Lost Ottawa Facebook 2021
You can view the posts in various ways. You can read the descriptions on this page and see the initial comments. You can click on the three dots at the bottom of a post to see more comments. You can click on the picture to see a “full screen” version of the picture with comments. You can view the original post on Facebook and leave more comments there.
At the bottom of the page there is a “Get More Posts” link that will load additional posts to the page. We are still working on ways to make the posts more searchable.
Here's a Sunday Drive waiting to happen ... well a Sunday Ride, anyway. It's a Supercycle of ancient vintage spotted downtown recently.
It's also a convertible. The crossbar at the top is made out of tin. You could remove it to turn this into a "girl's bike," as we use to say.
Good for the day when your sister "grows into it," although I should say the whole bike is about 30 inches high.
21 CommentsComment on Facebook
I had a the green one. My Dad took me to CTC, let me pick it out, then took me to my Grandfather's place on Gilmour street to learn how to ride it. Instead of, lets say, a school parking lot or something more safe.. I'm pretty sure it was around $35 in 1966.
My guess, with the head tube decal, this would be from ‘76 - since it mimics the Olympic cycling logo.
Sorry to see this great page is defunct. 
Here's the last of our pedestrian bridge time-lapse videos. We've gone east to west, so this time it's the Terry Fox pedestrian bridge in Kanata.
I know I say you never see anyone in them when you are driving underneath ... which was exactly the case when I drove under four of them today (I checked as I went by). But in fact, each time I went to make a video, wouldn't you know it, there was always somebody on each bridge. Kanata was probably the busiest, followed by the Jackie Holzman/Harmer Avenue bridge.
I'm using the series to draw attention to the Lost Ottawa YouTube channel where we've got many videos already and will be posting more every week. If you subscribe, you'll be notified when a new video is posted.
9 CommentsComment on Facebook
What I assume was the original bridge here.
So on the lost ottawa youtube channel , why is it filled with time-lapse from Toronto?
Did I miss your Airport Parkway post?
Here we go with a fourth walk over an Ottawa pedestrian bridge -- this time the Jackie Holzman pedestrian bridge you see over the Queensway near the Parkdale exit.
It connects the two halves of Harmer Avenue, right beside right beside the old Fisher Park High School (which is now a community centre and middle school, I believe).
View the video on our YouTube channel and subscribe or give the movie a like there. Any or all of those things will help us out.
Thanks to all the people who have subscribed so far!
20 CommentsComment on Facebook
Can you stop with the whole “pedestrian bridges that never seem to have anyone in them” spiel at the beginning of each of these videos?
You never see anyone on them because travellers are never stuck in traffic jams. A convenient, quick, safe crossing.
I wish the city would stop naming places after people. Eventually the cancel generation will want names changed.
For those of you who didn't see it already, here's a walk over another Ottawa pedestrian bridge -- this time the Max Keeping Pedestrian Bridge over the Queensway, just east of the Vanier Parkway.
This bridge connects the parking lot of the baseball stadium on Coventry to the transit and train stations on Tremblay Road.
I guess it could get a lot of use if the stadium held more events, but the stadium is about as empty as the bridge most of the time. Seems like it would be a good place for small outdoor concerts and such?
You can see this video and more on the Lost Ottawa YouTube channel. Give it a like on YouTube. Subscribe! Once it reaches a certain threshold, good things will happen -- like I can actually give my channel a real name instead of a number!
19 CommentsComment on Facebook
There was a concert / festival there last weekend or the weekend before. And a baseball team is coming for the 2022 season.
No doubt many teen age boys in Ottawa not comfortable crossing the Max Creeping bridge. If Sir John A statues are removed then Max's name should be removed from this bridge. Ottawa's dirty little secret.
This would have been useful back when I worked at the stadium. My understanding of why it wasn’t used for concerts more often was that it damages the infield… and people always complained about the noise. In case you thought Vanier and the Glebe had nothing in common.
We're back with a new video in which we walk the Blair Road Pedestrian Bridge ... now there's excitement for you!
This is the second of five bridge videos we'll be posting this week. Goofy stuff, but I've learned a lot that I'll be using in upcoing historical videos.
You can see these movies and more on the Lost Ottawa YouTube channel where I'll be adding more movies as fast as I can. Don't forget to subscribe!
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
I lived in Pineview (the neighbourhood it connects to) for many years and used this bridge a LOT. It was a vital link for many people, to get them to the transit station and the mall (which is, of course, precisely why it was built in the first place).
