Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Mustapha]

I was at a funeral at Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Saturday and I parked near his grave.

Is his grave on the Yonge street side or the Mt Pleasant side of the cemetery?

Not many services on the Yonge street side anymore; older graves and I think the plots are all sold.

 

[Mustapha]

I hope everyones summer went well. It's already the end of September. Where does the time go? I know where it goes on weekends... I go picture taking.

With no particular occasion in mind I wish everyone good health and happiness. And to students especially, I hope this school year is a good one for you.



September 28 addition.


Then. Looking SW. Brock and Maple Grove. April 28 1938

Later. October 14 1938. Now under a layer of stucco. Some landscaping too. Just to drive the point home that renovations have occurred, the photographer inserts a sawhorse and a couple of workers.

Now. August 2010. I'm guessing everything is still there, it seems to be... now under a layer of siding of various colours and configurations as each individual homeowner has done their own thing down through time.

 

[Aladone]

It's been awhile. Here's one:

General Knox w/ Mayor Fred J. Conley and others on the steps of old City Hall. 194? - 2010

 

[NomoreaTorontonian]

I hope everyones summer went well. It's already the end of September. Where does the time go? I know where it goes on weekends... I go picture taking.

With no particular occasion in mind I wish everyone good health and happiness. And to students especially, I hope this school year is a good one for you.



September 28 addition.


Then. Looking SW. Brock and Maple Grove. April 28 1938

Later. October 14 1938. Now under a layer of stucco. Some landscaping too. Just to drive the point home that renovations have occurred, the photographer inserts a sawhorse and a couple of workers.

Now. August 2010. I'm guessing everything is still there, it seems to be... now under a layer of siding of various colours and configurations as each individual homeowner has done their own thing down through time.

We've just had a new series of Mike Holmes start up on one of our TV channels. I wonder what he would find to do with that block?

 

[Edward Skira]

Originally Posted by Ed007Toronto
I was at a funeral at Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Saturday and I parked near his grave.
Is his grave on the Yonge street side or the Mt Pleasant side of the cemetery?

Not many services on the Yonge street side anymore; older graves and I think the plots are all sold.

Yonge side though closer to Mt Pleasant. It really got me thinking how he got into that side considering all the graves around him were easily 80-100 years old. The church where the mass was held is easily 100 plus years so I'm wondering if the plot was owned by the church. It was my friend's dad so I'll ask him at some point.

 

[Mustapha]

Suprisingly, graves are bought + sold all of the tyme; could be said "there is an open market".

Regourds,
J T

One of the hillside vaults (the ones where the remains are on shelves inside) that can be seen from Yonge street had a "name change" a few years ago. The old weathered name plaque was replaced with a bright white new one. Was it possible that the family sold it, had the vault emptied and the remains buried elsewhere? I remarked a long time ago in this thread that most of the graves in the older parts of Mt. Pleasant aren't visited (no flowers or plantings) - a not unremarkable aspect of older cemeteries as the people that remembered the dead from one hundred years ago are now themselves dead.




September 29 addition.


Daniel Connor was kind enough to personalize this thread with a family story recently; we'll call it the Honey Dew saga.

goldie showed us his family home in the East End quite some time ago as well as recently interviewing and photographing the lady owner of a longtime family owned Danforth herbalist store.

nomoreatorontonian mentioned attending the opening of the long gone Muir Park Hotel, a structure that I can't help think about each time I walk past its former location.

So here is my personalized Then and Now.

Then. 1948-ish. This is my gramps and grannie Quan, my mother's parents. The address is 38 Alexander street. They rented here. This is in the Yonge and Wellesley area. Gramps died before I was born. He ran one of those small town "Chinese Canadian cafes" (in Whitby).

Grannie lived until 1986. She was a real firecracker who owned and ran a rooming house at 35 Grange Avenue.

For those of you young enough and lucky enough to still have grandparents: Grandparents and toddlers both have something in common. They don't seem to be sometimes, but they are taking everything in. Please be at your best in their presence. Thank you.

Now. September 2010.

 

[DSC]

Suprisingly, graves are bought + sold all of the tyme; could be said "there is an open market".

