Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Humber River #deepdive: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1834

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

In this 1834th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Chris Higgins about the Humber River in the west end of Toronto. This episode is full of #funfacts and #mindblows. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

I am Chris Higgins. I'm a former teacher. And since retirement, I've been basically an author. That's my big thing. And I wrote a book about the Humber River. So I brought that. It's called River Stories. And my new book is the Jail Carpenter's Diary,

which is a very dark book. And we're going to get into it. Okay. Welcome to episode 1834. You know, that's the year Toronto became a city, 1834. This is episode 1834 of Toronto-Miked. An award-winning podcast proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at great lakes beer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA.

Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh. Homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palmapasta.com for more. Fusion Corp's own Nick Aienes. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline and Building Success, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recycle My Electronics.c.a.comitting to our planet's future

means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Redley Funeral Home, pillars of this community, 1921. Joining me today to talk about the Humber River and more, making his Toronto mic to debut. It is author Chris Higgins. How you doing, Chris? I'm doing great. And that is such a hype, totally relaxing and vibe in intro.

So I was kind of just a little nervous. And then I went, you heard that and it chilled you out. Okay, you know what? That's another great thing. I never even took note of that. But that is the low. producer and rapper known as Ill vibe. So shout out to Illy, who put that together way back in 2012.

Cool. Very cool. That's a long time ago now. We're in 2020. Sometimes I think 2012 is like about maybe a year or two ago. And then you realize, oh, 2012, like that's actually well over a decade now. So it's a bit of a, that's a bit of a mind blow. Yeah.

Time is really picking up speed. Explain time to me, Chris. That's what you're here. I need to understand time. No, I'm just kidding here. But can I just say that what I liked about an email I received from you recently is that it opened with high Toronto mic, no, high Toronto mic team or Mike. And I liked it because it made me think like, oh, maybe there people think there's a team behind this. Like did you?

Because I was like, oh, Toronto mic'd team. That's me. You feel like such an institution. There's like a cast behind everything. So I expected to get here. And, you know, it was very nice. Somebody meets you and walks you in, gets you like a coffee or something. A green room.

And we are in the green room. Yeah, the green room, actually. And you did have to duck and watch your head down here. The funny small world story before we get into who you are and we dive into. And I like that when you talk about deep dive in the fact that this is actually being live streamed, these are all like waterway references, like deep dive, you're diving into the Humber River. Like it all kind of comes together nicely. But when I got this email from you and, you know, you talked to me about your books and your personal history and everything,

you're a storyteller and you're Toronto-based and all this appeals to me. But I recognize your name, and this is going way back because my son, my oldest son, my oldest son is about to turn 24 years old. but he was, if we go way back in the time machine, he was a timet with the Hawkeey, the Swansea Hockey Association at Rennie Park, and not too far, we're not too far east of the Humber River there.

And he played a game, like there's a little Timbitts game that took place at what was known as the Air Canada Center during the intermission. I think it was definitely a Leafs game. It was in Toronto, but I believe it was an Oilers Leafs game. Yes, it was.

And I recognize your name because you shared a video with, like us parents. And I just want to say, what a small world we live in. Yes, it is. What a great organization that was, too,

to take your kids down and play hockey. It's, I think it's changed a little. I actually know the guy who used to do it, Tim Flood. Oh, big name, yeah. Yeah.

And it's just a bit of the past. Yes. Still existing into the present. Well, the fact that you're playing outdoors. Because my son actually has an outdoor practice at Prince of Wales Park, tomorrow morning.

So we'll bike over. He'll do his practice outdoors. And that's cool. But now, like, the fact that all the games at the Swansea Hockey Association, they all took place outdoors. Like,

I feel like that's a throwback because now all the leagues, all the House League leagues, they're all indoors. Totally magic. Yeah. And I remember that time when we, uh,

we boarded a bus. Yeah. We went downtown. It was a big deal. And you go under the guy. I'd never been like underneath the Air Canada Center, like into the belly of the beast. That's right.

And then I took a camera, took all these pictures, these videos of people. There's a big inspirational speech. The guy from Blue Rodeo. Jim Cuddy. Jim Cuddy was there. And he's like warming up in the washroom. I can hear this guy singing in there. And I'm like, look that guy.

That's pretty good. That's the guy. But it's funny because I have a guest next week who was in the video for Blue Rodeo's try. Her name is Michelle McAdory. And she was dating Greg Keeler at the time. And she's like the pretty. gal in the try video, which breaks Blue Rodeo. But yeah, I remember

that, of course. And I even remember the woman who would do the, like the in-game hosting. Her name was Monica with a K. Oh, yeah. She was so much fun. Yeah. So much energy. And she showed up doing other things afterwards. I'm not 100% sure what she's up to these days. But I remember

that day vividly because it was just exciting to be a part of the game ops at a Leaves game. I think we lost. That's the unfortunate part. And as a a Leafs fan. And by the way, your Harold Ballard reference. Yeah.

That really freaked me out because I listened to you with Jeff Merrick years ago. Oh, yeah, he buried him. And I'm like, what? I got to go back and check that I really heard this because I was really interested in Harold Ballard. Oh, yeah, me too. And then you write on the internet, like I come up with this page where you're like, oh, I go to that park lawn and I walk by that grave.

And I'm like, what? Like, are you living my life? That's funny. This is really, yeah, I feel for you. And, you know, he doesn't have a grave stone. He's on the, I don't know what the term is. I should know because we're sponsored by a funeral home. So shout out to Ridley Funeral Home.

Chris, there's a measuring tape for you from a funeral home. Oh, beautiful. And shout out to Brad Jones, who just recorded the 100th episode of Life's Undertaking. And our special guest was Rob Pruse from Spoons. And that was a big deal. So people should check that out. But Harold Ballard, it's when it's a ground level. Like, it's embedded into the grass, if you will.

So it's not upright. It's like lying down his. gravestone or his marker, I guess you'd call it. So you kind of have to know where it is to find it. Like you're not going to walk by and just see Harold Ballard. Like, Kahn Smythe is in there. Jeff Healy's in there. I'm talking about Park Lawn Cemetery.

You don't just bike by and see, oh, there's Harold Ballard. It's great. You have to know where it is. And Merrick knows where it is because Jeff Merrick helped put Harold Ballard into the ground. His, yeah, you're right. It's a very unique spot. It's sort of tucked away. Discrete.

And then you've got him. his parents in a little marker and then his wife and then himself. And then I think one of his sons has passed away, whatever, Bill Jr. or Harold Jr. And so you've got the whole ballard. And then Kahn Spithe is around the corner. You got it. Now, if you were listening to that episode,

I remember that number because it's my birth year. So that was episode 74 with Jeff Merrick. And although Jeff and I still chat all the time, he moved away. He moved to like, oh god I should what are these the names like what's north of Stoville okay so I miss him yeah but he has he's threatened to come back many times over the many years since then but when he does make his return I think that will set the record for like

most number of episodes between visits because we're at 1834 now but that was a great episode of Jeffie yes it really was he's a really interesting fellow I've heard him on other podcasts as well yeah and even though leaving that show, he was on, I guess, 32 thoughts. He now does some really good work. You just don't hear about it quite as much, but he's such a knowledgeable guy. Okay. I know that because I still book Merrick on Humble and Fred because he can zoom into that one.

So I don't want Merrick zoom in into Toronto Mike here. So I'm glad you're here, Chris, and that's an interesting history. By the way, I also played at the Swansea Hockey Association. And that's all I played House League. I was on a team sponsored by the C&Tower We were called the CIN Towers And we went 012 or O'N15 or whatever However many games you get in the Swansea Hockey Association

We never won a single one one year It was quite something. Right. So I'm proud to be a part of that team. I didn't score a goal of that year either. Oh. I know. So I put my boy in the same thing I was in

And then he wanted to move to George Bell. So he's one of the many who wanted to play indoors and you get a longer season and you don't have to worry about, you know, cancellations due to whatever, too warm. Sure. Or blizzard or whatever.

