Then and Now: Yonge/Dundas and area

[TKTKTK]

At least Eaton's employed Canadian workers in those factory buildings. And the shipping would have been cheap, push the bundles across the street to the store.
Unlike today. Wal-Mart buying from companies who employ near-slave workers in the worker's paradise in the far east, then shipping them on ships, trains, and trucks (and wasting fuel in the process).

Not that I'm any Wal-Mart lover (those lights kill me), but Wal-Mart employs many Canadians and sources a lot of their goods from Canadian suppliers and manufacturers.

 

[LowPolygon]

Not that I'm any Wal-Mart lover (those lights kill me), but Wal-Mart employs many Canadians and sources a lot of their goods from Canadian suppliers and manufacturers.

Please don't start defending Wal-Mart here. I just can't bear it.
Its a total vibe buster--and I'd rather continue on reconstructing the past.
Thank you.

 

[Mustapha]

No. In that neighbourhood, just the student place upstairs from the Brown Derby mentioned earlier. When did Bassells close?

Nick Bitove was in my grade 13 class at York mills C.I. and I ran into him in the late '70's when he was managing the Big Boy on the east side of Yonge just south of Dundas; his family owned the chain I believe. No idea what happened to him.

Bassells closed around 1980. The closest thing to it extant would be the College street 'Fran's'.

Nick Bitove is probably helping out his brother John:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bitove

 

[TKTKTK]

Please don't start defending Wal-Mart here. I just can't bear it.
Its a total vibe buster--and I'd rather continue on reconstructing the past.
Thank you.

 

[adma]

Me too. When we came to Toronto in '70 we couldn't believe such a thing was still being used.

There's still IIRC a dormant wooden escalator in, what is it, the DeBoer's part of Eaton's College...

 

[Mustapha]

Yes, it's been a few years since I walked by there and saw this. I wonder if it's still there?

 

[LowPolygon]

Yes, it's been a few years since I walked by there and saw this. I wonder if it's still there?

i'm almost positive that its still there, unless the Winners reno did it in...?

 

[adma]

Winners is at the opposite end of College Park.

 

[Mustapha]

i'm almost positive that its still there, unless the Winners reno did it in...?

I'm in the area this weekend; will have a look for it. As a machine that falls into for my lack of words, the 'ancient transportation' category, I remember they looked neat. As in Jules Verne neat.

 

[Edward]

Anyway its amazing how Eatons dominated the area.

Eatons was once a huge force in Canadian retail. At one point something like 40% of Canadian retail was done by Eatons. This would have been in the 50's I think.

 

[Mustapha]

i'm almost positive that its still there, unless the Winners reno did it in...?

Found it. It's still there, inside the DeBoers store

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Is the escalator operational? It looks roped off.

 

[Mustapha]

Is the escalator operational? It looks roped off.

No, it's not running. As a kid who remembers the Eatons College street store, it wasn't running in the 60s either. The Eaton's Annex store had a pair running up until 1976-ish when the building was demolished for the Bell complex. It was neat to stand on as the steps were inclined upwards and you felt like sliding off backwards. Also, it made wooden-blocks-hitting-each-other noises as it operated [the steps were wooden].

 

[Skeezix]

I remember the soft ice cream in Eaton's basement too, as well as that brick lined tunnel to the Annex.

The tunnel between the Eaton Centre and the Bell Trinity building is supposedly the same tunnel as the one that connected the Annex and the Main Store, although it looks completely different.

 

[LowPolygon]

Found it. It's still there, inside the DeBoers store

thank you for doing that! it still looks great. that desk that sits adjacent to it has a 'moderne' period look that kind of sets it off...