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ive toronto public library tspa_0110076f this photo was not included in the original story the statistics 636 feet long 30 feet high over 200 000 pounds 23 000 light bulbs honest ed s had always had flashy signs but the topper arrived to mark the store s expansion to bathurst street in 1984 not everyone was impressed with the prospect of so much light alderman jack layton feared that the neighbourhood would end up with an illuminated skyline it may never be dark when i go to sleep at night in the ward to the north alderman ron kanter felt that the sign seems quite appropriate for a las vegas casino but i m not sure it is as appropriate for commercial streets cutting through residential neighbourhoods kanter took his complaints to city planner paul bedford when kanter showed a picture of the proposed sign bedford recalling the incident for the globe and mail in 2007 leaned back his chair and told the city councillor i like it and i think it s fine eventually the store s management began turning the sign off each night after a few hours an article published in the star this week claims that the sign is brittle and may not survive the sale of the building a selection of elvis busts photo by nadia halim from the torontoist flickr pool one of the store s iconic aspects is its stock of elvis busts some of which bear less than skillful paint jobs just as kitschy are the cheesy puns and groaners that adorn the building and that have been a staple of the store s advertising almost from the beginning many were submitted by customers who earned a cash prize if their rib tickler was printed a sampling of lines we uncovered while flipping through old ads in the star honest ed s ugly but his bargains are cute august 24 1951 honest ed s all wet he s surrounded by an ocean of bargains december 11 1953 honest ed s stomach s weak nothing stays down but his prices january 22 1954 honest ed s not bright but his bargains shine like stars february 12 1954 honest ed belongs in jail he murders high prices and steals his customers hearts february 19 1954 honest ed s a bad egg but though he s cracked his cheep cheep prices are no yolk march 23 1956 you ll have a dime fine time at honest ed s january 19 1961 honest ed s a fat man he s tried to diet but only his prices reduce september 16 1978 honest ed s a crumb but his bargains save you bread february 29 1984 honest ed s no bowler but his bargains leave you cash to spare may 30 1984 signage in honest ed s june 22 2012 photo by neal jennings from the torontoist flickr pool creative commons by nc sa 2 0 the store s hand drawn signs add to its colour and occasionally offer political commentary honest ed s on fire january 15 2010 photo by alexander s from the torontoist flickr pool honest ed s has suffered a few mishaps over the years on june 18 1962 up to 20 sticks of dynamite were set off by a bomber at the rear of the store police believed it was connected to similar explosions at apartment buildings around metro toronto windows shattered on houses for two blocks around the blaze depicted here broke out in a storefront window just after midnight on january 15 2010 fire crews quickly put it out ed mirvish 1981 photo by dick loek toronto star photograph archive toronto public library tspa_0068778f this photo was not included in the original story the store s future was questioned following ed mirvish s death in 2007 while his son david kept honest ed s open the store has gradually shrunk the leftover space has been rented out to retailers like sonic boom rumours about an eventual sale of the property have circulated for years because of its high value and ideal location it remains to be seen if the site will wind up as condos retail or a mix of elements as varied as the products inside honest ed s sources honest ed s story by jack batten toronto doubleday 1972 how to build an empire on an orange crate or 121 lessons i never learned in school by ed mirvish toronto key porter 1993 the february 20 1958 february 21 1958 june 19 1962 october 10 1984 and july 14 2007 editions of the globe and mail and the february 22 1984 edition of the toronto star update honest ed s closed on the final day of 2016 as of 2026 its iconic primary sign remains in storage its replacement is a redeveloped mirvish village which consists of a mixture of varied elements and began opening up to the public in 2026 additional material key to toronto april 1961 key to toronto june 1961 a feature on honest ed s from the long running tourism magazine key to toronto author jamie bradburn posted on september 8 2026 september 7 2026 categories torontoist tags 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 2010s discount department stores ed mirvish honest ed s mirvish village tourism leave a comment on honest ed s building has been sold but his storeys live on what if honest ed s doesn t become condos with the brand new incarnation of mirvish village beginning to emerge i ll be looking back at some pieces i wrote about the neighbourhood this one was originally published on torontoist on june 26 2013 mirvish village markham street between 1977 and 1985 city of toronto archives fonds 200 series 1465 file 6 item 11 imagine you ve been handed a large chunk of prime downtown real estate one occupied for decades by an iconic retailer toss in a neighbouring street that the previous owners nurtured for half a century as a unique space for artists and retailers if there were no restrictions on the future use of these properties how would you reshape them to create an innovative community minded neighbourhood around 25 people used their imaginations during a discussion on future possibilities for mirvish village held at the centre for social innovation s annex branch on thursday afternoon moderated by csi ceo tonya surman participants brainstormed ideas ranging from the dreamy to the sensible the session evolved from discussions on csi s mailing list regarding both the walmart proposal on the edge of kensington market and david mirvish s plans to sell honest ed s and the surrounding mirvish properties the advance notice about the sale combined with the development freeze city council recently imposed on bathurst street provides an opportunity to those concerned about the future of the neighbourhood to be proactive instead of just fighting the fight surman observed in her introduction how might we get ahead and bring creative ideas into a process photo by jamie bradburn participants were encouraged to be playful with their suggestions and to ignore the forces developers nimbys any real world proposal will face a long list of ideas was scribbled on a blackboard many of them touched upon the group s four a s authentic accessible affordable and at scale there was a general sense that the site offers great potential for a new landmark or for innovative sustainability projects among the potential uses that emerged vertical farming and other forms of green roofs and community gardens built into any new commercial or residential structure a collection of micro businesses and retailers set up in the style of pacific mall using honest ed s as a city of toronto museum a satellite campus for a local college or university a theatre complex and school playing into the promotion of bathurst street as a theatre corridor urging large retailers to set up locations run on principles of corporate social responsibility such as selling sustainable products reverse corporate activism as one person termed it creating