Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

And how convenient; a Doctor and dentist as tenants upstairs for

"slips + falls"! (LOL)

Regards,
J T

 

[DavidJamesTO]

I didn't even notice the MLG notice; for me it was the Johnny Lombardi sign; he's featured in the historical minute about Juno Beach.

 

[Aaron]

I'd like to think that this song was blaring through those loud speakers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-1wKJLtyjk

...and the two gentlemen were conversing thus...

"It's-ah not a bad song, eh?

"Not-ah too bad, not-ah too bad."

 

[thecharioteer]

For those who wondering about Piccola Pupa: her greatest role was in "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" (1966), receiving billing below Nancy Sinatra, Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff:

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

Ah! Basil Rathbone, THE REAL Sherlock Holmes!

Regards,
J T

 

[adma]

If it's got Harvey Lembeck, it's gotta be good

 

[LowPolygon]

True, but Toronto was not as homogenous as many of these pictures imply, and in spite of the Orange establishment, certainly Roman Catholics played a large role in the early cultural and religious life of the city. Eventually, so did the waves of immigrants arriving towards the end of the 19thC, including eastern European Jews, Italians, Greeks, and Chinese. Their presence is not often felt in the archival material. Remember also that even in photos such as war rallies, royal visits and political events, these were all events that often transcended the differences within the citizenry.

Mrs. Josephine Ciccone 1936:

Mrs. Pieirina Gargarella and Mrs. Josephine Ciccone make tomato paste in their back yard - [ca. 1936]

Johnny Lombardi Italian Records (1960's?):

That’s very true of course. When you look at photos of the immigrants from the early part of the 20th century one wonders how long it was before they became established in the city, economically, socially and otherwise. In the case of the Italians: how long before they were buying homes, opening businesses and the like? Who were the first immigrants that really ‘made it’ in Toronto? Johnny Lombardi was born here, in 1915, in “Little Italy†which suggests that it didn’t take long for Italians to establish themselves as a community.

October 25, 1912

From the Wiki:

“Italians arrived in Toronto in large numbers during the early 20th century, settling first in an area then known as The Ward, centred around University Avenue and College Street. By the 1920s, most Italians had moved west of Bathurst Street and the College-Clinton area had emerged as the city's major Little Italy. The affordable Edwardian homes that line the side streets of this neighbourhood were bought by Italian immigrants, many of whom found work on the railways and in road construction. Italians started businesses on and around College Street.â€

Interesting caption on this one:

“Item consists of one photograph. A researcher's note says that Mrs. Gargarella was age 31 and Mrs. Ciccone was age 27 when the photo was taken. They lived at 438 Manning Avenue, next door to the James family. The dresses they are wearing were bought at Eatons for 49 cents eachâ€.

One the other hand, it’s a cliché that cities like Toronto were quite zenophobic in nature, and its a certainty that this was at least partially true.

Montreal Gazette, November 19, 1919

 

[ElJay]

this is one of my all time favourite photos of lost Toronto. a typical street corner in the Ward on May 15 1912. the buildings slated for demolition....

the photo has a really beautiful wide angle kind of look. i love the yiddish letters painted on the glass window of the storefront, the hand painted Coca-Cola sign and the early printed movie and theater posters. also, i don't know when electricity came to the Ward, but i would imagine that those hydro poles hadn't been there all that long....

based on the length of the shadows, it is either early in the morning or early evening. i love the difference in the posture of the children; the girl nervously looking at the camera, and the boys further off, one with a cocky stance, arms folded across his chest.

i love it when there is an exact date on an old photograph. it reminds you of how history is just a succession of days; days that are made up of mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights; and how each one pretty much like the next--century in, century out.

in this case, it makes you realize that one spring day, 98 years ago, those forever unnamed children (now almost certainly dead) stood there in that long gone spot, staring at a man with a camera....

you captured my feelings exactly! the only thing better than the exact date is the rare instance when there is the time of day as well. kind of brings home the reality of an image being a real point in time, in someone's life, frozen forever.

 

[LowPolygon]

Some babies up for adoption in Toronto, 1916:

Baby John Greenburg, 330 Manning Avenue

Baby Francis Barber, 804 Dovercourt Road

Baby Mary Wynd, 270 Carlton Street

Baby Roy Taylor, 377 Symington Avenue

Baby Ruby Brommell, 63 Russett Avenue

Baby Thos McDonald, 804 Dovercourt Road

Child Elsie Roy, 6 Kippendavie Avenue

Child Frank Ellerby, 69 Leslie Street

Child Margaret Milon, 208 Oak Street

Baby John Bairns, 310 Lee Avenue

Baby Ina Bowman, 38 Bathgate Avenue

Baby Henry Morans, 804 Dovercourt Road

Baby Ernest Sheehan, 69 Leslie Street

Baby Dorothy Clemmer, 330 Manning Avenue

Baby Donald Brown, 57 Millicent Street

Baby Andrew Salter, 3 Royce Avenue

 

[Mustapha]

Does anyone know the reason for the address information in these babies-for-adoption pictures? Were the babies in foster care at these addresses?

 

[Urban Shocker]

The woman holding Ernest Sheehan looks like she could be his mother.

 

[thecharioteer]

Mustapha's picture in "Now and Then" of the wall at Belmont House got me thinking about the lost world of walls and fencing in the city. Whereas today we speak of the "public" realm, once there was also a "semi-public" realm: private space that was visible by the public. That elegant line of wrought-iron separated the two worlds and created a transition between them. Various reasons account for their disappearance around churches and public buildings, the most common one being the egalitarian desire to "open-up" these semi-public spaces to all. Something has been lost by their elimination.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I agree about the sad and inexorable degradation of the concept of "semi-public" space. In most residential neighbourhoods this space takes the form of the front garden. Often it is actually city-owned property that residents landscape and plant themselves - the homeowners' property line doesn't usually begin until some distance beyond the sidewalk. In my neighbourhood, over the past few years, there's been a trend towards putting up fences to define what the homeowners ( usually people who've recently moved in ) incorrectly assume is the limit to their property - where the sidewalk begins. Six foot wooden fences are the worst because they block off the semi-public realm completely, but twee "Victorian" cast metal railings are almost as irritating in their own way. Hedges are another form. The results are similar.

 

[androiduk]

^^ The Knox College gates and fence are still there, just barely. They are behind Knox College on St. George in a very picturesque garden. Access is between the two buildings. See Google map link below.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=43.661505,-79.397375&spn=0.000462,0.001363&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=43.661626,-79.397424&panoid=UqeVEU2-Z8NyZGNRDmYbrA&cbp=12,86.65,,0,3.41

 

[Blovertis]

The sixth photo down ("Jarvis Street 1910?") is incorrectly labelled. In fact it is Elm Avenue in Rosedale, and the wall in the foreground (and everything else in the frame) looks much the same today.