Calling All Old Cabbagetowners
in the 50's and 60's or earlier
and you have a story or pictures you would like posted here
Get a hold of me via
If it's suitable, I'll put it up.
by
I guess I should clarify a few things.
My family goes a way back
to around 1914-1915 when my Grandfather & Grandmother Crofts
lived at 17 Blevins Place, which was just south of Dundas Street
and off Sumach Street, and then moved to Taylor Street, which was
north of Dundas Street and off Sumach. It ran east from Sumach Street
to River Street. They had eight children, a few born in England and
the
remainder here. The younger children went to Park School.
After being here for a while my
Grandfather, at the age of 35,
joined the forces to go back to England to fight in World War 1.
Unfortunately, he came in contact with the mustard gas that they
used then and it shortened his life. He died while my Grandmother
was in her eighth pregnancy.
My father and mother were married in
early 1927 and they lived on
Taylor Street for a while near his parents home and then moved to
the corner of Oak Street and River Street. I remember the house.
It was a big place with three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs,
a kitchen, a dining area and livingroom downstairs. We didn't have
much furniture. The kitchen had a table, chairs and a stove.
The livingroom had no furniture at all, so we shut the door to it
and never went in there. The dining area was very sparse,
so we ate in the kitchen.
I remember the area being very quiet
with lots of row houses and
children to play with. There was a little girl that lived across the
street
from us and her name was Aida. My brother used to call her Aida,
Potada,
and she would laugh. There was a vacant lot next to our house and you
could walk through to Taylor Street. Just up River Street was
Riverdale Park with hills for tobogganing and sledding and an ice
rink for skating.
Then we moved to 210 Sackville Street
around 1935-36 and remained there
until 1950. When I think back on the houses in Cabbagetown, there
were
some great old houses. Our house was in a row of 8 houses and had
3 bedrooms and a bathroom with a tank that was up above the toilet.
Kitchen, diningroom, livingroom and a hallway from the front door to
the
kitchen with doors into the living and dining. We shared the house
at first
with my Aunt Glady & Uncle Art. They lived upstairs in a couple
of the
rooms and my parents slept downstairs in the livingroom and my crib
was in there also. My two brothers had a room upstairs. My Aunt &
Uncle
didn't stay long, so then we all moved upstairs to sleep.
Across the street were 6 row houses,
three stories. When I think
how houses are now gutted and remodeled, the houses we lived
in would have been great townhouses.
In the summer time, my sister and I
would walk to the Don Valley
near the Don River with some of our other friends, and sometimes
we would take potatoes, build a fire and put a stick through the
potatoes
to roast them. They never cooked right through, but they sure tasted
good.
We were always hungry. One day we were down by the Don River
and hunting around near the banks when we came upon a bunch of old
coins that I gathered up and took home. I told my father about what I
had
found and he told my Uncle Joe. My uncle Joe went back down there
thinking that there might be a lot more, but he didn't find any.
I still have those coins, a 1890 20 Cent piece with Queen Victoria,
a 1911 Large One Cent , with King George V, an 1886 Large Penny,
with Queen Victoria, and others too numerous to mention.
Across the street from us on Sackville
Street was a family
named Graham and Mr. Graham would have an auction sale every
Saturday.
Mr. Graham couldn't read or write and when he took his truck to pick
up old furniture to auction off, one of his daughters would print the
name
of the street on a piece of paper (he knew Toronto very well) and he
would
drive to that area and match the name on the piece of paper to the
street name.
When he brought the furniture home, he would refinish it and auction
it off.
Loads of people came to the auctions.
The Bluebell Theatre was our
entertainment. We always felt safe walking home
from the show. On the northeast corner of Parliament and Dundas was
the #4 Police Station and next to that was the #7 Fire Station.
On the southwest corner was the neighborhood's famous retail store
called "Michaelson's" where we bought our lyle stockings before the
war
and other apparel. Next to that and south on Parliament, I think,
was the
Salvation Army. Next to the Bluebell on the southeast corner was a
Service Station.
Just next to the Bluebell going south on Pariliament was a Fish &
Chip Store.
We used to get 5 cents worth of Chips in a cone shaped cup with a
wooden stick with lots of malt vinegar and salt. They were so
good!
My girlfriend, Mary, and I knew the
boys that took care of the theatre,
Frank & John Locicero, (I'm not sure of the spelling but they
lived in Cabbagetown)
One day in Grade Seven at Park School (Mr. Collins) gave me the strap
in front
of the class. I can't remember what I did. I was really upset, so we
decided
to play hooky and we spent the afternoon at the Bluebell Theatre.
There were a few other people there besides Frank & John.
So, everyone had to get on the stage and do something.
Frank sang and we all laughed and clapped, John told jokes and
my friend Mary and I tried to sing a few songs. I must admit that we
had
a good time laughing, but the next day when we went to school,
we were called down to the Principal's Office. He (Mr. McKay) ranted
and raved
about our playing hooky and asked what we did. We said we went to
the show.
Instead of getting the strap again, he put us both back a grade and
left us
there for a week. I was mortified because I didn't want my parents
to
know and was truly embarrassed sitting in Grade 6. I never played
hooky again.
My parents never did find out and it is still fresh in my memory.
Incidently, the strap was a long black,
thick, leather strap, and you would
get 4 or 5 hard slaps on the hands and your name put in the big black
book that came with it. When he was going to punish you with the
strap,
you had to go down to the principal's office and get the book and
strap yourself.
I wonder if that book is in Park School Archives?
