thecharioteer
Senior Member
Bloor/Yonge, looking west after the widening 1949:
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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now
- Thread starter Mustapha
- Start date
HamiltonTransitHistory
New Member
Bloor/Yonge, looking west after the widening 1949:
The streetcar platform with direct access to Bloor station was built right at this spot, wasn't it? (Still a few years in the future when the photo was taken)
thecharioteer
Senior Member
Yes:
Note movie playing at the Towne Cinema: "Try and Get Me" (1950)
http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2009/08/try-and-get-me-1950.html
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Mustapha
Senior Member
Welcome back to Canada bessmarvin. Don't know about the Canary Signs but I wouldn't hold out much hope - it closed for lack of business.
And hello from Douglas Avenue in the Yonge and Lawrence area... that reminds me, I have a picture of the Mills and Hadwin dealership just before it closed that I need to scan.
Mustapha
Senior Member
Mustapha
Senior Member
July 13 addition.
Then. 1974-ish??... Rogers Road at Blackthorne looking E. Picture kindly provided by ValsHere.
Now. May 2011.
Then. 1974-ish??... Rogers Road at Blackthorne looking E. Picture kindly provided by ValsHere.
Now. May 2011.
EVCco
Senior Member
^ Great shot!
Its cool to see the same small business in the same location after 40 years.
PS
do you drive around in a boomlift to get these pictures?
Its cool to see the same small business in the same location after 40 years.
PS
do you drive around in a boomlift to get these pictures?
Mustapha
Senior Member
^ Great shot!
do you drive around in a boomlift to get these pictures?
The roadway of Rogers Road between Blackthorn and Silverthorn was leveled many many decades ago . This left the houses and sidewalks on the south side quite elevated - overlooking the street behind and atop a concrete retaining wall. I was on that elevated sidewalk when I took the picture, as was the photographer of the Then picture.You can do a Google streetview to see for yourself.
Mustapha
Senior Member
Hi everyone.
I need to get on the roof of 290 College street to take a picture. This is the Factory Direct computer store.
Do any UTers know how or if I can gain access either through 290 or its neighbours?
I can't say why I need it except it's for a Then and Now.
I need to get on the roof of 290 College street to take a picture. This is the Factory Direct computer store.
Do any UTers know how or if I can gain access either through 290 or its neighbours?
I can't say why I need it except it's for a Then and Now.
Earlscourt_Lad
Active Member
It's where I go to buy brick, gravel, sand, etc., and they're really quite friendly. Although it's geared more to trade than retail, so it could seem a little intimidating.
Earlscourt_Lad
Active Member
Oddly, I saw them for sale but I can't recall where. So they did survive at least.
adma
Superstar
Ah, at the right edge of that former Rogers Rd shot: I forgot all about Gain gas stations (one of those ultimate 70s discount chains)
DSC
Superstar
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Canary talk: This is from a 2007 posting elsewhere in UT.
Still cookin' at the Canary
www.thestar.com/article/179144
Still cookin' at the Canary
Proud old greasy spoon serves burgers and fries, with a slice of life on the side
Feb 08, 2007 04:30 AM
Bill Taylor
Feature Writer
The Canary roosts at the corner of Front and Cherry Sts. and waits for better times.
Not that life is bad. But the neighbourhood is a bit of a wasteland. It's only a stone's throw from the ritzy Distillery District but in a different world.
Still, the Canary Restaurant is all a-bustle at lunchtime with everyone from construction workers to white-collar LCBO office staff chowing down on basic, honest diner food. You want breakfast for lunch? Not a problem, says waiter Mary Polito. "The only difference is french fries instead of home fries."
The walls are a mix of canary yellow paint, fake brick and real wood. Chrome-backed chairs, Formica tables and a row of stools at the counter. Christmas lights and streamers; Maple Leafs and motorcycle pictures; autographed photos of celebrities; model police cars in the window; hanging planters with artificial plants. It's the sort of place where you go to the cash register to pay and get a genuine "thank you" for your tip. The sort of place where everyone quickly knows your name. Where, whether you're a downtown lawyer or a down-and-out, you'll be treated the same.
"There used to be a flophouse down the street," says Nick Vlahos, who runs the Canary with his brother Tommy. "We'd get them all – hookers, druggies, rubbies. But they were all pretty respectful. We'd help them out, feed them if they were broke. Sometimes you'd get a guy asking for money for food. I'd say, `The food's right here. I'll feed you.' And he'd say, `No, I'd rather have the money.' So you know what he really wants to buy."
"Mom's Special" is in crayon up on a mirror: Three eggs, two strips of bacon, two sausages, ham, a pancake, potatoes, toast and coffee; $8.95. Or perhaps you'd prefer the Vegetarian De-Lite: "One chilled celery stick, seasoned to your taste, along with one carrot stick, washed by hand. Served with a glass of chilled tap water (vintage year). Only $19.95 (seasonal)."
Vlahos put that on the menu "because people used to come in and want vegetarian stuff and get upset when we didn't have it. This is a greasy spoon! I thought, `I'll fix you up ...'"
It's a greasy spoon with a history, relocating from University Ave. and Dundas St. in 1963, with the original Canary sign coming with it. "It's always been in the family," says Vlahos, 48. "I've been working here since I was 13. We're open seven days a week so Tommy and I take alternate days cooking.
"I learned to cook from my dad, except he was very secretive about it. I did a lot of peeking around the corner. This was the industrial heart of the city back then; really thriving. We still get people who remember coming here as kids. We have a great breakfast and lunch business, mostly regulars."
