Toronto Time Machine

A creation of famed Canadian cartoonist Charles Thorson, Punkinhead the bear  was a common sight inside and around Eaton's department store. Bright colours and holiday festivities roared down the Toronto streets last week for the 2024 edition of The Original Santa Claus Parade provided a delightful spectacle for young people as well as those people young at heart. Part of the parade’s draw to audiences during this seasonal tradition is the appearance of whimsical characters. Of course, Santa Claus and more recently Mrs. Claus is lead figures of the holiday parade while other staples of the pre-Christmas event include marching bands as well as the Celebrity Clowns. Modern editions of The Original Santa Claus Parade have also involved a number of popular characters familiar to audiences beyond the parade. Former Canadian department store Eaton, the originator and longtime sponsor of the Toronto Santa Claus Parade, chose in 1947 to introduce a new mascot to appeal to toy-craving chil...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy Toronto's largest indoor shopping mall is surely bustling like usual this weekend. Now known officially as CF Toronto Eaton Centre (the 'CF' initials are in accordance with Cadillac Fairview's recent branding initiative across many of their retail properties), the retail complex's service that hosts more people in 2015 than any other mall in North America with pedestrian travel that exceeds that of the Toronto's Pearson International Airport as well as major tourist draws such as the Las Vegas Strip and even Disneyland parks in the United States. A complex currently consisting of 227 stores including a new Nordstrom high-end luxury department store, Canadian Tire, Best Buy, Indigo bookstore and a bridge to the nearly 1.3 million square feet Hudson's Bay location, the CF Toronto Eaton Centre serves just under 49 million pedestrians as well as provides a source of retail or service employment for thousands. Just the wee...

Photo credit: Chris Nagy Diary from a Yorkdale Shopping Centre Customer on February 26 th 1964 As I am driving this Highway 401 on this cold Wednesday morning in February, I conceiving so many thoughts. First, how many more songs from these new group The Beatles will be topping CHUM’s Weekly Hit Parade? I like their music but their constant exposure is driving every young woman insane. With one riding in the passenger seat of my Acadian Invader, I am happy that I married her before The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. My second through is how did I let my wife convince me to take a day off work in the midst of winter? I know the answer to that question and I cannot freely confess the reason was all her doing. It involves the opening of a spectacular new shopping Mecca called Yorkdale. Travelling so fast on this highway, I am realizing how this country is becoming so connected and how everything can be united so quickly. National television, Canada-wide phone calls and...