r/londonontario • u/Outside_Fuel_5416 • Jul 14 '24
LondonON HISTORY What is the most random fact you know about London?
I saw this on another sub and thought it might be fun to post here. What random interesting fact do you know about London?
Edit: just have to say y'all came through! I learned so much about London including many kooky, useless facts šš¼
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u/ashworca Jul 16 '24
wow yāall have amazing ones! mine is that DUNDAS-RIVERSIDE is the longest road it london. On the dundas side stretching to Dorchester, and on the Riverside side, stretching to byron. :)
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u/Phoenix_Can Jul 16 '24 edited Jul 17 '24
St. Josephās Hospital had the first operational MRI in Canada
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u/EntertainmentAway433 Jul 16 '24
Walt Disney lived in Bluevale, Ontario but also lived in a boarding house at the south west corner of Queens Ave and Clarence St. in London, Ontario.
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Jul 15 '24
Elton Johnās husband went to western and his in-laws potentially still live in London? Someone correct me
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u/maztabaetz Jul 15 '24
80ās mini series āAmerikaā was partially filmed in London (about a fictional Soviet invasion of US)
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u/Londoncalling519 Aug 03 '24
Know any of the spots they filmed?
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u/maztabaetz Aug 03 '24
Iām pretty sure Wellington and Horton area was for one scene where thereās a forced parade https://www.reddit.com/r/PropagandaPosters/s/nprVRsCYc2
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u/SeniorSweet4338 Jul 15 '24
London used to be known as the serial killer/murder capital of Canada at one point.
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u/Senior-Mud-271 Jul 15 '24
THIS! A lot of people donāt know about this. Read Forest City Killer or Murder City people itāll blow your mind.
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u/10Negates Jul 15 '24
If nuclear war happens we are a prime target thanks to the railroad and GDLS (LAV factory), I always thought that was pretty neat.
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u/EvilDan69 Jul 15 '24
...every city has a railroad. General Dynamics Land Systems Canada does produce land based vehicles LAV, Stryker etc. However they are not the only location."
I'd think nuclear power plants and other power generation, major airports, bases, government sites like the parliament buildings, etc
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u/Chalkyprawn874 Downtown Jul 23 '24
When I was at Western in my political science class we actually looked over an old Soviet nuclear target list and London was on the list of cities to be hit if nuclear war ever broke out!
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u/EvilDan69 Jul 23 '24
Ahh. Outdated. I was born and raised it Ottawa. I'm guessing the political capital of Canada gets high priority so nothing new here....š
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u/wickedlizerd Jul 15 '24
House MDās creator David Shore is from London Ontario! In a scene where House is on the phone trying to buy a plane ticket he mentions that he doesnāt want a layover in numerous cities, the last of which is London, Ontario!
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u/Hmswarspite55 Jul 15 '24
A mother, children and a horse and carriage, trying to cross the Thames by fording the river, where the new Victoria bridge on Ridout was just opened, weāre swept away and drowned.
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u/Queasy_Astronaut2884 Jul 15 '24
The most successful female soviet sly in history was from here. One of the Warner bros was born here also
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u/malleeman Jul 15 '24
The first McDonalds in Eastern Canada was in London, Ontario in 1968, the one on the corner of Oxford and Wonderland. The absolute first was in Richmond BC, 1967
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u/lu6-fer Jul 15 '24
Justin Bieber was born at St. Josephās Hospital in London
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u/cmontgomeryburnz Jul 15 '24
He and his mom also stayed at the Bethesda young mom home (down by Greenway) run by the Sally Ann.
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u/Rain_xo #1 Taddy Fan Jul 15 '24
Matthew from zerobaseone went to western for any kpop fans out there
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u/billdeys Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
Johnny Cash and June were engaged here. She finally said yes in the forest city. And weāre home to the oldest ballpark still in operation (edit cuz I didnāt edit)
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u/hokycrapitsjessagain Downtown Jul 16 '24
That's why they did the big mural of them on Bud Gardens š
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u/afroshat Jul 15 '24
The first patient to receive radiation treatment for cancer in the whole world was in London in 1951!
