T206 Wagner in Canada

[bmattioli]

I'll bet he had some great stuff coming into his store from walk-ins off the street and folks looking to sell. That's the era I wish I had a store..

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

I'll bet he had some great stuff coming into his store from walk-ins off the street and folks looking to sell. That's the era I wish I had a store..

By the 1990's though there had already been loads of publicity about the prices vintage cards could fetch. This created unrealistic expectations among the general public with respect to how much their not-nearly-mint "old" cards were worth.

But the mathematics of operating a card shop even in the 1970's and 1980's could be grim. Sure, the proprietor might pay next to nothing for the cards coming in the door but in turn the cards he was selling were fetching only a little something. And he had expenses like rent and salaries including his own.

That's why most card and comic retailing in all but the very biggest cities was done as an adjunct of coin/stamp shops and used book stores. I recall that the first dedicated comic store in my home town of London, Ontario opened in a very low rent outlet on Stanley Street in 1979-80 and still lasted less than a year.

[maniac_73]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

By the 1990's though there had already been loads of publicity about the prices vintage cards could fetch. This created unrealistic expectations among the general public with respect to how much their not-nearly-mint "old" cards were worth.

But the mathematics of operating a card shop even in the 1970's and 1980's could be grim. Sure, the proprietor might pay next to nothing for the cards coming in the door but in turn the cards he was selling were fetching only a little something. And he had expenses like rent and salaries including his own.

That's why most card and comic retailing in all but the very biggest cities was done as an adjunct of coin/stamp shops and used book stores. I recall that the first dedicated comic store in my home town of London, Ontario opened in a very low rent outlet on Stanley Street in 1980 and still lasted less than a year.

And to think they couldve had direct access to the old OPC factory

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

I recall that the first dedicated comic store in my home town of London, Ontario opened in a very low rent outlet on Stanley Street in 1980 and still lasted less than a year.

Guessing it was by that spooky Stanley Variety with its sordid history and creepy owner who mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again.

...but I'll leave it at that, as this could pose the biggest thread derailment ever if we went off on that particular tangent. Balticfox undoubtedly knows exactly what I'm talking about, as we're apparently from the same town. Small world.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

Guessing it was by that spooky Stanley Variety with its sordid history and creepy owner who mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again.

Yes, precisely. The comic shop would have been just a few doors to the west perhaps right beside Brown's Variety. Here's a pic of the Stanley Variety and its owner:



Mmmmmm, Silverwood's! I did get a milkshake there once in 1965 but I know nothing about the store's history or the owner's mysterious disappearance. But in 1977 I moved from London to Toronto for a job.

[dealme]

"...but I'll leave it at that, as this could pose the biggest thread derailment ever if we went off on that particular tangent. Balticfox undoubtedly knows exactly what I'm talking about, as we're apparently from the same town. Small world."


Well…I went down that rabbit hole. Pretty disturbing stuff.

Mark


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[samosa4u]

This is an old thread that I started back in 2020. So, I don't mind you guys discussing this on here ... or just send me a PM and tell me what happened!

[todeen]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

This is an old thread that I started back in 2020. So, I don't mind you guys discussing this on here ... or just send me a PM and tell me what happened!

no, we are all interested in this rabbit hole!

Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk

[maniac_73]

Originally Posted by dealme

"...but I'll leave it at that, as this could pose the biggest thread derailment ever if we went off on that particular tangent. Balticfox undoubtedly knows exactly what I'm talking about, as we're apparently from the same town. Small world."


Well…I went down that rabbit hole. Pretty disturbing stuff.

Mark


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Im a transplanted oakvillian who went to Western in London and now lives in Cali. Im invested in this Rabbit hole lol

[dealme]

I make no claims as to the accuracy of the source, but this is what I read after seeing it mentioned earlier in the thread:

https://crimeimmemorial.com/2022/12/...ntario-canada/

Mark


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Oh man! Don't read this at 1:30am right before bed like I did. Some scary stuff!

[samosa4u]

Very disturbing. Most of these killers would've been caught today though since there are cameras everywhere now !!

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

While Angie began setting up at sports card shows in the States in the 1970's, his brick and mortar store on Barton Street dated back only to 1991 or so.

I need to scan some items for a post on my recollections of my visits to the store.

