adma
Superstar
*harrumph* progress *pfui*
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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now
- Thread starter Mustapha
- Start date
thecharioteer
Senior Member
I was having some difficulty understanding the placement of the main entrance to the "popular" Cawthra House (King/Bay NE corner) until I realized that the Toronto Public Library images were reproduced in reverse.
Goldie: Good eye! I never picked up on that. Now I'm wondering if the church steeple is that appears to the right of the "correct" version is St. James? That would make sense.
Mustapha
Senior Member
Mustapha
Senior Member
August 20 addition.
Then.
Later. Eaton's Annex store. Those of you over 40 may remember the old - very old - wooden escalators.
Now. July 2010.
Then.
Later. Eaton's Annex store. Those of you over 40 may remember the old - very old - wooden escalators.
Now. July 2010.
Mustapha
Senior Member
kitestate,
You're welcome. I caused your love inadvertently. The picture set was in the rotation.
I also noted that child.
Black - may I use that word? - as you have used "Afro-Canadian" - citizens in early Toronto were not documented by the City photographers except by accident. Other than the Blackburn's and a very few others, we can only guess what their individual stories were. I hope your appeal generates feedback. It would be more than interesting to hear from someone of 10th generation descendancy something of that community's history.
I do realize the main purpose of threads like this is to discuss lost structures and vastly changed streetscapes; but the street vendor, urchin or moppet, the citizens in the street staring into the lens so long ago - they built, lived in and maintained the physical City. Sometimes I contemplate what their stories might have been, the visible minority citizens too. So, during a busy day I take a moment and think of the directories that wwwebster has posted here. I fictionalize that the streetcar driver in a Then picture may have lived on Gilead or Sackville.
I'm reminded of a dear gentleman whose grandson was a friend of my son. His family had a shoe business - their stores - Blatchford Shoes - appear in many Yonge street Then scenes.
The UTers here who have already shared personal stories - thank you.
"Public lavatory at Toronto and Adelaide streets 189?"
nomoreatorontonian: we've seen goldie on the midway at Sunnyside. You're up next, if you will so indulge us.
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GenerationW
Senior Member
Very vaguely. My mother dragged me there once or twice as a wee lad. I think I cried there once after getting separated from her for a minute.
Mustapha
Senior Member
Very vaguely. My mother dragged me there once or twice as a wee lad. I think I cried there once after getting separated from her for a minute.
Hopefully she comforted you with a soft ice cream cone from the machine strategically located at the Eaton store end of the tunnel connecting to the Annex.
Help. Does anyone know the whereabouts of these places? Thanks in advance.
DJankowski
New Member
Lovatt Place was a dead-end street heading east from Sumach Street, the next intersection north of Wascana Ave, roughly where the post-Regent Park-recompassed Shuter intersects Sumach. Williamson Place is harder to figure out, except it was in the vicinity of 124-126 Eastern Ave, placing it iin the vicinity of the intersection of Eastern and the "old" stretch of Sumach Street (the one cut off by the raised sections of Adelaide and Richmond streets). Both are long gone from the city grid.
Haven't figured out Lima and Madeira Place.
Haven't figured out Lima and Madeira Place.
wwwebster
Active Member
Madeira ran east off Parliament between Oak and Gerrard. Lima ran east off Parliament just south of Queen, opposite the old Presbyterian church which still stands on the west side.
thecharioteer
Senior Member
Hopefully she comforted you with a soft ice cream cone from the machine strategically located at the Eaton store end of the tunnel connecting to the Annex.
And an Orange Julius.
NomoreaTorontonian
Active Member
Blatchford Shoes was on Yonge Street around the corner from our street, St Germain. We would go there when we didn't want to go downtown (which took an hour by streetcar). I found the Blatchford family selling shoes in both the 1861 and in the 1901 Toronto censuses.
Another part of Toronto with a number of Afro Canadian families in the 1860s was St John's Ward (Queen Street West to Bloor Street, Yonge over to University for those who aren't familiar with the old ward names). Many of them worked as waiters in downtown hotels. Others had barber shops. I met Karen Smardz Frost in May and she knew of this community as well.
Eaton's Annex tunnel. I remember the soft ice cream and also the smell of paint that always permeated the place.
Another part of Toronto with a number of Afro Canadian families in the 1860s was St John's Ward (Queen Street West to Bloor Street, Yonge over to University for those who aren't familiar with the old ward names). Many of them worked as waiters in downtown hotels. Others had barber shops. I met Karen Smardz Frost in May and she knew of this community as well.
Eaton's Annex tunnel. I remember the soft ice cream and also the smell of paint that always permeated the place.
Goldie
Senior Member
Goldie
Senior Member
This is probably the VERY FIRST photograph of an urban street scene (Paris in 1838).
Aug. 19 was celebrated as "World Photography Day" because on that day in 1839 France made the official announcement of the invention of photography by Louis Daguerre.
This is also the VERY FIRST photograph of a PERSON!
Aug. 19 was celebrated as "World Photography Day" because on that day in 1839 France made the official announcement of the invention of photography by Louis Daguerre.
This is also the VERY FIRST photograph of a PERSON!
androiduk
Senior Member
^ Thanks for that Goldie. You know, given the choice between the above photo with all it's marks, hot spots and miscellaneous scratches as opposed to a perfect, crisp modern digital print, I'd rather have the above print hanging on my wall.
hogdust
New Member
In 160 years our current modern digital file will not look so crisp anymore either lol
If anyone can even open the files anymore