Hello, my family lived in Cabbagetown
from 1936-1950
at 210 Sackville Street. We all went to Park School from
Grade 1 through Grade 8, myself Pat, my two brothers
John & Ken and my younger sister Barbara.
The last name was Crofts.
We were very poor because of the great
depression,
as was everyone else. It was difficult for my father
to get work, but he finally did and worked at Schraders
for years. He was a skilled machinist. He finally got a
better job at Massey Harris and continued to work
there until his death.
My sister and I have been e-mailing
messages to each
other about our life in "Cabbagetown". We remember
pushing an old carriage down to the Coal house, along
with my brother Ken, to get a bag of coal that came
out of a shute and also to pick coal out of the ashes.
We had an ice box and the ice man came often with a
large pick and carried a block of ice right into our kitchen
and put it in the top of our ice box. We also had coal delivery
and my father would stand outside and count the coal bags
to make sure we got the right amount that we ordered.
The Shute was at the bottom front of the house and lead
into the basement to a bin that the coal fell into. The coal
man was always covered in black soot.
We also had bread deliver from Westons.
The breadman
came with a delivery wagon pulled by a horse and we would
always ask for stale buns, but he never had any. When he
left we would hitch a ride on the back of the wagon that had
a step for the breadman to get up into the wagon. We always
yelled "hooky on behind." If the horse left any droppings,
someone on the street would throw it on their front
lawn for fertilizer.
We also remember Regent Park which was
right next to our
house. There was a wadding pool and in the Summer the
Park Attendant would fill it with water and the smaller children
would swim around. It wasn't very deep. After a short while,
he would empty it, because we all peed in it, and then fill it again.
In the Winter there was the lighted ice rink and all of the kids
would skate there. You knew everybody. We also went to
Riverdale Park with out sleds and toboggans that we got for
Christmas and have a great time sledding. There was a run
called the Icies. They were ice covered chutes to toboggan down.
They were really fast. There was a huge ice rink and it was
always packed with people, so we had great fun in the Winter
months.
Things were not so terrible then. Most
of us were on the Pogey
and at Christmas time we received a basketful of goodies with a
Turkey and the trimmings for Christmas. We had a closer family tie
then.
Our Grandmother lived just a few blocks away on Taylor Street and
our Aunts and Uncles used to come visit often.
We went to St. Bartholomews Anglican
Church on Sunday
mornings and also for Sunday School. Father Pashler was
there at the time. I really liked him. Whenever he saw you
he would say, "Bless you my child."
Went to the Bluebell Show quite often
for matinees and evenings.
You would see a lot of people that you knew there.
It was the only theatre around, except the one on Parliament Street,
but that was uptown then.
There was a Bath House down the street
from us, on the corner
of Sackville and St. David. There was an apartment on the top
of the Bath House that the people who ran the Bath House lived in.
I used to Babysit the two children that lived there, Beverly
and Penny Boone. Also, we used to go there to have a good bath or
shower for 5 cents. You would get a towel and a small bar of soap.
My girlfriend and I would stay forever just using the bath and
shower until the owner would tell us it was time to leave.
We didn't have hot water at home, we had a hot water tank behind
the coal stove in the kitchen which you had to light with a match
and wait until it heated up. It was too hot in the Summer to light
it,
so we used the Bath House quite often.
I am going to try and recall my first meeting with Baldy Chard and an event that followed: Patricia Crofts-LaGree
Howard "Baldy" Chard
Bare-knuckles boxer in Toronto, 50,60's
Would have killed most boxers in a fight
Dead now, but he also worked as a bouncer in Toronto.
Alias Fred Chard
Canadian Heavyweight
Hometown - Toronto
Career - 1946-1948 - W7 (4 KO's) L15 DO Total 22
1947-07-14
Chard was knocked down once in the 1st, 3rd and 3 times in the 7th round, which forced automatic stoppage.
I guess I was about 13, and I was down on Queen Street, and in those days, it was safe to be so
far from home. I could walk up Sackville at night for about 3 blocks to my house with no problems.
I can't remember why I was down there, but I do remember seeing Baldy Chard, I knew
what he looked like. I remember teasing him about something, he started to do a little sparring with
me, which was fun, and we were laughing. He was nice. I said goodbye and went home.
The next time I learned about Baldy Chard, I was older, and it was a hot summer night. We lived near
Regency Park, and could hear a lot of singing coming from the Park. It was late at night and most people
were in bed asleep. I gather someone called the police to complain. In those days the police rode on bicycles (no cars).
The police station wasn't very far from Regency Park, on the corner of Parliament and Dundas, which was about
5-10 minutes to the Park on bicycle. I am not too sure just what happened, but heard the next day that the policeman
bad mouthed the group. Two of them took offense and chased the policeman through the park onto Sackville Street, and
almost in front of our house, we heard a loud commotion, got out of bed to look out the windows, my mother, sister and myself.
The two men caught up with the policeman and were beating him up. They hit him over the head with something and blood
was pouring out of his head. They started running down Sackville Street and the policeman pulled out his gun and fired a few shots
(I remember seeing the flash of the bullets). He apparently hit one of them in the leg, but they continued down to below Queen Street,
and, I think ended up in a Catholic Church. They were apprehended the next day, and one of them was Baldy Chard.
I remember feeling badly about Baldy Chard because he had been so nice to me that summer evening on Queen Street. I later learned
he had a few run-ins with the police.
When reading this, if anyone remembers this event, I would like to know what happened to Baldy Chard, and what year it was. It might have been about 1946-47.
Patricia Crofts-LaGree Click Here To Contact Patricia With Any Info