Throwback Thursday

Volunteer Eric Morse continues his explorations of the archives of Seven News, a weekly local newspaper in Toronto 40 years ago for what was then Ward 7, including Cabbagetown.

Rent and municipal politics were the big items in the first two June issues of Seven News.

Tenants of the Barbara Apartments in St. James Town were protesting major rent increases of up to 20 per cent amid allegations that landlord Meridian Properties had been manipulating paperwork and claiming expenses that had not been incurred.

The Page One piece for the June 3 issue went on to note that the building, which had been designated low-income and had been built with low-cost government loans, had seen rents double over the course of 17 years, that tenants had been embroiled in rental disputes continuously since 1976, and that the current rent increases amounted to 20 per cent.

The theme continued on Page Four of the issue, with a major piece by regulars Thom Corbett and Ulli Diemer, criticizing the apparent intentions of the Bill Davis Government to lift rent controls. The heart of the debate is a familiar one: are controls a disincentive to the construction of new rental housing? Seven clearly had little sympathy for this: the article concludes that “a million [Toronto tenants] committed to the proposition that good affordable housing is a right, not a privilege that depends on someone making a high enough profit from it, could be a potent political force.”

But the big political news came in the headline of the June 17 issue: John Sewell had declared his candidacy for Mayor in the elections to be held November 13, 1978. The Ward 7 Alderman (and founder of Seven News as an alternative to the major dailies) had broken onto the municipal stage nearly a decade before as a reformer, and felt that now was the time to seek the top job, which had been vacated by ‘Tiny Perfect” Mayor David Crombie, then seeking the Federal nomination in Rosedale riding. Notwithstanding its origins, Seven News expressed concern that Sewell might be co-opted by the conservative interests on Council, as (in the paper’s view) had been Crombie and his predecessor Mayor William Dennison. Sewell noted that if elected, he hoped to build a coalition of reform-minded councillors.

The other big political news was that Gordon Cressy, the former Chair of the Board of Education, would run for Ward 7 Alderman in an attempt to succeed Sewell. According to the article, his major concerns were to fight the growing trend in rent increases for low-income housing, and rising unemployment in Toronto. Cressy had run provincially as an NDP candidate in the 1977 provincial election and had lost to Margaret Scrivener. He stated that although he felt that party politics had no place in municipal elections, he hoped to gain NDP endorsement for his candidacy.

Identity issues were alive and well in the education system; correspondent Frances Watman notes that South Asian advocacy groups had called for the elimination of 14 texts on the Ministry of Education approved list contained racist terminology and should be removed from the list.

And finally in sports, the young talent at the Cabbagetown Boxing and Youth Centre shines again in the tune-up matches for the All-Ontario Juniors in Oshawa that month. In the line-up: future (1984) Olympian Shawn O’Sullivan. Club Member Andy Williams, 12 years old, contributes a poem.

The full stories introduced above are available online.

Volunteer Eric Morse takes a look back at spring, 1978, with a selection of stories from the April and May issues of Seven News, a community newspaper published in Cabbagetown.

The front page photo and story in the April 22 issue is about the funny-looking “lonely house” in the middle of the St James Town stretch of Parliament Street. You know the one – the last Victorian house left in the development, at 600 Parliament St.

The author explains that the owner had held out against Meridian while they were assembling the real estate in the mid-60s, so Meridian responded by redesigning the development around the property. There it stood, as photographed by Seven’s indefatigable photographer Cherry Hassard.

It looked somewhat undernourished in 1978 when Hassard shot it, with an (apparently vacant) storefront already replacing the Victorian facade. You wouldn’t recognize the place 40 years later (with an east-west gable added, and the new cladding and commercial shopfront and all), but it’s still the solitary holdout, paying its freight as “One of the Biggest Washers in GTA”. And still, as the article puts it, affording several thousand people a birdseye view of the backyard.

George Rust d’Eye has two long reads in this issue, including an article about John Ross Robertson (1841-1918), Toronto publisher and founder of The [Evening] Telegram, who owned a mansion at 291 Sherbourne St., just south of Gerrard, pictured in the article as it was when Robertson owned it.

