Wednesday, November 27, 2013

YOU KNOW YOU WERE BORN AND RAISED IN THORNHILL IF...

So my cousin and his friends put together this nostalgic post about being from the Detroit suburbs earlier this year. And it got me thinking about what it means to be from Thornhill.

1. You know someone who was cousins with one of these guys:


2. And THANKED GOD when this opened, so you didn’t have to go all the way to Elgin Mills anymore:

3. You had your sixth birthday party here:

4. Your seventh here:

5. And still eat one of these on special occasions:

6. And you also have vague memories of birthday parties at a strange, amazing place called The Mad Hatter:

7. You were on the Richmond Hill GO train the day this happened:

8. It's THORNHILL, NOT Markham or Vaughan:

And if you're REALLY hardcore, you might not even count this neighbourhood:

9. You sometimes used to say you were from Toronto, until this happened:

10. But you did start calling it T-Dot as soon as this guy told you to Get Ready:

11. You get your spicy salmon here:

12. Jerusalem toast here:

13. Take your Bubby here:

14. LOVE the party sandwiches from here:

15. And devour the smoked meat here:

16. This was the first mall you loved:

17. You got your ears pierced here:

And bought your BFF one of these:

18. But then this store opened:
And it was a REALLY big deal.

19. So now you go here:

20. To shop here:

21. And ahhh the 14A movies you snuck into (sigh):

22. Every school field trip was to this place:

23. But you WISHED it was here:

24. Speaking of which, you liked it better when it was owned by Paramount, because:

25. Is really called:

26. You’ve cried over more game 7's than anything else since the day you were born:

27. And don’t know what a "Rogers Centre" is:

28. Whenever you were in the States, people asked if you went to:

29. And were best friends with this guy:
You weren't though, 'cuz he’s from FOREST Hill.

30. You learnt to ski here:

31. And knew Hunter’s Point had the best hill for tobogganing on snow days:

32. You skated at Mill Pond:

33. And have experienced this adorable nuisance:

When driving past this pond:

34. You still have this jersey tucked away somewhere:

35. These two taught you to dance:

36. And you learnt to swim here:

37. You went to a bat mitzvah or two here:

38. With these guys:

39. When you’re back in town, you like to go here:

40. Unless you were one of those kids who went here:

41. Half your friends went here:

42. And the other half went here:

43. But for some reason your parents sent you here:

44. You bowled your first strike here:
And know exactly what happened at the massage parlour next door…

45. You learnt to shoot here:

46. To putt here:

47. You'd kill for a burger from here:

48. And do boys' night here:

49. And sadly can't deny this is your date night go-to (isn't it everyone's?):

50. You’re always gonna call it York Central:

51. You kiss and ride to get downtown:

52. And finally, you thought high school would be exactly like this:

Or this:

But really, it looked just like this.
Plus you had to share your locker.


There it is, my Thornhill. What's yours?

68 comments:

  1. This is Unreal. I think I've done or been to everyone of those places in that precise order.

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    1. Agreed! I am an ex-Northlander! Nobody liked Hillcrest ummm ever. promenade was always the spot
      "Bulk Barn Doors"

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  3. Some of these are actually in Richmond Hill for the record.

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    1. All the cool shit is in Richmond Hill

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  4. Hahah that is great!!! A little too new school for my age bracket...I miss going to 'Food City' with my parents or asking them to drop me off at Lime Rickey's so I could ordering the Kitchen Sink with 20 of my best friends!!

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  5. Or you could just live in Toronto :)

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  6. ALSO: T-hillers remember the Cineplex Odeon at promenade eons before it was a rainbow. (it was also abandoned for many years)

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  7. You forgot a post with this picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Mezuzah_Haifa_2011.JPG with the quote: "you have one of these on your front door"

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  8. What about Thornill Square?

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  9. what about garnet williams?!

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    1. Spent too many hours of my life there :o) Good ol' Garnet.

