On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel battered southern Ontario, leaving in its wake a terrible toll: thousands homeless, million in property damage, and, worst of all, 81 people dead. Hazel destroyed bridges, submerged towns, and drowned unsuspecting Ontarians in their homes and cars. Raymore Drive in Weston was decimated when the Humber River swelled by eight feet, taking the lives of 32 residents in only one hour. In Etobicoke, five volunteer firemen drowned while trying to reach maroone...

Established in 1876, Mount Pleasant Cemetery has a rich and textured history. It is the keeper of thousands of stories, each of which has contributed to the history of our city, province, and country.Many of Canada's most beloved figures rest there - William Lyon Mackenzie King, Foster Hewitt, Glenn Gould, and Timothy Eaton are just a few. Other, less known historical figures are buried there also - the first Canadian soldier killed in First World War and victims of the 1949 Noroni...

Mike Filey’s column "The Way We Were" first appeared in the Toronto Sunday Sun not long after the first edition of the paper hit the newsstands on September 16, 1973. Now, over four decades later, Filey’s column has enjoyed an uninterrupted stretch as one of the newspaper’s most popular features. In 1992 a number of his columns were reprinted in Toronto Sketches: "The Way We Were." Since then another ten volumes have been published. Each column looks at Toronto as it was ...

Stories of Old Toronto never lose favour with the city’s nostalgia buffs, and as long as Mike Filey continues to provide us with his "The Way We Were" columns, no one’s appetite will have to go unsatisfied.When Mike’s Toronto Sunday Sun columns were first brought together in Toronto Sketches, demand was so high that it prompted a second collection … then a third … and a fourth … and a fifth.Now, for 2000, Mike has once again brought together some of the be...

Mike Filey's "The Way We Were" column in the Toronto Sun continues to be one of the paper's most popular features. In Toronto Sketches Filey brings together some of the best of his columns.Each column looks at Toronto as it was, and contributes to our understanding of how Toronto became what it is. Illustrated with photographs of the city's people and places of the past, Toronto Sketches is a nostalgic journey for the long-time Torontonian, and a voyage o...

Looking back over the past 75 years, there is no doubt that public transportation has played a major role in the development and maturing of Toronto and its metropolitan area. Indeed , despite the fiscal challenges facing it, the TTC today remains a transit agency with an enviable reputation.The TTC Story:The First Seventy-five Years, by Mike Filey, features over one hundred magnificent black and white images selected to illustrate the principal "transit" event in each yea...

First published in 1982, I Remember Sunnyside is a mine of golden memories, bringing back to life an earlier Toronto, only hints of which remain today.Like the city itself, Sunnyside was an everchanging landscape from its heady opening days in the early 1920s to its final sad demolition in the 1950s. The book captures the spirit of the best of times a magical era which can only be recaptured in memory and photographs. It also presents the reality of a newer Toronto where c...

Mike Filey’s collection of pictures of Toronto from the earliest days of photography had gained a reputation as one of the most interesting visual archives of the city’s history. This classic look at old Toronto portrays scenes of public life from 1860 to 1950, illustrating how dramatically the urban fabric and environment have changed. There are photographs of the beaches and the islands, of mud streets and gas lamps, of steam engines and trolley cars, amusement parks and the everchanging...

Out of print for many years, this much sought-after guide is being brought back just in time for the megacity's first summer. Mike Filey has expanded his original book to include areas that are now the waterfront of the new City of Toronto, stretching from the west end of Etobicoke to the Rouge River in the east. This valuable guide is an essential tool for anyone with an interest in Toronto: tourists, locals, and even out-of-towners who want to learn more about the lakeside sites of North...

Toronto Sun columnist Mike Filey is back with Toronto Sketches 8, the series that captures the people, politics, and architecture of Toronto’s past with photographs and anecdotes that will change the way you see the city forever. The book brings us back to the time of Toronto’s original horse-drawn streetcar, the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens, and other memories of Toronto, many of which show how history repeats itself, as in the gas price wars of the early 20th cent...

Mike Filey is back again with another installment in the popular Toronto Sketches series. Mike’s nostalgic look at the city’s past combines legend, personal anecdotes, and photographs to chronicle the life of an ever-changing city.Among the stories in this volume, Mike looks back to the introduction of the "horseless carriage." He laments the loss of great movie houses of the past - the University, Shea’s Hippodrome, the Tivoli - and applauds those looking to save the Egli...

Mike Filey’s column “The Way We Were” first appeared in the Toronto Sunday Sun not long after the first edition of the paper hit the newsstands on September 16, 1973. Now, almost four decades later, Filey’s column has enjoyed an uninterrupted stretch as one of the newspaper’s most widely read features. In 1992 a number of his columns were reprinted in Toronto Sketches: “The Way We Were.” Since then another nine volumes have been published, each of which has attained great success.I...