Monday, June 28, 2021
The Willow
From John Dowson - June 28, 2021
The Willow theatre was built on Yonge street at the corner of Norton ave. That was the next street North of my street Parkview and just 1 and a half blocks from Yonge street We were eager to have a movie theatre and we’d sneak in the building as it was being built The building was started in 1947 through the winter and the spring of 1948. Doug Waddell John Woods and I snuck in the theatre when they were showing a movie to check the sound and screen We were seen and invited to stay .
Behind Stephensons gas station on Yonge street at Norton was an empty lot the willow used it as a parking lot. I was hired in 1948 to park cars in the lot from 6.00 pm to 9 pm and I got to see the second feature for free. I was paid $10 a week in addition to my globe and Mail paper route I was a millionaire
The first movie was Tap Roots starring Van Heflin
In March 1949 I was promoted to Usher with my classmate Robbie Neale We were paid $15 a week and I bought tailor made strides and sport jackets The strides were $15 a whole weeks pay. The tailor was Len Owen and I think I still owe him $125
I was an usher at the Willow from its inception in 1949 to 1951 it was a great job yes loose fitting jackets
I had to wear black pants black socks and shoes white shirt and black bow tie and I wore this crappie usher jacket with a black silk lapel and believe it or not that outfit and free tickets attracted girls .
There was a thing going around at the time to see how long you and Your girlfriend could hold a kiss.
One night after the last show I was checking the woman’s washroom and a woman was sitting on the toilet when I opened the door
My friend would show up and hand me a small piece of heavy paper I’d pretend to tear something and deposit it into the ticket container and he’d get in free but the best time was dinner set days when patrons got a free piece of a dinner set. We’d play Frisbee with the plates that would break of course. There was one movie that would not seat women with men and the line up outside the theatre was enormous but we got to see the movie that was for adults only. The money I made allowed me to become a clothes horse 27 inch knee and 14 inch ankles 6 button dropped down belt loops i even bought a pair of blue suide loafers with a nickel in the front
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Email from Charles Dowson Jun 4, 2021, 12:49
---
Gents
Take a trip down Yonge Street and view the past, Now if only Google could go to the past with their camera cars disguised as an old milk truck and put that on their site. We might catch a glimpse of John and Richard in the lineup at the old Willow Theatre some Saturday morning. Or Q Ball standing in front of Andrews Meat Market at Parkview and Yonge Street.
Enjoy the tour gents.
Chuck
 |
| 1945: The Jolly Miller |
The Jolly Miller now The Miller was a great place for a pint and a skate in the winter. I never did both because you had to take a bus there. The Algonquin had more class architecturally and the Mitchel Field rink was only 3 blocks north.
 |
| Trapper's Restaurant |
The Trappers Restaurant now a Popeyes at the old city limits. One day while Mike and I were in a car with John he parked out front and went into Trappers to get some matches.
Old east side building complex still there.
[Another landmark] The Du Maurier Apartments east side of Yonge Street just north of Lawrence Ave. One day the three of us and mom waited in the '54 Chevy while dad went in to see Auntie June down that little road way.
--oo--
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Al Hepburn
Circa 1959
Al left shortly after they arrived and I remember him saying “they round up cattle with a pick-up truck”
Wick went back to Ontario after round up
Richard moved in with my brother Bill Dowson who was living in Drumheller Alta where he worked on the local Radio station CJDV The voice of the big country” He went back to high school in Drumheller and graduated after a year of selling insurance he married and went to University of Alberta Edmonton became a school teacher and high school principal
Wick went back to the Ranch every year after that and worked on the ranch from branding in the spring to roundup in the fall and spent the winter with his mother in Willowdale.
Richard now lives in Moose Jaw Sask
Al Hepburn joined the North York Fire department where he worked until his death and Wick later became a horse wrangler at Pioneer Village in Ontario and retired with a government pension. He passed away a few years ago.
An now you know the rest of the story. - John Dowson
Al Hepburn and His 56 Caddy
Al bought it in 1958 while he was living down the street from us on Parkview with Kenny Beaton’s family. Kenny’s Dad had been blown up in the War – never adapted to life after combat – so was in the hospital most of the time and Kenny’s mom took in boarders to make ends meet.
