More Then and Nows from Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario(Thunder Bay)....

Long overdue on this blog page are a few of my favourite "Then and Nows" .....with help from the Brill Bus era in Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario!

This intersection at Fort William Road and 11th ave shows an incredible amount of changes and differences between the 1968 and 2010 photos. The big item here is of course the CNR ore trestle shown in the background of the first photo which has long been scrapped. The next item is the fact that two sets of tracks were once there. The next item is the lack of sidewalks on Fort William Road in the first one and also that the road was only two lanes of traffic compared to four lanes now. An outstanding difference is the incredible amount of overhead wires and telephone poles in the first photo, as compared to the lack of same in the colour photo. Finally, the wooden fence for Lakehead Scrap Metal is long gone as shown in the first photo.

Thanks again to the Scalzo Collection for a picture of the Brill bus just west of the Red River Road and Hodge Street corner taken in about 1969. The bus photo clearly shows a little corner store which is so rare to see on any street corner today. In the 2010 photo the house on the right is still there with a few minor changes and the corner store is now just a residential home. I sure miss those great little corner stores with racks of penny candy to spend our copper coins on.

This one may be a little difficult to figure out....the 1969 Brill Bus photo shows the bus just crossing Junot Street and heading east down Red River Road. It also shows a Texaco Station on the North/West corner which is now a Shell Station. The Shell Station sign on the north/east corner of the new photo is a current design which replaced the old style sign in the bus photo. Both these photos were taken at the same angle at the exact same location.

No one really knew what "The Arcade" meant on the facade of the building in the very early Brill bus photo(maybe it really was an arcade at some time or another). This building still exists today with the same facade "The Arcade". If you can't remember where this is......it's directly across from the old day and current day CPR station on South Syndicate Ave.........my how things change!!! ....but not totally.

Here is the old Bank of Montreal Building as shown in about 1948 in the Brill Bus photo. The rubber tired Brill Trollys were just starting up in the Lakehead cities then. The building with the shoe store is now long gone, but the unique corner BMO building still stands today as solid as the structure was back in the late 1940's.

Click on photos to enlarge(sorry but most of these are in fairly small format)!

CLE Grandstand late 1950's and early 1960's.....

The CLE grandstand which stood approximately where the centre hallway of the Silver City Movie theatre is today was filled to capacity every Wednesday night in the 1950's and the early 1960's to watch stock car racing(jalopy racing as some would call it) to the thrill of thousands who attended. It was probably the most watched and supported sport here in Fort William and Port Arthur(well maybe next to hockey).
The common denominator for these next 10 photos is the grandstand. These photos clearly show its size and the thousands of spectators who attended.

Here is Glen Kettering giving his brother Barry a pep talk during a pause in one of the races(person behind his car is unknown). Note Barry's cut down coupe(what hot rodders call channeled). It was such a beautiful car that it could very well have made hot rod status for the street. Barry's fans lined up along the fence to view their idol(are you there? ...I am somewhere). The next picture which I have featured before again shows the crowds in the grandstand viewing a typical controversy with Louis Tocheri. Gotta love Louis' deuce 5 window coupe.

Tons of people again in these photos... the first one showing Albert Massaro #88 smiling directly at the camera and behind him is #13 Wes Inkster, who had a very tragic accident at the CLE track in the '50's which ended his driving career. #46 is Bill Machinski behind the wheel of his Plymouth coupe. Also note the extra seats between the grandstand and the fence. They were added due to the influx of more and more racing fans.

Here is a little incident between #54 Wally Prokosh and the Potter and Kerr driver Johnny Zatti. Off in the distance on the left is the packed grandstand as usual. #15 here is Lorne Morin's car with Merv Dove's borrowed engine(that's the typical gentleman that Merv Dove was). I believe it is a Plymouth 3 window coupe all cut down as they all started to do in the early 1960's.

Here is #2 Jerry Lepinski from the USA with his famed 1932 Ford 2-door sedan...another one that was beautiful enough to be street driven. Of course the grandstand is filled to capacity. The next picture shows the empty grandstand and gives you an idea of how huge it was. The cars in this photo are unknown.

