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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

Then and Now for April 19.


Then. 81 Avenue Road. c1914. Wolseley Motor Car Company. E.J. Lennox, Architect.

They couldn't have sold a high volume of cars, comparatively speaking, to the American makes that were being assembled here in Oshawa (Chevrolet) as early as 1915.

50181AvenueRdc1914.jpg



Now. September 2011

502.jpg
 
http://www.wolseleyinc.ca/about/history.htm

Still around. Or rather, the original company that started the automobile manufacturing but later sold it, is still around.


Interesting how they were the forerunners of both Rover and Austin!


Clearly Lennox was trying to build the Car-lisseum.

Strangely enough, as our ancestors walked this stretch of Avenue Road nearly a hundred years ago looking at Wolseley cars appealingly displayed behind those big plate windows; we can do the same today. A few yards to the north of this lost Lennox building is a Ferrari dealership.
 
Then and Now for April 20.


Then. 1275 Danforth Avenue. c1921. 'Canada Bread Company's Bakery. McCormick Company and Charles S. Cobb, Associate Architects and Engineers.'

5061275DanforthAvec1921.jpg



Now. September 2011. 1275 Danforth today.

507.jpg
 
Now. September 2011. 1275 Danforth today.


Thanks Moose! I've always hoped to see a picture of this building in its heyday. I remember it in the 1970s when it was painted all brown and had a Loblaws store on the ground floor. The neatest thing about it was the bricked off area at the side where if the door was open, you could see stairs going to the second floor - as kids we always wondered what was on those mysterious upper floors. An single-storey addition was built on the west side (at the right in the photo) which had a Tamblyn drugstore in it. Tamblyn later became Boots Drug Stores and then Pharma Plus. The Loblaws store closed when the Leslie & Lake Shore store opened up, and the drugstore moved to the standalone building to the right of the apartment building in your photo.

If I remember the layout of the store correctly, the produce section was at the front of the building as the main entrance was at the west side, which faced onto a parking lot. I will always remember the regular cashiers, middle-aged ladies named Ruth, and Betty (who wore glasses with a cord attached so she could take them off and not lose them) and being amazed at watching their fingers flying over the cash register buttons as they checked the items and they never looked at the cash registers as they were doing this. My cousins and I always looked forward to taking back pop bottles for the deposit and if we had enough of them, we would get a couple of crisp, brand-new dollar bills, some of which I've saved to this day.

Thanks for bringing back some great memories!
 
Strangely enough, as our ancestors walked this stretch of Avenue Road nearly a hundred years ago looking at Wolseley cars appealingly displayed behind those big plate windows; we can do the same today. A few yards to the north of this lost Lennox building is a Ferrari dealership.
I would prefer an Astin-Martin :)
 
Interesting how they were the forerunners of both Rover and Austin!

I would question Wolseley's status as a 'forerunner' - they started just a few years before Austin and about a decade before Morris, the two marques later most closely associated with it. Rover is much older than all of them, but there was never really any overlap with Wolseley, which came to a sad end within the successive BMC/Leyland organizations as merely rebadged versions of Austins and Morrises with fancier grilles.
 
Now. September 2011. 1275 Danforth today.


Thanks Moose! I've always hoped to see a picture of this building in its heyday. I remember it in the 1970s when it was painted all brown and had a Loblaws store on the ground floor. The neatest thing about it was the bricked off area at the side where if the door was open, you could see stairs going to the second floor - as kids we always wondered what was on those mysterious upper floors. An single-storey addition was built on the west side (at the right in the photo) which had a Tamblyn drugstore in it. Tamblyn later became Boots Drug Stores and then Pharma Plus. The Loblaws store closed when the Leslie & Lake Shore store opened up, and the drugstore moved to the standalone building to the right of the apartment building in your photo.

If I remember the layout of the store correctly, the produce section was at the front of the building as the main entrance was at the west side, which faced onto a parking lot. I will always remember the regular cashiers, middle-aged ladies named Ruth, and Betty (who wore glasses with a cord attached so she could take them off and not lose them) and being amazed at watching their fingers flying over the cash register buttons as they checked the items and they never looked at the cash registers as they were doing this. My cousins and I always looked forward to taking back pop bottles for the deposit and if we had enough of them, we would get a couple of crisp, brand-new dollar bills, some of which I've saved to this day.