He pauses to fill an order for fries to go, gravy on the side.
"What makes a good short-order cook? Taste-testing everything? Look at the size of me."
The 150-year-old building, with the restaurant as its centrepiece, has a lot of history, too. It first housed a school and then a hotel. Polito swears it's haunted. "There's a sort of vault in the back. I hear whimpering sometimes. The guys say I'm crazy but I know what I hear."
What Vlahos hears is the sound of a new boom in the neighbourhood. "There'll be some highrises going up. Better times are coming."
Next to a giant, plastic Budweiser bottle, a stuffed owl roosts at the end of the Canary's counter and waits.
Still cookin' at the Canary
www.thestar.com/article/179144
Still cookin' at the Canary
Proud old greasy spoon serves burgers and fries, with a slice of life on the side
Feb 08, 2007 04:30 AM
Bill Taylor
Feature Writer
The Canary roosts at the corner of Front and Cherry Sts. and waits for better times.
Not that life is bad. But the neighbourhood is a bit of a wasteland. It's only a stone's throw from the ritzy Distillery District but in a different world.
Still, the Canary Restaurant is all a-bustle at lunchtime with everyone from construction workers to white-collar LCBO office staff chowing down on basic, honest diner food. You want breakfast for lunch? Not a problem, says waiter Mary Polito. "The only difference is french fries instead of home fries."
The walls are a mix of canary yellow paint, fake brick and real wood. Chrome-backed chairs, Formica tables and a row of stools at the counter. Christmas lights and streamers; Maple Leafs and motorcycle pictures; autographed photos of celebrities; model police cars in the window; hanging planters with artificial plants. It's the sort of place where you go to the cash register to pay and get a genuine "thank you" for your tip. The sort of place where everyone quickly knows your name. Where, whether you're a downtown lawyer or a down-and-out, you'll be treated the same.
"There used to be a flophouse down the street," says Nick Vlahos, who runs the Canary with his brother Tommy. "We'd get them all – hookers, druggies, rubbies. But they were all pretty respectful. We'd help them out, feed them if they were broke. Sometimes you'd get a guy asking for money for food. I'd say, `The food's right here. I'll feed you.' And he'd say, `No, I'd rather have the money.' So you know what he really wants to buy."
"Mom's Special" is in crayon up on a mirror: Three eggs, two strips of bacon, two sausages, ham, a pancake, potatoes, toast and coffee; $8.95. Or perhaps you'd prefer the Vegetarian De-Lite: "One chilled celery stick, seasoned to your taste, along with one carrot stick, washed by hand. Served with a glass of chilled tap water (vintage year). Only $19.95 (seasonal)."
Vlahos put that on the menu "because people used to come in and want vegetarian stuff and get upset when we didn't have it. This is a greasy spoon! I thought, `I'll fix you up ...'"
It's a greasy spoon with a history, relocating from University Ave. and Dundas St. in 1963, with the original Canary sign coming with it. "It's always been in the family," says Vlahos, 48. "I've been working here since I was 13. We're open seven days a week so Tommy and I take alternate days cooking.
"I learned to cook from my dad, except he was very secretive about it. I did a lot of peeking around the corner. This was the industrial heart of the city back then; really thriving. We still get people who remember coming here as kids. We have a great breakfast and lunch business, mostly regulars."
He pauses to fill an order for fries to go, gravy on the side.
"What makes a good short-order cook? Taste-testing everything? Look at the size of me."
The 150-year-old building, with the restaurant as its centrepiece, has a lot of history, too. It first housed a school and then a hotel. Polito swears it's haunted. "There's a sort of vault in the back. I hear whimpering sometimes. The guys say I'm crazy but I know what I hear."
What Vlahos hears is the sound of a new boom in the neighbourhood. "There'll be some highrises going up. Better times are coming."
Next to a giant, plastic Budweiser bottle, a stuffed owl roosts at the end of the Canary's counter and waits.
bessmarvin
New Member
How poignant! Funny, the canary doesn't look like a former school--it has a long loading platform on the south side.
Being gone for so long, I missed a lot of closures, like restaurants. I'm sad to hear China House, on Eglinton W of Bathurst is closing. I went as a child to the Moonglow restaurant, on the west side of Yonge north of Lawrence--think it too had the little arched bridge at the entrance. And a glass case under the cash register to buy cigarettes. Had a nostalgia for these types of places, even then, and had a feeling they wouldn't last.
But I have been blindsided by how many movie theatres have closed, never predicted that one, just took it for granted that there always would be dozens of big screens to choose from--the Fairlawn, the Park, the Eglinton and all the others around Yonge and Eg, and beyond. The cinemas are Toronto's biggest losses in the last 15 years, to me.
Being gone for so long, I missed a lot of closures, like restaurants. I'm sad to hear China House, on Eglinton W of Bathurst is closing. I went as a child to the Moonglow restaurant, on the west side of Yonge north of Lawrence--think it too had the little arched bridge at the entrance. And a glass case under the cash register to buy cigarettes. Had a nostalgia for these types of places, even then, and had a feeling they wouldn't last.
But I have been blindsided by how many movie theatres have closed, never predicted that one, just took it for granted that there always would be dozens of big screens to choose from--the Fairlawn, the Park, the Eglinton and all the others around Yonge and Eg, and beyond. The cinemas are Toronto's biggest losses in the last 15 years, to me.
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Aladone
Active Member
Yonge Street - West side between Elm and Walton Street. Late 40s/early 50s? - 2011
