Photographs provided by our interviewees
A number of the people interviewed for the Oral History project showed us photos to illustrate their memories. These images, posted here with their permission, enrich their words and illuminate the variety of Harbord Village experiences. The accompanying notes are based on the interviews and subsequent conversations. Thematic "tags" reflect the categories in the Interview Index. NOTE: These images may not be reproduced without permission. Contact history@harbordvillage.com to inquire.
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The collection is organized by donor last names, in chronological order within each group. Browse through the page to enjoy the range of images, or search for specific names or topics by using Ctrl-F (PC) or Command-F (Mac). The Search box at the top of each page on this site will now also find photos as well as passages in the interviews. |
Photo providers |
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AGELAKOS, Gus (Gus the Other Barber) |
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GOLDLIST, Barry and Helen |
To view enlarged images, move your mouse pointer over the thumbnails. Click on the donors' names to read or listen to their interviews. The tags inserted into some captions are intended to help future researchers find items of interest; they match terms used in our Index of Interviews. |
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AGELAKOS, Gus (Gus the Other Barber) |
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1973. Gus Agelakos (front, with his son Steve Agelakos at 10 years of age) and two other barbers (Nick Petridas, centre, and Byron Strantzas, rear) with an unidentified customer in the barber shop at 499 Bloor St. West. Photo provided by Gus Agelakos. |
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1974. Gus Agelakos (centre front) and three other barbers (from left, Frank [last name unknown], Nick Petridas, and Byron Strantzas) in his barber shop at 499 Bloor West. Photo provided by Gus Agelakos. |
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1974. Gus Agelakos and customer inside the barber shop at 499 Bloor West, showing storefronts across the street through the window. Photo provided by Gus Agelakos. |
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1992. Gus Agelakos outside his barber shop at 499 Bloor West, shaking hands with his customer David at the time of David’s wedding. Twenty years later, Gus remembers first names for three of the group: Jeff (back row, centre), Steve (back row, right) and Rob (furthest right). Photo provided by Gus Agelakos. |
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1996. Gus Agelakos and other barbers (Byron Strantzas, left, and Gus Ikonomou, centre at back) with Ed Mirvish in the store at 499 Bloor West, along the street from Honest Ed's. Gus was Mirvish’s personal barber for 48 years. Photo provided by Gus Agelakos. |
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BARNETT, Anna and Bob |
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1970. Employees of New Press (founded 1970) at 84 Sussex Ave., where it was the sole tenant for a number of years. The Canadian Encyclopedia notes that one of their first publications was The Bad Trip, by David and Nadine Nowlan, which helped kill the proposed Spadina Expressway. Photo provided by Anna and Bob Barnett. |
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BURGESS, Frank (selection; see full collection here) |
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February 1915. Frank Burgess's mother Millie Yohnicki at 8 years old, during her first winter in Canada after arriving from the Galicia area of Poland just before the start of World War I. On this occasion, the family was visiting friends on Borden near Harbord. Thirty years later, Millie and her husband and sons lived at 107 Borden, and Frank remembers his mother telling him, as they walked up the street to the new Loblaws supermarket on Bathurst, about her childhood visits to the family friends who kept a horse and cart. Photo provided by Frank Burgess. |
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1924. Frank's mother Millie at the age of 17 on the front lawn of 148 Borden, where her parents had moved in 1922. She is holding her sister Mary's daughter Wanda in her christening gown. The houses across the street at 111 and 113 Borden show their original Second-Empire style mansard design, now replaced with flat brick fronts. Photo provided by Frank Burgess. |
