Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[wild goose chase]

Toronto should mimic Mt. Rushmore with busts of Rob Ford and Mel Lastman etched into the Scarborough Bluffs.

Made of sand?

Clay.

But then it'll come crumbling down from erosion after the next really big rainstorm or two, and then we'll wonder what kind of message that sends about our city!

 

[Armour]

But then it'll come crumbling down from erosion after the next really big rainstorm or two, and then we'll wonder what kind of message that sends about our city!

It would look no different than the disarray in our public realm. In other words, it would fit right in.

 

[Mustapha]

Hi Ut-ers. Lots to Google/research in the Then photo: the approximate date, Jewish newspapers, businesses, movies, Gotfridson fire trucks, even the location. Ha. Have fun. Don't stay late at work doing this.

 

[Armour]

The now shot is hideous. What an ugly streetscape.

 

[Mustapha]

Two pics of the Circle Theatre from the Ontario Archives (1945):

Replying to thecharioteer's 6 year old post here with a early 80s era picture of the Circle Theatre. Just to sum up: This building was a theatre first, then a 'Power' supermarket, then a plumbing store. It no longer exists; there is a senior citizens home on the site now.

 

[Goldie]

Demolition completed at the Guild Inn, Scarborough.
Restoration of remaining original structure and new additions for banquet facilities to begin soon - hopefully!

1996 view

2016 view

 

[adma]

Replying to thecharioteer's 6 year old post here with a early 80s era picture of the Circle Theatre. Just to sum up: This building was a theatre first, then a 'Power' supermarket, then a plumbing store. It no longer exists; there is a senior citizens home on the site now.

View attachment 65975

Even to the end, it seems to have retained a North Toronto "smart" quality. (Wonder how much of the interior it retained t/w its final days)

 

[Goldie]

Interesting how those hooks in the wall (once used to hold-up the marquee) are a dead-giveway.

Thats how I located the old Cameo Cinema that was on Pape at Floyd.

 

[Mustapha]

"Saint Patrick" in the Then picture being one of the historic segments of several small narrow streets widened and connected into the present continuous Dundas Street West. So we are looking at the east side of Spadina, north of Dundas, south of Saint Andrew Street.

This Then and Now pair perhaps isn't that meaningful but in looking at both I noticed and was surprised how:

a) In the Then picture the middle house is a semi-detached. All that space in 1864 Toronto and someone built a semi-detached here on the outskirts. I wonder how common it was to do that.

b) In the Now picture there are two houses peeking out over the hustle and bustle that is now Spadina Avenue. I like to see this; the sentinels of the past keeping watch over the present. [Hope this last sentence wasn't too tortured].

 

[Mustapha]

Interesting how those hooks in the wall (once used to hold-up the marquee) are a dead-giveway.

View attachment 66014

Thats how I located the old Cameo Cinema that was on Pape at Floyd.

View attachment 66015

Once again Goldie supplies his own Then pictures.

 

[Mustapha]

Even to the end, it seems to have retained a North Toronto "smart" quality. (Wonder how much of the interior it retained t/w its final days)

As a boy in the 60s this was our local neighbourhood supermarket (I grew up on Albertus Ave). Not being precocious or keen eyed of things historical/architectural at that age I only remember it as a supermarket.

You indirectly remind me; I have to make the trip out to see the former Runnymede Theatre/Chapters bookstore now Shoppers Drug Mart at Runnymede and Bloor and see what they've done to the place...

 

[Mustapha]

The now shot is hideous. What an ugly streetscape.

The street here doesn't beckon a stroll, but there are some cut-rate price businesses here. Banh mi sandwiches, several hair salons, a florist with the cheapest funeral floral arrangements in T.O., good but not great Chinese food on the cheap; it's all here.

 

[reetdoontoon]

Hi Ut-ers. Lots to Google/research in the Then photo: the approximate date, Jewish newspapers, businesses, movies, Gotfridson fire trucks, even the location. Ha. Have fun. Don't stay late at work doing this.

View attachment 65882 View attachment 65883

Later to be the Pagoda Theatre.. .

 

[the lemur]

The street here doesn't beckon a stroll, but there are some cut-rate price businesses here. Banh mi sandwiches, several hair salons, a florist with the cheapest funeral floral arrangements in T.O., good but not great Chinese food on the cheap; it's all here.

The banh mi place is not great, as I recall. A smaller selection than most and the sandwiches are small too, like super narrow buns for some reason.

 

[Mustapha]

Later to be the Pagoda Theatre.. .

That's right.. And, I don't think there are any more "Chinese" theatres in the GTA anymore. A stroll thru the Cineplex lobby at Yonge Dundas will occasionally reveal an advert for a Hong Kong or Korean flick...