Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[donoreo]

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!

On this topic, I was just at the end of Winchester street on the weekend. I was right up at the fence beside Bayview. I did look out and wonder what the path from there across the Don was.

 

[Goldie]

On this topic, I was just at the end of Winchester street on the weekend. I was right up at the fence beside Bayview. I did look out and wonder what the path from there across the Don was.

How does one get to the end of Winchester?
I'd like to go there, too.
When I last visited the 'zoo,' Winchester was barricaded at the hill into the valley.

 

[thecharioteer]

Then and Now for April 23.


Then. 35 Alexander Street. Alexander Street Baptist Church. Built 1867. TPL picture taken 1954 just before demolition.

Now. April 22, 2012. Number 35 doesn't exist anymore. There are two apartment buildings, numbers 31 and 51 and this space between them,. so here you go. I also used his map; this Now location is midblock; same as the church's location on the old map.

Many thanks to thecharioteer for his assistance for todays Then and Now.

Please scroll back to page 572 for his very comprehensive post on this lost church.

You're welcome, Mustapha! Interesting that given the spacing of the towers, the church could have remained as a pavilion in the park (except for the pesky issue of the underground parking garage and 1950's Modernist thinking).

 

[FAC33]

Isn't it? So low key and impressive at the same time. Wish it were mine.

Even the newer Aston-Martins have a bit of the same understated elegance about them. Saw the Aston-Martin One-77 at the auto show this year, parked beside a Bugatti Veyron. The Bugatti was very much a "look at me, I'm a supercar" thing. The Aston-Martin, one of only 77 made, is just a beautiful sports car--and to me evokes the vintage example posted earlier.

My husband loves Aston-Martins. I spent some time in a gas station parking lot in Orange County while he took some discreet photos at the dealership next door--that is, until the nice sales guy (who was from London, ON, it turned out) invited him in to sit in one just because he recognized a fellow car geek.

 

[plink]

This will be a slight revisitation of a corner previously posted (by Mustapha and colbyb somewhere in this thread) -- I don't *think* anyone has compiled all of these together. [and if they have, well, here goes anyway]

Then: Bay and Elm, SE corner, 1928

A slight turn eastwards, in 1952:

1952+ (?) The light /wire post seems to have been changed from the previous photo, so I'm guessing it's later...

Early 80s?

Sometime in the 2000s

And April 2012

 

[Goldie]

That's a great series, plink.
It's also interesting to see the difference when Google changes the route travelled from Bay to Elm (attached).

 

[the lemur]

1952+ (?) The light /wire post seems to have been changed from the previous photo, so I'm guessing it's later...

The van at the far right appears to be a Ford Thames 400E, which would place the photo in the 1957-65 range.

 

[Mustapha]

This will be a slight revisitation of a corner previously posted (by Mustapha and colbyb somewhere in this thread) -- I don't *think* anyone has compiled all of these together. [and if they have, well, here goes anyway]

Then: Bay and Elm, SE corner, 1928

A slight turn eastwards, in 1952:

1952+ (?) The light /wire post seems to have been changed from the previous photo, so I'm guessing it's later...

Early 80s?

Sometime in the 2000s

And April 2012

plink,

Great chronography of an unheralded corner down through the years.

It's interesting how that SE corner has always been in the hospitality business.

The present breakfast restaurant seems under patronized. I hope we don't see a change soon.

 

[Mustapha]

That's a great series, plink.
It's also interesting to see the difference when Google changes the route travelled from Bay to Elm (attached).

The building/home to the left/east of the eggsmart restaurant. It was whitewashed and turned into commercial use as early as the 1950s...

 

[Mustapha]

When I see the Chinese laundries like in plink's post in these old Toronto pictures I miss my gramps (he was a laundryman). He's been gone 35 years.

Just like any older man who grew up in Toronto he was a running commentary whenever he went around the city with me.

'Quite a lot of excitement when the war ended in 1918. I had just arrived.'

'It was a big deal when they pushed University south from Queen.'

If I can think of anymore I'll be back to bore you.

 

[Mustapha]

How does one get to the end of Winchester?
I'd like to go there, too.
When I last visited the 'zoo,' Winchester was barricaded at the hill into the valley.

It was 'barricaded' a couple of years ago but it's nothing you can't walk around. The Riverdale Farm is using the road for storage. If I wanted to walk it again I would just wait until no one is around and amble on down, like donoreo has done. Or knock at the Riverdale Farm office door and ask them. It was repaved at some point in the last 50 or so years; there aren't any ancient cobblestones to see nor any houses or foundations.

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for April 24.


Then. 'Villa Residence, 87 Walmer Road. F. S. Baker, Architect.' c1910.

Now. July 2011. Different angle as trees were in the way.

 

[donoreo]

It was 'barricaded' a couple of years ago but it's nothing you can't walk around. The Riverdale Farm is using the road for storage. If I wanted to walk it again I would just wait until no one is around and amble on down, like donoreo has done. Or knock at the Riverdale Farm office door and ask them. It was repaved at some point in the last 50 or so years; there aren't any ancient cobblestones to see nor any houses or foundations.

Or go down the walkway in Riverdale Farm that goes to the ponds and old Monkey House. The one path and Winchester converge. When I was there on the weekend, the hills down those paths were covered with randomly placed tulips just about in full bloom. We assumed squirrels must have put the bulbs there, there were hundreds.

 

[Mustapha]

Youtube video with some scenes of the original Toronto Zoo, now Riverdale Farm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArSm0Te11Z8

 

[Goldie]

Or go down the walkway in Riverdale Farm that goes to the ponds and old Monkey House. The one path and Winchester converge. When I was there on the weekend, the hills down those paths were covered with randomly placed tulips just about in full bloom. We assumed squirrels must have put the bulbs there, there were hundreds.

Mustapha: "It was 'barricaded' a couple of years ago but it's nothing you can't walk around. The Riverdale Farm is using the road for storage. If I wanted to walk it again I would just wait until no one is around and amble on down, like donoreo has done. Or knock at the Riverdale Farm office door and ask them. It was repaved at some point in the last 50 or so years; there aren't any ancient cobblestones to see nor any houses or foundations."

Thanks, guys. I really want to see the changes to Winchester.
I'll go there soon.