Kenny had one sister – older – who lived at home at the time.
Kenny Beaton was well known because he survived Polio – but he was also known for getting hit by a car while crossing Yonge Street. At the time our school, McKee Avenue School had the Elmer the Safety Elephant flag on the flag pole at the front of the school. When Kenny got hit they took away our Elmer Flag – assholes.
While Al was living at Beaton’s and working for the Township driving garbage truck, a guy named Joey Alkie was also there. Joey loved the booze. Joey had worked as a cook for a well known Deli on Bathurst (it’s still there). One day Joey told Al that they kept money overnight in the Deli and where it was located.
The two went down one night and Al broke in, found the money and got out. Joey asked for a share and Al told him he couldn’t find the money – so there was no share.
Al had managed to get over $1,000 - later investing it in his Cadillac.
Our mother thought he was a great saver and an example for all us on how to save and invest.
Al told me the story while we were working at the 7L7 in 1959. He had the Cadillac at the ranch for a month – then the Finance Company boys showed up from Calgary and repossessed it.
Hepburn was a scoundrel through and through – but great fun to be with.
The last time I saw Joey and Al together they were on the subway coming back from a Dog Show at the CNE. Joey was loaded.
Richard Dowson, Moose Jaw
---
Al Hepburn & The Hound Dogs (1954)
- by Russ Strathdee
Al Hepburn lived in a bungalow 2 streets north of Finch Ave, (which was the northern boundary of Willowdale) at 15 Bishop Ave. He asked me to play in his band, The Hound Dogs. Apparently he got my name from Danny Antonacci, who was one of my high school classmate. Hepburn never went to Earl Haig.
Al was a couple of years older than me and his profession during the day was what he called a “Sanitary Engineer” for the Township of North York – a garbage collector. He had a younger brother Ken and the two of them played guitar and sang Rock and Roll music.
Al and Ken Hepburn
Al played mostly rhythm guitar while Kenny played lead (solos) on his brand new gold sparkle Gibson “Les Paul” guitar. That guitar was quite special back then and it became a classic. Al had a really nice guitar too. It was a Martin.
The “Hounds” would sometimes practice in my mom and dad’s living room or the basement. Other times we practiced at Al’s mother’s place. Al’s mother used be sitting in the kitchen when I arrived and she’d say, “Hi Albie” (meaning Albino). I didn’t really mind; actually thought it was a bit amusing. It was all good. Nearly ever guy had a nickname.
Al Hepburn and The Hound Dogs
Personnel: Al Hepburn (lead singer and guitar); Ken Hepburn (lead guitar); Doug Tarpley (rhythm guitar); Nick Bassel (string bass); Gord Stewart (drums); Russ (sax). We all wore white jackets, except for Al, who was the front man. Unfortunately, Nick Bassel (string bass) is off to the right, out of sight of the camera for this photo.
In the above photo, I am playing a tenor sax. This would be an instrument I borrowed from Earl Haig, as I did not own one at that time. I can remember some of the audience at the Farmers Market were staring at my sax, maybe wondering what it was?
Nick Bassel
Our theme song was "Two Hound Dogs"
Hound dog!They call them Rhythm and BluesHound dog!Two dogs named Rhythm and BluesHound dog!Rompin' ol' Rhythm and BluesHound dog!Rockin' ol' Rhythm and BluesHound dog!Crazy ol' Rhythm and BluesHound dog! Hound dog! Hound dog! Hound dog!
A "Hounds" Set List
Al used to tape a set list to the top side of his Martin.
The Hound Dogs made several appearances at the Celsie Brothers Sunday Night Jamboree, held at the Thornhill Farmer’s Market. I did not own a tenor saxophone (that I am holding in the photo). I borrowed one from Earl Haig. We each got paid $2.00 for the night.
Al Hepburn was looking for other places for the group to play and one late afternoon we drove up to a shabby place in Newmarket called "The Bucket Of Blood”. (It’s no longer there, of course, but would have been right at the corner of Yonge and Mullock). We met up with a really slick guitar player named Eddie Liquer, who Al knew, and it was arranged that “The Hounds” would play there the week after Eddie’s show ended. I don't recall this actually happening but Doug Walmsley does.
