Those were the days, my friends

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Did people really eat pickled eggs?

You can get them at the bar at our local Legion still, so I suppose people still do.

I've never been brave enough.

[SignalHillHiker]

They're as good as anything else pickled. Especially great sliced on a sandwich.

[240glt]

Spent a snowy Saturday night eating pickled sausages and drinking Extra Old Stock with a buddy in college while we played Dino Crisis for like 14 hours straight

It was a rough Sunday morning

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

what a wonderful contribution! thanks!

I know. Thx for pointing it out? Were we all supposed to fawn over those dumps? They look depressing.

[240glt]

I've drank in many old Taverns very similar to those in small towns in BC

To each their own but I find them fascinating. Still stop in at the Ymir hotel bar when I am through the Kootenays. So much more interesting than the banal and soup-du-jour bars that you find virtually everywhere today

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

I know. Thx for pointing it out? Were we all supposed to fawn over those dumps? They look depressing.

There's nothing depressing about dumps, they're fun.

Every neighbourhood here has its own shitty little local. Mine is the Peter Easton.

It is sometimes this:



But it's often this:

• Video Link

And that's fine. It's fun. It's community. You get to know Barb the milfy bartender, and Andy the ripped skeet bartender who still uses a flip-phone and says "pussy" in casual conversation. That's part of being alive.

[niwell]

The epicentre of cool for me as a kid - I watched an absurd amount of MuchMusic and 299 Queen West was a must visit whenever I made it to Toronto:


blogto.com

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Look like shit holes. Should be in the ugly thread

Where's the thumbsdown button for your comment?

And as if hipsters wouldn't be weeping tears of joy into their beards to find a place with that vibe that served their latest fad of overpriced craft beer!

[lio45]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Boat travel was the norm - and I love being in a boat so much I think I would've very much enjoyed that. I love it perhaps even more than I love being in a tram.

WOW - the waterfront back then looked fantastic!!! Gorgeous.

I totally agree with you regarding boats - we took the Lévis-Québec ferry a few times and it still feels super exotic - I would find it so cool to have that be my daily commute.

I believe it would make sense - as I pointed out already on here, our neighbor worked in Old QC and commuted like that. There's a bus line in front of our place that goes straight to the ferry terminal. Not sure how early you have to get up in the morning though, because the entire ferry process (boarding, trip, unloading) is far from instant.

[SignalHillHiker]

Almost every building in that shot is still there, it's just that they have built a road on reclaimed land between them and the harbour.

Unfortunately, St. John's viewed from the harbour has always been an upskirt photo. Those plain warehouse buildings facing the harbour and ornamental beauties (by our standards) on the other side. And it's the same all the way up the hill.

Like that main stretch centered above, from the other side, looks like this the other early morning:

Placentia Road Trip by R C, on Flickr

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Did people really eat pickled eggs?

Doesn't sound too bad to be honest, but I wouldn't feel comfortable buying one off a bar counter! One has to wonder if the egg had passed its expiry date to warrant pickling.

[MonctonRad]

Barber Shops!!!



They virtually don't exist any more. They've been replaced of course by hair styling salons, but when I was growing up, they were dens for men. Men would go to barber shops just as much to talk about baseball and hockey as they would to get a trim. They were a manly getaway.

Not any more..........

[SignalHillHiker]

We're so far behind the times... but in a good way. I swear to God I'm going out shortly, I won't be doing this to every post. But barber shops are still very much a thing here. And they serve beer (limit of one only). There's a whole subculture surrounding the famous ones, like Fogtown, and every neighbourhood has a couple. There's one three houses away from me:



And another one about a block from me:



I'm balding (bald?), and there's no hairstyle one can have with bald that I like, so I buzz my head. But I'm also lazy as fuck so I can just go to the barber and get it done for a twonie at one place, $5 at the other (including beard shaving and moisturizer).

Just in case it's weird everywhere else... we also still have neighbourhood butchers and shoe repair and tailors and superettes and nail salons and hairstylists (where women go in the morning to get their hair styled, NOT cut) as well.

[Marty_Mcfly]

I wish I had access to pictures which made me nostalgic to my hometown when I was a kid. The mid 80s to mid 90s were the point in time where things were most positive. We had tons of stores, restaurants, and other businesses back then that don't exist anymore (buildings demo'd too). Seeing a town completely rot from a population of about 1000 to about 400 in your very, very brief lifetime (27 years) is a real experience.

[Brizzy82]

Originally Posted by niwell

The epicentre of cool for me as a kid - I watched an absurd amount of MuchMusic and 299 Queen West was a must visit whenever I made it to Toronto:


blogto.com

Ahh memories.

I can still picture the Electric Circus dancers in the windows

I miss Rap City/ DaMix and The DownLo the most. I miss Namugenyi Kiwanuka

[Architype]

^ Would love a beer with each haircut. I'm not sure it's legal though.

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

There's nothing depressing about dumps, they're fun.
...
Every neighbourhood here has its own shitty little local. Mine is the Peter Easton.
...

Maybe dumps make people drink more? BTW, I think it used to be called Rob Roy's at that location.

Originally Posted by niwell

The epicentre of cool for me as a kid - I watched an absurd amount of MuchMusic and 299 Queen West was a must visit whenever I made it to Toronto:

...

Isn't that Canada's Mr. Cool, in one of his incarnations? We aren't as cool anymore, except now we have Justin.

[Marty_Mcfly]

I'll at the very least share this for anyone who was a child in the mid 90s and watched hours of YTV.

• Video Link

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Architype

Maybe dumps make people drink more? BTW, I think it used to be called Rob Roy's at that location.

Could be but now Rob Roy is on George Street, it's the basement of Konfusion.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

I'm sure that piece of land is now some condo building named after the buildings it replaced. That tavern reminds me of the Station Hotel in Kitchener. I believe it has been knocked down now but as per the name it was next to the train station and the announcements of which train was approaching and where it was going was piped into the bar and patrons would have to quickly scramble and power drink the 'draft' that they had ordered. It was the kind of place free from beer snobbery. It was just beer and pickled eggs were the main food to eat. A salt shaker was available to add 'flavour' to the beer.

Demolished years ago after a bad fire. Now, you can grab a flat white across the street at Smile Tiger and scurry over to catch a morning GO Train. Much more sophisticated but not as interesting, istm.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Barber Shops!!!

...

They virtually don't exist any more. They've been replaced of course by hair styling salons, but when I was growing up, they were dens for men. Men would go to barber shops just as much to talk about baseball and hockey as they would to get a trim. They were a manly getaway.

Not any more..........

There's a terrific barber shop in the Walper Hotel in Downtown Kitchener. The "updated" stations (powder blue formica!) date back to the 1950s, the original mosaic floors date back to the 1890s. The hotel is also home to the Walper Tobacco Shop, which claims to be the oldest such in Canada, also dating back to the 1890s.