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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

Thanks for the identification, k10ery (Knox Presbyterian).
And thanks to JT for the mention of a "perpetual lease" from said church.
Has there ever been another 'perpetual lease' in Toronto? Must be rare!
The name C. L. Burton reminded me of this photo
- The Burton family store in Green River, Ont., 1882.
Hmm.... wondering if the Burton store in Green River was on the same site as what is now Old Favourites book shop. An acquaintance of my wife owns it.
 
Hmm.... wondering if the Burton store in Green River was on the same site as what is now Old Favourites book shop. An acquaintance of my wife owns it.

It seems so. See the Old Favorites website's history page http://www.oldfavoritesbooks.com/history.htm

Old Favorites had a long history in Toronto before moving out to Green River/Locust Hill. Their last location in town was at 250 Adelaide West in a large space below street level. I worked nearby and spent many an hour browsing their stacks of used books. For a time they also sold model kits and other hobby stuff in an adjoining space.

I have driven by the Green River shop many times but never stopped in. But I seem to recall a large sign on the front of the building that is not visible in the current Google street view.
 

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Didn't see that. :) Have you ever had the tactile pleasure of pressing one of the very old push button light switches?

By coincidence, I found one of those (still in use) at an estate sale in Pickering last week.
 

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By coincidence, I found one of those (still in use) at an estate sale in Pickering last week.


Wonderful picture, Goldie!

I've always fantasized myself in a past life as gunnery officer on HMS Tiger; and that pressing these in some sort of correct order would fire Q turret. :)
 
Weekend nonsense. Same spot in Kensington Market as last weekend. Different old car. A Buick Special.

CSC_0083.jpg

More 'Kars in Kensington'. Today, another Buick. Quite similar to the one above I posted in July. This one is dressed up for a movie role I think.

R1239177.jpg
 
More 'Kars in Kensington'. Today, another Buick. Quite similar to the one above I posted in July. This one is dressed up for a movie role I think.

R1239177.jpg

That one (a 55) is a "tribute" to the old TV series "Highway Patrol" starring Broderick Crawford. I remember it well... The Buicks were always the real stars in that series. (in my eyes)...:)
 
Perhaps this view of Yonge St., S. from Richmond (1899), has not previously been seen on UT
- I found it in a 1996 issue of The Beaver Magazine.

YongeSt1899.jpg
 
Then and Now for September 28, 2012.



Then. Simpsons store. Yonge and Queen streets SW corner. Opened in 1895. It was open for only three months before its destruction by fire.

777simpsonsbeforefire.jpg

Interesting how the 1895 pic shows the original store on Queen (from the Simpson's catalogue 1893: http://www.toronto.ca/archives/beckernew3.htm)

simpsoncatback.jpg


Which, of course, was not rebuilt after the fire:

1908:

Simpsons_Department_Store_circa_1908.jpg
 
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Perhaps this view of Yonge St., S. from Richmond (1899), has not previously been seen on UT
- I found it in a 1996 issue of The Beaver Magazine.

YongeSt1899.jpg

Not 1899. Maybe a decade or so later, after Traders Bank (1906) had been built but nothing else early-skyscraperwise at Yonge/King existed yet...
 

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