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1930s. Frank's mother Millie and her sister Ann on the sidewalk in front of 148 Borden, with a contemporary car and mature trees to the north. The walkway to the house is a boardwalk rather than paved. Note also the handsome low-mounted streetlight. Photo provided by Frank Burgess. |
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1941. Frank's mother Millie on the day of her wedding to Frank Burgess, Sr., with her parents Sophia and William Yohnicki and her adult siblings in the back yard of 152 Borden, which her parents bought in 1938. Millie's first husband Andrew McCloskey had died very young of Bright's disease. Photo provided by Frank Burgess. |
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1943. Frank Burgess Jr. was born in Toronto in 1942. In the back yard of 152 Borden, his proud grandmother Sophia holds him as a baby, with his mother, his Aunt Mary, his cousin Wanda (the baby in the 1924 photo above), and his half-brother Raymond McCloskey. Photo provided by Frank Burgess. |
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Mid-1950s. Frank's half-brother Raymond McCloskey, looking very happy with his first car, a 1940 Plymouth coupe. In the background are 103 and 105 Borden, which still have the same decorative balconies. Photo provided by Frank Burgess. To see more photos provided by Frank Burgess, click here. |
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COOK, Norman (selection; see full collection here) |
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1909. Charles Sharp, Norman Cook's great-grandfather, was pastor of the British Methodist Episcopal Church on Grace St., and also worked as a teamster to support his family. The horses were stabled at the back of the Sharp family home at 306 Lippincott. Verda Cook, who describes her childhood enjoyment of wagon rides, was Norman Cook's mother. Story published in Cityspan magazine, exact date unknown; clipping provided by Norman Cook. |
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1943. Women workers who assembled shells and bombs at the Dominion Bridge Corporation, converted during the war to munitions production. Norman Cook’s mother Verda Cook (who later helped found the Canadian Negro Women’s Club) is at the left. Photo provided by Norman Cook. |
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1953. Seven boys in front of a car at the old Lansdowne School. In the back row: name unknown (born Estonia), Rainier (born Lithuania), Georges Cankier (born France), Mendy Bregman (born Toronto). Front row: Jerry Shuman (born Toronto), Norman Cook (born Toronto), Taisto Tomisko (born Finland). Photo provided by Norman Cook. |
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1954. Charles Sharp Jr., and his wife Rose Holland Sharp, with their youngest daughter Verda Cook, Norman Cook’s mother, on the back porch of 306 Lippincott, since razed to create the playing field at Central Technical School. Photo provided by Norman Cook. To see more photos provided by Norman Cook, click here. |
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DENOV, Celia |
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1971. Backyard swing, 69 Borden St., just after the Denovs moved in. Denov children on the left and neighbourhood children on the right. Photo provided by Celia Denov. |
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1971. Denov and Bruner families on the porch of 69 Borden, with the children's grandmother. From the left: Robbie Bruner, Bobby Denov,Lauren Denov, Marcia Bruner, baby Myriam Denov, Cynthia Bruner, Ethel Siegerman. Photo provided by Celia Denov. |
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1976. Neighbourhood garden party, 69 Borden. Back row from left: Bill Thuma, Celia Denov, Sally Thuma, Al Denov, Barbara Hughes, Bob Hughes, other neighbours, at end of row, Kathleen Metcalfe and Brian Metcalfe. In front: the Thuma children and Myriam and Lauren Denov. Photo provided by Celia Denov. |
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1976. Three men at neighbourhood garden party, 69 Borden: Bill Thuma, Rev. Bob Hughes, Al Denov. |
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FERNANDES, Paulo |
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Late 1970s. Hockey action shot, 100-102 Major: Carlos Fernandes, Tommy de Medeiros, and Paulo Fernandes using professional equipment donated by their neighbour Mutt Greenberg. Photo provided by Paulo Fernandes. |
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Late 1970s. Hockey players, 100-102 Major St.: Carlos Fernandes, Paulo Fernandes, and Tommy de Medeiros using professional-league sticks donated by their neighbour Mutt Greenberg, a cameraman for CBC, and hockey pads made from a discarded sofa cushion. Photo provided by Paulo Fernandes. |
