Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[adma]

There doesn't appear to be any street lamps or sidewalks in the then photo. Perhaps those are lights tacked to the side of every forth building. The city didn't put much effort into street beautification back then eh?

You mean those "portholes"? Indeed, those were street lights: the byproduct of Yonge subway construction leading to the removal of wires and poles along Yonge--so it was indeed a form of "street beautification". (A few--on Dickinson's Prudential Building at Yonge + King, for example--are still discernable. Most of the portholes were later replaced by "wedge" lights; more recently, the paradoxical trend's been back to rather cutesypoo freestanding streetlights, here made possible by the Bloor-Yorkville BIA.)

 

[Goldie]

More from the Far East - of Toronto

The quaint village of Highland Creek:

 

[street meet]

Ah, portholes. Very modern I guess, get rid of everything with any frilly detail, and all things that interfere with clean lines. A bit stark for my taste. I'm not familiar with "wedge" lights. Were they attached to the side of buildings like the porthole style?

 

[Parkdalian]

Ah, portholes. Very modern I guess, get rid of everything with any frilly detail, and all things that interfere with clean lines. A bit stark for my taste. I'm not familiar with "wedge" lights. Were they attached to the side of buildings like the porthole style?

The wedges are still there south of Bloor on Yonge. And yes, they are attached to the wall and look awkward.

^The "now" trees help make the street look more lived in. The street almost looks like it's ready to be flipped!

 

[Mustapha]

49Moore sent me this pair of pictures to post.




Then. St. Clair and Yonge. SW corner. Date unknown. That car... can we still hope that someone can identify the make and year? I'm guessing 1918.

Now. 2010.

 

[Aladone]

Toronto Skyline

1930-ish - 2008

 

[FURNIOJO]

No, though two of Toronto's leading art galleries were in that block, and a restaurant that was a meeting place for the arts community.

Urban Shocker: I am glad you noted the galleries. The Isaacs gallery used to be such an influential space.

For those who would like to know more about it, here's some information about the gallery itself and here are some videos on Av Isaacs.

 

[Mustapha]

June 11 addition.





Then. Danforth and Pape looking W along Danforth.

Now. May 2010.

Goldie, re: Kew Beach... the homes on Hubbard Blvd. between Hammersmith and Wineva are worth checking out. They front right onto the boardwalk; quite the location.


.

 

[Mustapha]

Free movies.

 

[Anna]

Goldie, re: Kew Beach... the homes on Hubbard Blvd. between Hammersmith and Wineva are worth checking out. They front right onto the boardwalk; quite the location.

13 Hubbard is for sale for $2,249,000 if you'd like to buy it.

 

[Goldie]

Danforth/Pape neighbourhood

A few shots from Danforth/Pape and nearby made in 2009.

P.S. I'm on my way to Kew Beach for that 'bargain' home!

 

[thecharioteer]

A "Then and Then" from Jarvis Street 1947:

 

[adma]

You know something...re the whole "urban ugliness" argument, I've been considering the following two "before" pictures.

And it leaves me thinking that the whole business about overhead wires, streetcar tracks, etc as an emblem of ugliness is a red herring. Because if the former image seems deficient to some tastes for all the overhead visual pollution, the latter image is arguably deficient for the lack thereof--it's almost as if there were just some kind of bleak, nasty malaise in the air re traditional "main street retail" going into the early-to-mid-60s; at least, if I were to look at things empathetically. No wonder modernism (or suburban living) felt like such a breath of fresh air: this is the kind of stuff that could have leveraged quite badly were Toronto more like Flint or St Louis (or Brantford).

Against that tableau, the ultra-contemporary Isaacs aesthetic in the latter photo is startling: a jolt into a Kennedy era of urban sophistication, and a harbinger of urban gentrification to come...

 

[Mustapha]

13 Hubbard is for sale for $2,249,000 if you'd like to buy it.

A few shots from Danforth/Pape and nearby made in 2009.

P.S. I'm on my way to Kew Beach for that 'bargain' home!

Go right ahead. If I bought such a 'bargain' I'd have to take in tenants.

A "Then and Then" from Jarvis Street 1947:

You mean 'Then' and 'Later' don't you?




June 12 addition.




Then. Steam baths. Bathurst street. Sep 3,1941.

Now. April 2010. I am amazed at the longevity of this business.

 

[adma]

I am amazed at the longevity of this business.

And the authenticity, if one goes by the wood for burning in the back lot...