Christmas & Winter on the way - Local Winters then and now...1917 to 2012



Continuing with our pre Christmas and early winter photos, you may remember some of these were posted before.  we were asked to re post some of these pictures and took the opportunity to use them today. 

The first photo is probably the most talked about corner in the history of Fort William, Ontario, mainly because it does not exist anymore due to the building of the beloved Victoriaville Centre(beloved is definitely stated as tongue in cheek).  Click on all the photos to see the interesting signs and old landmarks of the day(1939) of which none are left except the fact that some of the structures actually exist inside Victoriaville.

All those things that look like birds in the sky are the the turns and "frogs" for the overhead trolley lines as they make their way around the corners.

 

Rudils was just to the left of Gillespie Drug store around the corner on Syndicate Ave.

This is the exact spot inside today's Victoriaville where Gillespie Drugs shown above was located.  Through the swinging doors straight out and to the right would have been Rudils Food Bar.  Rudils also had a Port Arthur Ontario Location.

This 1939 photo is taken just east of the one above.  Many old landmarks are shown in here such as McCartney Jewelers, Mahon Electric, Wishart's Fashion Craft(which later was moved down Victoria Ave to the Cooper Block and destroyed by a spectacular fire in about 1971).  Wishart's here became Woolworth's into the late 1940's and 1950's.  The sign behind and below Wisharts says Hudson Bay Blankets.  It is the bottom of another sign behind the Wishart one, which stated The Hudson's Bay Company, later to become The Metropolitan Store.  S. S. Kresge five and dime is further down. 



In later years there was a second story added to the Woolworth

Store shown here inside Victoriaville.  The store on the left

was Mahon Electric which also sold furniture.

The clock shown here is presently for sale at a local antique shop and if clicked on you will faintly read McCartney and Burke(in faded white) with the word Jewelers in black.  It is the very same clock shown in the above black and white photo below the McCartney Jeweler sign back in 1939.  My friend Bob's dad, a clock maker then, had actually worked on this clock at one time.  It should truly be in our museum.

Here is a close-up of the Mahon Electric sign with an arch of pine bows below stating Merry Xmas...yes they actually did that then too.  The photo here was taken on the same corner as the above photos(Victoria Ave and Syndicate Ave).  It vividly shows a street car coming down Victoria Ave having to deal with tons of snow.  This photo was actually taken in 1917.  It is very difficult to make out any signs of the day.


This next photo has been published on this blog before but is one of my favourite photos of downtown Fort William Ontario during the Christmas season circa 1970.  It was a busy place in those days and the shoppers are taking advantage to the mild weather here to do some Christmas shopping.  In the distance is the old Holiday Inn which is now refurbished into condominiums.  Everyone took pride in their business and all the store fronts were filled, not like the deterioration of that area today as shown by the next picture.

This is how the same area above looks today.  This photo was taken just yesterday and shows the grungy appearance of this area of Fort William that used to be another important business and commerce area of our city at Victoria and May Streets.

A few more then and now photos are next!

 

Here is the old T&M Grill circa 1970.  It was on the corner of Leith and Simpson Street in Fort William.  It was the major haunt for the staff of Kam Motors Limited just down Leith Street from here.  My dad being the Body Shop manager of Kam Motors(Chevrolet Oldsmobile Dealer) would spend time here on his coffee or lunch breaks and in the summer months as a kid would meet him here for lunch.

A T&M matchbook cover from my collection. 

The store on the right with the Pepsi Sign in the same photo is the old Palace Confectionery where my gear head friends and myself would purchase all our Rod & Custom and Hot Rod magazines.

This is how the corner of Leith and Simpson looks today.  The 145(old T&M Grill) on the

corner is now The General Appliance Centre and the old Palace Confectionery is now empty

like so many other businesses in downtown old Fort William, Ontario. 

Here is another before and after circa 1970 on South Syndicate Avenue across from the old CPR Station.  Constantines confectionery is now just a warehouse.  Even though the words "The Arcade" were covered over even in 1970, they are actually shown in the today photo.  There is no known history as to why the building was called "The Arcade".  Oh yes...The Supreme Cleaners sign is still there...go figure!

CHRISTMAS AT OUR CITY HALL

As a kid I always remember how beautiful our city hall looked during the Christmas Season.

 

WHICH CITY HALL BUILDING WOULD YOU PREFER?

I believe the old building above had much more character....we did need a more modern building however, BUT...did they have to tear down this beautiful structure?   With all the land around here, a new city hall should have been built around intercity to keep both Port Arthur and Fort William people happy after amalgamation in 1970. 

Some things however never change...look at the beautiful Canadian Pacific Railway Station building.  It looks the same in the early 1960's as it does today.....I believe its a bit of a miracle that it still stands today in a city that constantly tears down historic buildings.



Dec 7, 2012

Early 1960's

 Here's the 5351 and the 5307 barrelling through the CPR yards in the snow near Hardisty Street in Fort William in the 1950's....what a sight they were...you can close your eyes and imagine the sound as they went by.

 

 



Finally - Here is an unbelievable contrast of time between 1963 and 2012.  Skidoo has truly morphed from fly to wasp through the years.

Thanks to all those who donated pictures for this post including Scotty Fraser.  They are all fantastic photos.  HR&J hope you enjoy them all, and as usual be sure to click on each and every photo for enlargements.  D.

Early Christmas Post - Jeff DeGrandis/Ed "Big Daddy" Roth....

As a kid growing up in Fort William, Ontario, the 1:25 scale model cars you got for Christmas were the closest thing you had to having the real thing.  You could build those models and learn from them, later to apply your hopeful talents to the 1:1 cars that you might some day afford to build.  It takes a whole lifetime and then some to learn from your mistakes.
Here is a very cool Christmas post. These first two renderings were done by none other than Jeff DeGrandis. You can read Jeff's bio further down, but Jeff's talent here, emulates that of an incredible artist and car designer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, the creator of "Rat Fink".
........Click on all pictures to enjoy them larger! 