Okay! I've not been able to find any pictures of Angie's King of Cards store, but here's what I remember:

The store wasn't just a small cubbyhole. It was deep and roomy with the sales counter at the back. Neither was it overflowing with boxes of cards all over the place. Yes, he had packs of new product on his sales counter but what he was mainly selling was his doubles which were all displayed nicely by sports category in glass cabinets on either side of the store plus one down the middle front to back. These vintage doubles of his went back to the 1920's. More were Hockey than Baseball but he had a fair amount of CFL plus even some Wrestling as well.

I bought this unbroken strip of Hockey coasters that were included in El Producto Cigar boxes during the 1967 Xmas season at his store:



(Not one of mine.)

So cool! I just wish El Producto had issued several more panels.

I also bought a few 1954 Blue Ribbon CFL cards, 1956 Shredded Wheat CFL cards, 1959 Wheaties CFL cards and 1963 CFL Coins from Angie but don't ask me which since I no longer remember. Here though are some sample pics from my present day collection:











Overall though it's funny the things I remember from thirty years ago:

I know I visited Angie's store on 19 November 1994. I had passed up attending the Vanier Cup game at Toronto's SkyDome that day even though my beloved University of Western Ontario Mustangs were playing the University of Saskatchewan Huskies for the title. You see Western had beaten Saskatchewan handily every time they'd faced each other previously in the playoffs and I was confident Western would cruise to another victory. Well Western blew a seventeen point lead in the fourth quarter and had to march down the field with less than a minute to play to score a game tying field goal. Final score:

Western 50 Saskatchewan 40 (OT)

So I missed a great game!

I took my card collecting partner from 1963-65, Tony, to visit Angie at his store once or twice. On one of those occasions (perhaps the day before the 1996 Grey Cup game in Hamilton) Angie was dealing with a twelve year old kid who had $10 to spend on either a Pavel Bure or a Sergei Federov card. I clearly remember Angie saying to the kid "I'd go for Sergei Federov. Pavel Bure is up-and-down but you're not going to go wrong with Federov."

Tony and I of course kept straight faces and said nothing at all. When we left the store, Tony turned to me with a grin on his face and said "Yup! Old Ang sure can't go wrong selling the kid a Sergei Federov card for ten bucks!"

Then another time when I dropped in on Angie not long before he closed up shop, he suggested we go to Sam's Hotel & Tavern just a very few steps to the east so we could continue chatting about cards and sports. It was your regular working class bar and though it was rather early in the evening there were already two working girls in the bar one of whom was wearing a bright red dress. They weren't knockouts but they were alright. When it came time to order, Angie said to me "You know what beer I like these days? It rhymes with whores. It's Coors Light!" From his comment I drew two conclusions. Angie didn't like good beer. I mean I would have guessed he'd have ordered Labatt's IPA (my father's choice) or 50 Ale, Molson Export Ale or Carling Red Cap Ale but he opted for an American near beer instead. Secondly he didn't approve of the whores. (Being more liberal minded in such matters myself, their presence bothered me not at all.) So neither booze nor women tempted Ang. All he needed were his cards!

He regularly sneered at the frenzied collecting of the junk wax sets and some of the prices the manufactured "scarcities" fetched. He told me one time in 1996 or so that he did like the Hockey Pogs though! This was probably because Pogs targetted kids and not adult collectors.

Some years later Angie told me about an incident where the cops had phoned him to leave the house because they'd got a tip of a planned home invasion. The cops then apprehended two armed thugs who had pulled into Angie's driveway! This understandably shook Angie up. He said they were planning to kill him for his collection!

It was also at about that time (1997-2000?) that I asked Angie how he could derive any pleasure from owning the T206 Honus Wagner card when he was keeping it in a safety deposit box. Within about six months to a year he sold all his Baseball, Basketball and NFL cards to a big California dealer and closed his store.

I also remember the non-pretentious old school Bel-Air restaurant across the street run by a Polish couple where I used to get perogies while waiting for Angie's store to open at noon or so on Saturdays.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

IPA. Talk about a throwback! Were they even still making that in 1994? I don't ever remember seeing it anywhere at that time.

[Balticfox]

Yes, IPA was a very full bodied well hopped man's beer!



No high school kids need apply!

I believe Labatt stopped bottling it in the late 1990's but an internet search indicates that it may still be found on draught in select taverns.

Incidentally, the Labatt's plant was a leisurely twenty minute walk from our house in the Wortley Road Village part of Old South London. My father worked there from 1952 or so until he retired in 1976 (although he always took the bus). I worked at Labatt's for four summers from 1972 to 1975 while enrolled at Western.

