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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

thecharioteer said:
I think the idea that there was an underground connection between the Eaton's complex of buildings (between Queen and Dundas) with the Eaton's College Street complex (between College and Hayter) probably an urban myth of which I was unaware. There were a blocks of private buildings on Edward, Elm, Walton and Gerrard that would have precluded an underground tunnel.

From the 1924 Goad Atlases:

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At least with Eaton's, most of the goods were actually made in Canada. Many of today's discount department stores have the goods made in foreign countries at very low wages in worse working conditions than here.
 
thecharioteer said:
I think the idea that there was an underground connection between the Eaton's complex of buildings (between Queen and Dundas) with the Eaton's College Street complex (between College and Hayter) probably an urban myth of which I was unaware. There were a blocks of private buildings on Edward, Elm, Walton and Gerrard that would have precluded an underground tunnel.

From the 1924 Goad Atlases:

View attachment 459973

View attachment 459975

View attachment 459977
Click to expand...
You absolutely could. I was in 'loss prevention' and responsible for transportation and walked up to the Hayter St. 'barn' on a regular basis and my colleague who covered College St. walked there from our office in the Annex building. Enroute, I could often see George Eaton's race car under a tarp and other family member's fancy fleet of vehicles.

In it's heyday, Eaton's was much more than a retail outlet. There wasn't much in terms of retail products or services that they didn't provide. Heck, back in the early part of the 20th century you could order a house (although that business was targetted at the prairies and based out of Winnipeg. There were carpentry shops, furniture refinishing shops, tailor and seamstress shops, furrier shops, cold storage, etc. along with all of the warehousing to support the stores and delivery. As I recall, the only Toronto warehousing that was outside the downtown core was the 'heavy goods' depot at 400 and Sheppard. There was a delivery depot in Scarborough but I don't recall much warehousing there.

W. K. Lis said:
At least with Eaton's, most of the goods were actually made in Canada. Many of today's discount department stores have the goods made in foreign countries at very low wages in worse working conditions than here.
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Pretty much all retail back then was from Canadian or American manufacturers. Many don't realize how robust our manufacturing base was.
 
King East looking west towards Parliament.

Streetview 2009:
kinge-01b.jpg


2023:

kinge-01a.jpg
 
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I think for many of us of an age, it was the demise of the newspaper honour boxes that signalled Toronto's decline into anarchy. For those unfamiliar with the term, honour boxes had no lock on them to be opened with coin, but rather had a slot into which the coin was deposited and ones honesty was then rewarded by removing a copy of the newspaper from the open box. I think a lot of popsicle sticks and slugs were offered as payment.
 
jaborandi said:
I think for many of us of an age, it was the demise of the newspaper honour boxes that signalled Toronto's decline into anarchy. For those unfamiliar with the term, honour boxes had no lock on them to be opened with coin, but rather had a slot into which the coin was deposited and ones honesty was then rewarded by removing a copy of the newspaper from the open box. I think a lot of popsicle sticks and slugs were offered as payment.
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Back when the bus driver or streetcar driver sold TTC tickets.
 
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