Coming near the end of the racing years at the CLE track, these two colour photos show the beginning of the Late Model stock car years and the beginning of the super mods and sprint car era here. These photos were taken at the 1965 International Dirt Track Championships at the good ol' CLE track. Seeing these last photos almost brings a tear to the eye as it was truly the end of an era at the CLE track and of course the beginning of another era 2 years after these photos were taken, at Riverview Raceways, out highway 61.
Thanks to all those that took these wonderful photos for us to enjoy forever!!
Click on all photos once or twice to enlarge to screen size!

The Colonial Theatre, 235 Arthur Street, Port Arthur, Ontario.....

Wow....Look a those cool old cars in front of the Colonial Theatre!! .... scroll down and click on all photos!!

Not to be outdone by the prestigious other theatres in Fort William and Port Arthur such as the Orpheum where the likes of actors from Stratford-On-Avon in England played to sell out crowds and the Lyceum, well known for its premium vaudeville acts, the Colonial Theatre opened on June 4, 1914 to rave reviews. It was referred to as "The Theatre Beautiful".
1100 patrons attended opening night and the Minneapolis Symphony entertained. It had comfortable roomy seats, was very well ventilated(lots of smokers in those days), and had a new incredible radium gold fibre screen to show the finest details of film in that era.
The opening night motion picture was called "Grant Morden". It was a film featuring a giant freighter by the same name recently launched at the Port Arthur shipyards.
If you strain your eyes and click on the photo to enlarge it you will see that "The Eddie Cantor Story" was playing.
Arthur Street then is now Red River Road after the amalgamation of Fort William and Port Arthur in 1970 into the present city of Thunder Bay.
NEXT - another photo view and film

This next 1940's photo of the beautiful Colonial shows its detail and the fact that "City for Conquest" is playing, starring James Cagney and Ann Sheridan. The mini film is actually a sneak preview of the film....hope it works.a
The final view of the Colonial is taken about 1940 as well with a neat old 30's car in front of the theatre. "Caught in the Draft" was playing with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.




The last few pictures here is a lobby poster from "Caught in the Draft", a poster from the early Colonial Days and finally a Bourke's Drug Store matchbook cover. The address is shown as 224 Arthur Street, which is now Red River Road in Port Arthur. The last Colonial photo above shows where Bourke's Drug store was located on RR Road.
Click on all photos and posters to enlarge them!

Lakehead Stock Car Club Tidbits from the Past!!

It's nice, mid winter to go back through the old stock car photos and ponder upon some of the crazy goings on that took place during the Lakehead Stock Car Club days, back at the old Canadian Lakehead Exhibition race track......this one caught my eye, talking about kids, and adults too cheap to spend two bits to come and sit in the grandstand and view the races how they were supposed to be viewed. Click on the clipping and the photos to enlarge them. Lets go back to 1954.

Here is the clipping and here is Jim Manduca in the ditch going into corner three. Now look close at the third picture cut out of the middle one...you can see these kids in the trees(you can hardly make them out) trying to get a glimpse of their favourite driver, and in this case lucky to be alive as Jim almost clobbered the tree and knocked the kids clean out!!! HEY...I think that's me in the middle!!

Here is the picture and the close up just above Barry Kettering's famed #47 of a threesome just waiting to be hit. Another thing spectators did was to park their trucks as close as they could to the board fence of the track and stand on the box or roof. They must have forgotten that some stock car jockeys would actually take out about 100 feet of fence on occasion.

Here is another one showing all the cheap skates on the other side of the fence and on the far right of the first picture, they are actually standing on the roof of the house across Northern Ave. I wouldn't take a chance falling off my house to save a quarter!!! Would you?

This one shows American driver Jerry Richert's car and sure enough, a ton of folks looking through an opening in the fence already created by an out of control stock jock....yet they still stand there.
Next...Stock Car Club in "HOLE"?

Here is a typical write up regarding our city council and the Lakehead Stock Car Club back in 1963 arguing about Sunday racing. Reading these two articles reminds me of some of the stuff in today's newspaper....you know....wasting time about petty stuff instead of getting something important done!! Its a good read and a good laugh.
Next - High Flyers!

