Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Mustapha]

As someone who had to buy a new stove yesterday because my "old" one (at 10 years of age) has an "electronics" problem and 'spare parts are not generally available for stoves older than 10 years' (and if they are they cost $$$) this really hit home.

We've gone through 3 washers and 3 dryers in this matrimonial household of 35 years. I sat down and calculated that they are good for about 800 cycles... then, poof; and uneconomical repair.

I'm wondering where Gold's Appliances gets those minty examples. Perhaps they have technicians with some terrific restoration arts skills.

 

[Mustapha]

Of course, Betty Draper had one of those new wall-ovens:

Ah, women and ovens; a new picture thread idea.

 

[Mustapha]

Found this old booklet at a friends. Couldn't scan it, so I took some pictures of the pages. Enjoy.

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for a cold Saturday October evening. It's not really good enough for a weekday post, hence you folks get to see my rejects on the weekends.



'Mayor Fred Conboy greeting General Knox outside Old City Hall. 194-'.

Now July 2012.

 

[thecharioteer]

Ah, women and ovens; a new picture thread idea.

Miss Toronto 1937, Billie Hallam:

Filming a commercial, 1960:

 

[thecharioteer]

Found this old booklet at a friends. Couldn't scan it, so I took some pictures of the pages. Enjoy.

Speaking of watches in Toronto in the 1950's:

Albert Dekker presenting a watch to Miss Toronto Ruth Carier, 1951:

Mayor Nathan Phillips presenting a watch to Glenn Gould, 1956:

Jack Kent Cooke presenting a watch to an unnamed Toronto Maple Leafs baseball player, 1950's:

 

[MattB]

Gold's moved out Saturday afternoon ...

It's the weekend and time again for some musings.


I was walking by Gold's Appliances at Queen West and Niagara streets. The old ranges ['stoves' some of us might call them] in the window caught my eye. Enjoy.

Here's a closeup of the cool retro details of the stove on the right.

You might want to buy one of those ranges and remodel your kitchen to look like an old one like these:

http://pinterest.com/secretdesign/mid-century-modern-kitchens/

Gold's Gone ... moved out Saturday Afternoon. The quickest "Then and Now" on record.

 

[Mustapha]

Speaking of watches in Toronto in the 1950's:

Mayor Nathan Phillips presenting a watch to Glenn Gould, 1956:

Jack Kent Cooke presenting a watch to an unnamed Toronto Maple Leafs baseball player, 1950's:

What a fascinating pair of pictures, thecharioteer.

--The council chambers in the Old City Hall.

--The Canada Malting silos could be used as a reference point even today to do a Now picture. (There is a housing development there now.)

 

[Mustapha]

Gold's Gone ... moved out Saturday Afternoon. The quickest "Then and Now" on record.

Good grief, MattB. This is a bit of a shock. Thanks for the intel.

Gold's still has a North York location.

Interestingly, they do a side business renting appliances out as film props:

http://www.goldsappliances.com/?Link=Rentals

 

[Mustapha]

That water tank (I think it is) in Billie Hallam's kitchen. Right out of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.




Heya Uters. Drizzly weather got you down? Check out the AGO:

Afterwards, check out the food court in the Village by the Grange. Nice place for a sit. Lot's of Bohemian OCAD types hang out there. You can bask in the afterglow of their coolness.

If you can't go to the AGO today, or can wait until free admission on Wednesdays after 6:30pm; in the meantime check out these links on what's interesting there at the moment:



In the Photography Gallery on the main floor, the current exhibition. Very very worthwhile.

http://www.ago.net/ago-presents-phot...er-josef-sudek



In basement, as always, Mr. Thomson's model ship collection. Some of them were made by sailor-prisoners-of-war 300 hundred years ago.. This is a very cool interactive link.

http://www.ago.net/gunilda



Also in the basement, unheralded and off in the corner, the miniature firearms made by David Kucher of Montreal. Little gems and interesting to look at in their own right even if gun culture isn't your thing.

http://www.kucers.com/




If you go today you may find me mesmerized in front of Ruben's Massacre of the Innocents, which continues to hold an unsavoury but compelling hold over me. But hey, I didn't pay $117Mill for it. Mr. Thomson did.

 

[Mustapha]

Looking over thecharioteers 'watch presentation' pictures reminds me of how precious an object watches were back in the day. Imagine having a ceremony today to commemorate something with the gift of a watch - it would be positively quaint. Today we have our phones to tell time and mass produced 'fashion' and 'Ironman' type watches that you throw away because they can't be repaired. I'm reminded how much a treasured possession my Grandfather's Omega meant to him.




Then and Now for October 29, 2012.



Then. Unitarian Church. c1867. This was on Jarvis, W side N of Dundas, S of Gould. From 'Toronto In The Camera' by Octavius Thompson.

May 2012.

Thanks to wwwebster for the pic.

 

[junctionist]

The loss of that church is a shame, but in the spirit of the Mirvish development, the replacement is a lot bigger a building and has sophisticated modern architecture, so it's clearly satisfactory .

 

[thecharioteer]

Was it further south?

http://www.torontoplaques.com/Pages_DEF/First_Unitarian_Congregation_in_Canada_West.html

 

[adma]

And under the circumstance, let's consider that given the 1949 move, it might have been demolished long before the Sears building came up (maybe by Simpsons/Sears itself, for parking/loading facilities?)

 

[thecharioteer]

1903: