Toronto Sketches 11

"The Way We Were"

Mike Filey

• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781459707658
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

Mike Filey brings Toronto's history and the stories of its people and places to life.

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 widely read features. In 1992 a number of his columns were reprinted in Toronto Sketches: "The Way We Were." Since then another nine volumes have been published, each of which has attained great success. Included in this latest compilation are stories about the controversial, though not altogether new, improvements to the TTC's St. Clair streetcar route, as well as accounts of such fondly remembered gasoline brands as Joy, B-A, and White Rose. Then there are those popular Great Lakes passenger ships that carried thousands to such "foreign" ports as Lewiston and Rochester in New York State. Recounting the unforgettable Toronto snowstorm of 1944 and the tragedy of the fire aboard the SS Noronic prove that not all memories are pleasant ones.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Dancing Days of Yesteryear
• Remember Kids, Safety First
• On a Wing and a Prayer
• Never-Ending Roadwork
• Toronto EMS Has Come a Long Way
• Life and Times of the SS Cayuga
• Crash Course in History
• The Birth of Toronto Island
• Titanic’s Toronto Connection
• The Man Behind Sunnybrook
• Paying Homage to the Temple
• Horsing Around with the Past
• A Royal Trip Around T.O.
• Namesake Is Forever Yonge
• Royal Twist to Street Name
• Daring Young Man over T.O.
• Ritzy Hotel Shot for the Green
• Evolution of Transportation
• Long Track to Union Station’s Opening
• When T.O. Got Wired
• Agriculture Fair Sprouts the Ex
• Good, Plane Fun at the Ex
• Toronto’s “New” City Hall Turns 45
• Next TTC Stop, “Little Norway”
• Waterfront Gem Still Sparkles
• Brave Firemen of Yesteryear
• City Hall that Might’ve Been
• Lavish Houses of Government
• The History of Sick Kids
• Shedding Light on a Landmark
• Fire-Claimed Landmarks
• Canadian Icon’s Birthplace
• Postcards from the Edge of Town
• Hustled by City Hall
• This Victoria Square Just a Dream
• Arrow’s Short-Lived Flights
• He Was the Justin Bieber of ’52
• Arcade Building a T.O. Original
• Making Tracks Back to Belt Line
• The Vanishing Bayview Ghost
• From Farm Field to Airfield
• The Cyclorama Experience
• That’s One Big Birthday Candle
• Whatever Happened to Gas Wars?
• Sailing Back in Time
• Rocket Blast to the Past
• Debt, Generally Speaking
• City Streets Go Electric
• Gateway to Fun and Games
• Commuters of Yesteryear
• Noronic’s Last Voyage
• Gas Shortage Sparks Innovation
• Air Museum Home Up in the Air
• Barker Finally Gets His Due
• The Street Name Game
• Toronto’s Steamy Past
• “Kipling’s Road to Woodbridge”
• Cop Shops, Old and New
• Road Pioneers of the Past
• House that Conn Smythe Built
• Sunnyside Had Quite a Ride
• Great Snowstorm of ’44
• Trip Down Gasoline Alley
• Get Wind of This …
• Death in the Valve House
• Evolution of T.O.’s Transit
• A Moving Experience
• Getting Schooled in History
• A Hot Time in Muddy York
• Copyright