Bits and pieces about arts and culture events in the west-end neighbourhood known as the Junction Toronto, and about some cultural events coming up in the GTA. Hello and welcome to Our #JunctionTO Neighbourhood!
Hey, friends and fans of Junction History, it's the Junction onstage!
CANADIAN JUNCTION: Town, City and Country by Neil Ross
Join Eileen Brown, Mikaela Cordero and Neil Ross for a reading of a new one-act play about the Junction experience and the birth of Canada. A diverse village and town becomes a city and joins Toronto as an equal (in its heart).
Featuring, from the Junction's past: Nursing student Anne Leun who broke the colour barrier at a downtown Toronto theatre. Merchant and philanthropist Mrs. Brown – who introduced the telephone to the Junction. Journalist A.B. Rice – for sixty years the Junction was his beat.
West Toronto Junction Historical Society FUNdraiser Tall Tales of The Junction
When: Thursday, January 15, 2015, 6pm
Venue: Junction Craft Brewery Address: 90 Cawthra Avenue, unit 1 The Junction, Toronto, ON M6N 3C7
The fundraising event is not unlike those the WTJHS has hosted in the past. Junction “legends,” such as journalist A.B. Rice, first librarian Elizabeth MacCallum, chief coroner Dr. G.W. Clendenan, chief of police and first Mountie Josiah Royce and Rev T.E.E. Shore have made appearances at such events as 'The Wild Wild Junction' Ghost stories pub crawl.
Tall Tales of the Junction will be “like a pub crawl without the crawl,” said Ross, “because it’s winter.”
The Junction legends will again share their favourite stories while audience members will also be invited to share their own stories of the neighbourhood for a chance to win historical prizes.
The $20 admission fee will help the WTJHS continue to do its work, like advocating for the conservation of the neighbourhood’s built heritage. The event will include a presentation based on the most recent installment of the WTJHS’ graphic novel.
Admission includes snacks and a pint of ale from a Junction Craft Brewery special cask.
Tickets are available at Annette Street Library, 145 Annette St.
Poster: Wild, Wild, Junction II: The Historical Mystery Tour Continues West Toronto Junction Historical Society Fall Fundraiser and Pub Crawl 3PM, Sunday, October 24, 2010 Beginning at the Axis Gallery and Grill, 3048 Dundas Street West (@ High Park Ave) Ending at SHOXS: The Local Option, 2827 Dundas Street West (@ Keele St) Poster Design by Mark @ MasterEnglish.ca Credit: wtjhs.ca
2nd Incredible Year!
The West Toronto Junction Historical Society presents: Wild, Wild, Junction II The Historical Mystery Tour Continues
Join us for our fall fund raiser and pub crawl and the launch of
Justice in the JunctionThe Life and Times of Josiah Royce
Relive the events that led the Junction to "go dry" for almost a century with the men and women who were there as the Legends of the Junction return.
Examine the Junction's oldest cold case: The Death of Joseph Curley.
Be sworn in as a jury member and vote. Accident or Murder?
M.P.P. Cheri DiNovo will be reprising her hilarious performance as the Reverend Shore whose famous “Harlotry, Vice and Iniquity” sermon set the Junction on fire.
Proceeds go to the Boom Times Artist/Mentors program working with local students to create original works of art about Junction history and culture.
We’ll also be officially launching our five part graphic novel series, Justice in the Junction, the Life and Times of Josiah Royce, with story by Neil Ross and art by Brendan FitzPatrick.
Flyer: Toronto Public Library Annette Street Branch Stand up and Sketch Comedy Classes for Adults with Neil Ross Tuesday July 6 - Tuesday September 7, 7- 8pm Credit: torontopubliclibrary.ca
Unleash Your Natural Comic!
Summer Comedy Workshops Stand up and sketch comedy classes for adults eighteen and over with Neil Ross
Writer/comedian/director Neil Ross has worked in Canadian comedy for thirty years. He has taught stand up comedy to street kids and improvisational comedy to psychiatric survivors - so he can work with you!
Participants will find their natural comic and create comedy in teams. Graduates will debut on the comedy stage of the 2010 Junction Arts Festival both as a solo act and in sketches for a show called EnvironMENTAL Junction (September 9 - 12, 2010).
The cost is $10 a workshop with a 5 workshop minimum. The last workshop (September 7) is free.
Call the Annette Street Branch at 416-393-7692 today to reserve your spot!
Boom Times Spring Fling at the first annual Humberside HOOPLA Local artists / mentors working with Humberside C. I. students to co-create new Visual Art & Theatre
The West Toronto Junction Historical Society and the Junction Residents Association are sponsors of the Boom Times Spring Fling, a community driven art project. Humberside Collegiate students, mentored by local artists in traditional and non-traditional media, create original art and theatre that will be showcased at Humberside HOOPLA on Thursday June 3, 6-9 pm. A Silent Auction will be held in support of the Local Option Art Project.
Come and experience the world debut of Junction History Mash-up featuring stand up/sketch comedy, archival photographs, comic book art, and original orchestral music by young composer Isaias Garcia, with direction by Neil Ross. They will be appearing at historic Lismer Hall, HCI HOOPLA at 8 pm.
