Wallet Card in Toronto: Maple Leaf Gardens

I was in Toronto for work this week and had some down time in the evenings which I used to take a lot of wallet card photos. I had time to prepare and map out some places to take photos, but perhaps the coolest one is something I discovered completely by accident.

I was flying out early Friday morning and knew I might not have time for breakfast in the airport, so as I was walking the blocks by my hotel on Thursday evening I decided to stop inside a Loblaws (big Canadian supermarket chain) for a little snack I could eat in the morning. I went up the escalator and saw a huge art installation made out of stadium chairs which certainly caught my eye. I quickly got out my phone and quickly realized that this supermarket was in no ordinary location - this was the former Maple Leaf Gardens, home of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs from 1931 to 1999. From the outside, especially at night, you would never know it was a former NHL stadium, it just looks like another city building.

Here is the sculpture that grabbed my attention. There are also remnants from where the seats used to be. I didn't realize until much later when I was looking at the photos again that the seats are arranged in the shape of a maple leaf.

Naturally once I realized where I was I immediately looked up Maple Leaf Gardens to see what else might be worth photographing. Most of the old arena is now being used by the local college, TMU, for their sports, but the supermarket takes up a fair amount of the building. For the most part, other than a lot of photographs from the old Gardens, there are no other remnants to indicate this used to be an NHL arena. However, in Aisle 25 they have a Maple Leafs logo on the floor, and the white circle in the middle represents where center ice was located.

Other than those representations of the old arena, little remains in the supermarket. I did see something peeking out behind some tiles, though. I couldn't find any references to whatever this sign might be, and it's entirely possible it's just some of the supermarket signage, they do use big block letters to designate departments.

For the record, I bought a "No Name" cheese-and-crackers pack for $1 CAD ($0.73 USD). The crackers weren't great and I didn't try the cheese. And my flight was delayed due to weather so I had plenty of time for breakfast at the airport.