Anyway, yeah, I have a lot of good memories from the Swansea Hockey Association at Rennie Park. And it's interesting, we have that history. But I want to just, like, briefly get to know you a bit before we dive into the Humber River. And then I'll tell you my personal history of the Humber River. And then it'll be mostly you. But the reason you are here to talk about the Humber River is because of the book you have with you called River Stories. And there's a Zed at the end of River Stories. Can you just tell us what river stories with Azad is about?

Yeah, so I retired from teaching, and I was actually a teacher at Swansea Public School. Right there. Yeah. And it was during the pandemic, so it was really, you know, there was a lot of stuff going on. It was an anticlimactic, let's just say not the way I pictured I was going to retire. So I wandered down to the Humber River a lot, and one day I found myself. near one of those abutments. And I'm looking out, beautiful snow falling onto the river.

Right. And I'm feeling kind of low at this point in my life. And I look up and they see this graffiti kind of style thing that says stories, S-T-O-R-Y-Z. And I'm like, hey, you know, and I have this visualization, like all these different stories that have happened along the Humber River. and there were crazy things going on. Like, just, I can't even tell you the vision that I had right then.

Maybe I'd had a little glass of wine the night before. But anyway, and then I just kind of went, okay, you know what, this pandemic thing, I'm going to write a book about all the stories that I can find out about this river. And I didn't want to go with those very well-known stories. So I really did that deep dive into old newspapers and things like that to do. to find out things that people don't know. That was actually my criteria. If you already know it, I don't really want to write about it.

I don't want to know too much about it. Just give me something different. And so that began the journey, and it took about two years to write. Two years to write river stories, all about the Humber River, which is, I mean, again, I know I speak to a Toronto crowd, but just in case somebody is less familiar of Toronto.

So, you know, we got Lake Ontario. This is a fun fact for the people who don't live in Toronto. Lake Ontario, we're on the, we're on the shore of Lake Ontario, and there's like two primary rivers, like one in the east. I call it, there's the east end and there's the west end. I've always lived in the west end. Have you always lived in the west end? Yes, and my daughter now lives in the east, and she tells me it's great. Yeah.

And I've been out there, I know it, and maybe, who knows? Maybe I'll move out there, but I'm definitely based in the west, yeah. I'm like that, so I felt like for most of my life, I rarely went east of Youngstreet, like maybe to Massey Hall or, oh, maybe to the Phoenix. That would be like, that's on Sherbourne. Okay, so that's as far east as I might go. But of course, in the last like 10 to 15 years, I've got a lot of friends, a lot of things going on. My kid plays soccer.

He gets lots of games at Monarch Park, for example. And I'm finding myself spending a lot more time in like East York and the East End, and I'll bike to Ashbridge's Bay, whatever. And absolutely wonderful. It's just you're sort of like, Toronto's such a big city. You have your like comfort zone. But yeah, you're right. If I ended up in the East End, I'd be happy there too.

But to finish my thought there. In the East End, you got the Don River. So like you got Lake Ontario, you got the big river, the Dawn River, it's got a great cycling trail next to it, although they've been doing a lot of work on it for the last few years,

which has messed up a lot of my rides. But then here in the West End, the one I've been going to since I was a kid, we have the Humber River. And one of my go-to rides forever has been AT&Bruly Park, like just biking along the Humber River. And I actually am wearing a sweater.

My wife made me for Christmas because this is, like she made this, the custom made this hoodie. based on a photo I took because I take a lot of photos of my bike and I throw it on Instagram or on blue sky and I usually use the hashtag

bike T.O. But this is a photo I just took. This is the Humber Bay Bridge there, the Ark Bridge. Beautiful. And you can see the Cien Tower in the background but this is basically above the Humber River. And in the last couple of summers I've been lucky enough to kayak this city whenever I can

find time in the summer to kayak. And my go-to spot is to kind of get really close to the Humber River on the Lake Ontario. It's a foldable like origami kayak that I literally put into a knapsack and bike to, and then I paddle to the old mill bridge and back. And I love paddling the Humber River. It's unbelievable.

I see so much wildlife, so many interesting birds. I see deer. It's just been like the best thing and it feels like you're in the middle of nowhere. So I guess this is a long-winded way of saying I love biking the trail by the Humber River. I love kayaking on the Humber River. I love going for walks down. down there, 18 Brealey Park to James Gardens. This is a river I know very well,

and I feel like we should get into it, and then at some point when I give you some gifts for making the trek here today, I do want you to shout out the new book because we might not dive into this new book. What's the title again? The Jail Carpenter's Diary. Jail spelled sort of like goal, you know, like, well, G-A-O-L.

Is that Gaelic? It's the British way of spelling. it and the old way, so there used to be a jail at front in parliament, and they called it the home district jail, spelled like this. Okay, and is that a mix? Am I right? That's a mix of like real history and fiction? I'd always wanted to write a novel, and actually I wrote a nonfiction version of this,

and my sister said, do it as a novel. Just fictionalize it. People will like it better. So I took all these really hideous crime stories in the, executions. It's all about hanging and stuff and put it into a fictional, this narrator who is the carpenter of the jail. He actually is at that one. The jail carpenter's diary. And then at the dawn jail as well. Okay. So people check this out available now, but I do see in the back, like there's a nice picture of you. I like the brick wall. I always like that as a backdrop. But it says that not only are

you the author of two local history books, River Stories and then the one in my hand, but that you are the recipient of the King Charles the third coronation medal. What the heck? Doesn't that sound cool? You know, I should have worn it here. I went to a thing a couple of months ago and a guy that was also awarded that was wearing his

medal. And I'm like, hey, I should have worn it here. It makes you, you know, it's really important. So how did you earn that because of the river stories? Like, what did you do to earn this? So quietly in the background, I do all kinds of video work. in writing and I appear at historical societies, volunteer and that kind of stuff. And then my

Ari Faroni, the MP for High Park, gave me this amazing award. It was such an honor. Okay, but you grew up in Montreal, I'm seeing here too. And I don't mean to take you away from that award. I'm just jealous over here. I was born in Montreal. My dad was the business guy and moved us around a bit. We lived in Winnipeg. We lived in Montreal. So I've got this really mixed up. We lived in Oakville as well for many years. You know, I wore this hoodie because it's above the Humber River, but I could have worn my red McGill hoodie that my daughter bought me. Oh, she goes there.

I see you graduated from McGill. I did, yeah. What a great university. So how old are you when you arrive in Toronto's West End? That was 1982, so I was 20. And we set up this business called Higgins Party Rentals, which became Higgins Event Rentals. My brothers sold. I used them when I got married and I used TIGR.

Really? Cool. Yeah. So it was like, I was like the guy who said, no, I don't want to be in this business. So I like dropped out. And then I became like the poor one of the family and my, my brothers are retired and, you know, doing very well. Oh, you know, I love it when you hear about these families and then you hear about the black sheep, the guy. And you find out, yeah, he was just like a successful teacher who had a great career, you know, teaching kids and then did this, that and then wrote these cool books.

and, you know, got himself on Toronto, Mike. Like, yeah, he's the one who didn't make it. Okay, so, and a lot of families, you're the one who did make it. You know that, right? And most families. And also, do your siblings, do people in your family, do they have this, Charles III? I forget the name of the Darren Award, but it's not in this one.

Wrong book, that's why. Okay, do they have a medal? No, so I feel pretty good right now. So don't take it off, okay? Don't take it off. Next time I see you, I'm wearing that thing. Well, I just, uh, won a major award myself, a Canadian podcast award.