The custom cars that the kid is asking Santa Fink for were all designed and built by none other than "Big Daddy" Roth himself.  Also every one of these cars were also recreated in 1:25 scale for the kid in me back then and are still available to this day for all us plastic bashers.

The first one here noted in the cartoon is The Beatnik Bandit.

This one is The Outlaw.

This picture and the next shows a photo of The Outlaw at The Fort William Gardens right here in our home town of Thunder Bay....well it was called Thunder Bay by then, as the photo was taken in about 1980.  If you click on this, you can see my red/black 1932 Hudson Terraplane off to the left behind the kid standing there.

This is another shot actually taken from the same spot.  The Outlaw was on a turnable to show off its incredible lines.  This same car was here before in the 1960's when one of the "Northern Ontario Timing Association" car shows was held at the Port Arthur Arena, and yes, Thunder Bay was called Fort William and Port Arthur until 1970.

This on is Big Daddy's Mysterian.

This strange one with the clear orange plastic dome is Road Agent.

Here is Big Daddy himself in his Orbitron!

This final one is a rail dragster called Yellow Fang

Its hard to believe that Jeff was only 3 or 4 years old when Big Daddy was doing these custom cars.

BE SURE TO GO TO JEFF'S SITE as follows  http://dragfink.com/ to view Jeff's incredible talent!

 

Finally...the creator of all this Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.  You can read all about Big Daddy if you click on this link  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Roth

Ed Big Daddy Roth March 4, 1932 – April 4, 2001

My heartfelt thanks to Jeff DeGrandis for keeping the memory of Big Daddy and Rat Fink alive!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS 2012

1955 Chevrolet - The Dream, The Possibility and The Reality

If you were brought up in a General Motors family, a 1955 Chevrolet Convertible was every kids dream....well not exactly a dream, because you could build yourself a $1.98 model of one with the actual dream of possibly owning one at some point in time during your adult life.  As most of you know I became a hard nosed hot rod builder through the years, but MY dream was to own a 1955 Chevrolet...not just any '55 Chevy, but a convertible.  Read on and click all pictures to enlarge them.

 

 

This following photo is the start of the story.  By clicking on this picture, you can see a building here on the corner of Syndicate Ave. and Donald St. called Noll's Motor Company.  This is a photo of the 1939 King George Visit and motorcade as it cruised through Fort William many years before I was born, but Knoll Motors(a Studebaker dealership of the day) would be the place I would view my first 1955 Chevrolet years later.

 If you look closely at this photo and the one below, it is one and the same building.  Kam Motors, where my father was the body shop manager for 30 years had purchased this building in the early 1950s.  They later filled in the gas pump fill area to make a show room and called it Kam Motors Depot(the main business was on Leith Street)......story to continue below.

This is how the corner looks today!

In late September of 1954, Kam Motors was having their annual new car showing and 1955 was a banner year for Chevrolet as they were introducing their revolutionary new design and new V8 engine that became the iconic V8 that most hot rodders used until this very day.  My father had taken myself and a couple of friends to the depot a few days before the showing to give us a teaser of what we were to see in the show-room a few days later.  The cars were all covered up and when he took the cover off one of the cars, it was the very one shown in the brochure page below.  It was a two-tone Tahiti Coral and Charcoal Grey Iridescent 2-door hardtop with which I instantly fell in love with and still feel the same about to this day.

 

 Here is the RM page 1 and 2 colour charts  showing both colours on the second page.  I was only 10 years old, but I knew from that time forward that I would love the '55 Chevrolet.  The following portions of a mint brochure and these colour charts are in my collection.



Before we continue, check out this cool 1955 Chevrolet commercial, and if you had a colour television at the time, this is what it would look like.  If any ads appear while watching this, just "X" them out, and click on the arrow to view.

 I made many drawings from this brochure and had it tucked into a school book or two to admire it back in the day!

 



 

THE DREAM -

So here I was 10 years old....6 years to go to drive and wanted one of these.....Now that was a huge DREAM for sure.

 

THE POSSIBILITY -
 Well....this is what I found so many years later right here in Fort William, well actually rural Port Arthur.  A wonderful friend of my dads and my own who just passed away earlier this year, Ed Maybee had this great but rough '55 Chevy Convertible.....and of course I had to bring it home.  WOW...look at that '57 Chevy more-door hardtop up on the hill...It looked just like the one I owned in 1964.

 I did bring it home to find that the exterior was in fairly good condition, but the chassis was terribly rusted out as well as the floor boards and trunk.  It also had a ton of bondo(body filler) all over, with chunks actually falling off.  This was the mid 1970's and there wasn't much in after-market components....just a few patch panels and that was it.  Today you can purchase every single individual part on this car if you could afford it.   Well...Yes, I did purchase it for only $100., but however, spent about $600. on it and turned a hundred dollar profit and sold it for $800.  I wish I had it today as it would have been a lot easier to restore, but alas, I didn't keep it and went on to build some hot rods.


THE REALITY -
The only 1955 Chevrolet I owned was a sedan delivery, back in the late 1960's while I was still dreaming of my convertible.  My wife and I loved this car.  We used it for camping and also for hauling my stock car to Riverview Raceways

Well here I am...still a gearhead at heart and would still like to own a 1955 Chevrolet Convertible......which is pretty much out of reach now, but not for trying.
I hope I didn't bore you with this little story but it does fit nicely into the title of "Hot Rods and Jalopies"

Thanks to all of you that send emails from near and far....I always read them all, enjoy them immensely and answer what I can.....Dave