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Brightside Press

A platen press like the one at 56 Lancaster Street.
An image of a platen press, like this one, lays long buried beneath the rubble left from the demolition of 56 Lancaster Street. (Courtesy of John Brodnicki)
Brightside Printing letterhead.
Brodnicki continued his printing press at various locations throughout the city long after the demolition of the Brightside neighbourhood. (Courtesy of John Brodnicki)
Go! Gaels Go! Cathedral High School football rally card by Brightside Press.
High School sports fans wore football rally cards that dangled by a string from their shirt buttons to show team support. (Courtesy of John Brodnicki)
Brightside Press first Work Docket for Go! Gaels Go! Football rally cards.
Brightside Press produced many football rally cards and other sports-related items for area schools. Its first printing job was for Cathedral High School football rally cards. (Courtesy of John Brodnicki)
Brightside Printer John Brodnicki in front of his family’s home on Lancaster Street.
Brightside Printer John Brodnicki in front of his family’s home on Lancaster Street. (Courtesy of Diane Morelli and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook page)
A woman standing with boy on a bike near Brightside press shed.
A young John poses with his mom at the backyard shed that housed the first Brightside Press printing press (Courtesy of John Brodnicki)
Three young children on Lancaster Street.
A glimpse into the early road conditions on Lancaster Street from the Brodnicki family album. (Courtesy of John Brodnicki)

John ‘Snitz’ Brodnicki started his Brightside Press printing company in 1957 in a shed behind his family’s home at 56 Lancaster.  During the demolition of his house a bulldozer simply buried one of his printing presses rather than save it. It remains buried on that site to this day. 

Listen: The Buried Press. Click the play circle below. 

Show/Hide Transcript

Speaker 1:    

What are my presses. 

I left, I left one of my presses at 56 Lancaster... 

Speaker 2:    

Printing press. 

Speaker 1:    

… a printing press. 

Oh yeah. 

Speaker 2:    

Gawd, I remember his printing press. 

Speaker 1:    

Anyway, a long story short, when my house was getting knocked down, eh, I got a call from Shine. 

He says you better get down here because they’re about to knock your house down. 

So, by the time I got down there the bulldozer had already covered in the joint. 

They didn’t save anything. 

They just buried it. 

So, my press is actually there today. 

If you went there, you could find it. 

My press is actually buried in the rubble. 

Speaker 3:    

Go dig it out. 

Speaker 1:    

I might do that someday.  

[chatter] 

Speaker 1:    

I’ve done silly things before. 

Speaker 2:    

Yes. 

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