The photographers who took these two photos were either incredible or just lucky to have shown flying tires in both photos. The first one is an unknown driver tossing his tire while negotiating the #1 turn, also known as the barn turn at the CLE track. These barns would be located just to the south side of the present day Golf Dome at the CLE. The second photo is of Murray Simmons, just ejecting his tire as well. See how high they travelled....it's a miracle that no one was ever struck by one that I remember. The other notable thing is that if you look close there are big holes in both wheels which tells me that the whole center of the wheel came out on both occasions. Finally take note in the Simmons photo of the Coliseum building that still stands today in relation to the track.
Finally - Puffs :-)

Here is a very cool clipping and group photo of the Powder Puff Racing Girls of the Lakehead Stock Car Club. This was one of the popular race events that took place back in the early 1950's. These photos were taken in 1953. The guys that loaned their cars to these girls were chewing down on their finger nails until the race was over, as they still needed their own cars to compete for the rest of the day. The last photo is how the pictures appeared in the 1953 LSCC program.
Thanks for looking.....hope you enjoyed this one... Dave
Click on all photos to enlarge!

Christmas Clippings - News Chronicle Dec. 18/1939 and Dec. 24/1951 Port Arthur and Fort William without the musty basement and attic odour...

Click on each of these first twelve ads from near Christmas 1939 to see what locals paid for such things as Christmas Dinners and grocery items.


Christmas dinner with entertainment at the Royal Edward Hotel was only $1.00 for adults and half price for children. A family of 5 could have a wonderful outing at Christmas for about $3.50 and no sales tax! Does anyone remember the Service Inn Service Station at Court and Van Norman Streets. We all remember the Thunder Bay Co-op Dairy(it was called that long before the twin cities amalgamated into Thunder Bay). Well....that is the name of the bay out front of the two cities!!

We all remember Marshall Wells, a Canadian hardware, grocery and sundries chain on Cumberland Street in Port Arthur. Does anyone remember the Central Candy Kitchen on Arthur Street in Port Arthur, now Red River Road. Shop-Easy stores were a mainstay around the Lakehead cities right into the 1960's. They had smaller grocery stores in many parts of both cities including the Westfort area....eventually knocked out of business by larger grocery chains. How 'bout Round Steak for .20 cents a pound and two cans of soup for .15 cents.

The Shaw Baking Co. building in Port Arthur was just recently torn down. The Shaw's building in Fort William still exists on the corner of Dease and May streets...with a new tenant of course. Shaw's was THE bakery around here for many years. Another group of stores was the Cut Rate Food Market....they had 4 stores locally in 1939. Look at that....T-bones for .20 cents a pound, and tins of sardines for less than .05 cents a can. LeCocq the Florist was another long time survivor having a store in both Fort William and Port Arthur.

I had to put a bit of the want ad section for this date to let you see some of the prices of things....such as: Rent a 7 room house for only $22.00 a month, 2 X 4 lumber for .10 or .15 cents each, and buy a 1933 Chevrolet Special Deluxe Sedan for $350.00 ...a lot of money in 1939.
Finally for 1939 is what was playing at two Port Arthur theatres, The Colonial and the Lyceum. ............Click on each scan for better detail!!!
The last 5 scans next are moving ahead to Christmas Eve 1951.

Cochrane-Dunlop Hardware was located on Hardisty Street in Fort William. The building still stands today on the far southern end of Hardisty Street.
Heintzman & Co. Limited was on the corner of Syndicate and Victoria Ave, across from Chapples Limited and the Victoria Hotel. It was a well known music store for many years here in Fort William. The best memory from Heintzman's was choosing a record that you may want to buy and playing it for yourself in one of many small isolated booths. They would let you test the record before you bought it, and even though I was only about 10 years old when I first went in there, I was never shooed away, as they believed that a young customer if treated right would return for many years.......and I certainly did! The spot where Heintzman's is now is right inside what is now Victoriaville Mall.

Finally the Mariaggi Hotel(or the Marina Inn which it was called years later).....Here in 1951 you could have Christmas Dinner with you family in one of the more beautiful hotels that graced our waterfront in Port Arthur back then. The Mariaggi was razed to accommodate the new government building(I call the Parthenon) in Port Arthur.
Last but not least is an ad for some great Christmas entertainment at the Colonial, Lyceum and Paramount theatres in Port Arthur. I well remember buying "Famous Players" gift booklets for friends to go to the show!! ENJOY!!