By GENE DOMAGALA The history of our area here in the east end is sorely neglected. Our political area used to be called the Town of East Toronto from the years 1888 to 1908. It was a separate town from the City of Toronto during that time. It was, however, annexed to the City of […]
Category: Beach Memories
Beach Memories: Don’t forget our veterans after Remembrance Day passes
By GENE DOMAGALA I am writing this article after Remembrance Day for a very special reason. I was standing at the memorial at Kew Gardens and was reading the inscriptions. They are: On The Top Wall — In Honour of Those Who Served – 1914-1918, 1939-1945. On The East Wall – 1899-1902, 1950-1953, Peacekeeping, 2001-2014. […]
Beach Memories: Historic walk on Saturday, Oct. 29 will focus on far eastern end of Queen Street East
By GENE DOMAGALA On Saturday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m. I will be hosting the second half of the Queen Street East historic walk. The portion of the walk will cover the area between Lee Avenue and the R. C. Harris Water Treatment plant at the far east end of Queen Street East. For those […]
Beach Memories: Historic walking tour along Queen Street East set for afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 1
By GENE DOMAGALA In my last column, I wrote about the controversy regarding the name of this part of our city and should it be called Beach or Beaches or some other name. I knew there would be discussions and some pro and con feelings about this subject. Our esteemed editor commented on this in […]
Beach Memories: Asking the eternal question – do you call it Beach or Beaches?
By GENE DOMAGALA About 150 years ago the area in the present east end of Toronto, from Coxwell to Victoria Park avenues, was what we could call a tourist area. There were many amusement parks, picnic grounds, carnivals, and a race track. Because of the beauty of the area with its proximity to Lake Ontario, […]
Beach Memories: Historic walking tour of Danforth and Main area set for Saturday, May 21
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 […]
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 […]