I took that bridge every day for years, as did a lot of other people, back when there were still people working at Telesat and the other buildings around there. Can’t say I miss it.
Yep. Never seems to have anyone on them 🙄
This morning I'm trying to repost the video that didn't appear in last night's post ... in which we walk the Orleans Pedestrian Bridge.
An experiment to see why things aren't working.
This is the first of five bridge videos we'll be posting in the evenings this week. You can see these movies and more on the Lost Ottawa YouTube channel as I post them. Don't forget to subscribe!
www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb_glIK66SHpokNwBKar6g
7 CommentsComment on Facebook
Oh that bridge. I couldn’t count on how many times my friends and I use to run away from the mall security when it was Intelegard there. Lol. Skipped classes to go to the arcade in the mall.
soon to be lost is the pedestrian bridge from Carling to Lincoln Fields Transit Station for the continuing LRT Stage 2 construction…it closes permanently on Sept. 20 I think.
I wonder how one will get to either side when the train stops below… Anyone has an idea?
Greetings! We've been on a short hiatus. Now we're back with a new video in which (drum roll ... ) we walk the Blair Road Pedestrian Bridge.
This is the first of five bridge videos we'll be posting in the evenings this week. Goofy stuff ... I've been using to learn new software. Now I have it out of my system!
You can see these movies and more on the Lost Ottawa YouTube channel. I'll be adding new movies over the next few weeks, and old videos as as fast as I can repackage them. Don't forget to subscribe!
www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb_glIK66SHpokNwBKar6g
7 CommentsComment on Facebook
Glad you're back...you've been missed!
There is no Blair Road pedestrian bridge...;-)
Post says Blair, video shows Orleans.
This is our last day of daily posts to Lost Ottawa so we wanted to let you know about another resource available to you — the Lost Ottawa Channel on YouTube.
That’s right! We’re putting our old as well as our new videos on YouTube. Here’s the link to the page:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb_glIK66SHpokNwBKar6g
Meanwhile, here’s a sample featuring CP 1201 on its way to Wakefield ... as reflected in the Gatineau River. We'll be adding more and more videos in the coming days, so be sure to subscribe! You be notified each time anew video goes up.
21 CommentsComment on Facebook
Hope this doesn't mean you're shutting down the page entirely as I have found it an absolute well of information about this city.
Hi Mr. Lost, may I suggest pinning the Gone Fishing post to the top of the posts? It’ll save having to explain exactly what’s going on with the page, and would clarify it for all of us who care. For everyone else, the daily posts are stopping, the page isn’t dead, they’re writing more books, and go subscribe to the Youtube channel.
Moved back here after 50 years in the U.S. and it sure was a pleasure living through the memories again. Thank you.
This is the last day of our daily Lost Ottawa posts, but we've got something extra for you -- repository of all Lost Ottawa posts ever, starting in 2013.
The repository is on the website, where you can browse by year.
It works pretty well, but It's not perfect. You can't search the repository, for example. Ee'll be replacing it with a permanent and searchable repository as soon as when we can.
lostottawa.ca/lost-ottawa-facebook-posts-2013/
Lost Ottawa Facebook 2013 - Lost Ottawa
lostottawa.ca
On this page you can browse all the great Lost Ottawa pictures and posts that appeared on Facebook for 2013.53 CommentsComment on Facebook
I learned so much about my city from this page. Thank you for all you’ve done. I’ll miss these wonderful posts every day.
I have to thank you. Have been abroad for 7'ish years and when I found your page it became a kind of being home away from home. ❣
I looked forward to your new posts every single day….they will be sorely missed. I learned so much about the Ottawa where my parents lived and worked, got married, had their children and built their houses. I loved and appreciated all the photos and stories folks contributed to the site, and the way Lost Ottawa wrote them up and sparked even more interest in them. An amazing ride!
One last photo Lost Ottawa photo from the Glebe.
Shared by Elizabeth Smith, who writes:
"My great grandfather, Alexander William Newlands, owned capital hardware on Fifth Avenue. He was from Scotland. I just found this ad in my granny’s belongings. They were very proud of their Scottish heritage."
22 CommentsComment on Facebook
Wow, this is nice to see. My father bought the business in 1970 and operated it in that same location at Bank and Fifth until he moved to Bank and Second. Great memories in that store.