---
Potato Champagne
One time when the “Hounds” were rehearsing at Al’s place, he took us down to the basement to show us a batch of “Potato Champagne” his older brother Don was making. There was a large 5-gallon stone crock sitting on a chair right next to the furnace to keep it warm.
The crock was full nearly to the top with a fresh batch Don was making. On top of the fizzing, frothy concoction were two pieces of bread with yeast sprinkled on them. Peeled and cut up potatoes, oranges, sugar and water were the main ingredients. The yeast reacted with the sugar and warm liquid to make alcohol.
During our rehearsal, a couple of green Ginger Ale bottles of Don’s brew were passed around for us all to sample. Well, this stuff was so powerful that after a few rounds of sharing, the drummer, Gord Stewart, had to puke out the bedroom window. It was wintertime and unfortunately he barfed his expensive bridgework out into the snow below. We all remember Gord groveling around out the back of the house in the snow looking for his teeth and this was a cause for major pause in our band rehearsal.
Al, The Instigator
A friend of Paul Douglas, Bill Powell, had folks who would go away to Florida and leave Bill to mind the house. The summer of ’59 Bill was working for the CNE and he thought it would be nice to have a few pales over during this time. Some of my friends that would also attend these get-togethers included Barb (my date), Al Hepburn, Danny Antonacci, Paul Douglas and Doug Walmsley. The main gathering would be in the living room with the kitchen in the next room. It was a great arrangement for getting your cool beverages from the fridge.
Paul Douglas usually brought a couple of 24’s while Danny would always bring a 6-pack – Al Hepburn mockingly called that “a School-boy Six”.
At one of these Soirees, Hepburn, always the instigator, suggested that it would be more “efficient” and equitable (since some guys brought more beer than others) if we each just poured our beers into a 5-gallon stone crock – the same one used to make Potato Champagne.
A few of us decided to follow Al's recommendation with the idea that we could each take a sip from the crock, like a loving cup, and pass it around. Hepburn was also clever in pointing out that this would save numerous trips to the fridge.
The thing was, the crock itself weighed about 15-20 pounds and being about a third full, that was a lot of beer to be hoisting to your face. What happened, as we discovered, was this didn’t work out too good - when you went to take a sip, by the time you hoisted and tilted the vessel the right angle, all this beer came at you like a mini tidal wave. It became a real art to share without it all nearly drowning you and going all down the front of your spiffy attire.
Dancing on Top of Cars
My '49 Olds
I sold my ’49 Olds to Al Hepburn for about $300. My old high school buddy, Dave Dobson, told me in an email what happened shortly after that transaction:
Al always instigated things. I remember Al pinched a few cases of beer from the back of a bootleggers van and created a need for a bush party. I cannot remember who the other guest were. As events progressed we decided that jumping from the roofs of our autos to the roof of the next one was indeed great fun. Monday morning I looked at my sagging looking Chev and vowed to never partake in alcohol again...
I distinctly remember being so horrified when Al later told me he “did a little dance” on the roof of the Olds. I was so proud of that car. This was disappointing.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Palace Pier
Email from John Dowson
Apr 18, 2020, 2:39 PM
---
Apr 18, 2020, 2:39 PM
---
Sorry for the delay in answering I’ve been busy with our One Act Play festival (in Newmarket).
I remember the Palace Pier In 1956. Vic Windsor and the Variety Kings were the house band and we backed up the visiting acts.
In those days when a country singer was traveling through Canada on tour Sunday was an off night and the Musicians Union was very strong and they’d have to pay union scale for their band so the acts wouldn’t have their backup band and we’d back them up on stage at the Palace pier.
We backed Johnny Cash and he brought Luther also Bobby Helms “Jingle Bell Rock” and Bobby Lord and some others Hawkshaw Hawkins and Kitty Wells . When Vic’s band broke up, the guy that ran the Sunday Night Jamboree at the Palace Pier called and asked me if I could get a backup band for the Sunday night shows. I said yes and got together a band Eddie Lacquer guitar Gordy Stewart drums myself on Bass and I think it was Bono on rhythm guitar,
I was driving my car and on the car radio I heard an announcement that Johnny James and the Volcanoes were playing the Palace Pier next Sunday. I called the guy and said “who is this band the Volcanoes” and he said “ you didn’t give me the name of your band so I named it the Volcanoes I needed a name for the radio ad” so that’s how it became Johnny James and the Volcanoes.
