In Toronto, the Ford Hotel was finished in 1929, a year before the Royal York, on the northeast corner of Bay and Dundas at a cost of $2 million, including land. Its location on the site of a former church next to the open-air bus terminal made it extremely convenient for inbound visitors to the city. Unfortunately, the owners' dedication to low prices didn't translate into a glamourous reputation. When it was eventually demolished in 1973, The Star rightly crowned it the "Queen of Dumps." Its story might be sleazy and blighted by horrific violence and terrible sadness but the history of the Ford Hotel is anything but boring.
When I first arrived in Toronto as a teenager in the late 60's my aunt recommended the Ford Hotel so I stayed there for a few nights until I found a sleazebag apartment at 18 Elmgrove in Parkdale. The hotel was not infested with cockroaches; the apartment was. Unfortunately I arrived too late to experience the fabulous fingers of Margot Engler. If it was a dive (and I know now it was) I had nothing to compare it to.
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