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  10. Cassie Beth Freidman, I don't know who you are, but you are totally on-point with this page. I have experienced each and every thing on this list. Thanks for the laughs and nostalgia. I appreciate this page, and I appreciate Thornhill :o)

    [As for the Anonymous person above who said "some of these are actually in Richmond Hill for the record", he/she clearly needs help with basic reading comprehension. This page lists places frequented by Thornhill residents, not just places that are technically located in Thornhill. Wonderland is in Maple, and Kiva's is on the south side of Steeles (so Toronto), but they fit perfectly into the scope of this article.]

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  11. Can you remember how things went wrong without mentioning "Right Said Fred"?

    C'mon people lets not loose another battle to Aurora

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  12. Now I want Golden Star

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  13. What about the lineups spent a Krispy Kream donuts! But left when they gave you a free sample while waiting in line... no wonder that place didn't last.

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  14. Bitch please, I had my 17th birthday at glaze craze. it was awesome.

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  15. Am I the only one who personally hates G-star? They charge way too much money for a standard (no extras) burger, which is just slightly better than average. Not to mention they don't take card, and their ATM has like a 2.75 charge on it. Grinds my gears.

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  16. umm hillcrest is in richmond hill, and everyone who was everyone would hang out in the promenade food court in the late 90s

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  17. What if most of your tobogganing was done at Pomona Mills and you were bummed out when they put the signs up saying it was too dangerous? (This list is Vaughan-Thornhill biased dammit! What about us non-jewish Thornhillers on the Markham side! lol)

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    1. Hear hear for the non-jewish Thornhillers on Markham side! We're few and far between. :)

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  18. Yeah what I think was stated above this is for us I guess who grew up in Thornhill but I suppose it can be for the other close suburs too. Also what I think is missing is the Jumbo Video, Rogers Video, Hasty Market (Green Lane) that kids place that had that climbing set in it but Putting Edge or Laser Quest took over. The Batting Cages that was next to Skyriders I think. The clothing store with that hude pirate ship in it Alive and Well. at a certain age we couldn't be at the crows nest(the look out) Also they had free drinks

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    1. oh man i miss alive and well. seriously though i still went up in the crows nest past the suggested age up untill i actually started looking closer to my age.

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    2. If anyone ever sees this comment all these years later – this is the only mention I can find of Alive and Well on the internet. My brother and I are still not entirely sure if it was a shared delusion. Anyone have any more info on it or, fingers crossed, PHOTOS?

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  19. Man I loved Hillcrest! Going to the arcade was awesome and I got to see Dumb and Dumber and Street Fighter at their theatre that was located in the basement hahah

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  20. Hillcrest = not in thornhill lol

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  21. Great list! I also agree with Jesse (above) about going to Lime Rickey's for a Kitchen Sink sundae with all my friends! Don't forget Sandylion had a sticker store in the (now) Longo's plaza at Laureleaf, and Hobby Shack (I think that's what it was called) in Thornhill Square! Oh and Camp Northland should totally be on this list :)

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  22. learnt is not a word

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  23. Well done. Brought back great memories of t-hill. Loved the ol brittannia pub

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  24. Camp chimo!! thornhill square before it was lame, centerpoint mall (back when it had the movie theater and was not as crappy), and of course, thornhill public pool !! a few things missed out but otherwise VERY accurate. good job.

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  25. Videoflicks, Pomona, Quail Valley Park Parties, Rocky Mountain High (let's be honest, it was always just "Rocky"), Marky's, Thornhill Square Library... This list is great, but missing a lot of the Thornhill that is East of Yonge.

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  26. On a technical note: Thornhill is a municipality of Vaughan. No matter how you slice and dice it. And just to educate the majority of those reading who refuse to admit it, Vaughan is made up of Thornhill, Maple, Woodbridge, Concord and Kleinburg. Just saying.

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    1. Well, actually.... Technically speaking Thornhill is half in Vaughan and half in Markham.

      https://www.vaughan.ca/services/vaughan_archives/historyofvaughan/VaughanDocuments/A%20Brief%20History%20of%20Thornhill.pdf

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    2. To add to that, Thornhill, Kleinburg, Concord, Maple, etc. are not municipalities. They are historical areas (at one point they were towns or villages) and now belong to larger municipalities. Thornhill is then partially in Markham and partially in Vaughan as it isn't its own municipality or anything.

