Presenting - Gene Domagala - A Human Convenience Store of Charity and society Involvement in Toron

One of the lessons voyage has taught me is to not only get to know the charm of the foreign places, but to appreciate the uniqueness of home. The more I travel, the more I have fallen in love with my chosen home town, Toronto, a city that offers a myriad of possibilities for travelers and residents alike.

In this spirit I have embarked on a path towards a series of articles and photo exhibitions to scrutinize and celebrate my chosen home town. A batch of new visitors from Europe has confirmed to me that Toronto is a great city, as each one of my visitors have ended up falling in love with this city, intending to come back and to get to know the Big Smoke better.

Roller Skates Shops

One of my visitors' and my own personal favourites is Toronto's Beaches neighbourhood, or, as most local residents call it "The Beach". It is a beautiful neighbourhood, located - you guessed it - right on the shores of Lake Ontario, and it has the feel of an ocean-front resort community combined with the ambience of a small town from yesteryear, with its dozens of individually owned stores, galleries and restaurants.

But what makes any neighbourhood extra is not just its corporal characteristics, its structure and its architecture - it's the people that make the difference. Every community has its key personalities, its human pillars, and my mission has been to crusade out the individuals that stand out through their commitment to the community. Often these are the unsung heroes who dedicate so much of their personal time to help others while shunning the limelight.

My quest for community heroes began with a meeting with local representatives and experts on the Beaches, which included Deborah Etsten from the Beach business revision Association, and Michael Prue, the Provincial Member of Parliament representing the Beaches/East York neighbourhoods. Both of these experts pointed to Gene Domagala as one of the key people in the Beach community.

On one of the first absolutely wintery days in Toronto, just a few days before New Years, I met Gene at a real local landmark: the Toronto Beaches Library. We met near the checkout counter where Gene introduced me to Barbara Weissman, the head librarian, who would later help me with some of my research by compiling relevant materials about the Beach.

Gene's charitable spirit immediately became inescapable as we stepped out of the library when he promised to get a cup of coffee for a local homeless man in a wheelchair who had set himself up just exterior the library. Gene normally helps out in local drop-in centres who open their doors to the homeless on different days of the week.

After dropping off the coffee Gene introduced me to one of Toronto's most favorite outdoor spaces: Kew Gardens, originally created by one of the first settlers in this area. Joseph Williams and his wife Jane bought a four acre asset in 1853 to turn it into farmland. Joseph, originally from London, England, all the time had fond memories of Kew Gardens, the Royal Botanical Gardens in London, and in this spirit he named his asset "Kew Farms". In 1879 he opened a twenty acre satisfaction ground, convenient for camping and picknicking which he named "The Canadian Kew Gardens". Gene explained that as a teetotaler, Joseph Williams would serve meals and refreshments, but without fail no alcoholic beverages.

A well-used bandstand anchors the park and Gene pointed out a dedication to a lifelong resident of East Toronto, Alex Christie (1917 - 1992) whose actions enhancing the community received permanent appreciation in the plaque adorning the bandstand.

A few steps eastwards is the Dr. William D. Young Memorial, a Renaissance style drinking fountain which was erected in 1920 to commemorate a local physician who had dedicated himself to group service, and in particular, to the wellbeing of children in the area. Gene pointed out that when Dr. Young passed away in 1919, he was practically penniless.

We strolled south on Lee Avenue, the main north-south artery in the Beach, and Gene pointed out a previous hotel with 13 rooms, today a hidden residence. For well over a hundred years, the Beach has been a favorite recreation area, and from the late 1800s onwards, people used to come from downtown Toronto in steamers to enjoy the serenity and outdoor opportunities offered by the Beach.

By the late 1800s the Williams house had subdivided their plot and built an entire subdivision of homes in parts of today's Kew Gardens. Joseph and Jane Williams' son, Kew Williams, had built a house adjoining Lee Avenue for his own family. Agreeing to Gene, the grey stone was brought in by barge from Kingston, Ontario. To the Williams family's dismay, the City of Toronto expropriated their asset in 1907 to generate a large park.

