Slide 5. We owe thanks to Robert Lansdale for Photoshop colour correction on this image of the 1958 fire at Long Branch Hotel. Alex Stewart photo. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

We owe thanks to Robert Lansdale for colour correction of this image from 1958 Long Branch Hotel fire

A previous post is entitled:

John Stewart of Wiarton has shared some photos of the fire that destroyed the Long Branch Hotel in 1958

At that post, I have replaced a previous, blue-tinged scan from a slide with a colour-corrected version. We owe thanks to Robert Lansdale for the Photoshop work.

I’m devoting a separate post to the above-noted image, by way of bringing attention to it.

Robert Lansdale had commented that my scans (see link at top of this page) have turned out pretty good but they have a blue tint. “That is due to the Kodachrome film which always scans bluish. Do you own Photoshop? If so, you can colour balance the images against the white snow to get rid of the blue tint. Also, you can use the fix-up tool to get rid of all the dust specks.”

I do have Photoshop and look forward to learning how to get a better colour balance and delete the dust specks. I don’t know much about Photoshop but the Robert’s helpful advice (followed up with detailed notes regarding how he colour-corrected the above-noted slide) will enable me to know where to start.

Robert Lansdale seeks an aerial photograph

I want to add that Robert Lansdale is looking for an aerial photo – any help site visitors can provide will be much appreciated:

Robert’s father, Bob Lansdale, and family lived out on the “spit” west of Estobicoke Creek, first in the 1920s and 1930s in a cottage and then in the 1940s in a house. It was half-way down that sand spit. They moved to 41st street in the early to mid 1950s where Robert’s uncle and Bob Lansdale built a house. Robert’s father Bob Lansdale is the editor of the Photographic Historical Society of Canada.

Robert’s own interest is to better document the “Flats” which is now Marie Curtis Park.

He is seeking photos from the 1940s or 1950s of the “Etobicoke Flats” prior to it being razed and replaced with Marie Curtis Park.

Comment

I am very impressed with – and thoroughly inspired by – efforts by Robert Lansdale and others to document the past, as it relates to the Etobicoke and Mississauga shorelines. Efforts to accurately document local history anywhere in the world are of tremendous value, and significance.

All of life is local (and personal, and family-oriented) as much as it is national or international.

I am also very pleased that John Stewart has shared such great slides with us, from the 1958 Long Branch Hotel fire.

I would add that there is at least one library book that says the Long Branch Hotel fire occurred in 1954. The documentary evidence, and the first-hand reports, indicate that the fire was in 1958. Similarly, you may come across online statements inaccurately claiming that the Colonel Samuel Smith cabin at the site of Parkview School in Long Branch was torn down in 1952. The documentary evidence is that the demolition occurred in 1955.

I mention these things because, in my experience, efforts must be made to check the facts, and double-check them, about local history or anything else, rather than just going by whatever has been printed in a library book, and rather than just going by whatever appears online.

I also welcome corrections, with regard to any factual statement that appears at the Preserved Stories website. I make every effort to ensure that my owns statements are accurate and balanced – backed up by verifiable, corroborated documentation.