And I didn't get a medal. Oh. Like I was thinking about this, you see a lot of crap in this studio here that just kind of got collected over the years. But I'm like, if I had anything, it would go right here. Like I would go right behind me somewhere prominent, but I don't have anything.

It's all digital. Like it's a PNG file and I put it on tronomike.com. Yeah. So there you go. What am I going to do? Okay. So I feel like we just did talk about the book. So we don't even have to come back to it.

So let me just say this. Okay. The new book, the jail carpet. Carpenter's Diary and Jail is spelled G-A-O-L, just to throw you off, just so somebody like me will call it the Gail Carpenter's Diary. This is, there's a lot of true history, Toronto history in here, but it's a fictional account, a guy named Michael Callahan, I guess. Yeah, I'm looking at it now. And that's available now.

That's the newest thing. But we are going to now dive deep into river stories. We're going to talk about the Humper River. And, you know, you're going to try to tell us some things we don't know. And I'll probably sprinkle in the obvious stuff. Like, do you know? there was a hurricane. I don't know.

I'm going to see what happens with me. But I do want to give you a large lasagna because you made the trek. And this is courtesy of palma pasta. So it's in my freezer right now. Do you enjoy Italian food? Oh, yeah. My wife is going to love you. Okay, well, that's all I was really looking for here.

So what's your wife's name? Sue. A boy named Sue. But you know, this is Sue. I always think. Shel Silverstein, I think, wrote that song. Did he really? I believe so.

Oh, wow. I know. So shout out to Johnny Cash if he's up in heaven listening to us right now. Shout out to Really Funeral Home on that one. But I do have, in my freezer, you'll love this lasagna. The family will love it. And Palma Pasta has been supporting the show for a very long time, several years now. So I want to give some love, palma Pasta.com.

Because not only can you go to one of their Oakville or Mississauga locations, but you can get your events catered by them. The same wedding where I was a client of Higgins, I was a client of Palma Pasta and had that wedding. catered and it was amazing and that was in the distillery district like 13 years ago. So shout out to Palma Pasta. Thank you very much, Palma Pasta. Do you enjoy fresh craft beer? I cannot say no. I have some fresh craft beer brewed right here in southern at Tobacco. I was thinking they have a Humber River beer, no, but they do have a sunny side beer, but it's summer only, a sunny side session

IPA. But I do have, again, there's a fighting weight octopus and some, some loggers and there's a Canuck Pale Ale. And that is Great Lakes Brewery. We only drink great Lakes on this show and over 10 years now of sponsorship from Great Lakes. I already shouted out Ridley Funeral Home, but just, I mentioned the 100th episode of Life's undertaking and I urge people to check it out because Rob Proust is our special guest and it's really like another episode of Toronto Mike Domos. It's amazing. And another guy recording great podcasts is Nick Iienes from Fusion Corp and his podcast is called

Building Toronto Skyline and we have a lot of kind of Toronto history too. like we talked to somebody who helped build the C&Tower, we talked to the people behind the new development at One Young, which is going to be the tallest residential building in this country. I think it already is, actually, and it's not quite done. There's a lot going on in this city, and we talk about it. And also a podcast he has called Building Success, where we talk to interesting people,

Keith Stein and Paul Farberman and a lot of great FOTMs. So check out all that last thing, and then it's all Humber River the rest of the way. The last thing is there's a website you should know about called. It's called, well, let's get these names right. Which website are we going to? Recyclemyelectronics.ca. So Recyclemyelectronics.coma.

ca is where you go. If you have old cables, old electronics, old devices, you don't throw them in the garbage because the chemicals end up in our landfill. You go to recycle my electronics.ca. Put in your postal code and find out where you can drop it off to be properly recycled. Okay.

So all of those sponsor mentions were probably not in the Jeff Merrick episode number 74. So that's how far we've come. Award winning. We have sponsors. Chris Higgins, I am going to be quiet because you're now the host. And I'm just here as like you're Ed McMahon. Okay. So talk to me about Toronto's Humber River.

Okay. Well, first, just a big but a small thing to say is when you go, down there, your blood pressure just kind of decrease. Like, you just feel so relaxed. So anytime you're stressed, just go to the Humber River. You'll feel better instantly. But beyond that, there are so many places to go that aren't the usual places that you know about with the Humber.

Like, everyone will go to the bridge and kind of, oh, it's a beautiful bridge, for sure. The old Mill Bridge. Or are you talking about the Humber Bridge? In fact, if you want to talk about the old. old mill bridge. Quick, quick little story about that. And I just did a little mini TikTok or something the other day.

Right at that. So go stand on that bridge at the old mill. And just let yourself cast back into history. 1930, I believe it was, this family called the Deers, D-E-I-R. They built a shack there.

The neighbors hated it. And it was, then the winter came and they saw why they were worn not to build there. And basically it was a warm night. It was just after New Year's, maybe the seventh or something. There was a big party going on in the old mill.

And it started to rain a little. There had been a lot of ice build up. And you know, when you're down at the old mill or the Humber River and when it starts to rain and there's a lot of ice, it just cracks, right? Yes. Like sometimes you hear like a gunshot sound. It just cracks.

And then it starts with this big, sort of plowing ice coming down. So they had this little shack on this little island that used to be there. And basically these rescue workers or rescue crew towed a boat through the streets of Toronto. They were these ex-boxers. And they got there. It's around midnight or whatever. And they get out and they go over this icy water to rescue these people.

And they managed to get them into the boat. And basically after that, you never hear of the dears. They kind of disappear from history. And that island also is re-engineered. I don't know if it's the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, but someone comes in and just removes it. So when you're looking toward the subway bridge, there used to be a little island there.

And you can kind of see remnants of it now. That's just one little thing because you're always going, Oh, yeah, isn't this beautiful. Yeah. I'm all about standing in places and thinking, I wonder what happened here. And then going back and digging up stories and going, oh, here's something cool, you know.

Okay, I'm kind of glad we're starting here because this old mill bridge, and that's the proper name of that bridge, right? It's the old mill bridge. Yeah, Robert Holmesmith had it built. And it is built to last, too, because there have been so many bridges in that spot, but that thing is solid. take all the ice that's thrown at it.

Well, we've got to get to that ice in a minute. But the, so on one side, I guess the south side of this, we call that Kings Mill Park. Mm-hmm. Right? And then the, I guess, south of, I mean, sorry, north of there is what we would call Aetian Brule Park. Mm-hmm. I'm just kind of, yeah. And this is right by the old mill.

So a couple of things. One is, did you ever watch the series based on the Margaret Atwood book, The Handmaid's Tale? Oh, I love it. That part where they're on the bridge. So there's, to be it, that's a pivotal big scene, and it's filmed right on that Old Mill Bridge. And they kind of do some CGI or some kind of change, they change it, but you can recognize it. You can't miss it. Well, if you know, you know, as I say.

But also, since we're, and again, I guess I said I'd get out of the way and I lied. I mean, I'm going to get out of the way because these are things that may be teasers. But the Old Mill, because as a kid, when I would bike that trail or walk that trail, I remember they had like the remnants of the old mill, like, It was like a partial, it almost looked like it had been burned out or something like that. And then at some point they used that to build like upon it. So I've got a friend, her name is Madeline McDowell. She's a very well-known historian and she bases herself at Lambton House in, yeah.

I know it well. I used to live down there at Warren Park. Oh, that's where I live. Okay. In fact, my mom lived down there too at a different time than I lived down there. But I lived on Warren Park Crescent. Oh, cool. I'm on varsity road.

