Streetcar art celebrates a TTC love story

Peter Bomberry and Rita McCue came from outside the city, but their romance began in that most Toronto of places: a TTC streetcar.

- BEN SPURR

A streetcar wrap depicts Rita McCue and Peter Bomberry, who met on the College line in 1960.

It was a spring evening in 1960 and Peter, looking dashing in a suit, was riding westbound on College Street when a beautiful woman dressed up for a party stepped aboard.

Peter’s first thought when he saw Rita, he later recalled, was that he could picture her in a wedding dress.

Sparks flew for Rita, too. “He was the handsomest Indian man I had ever seen,” she later told family.

For a moment, it seemed like theirs might be only a brief encounter. Rita’s heart sank as the handsome man got off the streetcar at the stop before her own. But it turned out they were both going to the same place, the North American Indian Club Dance.

Rita, who was Anishinaabe from Chimnissing (also known as Christian Island), had a date, but he stood her up. Soon she was chatting to Peter, who was Cayuga from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and was tending bar that night.

After four months of dating, Peter proposed to Rita where it all started, on the College streetcar.

This month, the TTC is commemorating Peter and Rita’s love story with a special streetcar wrap as part of the agency’s Indigenous Peoples Month celebrations.