Kensington Market

The first thing we came across was this car, painted and planted.  Reminded us of a similar car in Calgary many moons ago.  The owner said he made the car self sufficient - he grew food in and on it, had a bed, rigged up a shower that catches rainwater.  It had everything.  He said it was so he could go to the moon and live in it.  Funny funny.  A few weeks later we walked past his house and the car was gone.  The note in the window said "Gone to the Moon".

This is what I was looking for. Sancis.   Mom used to go to public school with Frances Sancis.  Her parents owned the Banana Store.  They sold bananas.  In fact, they were the first people to sell bananas in Ontario.  The business was successful, so they built a garage in the back of their shop.  Mom said she went into the garage and there were banana's hanging on hooks and on the floor there were many heaters to give warmth the the ripening bananas.  As far as we know, Francis is still alive and she WAS living in the garage at the back of the shop.  She would be around mom's age which is 92/93.  I was looking forward to meeting her, photographing her and having her tell me some banana stories or stories of her and mom.

This is what I found.  The son, who was running the shop, retired one year ago.  He sold the building and the present owner had been renovating for the past year.  It was only one week prior to my visit that the name Sanci had been removed from the window.  They had been in the same location for more than 91 years.  Now they are gone.  What luck!

No more chickens clucking in wooden cages, no more ice cream in cylinders wrapped in paper that they pop into a cone, some new coffee shops, and now 2nd hand clothing stores are in style (retro), but it is basically the same --  shop after shop after shop, using sidewalks to display goods and cars parked bumper to bumper along the narrow streets.

This is the other one Mom remembers...Tom's Place.  He used to sell second hand clothing when he started.  Now it is a men's suit store - and a fine one at that, so I hear.  We went in and looked around. (If you want a suit that is the place to go - boy do they have a lot!).  Tom was not there though, so we left.