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Then and Now: Yonge/Dundas and area

LowPolygon

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Smart Girls Don't Talk: Yonge Street at Gerrard, 1950

this is the block from Gould to Gerrard. the Canadian Bank of Commerce in the first one is the present day site of Sam The Record Man. I love the shot of the mission.

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Thank you!

Does anyone remember Bassells restaurant? It was a 30s style haven. Dining room with swoopy curves around the ceiling; much stainless steel. A lunch counter where you were known. An upscale alternative to Frans.

-Moose
 
The 1st photo has me thinking: underneath the Sam's signs and the Future Shop stucco, would we find the facades of these old brick buildings? Or did they demolish them and build anew?
 
In between the taverns, acme wines, Bassel's, the bank, the men's shop, the Mission and Blue theatre, there's possibilities aplenty for a Hemingway-esque tale...

"Nick walked up the street beside the car-tracks and turned at the next arc-light down a side-street. Three houses up the street was Hirsch’s rooming-house. Nick walked up the two steps and pushed the bell. A woman came to the door."
 
I think these unheralded and unnamed photographers (employed by the TTC in this case i think) deserve our undying gratitude for the work they did, documenting the city in such an objective manner.

Some of their shots are the equal of the greats of American documentary photography--people like Walker Evans...

and yet the vast majority of it has never been seen or exhibited publicly.
 
Then and Now. Bay and Dundas. Looking north.

I apologize for the night shot. Sometimes I wander the city at night.:eek: That church on the corner was eventually replaced by the Ford Hotel, which in turn was replaced by the Atrium.

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Then and Now. ANOTHER northeast corner of Bay and Dundas West view.

The earlier 'Then and Now' set I posted of this corner appears to show a church. Now, replacing the earlier church is the 'Ford Hotel' - which was quite a landmark structure. The Ford was torn down 1972'-ish for the Atrium building. In its day it was a Chelsea Inn kind of place. It looked VERY tired in its last years.

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Too bad you didnt have a picture of the streetcar track repairs at Dundas/Bay last year to compare with. And the switches where electric in 1923(I think the date implys 1923)? I didnt think that technology was out that early.
 
I think the Ford Hotel suffered partly because of the bus terminal across the street. My father remembers it being quite rough by the end.

There were a few years of a surface parking lot between the Ford demolition and the Atrium construction.
 
I think the Ford Hotel suffered partly because of the bus terminal across the street. My father remembers it being quite rough by the end.

There were a few years of a surface parking lot between the Ford demolition and the Atrium construction.

'quite rough' - Quite right. Think Hotel Pennsylvania in NYCity. The Ford wasn't properly run at all in the end. It could have been a classy place; it had the 'bones'.
 
Gosh, I remember the dingy hulk of the Ford when I started at OCA in '71. I think it was pulled down in '73. The Hotel Victoria on Yonge once had a similar, slightly disreputable, air and I believe it was once quite popular with businessmen and secretaries for lunchtime ... assignations.
 

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