Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader
Weekend Coffee ShareSunday Salon
May 2024 - Toronto ON
Cheyenne WY
Saturday I had my first ride in the new car as we ran some errands.
Unfortunately our Maple Leafs lost last night in game 7.
Sunday and we're not going anywhere as the Toronto Marathon is on and we are on the route so roads are closed around us. Plus is was a very foggy wet start to the day.
However I found Masterchef Australia season 16 2024 to watch online!!!
Cinco de Mayo so I cooked Mexican.
Monday John had his annual Wooden Sticks day of golf which included dinner.
I thought I was heading to Yorkville (Yonge subway stop) but on impulse got off the subway at Wellesley as I wanted to see the newly renovated clock tower/new condo incorporation.
This turned out to be a 11,000 step walk.
The Yonge Street Fire Hall was active for 56 years. It closed in 1928 and the building became a car wash, then a tire dealership. In 1948, racehorse owner Charles Hemstead purchased the building and redesigned the ground floor to open the St. Charles restaurant and cocktail bar in 1950. Hemstead sold the business in 1958 but it continued to operate, serving drinks and Chinese Canadian food. The St. Charles could legally stay open when other bars had to close for dinner. Patrons at the nearby Red Lion Room, nicknamed the “Pink Pussy” by the gay community, often moved to the St. Charles to eat. The St. Charles grew popular with gay men and it held many drag shows, but it was not always a safe space. Police were hostile to the community and surveilled inside. In the 1970s, the tradition of Halloween drag shows began to attract malicious crowds, forcing drag queens to enter in secret or be pelted with eggs. Several discos used the upper floors in the 1970s and 1980s, including Maygay, Charly’s, and Y-Not. The St. Charles closed in 1987, but the building still housed nightclubs such as the Empire Dancebar. In 2022, the St. Charles clock tower was restored and incorporated into a housing development.
Just sidewalking.
BUT we knew it as Olympic 76 Pizza, our long time favourite pizza place since the early 1990s. A boss I had when I worked at Bay and Bloor used to take us there for lunch when it was first a tiny hole in the wall across from this location.
The first Olympic pizza (it became a Jamaican spot) was in a row of small businesses now occupied by this condo, The Clover.
I snagged this photo form Google street view of the strip where the original Olympic was.
This is how the block looked before The Clover was built.
Here are our photos of Olympic Pizza taken in 2016.
I can't believe this is still around! Many a BMO event took place here.
Look at this antique! When did it go to a dollar for a call?
In 2007 it went from 25¢ to 50¢
In 2013 a federal regulator (CRTC) blocked a Bell Canada plan to raise the cost of a local pay phone call to $1.
So what is this sticker?
I stopped into the Reference Library to see their latest display. Click here for lots more photos.
Tuesday I did a quick shuttle bus run to Longo's for a couple of things for dinner. Blueberries were $3 if you had a loyalty card otherwise they were $6!
I baked lemon raspberry crumble bars for the first time and they were good!
Wednesday we ran a personal errand and then looked for geraniums, but they didn't look great so I bought 3 other plants instead.
We also checked up on the status of the Blue Goose. The Goose is back!
2023 photo
2020 photo. When John played fastball for BMO this was their watering hole.
John went golfing and I headed (again) to Yorkville, I should have planned my week better. It was 21C but should didn't feel like it with the winds, when I stepped out of the subway it had rained! But the sun did come back out.
Our steak order was delivered and I marked them properly so we can decide what is our favourite.
Thursday we had free tickets to a Jameson Distillery event at Stackt, but it was a gloomy morning so we decided not to go. But I was doing my Fleurs de Villes post and felt guilty that I had missed some so John and I headed (again) to Yonge and Bloor and did the rest, click here for another Fleurs de Villes post.
My favourite.
I was walking right by this until John pointed it out. Another Homeless Jesus!!!
Homeless Jesus are designed by Timothy Schmalz, a Canadian sculptor and devout Catholic. Schmalz was inspired to create the statue after seeing a homeless person sleeping on a park bench in Toronto in 2012.Gluten free baked products!
In my Toronto Reference Library post I mentioned/linked above, Eat In Dine Out I mentioned The Pilot Tavern, so I got a photo today!
After a dull day we had a magnificent sunset!
Friday John had an appointment so he went to Longo's to pick up what we needed.
I stayed home and did some chores and repotted the new plants which led to other plants being repotted.
The hostas in black and white basket are new.
Red boots had been empty for a while, it used to have a snake plant in it.
COOKING
Sat roast pork (in freezer) roast potatoes carrots and turnips
Sun May 5 CINCO DE MAYO shrimp tacos guacamole
Mon John out lamb shanks Jackie Saturday's leftovers
Tues pork doner kabobs with pita and tzatziki and Greek salad
Wed halibut oven potato wedges. The halibut just wouldn't bake!
Thu
Fri steak and balsamic garlic roasted mushrooms with baguette.
WATCHING
Basic Instinct watched it when it came out, was fun to watch again.
Mr. Bates and the Post Office Great!
A Man in Full
Twister Alley
Hollow in the Land
READING
I started Best Friends Forever, it seems like a good storyline.
I love how you always manage to have a life of adventures whether you are traveling afar or simply at home. Your updates on your new plants inspire me to do the same!
ReplyDeleteYour Toronto adventures are great — I love your historic photo series of various locales. I always associate these places with Margaret Atwood’s Toronto-located books. She just published a very short story (Cut and Thirst) that takes place not far from some of your sites. I haven’t visited there in ages, but remember quite a few things I’ve seen.
ReplyDeletebest, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I really wish Los Angeles would take a lesson from Toronto and stop tearing down the old, beautiful buildings and incorporate them into the new buildings. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThat clock tower building!!!!
How are you guys liking your new car?
11,000 steps. I wonder if there's anything in my iPhone that can figure out how far I roller skate in a day, once I am finally out of my back yard.
Our mission - delivering dreams, happiness, and excitement to the world through hot dogs. I do get pretty excited and happy over a chili dog.
That pizza looks so gooooooooooooood.
Chick-fil-A!!! My favorite.
Thanks for sharing the Eat In n Dine Out display at the Reference Library. That's totally my kind of display. Imagine the horror I felt the day I realized my collection of old menus was one of the things that was removed the day the junk guys came to clean out the apartment for me.
Lemon raspberry crumble bars look amazing. I have GOT to get up the nerve to turn on my oven. But first I need to clean it.
How cute is that blue goose on that building??? I love stuff like that.
That was clever of you to I.D. the steaks so you can review and rate them.
I like the homeless Jesus's.
THAT SUNSET!!!!!
Why wouldn't the halibut bake???
I enjoyed reading the history of some of the buildings in Toronto and your past and present photos. I also wrote a Fleurs de Villes post for next week. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.
ReplyDeleteI like seeing the buildings around your city. The clock tower is terrific. After Mr Bates and the Post Office was shown here, it was followed up with a documentary, which was just an interesting, perhaps more so, than the show itself. Nevertheless, what a shocking scandal.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool how they included the ghost of the Yonge Street Fire Hall in the new building.
ReplyDelete