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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

" I will try to be there on the 18th."
Mustapha.

A Fresh Pot awaits!


Regards,
J T
 
nostalgic said:
Thank you, Mustapha, that was awesome!
Click to expand...

Agreed. Awesome.
Question for you Mustapha, since you were there in 1968 - what was there before the Roots 'cabin' at Yonge & Lytton? It is a single-storey cement-block building, now painted green.
I know from the subway extension photos of Yonge from 1968 that there was basically a service station on every other corner - but I don't think that's what it was.
 
Anna said:
Agreed. Awesome.
Question for you Mustapha, since you were there in 1968 - what was there before the Roots 'cabin' at Yonge & Lytton? It is a single-storey cement-block building, now painted green.
I know from the subway extension photos of Yonge from 1968 that there was basically a service station on every other corner - but I don't think that's what it was.
Click to expand...

Heya Anna,

Thanks! The Roots store took over 3 retail spaces. That's why the frontage is so wide. At the south end there was a coffee shop of - I'm guessing - 40s vintage that survived up until the 70s - all formica and chrome and a counter with stools. The north end - where the Roots entrance is now was a mom 'n pop/independent drug store. The middle I can't be sure of.

On page 8 of this thread the photographer who took archive pic s0648_fl0239_id0014 was too far away from your corner of interest to record identifiable detail but go have a look; you can get an idea of the layout of this block.

Let me muse a bit. There are some very long lived businesses along this stretch of Yonge: Suzannes Shoes on the W side of Yonge S of of St. Clements. My mom used to look at the shoes in the window. I remember holding her hand. This would have been about the late 50s. Sherwood Variety on the E side below Sherwood has been there at least as long. Circle Shoes at 2597 Yonge... named after the long long gone Circle movie house. The present day Little Party Shoppe at Yonge and Briar Hill is owned by a daughter of the lady who ran the Little Pie Shoppe (in the same location) in the 50s thru the 80s. Both live nearby.

Toronto street front retail history interests me as much if not more than conventional Then and Now. One can get quite 'into' this subject. Besides personal memories and archival images, one can collect ephemera and if lucky, can hear oral histories from participants of the time.

My grandfather had a laundry at 2616 Yonge from 1925 to 1975; I've related that here often; but he related to me that he used to buy live chickens from a business where the Green P parking lot at Castlefield and Duplex is now. And that he collected wild watercress from the ravine behind the present day houses on the SW corner of St. Clements and Rosewell. And, finally, before eyelids droop I will add that one of the local business worthies used to call my grandfather 'Charlie' - constantly - in front of me - so the good old days could be a mixed bag sometimes/ :)
 
<poke> Fell asleep didn't ya?



A History of Laura Secord Candies in North Toronto. :)

Eating their fine candies and partaking of their 'old school' retail service experience is a distinctly multi-generational Toronto pleasure that many of us take for granted. Perhaps even, many here have never tried; happy with mass produced sweets unemotionally grabbed from a supermarket shelf.

I used to gift Laura Secord candies to my own customers and still do to my friends; no finer, distinctive or ethically appropriate gift can be given or received.

This writer has watched a peripatetic Laura Secord journey through North Toronto over the years, always never far from Yonge street, familiar and comforting, inviting in her sloped glass displays, treacle pyramided within, the service attendant alert and ready to act upon your decision or whim, however large or small.

1960s: NW corner of Yonge and Castlefield.
1970s/80s: Eglinton TTC station, where the greasy spoon/snack bar/all day breakfast is now.
1990's: SE corner Yonge and Erskine, where the Starbucks is now.
1990s/2000s: Yonge and Eglinton shopping centre. lower level.

Our Laura has seen many generations celebrate auspicious occasions - they still sell chocolate cigars: pink for a girl, blue for a boy. May it ever be so.

Copywriter off. :)
 
Mustapha said:
Heya, let's go to 2 College and ride an ancient elevator:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN2M9PeC1_A
Click to expand...

I'm sure I used that elevator daily during my first job 64 years ago.
I worked for a lens-making company on an upper floor of that "Independent Order of Odd Fellows" building.
My job was to deliver the lenses to opticians by bicycle.

Independent_Order_of_Odd_Fellows_Hall.JPG
 

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The once-popular Community Theatre (1956) on Woodbine between Frater and Mortimer.
Closed shortly after the introduction of TV and became a TV film production studio (Meridian Films).
Now, an auto service centre.

TNWoodbineatFrater-CommunityTheatre1956_zpsc7941c56.jpg
 
Mustapha said:
Heya Anna,

Thanks! The Roots store took over 3 retail spaces. That's why the frontage is so wide. At the south end there was a coffee shop of - I'm guessing - 40s vintage that survived up until the 70s - all formica and chrome and a counter with stools. The north end - where the Roots entrance is now was a mom 'n pop/independent drug store. The middle I can't be sure of.

On page 8 of this thread the photographer who took archive pic s0648_fl0239_id0014 was too far away from your corner of interest to record identifiable detail but go have a look; you can get an idea of the layout of this block.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mustapha. I am amazed that you remembered two out of three. I think the store has three slightly different floor levels. For some reason I didn't think it would be standard retail storefronts because the building(s) are only one storey. I wonder if the side door is original.

As a token of my appreciation I give you - a photo of another North Toronto Laura Secord - just north of Eglinton - in 1954.
pictures-r-2168.jpg
 
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