Historical Winnipeg discussion

[rgalston]

Is that the same Starland in the 1910 listings as the doomed Starland on Main today? I didn't think the Starland was that old, or originally was a vaudeville house...

Anyway, here are the movie theatres in greater Winnipeg in 1946, taken from the Hendersons:
Downtown--
1. Bijou
498 Main at William
2. Capitol
Portage at Donald
3. Dominion
175 Portage Ave E.
4. Garrick
330 Garry at Ellice
5. Lyceum
292 Portage at Smith
6. Metropolitan
283 Donald at Portage
7. Odeon
364 Smith at Ellice
8. Rialto
363 Portage at Carlton
9. Rito
209 Notre Dame at Portage

North Main--
1. Beacon
559 Main at Rupert
2. Colonial
634 Main at Logan
3. Fox
606 Main at Logan
4. Oak
Main at Logan
5. Starland
630 Main at Logan
6. Regent
644 Main at Henry
7. Playhouse
180 Market at Main

West End--
1. Arlington
863 Portage at Arlington
2. Furby
599 Portage at Furby
3. Gaiety
457 Portage at Balmoral
4. Mac's
525 Ellice at Sherborook
5. Rose
801 Sargent at Arlington
6. Tivoli
115 Maryland at Westminster
7. Valour
Portage at Valour
8. Wonderland
595 Sargent at Sherbrook

North End--
1. College
1296 Main at Church
2. De Luxe
1525 Main at Lansdowne
3. Palace
501 Selkirk at Andrews
4. State
572 Selkirk at McGregor
5. Tower
580 Mountain at McGregor
6. Times
959 Main at Selkirk

South End--
1. Crescent
654 Corydon at Hugo
2. Osborne
108 Osborne at River
3. Park
698 Osborne at Rathgar
4. Uptown
394 Academy at Ash

Elmwood--
1. Elm
392 Talbot at Allan
2. Roxy
Henderson at Montrose

Weston--
1. Corona
1433 Logan at Quelch

St. Boniface--
1. Paris
218 Provencher at Aulneau
2. Plaza
104 Marion at Tache
3. Rex
322 Tache Goulet

St. James--
1. Classic
1837 1/2 Portage at Parkview
2. King's
1771 Portage at Berry

St. Vital--
1. Vouge
570 St. Mary's at Harrowby
2. Windsor
592 St. Mary's at St. Anne's

[drew]

I wonder where the Arlington theatre was?
I guess it was located where that small strip of stores is currently on the north side of Portage between Arlington and Home St...

[flatlander]

Tivoli is now a Food Fare, Uptown is a a bowling alley ...

[Andy6]

The Windsor, which was still around when I was a kid, became the Miracle Temple (or some such thing) and is now partly occupied by Miller's meat store.

The Starland is visible in the 1911 panoramic shot of Main Street that was made into a large-scale poster a few years ago and sold in the Exchange. [EDIT: actually, it isn't now that I look -- I know I've seen it in an old pic but can't remember where]

[BubberMiley]

Originally Posted by rgalston

Mini golf course, 1930. Guess the neighborhood.

My mother grew up in Elmwood in the 1920s and 30s and doesn't recognize that mini-golf course at all. The boulevard on the street behind it doesn't look like anything in Elmwood either (except maybe Kildonan Drive?). Are you sure it wasn't in Elm Park?

[Biff]

I'm with BubberMiley on this one. I know that streets can change over time but i can't think of a single place in all of the Kildonans where there is a boulevard like that. The Kildonan Drive area has a really narrow strip for a boulevard and even if it was narrowed over the years i don't think it could ever have been that big.

[flatlander]

There was an amusement park at the end of Osborne/Jubilee, wasn't there? I don't recognize the boulevard though.

[rgalston]

According to the Manitoba Historical Society, it was Elmwood, not Elm Park. They could have been wrong, though. I see streetcar tracks running across the view--Henderson? Osborne?


My wife used to go to shows at King's in St. James, and that was probably the mid-'90s.

[drew]

I can remember seeing "Uncle Buck" and "The Burbs" at Kings when I was much younger...

I also remember watching "Dead Calm" in the upper theatre at the Capitol...

[Archiseek]

Would love to see a picture of the Crescent on Corydon and Hugo.
Must have been quite the block or two - Corydon and Daly had a Safeway - where Scotiabank is now - there's a nice photo of it inside the branch

[Andy6]

Here is an architect's drawing of the Imperial Bank building at Main and Bannatyne with some interesting construction details.

[Andy6]

Here are some more subdivision ads, all July 28, 1906:

Marlborough Place (this is Roseberry, Parkview and Collegiate Sts. in St. James and was actually built):



Homedale never existed at all; it is in the Airport property; Lakeview wasn't really developed for decades -- it is Ronald Street near Sturgeon Creek:



This one is completely pie-in-the-sky. Sheffield Place is Beecher Street in West Kildonan near Kildonan Park. Even the ad is unclear as to exactly where "Killarney Park" was but obviously this was getting very speculative given the price:



"Industrial Centre" is especially interesting, since it goes into a lot of detail about a kind of neighbourhood that was meant to appeal to working-class men by being close to factories etc. The neighbourhood was never developed and is now part of Tyndall Park SW of Keewatin and Inkster. Another subdivision called "Manufacturing Centre" was proposed on the north side of Inkster. (At the time, Inkster was planned to be a very grand road that would connect with Sharpe Boulevard in St James and eventually turn into a ring road for the entire city.)

[flatlander]

So I was walking past 110 James Ave this morning and the building had "110 Damen Ave" painted on it. Was James originally named Damen at some point? My old maps all show James.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by flatlander

So I was walking past 110 James Ave this morning and the building had "110 Damen Ave" painted on it. Was James originally named Damen at some point? My old maps all show James.

Yes, we've discussed that before. It might have been done for a movie shoot or something. To my knowledge there was never a street by that name.

[Archiseek]

more on the crescent on corydon
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/9317/

[flatlander]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Yes, we've discussed that before. It might have been done for a movie shoot or something. To my knowledge there was never a street by that name.

Well that sure wasn't worth enduring frostbite over.

[Andy6]

Here are some random moments from Winnipeg's past:

The story of Manitoba's long-forgotten Senate:



Production of "Charley's Aunt" at the Walker, Jan. 1907, starring Etienne Girardot:



City's campaign to get rid of outhouses is gaining traction and houses on Elgin and Ross Avenues condemned as unsanitary, 1907:



West-coast design comes to Winnipeg's building apartment construction market, 1907 (wonder how many of these fixtures are still functioning in old buildings from the era):

[rgalston]

The corner of Gunnel and Henry Avenue was probably the nexus of Sandor Hunyadi's neighborhood in "Under the Ribs of Death", and in real life was a notorious slum district from probably shortly after it was built, until the neighborhood was demolished in the 1960s. Sel Burrows told me the houses on Gunnel Street in the 1950s were nick-named the "Gunnel Mansions"--which probably included the same terrace that had it's outhouses removed in 1907.

I don't know if this is that specific terrace, but this would be one of many that would have dotted the city's oldest residential neighborhoods.

[1ajs]

odd that bike looks just like mine i wonder?

[flatlander]

Are box closets outhouses?

I quite like rowhouses. Too bad we've lost so many.