[Mustapha]

" at least we still have Frans." QUOTE Mustapha.


After Fran died, Jr took over; still all OK.

Jr left, his sister & her husband tried their hand; bad fumble!

The new Fran's doesn't even know how to cook sausage.


Regards,
J T

The one on Front street and the one at Shuter and Victoria seem to be doing ok.

I miss the St. Clair one and most especially the one at Yonge and Eglinton. The latter was quite the hangout for the kids from Northern Secondary (my old school) and North Toronto Collegiate. The College one is the only original one from the 50s. As you say JT, the food is just ok.

By the way, NTCI is gone, the old building isn't there anymore.

 

[Long Island Mike]

The Bloor and Bay Street Area: 1969?

Back at Bloor & Bay - I don't travel much out of my comfort zone. Zumburger was mentioned and I came across this photo. Having said that, I think this is looking west from just before Bay.

Mustapha: Are the Ontario license plates 1969?
I do not recognize that dull red or maroon car on the left but in the center I see a 1965 Chevy and on the right a green Pontiac Firebird that is 1967-68-69 vintage
(Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds were very similar and that three year period is very popular with car buffs that own those two GM car brands)
LI MIKE

 

[paraone]

Agreed. I seem to remember an incarnation of that Little Norway "adventure playground" as late as 1985, though I could be mistaken. (Seems to have existed at the extreme-hardcore edge of 70s-style hands-on child's play experimentalism: cf. Ontario Place's Children's Village. Unfortunately, the liability risks behind setting up something similar today must be staggering.)

I remember going to a place like this with my day camp as a young kid in about 1983-1984, it was a rickety playground made out of wood, etc. by kids... is this the place your referring to? I was trying to see if my brother remembered where it was, I seem to remember it being around the fleet st area near the CNE, but I was to young to recall exactly. Anymore info would be appreciated.

 

[paraone]

with a little "ggogling" check out the images at the bottom of this page....

http://somemeanderingideas.blogspot.com/2009/03/torontos-adventure-playground.html

 

[BeeRich]

I remember going to a place like this with my day camp as a young kid in about 1983-1984, it was a rickety playground made out of wood, etc. by kids... is this the place your referring to? I was trying to see if my brother remembered where it was, I seem to remember it being around the fleet st area near the CNE, but I was to young to recall exactly. Anymore info would be appreciated.

Ya that's exactly it. Very very cool from a kid's perspective. It was towards the Island Airport. Around the baseball field. Molson Park never had anything like that. It was surrounded by a fence with sheets of plywood and the inside was jammed with "wood forts" and various things. I only really approached it once, but it was closed. The whole Waterfront was fun back then. When it was all warehouses (70's), you could pay to try out a railroad pump car for so many feet of running track. Well before Queen's Quay was a thoroughfare.

 

[BeeRich]

with a little "ggogling" check out the images at the bottom of this page....

Interesting. A couple of shots, but nothing I remember. I tried ggogling it as well and found nothing to that day. I had no clue it was called an adventure playground. At the time I wasn't sure how legal it was. I remember thinking it might have been done by some kids and it wasn't well received.

 

[Mustapha]

Mustapha: Are the Ontario license plates 1969?
I do not recognize that dull red or maroon car on the left but in the center I see a 1965 Chevy and on the right a green Pontiac Firebird that is 1967-68-69 vintage
(Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds were very similar and that three year period is very popular with car buffs that own those two GM car brands)
LI MIKE

LIMike, I'm not the one to handle your license plate question, sorry. I will say that the Chevy is indeed a 65. An Impala in fact. Bel Air and Biscayne had four lights on the trunk lid to Impala's six.

 

[Mustapha]

June 14 addition.



Then. "Palace Pier Entrance July 29, 1931." It's hard to believe that a large waterfront entertainment palace existed here in this now barren spot of the lakefront.


It opened June 10, 1941 and was inspired by the amusement piers along the coast of the UK, such as the Brighton pier. The picture below is dated 1931 - either it took quite some to build, or the date is wrong.

Our Palace Pier didn't last long, it burned in 1963.





Now. May 2011.

 

[adma]

It opened June 10, 1941 and was inspired by the amusement piers along the coast of the UK, such as the Brighton pier. The picture below is dated 1931 - either it took quite some to build, or the date is wrong.

The fragment of plaque you have pictured below indicates that "financial difficulties in the early 1930s delayed the construction".

 

[Stumack]

Bloor at Bay - 1969

LIMike, I'm not the one to handle your license plate question, sorry. I will say that the Chevy is indeed a 65. An Impala in fact. Bel Air and Biscayne had four lights on the trunk lid to Impala's six.

Yes, the licence plates are definitely 1969. The maroon car is either a 1962-64 Vauxhall Victor or it's badge engineered equivalent, the Envoy. Vauxhalls were sold by Pontiac-Buick dealers, while Chev-Olds dealers handled the Envoy. Here's a good Flickr photo set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njsimca/sets/72157623770155106/

 

[Mustapha]

The fragment of plaque you have pictured below indicates that "financial difficulties in the early 1930s delayed the construction".

Thanks adma. I was speed reading - and missed that.

 

[Mustapha]

"entertainment palace existed here in this now barren spot of the lakefront." QUOTE Mustapha.


The Palace Pier was nearer to the mouth of River Humber between the present condo and the street,

standing proud of the land on three sides.


The third photo as is noted, was taken by Ross Jamieson owner of a local photography store in Mimico

during the '50's/'60's. Sign on the door stated: IF YOU ARE HERE AND WE ARE NOT, DROP THE FILM IN THE SLOT.


The Big Band/entertainment era was promoted in part by Billy Cross. You remember Billy Cross don't you?

Well, if you didn't know Billy Cross, you must have certainly known or at the least remember his older brother!

Yes! You remember his brother, or the company: BRIDE'S STUDIO (!) Every vacant lot & many gasoline stations had

an antique junk car painted white, with a large sign facing one to each side which read BRIDE'S STUDIO.

If you had ever wondered who owned the "56 Continental Mk II which sat in a forelorne position in the south side driveway

on Cresent Road just east of the subway, you now know, Billy Cross's brother.


Regards,
J T

Billy Cross's brother seemed to do ok then. 56 MkII... I've never seen one. Seen pictures but never one in the metal.

 

[Mustapha]

Yes, the licence plates are definitely 1969. The maroon car is either a 1962-64 Vauxhall Victor or it's badge engineered equivalent, the Envoy. Vauxhalls were sold by Pontiac-Buick dealers, while Chev-Olds dealers handled the Envoy. Here's a good Flickr photo set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njsimca/sets/72157623770155106/

Thank you Stumack. Your timing is always perfect; and appreciated.

 

[Mustapha]

June 15 addition.




Then. "March 12, 1951. Dufferin street looking N fron opp. #360." We are looking N towards Queen street.

Now. April 2011. We had to wait just about 60 years for the powers-that-be to bore Dufferin street through that "subway"/underpass to the relief of drivers and even us lowly bus passengers that had to endure the prior circuitous routing past the Gladstone Hotel. Oddly, it seems to have created more traffic on this route.

 

[FAC33]

June 15 addition.




Then. "March 12, 1951. Dufferin street looking N fron opp. #360." We are looking N towards Queen street.

Now. April 2011. We had to wait just about 60 years for the powers-that-be to bore Dufferin street through that "subway"/underpass to the relief of drivers and even us lowly bus passengers that had to endure the prior circuitous routing past the Gladstone Hotel. Oddly, it seems to have created more traffic on this route.

I take it that warehouse-type building on the left was cut down a couple of floors sometime in the past?