Artist/mentors Christopher Sears, Rhonda Nolan, Carol Barrett and Cathy Thorne have been working with students to create original cedar sculpture, textile sculpture, altered book and comic zines for the Local Option Art Exhibit.
The art will be on display at the HOOPLA and at Wise Daughters Craft Market during the month of June, starting Saturday June 5 at 2 pm. A Roving Exhibit will be in the Junction throughout the summer at patron businesses.
Spring Fling originated at the 2009 Amalgamation Celebration at Humberside C. I., a collaboration between Boom Times Cabaret, The WTJHS, the JRA, students, historians, artists, businesses and community groups.
Photo: The Junction Amalgamation Celebration, May 1, 2009 2009 @ artjunction.blogspot.com
"Mary Breen is opening the Wise Daughters Craft Market in the Junction and the response has been overwhelming. She has been welcomed to the community by bloggers, artists and residents eager to support a new initiative that will feature the work of local artisans and artists. Her two story studio opening Saturday January 31 in the old Pilates Studio on Quebec just south of Dundas promises to be a gathering point for community members of all ages." Welcome Wise Daughters! by Neil Ross Friday, January 30, 2009
It's hard to believe that Wise Daughters Craft Market is only a year young, given the influence it's had. It feels like it has been around for a long time. Now there's no excuse not to go local and handmade in the Junction!
11 am - 6 pm Enjoy free baked treats, musical performances and prize draws for all kinds of wonderful Wise Daughters loot!
8 pm Come back for Nation of Irony Mongers, a raucous romp through the history of Canadian humour, written and performed by Neil Ross. Find out why satire is fundamental to Canadian democracy, and how irony helps us avoid conflict during the long winters. Tickets $12. Please reserve.
"How wild do you have to get to shut down your own bars?"
By David Wencer
For nearly a hundred years, you couldn’t buy a drink in the Junction. In January of 1904, the citizens of the town voted to enforce local option, which enabled Ontario communities to voluntarily “go dry.” What caused the Junction to take such drastic measures?
On Sunday, the Legends of the Junction, a troupe of real figures from Junction history, recruited and lead by Junction historical society Vice-President/Boom Times Cabaret director Neil Ross, took some fifty people on a pub crawl, re-enacting events on the road to Local Option.
THE TROUBADOUR: WHO KILLED JOE CURLEY?
Samantha Martin belted out the Junction’s "national anthem", Junction Bound, then the historical characters and the audience considered the mysterious death of Joseph Curley in 1897. Curley had been drinking at the Subway Hotel (west side of Keele and Vine) with unsavoury characters. Later his body was found with his head crushed in under the Subway underpass. Did he fall or was he attacked?
Coroner George W. Clendenan (Gib Goodfellow) convened a coroner’s inquest and swore the audience in as jurors. Testimony was given by Junction Police Chief Josiah Royce (Ron Clark) who found a blood stained boulder near the body and Junction librarian Elizabeth McCallum who provided evidence of local footpads. Both Dr. Clendenan and Chief Royce were strongly inclined toward accidental death.
A.B. Rice was appointed chairman of the jury and then performed the Shooting of Dan McGrew with pianist Alice Deardon. (Rice was in fact the foreman of the jury, although his quoting Service may be apocryphal.)
The tour hit the street in search of more evidence, passing numerous historic sites, including the Avenue Hotel (Domino’s Pizza) which like all Junction hotels served its last drink on June 30, 1904.
HOLE IN THE WALL: HARLOTRY, INIQUITY AND VICE
The audience filed in to the sounds of When the Saints Come Marchin’ In to witness Annette Street Methodist Church’s Rev. T. E. E. Shore (Cheri DiNovo, MPP) resurrect the famous Harlotry, Iniquity and Vice sermon which galvanized the town in 1903. Rev. Shore attacked big business, liquor and the Liberals, not necessarily in that order.
REV SHORE: Many a poor fallen girl has told me down in yonder mission how she fell into sin and continued in her degradation in Junction hotels!
FEMALE VOICE FROM THE AUDIENCE: Halleluja!
Soon outside again, the next stop was the corner of Keele and Dundas, from where the jury could see the underpass where Curley’s body was found that fateful December.
SHOX: LAST CALL (BEFORE THE JUNCTION GOES DRY)
Foreman Rice turned the floor over to the jury and they peppered the historical characters with questions about Curley’s death. How far was the second bloodstain from the body? Had it been snowing that night? Was it a light snow? What exactly is a footpad? In the questioning, new evidence emerged about the suspects: the violent robber sought by the police and the mysterious motorman witnesses claimed was last seen with Curley.
Rice gave the jury the choice between "death by misadventure" or "murder by person or persons unknown" and called the vote. Twenty two to twenty two! Like the Junction a hundred years ago, the town could not make up his mind. As foreman, Rice himself cast the deciding vote for murder, citing footpads and Curley's pub companion as chief suspects.
Rice then provided some insights into cockfighting in the Junction, recounted the night ten thousand men surged into the Junction for one last drink; he then went; on to praise the Junction theatre district.