[samosa4u]

Very nice post, fox !!

The El Productos are super-cool and I'm very familiar with those. The coasters are pretty easy to find, but it's those box-bottoms that are really special. And of course finding a complete box would be insane. I don't think any exist.

The 56' Shredded Wheat, in my opinion, are one of the best football sets ever made. Very tough to complete and expensive too!! You only have four of them ?? There are some legendary Eskimos in that set: Kwong, Parker, Miles ... and I see that you have Bright.

And your bar experience with Ang made me LOL. I was always a stout guy. I remember during the holiday season, craft brewers would make chocolate stout, and man oh man, I miss those days!! I had a serious problem though and had to quit around ten years ago. Oh well, more money for cards !!

If Ang was getting targetted like that back then, then can you imagine if he was around today and still had those cards ??

I still have my hockey POGs that I collected as a kid back in the 90s. I remember my buddy down the street pulled an Eric Lindros and I was so jealous!! I pressured him for weeks and he finally agreed to sell it to me for $10 or $20!

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

The 56' Shredded Wheat, in my opinion, are one of the best football sets ever made. Very tough to complete and expensive too!! You only have four of them ?? There are some legendary Eskimos in that set: Kwong, Parker, Miles ... and I see that you have Bright.

Those though are 1959 Wheaties! I decided not to pursue the 1956 Shredded Wheat cards circa 2001 because of the can of worms/tar baby aspect plus the fact that I'm not really drawn to them aesthetically.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by dealme

Well…I went down that rabbit hole. Pretty disturbing stuff.

Originally Posted by todeen

no, we are all interested in this rabbit hole!

That rabbit hole is chock full of memories for me. The first thing that drew my eye was the sign advertising Silverwood's cones, milk shakes and sundaes. Signs like this one were common outside London's variety stores when I was a kid:

(Not mine.)

Silverwood's was London's own mega dairy. Silverwood's horse drawn delivery carts and Divco trucks were a common sight on London's leafy streets providing home delivery of milk in glass bottles in the 1950's and 1960's:







My sister worked at the Silverwood ice cream plant on Bathurst Street a scant kilometre away from our house in the summer of 1963 and she brought a complete set of the SICLE Air Force cards home for me!



She also worked at Silverwood's in the summer of 1968(?) and I worked at the Silverwood's ice cream plant in the spring of 1972 after it had relocated to the southern edge of London just east of Wellington Road.

Silverwood's grew by acquisition to spread nationally and become Canada's largest dairy by the late 1960's.



John Labatt Limited's Ault Foods subsidiary acquired Silverwood's in 1984 and after several more corporate transactions/amalgamations even the Silverwood name brand had disappeared by the turn of the century.

I passed by the Stanley Variety hundreds of times growing up since it was on the route of the Ridout bus I used to take to my high school downtown from 1966 to 1970. But Stanley Street was the northern boundary of my elementary school district and the Stanley Variety was almost a kilometre away from my house. There was actually no reason for me to trek all the way to the Stanley Variety because every corner store carried the same bubble gum cards like these Hockey cards that I collected in grade two:





But Joe S. who was my age lived right across the street from the Stanley Variety with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather and my dad were both Lithuanian and fishing buddies. In fact in 1969 my father bought their 1961 Mercury Comet for our family (for me actually because I was the one who got a driver's licence). Joe and I therefore hung out sometimes when we were in grade school.

I still clearly remember the time Joe had bought a pair of black Jolly Roger flags at Canadian Tire for his bike. Spotting these his grandfather started berating him for the hideous banners he'd put on his bike. "Now is that nice?" were his exact words in Lithuanian. Joe's immediate defence was that I was going to do the same. And I certainly would have but I didn't have the money!

Just like my own father confiscated my T-shirt to use as a rag after I'd lovingly ironed a Brother Rat Fink transfer upon it:





Somehow the old guys had completely forgotten the desires that lurk within the hearts of young boys.

Joe used to constantly tout the coolness of his neighbourhood Stanley Variety, e.g. how that was where the best value in pea shooters could be found and how great the milk shakes were. I don't remember whether the Stanley Variety actually had a sit-down counter at the time.

But Joe and I actually didn't share too many interests. He collected neither cards nor comics and he didn't have any cool toys like an Eagle Hockey game, Lionel train set or Dinky Toys. I do need to give him credit though for being the runner up Duncan Spin Top champion in our corner of the city in 1963(?) and going on to the southwestern Ontario regional finals in Chatham!



