Jerry Lee Lewis at Toronto's Le Coq d'Or

Yes I was right….I did see Jerry Lee Lewis and his band play at Le Coq’Dor in their downstairs lounge in the summer of 1959. 

I’m reading Jerry Lee Lewis’s autobiography and there it is in the book saying he played Le coq’dor in Toronto. 

For years people have been telling me I was nuts, I began to believe myself that it didn’t happen and now there it is in writing in his book. 

I was playing with Tommy Danton and the Echoes at the Zanzibar Tavern just up the street. We had just returned to Toronto from Quebec city where we played at the Bal’Taberan. We were at the Zanzibar all summer July and August 1959.  We heard that Jerry Lee Lewis was playing at Le coq’dor and between sets we would go down to catch his act, but because his marriage to his 13 year old cousin had taken place in 1958 and his England trip with his teenager bride was a disaster his star had fallen and he was playing, what he called “Beer Joints” so not many people were in the room during the week. 

As I remember it was just a trio piano, bass and drums, we even had the chance to speak with him. He was there for a week and we saw him at Bassels restaurant where all the waiters, and musicians would go to eat after the bars closed. 

As the years passed I wasn’t sure if he really played Toronto before he went to England or after but he says in his biography that it was after his career spiraled down. 

He writes, "I played juke joints in  Chicago, Iowa  and even Le Coq’dor in Toronto". 

So there it is. 

Did you or anyone else see him when he played la coq’dor Tavern in Toronto in 1959? 

About ten years ago I met the owner of The Simcoe Arms hotel in Sutton Ontario Gord Josie. He as a country singer and later manager of Le coq’dor and he confirmed that Jerry Lee Lewis played the tavern downstairs. 

So Russ you can put that on the site.

- John Dowson

Willowdale Woman Invents Solar Clothes Dryer

Stella Dowson of 68 Parkview has invented an energy efficient solar clothes dryer. In the attached photo Stella Dowson is seen preparing to operate the device, which is installed at the back of her house.

 

 

 

 

Another Willowdale Fifties First!

McKee Avenue Public School

As kids I remember laying on the grass at McKee Avenue School with Johnny Ryan and others and looking for faces or objects in the clouds.

Smog has been a wonderful feature of Toronto life for a very long time. When I was working for the Township (1958-59) we were way over where North York connected to Scarough - sort of up on a hill there - and you could look into Toronto to the west-southwest and see the smog over the city. Actually, I think you live over near there -- The Smog was bad and that was in the fall of 1958.

As kids we also talked about getting away from the "Rat Race" which was life in Toronto as we saw it. I don't think people in the GTA really think about the Rat Race any more. I suppose if you are in it long enough then you think that is all there is.

In Moose Jaw we have three rush-hours; in the morning - at lunch time because everyone goes home for lunch and then in the evening. In the thick of rush-hour, like this morning, there can be upwards of twelve cars in front of you.

The question now is, "Is there a rat race in Toronto anymore?" Out here a day has 24 hours. In Toronto, the young people spend 3 to 4 hours going to and from work - and 8 hours at work -- so days must be longer in Toronto - like a Toronto day has to be 27.5 hours long to be the same as a Moose Jaw day where it takes only 15 minutes to get to work -- or all the way across town for that matter.

But 2 hours one way to work ---whew -- that is a big part of the day. You can buy neat - fancy stuff with all the money but can only mess with your stuff on the weekend - as long as you don't drive to Muskoka - because then you are screwed because of driving time.

So Charles? Is there a Rat Race any longer or was that just old 50s talk. And is cloud watching no longer a passion for young kids?

And why am I not nostaligic for Toronto? Now Newmarket is different - I love that place! And Gravenhurst! And Dunchurch! And Parry Sound! - is there a theme here ---

-  Richard Dowson

Ray Harris and his sister Shirley 1976.