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2015. The same three people in the same location today. Photo by Toronto Star photographer Carlos Osorio; read the article by Katie Daubs for more commentary. |
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Early 1970s. Laneway beside 104 Major (now Greenberg Lane), with Paulo or Carlos Fernandes running down it. Photo provided by Felicidade Fernandes. |
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2012. Laneway beside 104 Major (now Greenberg Lane). Photo by Eleanor Levine. |
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GIANNONE, Silia and Vittoria (selection; see full collection here) |
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1962. Salvatore Giannone, Nick Porretta, and Nino Giannone playing in the laneway (now Porretta Lane) across from 180 Robert St.. Salvatore and Nino had recently arrived from Italy. Photo provided by Silia and Vittoria Giannone. |
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1961. Nino Giannone (Vittoria’s husband) in the barber shop that he ran for a few years in the storefront at 93 Harbord St., owned by his brother Giorgio Giannone. Giorgio housed many family members from Caccamo, Sicily in the house at 93 Harbord when they first arrived in Canada. He did fine woodworking for Toronto businesses and became the head woodworker at the Ontario College of Art. Photo provided by Silia and Vittoria Giannone. |
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1963. Nino Giannone on Harbord, dressed for his subsequent work in the Bank of Montreal at King and Bay. Note the Harbord streetcar in the background. Photo provided by Silia and Vittoria Giannone. |
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1963. Emanuele Giannone (Silia’s husband) in front of the tailor shop at 100 Harbord (now Almond Butterfly Bake Shop), where the Giannones and Porrettas had their suits made. Photo provided by Silia and Vittoria Giannone. |
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1965. Nino and Vittoria Giannone, Silia and Emanuele Giannone in front of Nino’s barber shop at 93 Harbord. Silia and Vittoria married brothers the same year, lived in the same house, and had their first babies at nearly the same time. Photo provided by Silia and Vittoria Giannone. To see more photos donated by Silia and Vittoria Giannone, click here. |
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GILBERT, Richard and Rosalind |
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1971. Cinema Lumière at 290 College St.—now the site of Home Hardware—was Toronto's best-known avant-garde cinema from 1969 to 1980. Photo provided by Richard and Rosalind Gilbert. |
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1971. Rosalind Gilbert, with her daughter Emily, walking past 11 Borden St. in early spring, shortly after Rosalind and Richard Gilbert had moved to the house nearby where they still live. Emily, now a professor at the University of Toronto, presently lives just north of Harbord Village with her family. Photo provided by Richard and Rosalind Gilbert. |
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1972. During the night of May 28, a fire destroyed the Bellevue Firehall on College St., empty because it needed repairs. The current firehall was rebuilt on the site to resemble the original 19th-century building. Photo provided by Richard and Rosalind Gilbert. |
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GINSBERG, Marsha |
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1938. Passover Seder at the house of Sophie and Philip Levine, with Marsha Bronstein’s family. (Marsha, born in 1942, was the fifth of six children.) Photo provided by Marsha Bronstein Ginsberg. |
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1946. Marsha Bronstein (centre), age 4, with her sisters Sharon (age 2) and Pauline (age 10) on a pony at 169 Major St.. Photo provided by Marsha Bronstein Ginsberg. |
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1948. Young men dressed in formal clothes for wedding of Harvey Bronstein, in the living room at 169 Major. Photo provided by Marsha Bronstein Ginsberg. |
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1950. Sam and Rose Bronstein on the front porch at 169 Major St., where they lived with their six children and two tenants. Photo provided by Marsha Bronstein Ginsberg. |
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1951. The kitchen at 169 Major St., with Rose Bronstein, her daughter Sharon, and a friend. Photo provided by Marsha Bronstein Ginsberg.