So Joe was never among my very closest buddies.

Neither was he exactly a scholar. Nonetheless after some trouble in his teens, Joe straightened out and went on to win the Mr. London bodybuilding contest in the early 1980's! Being entrepreneurially inclined he now owns and operates his own gym in the northwest corner of London.

Those though are the pleasant memories. The rabbit hole goes deeper, much deeper and darker.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by dealme

I make no claims as to the accuracy of the source, but this is what I read after seeing it mentioned earlier in the thread:

https://crimeimmemorial.com/2022/12/...ntario-canada/

So further down the rabbit hole....

London is neither a small town nor a mega city. Here are the population figures since 1961:

1961 - 169,569
1966 - 194,416
1971 - 223,222
1976 - 240,392
1981 - 254,280
1986 - 269,140
1991 - 311,620
1996 - 325,699
2001 - 336,539
2006 - 352,395
2011 - 366,151
2016 - 383,822
2021 - 422,324
2024 - 447,255(E)



So London does on the surface appear to be an idyllic city of ideal size (although its population has surged in the past ten years as it's been attracting retirees who are cashing out of Toronto).

But London has certainly had its dark side from the massacre of the Black Donnellys in Lucan just north of London in 1880 to Donald Oag who became Canada's most notorious convict in the 1970's to the unsolved murders referenced in the article. I can comment on two of the cases.

I have only a vague recollection of Jacqueline Dunleavy's murder in January 1968 though her name is still very familiar. I'm not sure the fact that she had just finished her shift at the Stanley Variety ever came to my attention. I was all about international events (e.g. Vietnam War) and national politics at the time and devoured the Time magazine to which we subscribed but paid scant attention to "inconsequential" local events. But the fact that I was completely familiar with the variety store as well as the neighbourhood now causes me to wince anew almost 57 years later. I can clearly picture the exact location in front of the Bear Alignment garage of the bus stop from which Jacqueline was abducted. So bad/sad.

But it's the reminder of Jackie English's murder that's most unsettling. She was a little darling. The picture in the article doesn't do her justice. Here's a better one:



You see in 1966-68 Jackie lived basically right across Euclid Avenue from two of my very best buddies, Phil and my card collecting partner Tony. Euclid Ave. was kid central at the time and the neighbourhood kids all hung out together. As a thirteen year old in 1967 she was vivacious, pretty as a picture, friendly and absolutely charming in every way. Even as a fifteen year old I had a crush on her. And she gave every indication of being sweet on me as well.

But did I do anything about it? Did I suggest we go to the Whistle Stop Drive-In just three blocks away for a foot long and a milkshake or sundae? Or to the Ace Restaurant for a hamburger and french fries with gravy? Or to the Hobby Nook for fish & chips? Or even taken her to Harvey's? Or invited her to come see a movie with me? Her family was really poor and any of those things would have been a real treat for her. I mean I would have been her knight in shining armour.

No. I did none of those things despite having the money (my father spoiled me because I was a good student plus I worked on a tobacco farm in August 1967 and earned a pile of money for a kid). I was socially awkward and completely clueless and inviting her to accompany me to a neat place for a treat didn't even occur to me at the time. When it came to girls/women, I needed lessons.

Then her family moved away early in 1968 (I think) and the next I heard of her was reading in the London Free Press about her lifeless body being found in Big Otter Creek in early October 1969. So I couldn't even bring myself to ask her out two years earlier and then some depraved beast snuffs out her young life. I mean why, and why Jackie? She'd been so vital, so spunky, so full of life.

And ever since then there's been the "What ifs?" Had I asked her out, had I even asked her to "Go with me" in the terminology of the day, we probably would have kept in touch after she'd moved to a different part of town. Even if we'd then drifted apart, her life would have been somewhat changed and she might not have ended up working at the diner in the Metropolitan Store (like a Woolco or a Kmart) at the Treasure Island Plaza. I really can't imagine a much worse location for her to have been working. Treasure Island Plaza was in an otherwise desolate location nearly a mile south of London's city boundary. So she had to embark on a bleak fifteen minute walk on cold evenings just to get to a bus stop and wait for a bus that might come around every hour.

Here's her older sister Anne commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Jackie's death on the Wellington Street overpass in 2019:



Here's a good article on Anne's memories:

Quest to Find and Shame - Toronto Star

Anne was already an absolute knockout at the age of fourteen in 1967 and I thought she was completely out of my league at the time.

