Everything I Love: Old Matchbooks

Among the few pleasures in moving are finding long-forgotten knickknacks in old suitcases, pencil jars, and kitchen drawers. At the bottom of a clay pot, I discovered several old matchbooks that my grandparents picked up over the years. The combination of these promotions, memories, and the Internet gives us a peek at the past.

My grandfather was a member of Islington Golf Club in Etobicoke, where my brother and I would stuff ourselves with bacon and scrambled eggs at Sunday Brunch.... Joe's Oyster Bar had three locations in Tucson, Arizona in the 1980s, but apparently seafood in Arizona is a tough sell.... The Engineers' Club was a private Toronto club comprised of Canadian mining and financial leaders. In 1992, it took its art collection and merged with The Ontario Club, the beaver from its emblem now prominent on the Ontario Club's crest.... The Tudor-style Drawbridge Inn claimed to be a "stronghold of hospitality where people come first" and is still welcoming visitors in Sarnia, Ontario.... In 1988, the New York Times wrote that Toronto's "Amsterdam Brasserie and Brewery (133 John Street) serves unpasteurized beer made on the premises. It goes well with the light, spicy food, such as blackened hake with sweet pepper and garlic puree ($8). Dinner for two with beer in this converted warehouse will cost about $30". Amsterdam is gone and so are those prices.... Michigan's Bay Valley Inn appears to have been driven away by the Hampton Inns that line I-75, but at one point offered golf, tennis, and fine dining for visitors to Saginaw and Bay City.