Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[ML555]

Wow...

 

[egotrippin]

I'm digging the AA ticket office with the DC7s in the window. They were the pride of the fleet then having been introduced only two years earlier in 1953.

Such a great glimpse into the past, one of my favourite things about all these historic photos is checking out the old signage and window displays.

 

[Mustapha]

I think we need to Crowdfund Goldie a new computer.

That said, is he ok Mustapha?

He's great! He turned 89 recently.

 

[Richard White]

He's great! He turned 89 recently.

Good to hear he is alive and well

 

[Mustapha]

Hi, it's Mustapha posting for Goldie. He writes:

"When I found this old image, it certainly brought back some wonderful memories of my trips, as a child, on the Cayuga.

It's the only time I had the sensation of being on an ocean voyage.

Sad that such a local excursion is long gone.

Perhaps this will be suitable for the "Evocative images" page.

The cruise ship Cayuga c.1950, once a popular excursion from Toronto to Niagara -- Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library."

 

[Mustapha]

http://www.cs.yorku.ca/museum/PortraitsOfDigitalCanada.pdf

'Goldie' - George Dunbar - was IBM's company photographer from 1957 to 1989. IBM donated their photographic archives - comprised of much of his work - to York University a few years ago.

 

[Towered]

Hi, it's Mustapha posting for Goldie. He writes:

"When I found this old image, it certainly brought back some wonderful memories of my trips, as a child, on the Cayuga.

It's the only time I had the sensation of being on an ocean voyage.

Sad that such a local excursion is long gone.

Perhaps this will be suitable for the "Evocative images" page.

The cruise ship Cayuga c.1950, once a popular excursion from Toronto to Niagara -- Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library."

View attachment 468750

Fascinating. It would be quaint to be able to take a cruise from downtown to NOTL on a nice summer day instead of being forced to endure the misery of highway traffic. I wonder if there would be a market today for such a thing...

 

[DSCToronto]

Fascinating. It would be quaint to be able to take a cruise from downtown to NOTL on a nice summer day instead of being forced to endure the misery of highway traffic. I wonder if there would be a market today for such a thing...

You could do so if this ever happened: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hovercraft-toronto-niagara-1.6584136
As discussed last fall, unfortunately it is a fantasy, in my, and other UTers, opinion.

 

[thecharioteer]

Hi, it's Mustapha posting for Goldie. He writes:

"When I found this old image, it certainly brought back some wonderful memories of my trips, as a child, on the Cayuga.

It's the only time I had the sensation of being on an ocean voyage.

Sad that such a local excursion is long gone.

Perhaps this will be suitable for the "Evocative images" page.

The cruise ship Cayuga c.1950, once a popular excursion from Toronto to Niagara -- Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library."

View attachment 468750

From the Archives, the Cayuga coming into port:

 

[terrymurray]

Those City Hall gargoyles are still in place. They fell off in 1921.

Bits of them fell off. They were finally removed in 1939.

 

[terrymurray]

I think the gargoyle drop was in 1921:

A gargoyle is removed from City Hall after dropping its jaw through the city hall roof. Photo of the gargoyle being installed 20 years ago. Head weighs 500 lbs. Jaw dropped 100 ft through the attic and almost killed a city hall worker in the Works Department draughting room. The city architect wants the dozens of gargoyles to be removed now. It was the gargoyle at the NE corner of the tower which fell yesterday. This gargoyle made of New Brunswick sandstone. These seem to be crumbling in the city air. This gargoyle was 250 ft above ground level, one of 4 around the tower (Toronto Star 9 Mar 1921 p. 1).

The Property Commissioner reports that repairs to the stonework are proceeding. The stonework on the gargoyles was very defective and the stone needs to be removed. Recommended for urgent removal by the City Architect and the stone masons consulted. Scott Bros., stone masons reports that the gargoyle on the SW corner is in fair condition, the others on the other corners are in poor shape. Head, neck, paws of gargoyles to be cut away. George Oakley & Son stonemasons finds the gargoyles dangerous, weather worn and liable to fall at any time, danger of loose pieces falling (Toronto City Council Minutes 1921 Appendix A Property #7 8 Apr 1921 p. 530-531).

The city hall gargoyles are in dangerous condition and are to be cut away. Heads and necks are to go, and perhaps the rest (Toronto Star 8 Apr 1921 p. 14).

You are correct. The original gargoyles were finally removed in 1939, and the new ones were installed in 2003.
-Terry Murray, author of Faces on Places: A Grotesque Tour of Toronto (Anansi, 2006)

 

[Northern Light]

I'm sticking this here because I don't have a good comparable 'now' shot.

Sigh.

Harbord Street bridge over the Bickford Ravine, under construction: (credit embedded)

The water seen above is Garrison Creek, the same creek that flowed through Christie Pits to the north and Trinity Bellwoods Park to the south.

The individual pics are all sourced through the Toronto archives as seen above, but special thanks to the Old Toronto Series on FB for putting them together.

 

[DSCToronto]

This 1935 LAC video of Toronto may amuse, it may have been posted before but ...

 

[Metroscapes]

I'm sticking this here because I don't have a good comparable 'now' shot.

Sigh.

Harbord Street bridge over the Bickford Ravine, under construction: (credit embedded)


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The water seen above is Garrison Creek, the same creek that flowed through Christie Pits to the north and Trinity Bellwoods Park to the south.

The individual pics are all sourced through the Toronto archives as seen above, but special thanks to the Old Toronto Series on FB for putting them together.

I don't have a similar shot, but this may be a very similar case to Crawford Street further downstream; the bridge wall appears to still be there.

 

[Northern Light]

I don't have a similar shot, but this may be a very similar case to Crawford Street further downstream; the bridge wall appears to still be there.

View attachment 472043

The bridge is definitely still there, it was just backfilled, like Crawford. Now, what condition either is really in, if you removed the soil is a bit of a question mark. Both would doubtless require restoration.

I should add, any restoration of ravine topography would not see the stream restored as its been hopelessly intertwined with the combined sewer system. The only place you could hope to surface it and it would still cost $$$ would be
its headwaters just north of St. Clair.