So why was Jackie working in that gods' forsaken location? There were a couple of Metropolitan stores right downtown. Like I say, Jackie was pretty, sprightly and charming. Anybody would have hired her for a waitressing or a sales clerk job.

So sad. And so many "What ifs".

Jackie's mother and younger brother Fred would move back into my immediate neighbourhood in 1970(?). Fred had joined the chess club at South Secondary School and would visit me regularly because I was the only one he knew outside his club that would give him a challenge. All of us "kids" also liked to play blackjack in our dining and living room because by then I had the house to myself most of the time. (Since this is a Baseball card forum I guess I should mention that Fred was was a big San Francisco Giants and Willie Mays fan.) By the late 1970's he'd grown up to be a strong, good looking young man.

The last time I ran into Anne was circa 1971-72 when she worked at a booth inside one of the buildings at the Western Fair selling tacos. That was the first time I ever tasted "Mexican" food and they were really good. Anne though was wearing a Hawaiian flower garland over a cleavage featuring bikini top and looked over-the-top gorgeous. She was a young goddess and could easily have worked as one of the bunny girl waitresses downtown at the Latin Quarter where Jackie had another job helping out in the kitchen. Yes, she recognized me from Euclid Ave and gave me a big smile. But did I do anything about it? No....

So many memories ranging from the fond to the tragic down that rabbit hole.

[Balticfox]

Here's a good video from Youtube on the Jackie English case:

[samosa4u]

Originally Posted by balticfox

there was actually no reason for me to trek all the way to the stanley variety because every corner store carried the same bubble gum cards like these hockey cards that i collected in grade two:

Did you collect the Topps hockey cards from the previous year? The reason why I am asking you this is because card #66 is the famous Golden Jet rookie !



Because it was the last card in the set, it is often found in poor shape (first and last cards got handled the most). Furthermore, it was also on the bottom-right corner of the uncut sheet and was cut very poorly. Most ended up being either off-centered or miscut!!

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Did you collect the Topps hockey cards from the previous year?

The first cards I ever owned were actually four of the 1958-59 Topps Hockey cards which I gathered off the street one late February or early March day in 1959. The first three were Detroit Red Wings, but the last was a Chicago Blackhawk. When I saw that big Indian head on the red uniform, I knew that was my favourite team - even though I might have had trouble reading the team name at the time! I have every card but the Bobby Hull in my present day collection. Here are some shots:

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Because it was the last card in the set, it(Bobby Hull) is often found in poor shape (first and last cards got handled the most). Furthermore, it was also on the bottom-right corner of the uncut sheet and was cut very poorly. Most ended up being either off-centered or miscut!!

I bought a VG- one back in 1980 in an antique junk shop but traded it off just over 25 years ago because it wasn't up to my quality standards when it came to condition. I'm looking for one now that's wayyyy off center because I'm indifferent to centering and I'd like to get one for a semi-reasonable price. (I didn't care a whit about centering as a kid so why should I now?) But the card stock of these 1958-59 Topps Hockey often betrays yellowed borders and I still want a Hull that's as sharp and white as my other cards from this set. I'm not sure that the 8 you posted is white enough for my quality standards. I'd need to compare it side-by-side to my others.

[Balticfox]

Here anyway is a picture from a few years ago of old Ang in his den surrounded by his sports memorabilia:

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Ohhhh Caaannnaadddaaaa ...

[samosa4u]

Hahahahaha

[Balticfox]

Angie's King of Cards store would have been in one of the two small buildings visible beside Sam's Hotel & Tavern in this picture:



And here is the Bel-Air Restaurant across the street where I used to get perogies:

[samosa4u]

Very nice, Mr. Fox !!

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Man, I would have loved the opportunity to check out that restaurant. Gotta love the vintage Player's sign, even if the cigarettes are terrible. Some of the best pirogis I've had were in the diveiest bar in the Ham.

[Balticfox]

Sadly it looks as if Angie's old "King of Cards" store is empty and boarded up now:



I believe it was the storefront on the right of the picture above.

[gregndodgers]

Savelli said he started collecting as a 10 year old kid in the 40s when he went on a family trip from Canada to New Haven, Conn., where he bought his first pack of baseball cards from a store.

Then he said that card collecting really took off in the early 70s when the first card convention was held in Detroit.

