BY VALERIE HAUCH TORONTOSTAR

A first home can be like a first love: long-lasting and satisfying, the initial sharp excitement evolving into a kind of deep, sweet contentment.

For some, that first home will sustain them their whole lives and become, eventually, their last home. That's the way Luba Goy, the zany, comedic performer of TV's Royal Canadian Air Farce, feels about her semi-detached house in Riverdale, a first home purchase she made in 1978.

Quite simply, she loves the modestly sized house, the unique backyard garden which still bears the imprint of a Japanese family who lovingly tended it in the 1940s when they lived there, the quiet street where her son, now 27, pedalled his tricycle and all her neighbours, especially the ones in closest proximity.

" I adore my next-door neighbours. They're the quiet ones, I'm the noisy one," she says with a chuckle. When she bought the house, built around 1918, it was considered a "starter" home and it needed work. In the late '70s, Riverdale was not the popular, revitalized and up-and-coming community it is today. In fact, she and her husband had a hard time getting a mortgage, she recalls, because her bank manager didn't think the area was a great place for such an investment.

" We almost couldn't get a mortgage," says Goy. "They said, 'it's in Riverdale. Why do you want to live in Riverdale? Why not Bloor West Village?"'
But she and her husband persevered. "We said, yes, it's a little #@'"#-box but we plan to fix it up." It didn't hurt that the loans manager was a fan of Royal Canadian Air Farce's then-radio show. Eventually they got the mortgage, which was paid off a couple of years ago.

The biggest selling points for the house, Goy recalls, had nothing to do with the building proper." We fell in love with the backyard. It's sunny and large and quiet. The
street, too, was quiet and not hilly - I knew my son could ride his tricycle and be safe. There was a nearby school and parks."

" It was also the neighbourhood which drew me. Although it's minutes from downtown, it's so quiet and residential. It's the perfect location. And there's a good mix of people.'
`We fell in love with the backyard. It's sunny and large and quiet. The street, too, was quiet and not hilly - I knew my son could ride his tricycle and be safe'.

Now the street has its own memories for her. "I watched all these children grow up on this street and now I see them coming back for visits. My street is the best ... people who live on this street and move away come back to visit."

The house itself, while not large, had lots of potential. Over the years, Goy, who now lives there alone - but has frequent visiting guests - has done extensive renovations. The first floor is now one open area with lots of light. The kitchen has been moved to the front of the house - "it's small but exquisitely designed."

A main floor fireplace was added along with Mexican tile flooring. A solarium was attached to the living room, where there was once a summer kitchen, and there are skylights over a staircase, bathroom and upstairs. Goy also had a deck built in the backyard, which is nice for the garden parties she sometimes has.

And she added a small solarium to her bedroom, a mini-greenhouse "where everything blooms like crazy." There's another bedroom upstairs and one in the basement.

One of her former neighbours, who's since passed away, had lived on the street for 50 years so Goy was able to talk to her about previous owners. She discovered a Japanese family had lived there in the late 1940s and the grandfather had been a gardener. It explained the way some of her trees and shrubs in the backyard had been trained.

One day, a letter came for the family from Japan, some 25 or so years after they had moved away. Goy decided not to send the letter back, that it must be pretty important and she would try to track down the family. She made an extensive search and finally found the daughter who was very excited to get the letter.

In another incident she found a letter in the rafters, put there by an electrician, she believes. It was dated 1918 and referred to wiring that had to be done.

Recently she had Toronto artist Jane Hall, renowned for her bold use of colour, do a consultation and as a result, has had the whole house repainted in vibrant, rich colours like burnt orange and caramel apple on the first floor and a chilled wine in her bedroom.
" The house is alive with colour," says Goy. "It's made such a difference. It's really been transformed by painting." Before Hall's input, she says she . had gone with some safe bets, but now she's seen what colour can really do.

It's a bright, cheerful house that is, at the same time, very peaceful, says Goy. It is her refuge, her delight. Everything a home should be.

COLOURFUL COMIC: Actor Luba Goy has lived in this Riverdale home for more than 23 years. She recently had it painted in vibrant colours, which she says has brought the house alive.