The OHL Arena Guide - Ravina Gardens, Toronto Marlboros

Even in the early days of the OHL, Maple Leaf Gardens was a busy rink, and junior hockey was among the lowest priorities for dates. Maple Leaf Gardens was the primary home of the Majors and Marlies in the 1950's, prior to their succession into the new Metro League, and when Maple Leaf Gardens was booked, it seems from newspaper evidence that both teams occasionally played at Ravina Gardens in west Toronto.

Ravina Gardens referred both to the arena and the public park in which it sat. An outdoor ice rink on the site dated back as far as 1906, while the artificial ice arena was built in 1926. The site was located at at the foot of Rowland St in the Junction neighbourhood.

I know very little else about the arena. The city of Toronto purchased the building from private ownership in the early 1950's, and in 1961 it was discovered that the building had been built on top of a stream, which still existed under the building's foundations. The annual freeze/thaw cycle was doing a number on the Gardens' structural integrity, and it was demolished for safety reasons at the end of the 1960-61 season.

The park, also called Ravina Gardens, still exists and occupies the site of the former arena. The former arena access, down a flight of stairs into the ravine, still exists, but now it drops you into the combined outfield of two baseball diamonds facing each other. There is no trace on site that any building ever stood there.