By GENE DOMAGALA On Saturday, May 21, I will be leading an historic walk starting at the northwest corner of Woodbine and Danforth avenues. The walk will begin at 1 p.m. Even though I have been leading historic walks on the Danforth for more than four decades, the area still intrigues me. It is one […]
Category: Beach Memories
Beach Memories: Baseball has a long history in the East Toronto area
By GENE DOMAGALA There have been many articles written by fine sports people about baseball who are far more knowledgeable than I about the game. But baseball in the East End did not originate down in the Beach! The original East Toronto baseball teams started up in the present area of Ted Reeve Arena, about […]
Beach Memories: Fifty years of great history and prose in Beach Metro Community News
By GENE DOMAGALA The Beach Metro Community News (which published its first edition on March 1, 1972 as Ward 9 Community News) is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In my humble opinion, each of these 50 years have been a reflection of great historic and journalistic prose. This is what we mean by Freedom of the […]
Beach Memories: Ontario golf history was made in the Beach
By GENE DOMAGALA One of the great things Beach Metro Community News/Ward 9 Community News has done in its 50-year history is the watchword of all newspapers – Freedom of The Press. In Beach Metro Community News, they have given people of all types of abilities the chance to present their views on all matters. […]
Beach Memories: Some things have changed and some have not since 1972
By GENE DOMAGALA Toronto in 1972 was different than it is today. Politically in 1972 the Prime Minister of Canada was Pierre Elliot Trudeau. And now here we are freshly arrived in the year of 2022, and the Prime Minister of Canada is his son Justin Trudeau. In 1972, the Premier of Ontario was William […]
Beach Memories: The Main Street Library is celebrating its 100th anniversary on Dec. 15
By GENE DOMAGALA This year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the Main Street Library. What was that I wrote? The 100th anniversary of the Main Street Library? Yes, it is the 100th anniversary of a building that housed the beginning of a library. The official date of the anniversary is Dec. 15, and that’s […]
Beach Memories: This Remembrance Day will mark the 75th anniversary of the Beach Cenotaph in Kew Gardens
By GENE DOMAGALA The War Memorial cenotaph in Kew Gardens in the Beach is one of only two on Queen Street in Toronto. The other is in front of Old City Hall. For a number of years, the citizens of the Beach would mark Remembrance Day on Nov. 11 in different locations, at schools and […]
Beach Memories: Upcoming walking tour of Main and Danforth area to examine history of East Toronto
By GENE DOMAGALA Did you know that the Woodbine Race Track wasn’t the first race course in the east end of Toronto or that the Queen’s Plate was held at this particular site? To find out its location, join me on a Heritage Walk of East Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 6, starting at 1 p.m. […]
Beach Memories: Baseball is alive and well at the Kew Gardens diamond
By GENE DOMAGALA Baseball has been around for a long time in the East End, especially in the Beach area. There have been professional teams in both the western and eastern parts of Toronto, but that is for another column. We here in the Beach are concerned with the “amateur” baseball teams. Originally, as I […]
Beach Memories: The time is now to honour Beacher Norman Jewison with a plaque
By GENE DOMAGALA It is great to have all these different types of plaques about people, places and public events in our community. But where is the plaque for one of the world’s greatest film directors, Norman Jewison? He was born in the Beach and remains a proud Canadian. Growing up, Jewison attended Kew Beach […]