Mrs. Mary Brown (Eileen Jensen) recalled the Junction during the dry years and Anne Leung, "the Junction’s Rosa Parks". And finally, the landlord Gus Koutoumanos explained the historic story of how alcohol was eventually brought back to the Junction in the late 1990s.
The real cause of Josephs Curley’s death may never be known. Was it murder? The available records of the time suggest a great number of viable suspects. The case made a riveting background for a different kind of historical walking tour: with interactive historical characters, a coroner’s jury, gospel songs, an old time temperance sermon, a view of the scene of a crime and a spirited discussion of a hundred year old cold case by a modern audience in a pub.
It was a night of Legend, the night they closed the bars in the Junction. The newspapers claimed ten thousand men in the streets. The women weren’t even counted although they’d made their voice heard. West Toronto Junction was about to embark on a dry sea of temperance: the Local Option. But how wild could a town get to have to close down its own bars? Join us to find out for our fall fund raiser!
Musicians Samantha Martin and Alice Deardon, and MPP Cheri DiNovo will help the West Toronto Junction Historical Society to relive an extraordinary series of events, as we follow the path to temperance with what else, a pub crawl. Chief of Police Josiah Royce (Ron Clark) will lead a group of adventurous souls from tavern to saloon as the Legends of the Junction return to regale fiery sermon and the infamous Heydon House Brawl are all on tap.
(Our previous tours have been listed in Now Magazine’s Editors Top Three Can’t Miss events along with Caribana and professional wrestling!)
Refreshments will be provided.
Tickets are just $25.
Tickets at Pandemonium Books & Discs, 2862 Dundas W, at Agora Cafe, 3015 Dundas Street West, and at the door at the Troubadour.
Take a stroll down a dryer Junction. Pictured is an historical photo of the Subway Hotel where Joe Curly, a Junction legend, was supposedly killed. His death remains a mystery. Curly's story is just one that will be explained during the Wild, Wild Junction Historical Mystery Tour, Oct. 25. Courtesy image Credit: insidetoronto.com
Journal With Fluid Paint flow...grow...forget what you know Learn the tools and techniques for creative practice without any of the old boring rules. As well as working and exploring with fluid paint, you’ll learn a variety of techniques using collage, ink, pastels and dry media. Next sessions will be held:
Session One: Saturday, October 31, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm Session Two: Saturday, October 31, 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Cost: $145 includes all materials, as well as your own journal kit to take home.
No artistic training or experience is necessary. For more information or to register call 647-628-4354 or email: JournalWithFluidPaint@gmail.com
Create An Altered Book The Altered Book: Any book, old or new, recycled by creative means into a work of art Three part 8 hour workshop:
Session One: November 10 & 12, 7pm-9:30pm & November 14, 10am-1pm Session Two: November 17 &19, 7pm-9:30pm & November 21, 10am-1pm
Cost: $225 includes materials
No artistic training or experience is necessary. For more information or to register call 647-628-4354 or email: sandra.muscat@gmail.com
Workshop Leaders:
Rhonda Nolan is an artist and illustrator with over 30 years experience in creative media. She is an expert paper and card maker, a graphic designer and successful mixed media fine artist. Rhonda has been practicing a daily fluid paint journal for five years and is an accomplished workshop leader.
WTJHS presents fall fund raiser and pub crawl: Wild, Wild Junction, an Historical Mystery Tour. Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 2 pm - 4 pm Chief Josiah Royce investigates the “Death of Joe Curly”; “Harlotry, Iniquity and Vice”; the “Heydon House Brawl” and “Last Call in the Junction”. Get your tickets for a fascinating glimpse of the other side of Junction history, beginning at the Troubadour tavern. Route and times may vary. Tickets $25 available at Pandemonium, 2862 Dundas W.. Please check wtjhs.ca for details. City of Toronto continues to celebrate its 175th anniversary
WILD, WILD, JUNCTION HISTORICAL MYSTERY TOUR By Neil Ross
It’s gonna be fierce up there, Ten thousand men out on a tear, CPR boys loaded for bear. Last call before the Junction goes dry. There’s mud in the street; Here’s mud in your eye. Great Canadian party, eh? It’s the Local Option Fling! You hear ‘Up the Rebellion’ But ‘God Save the King.’ From Last Call (Before the Junction Goes Dry)
It was a night of Legend, the night they closed the bars in the Junction. The newspapers claimed ten thousand men in the streets. The women weren’t even counted although they’d made their voice heard. The Junction was about to embark on a dry sea of temperance: the Local Option. The hotels were closing their bars and the neighbourhood blind pigs were just thinking about opening.
These days your true historian, will pooh pooh the notion of ten thousand in the Junction, although no less a source than the New York Times will tell you that 250, 000 show up annually for the Junction Arts Festival. The Toronto papers were right there, one on one on the action, and if they happened to be counting double by the end of the night, they were barely half there by the next morning so that evened things out.
