Paul Hersenhoren
AUDIO INTERVIEW
SUMMARY
November 3, 2014
00:00 PERSONAL INFORMATION: Paul’s Grandfather built his home on Glenholme in 1923. His Grandmother lived there until the 1960’s. Paul grew up on Northcliffe Ave.
01:33 MEMORABLE PEOPLE: Nelson Dempster, son of the owner of Dempster’s Bread, lived on Northcliffe and walked to school with Paul.
02:10 SCHOOLS: Paul attended Regal Road Public School and Oakwood Collegiate.
02:18 STREET LIFE / LIFE OF CHILD: It was safer than now, so they played on the street.
03:03 SHOPS: The only shop left from his childhood is Jerrett’s Funeral Home; otherwise, there were theatres, small restaurants and “service places”.
03:35 ENTERTAINMENT: There were three theatres between Oakwood and Dufferin: the St. Clair Theatre, the Paramount Theatre and the Oakwood Theatre. There were more west of Dufferin and east of Oakwood the Christie Theatre and, after WW2, the Vaughan Theatre. They were not “first-run cinemas”. You couldn’t go in the evening if you were under 16 unless you got someone else to buy you a ticket
05:29 RECREATION: The Oakwood Stadium was made of wood. Football was played there in the summer and also fights in the stadium. It was a “dump”.
07:19 SCHOOLS: Oakwood’s music program was not famous in the 30’s except for the choir which performed at Kiwanis Festivals.
07:54 RESTAURANTS: Paul mentions several eateries around Oakwood and St. Clair.
08:38 TRANSIT: He spoke at length about streetcars: the Bathurst route, paying the fare and the stoves on streetcars in winter. He mentioned that even during the war women weren’t employed by the TTC. The St. Clair streetcar ran all night.
11:24 IMMIGRATION: Paul mentioned that immigration didn’t start in the area before the early 1950’s.
11:56 DATING: He said that there wasn’t nightlife in the area, except for the theatres and that there were no licensed bars.
12:20 HEALTHCARE: There was a chiropractor on south side of St. Clair east of Glenholme and Dr. Tesky on Oakwood just north of St. Clair.
13:47 LANEWAYS: The long lane south of Oakwood Collegiate running from Oakwood to Dufferin was used by Jerrett’s Funeral Home for “deliveries”.
14:27 SHOPS: Paul mentions several stores between Oakwood and Dufferin.
16:07 PLACES OF WORSHIP: The synagogue Shaarei Shomayim was in a house on Christie just south of St. Clair. It later moved to St. Clair and Winona but couldn’t be built above ground level during WW2. The building eventually became the Hungarian House.
17:47 DEMOGRAPHICS: It was a working/middle class neighbourhood; not “vibrant” in those days or multicultural.
18:07 TRANSIT: Paul spoke about streetcar routes and that the Ossington “bus” was a trolley car with power lines above it.
19:52 MEMORABLE EVENTS: The “biggest snowstorm ever” occurred in Dec. 1944.
21:13 DELIVERY PEOPLE: Paul speaks about the bread and milk wagons whose deliveries were disrupted by the storm. He talks about buying tickets and leaving them out for the deliveries. Browns Bread had a promotion giving away Orphan Annie code rings for two bread wrappers. Secret messages were given on the radio and the children used the code rings to decode them.
23:50 WAR: In the Depression, rents were very low. During WW2 there was a housing shortage, but you couldn’t raise the rent.
26:30 WAR: He recalls that his cousin was twice shot down during WW2. The second time he was captured.
27:16 SCHOOLS: His Grade 7 teacher was a “sadist” who hit the students.
28:26 MEMORABLE PEOPLE: Their next-door neighbour, Charlie De Andrea, was a tailor. Women would come in Cadillacs to his home. He remembers he had a St. Bernard dog.
30:10 SHOPS: McDougall and Brown were on the north side St. Clair for years. Jerrett’s was the headquarters for air raid wardens in the area during the war.
31:06 WAR / MEMORABLE EVENTS: Paul recalls the celebrations at the end of WW2.
31:54 Wrap-up