Yo…
An upfront disclaimer: the focus of this My Summer Lair episode is Ontario Place and Ali Weinstein’s Your Tomorrow documentary.
I’m not here to blindly bash Premier Doug Ford over Ontario Place…or to offer space for others to do so. That white noise nonsense gets on my nerves. That’s what social media is for and that’s why it’s free. I don’t find those bland political narratives particularly compelling. When everyone says the same thing it gets so boring so quickly.
Yes, as it’s currently constructed the current deal to build a waterpark and spa at Ontario Place is a flawed business deal. That’s not in dispute. It was expected; Ford isn’t all that bright.
However, once contracts are signed—however terrible they may be—it instantly becomes a legal matter. That’s where I leave it as I’m not a legal expert.
Absent all nuance casting Doug Ford as a James Bond villain instantly hijacks the honest conversation. That wonky narrative distracts from the Toronto dreams we should be having.
Ontario Place closed in 2012.
The attendance had been declining since the 2000s.
Which is a Toronto pattern we see in so much of our so-called beloved intuitions as they come to a permanent and disheartening close.
We like these Ontario Places, we just don’t like visiting em.
Maple Leaf Gardens
50 Carlton St. Toronto, ON
1931 - 1999
Oasis was the final musical artist to play at the venue on April 29, 2000. And decades later they’re back on tour. (They’ll be here on August 24-25 at SkyDome.)
(What’s also startling about Maple Leaf Gardens is construction began at midnight on June 1, 1931. Construction was completely finished in under five months and two weeks. There was a time when Toronto could build things quickly.)
Loblaws bought the building in 2004 and opened a large grocery store in 2011 featuring an Amazing Wall of Cheese. (It’s not that amazing but it is decent.)
Sam The Record Man
347 Yonge St. Toronto, ON
1961 - 2007
“I never let on that I was on a sinking ship.” I bought Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness super cheap when Sam The Record Man closed. I remember going in guns blazing trying to score as many double albums and expensive imports as I could. And I managed to score The Smashing Pumpkins double album from 1995. (Still a solid album.)
I’ve written in this space about all vanishing record shops on Yonge Street in The New Horizons of Culture Vultures and Play De Record Of Good Taste.
Sam’s filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
The Yonge Street flagship closed forever on June 30, 2007.
All that’s left is neon signs tucked away at Yonge-Dundas Square.
World’s Biggest Bookstore
20 Edward St. Toronto, ON
1980 - 2013
In 2012 downtown was shifting.
Silver Snail 36 years in 1 location...moving.
World’s Biggest Bookstore...25 years in 1 location, closing.
By late 2013 Sears Canada began closing five of its department stores, including its flagship location in Toronto’s Eaton Centre. (I wasn’t grieving Sears, obviously.)
It’s never a good sign when you close a bookstore.
In 1980, Coles opened a 67,000 square-foot book store at 20 Edward Street, a short distance west of Yonge Street. They named it, The World’s Biggest Bookstore and though its name was not truly accurate, it was one of Canada’s first book superstores.
In 2001 Indigo purchased Chapters and in turn Coles. Chapters and Indigo officially merge to form the largest book retailer in Canada under the corporate name Indigo Books & Music Inc. The Company’s website and online store, chapters.indigo.ca, is created. Ordering books online has begun.
The World’s Biggest Bookstore closed on March 30, 2014.
On July 8, 2024 The Toronto Star published: ‘Going to the World’s Biggest Bookstore was an event.’ 10 years after closing, it still has a grip on former readers.
Honest Ed’s
581 Bloor St. W Toronto, ON
1948 - 2016
Here’s my MSL conversation with Lulu Wei director of the Toronto documentary There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace.
(Ali Weinstein is the doc’s producer. It’s all connected! In the attached MSL episode I asked Ali about comparison to Honest Ed’s and Ontario Place.)
There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace addressed many of these strong emotions and issues as Honest Ed’s closed. (Remember when Mr. T went to Honest Ed’s?! That special moment this documentary failed to acknowledge. Though I guess Mr. T is another relic of the past.)
Anyways the Honest Ed’s doc is about redevelopment, gentrification and displacement. That Hectic Modern Life. There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace is streaming on CBC Gem. #SetTheVCR if you wanna check it out.
Honest Ed’s permanently closed on December 31, 2016.
Ontario Place
955 Lake Shore Blvd. W, Toronto, ON
1971 - 2012
And here we are. The latest it’s closing but we don’t want it to close Toronto institution.
When it first opened in 1971, Ontario Place was designed to reflect all that the citizens of Ontario (and Canada) embodied:
our heritage,
our diversity,
our creativity and
our future potential.
Your Tomorrow comes from the following phrase from an 1969 Ontario Place promotional brochure for the theme park, built on four islands made of reclaimed land on Lake Ontario:
“Ontario Place is a mirror to show you yourself. Your heritage. Your land. Your work. Your creativity. And your tomorrow.”
Ontario Place was hope and civic pride but as a symbol it mirrors Detroit’s car factories with those industrious assembly lines. That was then…this is now.
The honest truth is…we simply stopped going to a lot of these places.
Yes, record stores struggled as music went online…but vinyl also came back. We stopped going.
Honest Ed’s struggled because we enjoyed the cheapness of the dollar store and the gentle convenience of Amazon Prime shipping. We stopped going.
By 2012 Ontario Place was closed by the Government of Ontario after years of diminishing attendance and revenue. We stopped going.
(Think about it…if you have kids in the last 20 years or so…did you ever consider taking em to Ontario Place? You took kids to Canada’s Wonderland, Great Wolf Lodge, the Islands…there’s a distinct generation that has never experienced Ontario Place. Or Honest Ed’s.)
That’s why Ontario Place is not a Doug Ford issue. Ford was first elected in 2018. Most certainly, Ford is an issue in the future but he’s not the primary reason why Ontario Place closed in 2012. This is an us problem. We stopped going.
We made choices along the way.
Maybe we believed these locations would be around forever.
Maybe they were mismanaged.
Maybe everything isn’t meant to last forever but just for a season or two.
All valid.
So is the simple truth: we stopped going.
Your Tomorrow silently captures Ontario Place in this limbo phase…stuck between a bright past and murky future.
Imagine the meditative calm before a neighborhood experiences life-altering gentrification.
Ontario Place reopened its doors in 2015 as a public park, with no programming. In this My Summer Lair conversation; Ali Weinstein and I draw parallels between Ontario Place and Central Park in New York City.
Ontario Place has slowly evolved into a destination for walkers, cyclists, swimmers, paddleboarders, beach partiers, birdwatchers, lake watchers and human watchers, along with concert-goers.
And that’s the central question: what do you want Ontario Place to be?
Should Ontario Place remain a park?
Should Ontario Place offer programming? Central Park offers free Shakespeare in the Park at Delacorte Theater.
Should Ontario Place become something…else? If so…what?
How should Ontario Place evolve?
Who has a compelling vision for what Ontario Place could become?
It’s not enough to simply reject Doug Ford’s subpar spa proposal. Don’t sell me a negative nightmare, pitch me a delightful dream.
When these crucial local locations I listed above have closed…we often failed to gain anything fresh or unique.
Don’t you want something better for the city?
Don’t you want something cool for the city?
With Ontario Place we have a rare opportunity to dream: to mold the future like it’s clay.
Complain or Create: Ya Can’t Do Both.
It’s Your Tomorrow. And today is the day you get to decide what happens.
The Best Part of Dreaming Is All The Sleeping…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
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