Your Oldest Memories from Verdun?

I know we have done this before, but it always bears repeating, and we have several new members that can contribute this time around too.

Name 5 (or MORE if you like!) of your oldest and favorite memories of Verdun.

I lived there all my life till I moved here to Virginia at the age of 44, so I will try to go wayyyyyyyy back to my childhood...lol...

 

1. The "Better Bargain" stores at the corner of Galt and Wellington. I used to go in there every Saturday morning and spend half of the money I earned from taking orders with my wagon at Steinberg's the Friday night before.  Everything there was SO cheap! Great for a kid of 9 or 10 years old! It was a sad sad day when the block there burned down.

 

2. For some reason, this certain gentleman popped into my head -- Does anyone remember a mentally handicapped young man named Billy who used to walk all up and down Wellington Street? I think I was about 5 and afraid of him until one day when I was with my grandmother and she stopped to talk to him with me at her side. After that day I always talked to him whenever I saw him too...he was a really nice person who would bring a smile to the older ladies faces when he would give them a flower that he'd picked from somewhere in his travels. I never knew what happened to him, just know that he stopped "being there" one day after being a fixture on Wellington for many years....

 

3. Buckley's Record Store on Wellington between Willibrord and First Ave. Another place a lot of my $$ from taking orders would end up. Mr. Buckley was a nice man who never said a word to us kids who would pore over all the 45's for an hour or two before deciding on exactly the right one to buy hehe. And he would PLAY each one that we wanted to hear for us on that old turntable of his too!

 

4. Richard Park. That old playground that was on the boardwalk right behind the fire/police station on Lasalle Blvd and Rielle. When I was a kid, there was a REAL old fire truck parked in that playground for the kids to climb and play on. The City of Verdun Parks still had money in it's coffers than and we had programs in the summer  there were park monitors who would do arts and crafts and things with you every day. That playground had a few pairs of stilts for the kids to take turns using too...they were my favorite! Richard Park had a great sprinkler/wading pool too, as far as kid's wading pools go. We kids would block up the drain in the middle of it so it would fill up with water. Got to about maybe 2 and a half feet deep in the middle...deep enough to play "who can hold their breath the longest under water?" LOL

 

5. The "Green Thing". That old wooden sled/toboggan run that was right behind where Therrien Pool is now. It was pretty high up...you had to walk up these wooden slats to the top, there were 3 hooks for 3 toboggans at a time to set up against and held you there. A guy in a booth pulled down the lever to release those "hooks" and you went FLYING down that run for a heck of a good distance! Especially if there had been freezing rain the night before and the run was all icy...wooooooo hoooooooooo!!!!

 

Ok....Oldest memories people! Most of these that I've mentioned were from when I was from 5 to 10 years old....gulp....35 years ago......

Luv, Sharon