I’ve got some photos of us on stage at the Palace pier I’ll scan and send them. I just loaned my guitars to my son and granddaughter - they’re playing them on face book.
Tweet and John Dowson 1954
I’ve also attached a play list that we used to tape to the guitar for Tweet and I at the Thornhill Jamboree 1953 ...
Take a look at that - we were pretty good and Ted "Tweet" Smith went on as a solo in a traveling group.
We called him cousin Tweet and Gordie Tapp caught Tweet's show and he copied the character (cousin Clem) for the Tommy Hunter show and later on He Haw with the same costume as well. We had it first.
Everyone had a nick name and because Ted Smith was always whistling between his teeth we called him Tweet. We met at Queen Mary Public school in Willowdale and he later moved to Toronto and his father died with a heart attack.
Tweet died of a heart attack Christmas 1966 he was 31 years old and he had a heart condition he never knew he had He had Married Betty Holbrook that some use to call her the Ostrich because she had a long neck Good old days
John Dowson Ch lp (STAY SAFE)
60 Harrison Dr. Newmarket ON L3Y 4P4
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
MING'S Variety Store
From our dear friend, Charles Dowson...
Back in '87 I did a
limited series full hand colored hand printed serigraph of MINGS
variety. Soon there after I found out that he was closing after 30
years. He opened the store in the summer of 1957. The
original owners name was Wong. He bought the store and then decided to
keep the original name to help keep up his clientele.
I made two prints for
him for no charge. When I came by before he retired to bring him the
prints his daughter was there and decided to take a photo of the two of
us for our families. He sent me this photo
and a card giving thanks for our friendship. There were all kinds of
old style stock for sale like bags of marbles, cheap sun glasses, boxes
of old Princess Soap Flakes, small cap guns and a great deal more. Of
course all the original in store signs were sold
off. York Ice Cream and Pepsi Cola for example.
This photo was taken
June 6 1987. All
of the MINGS prints have been sold out for years. If I come across any
original photos that I used for reference
I will pass then along.
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Rockin' At Big Daddy's
My son John-Paul and brother Mike sat in for a couple of songs at Big Daddy’s Bar and Grill in Newmarket November 4th 2016 - John Dowson
Sunday, February 28, 2016
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
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
Friday, February 12, 2016
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!
Thursday, February 11, 2016
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
Friday, December 4, 2015
50th Anniversary Reunion of Georges Vanier S.S.
FROM CHUCK DOWSON (December 4, 2015)
Hi everyone!
Now I understand that [not] all of you probably graduated in '69 from Earl Haig. I am sending this out to you just in case you may know someone who may have gone to George Vanier S S like I did. Perhaps they would be interested in going to the reunion on May 14 of next year. I will attach the site below.
I took a year off school from October '66 to September '67 to work and take a break from 11 years of schooling. So I was a year behind you guys and graduated at Vanier in June of '70.
That was a "Very Good Year". The Prom was amazing! It was at the Great Hall at the Ontario Science Centre , I wore a tux and Gerarda wore a gown of blues pink and beige which went great with her blonde hair and her pink corsage.
A group of us rented a stretch limo for the night and after we took our dates home we had the driver drive us to several all night restaurants were we ate and partied the best we could as we were all under age to drink back then. The movie Diner was us! I was the last to get home at 6 am. When ever I hear the theme for St. Elmo's Fire I go right back to that prom night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXSmXthmkvo
A year of working at an electronics outfit, having and saving money, building a T Shirt company for the summer with two buddies of mine, printing in our home basement and ending the company year at the three day Mosport Rock Festival summer of '70 with making a big cash profit each before closing for the summer prepped me for the summer of '71. That was four months of solo travel throughout Europe and North Africa and back in time for Art College at Sheridan that September. Wow! Those memories flood back.
Anyway just keep the site close in your favorites in case you might come across anyone who went there and would be interested. Here's the site and some memorable tunes. http://www.vanierreunions.ca/
Talk to you all soon. 😊
Chuck
Hi everyone!