Yeah. I'm trying to, it'll come to me in a minute. The name my mom's place, but there's only so many streets down there, but it's parallel to, yeah, it's perpendicular, sorry, to Barcity. Yeah. It is the best place to live in the whole city because you're like right on the trail of people come down all the time. The houses are like little post-Hurricane Hazel houses, little these sort of semi-detached, and people are coming in and kind of dressing them up. Yeah, it came to me. So my mom used to live on Van Stassen.

Did she know Doris Dunn? I couldn't tell you, but I'll ask her, I'm going to see her. My brother, my son's birthday party tomorrow. She just passed away, sadly. Yeah. Okay, I do, because my mom lived there, and I remember wondering why she'd ever want to leave. Oh, because she moved to, like, Islington and Blur. Yeah.

And I didn't know what you're in, like, this magic little pocket. And, yeah, the Lampedon house is down there. So, Madeline, who is the sort of guru. You know, I actually know her because an open house and stuff, and she's, yeah, she had a cane. Yeah. I know her. She passed away, eh? No, she didn't.

She is now, she's still with us. It was Doris who lived around the corner. Gotcha. Madeline talked about how they went in and grabbed all the stone that was the remains of the old mill, and they willy-nilly put it together into this hotel. She didn't like it at all. I think that building looks beautiful, but she was like, oh, you know, she's a purist with things, and she wanted things done right and whatever her complaints about that were.

So did she wanted to remain like a monument? Because I remember it was kind of haunting because you'd see this like burned out shell of like what was an old mill. I think she wanted it cataloged a little better and observed better. Is it because you can't really tell that is the original part really? Because they do design that old mill to look like the olden days. Yeah, yeah. And they just took it like Lego pieces. And I mean, again, I don't know too much about her gripe with that.

it, but she wasn't too happy. I will say this. There should be a monument to the fact that you can see that burned out shell of an old mill back in the day. You can see it in the video for the tea parties, The River. Oh. Yeah, and I confirmed this with the drummer,

because I always thought it was the old mill, because I knew it well and it looks like the old mill. But I did have the drummer on the program, and we confirmed 100% filmed at the old mill. Oh, cool. So that can go in the sequel. Do you know about the old golf course? Tell me.

Okay, so when you're, you know where the water treatment plant is. Yes. That used to be the Humber Valley Golf Club. Did you know that? No. Which is cool because, well, there was, in the 1880s, there were a lot of bones and things found there.

And then they had a neighborhood there. And then someone eventually set up a golf club. And it was a beautiful little golf club. And then they went, because they had to make the, sewage treatment plant and they just leveled it, leveled a street. And so that's just a little. Sprinkle me with this stuff here. Again, you, you're in charge. This is a bad habit I have. You keep saying that, yeah. I know. I mean it now. Please, Chris, guide us. Okay, go across the road, or across the river from there. And you know, the Petro Canada? Yes. Okay, so that's a lot of history

right there. You got the old French fort. And then you got this guy called Rousseau, who lived there with his wife, a trader, a sort of early guy who ferried John Grave Simcoe to York when he founded it in 1793. And then later,

that site is also a jazz club called the Silver Slipper in the 1930s and a local called Phyllis Marshall, who people would know from TV and stuff. 1930s singer into the 40s, 50s.

She went on to TV. She went to, I believe, Renamee Collegiate as well. She got her start in that little club, and there was a lot of stuff happening there, but it burned down later. So do you know whenabouts it burned down, like approximately? I'm guessing, I think it was the 70s or 80s. Oh, that recent.

Okay. And for those who are wondering what Petro Canada, this is on South Kingsway. And I could be wrong about when it burned down. I'll get, you know, Jeremy Hopkin. I'm going to just shout him out because he's on the live stream, but he's the official Toronto historian of the Toronto Mike podcast.

He's probably keeping an eye on this competition. Okay. So. Well, I love it because there's so many historians around that are making history kind of cooler. Yeah. And I think for a long time, it was like our parents or our grandparents. And the only thing you heard about

was Hurricane Hazel when it came to. But then this is why this book was written and the whole idea of what really, what else happened here? Like I found out that, Harvey, Bisher Jackson, this leaf, used to play outdoor hockey down just south of the Bloor Bridge and in a little pocket there. Just little things like that, and you go along and you go, oh, wow, this is up. Did you know that a yacht, the first yacht in Toronto, or maybe a schooner, like a really large ship was built around 1800 up the Humber River, and it was a deeper river at that time.

And they floated it down. They had like a ship building operation right there in a place that a few dog walkers walk around now. It's pretty amazing. You're sitting there, you're going, okay, they were building ships right here. And there's just like falling trees and stuff like that. But I had no idea about the silver slipper. And I do love hearing about these, you know, there's a venue that, what did they call it? It'll come to me in a minute.

But there's a venue right just a little bit west of the Humpherson. River at the waterfront, right on the waterfront there. So you'd be like on the bike, the waterfront trail. And it was burned down. And we just had an anniversary of that, I had a chap over here called Rob Bowman, who co-wrote a book called the Flyer Vault. And in that, just down the street,

there's a lot of talk about the mimic combo, which was on Lakeshore in Mimico, where James Brown made his first Canadian concert appearance. Yeah, and that's not, that didn't burn down, but that's now something else. It's like a restaurant or something like that. But these old venues we had, the silver slipper, I'm going to add it to the list,

and I'm going to dive deeper into that. I'm going to tell you another quick story. You know Jack Johnson, the boxer? Yes. In fact, you remember when I was talking about John Gallagher before we press record? His dog's name was Jack Johnson after the boxer. No way.

After the boxer. Do you know the famous boxing match? I think it was in Havana, Cuba, with him and Jess Willard? Not too familiar of that particular fight. Okay, so Jess Willard was a giant of a man. And so it was built up as this kind of battle of the racist type of thing, right? Big, massive boxing match.

And so they captured it on film. And then a company called Connest Hill got this film. And for whatever reason, around that time, this film and boxing or something else was kind of taboo or not worth. working in the U.S. There was some legislative thing. And so it ended up in Canada. That building, that whole studio, Conestell, was at, you know where the cheese boutique is? So you're talking about the new location, because I'm old enough to remember the old location.

The old one right on Bloor. In fact, the guy who, Afram is his name. The guy who runs a cheese boutique lives in New Toronto, the neighborhood you're in right now. Oh, cool. I see him all the time. Afram Christine. I could live at the cheese boutique. I have spent more than a few million dollars there.

But anyway, right around the corner from Ridley-Ripley Street, Conestill was there. They had a big lot, and they had a vault where they kept the film. And there was a massive fire. And because this was at a time when, you know, it was like just early 1900s, they had hardly any hydrants and any way to get water there. So the thing was out of control.

So they got there and did what they could. They saved these films. And this studio was supposed to be all about, oh, the Humber River. Like, that's the Humber River tie in, because they were going to be this holiday. They were in the silent film where they had, I don't even know where that old film has gone of the Humber River made by Connestill. You know, they took all kinds of footage.

Yeah. And they wanted it to be this glamorous place in Canada. Anyway, that is related to the Humber River is Jack Johnson. Just to help the people who are less familiar of our neighborhood near Windermere. Yes. Okay, now, when I have, this is,

we're going to go off and then we're going to come right back, but I have a memory. Please, maybe you can corroborate this since you arrived in the West End in the early 80s. But as a kid, I remember, like we would go to church on a Sunday, and I remember, I believe it to be, like in my memory and this is going way back. Lakeshore and Windermere,

I remember there was a golden griddle. Yeah. Do you know, do you have any memories of this? Because it would have been in the early 80s when you're living in that neighborhood. But long ago, this became like it was redeveloped

and I think it's like a residential building or something now. But I remember distinctly and it's kind of interesting because on the waterfront trail, you can now find that old Joy gas station. So you can see it. They got a gate around it, like they've preserved it.