Friend and I dropped in the Hardware store in the 60's to see if they might have any old car parts forgotten in the basement. They had 5 Monitor heat meters for a rad cap tucked up in a corner in the very damp basement we could have. Unfortunately the dampness played havoc on the pot metal and this is the only one I took, the others destroyed by the dampness. This is is also damaged and a bit twisted. Odd it says Celsius for a late 20 / early 30 car. Boyce MotoMeters just say Steam if the red goes beyond the circle.
Going to miss Lost Ottawa I worked there in 1982 loved that store
This is the last day of daily posts from Lost Ottawa and I wanted to start off with some pictures of a place that was very important to us and to you -- the Green Valley Restaurant on Prince of Wales.
Way back in 2013, a postcard of the Green Valley was the first Lost Ottawa post that really got people talking to each other. The picture racked up hundreds of likes and more than 16,000 views at a time when LO itself had only 250 members. Showed we were onto something!
As for the pics, first we have the "blue rinse" ladies, as so many people called them, posing with the owner and staff. Next we have the kitchen where all the food was made. Finally we have the three dining rooms: the Pine Room, the Walnut Room and the Guards Room.
The Green Valley Restaurant -- definitely in the top five of Ottawa's Most Lost!
(Photos shared by Helen Souter)
225 CommentsComment on Facebook
Thanks so much for all the memories. You and all the contributors have put smiles on a lot of faces and made us think and remember, which is wonderful. Thanks again.
April 1957, my future husband took me there for our first date, it was a blind date for me because I had not seen or met him yet, even tho' he knew what I looked like. Along sweet story and almost 60 years together. By the way it was a wonderful lunch.
Thank you so much for all the Lost Ottawa postings, they were always a treat to see when they dropped into my FB feed (and you can't say that about a lot of the stuff that drops in !! ) It was also one where I enjoyed reading everyone's comments too. Thanks to everyone for all the research, photos and write-ups !
Here's our last CFRA Top 40, featuring the top hits in Ottawa for this very day in 1966, when "Yellow Submarine" was at Number One.
The great thing about this Swing Set is the "all that's left" section on the front and back sides. It's about the CFRA contest that saw 36 lucky fans go to Toronto to see John Paul George and Ringo and Maple Leaf Gardens -- courtesy of Sherman's Music Land and Royal Burger!
I wonder if any of the survivors are on Lost Ottawa? Trip must have been a riot!
(Shared by Ken Clavette)
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
Listened to Al Pascal every night while doing homework. ‘Picked up’ the Swing Set list of weekly songs in the newspaper. I recognize most songs on this list 👍. My husband worked at the Bank St Royal Burger - he is a great cook to this day 🤗. Thanks for the memories!!
Lost Ottawa, thank you for posting this.!! I was one of the lucky 36 on that bus!! And you are right, the concert at Maple Leaf Gardens sure was a blast for a kid from Ottawa who loved the Beatles. I'll never forget it!!
Thanks for posting these.i was always surprised at how many titles I recgnized
"A 1846 write up of Bytown!" shared by Jennifer Fenwick Irwin.
It's a description of our fair city in the Canadian Gazetteer from back in the day when "Principal Taverns" was something to be stressed, as you see on page 3.
There were four of them, apparently. The Dalhousie Hotel and the Exchange for Upper Town drinkers, and the British Hotel and Ottawa House in Lower Town.
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
At that time, there were the legal taverns, the other taverns or alehouses operated in homes, and shebeens: illegal gin joints that mainly served poitin or potcheen (homebrewed raw whisky made from potato or any number of vegetables or fruit). For more about the Hooch in the valley: www.capitalchronicles.ca/post/what-s-yer-poison-the-hooch-in-the-valley
Coles reprinted this in the late 1960s or 1970s. I have a copy that I used to keep in the car while diving around Ontario. Fascinating reading.
Is this the same WH Smith from the bookstore chain?!
Hey it's that time again. Time for the Ottawa Historical Society to start its annual speaker series.
Up first is a great talk about the Ottawa music scene of the 1960s by Jim Hurcomb who recently published a book on the topic.
The date is Wednesday, September 15 at 7 pm. It's gonna be good and it's going to be virtual, so check out the poster for how to attend via Zoom.Three weeks from tonight, we launch our Fall HSO Speaker Series with Jim Hurcomb reliving Ottawa's "Golden Age of Rock and Roll" of the 1950s and 1960s.