a bathurst bloor community trust where the neighbourhood buys the properties and decides what to do with them low rise buildings mixing offices residences and retail at the end of the session some participants said they were interested in continuing the discussion by meeting with surrounding residents associations in the fall while few of the ideas raised will ever leap off the chalkboard they provide a starting point for avoiding settling for just another condo building or large scale retail project it will be a long time before any developer can make a formal proposal for the site so the community has the luxury of time sure wider community consultation will bring out nimbys who will object to any proposal devised by developers planners or their next door neighbours patterns suggest a condo is the likely fate of at least part of the plot but who knows maybe somebody with deep pockets will listen to the ideas that emerge from ongoing discussions and surprise us with something out of the ordinary author jamie bradburn posted on september 5 2026 september 5 2026 categories torontoist tags 2010s development honest ed s markham street mirvish village leave a comment on what if honest ed s doesn t become condos let s go to the ex 2026 edition it s one of toronto s longest running traditions since the victorian era the canadian national exhibition has signalled the end of summer with its collection of exhibits merchandise rides and food as a kid it was an annual highlight when we d visit my grandparents just before school resumed as an adult i ve had mixed feelings about it alternately letting myself go with the flow and enjoy myself and pondering how as it lost some of its older purpose of introducing new things to trade shows and felt more like a mix of aging carnival and tacky flea market it could be revamped to make better use of exhibition place or create new sense of wonder the last time i went to the ex was in 2022 and i didn t have a great time most of the blame goes to the sky ride where the lack of bars to rest my feet on left me disoriented for a few hours the weather wasn t great and having not been for several years before that i was even less impressed by the generally junky feeling but feeling like i haven t done enough classic summer things this year i decided to give the old tradition another try if i stayed off the sky ride made wise food choices and went on a day where the weather was comfortable and people were scared off due to morning rain i could have a good time right yes yes i did i figured the easiest way down was the bathurst streetcar the trip initially benefitted from dedicated lanes for a stretch south of bloor street but then slowed to a crawl along fleet street i sensed the driver was frustrated as they chewed out people confused about where to exit then sped up once inside exhibition place this wasn t the greatest of omens but it would be one of the few off notes of the evening i went after 5pm on a monday when admission is reduced to 13 this way i figured that i could stick around long enough to catch the fair at night without being completely worn down if you re not going on any rides this is a great deal qwilly and qwillamina pondered the map trying to decide how to plot out the evening since we arrived at exhibition loop it seemed logical to start at the food building when i was a kid i loved the food building with its fun displays and samples galore when i first revisited the ex in the early 2000s after not having been since the early 1980s my inner child was disappointed that it felt like a warehouse like food court with a few odd touches there are old traditions that die hard such as the cheap spaghetti booth it was not doing a roaring business and for good reason the signature dish was barely larger than a supermarket sample passing by the several american original stalls i wondered how much their name might affect business during the current spat with the united states maybe canadian classic or british original would be better branding the food building has always had a few zombie chains amid its offerings for years there was an h salt fish and chips long after it departed canada this year lick s was present though a toronto star article suggests it may be trying to make a comeback deciding to wait until hitting the food trucks by the princes gate to make a final meal choice we snacked on 99 cent tacos from the taqueria burrito bar stall the tacos came with strict restrictions a choice of chicken or pulled pork a choice of salsa and finished with lettuce for but a quick cheap bite they weren t bad walking east through the midway we came across one of the last reminders of an iconic image from my childhood visits conko the clown the former logo of conklin shows which ran the carny attractions at the ex for decades of the iconic cne foods i had never had an ice cream waffle maybe i d come back for one later sidebar conko was designed by chris yaneff whose other works included logos for canada trust and commodore computers along with the classic windsor salt box oh yeah making our way to the food trucks we wanted to try a footlong butter chicken taquito from rick s good eats but it was sold out instead we tried the butter chicken kathu roti from lankan boys which was an excellent choice nicely spiced totally satisfying and at 11 99 a bargain it didn t hurt there were plenty of picnic tables to choose from next to the automotive building we burned off dinner by browsing the cne space experience which i would have loved as a kid qwilly was curious about sources of space radiation the fair could do with many more exhibits like this that educate and entertain that the ontario science centre provided a small section of the exhibit made me feel sad about the current shenanigans surrounding it that it was busy and that the interpreters were extremely enthusiastic and engaging made me feel its loss that much more yeah i know two temporary locations are up and running but given what the current provincial government has done to it and that nothing about its eventual replacement enthuses me still angers me i m still pissed off at what happened to its landmark don mills site moon rock qwillamina was curious about how one should exhibit their plants in the horticultural show another type of exhibit that was nice to see several assembled by the cne archives the one in the enercare centre was dedicated to sports on the exhibition place grounds which included plenty of artifacts photos and trophies i had never seen this painting of the opening of the old hockey hall of fame in august 1961 spotlighting prime minister john diefenbaker s role in the proceedings take a good look at that entrance as you can still see it at on the west side of bmo field one current archival project on display was the restoration by george brown college architectural students of a 1978 model created by the same program of the second crystal palace which stood on the ex grounds from 1878 to 1906 for the most part the international pavilion was the usual collection of kitsch asian art and hippie clothing and of course cheap medical stuff one thing i noticed was the large volume of overpriced olive nut turkish delight vendors of the type i ve noticed in some suburban shopping malls lately this continued throughout the fairgrounds by the time i finished wandering around the arts crafts and hobbies show in the queen elizabeth building the sun was fading i began taking shots ...
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