Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[DSC]

A small remnant of track is actually visible on Frederick today - a curve coming out of the Gray Coach/Greyhound Bus Parcel Express terminal.

No sign of any track on Frederick today today, there'a bit of old rail on Lower Sherbourne south of Front but that was probably the Sherbourner Strretcar. Next year they are redoing the street so whatever it is/was will be gone!

 

[Long Island Mike]

Interesting CKEY Radio advertisement from 1982...

July 18 Then and Now.




Then. Winchester and Sumach SW corner. Taken from a 1982 issue of Time magazine.

Now. July 2011. The corner store is still a snack bar. It was closed this Friday evening at 850pm when I took the picture.

Mustapha: That ad from Time is quite interesting-I recall that editions of Time Magazine
did have pages of local ads targeted at a certain city or region...

I would bring it in to show the new proprietor at the current Piggy's snack bar...
They might even decide to display it in their shop perhaps...
You might make a new friend and get a new member here at UT!

Thoughts from LI MIKE

 

[mattelderca]

Mustapha: That ad from Time is quite interesting-I recall that editions of Time Magazine
did have pages of local ads targeted at a certain city or region...

I would bring it in to show the new proprietor at the current Piggy's snack bar...
They might even decide to display it in their shop perhaps...
You might make a new friend and get a new member here at UT!

Thoughts from LI MIKE

I too found this add very cool. I remember the CKFM speaker grill logo and the add campaign. I am a bit of an audiophiliac and restore and re create 70's audio gear. Next project, those spaekers!

 

[Mustapha]

I go out for a cigar - a perfecto, actually - come back and quite a bit of 'water has gone under the bridge'.




July 21 Then and Now.



Then. "May 20, 1921. S.W. corner Davenport and Bartlett." I'm imagining they sold milk from their storefront. How cool that would have been for the people in the neighbourhood.

Now. May 2011.

 

[Mustapha]

I too found this add very cool. I remember the CKFM speaker grill logo and the add campaign. I am a bit of an audiophiliac and restore and re create 70's audio gear. Next project, those spaekers!

I don't have to recreate 70s audio gear; cause that's when I bought it. Pioneer receiver and Advent speakers. In storage because the kids have their own audio ideas, but checked over by Ring Audio and given a clean bill of health not too long ago. When the last kid moves out this old gear comes out of storage.

I remember when I was a student that 'OSAP' - the Ontario Student Assistance Program - was nicknamed by certain wags as the Ontario Stereo Assistance Program.

 

[Mustapha]

Question for the collective:

'Victoria Tower' at 25 Adelaide St. E., at the S.W. corner of Victoria and Adelaide - was it ever known as the 'Metropolitan Building'?

Thank you.

 

[Edward Skira]

Then. "Sep 23, 1927. Frederick St. and west entrance to Freight Sheds."

Someone went to some expense to convert a warehouse into a train accessible building. Note the freshly modified doorway. I wonder what kind of business went on here?

Here's what the area looks like today. Taken from the southwest corner of Frederick and Front this morning.

 

[thecharioteer]

We've seen the older pics before, but I was inspired by cruzin4u's wonderful pic on the Skyline thread:

1912:

1919:

2011:

 

[Edward Skira]

Its amazing how that second shot makes it look like we had this massive downtown even though it pretty much only was the four buildings in the photo at the time.

 

[thecharioteer]

Its amazing how that second shot makes it look like we had this massive downtown even though it pretty much only was the four buildings in the photo at the time.

Quite right:

1919:

 

[thecharioteer]

The two remaining visual constants of the skyline from the Bay: the Royal York and St. James. Now one has to search for them.....

1930's:

1880's:

 

[AlbertHWagstaff]

It's only about 4 in/15 cm of the flange of a curve which I inspected on Monday as it's becoming increasingly visible, but the ashpalt on the street is also cracking along the lines of the rails, and in some places, red paving blocks are visible under the asphalt. This bit of rail is in the middle of the street just north of the Starbucks and outside the west entrance to the BPX terminal. It's likely that much of Frederick between Front and King still has the paving stones underneath the surface as well.

The track on Sherbourne is mostly likely the remains of the tracks coming out of the Freight Shed, as route maps show the Sherbourne streetcar appearing to loop at the northwest corner at Front.

 

[Conrad Black]

Great skyline past shots here.

 

[Mustapha]

Great skyline past shots here.

Agreed - that old Union Station on the left in the 1880s picture had a lot of character.

 

[Mustapha]

JT, thank you for the info about the Metropolitan Building. Post coming in a few weeks.



July 22 Then and Now.


Then. "Avenue Rd. Looking S towards Dupont. 1909?"

We are looking at the looo-ng gone level crossing here of the CPR - gone since 1913. Interesting what a vibrant commercial strip this once was - almost a village. We see a 'Laundry' sign - a Chinese laundry without a doubt - the old business directories of the 20's and 30s list about 100 laundries in Toronto. Oddly, the very last Chinese laundry - the very last one, Chow Keong Hand Laundry - is located a few blocks south of here on Avenue Road just north of Pears on the west side. Write up here: http://books.google.ca/books?id=0-d...Q#v=onepage&q=chow keong hand laundry&f=false.

Now. April 2011. Compare the above Then picture to the Now picture below. While I wouldn't say this stretch of Avenue Road lacks character, I wouldn't say it's 'hopping' either. The widening of Avenue Road decades ago puts the traffic too close to the store fronts.