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    3. To add: Thornhill, Maple, Kleinburg, etc. are all just neighbourhoods that were historically their own towns or villages - none of those are proper municipalities. Thornhill falls partially into Markham and partially into Vaughan as it is not its own municipality.

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  27. The only thing very Thornhill about this post is everyone saying SOOOOO ACCURATE. It's not that accurate.

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  28. You missed Diamonds for the best tuna, and you missed Ambrosia for bulk and health stuff

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  29. Thornhill is part of the city of markham. Thats where our property taxes go. Good memories. Thanks for putting this together!

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  30. Kiva's is on the Toronto side of things, not the Thornhill side of things if you MUST know. Go Hawkways and Fisherville!

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  31. This is exactly what i remember from high school. You missed all the people who had to attend summer school that were forced to go to westmount...other than that...BANG ON!!

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  32. Love this! I moved to Israel 7 years ago and this brought back so many good memories! Can't wait for my visit to T-hill in Jan! Thank you for this :))))

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  33. If we're talking about Thornhill, good chance we've all seen or met each other. Six degrees of Thornhill Separation.

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  34. Pretty good accept I would have definitely talked more about Promenade (vs Hillcrest and for the theater before we had silvercity)
    And for those who went to Westmount, cutting through the big empty field (where the Walmart and shoppers plaza now sits) for lunch at the food court.

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  35. How can Thornhill Square not be on this list? I remember when they had movies! Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Also props to Mac's Milk on Aileen for everyone in the east.

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  36. What should be on the list - Town & Country Mall (which it will always be to me, NOT Centerpoint) and Newtonbrook SS - where all the kids wanted to go, since being in the North York Board of Ed was more desirable...
    hell, we had one VP at the school who made it his life's mission to catch all of the students who were coming south of the border "illegally"

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  37. no mention of five diamonds or studio billiards. what about roots and beaver canoe.

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    1. Studio is where I learned to shoot pool in high school! I am so happy Beaver Canoe is back...but it's not the same. I miss those colourful sweats that came with a matching-coloured wood spinning top!

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  38. VERY well done; however, you are missing what I consider one of the most epic hangover (or still-drunk) Thornhill gathering places since my parents were teenagers.... the best damm watery beer you can get at 3 a.m.; the crispiest onion rings drowned in that CRACK gravy made with love by Cosmo; those milkshakes in the silver blender cups - yes I am talking about MIDWAY!!! One of the saddest days of my life was when this delicious dive closed its doors for good. Nothing compares, and Golden Star isn't open 24 hours ;)

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  39. haha… you know I shot that photo of B4-4 at Canadian music week in March of 2001… how time flies. photo used to be up on my site… need to update my redesign to include again hehe http://www.marcine.com

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  40. What high school is that? Not Thornhill or Thornlea..

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  41. Ive lived a different Thornhill life, I recognize most of those places, but the parts of the town i enjoy most aren't the ones with a big sign out front, its the parts between the buildings where the fun things grow.

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  42. If you were of a certain age you spent many Fri and Sat nights at Hank's Diner, Garnett Williams or RHCC listening to Clarence from Universal Sound.

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  43. DANTE'S Should have made the list!

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  44. my zaidy's pizza, mac's milk, sue's fruit market, wasn't there a ravigne behind thornhill secondary?

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  45. my zaidy's pizza, mac's milk, cyber city comix, byway,

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  46. I dont like the memories I have of thornhill .... wish I wasnt bullied in the schools to the point that I almost committed suicide

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    1. So sorry to hear that it wasn't easy for you. Didn't want you to think that no one saw your post. Thornhill was never easy and bullying wasn't easy to deal with either. Yes it happened all the time and I am glad you got through it. Just wanted you to know someone cares :-)

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  47. I'm wedding photographer in Toronto, those pictures are awesome. But some of the Thornhill area now belongs to Markham.

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What's your Thornhill?