Sam The Record Man Sign Comes Down On Yonge St. Monday October 6, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
It is a moment that many thought would never come, akin to the day Eaton's declared bankruptcy and disappeared into Canadian history.
Monday is the moment the face of Yonge St. changes if not forever at least for a few years - it's the day the iconic Sam The Record Man sign disappears from Toronto's landscape.
The marquee is being taken down so that new owner Ryerson University can refurbish and enlarge the building where it currently stands. The operation began with scaffolding going up in front of what used to be the store at 347 Yonge St. It will take at least three weeks to completely remove it.
Some locals weren't aware of what was going on until they happened by the store on Monday. "That's too bad. It's a famous part of the town. And we're going to miss it," admits Peter Grey.
What made it so special? "It was just the design, the two big discs, I remember seeing it in movies, I think most recently in "The Hulk" and it's just a big part of the city. I used to hang around Sam's. We used to go there for the Boxing Day sales and that sort of thing. So a lot of good memories."
You know the story by now. Sam Sniderman actually began his famous business more than 70 years ago. But when he moved his store to the Yonge St. location, it became an institution at the height of the swinging 60s and the place to buy music in the city.
Many people would come from outside Toronto to purchase imports that weren't available anywhere else.
Bill Schulz remembers doing just that. "We used to come in from Hamilton ... on Saturdays ... and buy our records and you always got good deals. It was always fun to come to the city."
And for just about everyone, the very first thing they ever saw of the place was that sign with its neon spinning discs. Or at least that's what you think now. The truth is that wasn't the original sign at all.
The first Sam's sign that went on display in 1961 included the store's address in an up-and-down pattern between two windows. It also had a thermometer that told you the temperature and a triangle that indicated the weather conditions.
The spinning records came out later in the decade and became the frequent subject of countless tourist photographs in those pre-CN Tower days, as well as appearing in film like "Going Down The Road" - and the hilarious SCTV takeoff on that flick - and David Cronenberg's "Scanners."
The sign was lit up for a final time on Saturday night as part of Nuit Blanche. But you haven't seen the end of it for good. The hope is to put it back at its famous address or another nearby building when the renovations are finished in a few years' time.
Still, not everyone is sorry to see it go. "I don't really see the use of it," exclaims Shams Salim when told the sign will eventually be coming back. "I think they should just trash it if anything. Like what's the point of having it around if it's not going to be there?"
The answer may be that records and Sam's have both been relegated to the ash heap of history. But the memories of both are still very much alive amd living in downtown Toronto. And for those who grew up here, that's enough.