We’ll be making a moderate return to that night as we follow the path to temperance with what else, a pub crawl. Our fall fund raiser, Wild, Wild, Junction, a Historical Mystery Tour will tackle some of the great mysteries of the Junction. Chief of Police Josiah Royce (Ron Clark) will lead a group of adventurous souls from tavern to saloon as the Legends of the Junction return to regale us with tales of the wide open railway town that was. Perhaps the most intriguing mystery we’ll be following is what led the Junction to ban the sale of alcohol for almost a hundred years.
We’ll begin with the suspicious death that led the town to its appointment with abstinence. Once again, Chief Royce will investigate and ask Who Killed Joe Curley? that night outside the Subway Hotel just north of Keele and Dundas.
We’ll sit wide eyed and just a little prurient as the Reverend Shore preaches his famous sermon in which he castigates the Junction as a "Cesspool of Harlotry Iniquity and Vice."
We’ll shudder at tales of a weekend long dispute over a prostitute (See: Harlotry, above) between cattlemen from Union Station and railway workers from the CPR that ended in the Brawl at Heydon House.
We’ll end the night where the Local Option began as we relive Last Call Before the Junction Goes Dry in which all the mysteries will be solved. Or dismissed as too murky to understand.
Now, the logistics of the thing are very simple. Tickets are just $25 and you purchase your own libations. For a ticket, just send a cheque or money order to: WTJHS, 145 Annette Street, Toronto ON, M6P 1P3. Or drop by our booth at the Junction Arts Festival, Sept 12 and 13.
Or join us at the beginning of our "wetting" at the Troubadour bar at 2:00 pm on Sunday, Oct. 25 as we begin an historical, musical, poetic, architectural and libatious tour of the town that is dry no more.
We’ll be joined on the tour in protest by members of the Women’s Temperance Movement who will make a strong case for reconsidering.
On the tour we will be joining various drunks who drink a case against it.
NOTE: The poem at the start of this piece can be found on video at wtjhs.ca. Just scroll down on the homepage to Last Call (Before the Junction Goes Dry.)
Wild, Wild Junction, an Historical Mystery Tour. 2PM, Sunday, Oct. 25, beginning at the Troubadour, 3071 Dundas West (south side just east of Quebec.)
YouTube: LAST CALL (Before the Junction Goes Dry) At 7:00 pm, April 30 1904, the railway town of West Toronto Junction, having voted to adopt the Local Option and forbid the selling of alcohol in public places, shut down its bars. As it happens, there was en election in the larger city of Toronto that day and bars were closed in that jurisdiction as well. This coincidence, the unavailability of drink in Toronto and the last chance to "get a wet" in the wide open Junction, drew an estimated crowd of 10,000 (figure agreed on by The Toronto Star and the Toronto Daily News) for one last drink. Former North West Mountie, Chief or Police Josiah Royce had a force of ten men to keep the peace. This poem, although fanciful, is a fairly accurate rendering of press reports from the night. For further and better particulars see The Leader and Recorder History of the Junction published by the West Toronto Junction Historical Society, or go to wtjhs.ca, click Celebrating the Centennial of West Toronto, Legends of the Junction, and Local Option. Produced by: Muddy York Films
Annette 100 evite: Toronto Public Library Community Cornerstones: Annette Street Branch: 1909 - 100 - 2009 145 Annette Street Come celebrate with us all day on Saturday, September 12
Experience the Junction’s History 10 am & 2 pm Meet Barbara Myrvold, Toronto Public Library’s local history librarian – and purchase a personally signed copy of The Most Attractive Resort in Town: Public Library Service in West Toronto Junction, 1888–2009. 10:30 am Join members of the West Toronto Junction Historical Society for a walking tour into the neighbourhood’s past. 12 noon Official ceremony and plaque presentation from Heritage Toronto.
3 pm Meet the Junction’s early librarian Miss Elizabeth McCallum and former board chair A. B. Rice in this reenactment of the early days of this Carnegie library.
Entertainment for the Whole Family 10 am Birthday Card Craft Table Kids! Join professional illustrator Loris Lesynski and make birthday cards for Annette Street Branch. 12:30 – 4 pm Cake, refreshments, music, magic, juggling and more. Credit: torontopubliclibrary.ca
"I choose free libraries as the best agencies for improving the masses of the people, because they give nothing for nothing...They reach the aspiring and open to these chief treasures of the world -- those stored up in books".
Congratulations to the Annette Street Branch on more than 100 years of service to the West Toronto Junction community.
Annette Street Branch 100th Anniversary Party
When: Saturday, September 12, 2009 Time: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Where: Annette Branch, 145 Annette Street
Who: Matthew Church, Chair, Toronto Public Library Board, Jane Pyper, City Librarian, Bill Saundercook, Local City Councillor, Barbara McPhail, Heritage Toronto
Toronto Public Library’s Annette Street Branch, Toronto’s second oldest operating public library, will celebrate its 100-year anniversary with an all-day party on Saturday, September 12, 2009. The event is open to the public and festivities will include live music, a magician and juggler, a kids craft table, a birthday cake and more. The West Toronto Junction Historical Society will present a walking tour of the Junction community and Heritage Toronto will unveil a plaque to commemorate the Centennial anniversary of the beautiful Beaux-Arts Annette Street Branch building.
10:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. – Book signing of The Most Attractive Resort in Town: Public Library Service in West Toronto Junction, 1888-2009 by Barbara Myrvold
10:30 a.m. – Historical Walking Tour with members of the West Toronto Junction Historical Society
12:00 p.m. – Heritage Toronto plaque presentation
12:30 p.m. – Refreshments and entertainment
3:00 p.m. – A Trip Down Memory Lane with local historians A.B. Rice and Miss Elizabeth McCallum, the first librarian for Annette Street Branch
4:00 p.m. – Draw to win one of five copies of The Most Attractive Resort in Town: Public Library Service in West Toronto Junction, 1888-2009 by Barbara Myrvold
Schedule of Events All WTJHS (West Toronto Junction Historical Society) meetings take place at the Annette Street Public Library, Committee Room 1, (Downstairs) unless noted otherwise.
Thursday September 10, Annette Street Library 7:30 p.m. Business Meeting
8:15 p.m. to 10:00 p.m."Library Service in West Toronto Junction, 1887-2009" An illustrated presentation by Barbara Myrvold, Toronto Public Library, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Western/Annette Street Branch.
10:30 a.m. Historical Walking Tour Led by Miss Elizabeth McCallum (Madeleine McDowell) and A.B. Rice (Neil Ross), the tour will encounter the Legends of the Junction in their natural habitat.
2:00 p.m. Book Launch and signing The Most Attractive Resort in Town by Barbara Myrvold
3:00 p.m. A Trip Down Memory Lane With A.B. Rice and Miss McCallum, taking tea and reminiscing about books and buildings in the Junction.
September 13, WTJHS Booth 2:00 p.m.
On the Sunday of the Junction Arts Festival join Neil Ross who will lead an Arts and Letters tour of the Junction leaving from the WTJHS booth. Meet the swashbuckling poets and pioneer painters who gave the Junction its voice.
Thursday, October 1, Annette Street Public Library 7:30 p.m. Business Meeting
8:15 p.m. to 10:00 p.m."A Scenic Tour and Short History of Newfoundland", an illustrated talk by Ruth Dobb.
Sunday October 25 2 p.m.to 4 p.m.
Wild Wild Junction, an historical Mystery Tour
West Toronto Junction Historical Society fall fund raiser and pub crawl. Chief Josiah Royce investigates the "Death of Joe Curly"; "Harlotry, Iniquity, and Vice"; the "Heydon House Brawl" and "Last Call in the Junction".
To obtain tickets for this event send a cheque or money order to: WTJHS, 145 Annette Street, Toronto,ON. M6P 1P3. Or drop by our booth at the Junction Arts Festival, Sept 12 and 13.
"Established in 1888 as the West Toronto Junction Mechanics' Institute, it was renamed Toronto Junction Public Library in 1895, then West Toronto Public Library in 1908/09. Upon West Toronto's 1909 annexation to the City of Toronto, it becomes the Western Branch of Toronto Public Library (TPL). In 1962, the TPL board renamed the library Annette Street."
With the wisdom, leadership and artistic talent all rolled up in good humour and time- honoured tradition, complete with bells and singing, flags bunting and balloons, ribbons and flowers under the great mural in Lismer hall, I think a fair argument could be made for the beauty of the concept. Sam Martin did us proud with the Junction Bell song and Junction Bound. The toasts for the Future from characters from our Past were marvelous, and Madeleine MacDowell's tribute to the library, literacy and culture did us all proud.
Neil Ross as the mastermind behind and ring master for this carnival celebration incorporated all the elements from the exact same event at Humberside 100 years ago and recreating them for posterity. The polish of the characters of the Legends of the Junction played by members of the Junction Historical Society for two years now is a brilliant legacy to have created. We told our history well and have it recorded for posterity thanks to Cris Senjug and Olga Goubar.
Doris Moxam was a wonderful community liaison, and by aligning the Homecoming as part of the Amalgamation celebration, made the event viable and contributed enormously to its success. Vandra and Volker Masemann were wonderful logistical co-ordinators, and Vandra's assistance with the Boom Times Cabaret was invaluable. Kristen Buckley as Chair oversaw and implemented the event with grace, extraordinary efficiency and boundless energy, with David Wencer taking up the tech and a myriad other tasks in great enthusiastic strides. Pat Trusty also helped to make the slide show into a visually and historically effective backdrop to the Cabaret. The Junction BIA and community members and Humberside staff and students who helped to create this event have made a wonderful contribution to culture in the Junction.
The central event was the Key Ceremony. The Spirit of the Junction dressed in roses and asparagus fern by Martins the Flower People handed the key to the Mayor of the town of West Toronto (played by WTJHS president Gib Goodfellow) to the Mayor of the City of West Toronto (played by Councillor Bill Saundercook), to the current Mayor of Toronto (local resident, David Miller) to the member of Provincial Parliament (Cheri DiNovo) and then to the Spirit of Toronto, also dressed by Martins Flowers in roses and palm fronds. She scampered off to take the key back to Post and Beam at Dundas and Keele-- which is now full of wonderful architectural inheritance, and is the historic site of the meeting of art and culture in the Junction 100 years ago. We proved that we held true to our cultural roots in this place and we know where to find the key for the foreseeable future.
