Christmas Memories in our Home Towns of Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario plus a few others...

Here's my annual Christmas Post with some familiar local photos and also some familiar memories that we likely all will remember.  The past year has been up and down for us and many others, but as Christmas draws near we try to calm ourselves and try to remember the things that made us happy throughout the years.

With that in mind, I start off with my annual FAKE NEWS magazine by taking a vintage magazine and make it look like a tongue in cheek edition of Hot Rods and Jalopies, a magazine that never was.

Note:  Try single or double clicking on each of the photos for good enlargements....

The next two photos many of you have seen before, but are two of my favourite local pictures from our storied past.  The first is how I remembered our city hall in Fort William, on the same property as the present one now in Thunder Bay.

 

 

 A holiday truth to remember.....

 

 

The following is a very typical seasonal Coca Cola advertisement from the 1960's

   

                                                         I just title this one "Oh nooooo!"

 

                  A very typical Street Scene in the 1940's anywhere in Canada or the USA......

Getting your Christmas tree in those days meant heading out to the bush to cut one down.  It was an annual event in our household to bring home as many as you could stack on your car for your families and or your neighbours too.

Most kids today never share in the enjoyment and excitement heading out to the bush for Christmas trees. 

You may remember seeing photos like this of your parents or grandparents with a tree on the roof of their Model T Ford.

Here is a small town shopping district on a winter's evening looking very cold, but your family may have been out looking for a last minute gift for someone special....and the weather wouldn't have mattered.

 

Treasure Chest Comics were a staple around our house at Christmas or any other time of the year.  They always depicted typical family stories and gatherings all year long

Every adult seemed to have smoked back in the day and Santa of course always smoked a pipe....so of course you'd see many pieces of advertising similar to this one.

A typical scene long before Mom and Dad were up.....and I'm sure you remember doing this, or maybe sneaking a peek or two at what was right under the tree from Santa.

Long before computers and the like.....I remember getting a Telegram from Santa.  How many young people even know what a Telegram is?

A television set in the house in the early 1950's was a rarity, but by the end of the 1950's almost every home had a typical Dumont, or maybe a Sylvania or RCA black and white television set.

                                  Or maybe mom or dad got a new Nash in 1951

                 Or a new Plymouth in 1948.....things were getting better after the war was over......

I'm coming to the end of the 2021 Christmas Post, but I would be remiss if I didn't post this great photo of my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter volunteering for this year collecting for the parade of lights.....what a beautiful pair and a beautiful moment.  We are so proud of you both for doing this.💓💓

                   Merry Christmas to all......and to all a Good Night......................

 

Retro Christmases....Wishing for Simpler Times in North America this Christmas....

Merry Christmas and another year has almost passed and with most of us, we want it gone.  

Here we go again, no excuses, but its been ages since I've had a post here, spending too much time on my personal Facebook page...but that's ok.  

With Covid-19 upon us, it's difficult to get into the swing of anything, albeit old or new.  We have to get over the doldrums and carry on with our lives the best way we know how. 

 OK...Here we go.  This first photo is an annual thing for me for the last 11 years.  I take an old magazine cover and make some "Fake News" ....you know the words as you've heard them before.😂

I always look for a cover with Christmas, winter and old cars.  This was an old POST magazine cover from 1946.

 

Here in Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) we see these wintry days often....well, more often than we want to I think, but snow and Christmas always seem to go hand in hand up here north of Lake Superior.  In fact tonight and tomorrow we are in for a doozer of a storm which will leave us looking a lot worse than in this Christmas season photo which could have been taken from anywhere in the northern snow belt in Canada or the USA.

The next few photos were so typical at Christmas in the 1950's pretty much anywhere in Canada or the USA.  They are just a joy to view....even the two Summer looking Christmas photos from California and Nevada.

 

I love the type of art that you see in the next picture.  It is a very retro US Tire advertisement showing the Winter months and the need for good snow tires in our cold and slippery winters.

The happy mailman in this photo is just like the guys delivering for Amazon in today's world.

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stops these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds".   While the Post Office has no official motto, the popular belief that it does is a tribute to all postal workers.

Colourful advertising like this was seen in many magazines such as POST or LIFE.  People actually frame them mainly because of their artistic value.

Kids back in the middle of the 20th century always looked forward to Christmas catalogs this time of year such as Simpsons Sears or Eatons or Kresge's or Woolworths.  Here's a cover of one of Woolworth's 5 and dime store catalogs, with a teaser of what the old stores looked like inside.

Our five and dime Woolworth's

Happy Days, always a family favourite, of which I still watch re-runs still gives me joy to see and remember what family life was all about......loving, giving, and enjoying being together.  That's the toughest part this Christmas of Covid-19, as many families are trying to keep each other safe and well.  We are such social beings that we crave the company of our family members, friends and acquaintances.  Better days are coming back...just don't be too impatient.😌

This final picture I made up and edited for my personal Facebook page and wanted to end this post with it here.  

My family's wish to all of you firstly is to remember the reason for the Christmas Season.  Be kind and loving to each other.  Look after your wise elderly family members.  