Yes, I was actually left a plot in Mount Pleasant a few years ago. Since I'm immortal I am not quite sure what to do with it :->

 

[thecharioteer]

OK, Mustapha, I will take up the "family history" challenge. My maternal grandmother Lillie Gold, born in Belarus in 1890, emigrated to Toronto in 1905 to join her sisters. My grandfather worked as a presser in the "shmatta" industry while my grandmother always ran some sort of shop. In the 30's she had a hat shop at 1468 Dundas West, just east of Dufferin, while the family lived upstairs. She passed away in 1983, at the age of 93.

My grandmother in her hat shop (1930's):

The same block in 1951 (first 3-storey building on the north side):

The shop today:

 

[Goldie]

Nostalgia is great!

Thanks to Mustapha and thecharioteer ............ those personal stories are always the best!

 

[Goldie]

I've revised my favorite view of Danforth Ave. with an additional image:

 

[Mustapha]

OK, Mustapha, I will take up the "family history" challenge. My maternal grandmother Lillie Gold, born in Belarus in 1890, emigrated to Toronto in 1905 to join her sisters. My grandfather worked as a presser in the "shmatta" industry while my grandmother always ran some sort of shop. In the 30's she had a hat shop at 1468 Dundas West, just east of Dufferin, while the family lived upstairs. She passed away in 1983, at the age of 93.

My grandmother in her hat shop (1930's):

What a great biography thecharioteer, thank you for digging the picture out of an album and scanning it.

There is a ladies hat shop on the north side of College just west of Bathurst. The hats are created onsite; the window is always a joy to gaze into. I don't linger too long lest they call the police.



Goldie, I've always considered the Broadview and Danforth intersection as a "gateway"; it's where I get off the subway and begin a stroll along the Danforth, a walk south to the Chinatown at Gerrard, a saunter "back into the city" across the Bloor Viaduct. The Danforth must have been a very quiet area prior to the Bloor Viaduct.





September 30 addition.




Then. September 19 1950. Jameson south from King.

Now. August 2010.

 

[ReiwaMagi]

September 30 addition.




Then. September 19 1950. Jameson south from King.

Now. August 2010.

From fancy sexy houses to crime ridden ugly slum tenements.. Yay for crappy housing projects.

I wish those houses were still there..

 

[Gregory Graham]

TK Wizard,

I think you should re-focus your anger. Rather than getting angry at the forces that built what you call "crime ridden ugly slum tenements" and "crappy housing projects", I suggest you get angry at what drove the original occupants of what you call "fancy sexy houses" out of them to newer neighbourhoods. The automobile and auto dependent suburbs. Those forces caused the original occupants of swanky Parkdale to decamp for new neighbourhoods accessible by auto, leaving formerly high-end Parkdale to become what it became.

 

[spider]

The automobile and auto dependent suburbs. Those forces caused the original occupants of swanky Parkdale to decamp for new neighbourhoods accessible by auto, leaving formerly high-end Parkdale to become what it became.

So, Parkdale was not accessible by autos and for that reason the owners all fled? I suggest that the migration was probably a little more complex.

 

[thecharioteer]

From fancy sexy houses to crime ridden ugly slum tenements.. Yay for crappy housing projects.

I wish those houses were still there..

The reasons for Parkdale's decline from a garden suburb rivalling Rosedale are indeed complex, but the issue of Jameson Avenue is not one of housing type (it wasn't a housing "project") but one of aesthetics and changing demographics. What happened on Jameson was the result of a change in zoning in the 50's that allowed high density housing on certain streets such as St. George, Jarvis, Avenue Road, even St. Clair (but with lower height limits). Previously zoned single-family lots (particularly large ones) became irresistable to developers and builders, particularly since the old mansions were "vulnerable" in terms of desireability and perceived value (which even happened in Rosedale).

Unfortunately, unlike New York's Fifth Avenue, in which the 19C mansions were replaced by architecturally superb apartment buildings designed by some of the best architects (McKim, Mead & White et al) producing what is known in real estate terms as "pre-war" buildings, Toronto's intensification happened all "post-war", replacing architecturally interesting housing with the lowest common denominator versions of Modern design (cutting down the trees on most of these streets didn't help either).

On these streets the "Thens" will usually win over the "Nows" for those reasons.