My 2 Second Shelf Life

Kensington Market - 1963



Back when I first came to Canada, Kensington Market was known as the "Jewish Market".
Every Saturday, my mother would take me down there so that she could shop.
I would play on a playground on Augusta Avenue until she was done.

At the end of Baldwin was a Yugoslavian Store. When she was done shopping, she would buy Cik Magazine and Ilustrana Politika...I would get some honey cookies or some candies that were similar to the ones I used to get at icko's (EEch-ko's was a candy maker in Petrovo Selo who brought his knowledge to the owner of The Sweet Gallery in west end Toronto...so I'm told), and then we would go home.

Kensington is nothing like it used to be when I was a kid, or even later.
When I was in my early twenties, after we were done clubbing... We would stop by the Jewish Bakery on Baldwin (that is not there anymore) and pick up some fresh kifle, right out of the oven at 4am...even though they weren't officially open, they would still sell you something in the summer.
The front door would be open to relieve some of the heat, I suppose.

There are ways of doing things that are no longer possible.
This...is one of them.