The next issue notes that Cabbagetown had a 100th anniversary celebration. Who organized it and how they decided that it was the 100th birthday is not stated, but it took place in what is now Anniversary Park, and we have this charming kid-and-pony photo from the event.

Some stirrings of progress toward what was to become the old Regent Park Community Centre at 8 Sackville Green are documented in a brief story.

The 6th Annual Forsythia Festival took place May 7 in Wellesley Park, where it’s still held today. At the time, the dog show was more prominent than it is today.

On the same page in the same issue (May 20), Seven News goes for some balanced coverage under the headline “Dog Dirt Denounced”. There was a major and somewhat umbragineous meeting of Cabbagetowners at the “new farmhouse” on Riverdale Farm to discuss the dog-do crisis in Riverdale Park.

News reporter Howard Huggett contributes a brief history of the Broadview streetcar line.

On the subject of streetcars, which Cabbagetown is temporarily without, your correspondent made a fascinating pilgrimage to the Halton County Radial Railway in Milton. It’s an under-promoted repository of Toronto’s transit history with three working antique cars restored to splendid condition giving rides on a two-kilometre km track, and it’s well worth a day trip.

And finally, Seven News celebrated its ninth year of publishing. It was in the middle of a
fundraising /membership campaign to replace government grants that had lapsed earlier in the year, and the campaign was doing well. (it must have done well as Seven News was around until 1985!)

The full stories introduced above are available online.

We’ve been visiting the visiting the Toronto Public Library collection and came across these images from Excelsior Pres at 403 Parliament St. (now home to Ultra Pharmacy). They promised “fancy printing of all kinds done well and cheap.” The library collection has several of its trading cards, including this beauty of a lady and dog.

We begin this edition of Throwback Thursday by reaching back 102 years to April 1916, when Canada was at war, and any open space that was big enough might be called upon to serve as a drill field, or at least a photographic backdrop. Former CRA board director Keith Lawrance sends us this from his new perch at Toronto City Hall. He notes that the view extends from Geneva Street on the left, through the Zoo as it then was, as far as Broadview Avenue.

The photo is of the 180th “Sportsmen’s” Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Here it is  again in three sections, from left to right of the formation, so that details are more easily visible.

Left

Centre

Right

Local amateur war historian John Thompson of the Royal Canadian Military Institute, tells us that “Sportsmen’s Battalions” originated in the U.K. as part of the Pals & Battalions of 1914/15, usually reruited among star athletes from football, cricket, rugby and other sports teams, and then using them to draw supporters of those teams into the battalions. (The “Pals” system of  recruiting led to entire neighbourhoods of young men being slaughtered in the battles of 1914-15 – one reason why the Canadian Reserves of today are never committed as full units).

For this reason among others,  Canadian recruiting worked differently. Local militia regiments would continue to recruit men until 1917. Men would go into the drafts of the numbered battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

The Sportmen’s Battalions in the U.K. were emulated by two Canadian battalions, the 180th and 202nd. The 180th Sportsman’s Battalion was recruited in the Toronto area in the winter of 1915/16, sailed for the U.K. in November 1916, and was absorbed into the 3rd Reserve Battalion on January 6, 1917. It had one commanding officer, LCol R.H. Greer.

It continued recruiting through most of 1916, playing up its “Sportsman” image to reach its full authorized strength, which probably explains their appearance on a Cabbagetown sports field. Other than this, the unit did nothing that history remembers it for, but the men it recruited and trained would have been at Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Amiens, and on through the 100 days that broke the back of Germany’s armies.

This photo shows a little over 500 officers and men. Mr. Thompson notes that if the normal ratios held,some 20 per cent of the men in the photo would have been killed in action or died of wounds, and 40 per cent would have been wounded at least once.

Technically, the photo is a remarkable example of a panoramic group photo. The panoramic technique was pioneered in 1844 and there are still panoramic cameras being made, though the smartphone is probably fast replacing them. The panoramic cameras of the early 20th century used a geared lens turret, which allowed even exposure. In graduation photos, it also allowed the class wise guy to appear at both ends of the group if he was fast enough. (This practice was discouraged in military photography.)

