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Photos provided by Mario Porretta

These 24 photos portray developments in the lives of an Italian immigrant family from 1958 to the 1970s, in photos taken to send back to relatives in Italy. They also reflect changes on Harbord Street, where Porretta's Pizza became a local institution. The final photos, from the 1982 Fall Fair on Harbord, show candidates campaigning for a municipal election. including Joan Doiron, Olivia Chow, Jack Layton, Dale Martin, and Art Eggleton. The accompanying notes are based on Mario Porretta's interview and on subsequent conversations.

NOTE: These images may not be reproduced without permission. Contact history@harbordvillage.com to inquire.

To view larger images, move your mouse pointer over the thumbnails. To read or listen to the interview, click on the donor's name.

1958. Paolina Porretta holding Salvatore (Sal) and her husband Giuseppe holding Nicasio (Nick) in front of their Buick. Photo provided by Mario Porretta. 

1958. Giuseppe Porretta holding his son Sal with Antonio LoForte, a mason who boarded with the family in the house they rented at 206 Robert Street. Their Buick is in the laneway behind the house.  Photo provided by Mario Porretta. 

1959. Giuseppe Porretta in his meat and grocery store at 93 Harbord, on the ground floor of the house owned by Giorgio Giannone, whose wife was Paolina Porretta's sister. The store later became a barber shop, then a woodworking and hobby-supply business, then a psychiatrist's office, and is now a restaurant called simply 93 Harbord. (See also photos in the Giannone collection.) Photo provided by Mario Porretta. 

1959.  Giuseppe Porretta in his meat and grocery store at 93 Harbord, with his sons Sal and Nick. (See also photos in the Giannone collection.) Photo provided by Mario Porretta. 

1959. Nick and Sal Porretta on the counter of their father’s grocery store  at 93 Harbord. Photo provided by Mario Porretta. 

1960. Nick and Sal Porretta on the sidewalk on Robert Street. This photo was sent to relatives in Italy with a comment on the reverse about the Canadian weather. Photo provided by Mario Porretta. 

1960. Nick and Sal Porretta playing cowboys, on the north side of Harbord Street east of Spadina. Photo provided by Mario Porretta. 

1960. Paolina Porretta and her friend Rosetta, with Giuseppe Porretta in their kitchen at 206 Robert Street, posing with a rabbit that Giuseppe had killed on a hunting trip at the north edge of the city. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

Mid-1960s. Pasquale Porretta (Pat) playing hockey on the rooftop of Porretta’s Pizza at 97 Harbord. His father flooded the flat roof to create ice. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

Mid-1960s. Antonio Porretta, Giuseppe's brother,  and his new car on Robert Street north of Harbord opposite Kromer's Radio (now Hutoshi's). Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

Mid-1960s. In front of 91 Harbord, then a T-shirt store: Vittoria Giannone with her son, Maria Giannone, and Mantalena Giannone, visiting the Giannone and Porretta families from Chicago. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

1969. Porretta’s Pizza at 97 Harbord Street before it took over Louie Laundry next door at 95 Harbord. At that time 93 Harbord was a psychiatrist’s office. Photo provided by Mario Porretta. (See also photos from the Giannone family, related by marriage.)

Early 1970s. On the lane behind the store at 97 Harbord (now Porretta Lane), with their mother Paolina watching from the gateway, the four Porretta brothers:  Mario, Pasquale (Pat), Nicasio (Nick), and Salvatore (Sal). Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

 

Early 1970s. On Robert Street just south of Harbord. From left: Johnny Fuda, Salvatore Porretta, Carmelo Giannone, Mario Porretta (barefoot) sharing a bike with Aldo Coletta, Salvatore Giannone and Pasquale Porretta. Photo provided by Mario Porretta. 

 

1971 or 1972. Paolina Porretta with her husband Giuseppe in the kitchen of Porretta's Pizza in its early days. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

Mid-1970s. Paolina Porretta in the kitchen of Porretta’s Pizza at 97 Harbord Street. Photo provided by Vittoria and Silia Giannone.

Early 1970s. The Robert Street side of Porretta’s Pizza at 97 Harbord, before its patio was established. The Mini Morris car was bought for a delivery vehicle as soon as the oldest Porretta son Sal turned 16; before that, the four sons delivered on bicycles. The Di Rocco antique store on the other side of Harbord soon became Kromer Radio, which later relocated to Bathurst Street. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

1973. Nick Porretta (left) and father Giuseppe on Robert Street just south of Harbord shortly before the garage at the right caught fire. Nick and friends rescued a person from the blaze. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

Mid-1970s. Nick Porretta on the north side of College Street, opposite 273 College, where the new condo building is now going up. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

Early 1980s. Barker Fairley (who lived on Willcocks Avenue) and another frequent customer at Porretta's Pizza on the Robert Street patio. The lane between Robert and Sussex Mews, north of Willcocks, is named after him. Margaret Fairley Parkette, at Ulster and Brunswick, is named after his first wife, who died in 1968. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

1982. Fall Fair on Harbord at Robert during a municipal election campaign. Dale Martin and Jack Layton were campaigning for the first time for the ward's two positions of alderman (which they won). Front left is long-time neighbourhood activist Joan Doiron. The light-blue building in the background is Major Roberts restaurant (now Harvest Kitchen), then owned by the late Alan Powell and managed by recent city councillor Adam Vaughan, who used to borrow supplies from Porretta's. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

1982. Fall Fair on Harbord during a municipal election campaign. Harbord Convenience at the SW corner of Harbord and Robert had just been bought by its current owners from Celeste Fuda, who had run it for over 30 years. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

1982. Fall Fair on Harbord during a municipal election campaign. Mayor Art Eggleton, with his wife Brenda, campaigning for reelection at the SE corner of Harbord and Borden. Photo provided by Mario Porretta.

 

1982. Fall Fair on Harbord during a municipal election campaign. Mayor Art Eggleton campaigning for re-election at Borden and Harbord. Olivia Chow and Jack Layton are on the left. (Who is the woman with the microphone?) Photo provided by Mario Porretta.