All of the residences built in the park were demolished with the exception of the Kew Williams House, which today is also referred to as the Gardener's cottage, the only residential building west of Lee Avenue still standing in Kew Gardens. Gene mentioned that one of Kew Williams' daughters never set foot inside of the house until about 12 years ago, in memory of the traumatic caress that her house had gone through.

From the foot of Lee Avenue we went southwards where Gene pointed out that years ago, the waterfront at the beach was composed of a sandy barricade island with a stretch of water flowing just inland. This inland river was later filled in. More than 100 years ago, the waterfront would have been full of cottages and houses. Today this area is a large group park with a wide sandy beach. Gene's unabridged history knowledge (he has written more than 300 articles for the local Beach Metro community News) touched on the Kew Beach Club which existed here from 1903 and was demolished colse to 1930. The activities at the club included bowling, tennis and water sports. Numerous photos of the era show hundreds of canoes in the water and thousands of people partaking of assorted water sports. Three major amusement parks also adorned the Beaches at different times, all of which were demolished long ago. Landowners more than 120 years ago recognized the potential of this waterfront area for entertainment.

Throughout its history, the Beach has also been a centre of corporal recreation. Even today there are facilities for lawn bowling, tennis, a big group swimming pool, a boathouse for canoes, hundreds of constantly anchored wooden posts for beach volleyball, the boardwalk and the Martin Goodman all-purpose recreational trail which are widely used by joggers, cyclists and rollerbladers. For about a century now, the Balmy Beach Club has been a recreational institution at the east end of the neighbourhood. Kite-flying on blustery spring and fall days is also a favorite institution along the long sandy beach. Dog lovers flock to this area as well due to its unabridged off-leash areas where they can let their furry friends run free.

On this cold and windy winter day, Gene took his big bundle of keys and opened the seniors' room next to the club house of the Beaches Lawn Bowling Club so we would be able to continue our conversation sheltered from the icy breeze. Once inside, Gene showed me a range of oversize photo boards that illustrate the history of the Beach. He explained that the traditional Bell Telephone replacement for the Beach neighbourhood is located at the north east projection of Queen and Lee, and years ago was converted into a residential apartment building. After showing me assorted historic views of the area he also mentioned the Victoria Park Forest School that was dedicated to sickly children to help them fetch their health. The Forest School was complete in 1932 due to the building of the R.C. Harris Water Filtration Plant.

As we were talking all of a sudden the doors of the building opened, and we had an unexpected visitor. Angela Miller, a foreperson for the Toronto Parks and Recreation department had entered to see what was going on, and this was a exquisite occasion to find out more about the City's role in the upkeep of the Beach. Angela explained that her unit is responsible for maintenance, garbage pickup and extra events in the area which spans about 80 acres. In the summer she runs a crew of 14 full-time workers while in the winter Angela and her colleague Laurie are the only ones constantly entrusted with the maintenance of the group parks in this area. Laurie went on to say that the area requires a lot of upkeep due to the frequent extra events that are being held here. Virtually every weekend there is a permit for a extra event, and big events like the Beaches Jazz Festival want a lot of setup in progress and unabridged cleanups on a daily basis.

The logistics of group events are sometimes underestimated, and especially in a favorite and busy area like the Beach, seemingly uncomplicated questions of maintenance and garbage discharge are of critical point to residents and visitors alike. Gene and I headed back out into the cold and we briefly stopped off at the skating rink that was busy with a group of hockey fanatics. In the summer this factory is used for roller hockey and lacrosse.

We then walked up Waverley Road, and Gene pointed out one of the many historic homes in the Beaches: a residential asset called Inglenook, which was originally the Charles Frederick Wagner House, built colse to 1900 and saved from demolition by a local petition. Just a few steps away is the John Wright House, constructed just 3 years later in the favorite Queen Anne Revival style as one of the first mixed-use residential-commercial properties on Queen road East. Today the building features a storefront that hides the traditional north façade.

