The South Bayview Bulldog

The genial landlord John Badali and his partner have listed the two premises at 1579 and 1581 Bayview Ave. for sale on the MLS for $3,300,000. The present retail tenants, Modella and Tinto Bar de Tapas, are described as excellent.  Upstairs rentals over each store are paid monthly. The stores will  be remembered by many as the former locations of Homefront and The Mad Italian.

WHATEVER LOLA WANTS

Up the street at 1625 Bayview sees the return for a three-month stay of Whatever Lola Wants.  The enterprising Rhonda is stocked and open for the Christmas season. Across the street, the new Bite Me restaurant has opened for business and Tokyo Sushi is closed with a sign on the window from Simon Lee saying the place is temporarily closed for renovations and will re-open.

DOLLY JEWELLERS

Up the street, Dolly Jewellers at 1699 Bayview has a Christmas promotion on getting your sparklies cleaned and polished. Alex and Bev Simmons are ready to tackle all the things you might like to have looking just perfect for the holidays. Think of ring sizing, stone replacement, re-tipping claws, re-stringing, engraving, clock and watch repairs and many more with always free appraisals. Paul Carreira at Carreira Casuals at 1563 is offering a free shirt and tie for any purchase of a jacket and pants or a suit.

A woman and a girl are said to have serious injuries after this scary looking crash of an  SUV into a bus shelter at Lawrence and Pharmacy Aves. Sunday afternoon. The streets were closed into the evening, police said. These graphic photos were tweeted by Tom Podolec.

Police, referees and team captains are seen witnessing a coin toss for batting order at the 53 Division First Annual Indoor Cricket Tournament Sunday (October 25 , 2015) in Thorncliffe Park. The event grows out of the continuing interaction by police and community to keep kids engaged and positive. Sunday saw 80 young men and women playing or participating in support roles such as scoring at the Jenner Jean-Marie Community Centre.  As many as 17 teams participated for a championship trophy, said PC Narinder Grewal, a principal organizer of the event. The game had to be adapted, probably not for the first time, to be played indoors where the gymnasium at Jenner Jean-Marie is large and modern.

COPS & KIDS

The entire project is made possible by the Proaction charity which is allied with Toronto Police and has its offices in the headquarters building on College Street. All the players wore jerseys bearing Proaction’s Cops & Kids logo.  Proaction was conceived by businessman John L. Bitove Sr. in 1991 and has functioned as a source of financial support for such good work since then. Photo shows l to r Nasser Khan (chief referee) PC Arnulfo Lisanin, team captain, PC Alex Li with coin, team captain and assistant and PC Narinder Grewal. (The South Bayview Bulldog)

This is actually last year’s parade because the 2015 version is still about to take place. If you have three or four minutes of nothing to do and love your pooches dressed up funny, have a look.  Monster Mash tribute to Boris Karloff is sung by Bobby “Boris” Pickett. It’s quite amusing too.

She was the woman who John Wayne called “a heck of a guy.” The red-haired leading lady of memorable roles in such films as The Miracle on 34th Street and The Quiet Man was a woman and among women, and man’s woman all at once. She has died quietly at home in Idaho at the age of 95. All leads

The mother of a St. George, Ontaro boy dying of inoperaable brain tumour speaks of a renewed faith because of the kindness of the people of the small town. CBC 

Leaside United Church hosted a Rally of Hope Saturday which saw many members of the community join in a “four-wheeled scavenger hunt” to raise money in support of El Hogar Project Canada’s homes and education programs for poor and abandoned children in Honduras. El Hogar, which means The Home, has four homes in Honduras  The featured speaker was Eduardo Bennett, an  El Hogar graduate who went on to become a celebrated soccer player in Honduras, Argentina and Chile. He spoke with passion and humour about his upbringing and the opportunities he gained when his mother enrolled him at El Hogar.

FEARED A LIFE OF ALCOHOLISM

She feared he faced a life of alcoholism. Bennett spoke of a broken home with four children in which he said he was “a freedom kid” who could do whatever he wanted. With is father gone and his mother working to keep the family alive, he had little opportunity for a relationship with his mother. He went to the streets and refused to attend school. His life was fighting and football, he said. His older brother George was drinking heavily. It seemed like Eduardo might follow the same path. His mother wanted him to go to El Hogar. “I didn’t believe my mother, that she would send me to El Hogar,” he said. “I am the special guy, she’s not going to let the diamond leave home,” he recalled to laughter.

LEARNED TRADES

But his mother was serious and despite his tears, Bennett found that he began to care about the El Hogar people who cared about him. At the technical institute he learned to love his new home. He was taught welding, plumbing and carpentry, skills he  enjoys and is proud of even though his place in life was secured by his skill as a soccer player. The large church gymnasium was the scene of a fine dinner catered by Andy Elder of Grilltime. The gym was filled to capacity. Some well-known Leaside residents there were Tim Morawetz and his wife Sue MacGowan and Tim Magwood who was MC for the evening. Below is a video outline of El Hogar’s program by the organization’s chair Margo Mingay.

Four people were taken to hospital following an accident on the Don Valley Parkway in which a vehicle rolled over and hit another car today (Saturday, October 24, 2015). It happened in the southbound lanes of the parkway near Don Mills Road shortly before 3 p.m. Two children were treated for various injuries but later released from hospital.

The much admired home on the ravine at 117 Hudson Drive in Moore Park has sold for $3,101,000 some $206,000 over the list price of $2,895,000. The transaction occurred in September. It has a large bungalow appearance but was sold as two-storey. The 1960s structure has large principal rooms and master bedroom with much useful landscaped table-land at the rear before the lot descends to its full length of 263 feet in the ravine. Taxes this year on the 70-foot frontage were $18,439. The listing shows 8 plus 2 rooms and four baths.