Perly's was essential for cabbies
Street guide gave written directions Taxi drivers
could
read it on the fly
JIL
MCINTOSH
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
It was an odd obituary that caught my eye, and one that
brought back a flood of memories: a Star report that
Perly's, the all-Canadian map company, has been sold to
American-owned Rand McNally.
For 55 years, the family-owned Toronto business turned
out the Perly's Guide.
When I became a taxi driver in 1978, I quickly
discovered that the only thing more essential to the job than
a Perly's (no one ever used its full name) was the cab
itself.
Perly's was unique in that it gave written
descriptions, rather than maps. You could really only use one
if you were already familiar with Toronto's major streets.
For example, an entry for Youngmill Dr. reads: "(Dawes
Rd.-Victoria Park Junction) At 1 W of Victoria Pk turn L (W)
off Dawes Rd along Ferris Rd 2 bl to Youngmill Dr which runs N
to dead end."
There was always a folded Toronto map glued into the
back cover, but most of us supplemented the guide with Perly's
BJ Map Book, a thinner volume of detailed maps.
You only dipped into that if you were really lost,
though; my 1981 edition looks brand new, while that year's
Perly's looks like it's been through a war.
Perly's was considered so important that if a
new driver showed up without one, he was usually told not to
bother hitting the streets until he'd hit the bookstore.
That was because, unlike a map book, it could be read
"on the fly." We'd use them while sitting at red lights, or
even while driving, and it took too long to locate a tiny
street on a map.
On long roads, Perly's also gave house numbers
by cross-streets, which maps didn't do.
It took much practice to learn how to use the book, and
many of us shared an unusual experience: the directions would
be gibberish, no matter how much you studied them.
Then, like a light bulb going on, they would, in an
instant, become crystal clear.
It sometimes took weeks, and once you "got" it, you
couldn't understand how it didn't make sense before.
Perly's other disadvantage, beyond existing
street knowledge, was that one had to know how to spell.
One day, when a driver was given an address on
Knightsbridge, he looked it up under "N."
Our radio's closed system meant that we could only hear
the dispatcher, as he guided the driver through his book.
"It's Knight with a K," he said. "Kuh-knight. Like
kuh-knife. Or kuh-knee."
A pause.
"You kuh-know. Roger that — over and out."
jil@ca.inter.net
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