yyzer
Senior Member
just came across this article on the CityPulse website about a shoeshine business in the Arcade building being forced to vacate....whatever are they talking about? (my highlights)...after checking, there is a similar article on the Toronto Sun website, which mentions that the building's 'new owners' will not be renewing leases with their tenants in August, but there is no mention of a redevelopment by the Sun....
Yonge Street Institution Could Soon Stop 'Shining' After Close To 85 Years
Tuesday May 20, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
Unlike Joe Pesci's legendary Tommy DeVito character from Goodfellas, Matthew Morra has never had any problem going to get his shine box.
His father Nick was the same way, and between the two of them the Yonge Street Arcade Shoeshine Stand at 137 Yonge has been going strong for 82 years.
When Nick Morra started the business back in 1926, customers parked their buggies on the main strip and paid just 10 cents a shine.
Now, Matt's 72 and still running the show, though redevelopment plans could put an end to all that tradition as soon as August.
"They can build 50 stories on this site and it's only 10 stories high now," Morra lamented. "That's progress."
And if things do progress in that fateful direction, seats that held the likes of Sammy Davis Jr., Pierre Trudeau and Paul Anka would all fall by the wayside.
"He (Anka) told us how he wanted them done," Morra recalled. "So we told him that we did it my way."
Longtime customers like John Doig, who called the spot "the best shoe shine in the city," are hoping at worst Morra will be forced to relocate, but the man himself says he may not have it into find another appropriate space.
"There's too much history here to just let it die," Morra sighed. "I like it, it's my life ... right now it is."
Yonge Street Institution Could Soon Stop 'Shining' After Close To 85 Years
Tuesday May 20, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
Unlike Joe Pesci's legendary Tommy DeVito character from Goodfellas, Matthew Morra has never had any problem going to get his shine box.
His father Nick was the same way, and between the two of them the Yonge Street Arcade Shoeshine Stand at 137 Yonge has been going strong for 82 years.
When Nick Morra started the business back in 1926, customers parked their buggies on the main strip and paid just 10 cents a shine.
Now, Matt's 72 and still running the show, though redevelopment plans could put an end to all that tradition as soon as August.
"They can build 50 stories on this site and it's only 10 stories high now," Morra lamented. "That's progress."
And if things do progress in that fateful direction, seats that held the likes of Sammy Davis Jr., Pierre Trudeau and Paul Anka would all fall by the wayside.
"He (Anka) told us how he wanted them done," Morra recalled. "So we told him that we did it my way."
Longtime customers like John Doig, who called the spot "the best shoe shine in the city," are hoping at worst Morra will be forced to relocate, but the man himself says he may not have it into find another appropriate space.
"There's too much history here to just let it die," Morra sighed. "I like it, it's my life ... right now it is."