Now I understand that [not] all of you probably graduated in '69 from Earl Haig. I am sending this out to you just in case you may know someone who may have gone to George Vanier S S like I did. Perhaps they would be interested in going to the reunion on May 14 of next year. I will attach the site below.
I took a year off school from October '66 to September '67 to work and take a break from 11 years of schooling. So I was a year behind you guys and graduated at Vanier in June of '70.
That was a "Very Good Year". The Prom was amazing! It was at the Great Hall at the Ontario Science Centre , I wore a tux and Gerarda wore a gown of blues pink and beige which went great with her blonde hair and her pink corsage.
A group of us rented a stretch limo for the night and after we took our dates home we had the driver drive us to several all night restaurants were we ate and partied the best we could as we were all under age to drink back then. The movie Diner was us! I was the last to get home at 6 am. When ever I hear the theme for St. Elmo's Fire I go right back to that prom night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXSmXthmkvo
A year of working at an electronics outfit, having and saving money, building a T Shirt company for the summer with two buddies of mine, printing in our home basement and ending the company year at the three day Mosport Rock Festival summer of '70 with making a big cash profit each before closing for the summer prepped me for the summer of '71. That was four months of solo travel throughout Europe and North Africa and back in time for Art College at Sheridan that September. Wow! Those memories flood back.
Anyway just keep the site close in your favorites in case you might come across anyone who went there and would be interested. Here's the site and some memorable tunes. http://www.vanierreunions.ca/
Talk to you all soon. 😊
Chuck
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
I remember Dave Somerville and The Diamonds
On a weekend in the autumn of 1956 I was getting ready to take my girlfriend out for the evening but before I left I wanted to watch “The Diamonds” who were performing on a live CBC TV Variety show. After their performance I picked up my girlfriend and we went to the Edison Hotel to listen and dance to a Rock n Roll band.
The Edison hotel, which has since burned down was on the corner of Gould and Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. When we got there the club was crowded so the waiter seated us at a table with young fellow and his wife.
A few minutes later “The Diamonds” walked into the club. They were still wearing the matching suits they wore on the TV show earlier that evening. They were well known locally and when they entered the club erupted into applause.
The house band stopped playing and the bandleader asked “The Diamonds” to come on stage. He introduced the group and asked them if they would sing a number. They sang two songs, I can’t remember which ones but I’m sure one was “Little Darlin” and when they finished they came straight over to our table.
I was surprised but it turned out that the fellow at our table was a singer from Vancouver who had been on the TV show with “The Diamonds” that evening and they came over to say hello.
The singer’s name was Van (something) In those days the TV shows were live, and here we were all about the same age, sitting at a table talking to “The Diamonds” that we had just watched live on TV.
They sat down introduced themselves and spent about 20 minutes talking with us. After they left the singer from Vancouver asked us to take him to some other nightspots where we could see some more live Toronto entertainment. We took them to a number of clubs, but we spent most of the night singing “Little Darlin”.
It was an evening I’ve never forgotten. I later moved to Vancouver and in 1968 I saw Dave Somerville at the Queen Elizabeth theatre where he sang and performed on the Labour Day Telethon hosted by Leonard Nimoy.
- John Dowson, 60 Harrison Drive Newmarket ON L3Y 4P4 - dowson@rogers.com
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Wilowdale Outlaws MC Patch
Courtesy of Doug Farrow: The Willowdale Outlaws Motorcycle Club Patch; not sure what you had to do to earn your patch.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Dowson Family Memories
Here are some emails I have had the pleasure to receive - from various members of the Dowson family. I went to Earl Haig Collegiate and remember Mary Dowson as a bass fiddle player in music class.
I also knew Mary's older brother, John, as a bass player from when I played rock n roll sax back in the 50's. Their younger brother, Mike, is also a musician who plays fantastic piano, going by the stage name, Michael Keys.
Then there are a couple of other siblings, Richard and Charles, that I have not met, but we are cyber friends.
So, here's some of the stuff that regularly comes through my Inbox, I thought you might appreciate if you grew up in Willowdale in the 1950s or 1960s.
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I also knew Mary's older brother, John, as a bass player from when I played rock n roll sax back in the 50's. Their younger brother, Mike, is also a musician who plays fantastic piano, going by the stage name, Michael Keys.
