honestly

People in Toronto are going through a period of

 nostalgia and mourning

for the end of an era

of a giant discount store.

the store lit up 5 years ago (above) and today (below)

By now, many of the lights have burnt out. No one quite knows what will become of the iconic sign that has been a part of this corner at Bathurst and Bloor since what feels like forever, but has really only been since the early 1980's - though the store itself has been there for 68 years. 

Long before the ubiquitous Dollarama and other dollar stores, Honest Ed's was the place to go for cheap deals. 



















As you can no doubt guess, Ed Mirvish was larger than life with a personality and generosity unmatched by anyone else in the city. (he died in 2007)
He sold pretty much anything you could possibly need 
from the tacky...

 to the necessary


a bit of a backstory here is needed - Ed was also a theatre impresario and with his Royal Alex Theatre in an unlikely area of town near the railway tracks, he also opened up several restaurants in the area to attract people. One of them was Ed's Warehouse, and if you wanted to dine there, you (well, the men only) had to wear a jacket and tie. No worries if you were neglectful - a closetful of old ties and jackets was available for your choice to borrow!

The store had shrunk in size over the years, and the maze of aisles and corners and stairways to get out of the place is long gone as other businesses leased space in the massive building and as stock decreased over the three year closing. 




By the time I went for one last walk around, things had been well picked over and there was an empty, sad, it's-time-to-go feel to the place. The things left for sale weren't particularly memorable. Though you could buy a t-shirt (and yes, I did)

And then there are those signs.

Thousands upon thousands of hand painted signs for those unmemorable (and sometimes memorable) things for sale. Or, in the case of the Thanksgiving Turkeys that drew long lines of hopeful people happy to stand for hours to get their hands on a free bird...

It was the signs that people really wanted to have as a souvenir

Ed enjoyed a good pun, and the store - outside and inside - was full of them

and yes, the floor did have a definite slope to it!



But, now it is finally time to turn off the lights and say goodbye

a final stroll around Honest Ed's for Restless Jo
and signs for Lesley

grave post - Mirvish

Ed Mirvish has been in the headlines again this past week with the announcement from his son, David, that the one and a half blocks known as Mirvish Vilage in the Bathurst and Bloor area of downtown Toronto would be put up for sale.

You can see that something like this would be missed!

Ed Mirvish was born in Virginia on the 24th of July, 1914 and the family moved to Toronto in 1923.

 A businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist he was also a beloved, larger than life figure in the city. Apart from this over-the-top gaudiness of his 'famous bargain house' where everything was cheaper than you could possibly imagine, Mr Mirvish also made his mark in developing the Entertainment District with theatres and restaurants. 

So it might seem odd that such a man would still be without a head stone at his grave in the Pardes Shalom Cemetery. It is Jewish custom to have a marker put up within a year, but Mr Mirvish has been gone for 6 years as of July 11th. Instead, there is a simple black marker from the funeral home. His son, David, has taken a lot of flack for this oversight and he has said that he's been very busy and that it has been difficult since his father's passing. Though his father's memory has been honoured in many other, public, ways - a theatre has been [re]named in his honour and a parkette and street have been dedicated to Ed and Anne Mirvish as well as an annual award for entrepreneurship.  He admitted that he doesn't visit the cemetery and Ed's wife, Anne, whom he married in 1941, in failing health and 94 years of age, also has not been to see where her husband is buried.
However, in one recent interview there was an indication that a marker may be soon in place. David has finally, after a long deliberation, perhaps settled on the wording.


“A Man with a Good Name.”


Taphophile Tragics

in aisle 25

It was all quiet on Carlton Street in front of this shrine on Friday afternoon, but Wednesday morning was a different story. People actually started lining up on the street on Tuesday night to be first to enter the new Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens (MLG) when it opened at 8AM on November 30th. Almost exactly 80 years after its original Grand Opening as a hockey arena and home to the Toronto Maple Leafs (until 1999)

Now, it is a grocery store.