Volunteer Eric Morse brings us the local news from April 8, 1978 courtesy 7 News.

It was a soggy spring in St James Town. The previous issue of 7 News had reported flooding in the 280 Wellesley complex, and now there are reports of flooding in 325 Bleecker. “Hot water shot out of the [third floor] pipe in a jet, missing, but only by inches, a woman sitting across the kitchen from the pipe. The force of the water splintered the bottom of the kitchen table, warped the floor, destroyed the carpet in the adjacent living room, and damaged the TV. ”

There were complaints that management had a neglectful attitude toward the necessary repairs, and that the tenants had little leverage, having tried and failed a couple of times to found a tenants’ association.

In our last Throwback Thursday, we reported on the battle over the proposed redevelopment of “South St Jamestown (sic)” (Bleecker/Wellesley/Ontario/Carlton). The developers’ proposal had headed off to OMB, and Ald. John Sewell had sworn a fight to the death.

As of this issue, hearings had just concluded and a decision was awaited. The current article summarizes the residents’ objections (“those who remain in the area – many were thrown out of their homes by Meridian several years ago”). Essentially they object to a proposed density “actually … slightly higher than even St Jamestown (sic) itself”. Objectors noted that “the very concept of dense high rise development has proven itself to be an obsolete planning and development concept”. The article goes on to note that “The St Jamestown high rises are currently known for problems with vandalism, maintenance and cockroaches, and have required their own security force to supplement the police. Critics say that these kinds of problems are almost inevitable in high rises…”

Coincidentally, last week’s Cabbagetown Neighbourhood Review notes a new proposal for development within the existing precinct of St James Town. As blogger Doug Fisher notes,  “It’s hard to say those words in one sentence – ‘expand’, ‘St James Town’?” Memories are long. But the people doing it want to be very careful and they’re holding a public consultation. It’s early days.

How will South St Jamestown come out? Stay tuned to Throwback Thursday!

In these days of bike lanes, “War on The Car”, the King Street Pilot Project, and massive condo development, the battles 40 years ago over front-yard parking seem almost quaint, but it was a burning issue in the day. Ald. John Sewell (who was opposed) writes a lengthy piece summarizing the pros and cons. He writes: “ Some on Council (I’m one of them) aren’t prepared to see more of the city turned over to the carriage and storage of cars. Toronto is known for trees … and parking on front yards will mean that fewer and fewer trees are being planted … Losing the feel of the city because of a parking problem in the 1970s isn’t a good enough reason.”

As with all these controversies of the day, we know how this one came out in the long run. But Sewell’s article also gives us a snapshot of City Council of the day, and where everyone stood on the issue.

In a sign of the times, and the social tensions inherent in a neighbourhood that was rapidly gentrifying, the Parliament Street Library announced that the Library House at 265 Gerrard, long in use as a men’s drop-in centre, was being renovated and that the drop-in centre would close. The piece notes: “The changes … have been approved by the ‘Friends of the Library’ committee. However the committee, according to a former member now consists entirely of ‘whitepainters’ who are openly hostile to the poorer residents in the area, and who were not happy to see the library house used as a drop-in.”.

In the ‘hidden ledes’ (not to be more overly critical) department, a collective signing itself “The Street Artists of Cabbagetown”, which on closer reading turns out to be a clever euphemism for ‘dogs’, writes an open letter to the residents, which on close parsing turns out to be an admonition not to put out their garbage before collection day…

And last but not least, The Parson’s Nose at 438 Parliament St., which was to become a Cabbagetown watering hole of resort at least until the early ’80s, announces its debut.

The full stories introduced above are available at http://www.connexions.org/SevenNews/Docs/7News-Volume08-Number22.pdf . The PDF archive is a remarkable achievement by Connexions, a collective dedicated to preserving social activism, of which 7 News is surely a shining example.

Volunteer Eric Morse takes us back to March 1978 to look at the news in and around Cabbagetown.