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GOLDLIST, Barry and Helen |
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1957. Fire and fire truck on north side of Harbord St. near Spadina Ave. Photo taken by Helen Goldlist’s brother Mike Freedman; the Freedman family owned AAA Dental Lab at 124 Harbord, one block to the west. Since then, that location has housed many local restaurants, including Major Robert, Kensington Kitchen, Tati Bistro, Harvest Kitchen, and The Harbord House. Photo provided by Helen and Barry Goldlist. |
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1957. Fire and fire captain on north side of Harbord near Spadina. Photo taken by Helen Goldlist’s brother Mike Freedman. Photo provided by Helen and Barry Goldlist. |
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1957. People watching fire from south side of Harbord near Spadina. Photo taken by Helen Goldlist’s brother Mike Freedman. Photo provided by Helen and Barry Goldlist. |
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KARASIK, Tillie |
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1938. Itinerant fish-seller (name unknown), near 67 Major St., probably on a Thursday in March (that is, just before Passover; likely selling white-fleshed fish for making gefillte fish). Tillie Karasik mentions (at 30:30 in her interview) that the vendor shouted “Weibe! Weibe!” (Women! Women!) as he came down the street. Photo provided by Tillie Karasik. |
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Early 1940s. Tillie Karasik’s brother Dr. Frank Birnbaum (who had just completed his training as a physician, in spite of the quota on Jewish medical students: see interview at 35:30), with his daughter Mucie on Bathurst. Photo provided by Tillie Karasik. |
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Early 1940s. Tillie Karasik’s brother Dr. Frank Birnbaum, with his daughter Mucie (left of picture) and a friend on the porch of his rented house on Bathurst. Photo provided by Tillie Karasik. |
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PORRETTA, Mario (selection; see full collection here) |
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1958. Paolina Porretta holding Salvatore (Sal) and her husband Giuseppe holding Nicasio (Nick) in front of their Buick. This photo was sent back to relatives in Italy. Photo provided by Mario Porretta. |
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1959. Giuseppe Porretta in his grocery store at 93 Harbord, with his sons Sal and Nick. The store was on the ground floor of the house owned by Giorgio Giannone, whose wife was Paolina Porretta's sister. It later became a barber shop, a woodworking business, a psychiatrist's office, a restaurant called simply 93 Harbord, and other businesses since then. (See also photos in the Giannone collection.) Photo provided by Mario Porretta. |
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1971 or 1972. Paolina Porretta with her husband Giuseppe in the kitchen of Porretta's Pizza at 97 Harbord in its early days. Photo provided by Mario Porretta. To see other photos provided by Mario Porretta, click here. |
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PORRETTA, Sylvia (selection: see full collection here) |
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1973. Nick Porretta (older brother of Mario), and father Giuseppe on Robert St. just south of Harbord next to the delivery car for Porretta's Pizza. Shortly afterwards, the garage at the right caught fire, and Nick and friends rescued a person from the blaze. Photo provided by Sylvia Porretta. |
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Late 1970s. Nick Porretta on the north side of College, opposite 273 College, where the Tribute condo building has since been built. Photo provided by Sylvia Porretta. |
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Early 1980s. Barker Fairley and Robert Hall, who both lived on Willcocks Ave., were frequent customers at Porretta's Pizza; seen here on the new Robert St. patio. The lane between Robert and Sussex Mews, north of Willcocks, is named after Barker Fairley, and Margaret Fairley Parkette at Ulster and Brunswick is named after his first wife, who died in 1968. Photo provided by Sylvia Porretta. |
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1982. One of the first Fall Fairs on Harbord, which Nick Porretta took pride in helping organize. Harbord Convenience at the SW corner of Harbord and Robert had just changed owners after Celeste Fuda ran it for over 30 years. The light-blue building in the background was Major Robert restaurant (since then Kensington Kitchen, Tati Bistro, Harvest Kitchen, and The Harbord House). Major Robert was owned by the late Alan Powell and managed by Adam Vaughan, better known later as the local Councillor and then Liberal member of Parliament. To see other photos provided by Sylvia Porretta, click here. |
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PRATT, Betty |
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1904 to 1920. A photo postcard showing 196 Brunswick Ave., of the type often used to celebrate a purchase or other event. See also the cryptic and sad note written on the other side of the card. Card provided by Bill and Betty Pratt from their collection. |
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1920s or later. Reverse of photo postcard. In large handwriting: "home at 196 Brunswick Ave Rodney". In smaller handwriting: "—a friend of the family" and (inserted at top), "Room where I lay for six miserable weeks with Diptheria—age 5 years. Attic where Clare and I slept." The author and date are unknown. The printed marking in the corner (“CYKO” in hollow letters) indicates a production date between 1904 and 1920. Card provided by Bill and Betty Pratt from their collection. |
