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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

Goldie said:
I've learned so much from this fascinating review of the history of Pottery Road.
Many thanks to all!

This photo looking N/E shows the hill where the original path may have been.
Unfortunately it's low-resolution so any pathway is unclear.

TodmordenMillslookingNE.jpg


This one is looking along the road (off Pottery) towards the bridge which leads to the brick works.
The interesting feature here is the WWII POW camp that can be seen just across the bridge.

POWcampinBG.jpg


An here we have an interesting map showing the POW camp and the road leading to Broadview.

mapofPOWcamp.jpg


These images are from this web site:
http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/dvhmp/todmorden.html
Click to expand...

Interesting they would ship POWs this far inland. Very interesting.
 
Mustapha said:
I remember that. Dad used to drive us over to the Dairy Queen from Yonge and Eglinton.
Click to expand...

A neighbour of ours 2 doors away, ran Todmorden Mills for several years. Let's just say she didn't like me. But then again, what did she know? She yelled at me in that Dairy Queen. It still lives with me. The view from that seating point, I hope isn't diminished with the new construction done.

So you remember the 74 trolley on Mt. Pleasant, and when the buses actually used the bus slots at Eglinton station. And the other electric trolleys for that matter. Sean O'Sullivan was a young Canadian boxer in the Olympics from what I remember. His father was my morning trolly driver on the 74. I wrote a letter to the TTC commending him and I made it into their paper. I don't think they get those letters anymore.

Speaking of Dairy Queen, can I embed another video in here and refer to a "Then and Now" comparison of ice cream?
 
BeeRich said:
A neighbour of ours 2 doors away, ran Todmorden Mills for several years. Let's just say she didn't like me. But then again, what did she know? She yelled at me in that Dairy Queen. It still lives with me. The view from that seating point, I hope isn't diminished with the new construction done.

So you remember the 74 trolley on Mt. Pleasant, and when the buses actually used the bus slots at Eglinton station. And the other electric trolleys for that matter. Sean O'Sullivan was a young Canadian boxer in the Olympics from what I remember. His father was my morning trolly driver on the 74. I wrote a letter to the TTC commending him and I made it into their paper. I don't think they get those letters anymore.

Speaking of Dairy Queen, can I embed another video in here and refer to a "Then and Now" comparison of ice cream?
Click to expand...

I'm familiar with this area, yep, I attended John Fisher School and Northern Secondary.

'It still lives with me', LOL.

Mrs. * on Albertus Avenue used to scream at me when I walked across her lawn. Mr. * would escalate it and get involved too - neck veins bulging finger jabbing and scream at my dad when all the kids in the nabe played in our driveway. Then he would let his dog lunge at me while he held it on a short leash. Funny how no one was ever around when the two of us met like this. 3 if you count the dog, it being significant in this interaction. All this over the lawn trespass and the noise of playing kids. I was what, 5 or 6 years old. These things really mold you. I smile when I hear kids playing. Having 3 of my own also inures you too I suppose. To the noise, and the filth, and the heartbreak (this last only sometimes). :)

Their daughter Jane was nice. Jane took me tobogganing at Eglinton Park when I was about 3. They called it Pears (pronounced 'Pierce') Park back then. They've planted some goofy trees on the slope where we used to toboggan. The kids now are at home with a controller in their hands anyways.

Jane would be in her late 60s now. Jane, wherever you are.. a hug.
 
Last edited:
Mustapha said:
I'm familiar with this area, yep, I attended John Fisher School and Northern Secondary.

'It still lives with me', LOL.

Mrs. Allen on Albertus Avenue used to scream at me when I walked across her lawn. Mr. Allen would escalate it and get involved too - neck veins bulging finger jabbing and scream at my dad when all the kids in the nabe played in our driveway. Then he would let his dog lunge at me while he held it on a short leash. Funny how no one was ever around when the two of us met like this. 3 if you count the dog, it being significant in this interaction. All this over the lawn trespass and the noise of playing kids. I was what, 5 or 6 years old. These things really mold you. I smile when I hear kids playing. Having 3 of my own also inures you too I suppose. To the noise, and the filth, and the heartbreak (this last only sometimes). :)

Their daughters Judy and Jane were nice. Judy had an army boyfriend who rode a Triumph. Jane took me tobogganing at Eglinton Park when I was about 3. They called it Pears (pronounced 'Pierce') Park back then. They've planted some goofy trees on the slope where we used to toboggan. The kids now are at home with a controller in their hands anyways.