Through the auspices of Latitude 44 Gallery, award-winning local artist Reid English created a community sculpture during the 2009 Arts Festival as part of the 2008 Centennial Celebrations. Members of the community contributed bits and bobs, odds and ends of interest to add to the sculpture which represents the Spirit of the Junction. A large sculpture was part of the original amalgamation celebrations 100 years ago: it was unveiled at midnight.
When the veil came off the new Spirit of the Junction statue on May 1st this year, the force of the swirling of the cloth turned its head to the side, and the bicycle fender and the profile of his face looked like a depiction of an Egyptian, Greek or Roman God. It was a great spring tribute to bring to the student body. The statue was presented to Humberside by Reid English and Janet DiBernardo of Latitude 44 Gallery to commemorate the centennial and inspire budding artists in the community..... During the evening of the Amalgamation celebration, Reid and Latitude 44 facilitated a second, smaller sculpture to be created in the same way during the evening. That sculpture has been donated to the Historical Society and will be on display at the Annette St Library in the near future.
It was a wonderful evening with lovely memories of everyone helping out and enjoying themselves. Bea Mozdzanowski magically appeared with a perfect door stop to allow me to free myself from holding the front door open to allow fresh air into the crowded foyer and Janet DiBernardo headed home with a wonderful smile and great bunches of balloons for her neighbour's children. The next day Vandra and Volker’s grandsons were also recipients of bunches of balloons to their great delight. The older, age 4, seeing the Canadian flag in the bunch, had the family all stand up whilst he sang “O Canada" eight or nine times.
The Junction Historical Society continues its Amalgamation celebrations with 'The Junction Centennial Contemporary Art Tour' on May 16th 2009. We will tour the Galleries at 401 Richmond St, The Power Plant and the Distillery District. The tour will be led by Jen Morin, a junction resident who is currently interning at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Art. The tickets are $25 - including 2 TTC rides and admission to the Powerplant. We meet at 401 Richmond St. at 11 am and finish in the Distillery District at about 5:30pm. There are about 10 tickets left:available through wtjhs.ca or at Latitude 44 Gallery 2900 Dundas St. W., ph. 416-769-2900. Become part of history by supporting this fundraiser for the Junction Historical Society and create new memories for the future.
Celebrating the History of Literacy in the Junction for the Centennial of the Annette Street Library
Nature provided the perfect spring Saturday afternoon. As I walked down Medland towards the library I saw the first of those to come out onto the front steps, chief among them tour Leader A.B. Rice, resplendent in blue silk brocade vest and frock coat. As I got closer more and more people were spilling out onto the side walk. We had expected about 20 people but found we had 90 all told. Frank Remiz retrieved the JBIA bullhorn stowed in the archives in case our wildest dreams came true and we had over 30 on the tour. Frank served tech duties admirably throughout the afternoon and we were greatly appreciated of his assistance.
Photo: Junction Literary Pub Crawl with Glen Downie
We met the owner of Minerva Reid's house and Gib Goodfellow, our illustrious President of the WTJHS was able to point out the murmur ear on the utility pole so the gentleman could phone and hear the history of his home any time he liked. In the parking lot next to the Police station we heard of the defiance of Junction resident Anna Leung who helped break down racial segregation barriers by screaming in the front row of the Palladium Theatre, Toronto, until she was allowed to retain her seat. The audience supported her and she won her place in the front row of Junction History 100 years later.
Gwendolyn MacEwen the quintessential mystic poet of the early 1960's won world renown and first read at the Bohemian Embassy..... which conjours images of Yorkville scene that was London's Carnaby Street or New York’s Soho. Gwendolyn born, at Keele and Bloor, spent most of her early life in the Junction, in fact she was Gib Goodfellow's dance partner in Grade school. It was he who conjured Gwen's spirit by suggesting Kristen Buckley for the role.
Neil Ross gave a tour de force performance as A.B. Rice... standing on the replica platform reading a poem by Raymond Souster about the details of the removal of the original CPR Station that happened like a slight of hand in the middle of night kind of thing. Poets reporting the news as has been handed down like Norse sagas of the medieval troubadours.
At the Troubadour Glen Downie read a poem about his experience trying to get cast as himself in the Toronto One Book celebrations... it was hilarious and we're so glad sense prevailed and Glen got to be himself..... for it was definitely a wonderful highlight of the tour to be present as presented his work. Local poets read lively poems about nature, the universe, the Junction and the human condition.... and the tour ended with a piano bar rendition (accompanied by Alice Derdon) of the early 20th Classic that many are still aware of, floating on the boundaries of their psyche along with Sam McGee... Dangerous Dan McGrew by Robert Service.
The old and the new co-mingled in the vibrant atmosphere of storied reflections of the landscape appearing eternal ....which is the hope and dream of every poet.... that their voices would echo in the landscape forever. So far, so good. Thanks again to Neil Ross and David Wencer for assembling the history and all those who helped make this event possible. A special mention to Pam Mountain of the Annette Street Library who was beaming like sunshine the whole afternoon at the incredible success of this wonderful venture. It was really fun to see so many happy people.