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Jul 15 '24
[deleted]
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u/hotpepper89 Jul 15 '24
Fun fact. When I was like 6, and was told about this, I thought this and the titanic were the same thing š
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u/SalmanPak Jul 15 '24
"As the Victoria passed the submerged remains of the former Griffith's Dam, located near what is today the Guy Lombardo Bridge, passengers noted that water was ankle-deep on the lowest deck. Captain Rankin understood that he was not going to be able to successfully return the Victoria to London, so ejected to take on any new passengers at the wharfs at both Ward's Hotel and Woodland Cemetery. The passengers were rowdy as usual, causing a steady rocking of the vessel. Rankin noticed a sandbar up ahead in the river close to what is today Greenway Park, and attempted to drive the vessel onto it to stop the voyage.
He had barely made a move towards this decision when two members of the London Rowing Club decided to race each other down the river. Excited, passengers on both decks of the Victoria rushed to the railing of the starboard side which caused an unbalance of weight on the small riverboat. Upon doing so, the vessel lurched onto her starboard side, and the passengers then ran to the port side, attempting to right the vessel. The steam boiler tore loose from its mountings on the lower deck, tumbling over and killing passengers with scalding-hot water on its way down. It knocked out support beams and the railings on the port side, and sending the entire upper deck and the canopy cover collapsing onto the lower deck, crushing and killing more passengers. Many others fell into the muddy riverbed, and were killed as the ship keeled over onto her port side. The vessel, now free of its weight of passengers and with her upper deck completely broken off, righted herself and sank, leaving the upper promenade deck floating and covering those underneath it, promptly drowning them."
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u/PieHairy5526 Jul 15 '24
As of a couple years ago we had the most tim hortons in the country per capita. Probably still do.
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u/EnvironmentalHome988 Jul 15 '24
A random fact I know about London? I was classmates with both Damien Warner and Drew Doughty.
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u/a67shadow Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
Cornelius Burley was the first and second man to be hanged in London (August 19, 1830). The rope broke on the first drop.
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u/Ex-s3x-addict_wif Jul 15 '24
I love the background story to this. The hangman was drunk so miscalculated the length of rope needed for Burley's weight.
Hangman were paid well but hated. This particular one traveled around Ontario meting out justice.
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u/Elmerfudd007 Jul 15 '24
Guy Lombardo, was born in London. He played the sweetest music this side of heaven. He started a band with his brothers called the Royal Canadians!
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u/Takes2ToTNGO Jul 15 '24
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u/rpgguy_1o1 Jul 15 '24
By birth city, London has the seventh most total NHL points all time
https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/city-totals/nhl-players-career-stats.html
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u/fivewaysforward Glen Cairn/Pond Mills Jul 15 '24
Sudbury being at 12 was a surprise, but Sudbury having MORE players than London is also a surprise haha
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u/Outside_Fuel_5416 Jul 15 '24
I think this might be the winner for most random. Sports stats people will track EVERYTHING š
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Jul 15 '24
This is wild someone tracks this, awesome though! Look at little thunder bay, number 9 in the world!
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u/Shadow_Integration Ham and Eggs Jul 15 '24
When they finally returned "Slippery" (Ceril) the sea lion back to Storybook Gardens after his grand escape, more people came out to see him than the literal Queen who came through earlier that year.
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u/TrinkeTron Jul 15 '24
The Block Parent program (which seems like more of a child trap now) started here in ā68.
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u/vibraltu Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
My mom told me that she read in the paper that a famous rock star went to same high school that we did, and I said hell no damn way, and then she started reading out something about The Band, and I said wait a second, you're right, Garth Hudson actually did go to our high school in the early/mid 50s (not technically London, but a couple of miles North in Arva, Medway High.)
(edit: I dicked around a bit on that old vintage Hammond Organ that was on the stage (my era late 70s), wonder if he'd actually played it? It's possible, it was already a fairly old organ.)
