Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[Uncle Teddy]

Very cool!

 

[Tewder]

I love the details in this photo, the fashions and modes of transportation etc. The dude in the boater is definitely up to something!

I like this photo of Yonge Street paved with stone blocks, like in many a European city:

The city should restore this pavement.

 

[themarc]

I remember Murray Koffler in the 1950s, standing tall behind the counter in his drug store (York Mills plaza, Bayview and York Mills), filling prescriptions.

I did not know that the York Mills/Bayview location was the first store. I remember that store well, as I do the Hunts and Maynards store as a kid...

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"The dude in the boater is definitely up to something!"
QUOTE: Tewder.

I have a great dislike for the Boater style of hat, a Panama hat being what I favour during the summer.


Regards,
J T

 

[nostalgic]

I did not know that the York Mills/Bayview location was the first store. I remember that store well, as I do the Hunts and Maynards store as a kid...

I've been trying to remember all the stores in that plaza... I don't remember a Maynards. From east to west I recall the Royal Bank, Koffler's Drug Store, was the hardware next? Hunts, something, a women's clothing store, and something in the corner (dry cleaner?). My first bank account was at the Royal Bank (opening balance $8), Koffler's was our drugstore (Murray Koffler delivered the horrible "chocolate" flavoured medicine when I had scarlet fever and the house was quarantined), my father shopped at the hardware, or Dempsey's (which was probably closer as he had to drive all the way around St. Andrews Golf Course to get to the plaza), and my mother shopped at Hunts (because we thought it was more exotic than home baking). She was loyal to Loblaws so didn't step foot in Dominion for decades.

 

[Anna]

I did not know that the York Mills/Bayview location was the first store. I remember that store well, as I do the Hunts and Maynards store as a kid...

I thought that Koffler's first store was in Don Mills Plaza?

 

[thecharioteer]

I thought that Koffler's first store was in Don Mills Plaza?

Detailed history here:

http://www.answers.com/topic/shoppers-drug-mart-corporation

 

[nostalgic]

Thanks, thecharioteer, for the link to that detailed and fascinating history. I hadn't realized that Koffler's was the first self-serve drugstore in Canada. Behind Murray Koffler's calm and courteous manner, a brilliant business brain. BTW, those "cows [that] grazed in a field across the street" would have been E.P. Taylor's aberdeen angus cattle – his Windfield's farm was just across the road. Memories...

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

Was the E P Taylor connection also involved with Murray Koffler's interest in The Sport of Kings? - Joker's Hill, et al.

Regards,
J T

 

[nostalgic]

I have no idea. I remember Joker's Hill only as a venue for other equestrian events (jumping, eventing).

 

[Anna]

Thanks, thecharioteer, for the link to that detailed and fascinating history. I hadn't realized that Koffler's was the first self-serve drugstore in Canada. Behind Murray Koffler's calm and courteous manner, a brilliant business brain. BTW, those "cows [that] grazed in a field across the street" would have been E.P. Taylor's aberdeen angus cattle – his Windfield's farm was just across the road. Memories...

 

[nostalgic]

That must have been taken in the '60s. I wish I could find a photo taken 10 years earlier, showing the stores in the plaza. Haha, my father used to pull into that gas station and buy $2 worth of gas.

 

[Anna]

That must have been taken in the '60s. I wish I could find a photo taken 10 years earlier, showing the stores in the plaza. Haha, my father used to pull into that gas station and buy $2 worth of gas.

I think the date was 1963. That's one groovy little shopping centre, with a matching gas station.

Here's across the street for you

And along York Mills (training barns, 1956)

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

" I remember Joker's Hill only as a venue for other equestrian events (jumping, eventing)."
QUOTE: nostalgic.

I may have unintentionally used the word "interest" as meaning "financial interest", rather than "sparked interest (in)".

One very late evening after we having had a Full Day at "The Hill", Murray and his wife appeared poolside and apologised as to their

wanting to retire for the evening, but that we were more than welcome to continue carrying-on, carrying-on. Their "message" was duly

received by the group, followed by applause for he and his wife. The ending of a fine day by a equally fine Host and Hostess.


Regards,
J T

 

[nostalgic]

Thanks for the images, Anna. My best friend and I used to visit the mares and foals at the breeding barns south of York Mills Rd. We would walk through the gates and up the long drive to see the horses in the fields, take pictures, memorize their names. No one ever objected or told us to leave. That would never happen today!