Thursday, February 21, 2008

6 Alarm Fire, a bike shop gone :(


Photo credit aardvark

Today I woke up to the news that Duke's Bike Shop had burned down. The fired was massive as you can see by this photo. Luckily no one (no animals either) were hurt in this fire.


Photo credit JL1967

I'm sad for a couple of reasons. First Duke's was a family run business. It was opened in 1914 and has stayed in that location the whole time with the Duke family running it generation after generation. I always feel sad when something bad happens to a small ma and pa business.


Photo credit duke's cycle

I am also sad because I used to live 1/2 a block down from Duke's. I love this neighbourhood. I love bikes. I haven't been on a bike in years. Mine got stolen in 2001, and I never got another one. I used to ride it all over Toronto. The cycling community in Toronto is very strong. I miss it.

I just felt the need to express my feelings about what happened.

I want to leave you with a video I found on youtube. It's of a critical mass. Critical mass happens once a month here in Toronto. Cyclists get together and "take over" the city. I've been in a couple of them back in the mid 90's. I wasn't in this one though.




Full news story

6 comments:

Melody said...

Yes, it is so very sad. I too have been to Dukes and when I was young my grandmother used to live two blocks away. I heard last night that he plans on rebuilding but oh how terrible!

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about Dukes. It is hard to loose a little piece of history-

LINDSAY said...

Oh, this is very sad. I hope everything turns out okay in the end. No loss of life is a blessing.

suze said...

Sad story,but no one hurt and they will rebuild. So a happy ending in store. I went to ride my bike a couple weeks ago but my tires were flat:(

marie-louise said...

So bad things...
I have nothing to say, but I like your illustrations...

damla said...

ı really sorry about dukes:((( but no one hurts and ıts the most important thing...