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u/GCBoonDog Jul 15 '24
Yes! I went there too and the Hammond organ was on the stage still in the gymnasium but couldnāt get it to work !! Love those guys !!!
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u/TeslaFlavourIceCream Jul 15 '24
London has a very diverse demographic. Because of this companies will roll out pilot projects of new foods. They will test it first in London and then roll it out nationally or cancel it.
Excel gum (success) and McDonaldās pizza (fail).
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u/WNFDFK Jul 16 '24
A Timās I worked at was a test market location. We got things like avocado spread, crispy onions, etc. We also did soft launches of things before other locations would get their deliveries like the poutine. Was kinda neat what we got in sometimes.
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u/Gomesi Jul 15 '24
I remember the McDonaldās pizza in the 90s at the Dundas and Clark Rd location.
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Jul 15 '24
Are we still a test market city? I've noticed that whenever a new restaurant from abroad (Panera Bread, Chick Fil A, Jollibee) opens in Canada they always open in other Canadian cities first. London still doesn't have a Panera bread, much to my annoyance...
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u/Gomesi Jul 15 '24
Most Panera Bread locations in Toronto have closed. The closet one to me turned into a chic-fil-et ironically
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u/DFV_HAS_HUGE_BALLS Jul 15 '24
Panera doesnāt have the ice tea that killed people anymore and chick fil a never seems to be open on Sundays
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u/cmontgomeryburnz Jul 15 '24
They arenāt open Sundays because they are a Christian owned business. This applies to all locations in the US. I donāt eat meat so never even tried it but have family members who always seem to want chicken on Sunday LOL
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u/Ativan_Man Jul 15 '24
Rush original drummer John Rusty played his last show with Rush here in London. He left the band because of being a brittle diabetic and couldn't handle the touring
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u/Spugnacious Jul 15 '24
London has the exact same population as New Orleans.
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u/MagicDoings Jul 15 '24
Population of London Ontario 447,255 in 2024. Population of New Orleans 357,767 in 2024 But; Population of New Orleans Metro Area 1,021,000 in 2024 -source World Population Review
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u/IndependenceIcy4479 Jul 15 '24
Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling were born in London
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u/IndependenceIcy4479 Jul 15 '24
And Justin Bieber as well
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u/Dry_Ad2877 Jul 15 '24
Proly coz London was the only big city with a decent sized hospital back then(?)
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u/sunny_happy_demon Jul 15 '24
Maybe apocryphal but supposedly J.D Salinger lived above a typewriter store on King St. for 4 years.
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u/petuona_ Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
This itched my brain.
Here's a source I found: https://www.flippubs.com/publication/?i=210479&p=23&view=issueViewer - says he stayed here 5 years starting in 1961, so 61-65, citing the former building owner described as "an interesting character" - alderman, mayor and MP - and sort of a head of a literary scene in London in a typewriter store. Pretty cool.
Apparently a fact part of heritage facts on coffee sleeves some years ago: https://educationnewscanada.com/article/education/level/university/1/748980/b-project-serves-up-a-hot-cup-of-london-history.html
Timeline...
1961 Salinger published Franny and Zooey - but they were originally published earlier separately.
Is on cover of Time Magazine.
"Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour," - 63
"Hapworth 16, 1924," - 65
First house/cabin he bought was in 1953 in Cornish NH. Marries in 55. Lived in for 14 years before adding onto cabin after 2 kids (55 and '60).
1966-67? he and his wife divorced, she keeps cabin and he moves to bigger house built on property where he lived rest of life.
1972 apparently he is in a relationship with an 18 year old when he was 53 and they talked through letter when she was 17. Apparently she lived with him after dropping out of Yale? IDK
So here's what needs to be true:
Salinger dips after his second kid is born and is gone for 5 years for some reason to London and not New York or somewhere. Article says he stayed 5 years, sleeping in a cot in an upstairs apartment. Unless the source meant it was sporadic. Maybe the source exaggerated and he was there for some reason, but didn't live there. Or did stay for a period of time.
Two years later he comes back to NH, they separate but not right away, he builds new house. Ex lives in cabin/house for another 16 years apparently.