Gene pointed out that houses were originally set back from Queen road and the front lawns were later filled in with commercial storefronts. We continued our walk westwards on Queen road and entered the Beaches Mall, a large building that used to be called the Allen Theatre, one of any historic theatres in the Beach, all of which are still standing and most of which have been refunctioned. Only the Fox Theatre, Toronto's longest continuously running movie theatre, is still used for its traditional purpose.

A few steps further west at the intersection of Kippendavie Avenue and Queen road is a beautiful historic building that today holds one of my favourite restaurants in the Beach: Nevada's. This is the previous Home Bank of Toronto building, a financial institution created by illustrious Toronto entrepreneur Henry Pellatt, builder of Casa Loma. The name of the bank can still faintly be seen under the painted sign on the façade.

A few steps south on Kenilworth is the previous Kenilworth Avenue Baptist Church that was converted into a synagogue in 1920 and named the Beach Hebrew Institute. Often this building is referred to as the Beaches Shul. Sure enough, Gene had the key and we entered this historic building. The traditional church façade was considerably altered to more intimately look the architecture of synagogues in small Eastern European communities. In the early years, while a time when local residents were not particularly hospitable to Jewish citizens, the term "synagogue" was intentionally omitted in the name of this place of worship. Today the Beach Hebrew construct is a small welcoming institution without a rabbi whose members lead the prayers and are very active in the community.

Just up the street, across from Nevada's Ristorante, the previous Whitelock's Grocery Store has morphed into today's Whitlock bistro (which, by the way, features a yummy brunch), and is one of the few wooden projection structure left in Toronto. With a growling stomach and all these wonderful restaurants colse to I persuaded Gene to go for lunch, and we headed into other institution in the Beach: Lick's, a bistro that features a range of burgers, salads and one of my favourites: poutine (a favorite sloppy yet yummy French-Canadian concoction of French fries, gravy and cheese curds).

Gene and I headed upstairs and sat down for a chat when he showed me his home-knitted sweater featuring "Centre 55", a local community centre that serves the Beach / East York neighbourhood. Gene normally helps with their Christmas activities which feature the "Christmas Hamper" where more than 900 needy families in the Beach receive a hamper full of goods along with ham or turkey, milk, bread, pasta and toys for the children. Gene has volunteered for this assosication for the last 25 years.

He is also very active with the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund, a Christmas initiative that involves volunteers delivering boxes full of Christmas gifts to needy families. He has been delivering Star Boxes for about 47 years now in the Parkdale area. Gene Domagala traces his commitment to charity back to his mother who used to cook for poor people in this west-end Toronto neighbourhood. Gene's parents were Polish immigrants who located in the Bathurst and Queen area, and even as a child Gene got exposed to children of all different backgrounds and nationalities. All the children played together in this poor neighbourhood. Gene continues this spirit of inclusion today with his anti-racism work.

His interest in history was stoked early when he played with a bunch of boys in Toronto's historic Fort York. Gene attended a technical high school and by his own admission, Gene realized early that his future would not lie in the trades. His favourite man in high school was his group studies educator who got him a subscription to Time Magazine. He also was inspired by the history educator and the librarian. Gene's early interest in history has resulted in hundreds of articles on local history. In addition, Gene normally provides historical walks in the Beach that have become so favorite that they are often attended by dozens of people.

After high school Gene worked in a range of odd jobs, along with a job at the Cne. any years later he started working at the Boy's Club, a non-profit assosication operated by the Knights of Columbus in dinky Italy, where he became the program director. His knack for assosication and community work became obvious early in life.

Gene explains that he was supposed to attend a program for group work at George Brown College but ended up taking a program in architecture instead and then worked for many years for a Toronto engineering firm until he was downsized in the early 1990s. Gene's life hasn't been easy, his two twin adult daughters suffer from Asperger's syndrome, a neuro-biological developmental disorder, and over the years Gene has had to become an expert on mental health. He is also a board member of an assosication called "Friends of the Shopping Bag Lady", a drop-in centre for women at 416 Dundas Street. while the early part of the 1990s Gene spent some time in court to fight for custody of his grandchild and now looks after his granddaughter Siobhon. Since that time Gene has dedicated himself on a full-time basis to his house and to his unabridged charitable and community work. Gene is not a wealthy man, which makes his commitment to others even more admirable.