Poster: Junction Literary Pub Crawl with Junction poet Glen Downie Credit: TPL, Annette Street Branch
Toronto Public Library, Annette Street Branch and The Junction Historical Society invite you to a: Junction Literary Pub Crawl with 2008 Toronto Book Award Author 2009 Toronto One Book Author Junction poet Glen Downie April 18, 2009 2pm Annette Street Library LEGEND Red line denotes the route of the tour. Photos: Glen Downie Junction journalist A.B. Rice as portrayed by Neil Ross Gwendolyn MacEwen will be portrayed by Kristen Buckley
Upcoming Events at Annette Street Public Library
Spring has begun, and what a better time to get out to explore things going on in the neighbourhood? We have so many activities - for all ages - I won't list them all here, but refer you to the Toronto Public Library website where you can get up-to-date information online www.torontopubliclibrary.ca.
Some of the spring highlights: For Youth Anime and Cartooning with Dirk. Learn from experienced illustrator Dirk Michiels how to draw Anime and cartoon characters in this fun, hands-on workshop. Ages 8 and up. Free but you need to register in advance. Saturday April 25, 2-4pm
St John Ambulance Babysitting Course for ages 11 and up. $35 fee. Register by calling St John's Ambulance at 416-967-4244 Saturday May 2, 9:30 - 4:30 Free Filmmaking Workshop with Filmberries Kids Club. Filmmaking for ages 6-12. Pre-registration required. Saturday May 9, 2-4pm
For Preschoolers Babies (0 -18 months) Tuesdays, 2:30 pm April 7 - May 12
Toddlers (19 months - 3 years) Wednesdays, 10:30 am April 8 - May 13
For Adults Tea and BooksWednesday April 1, May 6, 2-3pm Join us Wed April 1 to hear John Rutherford discussing The Wizard of Oz. This is not "just" a children's story - Baum used it as a platform for his ideas on religion, Freud, the Women's Suffragette Movement, and most important of all, as a criticism of the lack of information for adolescents on sexual maturation, in this case, for Dorothy. John deals with the original story written by Baum in 1900 and the more explicit Judy Garland movie of 1939, this year celebrating its 70th anniversary. He looks at the recent flurry of books and plays relating to The Wizard of Oz - Maguire's A Lion Among Men and Wicked, Salmon Rushdie's The Wizard of Oz, William Leach's Land of Desire: Merchants, Power and the Rise of a New American Culture and a recent adaptation of Wedekind's play Spring Awakening. This promises to be a fascinating talk!
Junction Literary Tour with Glen DownieSaturday April 18, 2-4pm This unique event begins with poetry readings by Junction resident Glen's Loyalty Management. Also in attendance will be historical characters from The Junction, who will lead us on a literary tour of the neighbourhood. We will end up at The Troubadour, where Glen will read more poetry. And then it is your turn, if you want a few minutes to share a poem of yours. Glen's book won The City of Toronto Book Award, and is the One Book chosen to "Keep Toronto Reading" (You can pick up a One Book Reader's Guide at any branch of the Toronto Public Library).
Let's hope for a beautiful spring day for this jaunt through words and time and The Junction!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TORONTO FROM THE JUNCTION By Neil Ross
TORONTO CITY HALL Toronto turned 175 today and as Sylvia Tyson quipped, "it didn’t look a day over 100." The day began appropriately enough with a smudging ceremony performed by the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation. Then the Tories & the Reformers wrestled the challenges of the city’s first council (wasn't there for that event, assume it was "Muddy York Wrestling.") The Queen's Own Rifles re-enacted all of Toronto's battles in a historical skirmish in which no guns were fired and nobody was hurt. Those were the days.
Inside the rotunda the walls were filled with images from Toronto's Visual Legacy: Official City Photography from 1856 to the Present. These photos are an incredible collection and a viewer is immediately struck by the fact that David Crombie and the Queen Mother were exactly the same size. Deputy Mayor Pantalone introduced Mayor Miller who recalled how he came to Toronto as an immigrant boy who came to play soccer and fell in love with the city. He lauded the "best public library system in the world," and spoke of the city's "peace, social justice and relative prosperity." The Mayor was interrupted by the city's Town Crier (another job posting I missed) who invited the Mayor to a debate with the city's first mayor William Lyon Mackenzie, who as everyone in the Junction knows robbed the Royal Mail right outside the Coffee Time Donuts and Dundas, Dupont and Annette.
Then the poets took over the stage as Lillian Allen, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Archer Pechawis read poetry especially commissioned for Toronto's anniversary. Lines caught at random: "Beat your SUV’s into plough shares." "A fridge that is Toronto in winter." "Homelessness is us."
The main event for historical buffs was held in the council chambers as the Town Crier predicated when the first Mayor of Toronto debated its most recent (this reporter saw them earlier with microphones in their hands giving a preview for CBC Radio one.) Mayor Miller appeared as himself and Eric Peterson was once again the little rebel William Lyon Mackenzie, a role which he has been playing since 1837: A Farmer's Revolt, the Theatre Passe Muraille classic. I once saw him blow the roof off of Massey Hall as the character in 1987 at an anti-free trade rally. Here he was in fine form telling the anecdote of finding a hat in the muddy streets of Toronto under which was a man, and underneath him a team of oxen.