Visit our website for full details and the link to pre-register:
www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/activities/events/eventdetail/43/16,17/rockin-on-the-rideau-ottawa...
1 CommentComment on Facebook
This was my favorite song as a youngster
Sue Hodgkinson poses the question:
"Who remembers this album?"
The pic is very small, but the name of the song appears to be "Feel Like a Target."
11 CommentsComment on Facebook
“Feel like a Target” got a lot of airplay. Great band 👍🏻
The Darts were a superb band!!!
Um omg YES!!! I used to see them downstairs from The Penguin on Elgin St - The Roxy? I remember hanging out with a guy from the band - Ron something...
Lost Ottawa homed edition shared by Shon Besharah.
Writes Shon:
"I was trying to find info about an old place on Merivale Road and stumbled on this. It's all the members of the old home-builders association.
It's cool that my step dad Larry Armstrong and my day Moe Besharah are on it ... but look at all the companies and addresses. I grew up hearing so many of these names as a kid at dinner.
(06 Sep 1958, 16 - The Ottawa Citizen at Newspapers.com)
9 CommentsComment on Facebook
High Auntie Bev I believe Jack entertained us at the "Colonel Bye Lounge". Always a fun evening when he was there. Hugs Rick and Celia
Thank you for this. I was told my house was built by a builder for himself, and the family name was Tremblay. I always planned to investigate further but haven’t yet … I see a Tremblay on this list, and the time frame is right.
Amazing amount of well known names in OTTAWA.
Ed Macies shares a follow-up to a post we had about an Ottawa landmark near somerset.
Writes Ed:
"A few days ago there was a post about a "castle" on the tracks near Somerset Bridge. Here are two photos I took about 1970 or so. It was a coal shed originally used by Bruce Coal Ltd. Perhaps one of the railroad guys can tell us what it did and how it worked... (Colin Churcher?)."
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
I gather this is the structure along the rail line in Bayswater that people were recalling in comments on a recent post?
Is it still there?
I think these are called "coal silos". They kept the coal cars (and delivery trucks ?) filled, that's what the chutes are for. I wonder how they loaded these ?
Among the best posts we've ever had on Lost Ottawa were pictures of the chick hatchery at the Science and Tech Museum on St. Laurent.
Thousands of (former) kids remember climbing up on the fried egg-shaped hatchery to watch the eggs crack and the chicks peep out.
The hatchery disappeared in the 1990s. Definitely among Ottawa Most Lost.
63 CommentsComment on Facebook
Ok it totally looks like a fried egg in this pic, but I remember it being more like a flying saucer. 🤣🤣
I remember this! Highlight of the museum...wait... aside from the trains...and the crazy kitchen...hard to pick a favourite!
It was my favourite place as a kid. They used to have so many more interactive displays. I also remember when they had the Hologram exhibit.
We had a couple of great posts over the years about the knife sharpening guys, going all the way back to the guys who walked the street with the green carts and sharpening stones, ringing that lonesome bell.
Yesterday I heard that bell on Clemow Street and barely had time to grab my phone ...
You probably can't see it, but Carlo gave me a big wave that made me laugh. And then a lady flagged him down ... so there's business yet!
54 CommentsComment on Facebook
And the bell from the knife sharpening cart and the one on the Dickie Dee ice cream had different rings so you knew whether to run out with a couple bucks, or walk out with your Mother’s dull knives.
we've had him around here and he works hours at the Home Hardware store so it's easy to get the knives sharpened with both options.
I remember the gentleman pushing his cart to sharpen knives and scissors around 1956 coming down Kilbarry ? to Dunvegan where we lived.
We're in our last days of daily posts on Lost Ottawa and getting some last shares. Here's one from Kelly Lynn.
Writes Kelly:
"I'd like to share a novel i read a few years ago by Darren Jarome of Ottawa. Its called "Lower Town". It is a fictional novel of Bytown in the very early years. Some of our ancestors would have experienced these same things. The research that went and the detail, well i couldn't put it down. Darren said a second may come out."
Only a few bucks to buy online!
8 CommentsComment on Facebook
Did I miss something? last days of daily posts on Lost Ottawa??
Where can I buy this book?
Here's the link for the book at Chapters: www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/home/search/?keywords=darren%20jarome#internal=1&page=0&pid=97809812...
A cool Shelby Ford Mustang on Preston Street in Ottawa. Hey, and another classic right behind it, going the other way.
