Toronto Sketches 10

"The Way We Were"

Mike Filey

• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781459711617
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

Mike Filey's column "The Way We Were" first appeared in the Toronto Sunday Sun not long after the first edition of the paper hit the newsstands on September 16, 1973. Now, almost four decades later, Filey's column has enjoyed an uninterrupted stretch as one of the newspaper's most popular features. In 1992 a number of his columns were reprinted in Toronto Sketches: "The Way We Were." Since then another eight volumes of Toronto Sketches have been published, each of which has attained great success.

This 10th volume highlights some of Toronto's greatest landmarks such as the Don Jail and its graves and Hanlan's Point on Toronto Island. Mike also steps back in time to revisit the Avrocar, the flying saucer of the Great White North; takes a peek at Miss Toronto of 1926; conjures up The Hollywood, the city's first "talkie" theatre; and recalls historic snow days Canada's largest city has experienced.

Contents

A Watery Commute

Cronyism Has Always Existed Here

Toronto Under Siege

Touring Motel Alley

What’s in a Name?

Safety Back in the Day

Swimmingly Good Times

Gas Price Wars Revisited

Babe a Hit in Toronto

Rose by Any Other Name

A Shining Example

Gooderham, Worts, and All

Lights, Action, Drive!

Our Changing Skyline

On the Waterfront

Hooray, Simcoe Day

TTC Testing LRT Bidders

Ex Marks the Spot

Red Rockets of Yesteryear

Taking a Flight Back in Time

She’s the Belle of Lake Ontario

A Grave Story Indeed

Stagnant Gardens

When Joy Came to Town

Goodbye Dominion, Hello Metro

New, Old Electric Railway

Landmark of Learning

Lest We Forget

Toronto in Transition

A Toronto Kingpin

Tracking the Past

Bag to the Future

Oh, How We’ve Grown

A Surprise Demolition

Birth of Sunday Sports

Historic Snow Days

Bridging the Gap

Historic “Snow Fight”

Yorkville — the First ’Burb

Postcards from the Edge

Casa de Toronto

Street Smart?

Big Time in History

Central Prison of Horrors

Motor Ride Back in History

A Time for Talkies

Original “Mr. Fix-It”

Tough Act to Follow

Night Toronto Burned

Full Steam Ahead

John Lyle’s Vision Shaped in T.O.

Royal Reception

The Dating Game

Ahead of its Time

Sky’s the Limit

Pomp and Pageantry

Keeping Us Amused

Streetcar City

Toronto in the Dumps

Here She Is, Miss Toronto (1926)

University’s Magnificent Beacon

The Day Noronic Went Up in Smoke

The Word on the Street Is …

Island Tunnel that Would Never Be

A Revolutionary Condo Concept

Home Sweet Home Aboard Red Rocket

Let’s Set the Record Straight

Let’s Head Back in Time

You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Cry …

Flying Saucer of the Great White North

Shedding Light on Queen’s Wharf Lighthouse

Toronto’s Ever-Changing Skyline

The Rise of the Big Smoke

Rolling Billboards of the Past

They Were a Cut Above

Mike Filey’s column “The Way We Were” has appeared in the Toronto Sunday Sun on a regular basis ...