Paramount

 Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader

Weekend Coffee Share
Sunday 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.

This clock tower was originally part of the Yonge Street Fire Hall. It later stood over the St. Charles Tavern, which was a symbol for Toronto’s gay community. 

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.

Facing Yonge Street is the well loved, red brick, 1888-built Masonic Hall/Gloucester Mews building, which is being fully rehabilitated as part of The Ivy. it was occupied by the House of Lords hair salon for as long as I can remember.

Facing Gloucester Street, the Charles Levey Houses, has, however, been disassembled and transported in panels to a warehouse to be cleaned and restored before be returned to the site and reintegrated into the base of The Ivy, but attached to a modern frame.

The property at 8 Gloucester Street is associated with Timothy Eaton (1834-1907), who relocated to Toronto in 1869 to open a dry goods business that evolved into one of the city's first department stores and the longest privately operated one in Canada. Eaton and his family resided in the easterly portion of the semi-detached houses) following their arrival in Toronto, a eriod when the entrepreneur formulated novel retail concepts for Toronto consumers, including fixed prices and cash sales.

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. 

I went to see the Fleurs de Villes floral displays.

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!!!

Click here to see other Homeless Jesus sculptures. 

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.

We both had mocha, too sweet for us. 

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.

The Boston fern, middle red container is also new. It held my geraniums for a few years but they died out this year. Next up is the balcony.

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.