Lost Breweries of Toronto Walking Tour

Today Teena and I went on a walk put on by Heritage Toronto on the Lost Breweries of Toronto. The walk was led by Jordan St John, in the blue shirt above, a beer expert who literally wrote the book on the subject, Lost Breweries of Toronto.

We started outside the Moss Park Community Centre, where we were given a short history of beer. Then it was off to the site of Toronto's first brewery, Henderson's Brewery.

Here it is then.

And now.

A historic walk on beer and an ad for Moosehead beer which has been around since 1867.

This was not part of the tour but is a building I just love. It was Paul Bishop's house built in 1848, upon the stone foundations of the original house built in 1798 for William Jarvis.

At the corner of Front and Parliament was W. Copeland's East Brewery. Once again, then and now.

Jordan also talked about brewers whose breweries were not on the tour. Bloor Street is named after brewery Joseph Bloor, who Jordan suggested that we Google a picture of. Yes, he is a frightening looking fellow.

We stopped in a park (and shade) beside Enoch Turner's schoolhouse. Jordan explained how Enoch had a brilliant business plan. People liked to drink and he wanted them to drink his beer. People needed money in order to buy his beer, so needed good jobs. To get a good job, one needed an education. So he built a school to educate them!

Then it was over to Old Brewery Lane behind the Toronto Humane Society where the Don Brewery once operated. It is one of the few remaining brewery buildings from the original period and is now condos called the Malt House.

Thomas Davies, who owned the brewery and was also a Toronto Alderman, was so influential that he actually had the city pay to have the Don River straightened so it no longer ran beside the brewery so he could make a railway siding to ship his beer.

Our final stop was the Dominion Breweries building, that is still standing and was run by Thomas Davies' brother Robert. The brewery won world beer awards and seemed to be a decent place to work in that across the road at Davies Terrace, Robert built places for his workers to live.

Jordan's book was excellent and he is a great tour guide. He has funny, interesting and extremely knowledgeable. He really knows his stuff and there wasn't a question asked that he couldn't answer.

We stopped at a few more places than was shown here. It was a really enjoyable tour.

Doors Open Walk - Industry and Internment in Liberty Village

Teena and I have missed the past couple of years of the Doors Open weekend in Toronto.

The 17th annual Doors Open Toronto presented by Great Gulf returns on Saturday, May 28 and Sunday, May 29, 2016, offering free and rare access to more than 130 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city.

The Doors Open Toronto 2016 theme of Re-used, Re-visited and Revised will explore the adaptive re-use of buildings throughout Toronto's architectural history.

Today we corrected that by going on a free walking tour led by Richard Fiennes-Clinton of Muddy York Walking Tours. We have gone on many tours with Richard, who always leads an interesting and informative walk. Today's walk was on Industry and Internment in Liberty Village.

We met across at Hanna and Liberty St, across from the old Brunswick building. Here are Richard's volunteers who assisted with the walk.

Our first stop was by Lamport Stadium. It was an extremely hot day and Richard found the shady spots to stop for a talk.

I never knew but Lamport Stadium was built on the site of Mercer Reformatory for Woman, the very first women's only prison in Canada. Built in 1872, it was finally shut down in the 1960s due to mistreatment of the inmates and the inhumane conditions that they were forced to live in.

The Liberty Market was our next stop. It was a rail stop for the unloading and storage of parts and equipment.

The east side of the original building (to the right), and the maze of condos in behind.

Next up was the last existing building from the men's prison, that stood on the Liberty grounds, the prison chapel which was built in 1877.

Richard told us the history of the prison and how the chapel was used for storage by Inglis, while they had their factories on the site.

You can still tell it was part of a jail.

The west side of the chapel. You can still kind of see the Inglis sign over the door to the left.

The west side of the chapel.

A view of Toronto as we came up over a hill on Liberty near Strachan.

Our final stop was at the Massey-Harris offices. I've always been pleased that although turned into condos, the outside was kept in its original form. Richard told us of the history of the Massey family and business. I never knew that Raymond Massey, a famous actor from the forties and fifties, was the son of the wealthy Massey family.

The Massey Harris symbol, which sits on top of the plaque to the right of Richard, dedicated to those Massey employees who lost their life fighting in the first world war.

Cool window on the east side of the building

The east side of the building

The plaque out front.

The north and west side of the building

The creative Massey Harris molding on top of the north side.

Looking closely at the west side, you can see two extensions were added to the original offices.

The Massey Harris building sits in nicely with the newer buildings of today.

It was an enjoyable and informative walk, as Richard's walks always are and I learned a little more of the neighborhood where Teena and I live.

Touring the Rogers Centre, Home of the Toronto Blue Jays

The Rogers Centre, formally the Skydome, home of the Toronto Blue Jays opened in 1989 and I'm proud to say that I had Blue Jay tickets for the second ever Blue Jay game in the dome. Funny that I have not done a  tour of the stadium in the 24 years it has been open. Today Teena and I did just that.

Outside the Rogers Centre stands a statue of Ted Rogers, founder of Rogers Communications and the man who bought the Jays in 2000 and the Skydome in 2004. At the time, it was possible that the team could be sold and moved to the U.S. but Rogers spared us that. For that reason, I am glad he has a statue here.

Before going in, we saw people doing the Edgewalk on the CN Tower and doing the lean out over the edge. Notice the bums hanging over on the right side of the second photo then the closeup! Teena and I have decided a long time ago that we would not be doing this!

It was great wandering the Rogers Centre when it is empty. It is quite eerie yet peaceful compared to any other time I have been there which is always game day.

I had hoped to stand on the field but today we couldn't as the grounds crew was changing over the field from a football setup to a baseball field.

 

Look at this wrinkle in the AstroTurf by home plate!

It is soon ironed out by a worker with a stretcher plus the flattening machine in orange.

 

The Astroturf is not very thick but is sprinkled with lots of plastic pellets so the players can slide like they would on grass.

 
The pitching mound is underground and when not in use is securely covered with steel plating. When it is needed, the slates are removed. Then underneath the mound the compartment is flooded with water and the mound floats to the surface and is locked into place. We saw the plating being removed but not the pitching mound being raised. Damn!

 

We were let into the press box. It was very cool, right behind home plate. At one time, many decades ago as a teenager,  I wanted to be a sportswriter. After seeing this, maybe I should have pursued it.

 

 

The press room has framed press guides for every season. My two favorites?  The year we clinched our first playoff berth in 1985 (this is the 1986 press guide) and the 2006 press guide commemorating Tom Cheek, who broadcasted every Blue Jays game on radio from inception in 1977 to June 2004. 4,306 games!

We then went into a luxury suite which was cool, although I have been lucky enough to have been in these a few times. Too few really, as they are great!

We went down to field level. Although most tours go onto the field, we could not as the grounds crew, as mentioned earlier, were at work. This was so much better to watch as we got to see the work being done up close.

 The rolls are numbered so the crews know where they go and are stored under the north stands.

 

 

I always wondered how deep the dirt was around the bases. From what I saw it looks like it is at least six inches or more below the surface.

Jasmine, in blue, was our guide and was excellent!. She gave us so many facts, was fun, took pictures of us, and there was not a question she could not answer. She loves her job and it shows. Oh, and one of many facts she imparted. How mach toilet paper is used in the Rogers Centre in one year? Enough to go all the way to the moon!

 Here we are at field level and of course Jasmine took the shot. Great shot Jasmine! Thanks!

 This is an excellent tour that I would definitely recommend!