Volkswagen vans, I've driven. Still time for the Mustang!
Our intrepid Ottawa detectives worked hard to figure out where on Preston Street this might be -- not easy given so many changes in the neighborhood. Lucio D'Orazio pegged the location 262-268 Preston, just south of Gladstone. Buildings are still there, but they don't look like this anymore.
Picture taken by Valdine Dewan in 1971 and shared by Laurel Dewan in 2013.
16 CommentsComment on Facebook
Based on the Mustang's front-high stance, I suspect it was in the midst of a hard acceleration when the picture was taken. That happened a lot with the Shelbys. 😊
I know where that is, I lived on Preston and Aberdeen across from the Shell garage, next to the spic and span dry cleaners.
No, they do not. (Google Streetview Nov 2020)
You've seen it in the sky over Ottawa. A red Waco biplane. The Red Baron everbody calls it. Everybody I know anyway.
We decided to take a ride. Eighty-five bucks a person for 15 minutes, although our video is closer to five. Enough time to take you over downtown and back to Rockcliffe. Mrs. Lost and I thought it was well-worth it.
The flight is most fun and you get the best view when the plane banks into a turn, but not scary at all. With a smooth ride and the drone of the engine, it's actually kind of peaceful.
www.ottawaaviationadventures.com/
27 CommentsComment on Facebook
Just for the record, we live right under the flight path it always takes (Beacon Hill) and the sound is such that conversation has to stop or everyone raises their voice. Every 15 minutes. The whole summer. So...I ( and most residents of the area) do not share your love for this flying antique...
Surprisingly it is easy to spot when you are flying in the same airspace. We shared the runway with it and its predecessor, a Boeing Steerman biplane, when I flew my 172 at Rockliffe. Have to take that ride myself some day.
Sweet! We think we saw you over the Queensway at about 11:20, Monday, as you were eastbound. Pretty difficult to miss a biplane, the approach and landing at Rockliffe brought back many happy memories.
Here's a classic old Chinese Restaurant that's about to go -- the Dragon on Montreal Road past the Aviation Parkway near Bathgate.
Shared by Eileen Whyte who writes:
"It will be torn down soon. My parents went there on a date in 1967. We always got meals from The Dragon on special occasions over the last 50 years."
181 CommentsComment on Facebook
Wow.. I enjoyed their buffet.. I remember having food challenges with my friends as a youth there. It was a complete ordeal. We would make sure we had comfortable clothing to wear and our routines in place.. we made sure to drink only water so we wouldn't fill up on soda that would interfere with our meal.. started off with the won ton soup, then the main course (a few times) and finally dessert.. it was an event for us, we had it down to a science, those were great times. Might have to go now to soak in the nostalgia before it gets demolished.
This restaurant was special to my family. We got dinner almost every Saturday for years.
Grew up in the west end. Was always good eating at the Sun Luck or Lucky Key
Paul Couvrette shares a post about his search for the homes of his ancestors. Amazing what history you can find around Ottawa.
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158034481440807&set=a.143539020806&type=3
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.37 CommentsComment on Facebook
Whoa...just sent to me....1969 view of the house.
Paul: that is a great find for you at 276 Bruyere Street, formerly Water Street. Hope you succeed in having a tour of the house your ancestors lived in in the 19th century!
Very cool story! Good for you, doing all that leg work to track that down!
Barb Hughes shares a memory of Ottawa's Rockcliffe Airbase, which is still in the process of redevelopment.
Writes Barb:
"I use to have a friend (Paula or Pamela), a little blonde-headed girl, growing up in the 1970s and she lived in one of these houses on CFB Rockcliffe. I remember going down there and hanging out with her and her family. I also had a friend named Kenny Sam (his name I remember) who lived in the same housing complex as me on Carson's Road and his parents were in the military. He always entered those car derbies on base and I would go and watch him. There was always a lot to do as a kid on base back then, military or not. Sad the base was abandoned."
64 CommentsComment on Facebook
I used to work in Gloucester and once, to cut trafic, I unknowingly ended up on the base. It was mostly abandoned by then, just a few families still lived there. It was so eery! It felt like I stumbled upon one of "Dharma's Initiatives" by mistake...
the whole area is nearly unrecognizable now. entire streets were moved/removed. of course, different buildings with the new residential, but what used to exist only does so in our memories now.