I had to see it when it was still all bright and shiny new

(and in full disclosure, this was only my second time ever being in this place of so many memories)

It is a store with special touches












and a giant Amazing Wall of Cheese

and a popular sushi bar placed at the outside wall with windows onto the street for some great theatre

When it was first announced that a grocery chain had bought this iconic building, there was much gnashing of teeth at the effrontery of it all. MLG is considered a hallowed shrine. It was not only used for a beloved hockey team, but was also the venue for many other sporting events, not least for wrestling and boxing. Then there were the concerts - Elvis and the Beatles among them. 

This new store is actually full of mementoes of these events. From the pictures on the pillars to the old posters on the walls and even the cafe tables are a collage of old sporting event memorabilia shots.

At the entrance is a collection of the old chairs from the arena painted in blue and (artfully?) arranged on the wall in the shape of a maple leaf. The original walls were left exposed and one can still see the imprint of the risers next to the new escalators. Further up and not yet finished will be an athletic centre and a new hockey rink for the nearby university. This building and its owners has also been riddled with controversy over the years, which just adds to the legendary status and the controversy continues (but I won't bore you with details. google it if you are really interested)

This is as much a tourist attraction as a grocery store for a badly needed vibe in this area and there were staff galore handing out maps and brochures and guiding you to see the sights. Halcyon, who was with me, desperately wanted to get a picture of their specially designed t-shirts, but everyone declined (bosses were likely watching carefully on the security cameras) but I managed a covert shot of these two poor sods in1930s newsboys outfits who wandered around handing out free bags and colourful brochures for the special events being held.

and then there is aisle 25.

where near the end, surrounded by soy sauces, is a red dot.

this folks, is the very spot of centre ice. 

seriously, next to the amazing wall of cheese, this was possibly the biggest attraction

and as you can see by this large billboard (interestingly seen across the street at Church and Carlton) 

this was a major, show stopping event.

the world didn't end

Today the world was supposed to end (after it failed to do so May 21st. Remember that one?)
It just crashed a little.
The day started out okay. I read about a ceremony to honour a tree and I thought I would head on over and maybe get a good post out of it to share with you all.

The tree is 300 years old, which is impressive enough by itself. It sits on the edge of a short road and at one time was a boundary marker between the villages of Burlington and Aldershot. This is a majestic white oak that stands about 30 metres (98') high and has a 50 cm (19") girth. And now it has a plaque honouring it as possibly the oldest and largest white oak in the country.
The ceremony was fine, though it was a small crowd who gathered because, well, it was at 2pm and wasn't announced to the public except for an article in this morning's paper. And most people probably aren't all that interested in a ceremony about a plaque for a tree. There would have been a far larger crowd had anyone suggested chopping it down, I'm sure. But the Mayor was there to give a speech, also the local alderman and the town's arborist (all, incidentally named Rick - much joking over that ensued) They were flanked by speeches from two Janes - one from the historical society and the other the new MP at her first official public event. There was apple cider and delicious oak leaf shaped cookies afterwards.

Some people went to extremes to get a good shot.













Some people decided to change lenses.
And dropped the newest one.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going off to have a little cry.

SundayStills - history

History is the theme for this week's Sunday Stills photo challenge. "Anything over 60 years, people, place or event"

So, here we have a rather unassuming house that is credited as being the oldest house in the Halton region. It was moved around the corner from it's original spot on Dundas Street in 2000 and extensively restored. A new by-law was recently enacted to save it from demolition.

'The Cork House is a historic home converted to showroom and factory outlet for Jelinek Cork Group. Eco-friendly and renewable cork products represent the core offerings of Jelinek Cork. The Cork House presents these products in a real-world situation providing an example of how to integrate sustainability into your life'.

It is a modest homestead, but you will notice it is made of wood. Maybe it was saved at one time by one of these beauties?

She could race to your location at speeds up to 50mph.

A REO Speedwagon from 1922. It has been lovingly (yes, lovingly, I talked to the Firefighter) restored by the Volunteer Fire Department of Kilbride. I didn't take note of his name (and I bet he is over 60, too!) but he noted, a little sadly, that none of the younger crew are interested in her.



See other bits of history, recent and ancient, at SundayStills

having a bit of fun all by myself

I thought about heading over to the Sound of Music Festival, but it is such a popular event that the thought of the crowds kept me back.


