The Old Stomping Ground Part 2

Eglinton, Oakwood, Times Road

A common destination before I took to a bicycle was the Colony Theatre at the "five corners" defined by the intersections of Eglinton Avenue, Dufferin Street and Vaughan Road. An alternative route back home on foot took me east along Eglinton and north up Times Road.

Across from the Colony at the northeast corner of Dufferin and Eglinton was St. Cuthbert's United Church. It had a robust membership back in the heyday of churchgoing society. When declining attendance began affecting both St. Cuthbert's and Fairbank United six blocks north on Dufferin, there was talk of amalgamating the two congregations.

I used to comment to my Mom, who was Fairbank's treasurer, that they would let both churches fold before one would ever join the other. St. Cuthbert's would be the first to go under in 2001. The building still stands and is now part of the British Methodist Episcopal Church.

St. Cuthbert's United Church in the mid 1950s

One block east on the Colony on the south side of Eglinton at Northcliffe Boulevard was the York Township main library. I would spend many an hour there working on school assignments. My teacher, having noticed that my reading consisted mostly of science related non-fiction, suggested that I strive for "a higher plane." The librarian would be able to help, she said.

The librarian asked if I had ever read Dickens or Kipling. I hadn't. "You MUST!" she declared in a voice that reminded me of Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle. When closing time was nigh, this lady would flick the light switches on and off in a rapid-fire fashion that turned the library's interior into a precursor of the strobe-lit discos of the 1970s. I surmised that it was Librarian for "get your asses out!"

York Township Main Library, 1954

I checked out a Kipling title from the ones suggested. I decided against The Jungle Book because it reminded me of my negative experience with Cub Scouts. Instead I chose Kim. The adventures of a boy about my age. It was a difficult read until I saw the Classics Illustrated version on the comic book stand. Throughout the rest of elementary and high school, I would read the Classics Illustrated version of just about every work both on and off the curriculum in addition to the actual book. For me, it made the task of trying to become literate much more fun.

Classics Illustrated titles commanded a premium 15 cents per issue when regular comics were 10 cents.

Across Eglinton from the library was Salerno Pizzeria. They had, by far, the best pizza in the area. In the late 1970s they opened an upscale dining room next to the pizza parlour. A review in Toronto Life  declared "this restaurant shines in just enough ways to make a trip across town worth while."

Sometimes I would overshoot Times Road and keep going east along Eglinton to Oakwood. There was an A&P grocery store on the south side and the Prime Restaurant was on the southeast corner at Oakwood. The only image I could find of the Prime from back in the day was on a matchbook cover. The characteristic door located square on the corner is still there, the space being now occupied by a Cash Money outlet.

Heading back west, the Times Barber Shop was near the corner of that road and Eglinton. I always had my hair cut there until the Beatles influenced my choice of hairstyle right up to the present day. That's when I was compelled to seek out a "stylist." I remember being freaked at around age 12 the first time the barber whipped up some shaving cream in a mug, stropped his razor, and scraped away the fuzz around my ears and back of my neck. Today, there is a barber shop in the exact same location.

Heading north up Times Road, you arrived at "The Tracks." By 1960, the Belt Line passenger railway built in 1898 was almost never used, and it was the preferred place for the local kids to hang out. The steep banks on each side were heavily treed and you could hide from prying eyes as you lit up a forbidden cigarette. Three lumber yards were situated along the tracks and all three had scrap piles that we kids could help ourselves to with the owners' blessing. With a hammer, a few nails and pieces of plywood and 2x4s the handier kids could fashion a half decent fort. There was an ideal location by the tracks just west of the Dufferin Street bridge. Absolutely no girls allowed.

1960 Aerial Photograph of the Tracks, Woolen Mill and Lumber Companies

In 1969 there was a devastating fire that wiped out the Oliver and Home lumber companies on the south side of the tracks. Fairbank Lumber on the north side was untouched. The burned out area is now Walter Saunders Memorial Park.

The Paton & Baldwin woolen mill was on the north side of the tracks. The 1930 art deco building was converted to lofts in the early 2000s.

Walter Saunders Memorial Park was Once the Location of the Oliver and Home Lumber Companies

Only three blocks more to get home, and once a week the library Bookmobile would park itself at Times Road and Ridelle Avenue, a mere block away. If the books I had borrowed were soon due, I could return them there instead of making the trek across the tracks to Eglinton. That was okay. I quit smoking almost immediately after taking my first drag.

The Old Stomping Ground Part 1

Briar Hill, Dufferin, Eglinton

I was late in life getting a bicycle. It was the summer when I was ten. Most of my friends had bikes for a couple of years. Mom was a single parent supporting three kids as well as her own mother.
 