Myself and my entire family wish a Very Merry Christmas 2020 to you and yours.  Stay safe and well.  Dave

 

A Christmas Card and Some Christmas Memories from the Fabulous '50's and "60's

A Very Merry Christmas to Everyone and of course I'm sorry for not being diligent with my posts.  No excuses...just promises to get to more.  This is just a little Christmas Memory post from younger years, with a Christmas card for all and a big hello and thank you to my Facebook friends as well.

 The next photo here is an annual thing I do and that is to create a tongue in cheek "Hot Rods and Jalopies" magazine cover.  I guess it's wishful thinking that I could publish a magazine, but at least I have covers.  I have done one every year for the past 10 years and they can be found around Christmastime posts.  The nice police officer was assisting the pretty young lady by adding a dime to the meter so she wouldn't get a ticket.  I would have done the same thing. 😄

Christmas is always a time for gift giving and this photo taken in the early 1960's of a random young man in a hobby shop reminded me of myself.  I rarely bought a Christmas gift for anyone I knew from a model hobby shop, but if I got any cash for Christmas in the 1950's, off I would head to Lil's Hobby Lobby to their original store on south Franklin St. here in Fort William, near our home, where a model car of some sort would be purchased, and in the day would be about .98 cents to $1.49.

I received this very toy below when I was about 12 years old and any kid would utter shouts of joy if he received one under his Christmas tree.

Another favourite that I received in those days was Tinkertoy.  That was the so called gaming device of the times.

A memory many of us may have isn't so much that of easy peel Mandarin oranges, but the fact that they came in wooden boxes and all the way from Japan.  There's an old saying that people that didn't have much would save the green wrapping paper to used for toilet paper.  To me it was all rumors. LOL

These two following advertisements came from a 1952 Christmas edition of Motors Magazine.  Click on them to enlarge.

 Here is the 1956 Christmas editition of Chilton's Motor Age magazine with great graphics, however Santa sure looked like an elf beside the mechanic.

Christmas can't go by without a 1940's shot of Laurel and Hardy after having a terrible day trying to sell Christmas trees....they are momentarily not speaking to each other..... another LOL.  These guys were the best.

 The final entry here is of an old book I found with my old magazines that was likely my own from 1952.  All that was left is the cover, but it was a Christmas shopping catalog that Woolworth's did put out for their customers.

Once More - A Very Merry Christmas to all our friends and followers....and one final word for the holiday season.....
DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE - and as they used to say, the life you save may be your very own.

"WHEN THERE WAS THUNDER" an historic event in your home town...don't miss it.....

Read the poster below and all of this post to see 4 generations of racing photos.  Be sure to free up the time to attend this historic event being held at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Coliseum in your home town, Thunder Bay.

We start off with a couple of original Murillo Speedway photos from 1950.

In these two photos you can see the huge Murillo grandstand packed with people.  The fan base in Fort William, Port Arthur and Murillo Ontario was always very supportive.  Click on each picture to enlarge them for more detail.

#77 was Clyde Ditmars of Kakabeka and #37 was Glen Kettering

The 00 Snitch Special Plymouth was none other than Barry Kettering

 Next came the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition and the Lakehead Stock Car Club in 1952

Then came the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition track in 1952 to the delight of local race fans who did have to or want to travel out to Murillo in the day.  This famous logo became the benchmark iconic sign of The Lakehead Stock Car Club, which appeared on numerous programs and racing jackets in the 1950's and 1960's

The Massaro Brothers Tony 87 and Albert 88..photo circa 1953/4

 The Canadian Lakehead Exhibition half mile race track.  Most of the homes and businesses in the area are still there.  You can still see the Memorial Ave trees, and in this particular picture, the rides at the CLE across the river.

This photo of the track was taken from the May Street side....look close and you can see the old Arch between Fort William and Port Arthur, and this one was also during fair week.  The course of the river was changed over time due to the construction of the new McIntyre flood-way.

In 1967 came a new state of the art track built by the combined efforts of The Northern Ontario Timing Association and E. J. Bernosky

 A 3/8 mile oval which was the pride of our organization...a perfect location.

Here's high flying Merv Dove, former Lakehead Stock Car Club driver and Riverview flagman, flagging Stan Anderson to a Victory.  Merv claims to this day that he can still jump that high.

Yours truly picking up a checkered flag in 1968....the photo on the right is #98 Al Brescia and #17 Lonal Lajoie.  You vintage Sprint car guys have to fill me in as to who the driver below of #2 was...(was it Jerry Richert?...He drove the #2 Super Mod for a few years).                             The last photo of the group is one of the early fall Championship races at Riverview.

Finally, we have Mosquito Speedway who now hosts a fan filled fall classic early each fall.

You can see by the number of cars and fans at Mosquito Speedway that the need for speed has not slowed down at all in our home town of Thunder Bay....so be sure to come out and support this great two day event, meet some of your old friends and meet some of the great guys that started it all back at Murillo and the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition race track.

Finally....please note that Jeff Caldwell will have his final run of hats from Murillo, CLE and Riverview available for sale at the event....don't miss out.

 

Thank You