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AlvinofDiaspar
Guest
From the Post:
Weston never gets the respect it truly deserves
Old mixes easily with new in diverse community
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post
Published: Friday, June 30, 2006
Weston is a crossroads where Toronto's past collides with its future, without much in between.
The past is alive in such places as Squibb's Commercial Stationers, which has thrived here since the 1920s and is a great place to get manual typewriter ribbons, ledgers, pressboard duotang data binders, rubber thimblettes (for sorting paper or mail) and refills for those pop-up telephone books.
The future bustles next door at Asian Farms Supermarket, in a former Loblaws, whose owners are Vietnamese. Most patrons, though, are from the Caribbean and shop here not because they can read the labels but because the store is near their homes.
Founded in 1796 on an old native trading path along the Tanaouate River (which we now call the Humber), Weston was first a mill town, then a railway town, then a commercial hub for Toronto's northwest. Incorporated in 1881, in 1967 it joined the City of York (which in 1998 became Toronto).
In the 1980s, suburban shopping malls with vast parking lots wrecked Weston, along with many of the city's shopping strips; in this case locals blame Yorkdale.
Today, dollar stores and quick cash outlets pockmark the main drag, Weston Road. On the plus side, there are few chain franchises, and Weston doggedly survives, helped by plenty of boosters determined to see it prosper.
"We've seen Weston in its heyday," said Suri Weinberg-Linsky, who, with husband Michael, bought Squibb's from her parents. "We've made a conscious decision to stay in Weston and make it work."
My daughter Tallulah, 7, having finished Grade 2 on Wednesday, joined me yesterday on my walk. We took the lovely Tommy Thompson Trail north along the Humber to Cruickshank Park, where we emerged on to Weston Road.
First stop: P & M Restaurant, a tiny, crowded diner that's been in the Kalamaris family for 30 years. Lunch guests filled the joint. We shared a table with three friendly women who all work for doctors, all of whom had heaping plates of the lasagna special, $8. I barely finished a massive chicken souvlaki dinner, complete with a meal-sized Greek salad, $11.45. Tallulah ate a whopping tuna fish sandwich, $3.95. So huge were the portions that, for the first time in her life, Tallulah declined dessert.
"Everyone knows everyone, like Cheers," explained Karen Kennedy, a regular, adding: "Anybody goes away hungry from this place, they've got a problem."
Laura Alderson, who works for the Weston Village Business Improvement Area, came in for lunch and waxed poetic about the lovely neighbourhood of stately century brick homes in Weston, across the train tracks.
"During the Christmas season I can't keep up with the number of social engagements," she said. "You go to somebody's house and there's 80 people there and they all walked there.
"The beauty of Weston," she added, "is my children no longer see colour. They see the human being. The middle school has over 50 nationalities."
Locals can jump on the local GO train and be at Union Station in 15 minutes.
And yet, Weston gets no respect. A few years ago, Toronto tried to get rid of duplicate street names by erasing Weston's Church, King and John streets; Weston saved those names after a spirited fight.
The latest indignity is a government plan to send the Air-Rail Link high-speed train, Blue 22, rocketing through Weston 140 times a day without stopping. To achieve this safely, the pointy-heads proposed shutting off four of Weston's main streets (including Church, King and John) to traffic.
Weston fought back, demanding that the train stop in their town. That battle continues.
"It's the 407, it's SkyDome," said Ms. Weinberg-Linsky of the train plan. "It's public money going into private projects. If they want to do it, make it public transit."
After lunch we crossed the tracks and took a walk through the nice end of town. We came to the stately 1850 home of William Tyrrell, the first reeve of the town of Weston. Today this is the Brick House Retirement Home, filled with 20 people, who described the place as a bit crowded.
It is historic, diverse communities like Weston that make Toronto unique. Weston merits respect and encouragement -- and a train that stops here, as it always has.
AoD
Weston never gets the respect it truly deserves
Old mixes easily with new in diverse community
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post
Published: Friday, June 30, 2006
Weston is a crossroads where Toronto's past collides with its future, without much in between.
The past is alive in such places as Squibb's Commercial Stationers, which has thrived here since the 1920s and is a great place to get manual typewriter ribbons, ledgers, pressboard duotang data binders, rubber thimblettes (for sorting paper or mail) and refills for those pop-up telephone books.
The future bustles next door at Asian Farms Supermarket, in a former Loblaws, whose owners are Vietnamese. Most patrons, though, are from the Caribbean and shop here not because they can read the labels but because the store is near their homes.
Founded in 1796 on an old native trading path along the Tanaouate River (which we now call the Humber), Weston was first a mill town, then a railway town, then a commercial hub for Toronto's northwest. Incorporated in 1881, in 1967 it joined the City of York (which in 1998 became Toronto).
In the 1980s, suburban shopping malls with vast parking lots wrecked Weston, along with many of the city's shopping strips; in this case locals blame Yorkdale.
Today, dollar stores and quick cash outlets pockmark the main drag, Weston Road. On the plus side, there are few chain franchises, and Weston doggedly survives, helped by plenty of boosters determined to see it prosper.
"We've seen Weston in its heyday," said Suri Weinberg-Linsky, who, with husband Michael, bought Squibb's from her parents. "We've made a conscious decision to stay in Weston and make it work."
My daughter Tallulah, 7, having finished Grade 2 on Wednesday, joined me yesterday on my walk. We took the lovely Tommy Thompson Trail north along the Humber to Cruickshank Park, where we emerged on to Weston Road.
First stop: P & M Restaurant, a tiny, crowded diner that's been in the Kalamaris family for 30 years. Lunch guests filled the joint. We shared a table with three friendly women who all work for doctors, all of whom had heaping plates of the lasagna special, $8. I barely finished a massive chicken souvlaki dinner, complete with a meal-sized Greek salad, $11.45. Tallulah ate a whopping tuna fish sandwich, $3.95. So huge were the portions that, for the first time in her life, Tallulah declined dessert.
"Everyone knows everyone, like Cheers," explained Karen Kennedy, a regular, adding: "Anybody goes away hungry from this place, they've got a problem."
Laura Alderson, who works for the Weston Village Business Improvement Area, came in for lunch and waxed poetic about the lovely neighbourhood of stately century brick homes in Weston, across the train tracks.
"During the Christmas season I can't keep up with the number of social engagements," she said. "You go to somebody's house and there's 80 people there and they all walked there.
"The beauty of Weston," she added, "is my children no longer see colour. They see the human being. The middle school has over 50 nationalities."
Locals can jump on the local GO train and be at Union Station in 15 minutes.
And yet, Weston gets no respect. A few years ago, Toronto tried to get rid of duplicate street names by erasing Weston's Church, King and John streets; Weston saved those names after a spirited fight.
The latest indignity is a government plan to send the Air-Rail Link high-speed train, Blue 22, rocketing through Weston 140 times a day without stopping. To achieve this safely, the pointy-heads proposed shutting off four of Weston's main streets (including Church, King and John) to traffic.
Weston fought back, demanding that the train stop in their town. That battle continues.
"It's the 407, it's SkyDome," said Ms. Weinberg-Linsky of the train plan. "It's public money going into private projects. If they want to do it, make it public transit."
After lunch we crossed the tracks and took a walk through the nice end of town. We came to the stately 1850 home of William Tyrrell, the first reeve of the town of Weston. Today this is the Brick House Retirement Home, filled with 20 people, who described the place as a bit crowded.
It is historic, diverse communities like Weston that make Toronto unique. Weston merits respect and encouragement -- and a train that stops here, as it always has.
AoD