{"id":26779,"date":"2024-11-11T12:43:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T17:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26779"},"modified":"2024-11-11T12:47:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T17:47:23","slug":"episode-1179-part-3-was-dufferin-park-in-1940s-just-a-dream-or-was-it-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26779","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 1,179: part 3. WAS DUFFERIN PARK IN 1940’S JUST A DREAM\/ OR WAS IT REAL?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Note\u2026this may have been sent earlier to some readers\u2026forgive me if that is the case:EPISODE 1.178: Part 3: DUFFERIN PARK \u2014 TRUE OR FALSE MEMORY OF 1940\u2019S<\/p>\n


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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
oct 29, 2024  and  Nov. 11,2024 <\/div>\n

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REMEMBER Eric when we built our own scooters\u2026.lots of them\u2026parts were free<\/div>\n

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ORANGE CRATES WERE FREE AT EVERY GROCERY STORE\u2026ROLLER SKATES<\/div>\n
WERE POPULAR AND EASY TO NAIL ON A PIECE OF 2 X 4\u2026PRESTO A1940\u2019S MODEL<\/div>\n
SCOOTER THAT COULD BE RECONSTRUCTED OVER AND OVER AGAIN ONCE THE<\/div>\n
ORANGE CRATE WAS SMASHED. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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HAS my memory failed me?  Dufferin Grove Park (current name) was a far different <\/div>\n
park in the 1940\u2019s as I remember.  Perhaps I am wrong.<\/div>\n

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1)  In the 1940\u2019s I had to  cross Dufferin Park from our flat at 18 Sylvan Avenue. I was scared<\/div>\n
that some boys would beat me up.  The Park had a dense mini forest of forsythia and<\/div>\n
other bushes lining both sides of a little valley.  Gang members used this valley.  They were<\/div>\n
teen agers, perhaps even younger but to me they were big and dangerous.  One day<\/div>\n
in grade One our teacher gave each of us a cucumber to take home.  How could I get<\/div>\n
the small cucumber home?  The big boys in the park would get it so I hid it in my shoe.<\/div>\n
That is my earliest memory of the park.  Is it a real memory or total imagination?<\/div>\n

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2)   I can prove that I cut my leg on a broken beer bottle.  Was the glass neck and shard laden end a weapon<\/div>\n
or just a cast away beer bottle? <\/div>\n
that I don\u2019t know. But   I have the scar.  I  am not sure the cut was from a<\/div>\n
weapon.<\/div>\n

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3) Was there ever a brutal gang fight between the Junction Gang and the Beanery <\/div>\n
gang in Dufferin Park?  Is my imagination tricking me?  I remember seeing a gang<\/div>\n
member getting hit on the head with a piece of pipe or a baseball bat while he<\/div>\n
was protecting a girl.   Exact spot \u2014 opposite gateway to the Dufferin racetrack.<\/div>\n
Was that just a dream?   <\/div>\n
Why is there no record of this fight?  <\/div>\n

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4) I remember one gang member being spread eagled on a police car<\/div>\n
parked on Sylvan Avenue just west of our house.  Did this really happen?<\/div>\n

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5) Why is Toenails Simmons never mentioned?<\/div>\n
 I remember being shown how to make a nuckle duster by sharpening a roofing<\/div>\n
nail then disguising the nail with a wrapping of hitemedical tape.  <\/div>\n

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6) Who was \u2018Toenails\u2019 Simmons?  His young brother showed Eric and me the<\/div>\n
roofing nail weapon.  Toenails was in jail.  The family lived on Gladstone Avenue<\/div>\n
supposedly\/\\.   Was this true?  There is no evidence to support.  Did Simmons <\/div>\n
even exist?<\/div>\n

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THE NOSEY BOYS ARRIVE \u2014 FORT BUILDING ENDED<\/div>\n

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The barrels were this size but not as heavy\/\/\/used to pack goods<\/div>\n
\u2026not water tight.  These are too well made and too heavy but correct size.<\/div>\n

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Eric, do you remember rolling the huge wooden barrels through the park?<\/div>\n
Our landlady. Mrs\/ Southwick gave us her tin sheathed garage for our new<\/div>\n
fort.  We set the barrels up vertically, cut holes in each one and made wood tunnel.<\/div>\n
Presto!   We had a  two room fort.  Big enough for 4 kids to crawl from one <\/div>\n
barrel to te other.   Remember what happened next?  Bad news!<\/div>\n

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The Nosey boys,<\/span> with others.  They wrecked our fort.  Someone of  them<\/div>\n
took a leak in our main room.  Our fort building ended.  <\/div>\n

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Eric, do you remember why they were called the NoseyBoys?<\/div>\n
Dad invented the name becjuse their noses were always running.<\/div>\n
They lived around our corner on Dufferin Street.  They were a little<\/div>\n
rougher than we were an older.  They scared me but not you.  I think they wanted to <\/div>\n
be our friends but the urine in our fort ended any chance of that.<\/div>\n

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End Part 3;  CONVERSATION WITH MY BROTHER ERIC SKEOCH AFTER HIS <\/div>\n
UNTIMELY DEATH.   AUGUST 1, 2024.<\/div>\n

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POST SCRIPT:  <\/div>\n
does anyone remember this book?   I read it 20 or 30 years ago\u2026the gangs described<\/div>\n
were not as tough as I imagined\u2026mostly boys whose fathers were overseas .<\/div>\n
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THIS book is along gone our of print.<\/div>\n

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8)  Was the park caretaker named Mr. Hayward?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note\u2026this may have been sent earlier to some readers\u2026forgive me if that is the case:EPISODE 1.178: Part 3: DUFFERIN PARK \u2014 TRUE OR FALSE MEMORY OF 1940\u2019S alan skeoch oct 29, 2024  and  Nov. 11,2024  REMEMBER Eric when we built our own scooters\u2026.lots of them\u2026parts were free ORANGE CRATES WERE FREE AT EVERY GROCERY STORE\u2026ROLLER […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}