But that used to be on like the opposite corner of Windermere and Lake Shore, this joy gas station. Yeah, all my Swansea friends would be all over this. Right. Because they love all those old pictures of those things. Well, somebody find out for me only because I Google it. I can't find, I have trouble finding any evidence that this existed. But in my memory, it was at Windermere and Lake Shore. So I'd love to find out, oh, Mike, that was really Queensway in Windermere or something like that.

But I remember this golden griddle. and it was like a magic place because it just seemed like in the mid-80s, early to mid-80s, this was the highlight of my life, was that going to golden griddle. Yeah. And I got to make sure it was not a dream. It was there. I think I might have been there once, but I can't give you any fond memories of it. Okay, well, torn in the universe, and by the way, speaking of the universe,

the name of that club that burned down that was at pretty close to like the Humber River and the waterfront. was, this is, I should have pulled out this name, it's called the Palace Pier. Of course, okay, so a little bit away from the Humber, yeah. Well, yeah, but not much at all. Like, you know how you have that lookout? So if you're coming off the bridge and you're heading west, to the left, there's this lookout, it starts of an S,

but Sheldon Lookout, I think it's called. And there's that, and then if you go, like, I'm talking like less than 100 meters west, that's where you have the monument where they kept a little monument there and now there's a nice structure some kind of a statue of some marker that's been

recently put there in the last like two years but there's a monument there we're talking very close to the Humper River oh okay Palisbury yeah they named condos after it but it's more the condo is further west yeah and then I was getting mixed up with Palais Royal which is still there

yeah right Palo Real which is still with us and that is for much further east. Mm-hmm. Okay. Back to the Humber, strictly the Humber. The one thing I would point to is people have to check out the art on that river because there's so much incredible. Just you don't even know where the artists come from, but they just show up. And probably the best place I could tell people to go to is the 401.

So you drive up to your off, you go Weston Road, you're almost hitting, the 401 and then there's a street. I forget what it's called, but you turn left. It's across from the McDonald's there. Right. Just roll down there, go in the parking lot, go under the 401. Okay. And you will see the most amazing murals there.

Also, Eglinton. I don't know if they've changed it because the LRT is going through there, but go under the bridge. It's just near Scarlet. It's between Scarlet and Jane. and you can see the most amazing. It's kind of graffiti art. It's not as dramatic as the stuff at the 401.

And then St. Phillips also has it. And there's a couple of other places. But if you like art, go down there. Amazing. I'm glad you shouted this out because there's beautiful artwork where the subway goes. So Philip Cote, who's a guy that I stay in touch with and who also got that medal, the King Charles Medal.

I can wear it with him. Well, we know that's a big deal. Oh, yeah. Well, he is a giant. Like, everywhere you look, Philip Cote is creating amazing work in schools and other public buildings. And you go, probably one of the coolest things you can see is go under the Old Mill subway and check out his murals there. And they are majestic. They are just amazing.

Absolutely. I've taken a few of those bike T.O. photos with that artwork in the background. And also before I had a kayak, when I wanted to see what it was like to paddle the Humber River on a kayak, that's pretty close to where you can rent a kayak or a canoe and take a little row. Right, Toronto Adventures. There you go. They're right there. And what a great place to just rent a canoe.

You don't have to own one. I have owned one in the past, but you can just go down there and pay them a little money and get on the thing. Bring it back in an hour or two. Yeah, exactly. an hour or two is really to do that paddle is all you need there. Yeah. Amazing. Could you please tell me about dead man's point?

Yeah, that's a, oh, nobody knows about dead man's point, but, and if you go there now, you won't see anything, no marker, but it was a really popular place for kids to go. And back then, people would arrive in summertime and swim there. A lot of people also drowned there. and so it got the name Dead Man's Point. Where is it on the Humber? So it's also where they built the ship. So if you go to the east side,

I always tried to verify exactly where it was, but if you go to the east side of the Humber River at Bloor Street, there's some apartment buildings there. You can take some steps down. And as they say, just dog walkers and the occasional person that you'll see down there. and it's crossed from the Toronto Humber Yacht Club, which has a story onto itself. Well, you can hit me with that one too.

I feel like I'm here to extract this gold. And people know, if I haven't been clear, you can buy River Stories with the Zed, conversations on the Humber. You can buy the first book by Chris Higgins, which has all this and way more. And there's great photos in this too. I feel like a lot of these photos are, you know, you're taking photos of things I've been

thrown on my Flickr account because I just, just, yeah, amazing. But you got a lot more here, obviously. But so people can buy this book. But tell me that story before you forget to come back to me. About the Yacht Club or the, so the yacht club at one time was, well, pristine, beautiful land. And then it's described in those terms just as they're going up to find a place to quarry and to dynamite.

Actually, it was the first time that I found dynamite being used to remove Riverstone and other things like that. So they just blasted that place. It's in Kingsmill Park. And you can see a whole crater there, sort of the way they quarried the land there. And then it also became, so the clubhouse of that Yacht Club sits on the exact place of what followed that quarry that was purchased, and then they put this speakeasy. It was called the, oh, gosh, the Juanita.

So the Juanita was this really, like at a time when liquor was, you know, they had bootleggers and all the rest. Right. And they would just have this crazy squirrel whiskey, and they'd serve it up, and people get really wild there. And the cops really couldn't get in because there was no access from the roads. Right. And they had this, I heard it called the shortest ferry in the world.

Like you could go from one side of the Humber to the other and then get to the speakeasy, this bar. There were a couple of murders there. I wrote about that in the book. And then when it was taken over by the people who set up the yacht club, it mysteriously burned in the first year. And so then they put down their clubhouse there. And it's a pretty funky yacht club. Well, let me tell you about that yacht club today.

So before we get back to Dead Man's Point. But there's a lot of controversy of that yacht club right now. So because I've started kayaking the Humper River, one of the big things, and I know our local counselor, who's also an FOTM like you, Chris, her name is Amber Morley. I think she's been kind of on this, but there's some violations of rules, etc., to be licensed.

And one of the big things is that you're not allowed to use your motor until you get to Lake Ontario. So you can have your boat there, and then you've got to go along the Humber. And I can tell you, in this, I've experienced this myself multiple times, but when you're kayaking that Calm Humber River, and then the motorboat comes by,

whatever motorized water vehicle was used by, and it happened all the time. it's not only is it disruptive and jarring, but it's scary. Yeah. It disrupts the environment. It's such a nice, quiet zone down there. I don't like to be a killjoy because people are having fun doing this, right? And I was a kid once.

But they can do that when they get to the lake. I know. And it's not supposed to be a navigable river. So it's not built for that. But unfortunately, there are in the book here a couple of stories. And there were many stories of recklessness on. that river, sometimes involving drunkenness and piloting boats. In fact, here's another weird story. In the marshes, there was once a cave that was dug out by a bunch of robbers. And they were,

they were like absolutely just robbing everybody from Hamilton to Oshawa. Coming back, stowing away their things, sometimes they would sink a boat and then raise it later on and send it back to Britain, That's where they were from. That finally they were busted. A very smart cop on the river busted them. And then they were, and then the guy broke out. He actually escaped and he was never heard from again.

