The Heritage Department of the City of Oshawa had a Memories of Oshawa web page. It was taken down when they re-did their website and the content wasn't saved, but I web-scraped it to keep the memories of Oshawa alive during the time as Neil Young put it, when "all our changes were there". Oshawa has changed drastically since those halcyon 1970's and my time at OCHS . This is part 3 of the web scrape. More to come.
The sign is in Miles Per Hour, Not Kilometers Per Hour - Pre-Metrification Era
Posted by Mike
If you go to www.imagesourontario.ca and search Oshawa Fires 1961, there are some pics there.
Posted by Mike
Frank, the Fashion village fire was january 10th 1961,there were seven businesses destroyed. I used to go for lunch with my mother to the Home Dairy Co. Cafeteria, which was also burnt. There is a picture of the aftermath of the fire on page 41, in volume one of Thomas Bouckley's three volume set of books "Pictorial Oshawa". I have a set myself, but I am pretty certain you will find them in them in the Oshawa Library collection.
Posted by Frank
YES!!!! I didn't know that it was called the "Fashion Village Fire" I do not remember the exact date and there must be some pictures somewhere of the fire, I remember getting off the night shift and going to see the happening.
Posted by Allen
Frank
Could be the "Fashion Village Fire" on Simcoe St S between King and Athol Streets.
Posted by Frank
Does anyone remember the big fire downtown on Simcoe street circa 1963 or 1964 ???
Posted by Rick
To Allen .....my Oshawa phone number was RA-33680!!
Posted by John Ardan
Thinking about all those in my life and especially my early days in Oshawa at O'Neill,
Posted by Vi
I remember the Rose Bowl restaurant very well. Loved the cherry cokes.
Posted by Barbie E
I remember the cafeteria at the Bay. As far as I know the Bay owned that. Our sons loved going there for a hamburger. It was a lovely spot not only to have lunch but just a cup of coffee. I felt it was a big mistake when the Bay decided to do away with it. I still miss it sometimes but as they say nothing ever stays the same. Do you remember the little restaurant that Eaton's had at the bottom of their escalators. I think it was called The Hub. It really was not that great.
Posted by Chrystal
I was hoping that someone might remember the name of the restaurant that was in The Bay back in the 80's. It was right in lower level off to the side. It was cafeteria style but had a huge seating area in the back.
Posted by Doug
I remember that the staff at the Drop in. There was Mert McDonald, Rolanda Morin and Doug Firth.... Quite the bunch for sure....
Posted by Doug
I played in a few bands around Oshawa in the late 70's. We played almost every Friday night at the drop in across from the Bandshell. The band was Mythrander and had me on bass, Tony Bernardo on guitar, Brian Mithell on vocals and Paul Hollobon on drums. We also played at City Hall for Canada Day and at the park at the Lake on Canada Day.. Good times for sure..
Posted by Wayne
Anyone remember Holy Cross school back in 70 and 71?
A couple teachers like Mr. Vestors, Miss Horrigan and the ear twister Mr Carr? Remember his drama class over at the basement hall of the church? How about some classmates like the Clancy brothers and Barry Chamberlain. We used to go over to Alto music at lunch and bug old Mike while looking at all the guitars and amps. I still have an old acoustic bought from him at the time. Time flies.
Posted by Wayne
Two bands I remember are Chillum and Sunrise Sam.
Posted by Wayne
Spent my childhood in Oshawa. I remember Pete the popcorn man. Also the MIO icecream guy, the knife sharpeners in their trucks, Camp X, Mikes pool hall on King, (used to work there as a kid). Tons of good memories from the late 60's into the 70's. Remember the Stones playing at the civic? Rush at old home week before it became an annual drunk trek around Oshawa. Sneaking into the drive-in on our bikes. The old Lancaster bomber at the airport. The shopping center when it had no roof! Yeah, good times.
Posted by Robert
Scanning some of the comments brought back memories.
Posted by Ron
It was the Spring of 1965. I was a drummer in a garage band in Oshawa. I forget what we call ourselves since our band's name changed weekly. Other members of the band included the Mitchell Brothers on Sax, Dave Pharo Rhythm Guitar and the great Guy Legere lead guitar with his fender Stratocaster, and a few other guys I can't remember now. Green onions (coined by Booker T and the MGS fame) was our theme song. Ron McKnight my partner in crime (a great rugger player for the Oshawa Vikings) and I staged a number of weekend dances around town that summer to raise gas money for his 55 chev and my 57 chev and to bankroll our impending Southern California trip via Grey Hound Bus in the Fall of 65. Our band played a few nondescript sold out venues around town including the Polish Hall, and the Grenfell County club. I must point out that our dances were always sold out. We had to turn the crowds away at the door, teens throughout Oshawa flocked to our dances coming from every High School once the word got out. They didn't come because our band was so hot, although I must admit we did sound pretty good ( we didn't have an extensive library of songs but the few we did have were songs with a great beat that you could play and dance to all night - Bill Blacks Combo stuff and Junior Walker and the All Stars) but I believe our attraction could best be attributed to the under the table beer sales we were able to orchestrate in those non highly regulated times. Fast forward - Ron and I took our California/Mexico trip in the fall (that is a story unto itself) mainly bankrolled by those Oshawa 1965 Summer beer fest dances which kept our Chevy gas tanks full. I look back now at those care-free fun loving music filled Rock and Roll days in Oshawa in the Summer of 1965 and consider how fortunate I was to be born and raised in Oshawa. Those truly were the glory days!
Posted by Allen
Do you remember when Oshawa phone numbers, before area codes, started with RAndolph. The R on the phone corresponded to the number7, and the A on the phone corresponded to the number 2. I think all of Oshawa was in the 72 exchange.
I can remember my mother giving our phone number, for an example, to someone as: Randolph 9-9999.
How things have changed. Back then there was not 911 you called for an emergency. Police, Fire and Ambulance had their own separate 7 digit numbers. Confusion in an emergency WOW. Of course you could always call the operator by dialing 0, but that could take a lot longer for the operator to answer. I know, I tried it as a test, and it took 6 or 7 rings for the operator to answer, because they were busy handing other calls.