My older sister had a paper route and after performing well in a subscription drive she was given an array of prizes to choose from. Instead of picking something nice for herself, she got a bicycle for me. But prior to the expanded world that was now open for exploration, I was resigned to covering the neighbourhood on foot.

Two blocks up the road lay the venue that would dominate 9 years of my emerging life, Briar Hill Public School. The yard and entrances were delineated for boys and girls, a setup the educators of the time considered peremptory. With just a few months remaining in my final year, I inadvertently violated the boundary line while deep in discussion about current affairs with a classmate. The punishment was swift but had a silver lining which is the topic of another story. In 2014, the school was demolished in deference to Toronto’s love affair with condominiums. The wrecking crew barged in before proper permits were secured and the cornerstone of the original 1863 schoolhouse was buried in the rubble, possibly lost for all time.

Fairbanks. A common mistake, but this isn't Alaska.

Directly across from Briar Hill School on Dufferin Street is Fairbank United Church, another influential part of my formative years. Before its 1889 construction, the Methodist congregation used to meet at the 1863 one-room schoolhouse. The church building remains much the same as it was with the original stained glass windows.

Having been designated a heritage site, the building will hopefully not fall prey to the condominium craze should its dwindling congregation one day decide to cease operations.

Continuing south on Dufferin Street and making a slight jog left on Ridelle Avenue was Ridelle Park, which is still there and now named J. T. Watson Parkette. There was an ice rink in the winter, divided in half by a chain link fence attached to wooden posts. One side was designated for playing hockey and the other for regular skating. A wooden shack heated by an oil stove provided welcome shelter from the cold.

After a round of hockey, I would retire to the Sky Ranch restaurant, which hasn't changed much since its 1960-ish debut. A huge oval plate of french fries was 20 cents. It was enough for 2 kids and the waiter garciously provided a second fork for the friend sitting beside me on the swivel seat at the counter. My friend would ask for gravy on the fries and I insisted that none be put on my side because I didn't think I would like it. One day I accidentally got a splash of gravy on my share and to my surprise I loved it and the waiter was no doubt relieved that he no longer had to cater to my picky tastes.

Right across from the Sky Ranch at the southeast corner of Dufferin and Castlefield was a Canadian Tire store. Today it is a car dealership. The retailer's system was revolutionary for the day. One sample of the merchandise was displayed on the main floor and the customer filled out a form with the part number which would be sent downstairs via a pneumatic tube. Guys on roller skates filled the orders down below and sent them up in a basket on a conveyor belt. Industry experts no doubt concluded it was more cost efficient to have the customers pick the item themselves from an ample supply within arm's reach.

Just to the south at Dufferin and Roselawn doing land office business was Fairbank Lumber. Right before the railway bridge was a building that looked like someone's house but with a sign that read Justice of the Peace. I never once saw anyone enter or exit through that door.

Going past the tracks meant having to step onto Dufferin Street and dodge oncoming cars because the sidewalk came to a dead end at the girder bridge. In the mid 1960s sidewalks on both sides of the street were created by tunneling through the rail overpass. At Hopewell Avenue I would cross Dufferin to the west side where Fairglen Dairy was located between Schell and Bowie Avenues. Their milk was delivered by horse drawn wagons right through the 1950s.

The fish and chip shop a few doors south of Ramsden Road was called Eglinton Fish & Chips even though it was on Dufferin. An "order" cost 25 cents or, if that was too rich for your blood, one thin dime would buy an order of chips served in a paper cone and liberally doused with salt and apple cider vinegar.

Next on the itinerary was the Kresge store which could be accessed from both Dufferin and Eglinton. The candy counter was a favourite of mine where I could choose from among the sweets and decide how much I wanted to spend. It was exactingly weighed and put in a bag. One time I had a quarter burning a hole in my pocket and I spent it all on gum drops. The size of the bag scared me and I thought I would have candy to last until adulthood.

In my early teens I would buy my 45 rpm records that comprised the top 50 on the CHUM Chart at Kresge's. They would play the song before you decided to buy and it came over the speakers through the entire store.

Crossing Dufferin and Eglinton diagonally would lead to where Vaughan Road's northwestern terminus joined the "five corners." They were just starting to build St. Hilda's Anglican Church which looked like it had been poured from a Jello mold. A few steps past the Esso station was the Colony movie theatre and the quarter burning a hole in my other pocket would get me in to the Saturday matinee to see such blockbusters as Swiss Family Robinson and Polyanna.

After the movies, I went home by a different route. And that's the subject of future posting.