When they got into that cave, they found like love letters from home. They had like things pinned up on the walls in the cave. It's just a crazy story. I love that story. And I know exactly the marshes you're talking about on that Hummel. number. Wow. Yeah. Okay. And Dead Man's Point. Yeah. Just back there. I know there's some further sadness tied to that popular swimming spot. Yes. Well, I don't know which story you're

talking about. I'm talking about the suicide. Well, yeah, so what was her name? Because it's been a while since I wrote this book and I forget her name, but she was a young British woman. She was staying in the junction. Right. I think, I suspect she had a relationship that ended badly. And I think it started at Dead Man's Point. So she, in the winter, she's going off to work one day. And it was in, is it Maude Guest? Yes, Maud Guest. That's right. I only got that from you. I did a little. Yeah. And so she wandered down in the winter. So she was supposed to be going to work and she goes down and she put her lunch down in her gloves or something. And then she jumped into the Humber River, the frozen Humber River. And then she had to be

dragged, like the bottom of the river had to be dragged by. Basically, one guy had the job. His name was mate acroyd. He worked from basically Scarborough to, you know, the Humber River. Anytime anyone drowned, he would bring these poles and these wires and stuff and pull people, basically dragged for a body. And he found poor Maude. And, yeah, that was kind of our whole.

rescue operation back then. Well, I'm going to be thinking about these stories when I'm paddling the Humper River. So I had no idea. So you have the Winita tea rooms on one side, and then the other side you got Dead Man's Point. Yeah. Essentially. Yeah, there was a guy with a cabin down there, too, and it was right in that same little, I think of it as a kind of historic place.

And he was sort of a professional and academic, and he lived in this cabin. and his place was filled with all kinds of basically taxidermy items that he had gathered, like different skins and heads. And who knows where those artifacts are if they were collected and put somewhere. Sounds like a serial killer. I know, but he was a legit guy. Like he was called a conservationist at the time. That's what they did, right?

It's all about branding here. All right. So, I mean, the whole yacht club, which, I'm a little ticked off about the Yacht Club, and that's a whole modern day story. But it sounds like they're true to their history, because if that was like a notorious speakeasy, like a liquor spot where,

what's the line from, It's a Wonderful Life? This is a place for guys, whatever that line was, where the guys talking about the tavern. But it's just maybe they're true to their legacy. Like maybe they were supposed to be like the disruptive ass hats of the region. Well,

that's what you wonder about these little curses that might happen. Right. Back to Harold Ballard. Do you know, sorry to be random about it. No, this is what we do here. But you know what happened in 1930. He used to be a sea-flee racer, this boat racer. And he crashed his boat on Lake Ontario.

It was early in the spring. So it was really cold. And one of his companions, one of the occupants, died. He drowned. And it was kind of, it was very tragic. And for Harold Ballard at the time, he went, oh, this is terrible. And I always think of this as like his warning from God or the forces of the universe. Like, hey, I better really watch it.

And unfortunately, he got to a point where he was so successful. He forgot that advice. And so that is the Ballard curse over the leaves. Okay. You know, geez, okay. something's cursing that team. So I always assumed it was Ballard related, though. Yeah.

I will say this because I was born at St. Joe's Hospital there in Parkdale, and then two of my four kids were born at St. Joe's, and there is like a Ballard wing. So the, I mean, you know, he was cheap with the team. I've had Rick Vive on. I've had others on, you know, this is the, this guy was cheap. But that money, there was a lot of money donated to the St. Joseph's hospital in Parkdale. So Ballard was a, like he had his haters, still does, but he also had the people who understood

and saw that soft side of him. His wife, who he, sorry, her name was Dorothy. Okay. Loved her dearly, but unfortunately he wasn't probably a very good husband. His sister-in-law said some really good things about him. me was a very lovable, soft, caring man. And yes, he gave to charity.

Unfortunately, he had another side. Yeah, a lot of us are, you know, complex. What did we learn from the Transformers? More than meets the eye. You can write that down. You can use that in your next book. Give me credit, though. More than meets the I, Toronto, Mike.

Award-winning podcaster. Okay. You did reference some of the great art you see on the Humber River but I've always wondered about the whoever's making these inukshucks that are on the Humber River. I mean, it's like a staple of the river in the summertime, but what do you know about the inuxhucks on the Humber River? So I never interviewed that guy if it is one particular person who does most of those,

but I did make that video that you can see and he does a really good job. Now, some people think it's, you should just have a river and not over curate it, But I think they're pretty cool. I really enjoy them. Yeah, I like them too. Yeah. I like them too. There is somebody, it's not, let me think of the geography right.

Yeah, you know what? This is pretty, it's on the waterfront, just a little bit west of the Humber River. Somebody makes like animals and out of like the wood, the natural wood you find in the area. I don't know how to describe them. I do a terrible job, but if it's birch or whatever it is. And he's, I see him there almost every day. I bike by this guy and he's kind of working on his craft there. He's kind of set up shop there, which kind of reminds me of the in the 18 Brulet Park makes those in Nukshucksucks on the Humber.

So Madeline that I referenced before, Madeline McDowell, she makes a distinction between different kinds of art on the Humber. So she sees if there's a beautiful bridge and you do graffiti on it, she sees that as vandalism. But when she talked to me about the, inukshok guy. She said, oh, you know, he does these nice magical things with these, and it all just goes back into the river. I see your point, right? This is like organic and you're using nature, whereas the graffiti, it's like you're painting something and I can see her differentiation. You're a teacher. Am I saying that right? Differentiation? Okay. Too many syllables as far as I'm concerned. And that is a great debate to have. Like, I've had this debate with many

a person. Like, what is art versus what is graffiti? We could do 90 minutes on that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the big thing is just to not do damage to the river. And I think in this book, there's a lot reported about damage over time. I mean, we've harmed the river in some really big ways. At the same time, we've also begun to say, oh, it's one of our treasures.

We should take care of it. And I think there's been a lot of that. And so you or myself, or all the people we know who love the Humber River are really doing that. So it's nice to see that. Okay. So when it comes to graffiti, the canvitt, the blank canvas that looks so appealing, sometimes I want to in the middle of the night bring my spray paint cans and bike over, not that I would ever do that. But it's the Oculus, okay? It's the flying saucer, if you're wondering what the heck's the Oculus. I've, you know, it's also so photogenic. I've taken a million bike Tio pictures by the Oculus there. But like when it's, sometimes it looks, it's super graffiti. And

And every once in a while they sort of like paint it white and clean it up. And then I think, okay, it's a fresh canvas for somebody. But do you have, can you tell us what the heck the, it was just like a pretty looking public washroom? What was the Oculus? Yeah. So the Toronto Council, I think it was in the 50s. I can't remember the year exactly, came along and said, oh, we want to do this sort

of unique and futuristic looking building, sort of half sculpture, half structure, just some curiosity. And they went ahead and did it. And it really is interesting and unique. And then that acoustical part. Yeah. You can stand under it and make all these sounds and play guitar, whatever you want to do. It's cool.

Unfortunately, it invites, who knows why, this unwanted, you know, people come down and they spray painted and they throw garbage there. I feel like it's built. It looks like it's, it would be. If I were a graffiti artist, there's my canvas. But they also leave garbage there and do all kinds. And it's in a remote spot. So it's very hard to surveil. It's very hard to.

And by the way, that's sort of at one tail end of that golf club that I told you about. Right. And this is sort of like when you're coming off the waterfront trail, making your way to, we'll call Kingsmill Park or whatever, you have that part. I think Stephen Drive is there.

And anyone who cycles the Humber River from the, sorry, from the Lake Ontario going north knows well the Oculus and everything in that area you're discovering. I've seen so many deer there. I got a shout out the wildlife. I did a special episode about Wildlife with a gentleman named Andrew, and people can find that. I think it was earlier this year.

But the deer I have seen right near that Oculus actually. And let me add, you just mentioned Stephen Drive. If anybody is listening and says, oh, I want one place to go that's gorgeous, beautiful, remote, go to Stephen Drive. Sorry, Stephen Drive people. It's going to bring people there, but go to the end of... It was a secret and you blew it. Yeah, go to the end of Stephen Drive and...