A critical stage was reached in the redevelopment of “South St James Town” (Bleecker, Wellesley, Ontario, Carlton, now forming part of the Winchester Park Residents’ Association) by Meridian Properties; Council approved sweeping redevelopment to include highrises which would have housed 3,000 people, plus 15,000 square feet of commercial space. Ald. John Sewell swore to carry the fight to the OMB.

Remember the patio at The Isabella? It makes its debut for spring 1978 with a $3.75 brunch.

The debate over the Don Jail continues; George Rust d’Eye delivers a stiff riposte to Bob Innes’s letter of the previous issue and is supported by Stanley Wilson.

Somebody ’s legal department had too much time on their hands. The Dow was down, right on the editors’ heads, as Dow Chemical waxed minatory over the alleged misuse of the word styrofoam in an issue from 1977. It would seem that the corporate legal beagles had never in their lives Xeroxed a Kleenex. The paper shot back hard. Remember napalm, anyone?

The Hon. Donald “Thumper” MacDonald, who had announced his retirement the previous fall, stepped down as MP for Rosedale.  A byelection was called for October 16. U of T President John Evans threw his hat in the ring against Ann Cools and won the Liberal nomination handily as the establishment candidate but the nomination battle was unexpectedly fierce.

The National Film Board made a moving documentary of Cools’s nomination, which is well worth watching: the NFB describes the contest as “one of the most innovative and fascinating in the history of Canadian politics”. The documentary memorably describes the south end of the riding as containing “The fragments discarded from the [urban] mosaic”. Spoiler: Tiny Perfect Mayor David Crombie won the PC nomination handily and flattened Evans in the byelection. MacDonald would have run for the leadership of the Liberals in place of Pierre Trudeau in 1980, had Trudeau not un-resigned. Ann Cools won the Liberal nomination in 1979 and 1980, but lost (narrowly in 1980) to Crombie. She was appointed to the Senate in 1984.

And finally, the eternal note on an eternal theme.

The full stories introduced above are available at http://www.connexions.org /SevenNews/Docs/7News-Volume08-Number20.pdf . The PDF archive is a remarkable achievement by Connexions, a collectivededicated to preserving social activism, of which 7 News is surely a shining example.

Your Cabbagetowner for many years has known what a treasure-trove of historic photos are preserved through the City of Toronto Archives.

And now, you can peruse photos block-by-block around the city, from 1850 to today, using an online tool called Old Toronto: Mapping Historic Photos.

We found the above photo from 1934 of the northwest corner of Parliament and Gerrard streets. And there are hundreds more from Cabbagetown, and thousands upon thousands over the rest of the city.

Old Toronto is an open-source map tool “that provides block-by-block browsing of historic Toronto photographs,” according its creator, Sidewalk Labs,  a start-up owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet. This is the company that won a competition in October 2017 to partner with Waterfront Toronto to develop the Quayside neighbourhood. The plan, according to a recent Global News Report, will map this development “from the Internet up with features including roads designed for driverless cars, environmentally friendly design and innovative infrastructure.”

But never mind the future: this is a journey back to the past. The tool maps more than 30,000 historic city photographs from the Toronto Archives, which holds more than 1.7 million photographs dating back to 1856.

“Our goal is to help Torontonians discover something new about their street or city,” the Sidewalk Labs site states. “We think Old Toronto provides a powerful way to visualize the changes that have taken place on a given city block over time.”

Get a look at this photo of a pharmacy at the corner of Gerrard and Parliament from 1947 – complete with huge cigarette advertisements on the side.

We’ll share more Cabbagetown gems in future but, in the meantime, follow this link to Old Toronto yourself to explore favourite streets around the city.

A return to The Seven News, 40 years ago, as perused by volunteer Eric Morse.

The Feb. 25 1978 issue of Seven News is full of tidbits for us modern types. Currently, we are concerned at the rise of the Internet-driven ‘gig economy’, but we see its – admittedly more modest – beginnings in the temp agency abuses of 40 years ago. It was the lead story on Page 1; a snippet is reproduced.

