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Wednesday 25 November 2020

Across Canada At The Exhibition Grounds

Princes' Gates At Exhibition Place

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 210 Princes' Blvd.
Date: September 2019
Website:  theex.com

    The Canadian National Exhibition takes place at the end of August each year and closes on Labour Day in September. When the Exhibition is not running, the grounds known as Exhibition Place are still open to vehicles and the public. If you are visiting Toronto from across Canada you can feel like you are back home thanks to the many streets that crisscross the grounds.

Canada Boulevard Exhibition Place

 We will start our journey from east to west.  All but one of Canada's provinces and territories are represented in the names of the streets.  The streets do not quite unfold as a map of Canada would, but we will show you one possible path you can take in order to visit them all.  We enter the Exhibition grounds from Fleet Street and find ourselves on Canada Boulevard.

Princes' Boulevard Exhibition Place

 Canada Boulevard connects with Princes' Boulevard which is the main street that runs from the Princes' Gates (photo at top of blog) and through the grounds.

Newfoundland Drive At Exhibition Place

  The first provincial street we came across was Newfoundland Drive which also happens to be the easternmost of the provinces.  

Automotive Building Exhibition Place

Newfoundland Drive runs south from the Enercare Centre between the Automotive Building and Hotel X.

Nunavut Road Exhibition Place

  The next road we pass is Nunavut Road.  This part of the road was formerly part of New Brunswick Way.  Much like the road, Nunavut the territory was formerly part of the Northwest Territories.  Sadly, Northwest Territories is the only unrepresented portion of Canada on these streets.  Hopefully at some point it will finally get included.

New Brunswick Way Exhibition Place

  Just a bit further along Prince's Boulevard, a road heads south.  This is the bottom portion of New Brunswick Way.  If you want to find a road sign for this street you will have to follow it through a parking lot and down to Lakeshore Blvd.  There you will find a traditional blue Toronto road sign instead of one of the fancier Exhibition Place signs.

Nova Scotia Road Exhibition Place

If you head back up New Brunswick Way and take Nunavut Road north, you will end up on Nova Scotia Avenue.  As we mentioned before all the provinces are represented but they are all over the place as far as being presented in any sort of order.

Manitoba Drive Exhibition Place

We will take a left hand turn on Manitoba Drive and eventually we will end up at Princes' Boulevard again.

Quebec Street Exhibition Place

  Before we get to Princes' Boulevard we will pass Quebec Street.

Princess Margaret Fountain Exhibition Place

   If we turn left at Princes' Boulevard we will pass the Princess Margaret Fountain.  

Prince Edward Island Crescent Exhibition Place

 Turn left again and you are on Prince Edward Island Crescent.  Despite being the smallest province in both size and population, it is almost as long as Ontario Drive.  

Ontario Drive Exhibition Place

  After leaving Prince Edward Island Crescent turn left again and now you are on the road named after Canada's most populous province.  Take an Ontario drive along Ontario Drive as it curves back into Princes' Boulevard again.

Saskatchewan Road Exhibition Place

   Heading past the Princess Margaret Fountain once more, now the road becomes Saskatchewan.

British Columbia Road Exhibition Place

  While you can drive from Saskatchewan to British Columbia you can't do it without passing through Alberta first.  At the Exhibition grounds you can drive Saskatchewan Road and turn directly onto British Columbia Road.

Alberta Circle Exhibition Place

  Don't worry, the next street is Alberta Circle.  Alberta was not left out.

Yukon Place Exhibition Place

  The last street we visit in order to complete our cross country journey is Yukon Place.  It wraps around the Liberty Grand (pictured below).  

Liberty Grand Exhibition Place

There you have it.  Ten provinces and two territories later and we have visited most of Canada in one short trip.

Map of Our World
Exhibition Place

Post # 293

Friday 30 October 2020

Monsters Mummies & Mayhem

Monsters Mummies & Mayhem AT Hollywood Museum


Location:
Hollywood, California, USA
Address: 1660 N Highland Ave.
Date: June 2019
Website:  thehollywoodmuseum.com/

    The Hollywood Museum in Los Angeles has so many movie props and memorabilia that they fill every nook and cranny.  Since it is the Halloween season we thought we would revisit their basement and a few classic horror movie icons.

Frankenstein At Hollywood Museum

  First off is an old classic, Frankenstein. While the novel was written in 1818, we are talking movies here. This Frankenstein was played by Boris Karloff in the 1931 film and is seen above with his bride from the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein.

Bela Legosi's Face At Hollywwod MuseumBoris Karloff Face At Hollywood Museum

  There were life masks of Boris Karloff and Bela Legosi. Bela Legosi had played Dracula and along with Boris was part of Universal Studio's classic monster movies.

King Kong Hollywood Museum

   Another early creature that scared audiences was the great ape, King Kong.  The original King Kong was a stop motion model.  The museum had various King Kongs on display.

The Birds At Hollywood Museum

  Flying ahead a few decades there were some birds from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.  We are not sure if these were just props or former movie stars preserved for future generations.