Or just go down the steps. Right. Go to that spit of land. It's in the marshes and you'll see deer. You'll see, unfortunately, you may see coyotes too. Sure. And people do congregate. So it's not for the faint of heart because it's...

When you get out there, you're a little bit on your own. And however, I talked to a guy one day who said, this is bird watching paradise. He was watching, he was looking for this very, very rare bird there. And they do flock to that area. And I've seen them. I've seen some pretty cool birds there. Okay, so firstly, I'm enjoying this thoroughly. Like, I feel like I could go hours with you here.

But it's just, I find it interesting that, and you're telling the stories people don't know. So we're kind of making an assumption, I think, that we're assuming most of, listeners know what happened in 1954 with Hurricane Hazel. But I just thought since one of your stories is about a sudden storm that kind of in the late 60s that, you know, you're going to tell us about that. But we should basically just spend a couple of minutes,

even if it seems obvious, talking about what happened, particularly on Raymore Drive. So what can you share with us about this? And then we'll segue over to what happened in the late 60s. Okay, so the quick buildup of the Hurricane Hazel storm, because maybe people don't know that whole thing, it was a weather system that began far south of here, and it picked up speed. I think it was Haiti, and it left so many people dead in its wake. Then it arrived to Lake Ontario, just heading north, people were thinking as the day was passing, oh, you know, this thing's going to peter out. unfortunately once it hit lake ontario and then was right over toronto it met another weather system that caused it to turn into this you know sort of bomb a weather bomb and then it just

unleashed all of this this water and you can go to the old mill and see the high water mark it's crazy and then the people who died now raymore drive is up around uh towards Lawrence between Eglinton and Lawrence, and these people decided to build this beautiful little neighborhood. It must have been a paradise in the city right by the Humber River. Now, bad idea, because even the town of Weston, the village of Weston, that had been on one side of the river at one point in the 1800s, switched over to the other side because the location, You know, it just gets so crazy with weather. The humbers not like other rivers.

Other rivers are, you know, they're just kind of a little bit more level and boats can go up and down. You can, in the summertime, you can be, you know, it's just ankle deep. It's really dry. Right. Then when you get other points where it's flowing down, apparently it's, I forget the number, like eight times. From where it begins to where it flows into Lake Ontario, it's like eight or two. 10 times the height of the horseshoe falls or something like that. Now, that's spread over a long...

Very gradual drop. Right. But that gives you an idea of the elevation and the way it's kind of always just going downward. Right. And, yeah, so just Raymore Drive, unfortunately, they're at this bend in the river, and they had just put in a new bridge, and that bridge got knocked out. And the way that it channeled the water towards their homes, and their homes just got completely taken off their foundations,

and so many people died there. I mean, I've seen, you know, oh, this home here used to be down over there. Like, it's like, so we're talking about 60 homes that are completely destroyed, and 35 people died. Yeah. 35 people. And if you go down there now, it's a pretty good walk. Like, it's a beautiful little spot in the river.

Well, we should say they didn't rebuild those homes there. They said this is a bad idea. No, no. It's part of, it's parkland, right? There's a little forest, and then there's a park, and if you're a dog walker, there's an off-leash place to walk your dog, a little bit south of there. It's a really good walk, and then right there, there is a new bridge that goes right over to Weston Lions Park.

Right, right. Do you know what's happening with Western Lions Arena? No, I couldn't believe it. That place I used to go into, and I would look up, you know, me visualizing a stories, I would be like, oh, I wonder what happened here. It's an old barn. It's amazing. And now it's, is it gone or it's going to be... Look, this, I don't have, I have to do a little homework and find out, but I did hear it was going to be raised, but...

I used to take my students, I used to teach right there, and I took my students to skate there. It was beautiful. Yeah, my second-born son, was my third-born child. He plays in the mimico hockey house league. The mimical Canadians, a very unfortunate nickname. I can't buy and wear the mimical gear. At least when my son was at George Bell, with the

Titans there, with the Swansea, you could proudly kind of represent, but I can't wear the Canadians' logo. Okay, but anyway, we did a couple of different league. There was Warren Park League at Lampden Arena, which is right by where we're talking, and then there was the Westin Lines, and we would do these, like, road trips, and this

is only going back a year or two ago, and And I loved watching him play in that barn. So, in fact, we got a game tomorrow at Lampedon Arena. So right along the Humber River there. Shout out to the Lampedon Arena, home of the Warren Park Hawks, I think they are. No, I used to look at those beams. Yeah, the beams. At the top, it was such old gnarly wood.

Yeah. And you were like, oh, these have stories. Yeah. And you're going to take that down? And it had that odor of like, like, it just smelled like an old arena barn. Then you can tell it. Oh, back in the day, everybody was. was smoking in here.

And who knows what else was happening there besides hockey. But all right. So stay tuned on that front. Let's see if we can save that. Can I piggyback on that? Okay. And this is probably shamelessly tying into my new book. Okay.

But the narrator of this book, he builds this scaffold and gallows and, you know, the places to hang people. And at the end, when they're moving to the Don jail, they have to figure out what to with all the wood because they reused these things, right? They were just put away. And so he gets the wood from the governor of the jail. And he actually takes it home and builds a bunch of like household furniture with it. Okay.

I love it. No, good, because if we haven't mentioned, the jail carpenter's diary is now available. Your second book. Do you have a third book in you? Yes, but I'm mulling that over now. You're not going to make a big announcement today on John Mike. These murders and notorious cases are from the 19th century, and they're all eventually tied to hanging.

They start with public hangings, and then it's banned in Canada in the early 1870s. And then I thought maybe I would follow it up with 1900 to 1962 when the last double hanging took place at the dawn. And I was like three months old when that happened. It's hard to believe it was that recent. I know. It's crazy.

Like the 60. I feel like I remember the 60s, but I wasn't there. So that's a lie. Okay. But just to finish, before we get to this one last great story from you, to finish up the Hurricane Hazel story. So this happens in 1954, and we talked about there were 35 people who died and all those homes destroyed, et cetera.

But there were a number of efforts were taken to prevent this from happening again because that was just such devastating flood levels from Hurricane Hazel. and that's when you kind of get these channels and these I call them I think they're called weirs. Does that name or sound right to you? Yeah. I spoke to a lot of people about what all that meant. I mean, what are weirs?

Why did they have? I mean, there are different issues, right? One is the armoring of the Humber River. That is basically a function of erosion. Over time, that river that used to be a narrower, deeper river, when we, first arrived as settlers. It was pastured. It was, a lot of trees were cut down. And so it weakened the banks because trees are really good near rivers. They create a really strong set of banks. But once you start cutting, it sort of just makes everything. And so that's what caused the

widening and the shallow nature of what we're looking at. And so they need to be, to gird up those because you get so much power coming down with the freshets, the spring melts and rainstorms and so they needed to basically give those banks a little strength. But the salmon as well, there's different reasons for those, but it is to reduce the flow, the power, the energy, and to enable the salmon and the trout to make their way up and also to, Another function of them is to filter out the sea lamprey. Okay, okay. See, I did not know that.

They end up in these little traps at the side. If you go to Etienne Broulet, you'll see a little concrete part at the side. It's a sea lamprey trap. That's exactly where. So Etienne Brulet Park, I was actually going to bring up Mr. Brulet right now. So I'm glad you segue it just over there. But Etienne Brulet Park, that's when the salmon are running, that's just a amazing to stand at the bank and watch.

Like, just watch the salmon run. It's amazing. It's incredible. And people love it, and that's why we get so much support. I don't like to see all the fishing, though. No. I don't mind fishing, but, you know, they're like, they're 10 feet away from the weir. Yeah, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Yeah, it's just not fair. And they've got to give a sporting chance. I'd like to see a little bit more enforcement. By the way, you brought up roulet. Yeah. There's another thing. I don't think Brulet was here. Hot take.