“Happy Memories of Rockcliffe Military Base” is a great site to remember Rockcliffe as it was 😊. I spent 10 happy childhood years there…dad was in RCAF Central band
Welcome to Ottawa! Here's two pictures we published way back in 2013, having to do with my own early memories of life on Queensline Drive in Graham Park, then in Nepean.
Barely removed from Victoria, BC, we arrived just in time for the Great Snow of 1971-71. Guess who got the job of shoveling?
Over the years we've had some fantastic tales of surviving the Great Snow. I would say it's one Ottawa's 50 most lost subjects. Many people would like it to stay lost!
47 CommentsComment on Facebook
I did my driver's ed at school that winter and literally learned to drive in a snow storm. To this day driving in snow has never caused me an issue. I also recall 3 snow days that winter and spending each of them at Camp Fortune. As an avid skier I remember this winter fondly and know I was still skiing at Fortune on the 3rd weekend in April.
I grew up in Bells Corners and remember this well. The snow was up to the roof of our bungalow and we were able to easily climb onto it. We didn’t own a snowblower so shovelling was the order of the day. The snowbanks were so high you couldn’t see if anyone was walking by in the street.
We came back home in March, 1971 after a government posting to Kingston, Jamaica. After 2 years of no snow, we were so excited to see snowbanks as high as our carport roof. It was a great winter to be a kid in Ottawa. ⛄️
Actually, I don't fish, but I wanted to give you all a wee heads-up. As of this Friday, the daily posts of Lost Ottawa pictures will come to an end.
That’s right. The daily posts, every morning and every night, will be a thing of the past.
Don't worry, Lost Ottawa won’t be “lost!” We’ve got more books to write. Plus, we’ll keep posting, but on an occasional basis and mostly about new videos.
I want to thank all the people of the community who’ve contributed their pictures, likes, and comments over the years. Together we’ve built up an incredible -- I would even say unprecedented -- repository of information about living, working and growing up in Ottawa in the second half of the 2Oth Century. That knowledge won’t disappear and it won’t be wasted.
Why are we changing things? One reason is that after eight years and more than 16,000 posts I’ve run out of steam. A second reason is that no great new sources of images are emerging so we are beginning to repeat ourselves, which tells me we’ve completed the task of documenting our era.
The third reason is the most important. I’ve got at least five other projects on the go. At my age (and maybe as the lessons of the past few years have shown us), it’s time to get on with them.
162 CommentsComment on Facebook
Thanks to everyone for their kind words. I really appreciate it. It just goes to show the kind of community we were able to build. I'm so proud of that.❤️ 🇨🇦
The dedication of Mr, and yes Mrs, Lost Ottawa has been amazing. You have posted twice a day even when out of the country. You have helped so many find the lost history of the community and exposed us to an Ottawa beyond the Capital City which is what is too often all that is seen. Looking forward to your videos, and of course those surprises that you will share. Particularly when you get bored, see a classic car when out and about, or you desperately want us to see something we should. 😉 ❤ (Can you hit a repeat button on fB and just start us back at the beginning and we'll do it all over again? 😆)
Your contribution to promoting awareness of Ottawa’s fascinating past has been immense David. Thank you so much!
We're going back to our roots this week, posting pictures from our early years when Lost Ottawa was very small and you might not have seen them.
One fabulous source of pictures for us in the beginning was Laurel Dewan, who shared many street photography pictures taken by Norm McLeod. Here's one taken on Sparks Street in the early 1970s.
Wrote Laurel:
"Sparks Street Mall. The yo-yo busker guy amusing an audience of little kids. Don't think he was going to get much pay for his act but look at their faces ..."
(Lost Ottawa December 19, 2013)
9 CommentsComment on Facebook
They look delighted! Great memories of the city. Keep up the sharing. It almost always puts a smile on my face.
When I was in grade 5 or 6 1960 a guy selling YOYOs would come to school and do tricks even a "hair cut" of some kid that would stand very still as a YOYO wizzed by both sides of his head getting closer and closer after the show we would buy YOYOs and string off him. String you say nothing worse than your YOYO flying off as the string broke in the middle of "around the world". I had great fun and still have a YOYO today.
and look at the children....different 'fashions'...not the abandoned, refugee look....
If you live in downtown Ottawa you might have heard the rumblings of fireworks over the past week or so. Here's how they had fun in September of 1901.
First, a big illuminated arch over the entrance to Parliament Hill because, hey, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York were in town.
Next, Centre Block all lit up with, yes, light bulbs!