In the end, there was quite the show going on that I could see from my balcony.

It has been hot and humid here all day
see how lovely it is over the waterfront.








But wait, what is this....


moving in from the northwest
fast moving clouds

with the strains of music wafting through the air from the various stages providing background accompaniment
the clouds soon got a little more threatening as they headed for the park

as they do for the Sound of Music weekend with its open air stages
for every year, with the screams of the crowd as accompaniment


it rains

then, as suddenly as it came, the clouds moved on
and a rainbow appeared

then the clouds came back and it rained some more

this went on for some time, well about an hour.
all in all we had at least three different outbursts of rain and as many rainbows.

and I got enough sky shots to fill up every SkyWatchFriday posting for the rest of the year.

Eventually, the sun was setting and it was time to go inside to watch Dr Who save humanity.
<>

and then it snowed

Of course, it wasn't Ottawa's fault that the temperature plummeted from 27C (80F) to 4C (39F) overnight and just in time for the world renowned Tulip Festival. Or that the driest winter and spring we've ever had suddenly decided to turn wet and windy and miserable. Or that I came prepared for the weather people to be wrong about the cold. My sandals were ditched and I was awfully pleased with my gifted scarf from Paris and I knew that if I dug around in the trunk of my car I'd find a pair of dollar store one size fits all gloves.
Because by Sunday, the rain turned to snow.

The earlier warm weather of March and April brought out many of the blooms two weeks earlier than anticipated.

Then again, tulips only bloom for about a week to ten days, so there's always different varieties of early and late bloomers planted to keep the gardens full.

The raindrops made for nice photos (if you could keep the horizontal rain off the camera lens).

Too bad about the wind and rain that battered a few of the blooms ... and the spectators.

I have wanted to go to the Tulip Festival in Ottawa for several years and I thought, with this year marking the 65th anniversary of the Liberation of Holland, that this should be the year to visit. The tulips were a gift from Princess Juliana of The Netherlands for helping out her family by giving them refuge in Canada during the occupation and then liberating her country. Over 120,000 bulbs were given the first year after 1945 and they have been continuing to arrive every year since. Now there are about 3 million of them decorating the city. I didn't count them all, but that seems to be the accepted number, although maybe only 1 to 2 million were blooming at one time.

So XUP and Jazz and I ventured out into the rain and dodged the many, many Japanese tourists taking pictures of themselves tiptoeing through the tulips.

A few umbrellas got in the way of the photos.


I'm not exactly sure what I expected the tulip festival to be like. Maybe a little more festival-ish.
Though, to be fair, we missed the street party on Friday where Ottawa planned to hold its 'first-ever liberation street party ... to recreate the spontaneous party that broke out when the news of the end of World War II first hit the streets on May 7, 1945'. And there was a parade of 'vintage jeeps and vehicles and costumes' and a fly past of WWII aircraft which we didn't quite manage to see. As I recall, we were eating during those events. And we missed the vintage wine auction to be held next weekend. We didn't find the beer tent with the special brew created just for this anniversary. Considering the festival runs from May 7th to May 24, a surprising amount of preparations were still to be done.

Displays and tents were still to be put up for events held only later in the week. (why not when the festival opened?) The lacklustre food tents and crafts tent just left us wanting for a warm, dry marketplace. And with so much construction, it was difficult to get near the war memorial and the display of archival photos about the history of the tulips and Ottawa.

After a while of wandering in the cold after Jazz went home and XUP was being feted by XUP Jr for Mother's Day, I sought refuge in the National Art Gallery just in time for a Bach Choir to perform in the Rideau Chapel (click on link to see pictures the restored and reconstructed chapel, because I followed the rules and did not take any illegal photographs).

But the weekend wasn't only about tulips.

Jazz and I had the opportunity to break burnt toast bread with some of the many bloggers in Ottawa. There are an awful lot of people in Ottawa who just can't keep their thoughts to themselves and they are an organized, fun bunch who get together every couple of months for breakfast and even for an annual Blog Out Loud.

And XUP puts on a great wine and cheese spread.

And that Bazel cat is most entertaining.

Now, go read XUP's version of the weekend.

...and now Jazz has hers up.