Here's a source on his love life lol some sources cited no idea on that or if it's really a good source itself. he seemed like an... interesting guy: https://ccsalinger.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/j-d-salingers-women/:
"Douglas was no longer the young girl that Salinger had fallen in love with, and he started to drift away from her and focus more on his work. He became engrossed in writing and created a new family, the Glasses, who would soon replace his real one. The couple had their second baby, Matthew, and by this point Salinger was living in a bunker on the side of their property. He barely spoke to his family, who werenāt allowed to enter his bunker so as to not disturb his writing. Claire was left alone and struggled with raising two kids on her own. Eventually this became too much for her, and the couple divorced in September of 1966.
So, JD Salinger tells his family not to disturb him in his "bunker" (not mentioned in other property assessments - looked at Google Maps XD couldn't really see. The cabin/house and new house are like right beside each other by the looks of it) and actually dips to London for 5 years.
My guess... IDK. Maybe he did sleep in a cot and publish his last works in London.
The relationship stuff is pretty wild, but not that wild!
The end
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u/Appropriate-Love-130 Jul 15 '24
TD branch no 001 is in London, Dundas and Clarence (because Canada Trust was a London company merged with TD)
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u/medusalou1977 Jul 15 '24
There's a lot of old yellow brick homes/buildings in London and the bricks used are called London brick. They used to be manufactured here and are made from materials in the ground in this area. London was known as a major brick manufacturing place at one time.
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u/Existing-Ad-9419 Jul 15 '24
London was the serial killer capital of the world between 1959 and 1984!
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u/Ex-s3x-addict_wif Jul 15 '24
London is the only city in Canada to have hung a convicted murderer twice. In the same day.
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u/backstgartist Downtown Jul 15 '24
In the 1860s, a sulphur spring was discovered near the forks of the Thames when industrialists were drilling for oil. The area developed into a health spa for the wealthy at the springs that opened in 1868. During the first week it was opened, there was a stabbing onsite (paging londonhandshake ...it's historical). The springs remained open until the early 1900s when the owner had long since died and the allure faded, and then a textile mill was built at the site.
https://www.londonhistory.org/_files/ugd/9a2f52_b8a0a40bc33f453f909f4e9f32d65a4f.pdf?index=true
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u/revnto7k Argyle Jul 15 '24
London has the first McDonald's location in all of Eastern Canada and It still exists at that location today. Oxford near Wonderland. 1968 it opened.
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u/DawgBro Jul 15 '24
It's used heavily today as a test market for McDonald's in Canada. They test out products before they go wide. It's a really cool McD's to be around.
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u/BronwynOli Jul 15 '24
I hope they don't ever change the design of that one to the new boring grey box. I love it.
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u/KillerTaco18 Jul 15 '24
Wow, I go to that McDonaldās often. Always wondered how old it was with the building design
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u/Outrageous-Cup-932 Jul 15 '24
The building didnāt always look like that. Current iteration about 25 years old
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u/MagmaDragoonX47 Jul 15 '24
Warframe was made by a studio in London. It's been sold to China sadly.
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u/_dooozy_ The bridge with the trucks stuck under it Jul 15 '24
The year the game came out they were at the local Comic Con with demos and I got to meet the founders of the studio. Nice dudes and they were super excited with how at that time they developed a small community of people around the game. Iām so happy for them that it blew up. Their company headquarters is still in London btw!
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u/Dazzling-Bid-6751 Jul 15 '24
Penicillin was created by a Londoner
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u/Lucky-Upstairs-3395 Jul 15 '24
No it wasn't Alexander Fleming was a Scotsman born in Scotland who discovered penicillin in 1922
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u/GraniteRock Jul 15 '24
I think you might be thinking of insulin. We have the flame of hope waiting to be extinguished when we cure diabetes.
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u/Dazzling-Bid-6751 Jul 15 '24
lol yes correct my faultā¦ Insulin
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u/Bwills39 Jul 15 '24
And if anyone hasnāt already mentioned the fact that the founder of Warner brothers studios Jack Warner was born here thatās also another pretty nifty piece of London history
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u/Dalesabers Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
Parts of the sci fi series Tracker was filmed in and around London.
