The Boulevard Club: One Hundred Years on the Shore, 1905–2005

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

It all began 100 years ago with the Parkdale Canoe Club in Mrs.
Meyers’s boathouse on the shores of Lake Ontario. As writer/director
and Toronto Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian fondly writes, the
club membership eventually bought land adjacent to Mrs. Meyers and built
its own clubhouse. Club members took part in many a winning season of
regattas and in the off-season sponsored other sporting activities such
as rugby and hockey, including the first Grey Cup game. Restricted to
male members, the club nevertheless allowed females to form a Ladies
Auxiliary and cheer their men to victories, play bridge, drink tea, and
take part in social activities. By 1921 the fair sex had gained full
club privileges and a locker room.

In 1913 the first of three devastating fires destroyed the clubhouse,
but eager members had it rebuilt by 1915. In 1935, after having gone
into receivership, the Boulevard Club (as it was called by then) rose
from the economic ashes. Activities were expanded to include tennis,
badminton, lawn and regular bowling, softball, swimming, sailing, and
curling. There was a flurry of social events too, including the annual
Rose Ball, the New Year’s Eve Celebration, and the “Jollies” revue
(a spoof on the infamous Ziegfeld Follies).

Ouzounian’s book is filled with wonderful archival photographs of
club-member weddings, receptions, and athletic achievements, many of
which were recorded in the club’s newsletter, The Paddler. The
Boulevard Club continues to thrive as a sports and events mecca passed
from generation to generation. This book provides cherished
recollections for club members and is an excellent source of information
and local lore for the uninitiated.