The aforesaid gig economy is forcing many of us to accept that Freedom 55 is beginning to look more like Freedom 95. But just a couple of pages in, Seven News reported that there was growing opposition to the concept of mandatory retirement.

Ward resident Bob Innes is in a state of high dudgeon about George Rust d’Eye’s earlier article about the Don Jail. Innis is terrified that if the city keeps it around to long, it will end up getting re-purposed as – gasp – a jail!

A few issues back, Seven News had incorporated Harbourfront News as a centre section. Physically, there wasn’t much to Harbourfront back in the day – redevelopment had been announced by the Trudeau Government in the election of 1972 – but the complex now known as Harbourfront Centre was beginning to develop as a focal point for non-mainstream cultural activity. Here’s a map as it was then – except for the pioneering Harbour Square / Hilton Harbour Castle development on the eastern edge, nary a condo in sight. And of course, no streetcars.

Meanwhile on Page Three, and slightly closer to the Greater Cabbagetown Area, a little photo feature by Seven’s photographer Cherry Hassard on Toronto’s narrowest house at 383 Shuter St.

Forty years later, it seems to have put on no girth, but some height, and considerable value, listing at $788,000 in July 2017 (current photo from BlogTO).

And finally, way down in the corner of Page Three where you might completely miss it, a political star is born in the riding of Broadview-Greenwood.

The full stories introduced above are available at http://www.connexions.org/SevenNews/Docs/7News-Volume08-Number18.pdf . The PDF archive is a remarkable achievement by Connexions, a collective dedicated to preserving social activism, of which 7 News is surely a shining example.

The Toronto Archives – @Torontoarchives on Twitter –  is a treasure trove of images and stories of Toronto past. 

Recently, the Archives published a series of photos of downtown businesses from the past century and included this image of Darrigo’s Groceries, which used to be at the corner of Spruce and Parliament streets in the 1940s.

If you have any old photos of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood you’d like to share as a “Throwback Thursday” feature, send them to info@cabbagetowner.com, including information to identify what’s in the photo.

Volunteer Eric Morse continues his exploration of the archives of Seven News, a community newspaper covering Cabbagetown in the late 1970s and early 1980s when this area was in the city’s Ward 7.

No, it wasn’t the day Mel Lastman called out the army. That was January 14, 1999. But on January 26-27, 1978, Toronto and environs got socked just as hard. Seven News doesn’t name the date, but other references confirm it. Your correspondent, who lived in Ottawa at the time, happened to be in town that pair of days, and recalls it as “the night the CN Tower didn’t blow over’, that being still a major downtown neurosis in those days a year and a half after its completion. Seven News, a weekly paper, ran this stirring front-page shot of Cabbagetown under the storm in its early February edition.

“You’re not alone.” The saga of Nellie’s continues with a touching article by Janet Howard about a fundraiser to help repay the CMHC loan to purchase their premises on Broadview. “Nellie’s Hostel will survive because we all have the sneaking feeling that we are not quite safe without it.”

Cabbagetown Boxing Club cleaned up at the Golden Gloves Tournament at the King Edward Hotel. Later Canadian champion John Raftery makes his appearance in this piece by Ken Hamilton.

Toronto Free Theatre produced a first play by Erika Ritter, who at the sime was a struggling writer trying to deal with the CBC. Reviewer Seth Borts thought its theme – a struggling young writer trying to deal with the CBC – was a touch overspecialized, but pronounced it well worth seeing. Really, the rotary phone in the foreground of the publicity shot is worth the price of admission all by itself!

For this week’s long read, your correspondent confesses sentimental bias – he has lived next door to 306 Seaton St. and across from 287 (now Number 9 recording studio) for the past 31 years, (as frightening as that may seem), and Page 3 features a major spread by George Rust D’Eye on the history of the street. This was the period when gentrification of Seaton Street was just getting under way.

The full stories introduced above are available at http://www.connexions.org/SevenNews/Docs/7News-Volume08-Number17.pdf . The PDF archive is a remarkable achievement by Connexions, a collective dedicated to preserving social activism, of which 7 News is surely a shining example.