Roller Rinks and Magnetic Tapes
John Dean Former Agincourt Resident
I grew up in Agincourt in the early 70’s and was attending Sir Alexander MacKenzie Senior Public school around the time the Dragon Centre was built. The Roller Skating rink was called Roller World and had been a popular hang out place for local High School students at Agincourt Collegiate. I remember going roller skating in that rink with the stereo pounding, and the disco ball in the centre of the rink reflecting the coloured lights. I was a novice roller skater, but fondly recall watching some of the older teenagers doing tricks on their roller skates, crossing their legs over, spinning around and going backwards around the track. I recall the local teenage population being somewhat upset when the Roller Skating rink was closed down as it had been a popular place to hang out. When the Dragon Centre was first opened I do recall there being a lot of racism exhibited by the younger generation which at the time was predominately Caucasian.
I think Canadian’s have grown as a society and this type of behaviour would not present itself today, but it is an unfortunate memory of that time. When the Dragon Centre opened its doors, it seemed to be an instant success with the Chinese Community in the GTA. I had no idea as young 13 – 14 year old boy that people were travelling from Mississauga area to get to this shopping plaza, only that the quiet little street named Glen Watford had become a hive of activity overnight. The local plaza which was home to places like Mars Milk, Bev’s Cycle and Sport, Bruno’s Butcher shop, Home Hardware, a Kodak Camera booth, Helen Blakey Flowers, and a local Arcade, all began to sell and each new shop that would open up seemed to have an Oriental flavour to it. The local traffic in the area of the Dragon Centre increased significantly as this area went through rapid changes attracting more and more of the Chinese community.
I remember the first time I entered the Dragon Centre as young teenager experiencing the smell of Chinese cooking for the first time, which was quite powerful. The mall was a basic loop with stores in the Centre and also lining the outside edge of what used to be the actual roller skating rink. It didn’t take long, before the hardwood floor which used to be the roller rink surface started to buckle over time and push up through the tiles on the floor. There were deals to be found inside the Dragon Centre, particularly if you shopping for electronics. As I young boy I recall wanting to purchase a stereo system and build my up my music collection and prices inside the Dragon Centre were attainable, even if your only source of income was delivering newspapers. I remember shopping at a store called Alba Electronics, where the price of high quality CR02 (Chromium Dioxide) blank tapes could be picked up for a fraction of the price they were selling anywhere else like Flipside Music or Woolco which were in the Agincourt Mall. I used to make weekly trips to that store to purchase 1 or 2 “TDK SA 90” blank tapes, so I could dub music from friends, sort a historical version of Napster, only more expensive and horrendously time consuming. My friends and I were frequent visitors to Alba Electronics for blank tapes, and occasionally a new Walkman or Ghetto Blaster purchase. When I grew older I moved out of Agincourt and into the Don Mills area, but still returned to the Dragon Centre for Electronic purchases. I think the last purchase I made was a Sony DVD player, when those first came out.
The Dragon Centre is truly a piece of history in Agincourt, and probably responsible for the money and infrastructure development that was injected into that community many years ago. The introduction of the Dragon Centre also played a role in the population demographics that make up this part of Scarborough today. Reading this article brought me back to a time of found memories. I would be interested to read some of the stories you receive about the Dragon Centre. Best of luck with your research.