Mackenzie, a journalist when he wasn't running for Mayor or leading rebellions, characterized Toronto newspapers as "milquetoast" although he took some joy at reading that "someone named Tory is out of a job." He described the modern Toronto as "huge towering phallic buildings which all seem to be banks while people with nothing are begging for money." This naturally enough led him to urge the crowd to rise up and join him in rebellion.
Mayor Miller observed, "The people of Toronto don't take kindly to their elected officials taking to arms in the streets." Mackenzie shot back: "Has anybody tried it?"
Later, speaking of his ill-fated rebellion, Mackenzie said reflectively, "I was surprised at the turnout . . ." Mackenzie then gave Mayor Miller advice on how to respond to the Ontario and Canadian governments with some very spirited hand gestures, which the current Mayor took to like a natural. Mackenzie, who noted that he had experience stretching over 175 years, "although for most of them I was dead," told Mayor Miller he had attempted to give advice to his predecessor. "He didn’t know who I was and attempted to sell me a couch."
As I left to get a good seat at the Bohemian Embassy Revival, Mackenzie had taken off not only his hat but his wig, but then he always did that.
In the City Hall library, Toronto's Executive Director of Culture Rita Davies, reminiscing of the grand old days of the Bohemian Embassy, spoke of "a city of dreams of possibilities, the city imagined into being." Then she introduced Don Cullen who launched the ground breaking coffee house, named after a slang turn for cold water flat. Over the years, starting in 1960, it had locations on St. Nicholas Street, Harbourfront and Queen Street. The Bohemian Embassy was arguably the most important cultural gathering point in Toronto’s history and introduced some of Canada’s most talented poets and folk singers.
A citizen of the Junction would have been proud that the two poets most lauded were the sadly short lived and brilliant Gwendolyn MacEwen (born at 38 Keele Street) and the man who has been called the quintessential Toronto poet, Raymond Souster who now lives in Swansea but over the course of his life seemed to have lived in just about every house in the Junction. Author John Robert Colombo said that had asked Ray, now housebound at 88, to write a new poem for the occasion. Ray had offered his classic Gwendolyn MacEwen at the Bohemian Embassy. The always persuasive Colombo held out for an original and a few days later received Sylvia Fricker at the Bohemian Embassy (Sylvia Fricker, one of Canada’s most brilliant songwriters, you may recall was once married to a cowboy named Tyson.) The last line of the poem spoke of a low, but clear voice "reaching out and touching as if by magic every lonely heart."
(At the Junction Literary Pub Crawl featuring Junction poet Glen Downie on April 18 at the Annette Street Library at 2pm I will be reading Ray's angry and moving poem, Last Sad Day for our West Toronto Station and Kristen Buckley as Gwendolyn MacEwen will be reading from Magic Cats.)
The night was in many ways a tribute to Don Cullen, who you may remember from Wayne and Shuster, he was the guy who did all the accents. John Robert Colombo quoted Don as saying, "There’s something in Toronto that turns everyone into Presbyterians." Don proceeded to introduce some of his favourite poets and folk singers, most of who began at the Bohemian, which was once listed in the Toronto phone book under "Consulates and Foreign Embassies" and got press in the New Yorker, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal as a result.
Also reading, singing and speaking were Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison of Sharon, Lois and Bram (no one mentioned the Elephant, but I’m sure he was hanging out and drinking cappuccino with the rest of the bohemians). Greg Gatenby (author of the phenomenal six hundred page Toronto: A Literary Guide and founder of the Harbourfront Reading Series) spoke of the Harbourfront incarnation of the Bohemian in a building full of holes in which you had to kick the snow away in winter and Irving Layton breathed a plethora of icicles onto his microphone. Everyone recalled the Chianti bottles with candles in them.
Introducing biographer and poet, Rosemary Sullivan (author of the haunting Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen), Cullen said that Gwendolyn was a bit like a frightened fawn and he was concerned about her going onto the stage, but then she took over like she'd been doing it for years and her poetry "cleared everybody’s sinuses." Rosemary read Gwendolyn's A Breakfast For Barbarians and her breathtaking tribute to Canada, Dark Pines Under Water. "There is something down there and you want it told . . ."
Nancy White was a surprise guest singing a powerful song called Piping Them Home about military funerals of Canadian soldiers returning from Afghanistan. George Miller, dubbed the Bohemian's poet laureate, read Milton Acorn's works and his own. Dennis Lee, Toronto's first poet laureate read Al Purdy's work and his own. Sylvia Tyson (nee Fricker), Canada's goddess of song, sang a searing and sad response to Stephen Harper (Canada's ogre of repression) and his remark that the average Canadian doesn't care about culture, No Crowd, No Show. The evening concluded with her classic You Were On My Mind.
And they all were, on our minds, these writers who built this city in words.
Happy birthday, Toronto. Or as Don Cullen used to say when handing out pamphlets for the Bohemian Embassy, "Would you like some subversive literature?"
