Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
View of Main Street (Formerly Hwy 11B) in Huntsville, facing south from the Hwy 527 Junction (Brunel Road) in 1964. Photo taken in 1964.
(Photo courtesy of Newt Winger)
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Allen you described the photo exactly the way I remember it and those good times. Good job.
These old photos seem to repeat. Different angles on much the same piece of the town. But each one will fetch back more memories. Not necessarily of the photo, but associations from the time.
The Beatles hit North America in 1964. Everybody was glued to the screen to see them perform. Their music somewhat hidden behind a curtain of screaming. Looking at this old photo and I can see that in the same year, there were a good number of ‘beetles’ loose on the street. I think I can see 6. That’s about the same number of parking spots as are on Main Street today.
We’ve talked about Ewing’s for the ladies and Ruby’s where Murray and ‘Newf’ helped dress a good number of the local cool dudes. Macdonald’s and Peter’s restaurant are there. Where you could get by with only one person buying and sharing an order of fries while two or three friends got ‘pine floats’. If they were busy maybe not, but generally, you were good.
Metcalf’s smoke shop was nestled in there, back when everybody (almost) had a drag on something. The hydro insisted that we roll our own or smoke cigarettes without a filter. ‘Cause if you jettisoned a ‘rollie’ it would just go out rather than laying there and smoldering. But don’t let Harold (Thompson) or Jack (Mercer or Bowes) catch you dropping a butt. Kick that sucker under the dirt.
On the corner of the Huntsville Hardware store you can see the thermometer that was pinned at 40 below the night the cops dropped us off there. They had brought us out from Limberlost where we had gone to see one of the guys Uncle WhoWho (don’t ask) drumming up a storm. Our driver had decided to see how deep the snow was on the slippery side of a corner. It was real deep.
You can see the Capitol Bowling sign. We used to hang out there on particularly bitter winter evenings. Bowl a bit and sometimes stop in and watch Karl Gortmacher(?) deliver those balls like cannon shot. Around six foot six, I think. With the speed and power to break pins. And make Eric swear.
Up in the center of the picture is the Dominion store, where “more Canadians shop(ped) at Dominion, than at any other store”. Anybody who can finish the jingle knows why. And above the Dominion store you can see the Empire Hotel. The ‘Snake Pit’ was downstairs and the place to get a cold draft on a hot day. Today it’s the site of a rather unused and untidy patch of dirt.
And then there is the banner reaching out across the street. Announcing a Senior’s lacrosse game on Aug 11. There would be a crowd. To watch Joe Hamilton, Ken Woods, Don Thompson and the rest of the team prowl the concrete. I think Tom Conlin would have been back in town then after playing Junior in Oshawa. That man could play the game. You could smoke in the arena then (not really), but lots did and sometimes the haze would become rather thick.
And after the game, all the muscle cars and anything else on wheels would make a run out to the ‘Tasty Creme’ for a ‘Koko’ or a ‘Ferd’ or a ‘Monty’ or maybe a banquet burger. The air would be heavy with exhaust and dust and the smell of fresh fries. Damn if it wasn’t pleasant.
Others looking at that photo might, in their mind’s eye, see a whole different montage.