Gene's eyes light up when he tells me about his proudest moment: when he was invited to become a member of the Toronto Historical Board. He even had a occasion to meet the Queen mother while one of the organization's functions. Gene has been actively complicated in a range of historical preservation projects, along with salvaging the Leuty Lifeguard Station, probably the most customary landmark in the Beach. The structure had been ravaged by time and by the early 1990s it was deemed to be structurally unsound. Gene was one of the concerned citizens who started talking with the city and initiated numerous fundraising events to start the recovery of the Leuty Lifesaving Station.Various extra events, music nights, a volleyball tournament, and sales of t-shirts, buttons and mugs ended up raising tens of thousands of dollars. Of the total cost of about ,000, about 40% came from the community while the City of Toronto contributed about 60%. Gene is all the time one of the people at the forefront of community developments and initiatives.

Gene's other local involvements contain the Spring Sprint, a fundraiser started 20 years ago by the Beaches Recreation Centre. He also is one of the volunteers at Slobberfest, a extra event for dog lovers held once a year on a Saturday afternoon in June, that includes such humorous activities as pet/owner look-a-like contests, best pet/owner singing duo, best pet howls, best pet trick, and many other spellbinding activities. I even bumped into Gene myself on New Years Eve when I went skating at the outdoor rink at Kew Gardens when Gene came by to announce free hot chocolate and marsh mallows for the New Years Eve Party at the skating rink. Gene absolutely is an omni-present and well-treasured pillar of this community.

Our lunch at Lick's had been the exquisite time to get to know Gene a dinky best before we headed off and continued our walk west on Queen Street. Back on the road we ran into a colourful local personality: Harold Weisfeld, a.k.a. "Zoltzz", owner of "Ends Designerwear Boutique", a illustrious designer label allowance store near Queen road and Elmer Avenue, a place where I personally have found many a bargain over the years. We headed further west and Gene pointed out the previous Bank of Toronto Building, which today houses the "Lion on the Beach", a favorite local pub. Just a few steps further west we briefly went into "Morguet", a jewellery shop that offers hand-crafted jewellery, institution gold and silver smithing, where we said hello to the owner Sergio who had come to Toronto years ago from Latin America.

Just across the street, Gene pointed out a convenience store that used to be the childhood home of world illustrious director Norman Jewison, one of the prominent (former) residents of the Beach. We then admired the Kew Beach Firehall No. 17, a historic masonry building in the Queen Anne architectural style dating back to 1905 / 1906.

We continued on and turned south at the projection of Woodbine and Queen where Gene showed me what he refers to as the "Psychedelic House", a brightly painted Victorian house with spellbinding ornaments. On our way back towards the Beaches Library Gene explained that any churches and the local synagogue offer drop-in services for the homeless. This program is offered at a different location every weekday and gives road people a occasion to come in from the cold.

Our official tour had complete and Gene dropped me off at the Beaches Library, where I thanked him for his time and all the spellbinding stories he had shared with me. He left me with Barbara Weissman, the librarian who helped me put together books and articles about the Beach.

It was only after reading these articles that I realized that Gene has been the recipient of the first "Citizen of the Year" award, given out by community Centre 55. Not surprisingly, Gene in his modesty had not even mentioned this prominent fact. In 2001, a stone was unveiled in the "Walk of Fame" located in the Millenium Gardens at Coxwell and Eastern Avenues, commemorating Gene and the assorted other Citizens of the Year that have followed into his footsteps since then. A major record in the Toronto Star featured Gene's accomplishments and his dedication to others and referred to Gene Domagala as a "human convenience store for people with problems" in the words of Glenn Cochrane, other prominent resident of the Beach.

It was a real privilege meeting Gene Domagala and spending some time with him getting to know his neighbourhood and his way of thinking. The dozens of people whose faces lit up when they greeted him while our walk attest to the fact that Gene is one of the true heroes of the Beach.

Presenting - Gene Domagala - A Human Convenience Store of Charity and society Involvement in Toron