There’s cause for a little celebration here at Birch Cliff News.
After less than three months online we’ve just passed the mark of 20,000 page views.
It’s an interesting statistic when you consider the neighbourhood only has 13,100 residents.
We reached this milestone by having our busiest day ever yesterday – no doubt due to the fact that there was good news for a change on the flooding situation in Birch Cliff.
Thanks to everyone!
I want to take a moment and thank everybody out there who’s reading the website and passing it along to their friends.
I especially want to thank the dozen or so writers who’ve stepped forward and offered to write a story (some of them more than one!) as well as the scores of people who are emailing fantastic story ideas.
We live in a wonderful community!
To mark the occasion, I thought I would post a top ten list of the most-viewed stories to date because it shows we’re a diverse lot — interested in everything from floods…to birds of prey…to the Birchmount Prom.
Ugly clean-up after storm- Basement Flooding Map
- A message from Toronto Water
- Upset homeowners at flooding meeting
- Severe storm floods Birch Cliff
- Raptor Watch at Rosetta McClain
- $200K damage in Variety Village flood
- Giant birch tree mural
- Birchmount Collegiate Prom 2012
- Mayor Ford visits Birch Cliff
Thanks again for your support. Keep those stories ideas coming! And if there’s anyone else out there who wants to write something, please let us know. There’s room for anyone who wants to participate and we value your help.
Hedy Korbee
Congratulations on creating and sharing such a great community resource!
I love this site!
You inspired me to take a walk along Kingston Road yesterday.
The first time I have done so since the 1960s.
Things looked the same yet different.
Most of the stores and restaurants I remember from my youth have gone.
Many of the buildings are still there but vacant.
Birch Cliff Public School looked the same but smaller.
I used to think the wooded area near Kingston Road was a forest.
There had been a couple of apple trees there where you could still get edible fruit in the 1960s there were also some pear trees when I was a kid but you had to be careful because Wasps could be inside the pears.
St.Nicholas Church hadn’t changed at all.
The Cinema where I saw “Moon-Spinners” in 1964 and fell in love with “Hayley Mills” is now an Ambulance Station.
The TD Bank where I opened my first ever account at the age of 10 is still there. The Loblaws is vacant and the Dry Cleaners where my sister had her first ever part time job is an Art Gallery however it was nice to see the Dry Cleaners name and telephone number is still viasable on the awning.
Does the awning stay up all of the time now or is it ever lowered?
I don’t think I noticed any lowered awnings?
When I was a child most stores pulled out the awnings during business hours.
Hunts Bakery is gone but still reconizable by the colour of tile.
My Dentist “Dr Freeman” had been at 1478 Kingston Road.
I used to get my hair cut every Saturday at “Nick’s Barber Shop” up the laneway on the right at 1468.
I took a walk up but it looks like all of the retail units have been conversted to residential ( I even had $2.00 with me in case his prices hadn’t changed )
“Beckers” was still in the same place but smaller I think it previously included the area where “Wimpys Dinner” is now. Seeing “Beckers” brought back memories of riding my bike home to “Red Deer Avenue” with a one gallon milk bottle hanging off each handle.
Seeing 1711 Kingston Road brought me memories of our fist Christmas back in Canada after living in Australia for five years.
“Birch Cliff United Church” looked the same only the name had changed.
When I was a Cub Scout we met there Friday nights.
The Synagogue at 250 Warden Avenue is now a Tamil Bible Chapel.
And Taylor Library no longer has a Moose Head on the front porch.
You’ve painted a lovely picture of Birch Cliff in the 1960’s William! I love it so much that I would like to copy it and make it a post, illustrating it with some of the historic photos you’ve posted to Vintage Toronto. Is that OK with you?
Go for it !
One other fond memory you may want to include is of “Mr Wideman” the principal of “Birch Cliff Public School” he would go out in the school yard at lunch time and hit base balls. If you caught one you got a dime.