Thanks for bringing back some great memories!

I in turn would like to thank wwwebster, who provided the Then picture. Another wonderful slice of 70s Toronto slice-of-life. Thank you AlbertHWagstaff.
 
I would prefer an Astin-Martin :)

I would question Wolseley's status as a 'forerunner' - they started just a few years before Austin and about a decade before Morris, the two marques later most closely associated with it. Rover is much older than all of them, but there was never really any overlap with Wolseley, which came to a sad end within the successive BMC/Leyland organizations as merely rebadged versions of Austins and Morrises with fancier grilles.

Gentlemen, gentlemen, I draw your attention to my idea of a gentleman's discreet motor car. I give you vintage 1968 Aston-Martin.

aston_martin_dbs_vantage_lhd_side.jpg
 
I've been visiting the recently created, 'Vintage Toronto' site on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vintage-Toronto/256041347799190
A magnificent collection with many photos I've never seen before such as this one showing the place Where Winchester St. entered the Don Valley in 1898- attached.

Does anyone know how to get to this location at the end of Winchester - is it even possible? - the Bayview Extension is there today
A recent photo would make a fine 'The & Now' combination.
 

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Heya, it's the weekend, and time for a bit of our usual irreverence.

Here we have a piece of Ford Hotel stationary that has made it's own little pilgrimage back to it's place of origin at Bay and Dundas. The Ford was replaced in the early 70s by the glassy office building you see there in the background. There was a interregnum as a parking lot for some years. Interesting how a piece of paper has survived the brick and mortar, no?

DSC_0244.jpg


And here is a scan of the stationary:

FordHotelstationary.jpg


And the link to the scan:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v176/JeffLow/Around Town/FordHotelstationary.jpg

And a scan of the envelope:

FordHotelenvelopefront.jpg


And the link to the scan:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v176/JeffLow/Around Town/FordHotelenvelopefront.jpg

So-oo, feel free to download and print-your-own.

Mail your friends a hand-written note such as: 'Wish you were here', or, 'Stella and I are having a great time, we just bought a Clairtone stereo from Eatons'.

Include a fuzzy black and white picture of you and Stella, or even perhaps the wife - if she's traveling with you this time - in period clothing. I understand some teachers use this thread as an instructional aid so I must recommend suits for the men and below-the-knee skirts for the ladies ok? :) Hint: use 'portrait mode' on your camera. It softens the overall picture for a old-time film look. Even better, as a final step; convert it to black and white.

Don't forget to use a stamp with HM the Queen on it to complete the whole thing.
 
I've been visiting the recently created, 'Vintage Toronto' site on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vintage-Toronto/256041347799190
A magnificent collection with many photos I've never seen before such as this one showing the place Where Winchester St. entered the Don Valley in 1898- attached.

Does anyone know how to get to this location at the end of Winchester - is it even possible? - the Bayview Extension is there today
A recent photo would make a fine 'The & Now' combination.

Goldie, it is possible, but dangerous. This spot is about 500ft south of the Rosedale Valley Road/Bayview Extension intersection. The photograph is looking west. The slope of the hill is Necropolis cemetery, and the slope is still recognizable today. You really can't stop a car there without getting rear-ended and there is no sidewalk.

Man, everybody is 'doing' Then and Now. Wonderful! :)
 
I've been visiting the recently created, 'Vintage Toronto' site on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vintage-Toronto/256041347799190
A magnificent collection with many photos I've never seen before such as this one showing the place Where Winchester St. entered the Don Valley in 1898- attached.

Does anyone know how to get to this location at the end of Winchester - is it even possible? - the Bayview Extension is there today
A recent photo would make a fine 'The & Now' combination.

I was just going to say the same thing about Facebook Vintage Toronto, but have been too busy perusing its photos which are just as addictive as this site. Work and family unfortunately take a back seat to the pictorial history Toronto
 

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