Really? So, because we're going back to the 1600s, right? Yes. Frenchman, if you can't tell by the name. Because he is credited. They named the damn park after him.

But he's credited as the first European settler to discover the Humber. Is that right? No evidence of it whatsoever. Really? None. This is the real talk. None.

Chris Higgins with the real talk here. No. I've tried even to change the Wikipedia page and they just reject me every time. No, it's like, I did a lot of research in Carl Ben, for instance, this really famous academic. He used to be the guy in charge of this at Ryerson. I forget his position there, but he's written several books, and he said to me, it was

probably the Grand River that he went down. Like, Broulet did go down to the south of traveling from the Upper Great Lakes, and so he made his way down. But in the writings of Champlain, there is no. mention of the Humber River. He does talk vaguely about a boy, did this and that. He calls him, you know, there's so much mythologizing. In fact, Robert Holmes Smith, who developed all those beautiful neighborhoods like

Bobby Point and Riverside Drive, great genius of a guy. And I really respect him. He made a lot of marketing hay out of Broulet and the Broulet myth. And Swansea has a coat of arms. arms with him and it's all very mythic and very, you know, like legend, the stuff of legend. Okay, this is wild for me to hear because, you know, the man who shot Liberty Valance, when legend becomes fact, we print the legend. And that sounds what's happening here. But I did want to just, it sounds obvious, it's almost like a land acknowledgement, but our indigenous

people were, you know, at the Humber River and especially this area we're describing. this was their this was a very crucial kind of touch point for indigenous people here so we we named the damn park after this Frenchman is European Settler who comes over in the 1600s

and now I'm hearing from you that maybe he didn't even come over here but I always found it interesting because you mentioned Ryerson just talking about the old university there although it was a polytechnical institute when I was at U.T but we used to call Rai High but now it's TMU

not the Toronto Mike universe but at T&Bruley Park needs to honor the indigenous people who were there before these settlers came and just took the damn place I think there's a better version of who

which European and there were a few Europeans that you can really do in a documented way say okay they were here Alexander Henry was taken hostage by some, like an indigenous party,

and taken down the Humber, he documents it, forget the year exactly, but it started this big journey, and then he went down, and they talk about the river per se. So you can see the Humber River in that diary. It's very detailed. Brulet, no.

Okay, so I'm going to read what Wickey has today. So this is the current Wic. write up about Etienne Broulet and the Humber River here. Quote, It is believed that Etienne Broulet was the first European to encounter the Humber while traveling the Toronto Carrying Place Trail. Brulet passed through the watershed in 1615 on a mission from Samuel de Champlain to build alliances with native people but left no written record.

Interesting. Okay. The trail became a convenient shortcut to the, Upper Great Lakes for traders, explorers, and missionaries. So like it does say there's no written records. So is it just a spoken word? I don't know. I mean, you can't find any evidence.

I trust you on this portfolio. I just don't love saying it in such a full way that it becomes fact and people take it as fact when you can't support it with. some kind of primary source evidence. It's just not there. Right. So that's one thing that I would like to have people know. I'm glad it came up.

Yeah. I'm glad it came up. And now that, you know, I know Jeremy Hopkins and, you know, Adam Bunch comes over once a year and there's these Toronto historians. We need to do a little more research here and get the story straight. Because you know what? I talk about the man who shot Liberty Valence. But on Toronto Mike, we don't print the legend.

Okay, we're looking for the real talk here. So final story, you've been great. I'm glad we could do this. We'll find a reason for you to return. And maybe you'll make an announcement what that third book is about. Okay. When you got that shoreed up. See, I'm doing all these water references.

There's a live stream. We're shoring things up. There's a deep dive. Okay. But, you know, I thought maybe we could close with the rescue under the Dundas Bridge. That's a fun little story. I got all this footage from at the time I was volunteering with Heritage York, and they've been sitting on all this great stuff.

Like you have police and fire rescuers, and they basically are saving these girls who, they're really young, they're maybe 12, 13, and I think they went to Humbercrest. They were going to that school at the time. My two oldest went there. And they just went down there for a little swim, and they were on the abutments. You can see those abutments to this day.

And this storm blew in, and they were suddenly stranded on these abutments. And someone from a local building called. And so all these rescue people and a whole cast of thousands watching them, like they're friends from school and so on. They said that a helicopter, like a news helicopter, actually flew under the bridge. I'm not sure that it did exactly that or it just kind of came close. Right. But it was a big scene and they all went home.

It was all fine. So everybody survived. Everybody did. But it was just one of those local things and it was fun to make the video and then I got to show my drone footage with that. Amazing. So I know exactly where you're talking about. So from here, a go-to ride for me might be on a typical nicer day than today.

Although I'm going for a ride to the junction later today because I'm nuts. Go to my barber. You know what? Dario-Pro-Money. I am in the market for a new barber because Andy the barber, my barber, is moving to New Brunswick in April. Like, I am in the market for new... You go there and people are talking about these legendary stories. It's not just the haircut.

It's the experience. You had me at hello. You had me at hello, here. But okay, so my go-to ride real quickly here, while I have the theme in the background, is basically from where I live here in New Toronto, I will head east to the Humber River, and then I'll bust along the Humber River Trail.

I'll go north, and my turnaround point typically will be James Gardens. And then on the way back, I'll go up that very steep St. Mark's Hill that you know so well, just so I get a little, you know, a little work in there. And then I'll basically take a net to High Park, and then I'll go through High Park,

and then down Colburn Lodge and then I'll end up back on the waterfront trail where I will go west to here. That's like a go-to and it's about 32, you know, between 30 and 35K the ride and I love

that ride very much. You're living my life. I used to be a bike courier downtown that is like you're talking my language. You're talking my language, Chris Higgins. And you're not related to the NHL player. No, and I hate that guy, man. Chris Higgins,

I tried to get. Get that.com for years. Oh, man. And he's, you know, he's not playing anymore. No, but he's with, he's with the awful, awful Vancouver Canucks. Like, don't go look at their record, so I don't know how long he'll be there. But Chris Higgins, it was a pleasure to meet you. I can't believe our boys played at the Air Canada Center together while Jim Cuddy was singing the anthem.

Like, we didn't experience that together. And here we are. And I know he's turning, I'm having a 24th birthday party for him tomorrow. No. So, yeah, we're going back. I don't know, 18 years? That's 19 years? 20 years.

Yeah, it sounds about right. Timbitts, right? That's pre-house league. What a magical day that was. Glad to have been there with you. Well, it's good. Here we are reunited and it feels so good. You want me to sing that one?

Yeah, would you? And that brings us to the end of our 1,834th show. Go to TorontoMike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Is there a website you want to send people for all things, Chris Higgins? Chris Higgins writes.com. So W-R-I-T-E-S, not R-I-G-H-T-N. Right.

You should get both just in case, then. Chris Higgins writes. dot c.com. Dot com. Dot com. Okay. Much love to all who made this possible. Again, that's Great Lakes Brewery.

You know, Jeff Merrick also worked there for a short spell because he knew those guys from Humberside Collegiate. That's a true story. Mike Lackey and Peter Bullitt, who now owns Great Lakes Brewery. His dad started it. They're Humberside Collegiate people. Oh.

All this history. Palmapasta. You got a lasagna, Chris. Nick Iini's, Recycle My Electronics.com. C.A. and Ridley Funeral Home.

The history of that place, that place opened in 1921, servicing New Toronto. See you all Monday. I'm going to drop a conversation I had with Brother Bill. We'll talk about the CFNY documentary. We'll catch up with Brother Bill.

A lot going on over there. See you all then.