New Toronto Hotel
Several
years after the original New Toronto Hotel closed down (see the section on the Almont Hotel), the name was resurrected for use
on this building constructed on the southeast corner of Lakeshore and Fourth
Street.
Below is a picture from the 1930's. The hotel
eventually became the Boulevard Inn, and is now Jay-Jay's as you see in the
picture on the right from November 2003.
Unlike
the Capitol Theatre on the opposite corner, this building has not undergone any
major architectural reconstruction. Note the shape of the building and
the fact that all the doors and windows are still in the same
positions.
Like it’s predecessor, this
New Toronto Hotel has had its share of suspicious activity. In July 1980, the manager of the hotel, then
the Boulevard Inn, was murdered along with his common-law wife and two tenants
in his Islington Avenue home. The
murders occurred after Lenny Martindale (the manager) was forced to empty the
hotel safe of approximately $2000.00.
Below are links to The Globe newspaper editions that follow the story: