There’s a Toronto history buff named Neil Arnold who runs a YouTube channel dedicated to exploring the city’s past. His series, ‘Toronto in the Rear View Mirror,’ is built around a simple but fascinating idea. He digs through old photographs of Toronto streets and buildings from the city archives, then heads out with his camera to capture those same locations as they appear today. Sometimes, the landmarks have survived. Other times, they’ve been flattened in the name of progress, which is usually the polite way of saying someone built a condo there.
One recent episode included a quick glimpse of 1901 Danforth Ave., just a few blocks from Demaras Racing HQ. And wouldn’t you know it, this little corner of Toronto has had gasoline in its veins for nearly a century.
Back in the 1930s, the site was home to MacCharles Garage, with a used car lot next door and a curbside gas pump right on the sidewalk. Motorists could pull up to the curb, top up the tank and get back on the road without ever entering a proper gas station. Convenient? Absolutely. Slightly alarming by today’s safety standards? Also absolutely.
Those sidewalk pumps were eventually outlawed in the 1950s, which was probably a good call considering they turned public walkways into tiny gasoline obstacle courses.
The video does not give much detail about when MacCharles Garage closed, but the building’s automotive spirit never really left. Today, 1901 Danforth Ave. is home to Splash & Shine Hand Car Wash, an old-school operation that still feels connected to another era.
You pull up to the garage door, where an attendant hands you a ticket, climbs into the driver’s seat and guides your vehicle into the service bay. Then the place comes alive. Employees swarm the car with hoses, brushes, towels and cleaning supplies. The exterior gets washed, scrubbed and rinsed, while others work inside the cabin, wiping the dashboard, cleaning the windows and attacking those forgotten corners where dust, coffee residue and shame tend to collect.
Meanwhile, customers wait in a long, narrow corridor overlooking the action. It’s part viewing gallery, part time capsule and part low-budget horror movie hallway. One half expects a flickering fluorescent light, a mysterious dripping sound and a sign that says, “Your vehicle will be ready in 10 minutes, probably.”. The name has changed, and the work has shifted from repairing cars to cleaning them, but there’s something genuinely cool about the continuity. For nearly 100 years, 1901 Danforth Ave. has remained a place where cars come, go, stop, idle, drip, shine and occasionally receive attention from people who know what they’re doing.
God forbid the Ministry of the Environment ever takes a deep soil sample from this place. After decades of gasoline, motor oil, brake dust, road grime and carnauba wax, the ground beneath 1901 Danforth probably has its own octane rating.
Maybe it’s best to leave it alone. Let the old building keep doing what it has always done. Someday, when future space cars roll down the Danforth, they’ll still need somewhere to have their flux capacitors serviced and a fresh coat of astro-wax applied to the hood.