the site was purchased by Ryerson University in 2007 part of the deal was that the discs would be remounted on the school’s new Student Learning Centre or a nearby building. Now that Ryerson President Sheldon Levy is having second thoughts about bringing the signs out of storage, there’s a strong possibility the only places to see them will be old photos, YouTube videos and SCTV ’s parody of Goin’ Down the Road . Entering Sam the Record Man was like visiting a museum of music history. The place had a ramshackle charm, with numerous expansi...

For the second year in a row, I tested my endurance during Nuit Blanche . Unlike last year, the other events over the weekend came before, not after, the all-night event. The morning was spent putting the finishing touches on an article , followed by a fantastic round of dim sum out by the airport with the monthly dining group. I tried to nap in the afternoon but only managed to spent 90 minutes in Dreamland. The challenge was to see how deep into the night I would last. Judging from the reactions I've seen so far around the web, it looks like my big mistake was not drifting far into Zone C. I almost made it at the end of the night, but fatigue derailed those plans. I also remembered my trek through that zone last year , a miserable experience I didn't feel like repeating. C'est la vie. Despite a few duds along the way and less energy, I enjoyed this year's edition more than last year's, helped by elements not directly related to the works on display. *** ...

From Toronto Guidebook , published by Toronto Life in 1974: Toronto's two best record shops are practically next-door neighbors. Together they offer the widest selection of records in the city, and maybe the world; Sam the Record Man, 347 Yonge St. and A&A Records, 351 Yonge St. Both stores are open until around midnight every day, including Sunday. (156) A&A, owned in its later years by an American conglomerate, is long gone. After a dance with death several years ago, Sam's is about to join it in the history books. During childhood visits to my grandparents, it was rare that Dad and I didn't stop at either of the record stores on Yonge. I barely remember any details about A&A, but the handwritten artist dividers, the tossed-together atmosphere and the signatures on the walls of Sam's linger. Dad usually spent an hour or two browsing the classical record section in the back - it was one of the few places I recall him looking through the regular-pr...