Elvira At The Hollywood Museum

  While not a movie monster herself, Elvira became very popular in the 1980s as a host presenting B grade horror movies.  Horror movies had never really gone away, but the 80s saw a group of classic horror villains rise to stardom and appear in numerous sequels.

Michael Meyers At Hollywood Museum

  Michael Meyers changed Haloween night forever and gained his place as one of the greatest characters in slasher film history.  Michael escapes from a sanitarium and visits his hometown for a night of fright and murder.  Jamie Lee Curtis stars as a babysitter that Michael is stalking while wearing a plain white mask.  So far there have been eleven Halloween films.

Friday The 13th Jason At The Hollywood Museum

   The next mask wearer to terrorize teenagers is Jason Voorhees from the Friday The 13th movies.  He drowned as a boy and is best known for wearing his hockey mask while slashing his way through twelve (or is it only eleven?) movies.  This franchise just has to make Friday The 13th: The 13th.

A Nightmare On Elm Street At The Hollywood Museum

  The next horror franchise to arrive in the 1980s started with A Nightmare On Elm Street.  This movie starred Freddy Krueger who terrorized teenagers in their dreams.  Johnny Depp's Hollywood dreams came true after being one of Freddy's victims.  There have only been nine movies in this series but there was a Freddy vs Jason cross-over movie made.

Chucky At The Hollywood Museum

  In the late 80s came Chucky.  He was a psychotic, knife wielding doll from the Child's Play movies.  Only 8 movies made so far.  He did find love in Bride of Chucky just like Frankenstein did over 60 years before himIf you have ever seen videos of dogs wearing costumes, and we know you have, the Chucky costume is one of the best.

Blair Witch Project At Hollywood Museum

  The museum is crammed with movie props and costumes from many other films.  There was this stick figure from The Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project grossed almost 250 million dollars on a budget of less than 500 thousand.  It's shaky hand held camera work caused as much tension and fear as it did nausea.

Sweeny Todd Costume At The Hollywood Museum

   After having a role in A Nightmare On Elm Street, Johnny Depp spent a lot of time making movies with a Halloween feel to them thanks to director Tim Burton.  Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is both a Halloween and a Christmas classic.  Johnny's Sweeney Todd costume was on display. 

Monsters Inc. At Hollywood Museum

   We headed upstairs again to escape from the horrors we had seen in the basement.  We did spot a couple more monsters up in a corner.  Mike Wazowski and Sulley from Monsters Inc. are a little less creepy than the hundereds of items you can find in The Hollywood Museum's dungeon.


Map of Our World
The Hollywood Museum

Post # 292

Wednesday 30 September 2020

Schitt's Creek

CBC Studios Toronto

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 250 Front St W.
Date: February 2020
Website:  www.cbc.ca

  Canadian television show Shitt's Creek won a total of nine Emmys at the 2020 Emmy Awards Show.   This set a record for any comedy series and the wins were especially shocking for a Canadian show.  The show stars Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy of SCTV fame and various movie and television roles. The main cast also includes Eugene's son Daniel and actress Annie Murphy. They all went home with awards hand delivered to them during the socially distanced broadcast.  

Congratulations to you all! 

  Schitt's Creek is the story of a wealthy family that loses everything and is forced to live in a small town motel.  We were able to visit a part of that motel at CBC studios in Toronto.

Camera Equipment on Display At CBC Studios Toronto

   We were at the studios to watch the taping of a show that will never win an Emmy.  We were there to see Family Feud Canada.  In this version of Family Feud, Steve Harvey has been replaced by Canadian host Gerry Dee.  In order to qualify for an Emmy your show must be on an American network.  Schitt's Creek qualified since it was on Pop TV and Netflix.

Mr. Dressup Treehouse CBC StudiosMr. Dressup Treehouse CBC Studios Interior

   We waited in a huge lineup in order to enter the studio for our Family Feud Canada taping.  At the front of the line they were storing cellphones and other items before taking people up to the studio by elevator.  They take away your electronics in order to keep anyone from leaking any behind the scenes footage of the show.  While waiting in line we took turns exploring and we were able to take some behind the scenes footage of Casey's treehouse from Mr. Dressup.  Canadians of a certain age may fondly recall this show and enjoy a glimpse from behind the little blue door (above).

CBC Sports ChairCBC Sports Chair

  CBC is also known for their Canadian sports coverage.  We particulary enjoyed their Olympic coverage with sportscaster Brian Williams.  In the foyer there were a couple of chairs made out of a wide variety of sporting equipment.

Rosebud Motel Sign At CBC Studios

  On the other side of the foyer was the Rosebud Motel from Schitt's Creek.  The final season had finished filming and the prop motel sign had been brought to the studio for fans to view.  The real motel used for filming is about one hour's drive north of the CBC Studios in Orangeville, Ontario.

Schitt's Creek Motel

    With the added exposure brought to the show by it's Emmy Award sweep, we are sure a new wave of Schitt's Creek  fans will want to connect with the down on their luck Rose family.  If the prop is still at the studio they can do just that.  Family Feud Canada is airing its second season in October 2020 if you want to connect with other Canadian families hoping to increase their fortune by $10,000 dollars.


Map of Our World
CBC Studios

Post # 291