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Old Posted Jan 13, 2012, 5:41 PM
alittle1 alittle1 is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 446
Quote:
Originally Posted by flatlander View Post
N/W Osborne and Morley is a former Bank of Montreal, right? Or did it predate that? What's a Piggly Wiggly??
...next building to the North. Most of the Sal's were narrow and long, with the grill and fridges along one wall, counter/stools and walking room on the other. The cook usually doubled as a counter person.

Quote freeweed I don't remember the bus fares back when, but I do remember when Winnipeg Transit buses still had ashtrays on them - and you could smoke on the bus!

That alone makes me realize how much things have changed. QUOTE.

I can go back a long way on the buses, back to the old Ford gas buses when fares were a nickle, as was the street car that we used to take to City Park, also I still have orange bus tickets that I paid 7 for a dollar, but I never seen smoking on a city bus, not even a trolley. I'm not saying that we didn't have a butt in the full width back seat, with the window cracked wide open, but there never was an open smoking policy in my days.

Further to downtown atmosphere, does anyone remember the bald-headed newspaper vendor that had the corner at S/W Portage and Donald? He was there for at least 20 years that I can remember. He had the perennial Players cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth, and used to shout out the news headline of the day; "Tribune morning edition, Diefenbaker Racks up a Lead, Tribune 10 cents!" He stood on that corner from early morning till 6 o'clock each night, rain or shine and then truddle down to the Vendome Hotel for a couple quick one's. He wore a big brown woolen overcoat, one garbage mitt and his change hand was always bare, even at -30 below. I can only remember seeing him with a toque when the temperature got down to -35 or more. He would alter his news stand from the Portage side to the Donald side depending on which way the wind blew and he relied on the exhaust heat that came out of the doors at Eaton's to keep warm. He couldn't read or write, so the guy that dropped him his papers in the morning would read him the headline and he would sing it all day long.

He would break a dollar for you, but if you pulled a 'fin', he would say, "Got no change, no change, come again later, got no change". And if you gave him a tip, "thank you, Sir... thank you....sun's going to shine..." He was one of those street people that predicate that Winnipeg does have a soul.
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