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2014, April. The house at 196 Brunswick as it looks now. (Compare to the photo postcard above, from 90 years earlier.) Sally Bird Parkette now occupies the lot at 194 Brunswick. In the 1950s, Marion Kashin's father ran an auto garage there; she remembers playing dangerously on its flat roof as a small child. Photo provided by Margaret Procter. |
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RODRIGUES, Rose Laki (selection; see full collection here) |
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1954. Louie Laki (front row, second from left) and other men in lifejackets on board a ship to Canada. Louie had escaped from Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) by running across the border to Austria, where he spent time in a work camp before coming to Canada. He kept in touch afterwards with several people from the work camp and transport ship, but rarely talked to his family about these experiences. Photo provided by Rose Laki Rodrigues. |
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July 1958. Louie's wife Ana and his daughter Rose came from Slovenia in 1957. The daughter of one of their friends (also a recent arrival from Slovenia) stands at the front of the then-vacant lot south of the house at 91 Lippincott where the Laki family lived for several years along with other people from Slovenia. The College-Lippincott intersection and some local shops are visible in the background. Photo provided by Rose Laki Rodrigues. |
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Mid-1960s. Louie, Ana and Rose Laki on the front porch of 159 Major, which they bought in 1962. Friends who live nearby are borrowing a huge saw. The bench is still on the porch, but the leaded-glass windows were broken in a teenage chemistry experiment. Rose has lived in the same house since 1962. Her husband Jack Rodrigues moved there too after they married, and their children grew up there. Photo provided by Rose Laki Rodrigues. |
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1980s. Ana and Louie Laki with Rose's children, Christopher and Danielle, in their back yard at 159 Major. Louie is making wine with grapes he grew himself, mixed with some picked in Niagara and some bought from California. (Other photos from Rose's collection show him hunting for small game north of Toronto, and making wine, sausage, and sauerkraut.) Photo provided by Rose Laki Rodrigues. |
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2011. The naming ceremony for Louie Laki Lane, which runs east from Major and north between Major and Robert. From left: Rose, her mother Ana, her daughter Danielle, her husband Jack Rodrigues, and her son Christopher. At right, Adam Vaughan and Tim Grant. The citation reads: "Well-known in the neighbourhood for his commitment to his community and generous, hospitable nature, Louie Laki exemplified the tremendous contribution that immigrants have made to Toronto." Photo provided by Rose Laki Rodrigues. For other photos provided by Rose Laki Rodrigues, click here. |
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SPERLING, Gerald (selection; see full collection here) |
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1947-8. Grade 5 school picture, King Edward School. Gerry (Gerald) Sperling at front left. Photo provided by Gerry Sperling. |
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Late 1940s. Gerry Sperling on Eddie Sossin’s back. Photo provided by Gerry Sperling. |
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1950. Gerry Sperling holding brother Steve outside the family home at 27 Lippincott. Photo provided by Gerry Sperling. |
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1951. Gerry Sperling at the time of his bar mitzvah, inside the family home at 27 Lippincott. Photo provided by Gerry Sperling. |
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Mid-1950s. Gerry Sperling wearing Harbord Collegiate band uniform, shown in front of 27 Lippincott St.. His sister Maxime is in the background. Photo provided by Gerry Sperling. For other photos donated by Gerry Sperling, click here. |
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TRIPP, Doreen and George |
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1932. Henry Smith (maternal grandfather of Doreen Tripp), who had built 224 and 226 Lippincott St. about 1915. Photo provided by Doreen Tripp. |
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1932. Ice-breaking machine invented and used by George Tripp, right, to cut ice in Georgian Bay (name of other man unknown). Photo provided by Doreen Tripp. |
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1940s. George Tripp served in the Canadian Infantry from 1941 to 1946. After the war, he lived at 226 Lippincott for nearly 70 years until his death at 98. Photo provided by Doreen Tripp. |
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1944. Wedding picture of George Tripp and Hilda Smith. For the rest of their lives they lived at 226 Lippincott, the house where Hilda had grown up; their daughter Doreen still lives there. Photo provided by Doreen Tripp. |
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WHYTE, BOBBY |
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c. 1975. Houses at 135 and 133 Major St.. Hafia Iwaniuk ("Sophie"), the Ukrainian-born owner of 133, is standing in her doorway. This one-storey design is unusual for the neighbourhood. Both houses appear in the City Directory of 1888. Bobby Whyte grew up in 135 (on the left), and moved back there recently. Photo provided by Gus Sinclair. |
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c. 1992. Houses at 135 and 133 Major, after some renovations (e.g., changes to windows and doors for both; siding for 135; colour scheme, fence, and chimney for 133). Photo provided by Bobby Whyte. |
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2014. Houses at 135 and 133 Major, now both thoroughly renovated. The horse-chestnut tree and the gingerbread decoration of the shared front peak are constants. Photo provided by Margaret Procter. |
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