Boblo Island: The Amusement Park at the End of a Boat Ride
For generations, two grand steamers carried families down the Detroit River to an island park off Amherstburg. Here's the story of Boblo, and what's on the island now.
ON Rewind · Ontario nostalgia, independent
ON Rewind: Ontario, the way you remember it.
Lost places, surviving classics, road trips and the stores, attractions and experiences Ontario grew up with.
The Chip Ship: Dill Pickle Fries Where the Old Cut Inn Once Stood
A chip truck at a Long Point boat livery the Ferris family has run for 95 years, on the property where their Old Cut Inn once had a snack bar and dance hall. Come hungry for dill pickle fries.
Eaton’s: When a Department Store Became Part of Canadian Life
From a cash-only shop on Yonge Street to the catalogue, the Santa Claus Parade and the Eaton Centre: how Eaton's wove itself into Ontario life, and how it came apart.
15 Places Ontario Kids Begged Their Parents to Visit
From the Comet to the CN Tower, the places that topped Ontario kids' summer wish lists. Some are still open, some have changed, and some exist only in memory.
01
Remember This?
Fast trips back to the places everyone seems to remember.
Remember this?
Whatever Happened to Consumers Distributing?
Remember this?
Kmart Canada: The Discount Chain Ontario Lost
Remember this?
Remember Towers?
02
Rewind to…
Pick a decade or a corner of the province.
03
Still Here
Retro experiences that are still open.
Worth the drive
The Chip Ship: Dill Pickle Fries Where the Old Cut Inn Once Stood
A chip truck at a Long Point boat livery the Ferris family has run for 95 years, on the property where their Old Cut Inn once had a snack bar and dance hall. Come hungry for dill pickle fries.
Worth the drive
The Arbor: Foot-Longs, Golden Glow and a Century in Port Dover
For more than a century the Arbor has fed Port Dover at the foot of Main Street, for generations with foot-longs and its own orange Golden Glow. In 2026 it got new owners, and the same menu.
Worth the drive
Surviving Independent Movie Theatres in Ontario
Single screens, balconies and century-old auditoriums: the independent Ontario cinemas that outlasted the multiplex, many saved by the neighbourhoods around them.
04
Gone
The places and brands Ontario lost — and what’s there now.
The Ontario Malls We Grew Up In
From Hamilton's Centre Mall to Yorkdale, Square One and the Eaton Centre: how Ontario learned to shop indoors, and why so many of those malls have changed or vanished.
Woolco Before Walmart
Red Grille lunches, $1.44 Days and stores of 100,000 square feet. Woolco was Woolworth's discount chain, and in 1994 it became Walmart's way into Canada.
05
Retail Rewind
Department stores, catalogues, food courts and malls.
Eaton’s: When a Department Store Became Part of Canadian Life
From a cash-only shop on Yonge Street to the catalogue, the Santa Claus Parade and the Eaton Centre: how Eaton's wove itself into Ontario life, and how it came apart.
Simpsons: Ontario’s Other Great Department Store
Eaton's had the parade, but Simpsons had the Arcadian Court and a landmark at Queen and Yonge. Now that the Bay is gone, its old name is showing through the stone again.
Things Every Ontario Mall Had in the 1990s
Sam the Record Man, Electronics Boutique, RadioShack, Thriftys, Le Château, Coles: the stores that filled Ontario malls in the 1990s, and what became of each one.
The Department Store Restaurant: A Lost Canadian Tradition
From the Georgian Room and the Arcadian Court to dime-store lunch counters and the Zellers diner: a look back at when Ontario's stores fed their shoppers.
06
Road Trips
Current places worth visiting.
Ontario Roadside Attractions That Still Feel Like Another Era
A giant goose, a nickel you can walk up to and a muskie the size of a house: Ontario's big roadside landmarks are still standing, and still worth pulling over for.