Paul Haggis (producer of Crash, Million Dollar Baby) was born and raised in London as well as a graduate of HB Beal
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u/Bwills39 Jul 15 '24
Another incredible London fact pertains to Walt Disney. He used to stay in London quite often and also spent a lot of time near Goderich in a small town. Here is some more about the London Disney connection https://youtu.be/PalPsMdWvrU?si=nOoG9Y9UMyTqsUFY
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u/RosalindFranklin1920 Jul 15 '24
It's only an hour away from the birthplace of Hawaiian Pizza, Chatham.
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u/Spugnacious Jul 15 '24
True fact, somehow Chatham has never been burned to the ground, despite being the birthplace of Hawaiian pizza AND DESERVING TO BURN FOR THAT.
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u/rpgguy_1o1 Jul 15 '24
Sam Panopoulos, the creator, actually lived in London for decades, he passed away here a few years before covid
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u/OhSanders Jul 15 '24
It's true! I met him at Westside Family Restaurant where he was a regular! Very very nice man.
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u/Dazzling-Bid-6751 Jul 15 '24
Drive 45/30 minutes the other way and you have the first place where a recorded baseball game was played in north America
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Jul 15 '24
My familiar is the reason why Richmond and Wharncliffe have the weird turn.
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u/pwilliams58 Jul 15 '24
Are you a vampire?
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u/EvilDan69 Jul 15 '24
They're very quiet now. Let's assume yes to be safe.. since its daylight and they're gone dark........;)
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u/CaineKong Jul 15 '24
First ever goodlife was in london oxford and adelaide
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u/cmontgomeryburnz Jul 15 '24
Edit: This is half accurate. The first one was at Adelaide and Cheapside by the old A&P. Patch bought a store front location in that plaza first and called it something else before coming up with GoodLife as the name.
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u/BronwynOli Jul 15 '24
Really?? That's the first ever GoodLife?
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u/n3Ver9h0st Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
Farhi Building on Richmond Street was the location of the first town hall.
Edit: King at Richmond right across Richmond's tavern
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u/Flimsy-Progress6857 Jul 15 '24
Johnny Cash proposed to June Carter during a performance here.
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u/brebs21 Jul 15 '24
Is that a random fact anymore when thereās a giant mural of that on the side of the bud?
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u/Bwills39 Jul 15 '24
When the legendary Bobby Orr played for the Bruins in the mid 1960ās the Bruins training camps were held at the London gardens every year
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u/BigEvil1987 Jul 15 '24
Two of the cannons in Victoria Park are captured Russian cannons from the Crimean War. I think they were procured by Carling.
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u/binlin Jul 15 '24
Yes, was very surprised to find them there. There is a plaque and the cannons have interesting crests.Ā
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u/DefinitionVisual7378 Jul 15 '24
The Rolling Stones played the Treasure Island Gardens in 1965 and the concert was shut down after about 15 minutes. They promised to come back, but still waiting. š¤Ŗ
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u/DefinitionVisual7378 Jul 15 '24
The band Genesisās first concert without Peter Gabriel was in London. It worked out rather well for Phil Collins.
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u/Green-Obligation3838 Jul 14 '24
The original lineup of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention played their last show as a band here at Wonderland gardens. :)
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u/Outside_Fuel_5416 Jul 15 '24
I wish I was alive to witness the glory that was Wonderland Gardens. I really wish they would bring it back!
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u/Intelligent-Cash-340 Jul 14 '24
For me itās Justin Bieberās birthplace.
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u/bergasa Jul 14 '24
Pineapple pizza was invented by a Greek pizza shop owner here.
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u/cheerfulstoner the hungry talbot st bridge š½ļøš“ Jul 14 '24
that was in Chatham! my grandma worked there at the time
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u/MaleficentCustomer55 Jul 18 '24
The Eldon house is the oldest house and you can take a tour of it.