The love story of Ruth Frocks

As the owners of the Roncesvalles landmark Ruth Frocks clothing store, Adam Eckhardt and his stylish wife Phyllis dressed everyone from society queens to drag queens. And everyone in the ‘hood couldn’t wait to see their glamorous new window displays every Thursday.

Written by Vida Juozaitis

It’s a long way from a Siberian gulag to a women’s clothing store at 1637 Queen St. W., but Adam Eckardt traversed that distance of more than 15,000 kilometres, some of it on foot. His story is of a 10-year odyssey marked by war, adventure, pain, indescribable grit and love. 

Adam was only 19 when he fled a work camp in Siberia. He had endured two years there after his family, members of the Polish intelligentsia, were declared enemies when the Soviets occupied Poland in 1939. His flight was almost as grueling as his imprisonment. The guards actually released the prisoners from the remote camp, and in a spiteful move, took their shoelaces. 

For months, Adam walked with his fellow prisoners south through Russia to Kazakhstan and then Iran. Fortunately, Polish-trained officers in his group knew how to dig underground shelters to survive the winter cold. Otherwise, they would have perished. 

Adam made it to the British-controlled Persian Gulf, was put on a boat to Britain and enlisted with the RAF to train as a navigator in the famous Polish Squadron 303.

Love and Marriage

His training took place in Malton near Toronto where he met Phyllis Darmatt.  As a Canadian teenager of Polish descent, she was amused by how he clicked his heels and kissed her hand when they first met at a family friend’s house on St. Clarens Ave. They were married after a short courtship. Two weeks later, he was posted back to Britain for active service.

After the war, Adam returned to his new Toronto family, hoping to pursue his artistic dreams, which the war had delayed. In 1947, with $1,000 from the military and a loan from his in-laws he bought a small storefront space for an art gallery on Queen St. W. where King and Roncesvalles Ave. meet. It had been Ruth Frocks, a women’s clothing shop. Along with the store, Adam acquired the clothes still in stock and was forced to hold a grand sale to clear the space for the gallery. Phyllis was recruited to assist. 

Unexpected Success

She proved to be a natural saleswoman. The sale was so successful that customers were left asking for more. So began the many buying trips to Spadina's garment district to supplement the inventory.  With Phyllis's sweet disposition and Adam's European charm and artistic taste, they began to do very well in their women's apparel business. The art gallery was not to be.  

By the early ’60s, Adam and Phyllis had expanded Ruth Frocks 10 times over, tearing down the walls of three adjacent storefronts to take over the entire corner where King, Queen and Roncesvalles meet. The expansion included an expensive bridal salon run by a designer hired from Holt Renfrew. They held annual fashion shows at the Seaway Towers. Clients came from all over Canada. Celebrities such as Oscar Peterson and his wife were regular customers. A Toronto Star fashion columnist in 1964 wrote:

 “All Toronto should be proud indeed of this transition in this landmark corner. 

R.F. is the one store where you get all the requisites for a fashionable wardrobe, 

day dresses, evening elegance, cocktail excitement, and suits that go anywhere, in quiet, 

unharried elegance...

Their daughter Barb recalls her mother had an exceptional sense of colour. A woman trying on a dress was told by her husband it looked good. But Phyllis politely disagreed saying blue was not her colour and the yellow one suited her much better. Phyllis was right and the woman bought the yellow one. Barb also remembers her mother discreetly ensuring trans women clients had privacy in the dressing room area when trying on clothes. 

Besides working long hours on weekends, Adam and Phyllis created new window displays every Wednesday evening. Barb remembers how her parents would return, late and exhausted, to their home at 41 Baby Point Rd. Their children often wished they were home more often, but people loved the displays. Zoe Huggins recalls how as a Parkdale Collegiate student she would walk the long way home so she could see the latest fashions in the glamorous new window displays.           

For many years, Ruth Frocks maintained its reputation as a stylish boutique with personalized knowledgeable service in a landmark corner building.  But a slow erosion of the neighbourhood had already started in the ’50s when the Sunnyside waterfront park was demolished to make way for the Gardiner Expressway. Above the store was a rooming house, and twice thieves broke through the floor and robbed the store of many valuable items. 

The Northways Gamble

Nevertheless in 1962 in a daring move to expand, Adam bought Northways, an ailing women’s clothing chain of 40 stores.  He couldn’t save it. He declared bankruptcy in 1972. It was a devastating period for the entire family. Yet, he still managed to hold on to the Ruth Frocks store for another decade. They tried to maintain solvency but ultimately couldn’t keep it afloat. Adam declared bankruptcy once again. After 35 years with the Eckhardts, Ruth Frocks closed its doors forever. 

The house in Baby Point, Ruth Frocks and his dreams of building a clothing empire were lost. Adam remarked to his son James that it was like returning to the life of the newly arrived immigrant -- buying a small house with most rooms rented out to pay the mortgage.  

Years later, Adam became a commissary and was stationed at Osgoode Hall for a Royal visit. When Prince Charles arrived, he immediately recognized Adam's RAF tie and struck up a lengthy conversation with the still engaging veteran. Adam died in 1993 and was buried in the military section of the Thornhill cemetery.  Phyllis lived out her last years in a long-term care home on Bay St., a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease. She died in 1995.  One of her caregivers warmly remembered Phyllis from her visits to Ruth Frocks. Phyllis had helped her choose a dress for her mother's funeral and took no payment for it. 

Sources: Interviews with Adam and Phyllis Eckhardt’s children Barbara Lussing, James Eckhardt and Westley Eckhardt. 

Adam Eckhardt trained as a navigator at Malton before joining the famous Polish Squadron 303.

Adam met and married Phyllis Darmatt in Toronto before returning to Britain for war service.

The windows at Ruth Frocks changed weekly.

Phyllis and Adam Eckhardt.

With guests at the store expansion event.

A Ruth Frocks fashion show in June, 1966, at the Seaway Towers on Lake Shore Blvd.