Jane would be in her late 60s now. Jane, wherever you are.. a hug.
Click to expand...

Ya the guy next door, he used to yell at us kids playing cops & robbers on his bermed lawn. Yeah I watch for traffic and drug pushers when I know there's kids playing in the street. I also push for pathways and neat things to check out, and kids riding bikes, all but safely.

So as a kid on Thorncliffe, I had the Dairy Queen close by. Their products were ok, but not like it was described in these commercials:

[video=youtube;uzPiONed6Iw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzPiONed6Iw[/video]

The 2000's come along and I decide to do my MBA, case method. We arrive at Carvel, which I realize is this old memory of mine. I had thought this guy was a result of making great ice cream in North Tonawanda in some semi-busy location in Buffalo, due to the Channel IV placement, and the quality of his ads. He even says "Thank you" at the end of his recording. It's all so Betty Crocker.

Turns out, this guy franchised around most of the States, and was selling...I hope yer sitting down...over US$600 million of silly ice-cream cakes a year. And that case was written maybe 2001? I don't have it handy right now.

One of my favourite stories.
 
BeeRich said:
That picture is just remarkable. In the foreground, it doesn't really look like a river, but a flood plain that changes on a regular basis. That trip from the bridge to the Brickworks wouldn't be thinkable today. What it would have to pass:

- 4 lanes of Bayview Extension
- Railway
- Don River
- 6 lanes of Don Valley Parking Lot

Oh the fun I would have had in those days, playing around in the Don Valley. The mud looks deeper then though.
Click to expand...

Some shots of all those changes being made

s0065_fl0066_id0004.jpg


s0065_fl0067_id0002.jpg


s0065_fl0066_id0016.jpg


s0065_fl0066_id0019.jpg
 
BeeRich said:
Wow, that is a fantastic picture. It's confusing trying to map things out though. I always wondered why there was a lower dip in the hill on the west side of Bayview at Pottery. I didn't know it continued up the west side. I'd like to walk that some day. Some things I noticed from this picture:

- Thorncliffe Avenue, where my first house is/was, was built. I wonder what the Don Valley looked like back then from that lookout perspective. This was before the re-routing of the river for the DVP.

- I'm trying to map out where Bayview would be, and how the current construction for the Hydro project would demonstrate the remnants of Pottery Road North. If it runs up to the Loblaws/Drug Store parking lot, where is it demonstrated in this picture? It seems it runs west towards Bayview Heights, whereas my understanding is that the run along the north side of the main line went east.

- The Brickworks had a road that shot directly over to Todmorden Mills. I never mentally connected the two.

- The river layout in this image would explain some of the strange "bridgways" at Todmorden. I never understood the back 40 at that place, but it's now obvious they were structures to accommodate the river doing it's strange route through the property. And it also explains why the swampland which I used to play in/around as a kid, is there. Remnants of the real river.

- The beginnings of Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. The circle is there. The Gulf/Petro Canada isn't.

- Looks like Pottery Road South emptied north of Mortimer.
Click to expand...

You mean the eastern part of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, I presume. The western part was there long before 1942. And I think the eastern part had been there for awhile too, just not as "developed".

I had no idea that the racetrack at Thorncliffe (or at least one end of it) was that close to Millwood Road and the Leaside Bridge. I don't have time to look it up now but is that the same bridge that's there now? (I think they a nice job on the recent renovation, by the way)
 
Browning Avenue said:
You mean the eastern part of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, I presume. The western part was there long before 1942. And I think the eastern part had been there for awhile too, just not as "developed".

I had no idea that the racetrack at Thorncliffe (or at least one end of it) was that close to Millwood Road and the Leaside Bridge. I don't have time to look it up now but is that the same bridge that's there now? (I think they a nice job on the recent renovation, by the way)
Click to expand...

I do believe it is the same bridge. The remnants of the track are kind of still there in the ball park that is there now.
I have walked the length of that bridge.... on the catwalk underneath!
 
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