Electric lights were official turned on in Centre Block on the 17th of January 1884.
(LAC C009634 and C002180)
6 CommentsComment on Facebook
Here is a daytime view of the arch, looking south on Metcalfe at Sparks Street (McCord Museum v6740)
The four-way arch was at the intersection of Metcalfe and Sparks. Here is a description from the Journal, Sept. 20, 1901:
The photograph reminded me of the 'pictures' we used to make on screen during computer classes! Strange to see Centre Block without the Peace Tower.
Mark Taverna shares the Evening Puzzler and a boyhood reminiscence about and old Ottawa landmark.
Writes Mark:
"This is a Google Street View image of the southwestern side of the O-Train tracks below the bridge on Somerset West, a few blocks before it merges with Wellington.
When I was a small boy in about 1971, my mother and I moved to the Governor de Ville Apartments on Bayswater. One of the first things I remember seeing in my new neighborhood as we moved in was an ancient-looking stone tower that stood approximately where I have placed the red rectangle on the photograph.
I remember being fascinated by this tower every time we crossed the bridge. It looked like something from the medieval era, old, mysterious and crumbling, built with huge stone blocks and surrounded by bushes and trees. I used to imagine it was a haunted wizard's tower from a storybook. I think I could see the top of it from the Devonshire schoolyard.
Probably fortunately for me, by the time I started going out in the neighborhood unsupervised with my school friends about early 1974, the tower had been demolished. I likely would have tried to climb to the top and broken my neck.
Obviously it served some simple function for the rail line, but to me it was a place of mystery and imagination.
I would love to see a photograph of my old haunted Wizard's tower and learn more about it."
10 CommentsComment on Facebook
I grew up on Somerset, between Bayswater and Spadina—before your childhood apartment building was built. We didn’t have a car so walked across that bridge to St. Luke’s church on Sundays. i don’t remember the tower you speak of but I do remember the mysteries of the train yards and roundhouse.
Bruce Fuels had a fuel depot there and there was a siding where tanker cars would be parked for offloading of diesel, furnace and other types of fuels. Probably it was related to the offload of the tankers
1958 aerial image gives the clearest picture. appears to be demolished after sometime after 1976
We have another puzzler this morning, featuring these gentlemen somewhere in Ottawa. Looks like Parliament Hill judging by the tower in behind.
Shared by Jason Cohen, who asks:
"Can someone please tell me what the significance of this photo and signature is. Thank you in advance."
20 CommentsComment on Facebook
I recognize PM MacKenzie King, Cabinet Minister Paul Martin Sr., and I think the man in military uniform might be South African WW2 General Jan Christian Smuts. Clearly it's a photo taken after war ended.
The signature is James Joseph McCann, Minister of National War Services
The man in the uniform looks like Jan Smuts of South Africa. He visited Ottawa in 1945
Postcard from Lost Ottawa ... featuring Ottawa's "Central" Station and also the Morning Puzzler.
What's the problem? Well, if you look at the color postcard you'll see the station had a dome on it, which I always thought was lost in the 1950s. However, the second postcard is a photograph that shows a weird turret on top and no dome.
On the other hand, the second image appears to be a photo, and it appears to be a later picture on account of all the cars, so what gives? It's true that postcard makers were known to take liberties, but ... ⁉️
23 CommentsComment on Facebook
the turret seems to be there in this photo from 1916. I think it is on top of the dome.
The turret is simply the "working" part of the dome, which appears to have just been a shell, likely there for aesthetics. The dome was easier to look at and blended in better than the turret, which is likely water storage. Heavy snow may have damaged the dome so it was removed, leaving the turret exposed.
The turret looks like it is with a different bldg or maybe even a water tank/tower
It's so hot in Ottawa, you're probably inside chillin' to some cool music from the Sixties. Linda Seccaspina has ideas for your playlist!
Her post includes a great assemblage of photos, clippings and even set lists related to two Ottawa bands of the time. You can feel the fun.
Clippings of –The Naughty Boys –The Eastern Passage -60s Music
lindaseccaspina.wordpress.com
CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada02 Dec 1966, Fri CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada02 Dec 1966, Fri Married to Bob Gauthier —Since November 18, 1972 I …5 CommentsComment on Facebook
I remember the Eastern Passage and its band members as being (alphabetical order): Larry Corrigan - bass Bob Cote - lead guitar Larry Evans - guitar John Fortier - drums Bobby Gauthier - keyboards John Lacasse - lead vocal & guitar Roadies - Larry Copping and occasionally my brother Peter.