I recall attending my first card show at a Holiday Inn in around 1977. I saw a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth’ for sale by an older guy. I told the guy that I wanted to buy it. He answered me, “kid, you can’t afford it. It costs $100 !!!”

To me, a 10 year old kid back in 77’, $100 seemed like $10,000 today, and I’m sure most adults at the time thought it was crazy to pay $100 for a cardboard toy!

Ahh, to go back in time!

P.s. Something that cost $100 in 1977 would cost around $600 today when accounting for inflation only.

[paulmolive]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

Sadly it looks as if Angie's old "King of Cards" store is empty and boarded up now:



I believe it was the storefront on the right of the picture above.

Thank you so much for sharing all of this. Everything on Barton St. is boarded up now lol. I seem to remember it was #630. The storefront was very small, and in the evening it was barely lit up at all. My mom and I would often visit Angelo, and then head to the old Trocadero restaurant just down the street for dinner. I was just a kid.. Glorious times. Angelo helped me find a lot of rare pre-war baseball stuff. I'd make a list, and he'd call me when he found the cards. Awesome guy.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by paulmolive

I seem to remember it was #630. The storefront was very small, and in the evening it was barely lit up at all.

Interesting! I remember his store being fairly wide and roomy though.

Originally Posted by paulmolive

Angelo helped me find a lot of rare pre-war baseball stuff. I'd make a list, and he'd call me when he found the cards.

Wow! How did you manage to afford those as a young kid?

Originally Posted by paulmolive

Everything on Barton St. is boarded up now lol.

Very sad. It was a low income neighbourhood already back in the 1990's.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

Gotta love the vintage Player's sign, even if the cigarettes are terrible.

Player's, Export "A", Sportsman, they were all real man's cigarettes before the explosion in 'light" and "mild" brands in the 1970's. There was a time when men wanted full tobacco taste from both their cigarettes and cigars:





And their chewing tobacco of course:

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

We (Canada) may be the winners in the beer competition, but America "wins" with their cigarettes. If one enjoys such an awful habit, which I admittedly do, I want something with flavor. Up here, our tobacco tastes like smoking a phone book. Nothing like a Lucky Strike, Pall Mall or Camel...all unfiltered. The older I get, the more wrong I know the love of this habit is. It's my last remaining vice, thankfully tamped down to just a handful a day.

[bmattioli]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

We (Canada) may be the winners in the beer competition, but America "wins" with their cigarettes. If one enjoys such an awful habit, which I admittedly do, I want something with flavor. Up here, our tobacco tastes like smoking a phone book. Nothing like a Lucky Strike, Pall Mall or Camel...all unfiltered. The older I get, the more wrong I know the love of this habit is. It's my last remaining vice, thankfully tamped down to just a handful a day.

Nothing beats a Marlboro Red. I quit smoking 10 Oct 11 after 30 years. It was a good move but having a smoke on a hot muggy summer night with a cold beer was wonderful..

[JollyElm]

It's funny how pervasive smoking was only a few years ago, where you'd walk into a 7-11 (e.g.) and into a haze of smoke as people were casually puffing away...and it was just 'normal.'
Now, if you're suddenly confronted by a smoky haze, it's a shock to the system.

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

It's funny how pervasive smoking was only a few years ago, where you'd walk into a 7-11 (e.g.) and into a haze of smoke as people were casually puffing away...and it was just 'normal.'
Now, if you're suddenly confronted by a smoky haze, it's a shock to the system.

They used to have a smoking section in the lockerroom at our YMCA.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

They used to have a smoking section in the lockerroom at our YMCA.

Growing up around my Queens-accented aunts, every single spot on Earth was the smoking section.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

Gotta love the vintage Player's sign....

I remember that just about every variety store sported its name on a sign with Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, 7-Up, Canada Dry, Wishing Well, Silverwood's, Player's, Neilson Sweet Marie, etc. background until the early 1980's. The signs must have come at no cost from the advertiser. They've now almost completely disappeared.

Even sadder is how neon signs have disappeared. Some of them were true works of art. Here's a pic of downtown London, Ontario circa 1965:

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

They used to have a smoking section in the lockerroom at our YMCA.

I remember smoking sections on commercial airlines.

[Yoda]

I think that the London, Ontario Police Dept. could have used a CSI unit to help with their investigations. Lots of places to look but, seemingly little action. I know no DNA testing but.......

[ruth-gehrig]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I remember smoking sections on commercial airlines.

Smoking in operating rooms used to be an acceptable behavior