Then there are a couple of other siblings, Richard and Charles, that I have not met, but we are cyber friends.
So, here's some of the stuff that regularly comes through my Inbox, I thought you might appreciate if you grew up in Willowdale in the 1950s or 1960s.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Memories of Our Dad - Smog Clouds and the Rat Race
Richard Dowson 4:01 PM (3 hours ago)
Howdy Charles --
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 --- div>
Richard
----- Original Message -----From: charles dowsonSent: Thursday, May 22, 2014 9:57 PMSubject: RE: Memories of Our DadThanks Rich...nice memories.
I was thinking today about something we don't experience any more here, strong enough sunlight and wind to make cloud shadows move across the street where you are standing. When we were kids this was common place but now with all the stooly weather modification and chemtrails there is not that drama anymore.
Chuck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA5w7YWuum0
From: dowsrich2@Sasktel.net
To: hasti90@hotmail.com
CC: dowson@rogers.com
Subject: Re: Memories of Our Dad
Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 18:16:38 -0600
Greetings Charles - very nice memories. Of course, we knew his at different times so the memories are different. I recall he liked to bring home old cheese sandwiches where the cheese was warm and had started to bend and it really tasted great. Still like to heat up my cheese in the microwave oven. I don't recall him having a really nasty temper so I knew if I made him mad I could take off for an hour and he would be calmed down when I got back. But he was away so much when I was growing up that I felt I did not know him. He was around for you guys and he was around when the others were home but he went to the hospital when I was little and didn't come home until I was six. And then after that he worked out of town. He' be gone for two weeks - home for the weekend and then gone again. I recall one time when he showed me how much money he have - over one hundred dollars in cash. And he did take me for hair cuts when I was little - to a baber who was in a shop by the Red And White. And when he would go to the Red and White he would touch two fingers to the cuff of his jacket. I asked him why he did that and he said it meant "put it on the cuff' meaning charge it. And he did all his business with the Toronto Dominion Bank. And the old guy loved stone - anything made with stone. And he made extra money by casting his own concrete 'brick' for fireplaces and the 'facing them up' with a chissel. He did a lot of the fireplaces in Willowdale. He took me to a house on Shepard just in from Yonge Street on the west side and they talked about dong a fireplace. While we were there a bird flew into the big front window.Nice to have memories Richard----- Original Message -----From: charles dowsonSent: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 10:00 PMSubject: RE: Memories of Our DadDad always pissed mom off every time he had to chance to swish the old tea bags in the tea pot and cast them in the direction of the garage, when you cried too long as a kid his favorite expression was.."Awe dry up!". He liked to snap his glasses case shut as loud as possible from time to time. After work in the winter he kept his work pants on with the suspenders contrasting nicely with his old long beige underwear top, looked great at the dinner table. He'd sit down in front of the coal furnace at night sometimes, his feet propped up and stare at the glow from the open furnace door for more than an hour. "What are you doing dad?" "Hhmm? Oh, just meditating", was always the answer. Then I'd turn to my friends and say "See I told ya" I still have that old coal furnace door. I remember one spring when the snow in front of the garage had receded enough to expose the many tea bags he had tossed out over the winter. They were sitting on high on their own individual ice perches, scattered about like frozen tea bag mushrooms.
Chuck
From: dowsrich2@Sasktel.net
To: hasti90@hotmail.com
CC: dowson@rogers.com; wesdyne@shaw.ca; folkes@golden.net
Subject: Memories of Our Dad
Date: Wed, 21 May 2014 09:07:14 -0600
Greetings - I was making tea yesterday and realized I had done something our Dad did - and that got me thinking. Here are some of the things I remember -Turning the stove burner off under the kettle as the water comes to a boil -Warning me that the water pipes in the bathroom were lead and that I was not to drink the water from the bathroom taps (true according to Ray Harris) -Scrapping the last of the butter off the butter wrapping paperTelling Patrick Folks he would become a PriestAnd his name - William (from his grandpa Chicpchase) Clifton (from his grandfather Dowson) and Herbert (from his grandmother Dowson's current husband, Herbert England)Got any memories of the "Old Man" - Please add and circulateRichard
