This issue, for Canada’s 150th birthday, I am writing about my great country – the land of my birth and, to me, the greatest country in the world. As an amateur historian, I thought I would write about some of the different parts of our history. Canada has gone through many changes since 1867, and […]
Skateboarding pioneers have long carved out space for their sport in the East End. A January 26, 1988 front page Beach Metro News story details the entrepreneurial efforts of 19-year-old Perry Gladstone, founder of Toronto Skateworks on Danforth. Located at 2168 Danforth Ave., the facility was the first commercial indoor skate park east of the […]
For 50 years, Cirone’s Fine Foods on Queen East was a Beach institution – its blue sign and striped awning a friendly, familiar beacon in an evolving community. Joe Cirone, the gregarious owner of Cirone’s, retired in 2015, and the shop has been boarded up since. Crews have recently been on site, readying the building […]
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge, Notre Dame High School will be planting a ‘Vimy Oak’ in the front of the school June 2. The oak trees were originally brought to Canada by Leslie Miller, a WWI soldier who fought in the battle of Vimy Ridge, according to the Vimy Oaks Legacy […]
Local resident Graeme Boyce will be giving a presentation at Murphy’s Law on June 3 about the Beach in the early 1900s and how it came to be a part of the City of Toronto. An active member of and historian for the Beaches Lodge of Freemasonry, Boyce came up with the idea for the […]
The Beach’s rich history will be on display during the City of Toronto’s Doors Open event, May 27 and 28th. The historic church of St. John the Baptist Norway and the adjacent cemetery will throw open their doors so visitors can discover the fascinating history of one of the East End’s oldest places of worship. […]
One of the most interesting geological and historical questions I often hear is, What is the connection between Ashbridges Bay and the Beach? Well, dear readers, I will try to explain this controversy as well as I can. Ten thousand years ago, there was a great ice age in what is now Ontario. When this […]
In the city we are blessed with many parks, particularly in the East End. There are quite a few of them, large and small – many of which were covered in the last issue of Beach Metro News. You may learn a little about some lesser-known parks, and maybe even a bit of history. Here […]
In the city we are blessed with parks and recreation facilities, especially in the East End. There are quite a few of them, large and small. You will be surprised where some of the parks are located, and there is, in some cases, a little bit of history. Some readers will not recognize all the […]
In 1897 Walter Massey created a 100-hectare farm northeast of Toronto’s existing city limits, roughly north of the Danforth between Dawes Road and Pharmacy and including some of the streams and ponds in what is now Taylor Creek Park. He named it Dentonia Park Farm for his wife, Susan Denton Massey. The Masseys were rich, […]