They played FRiday night dances at my high school!
A huge thank you goes out to Linda for the clippings. It was so cool to see my dad's band (Thee Deuces) being mentioned. I have that Ottawa Rocks (The Sir John A Years) CD, and has a great selection of bands from around the valley back in the 60's.
A Vanier Triptych, featuring three views looking down over the Cummings Bridge that connects Rideau Street in Ottawa to Montreal Road in Eastview.
The date is 1957. Most noticeable to me is ... no Eastview Plaza. Also, I don't think I ever noticed there were low-rise apartment buildings on Mark Avenue. Nice?
(City of Ottawa Archives CA008070, 71, and 72)
20 CommentsComment on Facebook
City buys Cummings Island.
I like the old pictures of this area. My Mom was born in Eastview in 1942 and I always tease her about it, but I like to see what the area looked like back in her day.
Looks like a building on the island in the Rideau River on the east side of the bridge???? I don't recall seeing that - and I crossed that bridge thousands of times in the 70s and 80s.
It's not the Ottawa Ex ... but it is a fair being assembled in the back of the Earl Armstrong Arena.
It's the Fun Fair (at least I think that is the name), which will be raising money for the Gloucester Food Cupboard at Earl Armstrong this weekend, August 20 through 22.
I did not know the Fair had been in Kanata earlier. Later in September the Fun Fair will be at the Ray Friel Recreation Complex in Orleans in support of the the school breakfast program.
30 CommentsComment on Facebook
I miss the Gloucester Fair, so many great childhood memories, i hope they bring it back..fun needs to be had again in the east end and it helps for good causes.
It looks like the same people that did the construction for the LRT
My mom was on the board for the Gloucester fair so we used to spend a lot of time there. I recall seeing the spoons there and possibly the box?
When the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York came to Ottawa in September of 1901, the city made a special electric streetcar for the future King George V and Queen Mary to ride around in. Here we have it, inside and out.
So nice to commute in an armchair. Idea to boost ridership on the LRT?
"According to the description, "the interior of the car consists of polished oak, a 3-ply Birds Eye Maple roof, plate mirrors in frames, solid bronze hat racks, window curtains, incandescent lamps, floor covering in royal blue velvet and easy chairs upholstered in olive green velvet."
23 CommentsComment on Facebook
yes, I won't use anything but the solid bronze hat racks, myself...
what will boost ridership will be trains that don't break down every week due to weather, defective wheels, derailments, axle issues, etc
The City of Ottawa Museums have one of the original armchairs. Bytown Museum might have one as well?
Just got a request for a picture of Bagel Bagel, an eatery down in the Market, I beleive.
Here's the only photo we ever had, which we posted way back in 2013. Love the hairdo's.
No idea about the original source.
167 CommentsComment on Facebook
Bagel Bagel was where we went after partying! They were the only eatery open 24/7
That is me Joey Rhys-Jones. My friend Doric who died in the 1990s Greg Mathieu, Bianka Lambert ,Pierre, a friend who died in the 1990s, Natalie Jean and Brigitte.
Oh my! I worked at Stoney Mondays; first outdoor patio in town. It’s now a Starbucks. Of course. We went to Bagel Bagel after work. Was a novel idea then. Such a fun time.
We've got the beginnings of a fabulous Ottawa steampunk novel here as this steam shovel crew digs deeper and deeper into the ground between Elgin Street and the old Post Office in 1938.
Sure they "said" they were digging a foundation for the War Memorial. But we know they were digging for something else. Treasure maybe. Tunnels down there for sure!
And how did they get the steam shovel out of the hole when they got to the bottom ... or is it still there!?
25 CommentsComment on Facebook
Call in Marty and Rick from Oak Island. They'll get to the bottom of it...in about 12 seasons. 😄
Fuller has one restored and was sitting on the berm at back of their yard on the Queensway as you exit to Pinecrest. With Watson's choo choo folly it seems to have disappeared. It sat for years at the pit on Clyde Ave until he picked it up and restored it. Yes I also call excavators "steam shovels".
Maybe it was converted into a boiler for the building’s heating system. #MikeMulliganAndHisSteamShovel
Some future version of Lost Ottawa will want to post this.
Made me laugh when I came across it recently.
0 CommentsComment on Facebook