Mike Filey's column "The Way We Were" first appeared in the Toronto Sunday Sun not long after the first edition of the paper hit the newsstands and front porches on September 16, 1973. Since that day more than three decades ago, Mike's column has enjoyed an uninterrupted stretch as one of the paper's most popular features. In 1992 a number of his columns were reprinted in Toronto Sketches: The Way We Were by Dundurn Press. Since then another seven volumes of Toronto Sketches have been published, each of which has attained great success both with Toronto book buyers and with former Torontonians wishing to relive an earlier, gentler time in the city's past.

This ninth volume features a variety of stories, including a look at Toronto's 1904 inferno, the birth of Rex Heslop's Rexdale community, a visit to Sunnyside Amusement Park, and a few fascinating tales about the city's streetcars.