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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

Then and Now for Dec 15.


Then. "New West Wing of Out-Patients Department" c1914. This is the E side of Elizabeth, just S of College. Perhaps this picture is mislabeled? On the left of our picture - to the north - is part of the original Sick Childrens Hospital on Elizabeth Street. So, this wing would be to the south, not the west. Notice all the prams parked on the sidewalk. Another wwwebster picture.

ElizabethEsideSofCollegec1914.jpg



Now July 2011. The course of stonework on the left doesn't match up with the old picture.. a bit of a head scratcher for me.

CSC_0029.jpg
 
thecharioteer said:
Ah, the Biltmore.....
Click to expand...

Brilliant, thanks for those photos charioteer! I have soooo many great memories inside that place watching the wild, the weird and the wonderful (and seeing movies too!). Aside from the Uptown which was the best cinema on Yonge St. downtown I think I miss the Biltmore most. Perhaps the Yonge/Elgin too but the Biltmore changed their program every week and offered 3 or 4 movies, where the Yonge usually only offered one or two movies, depending on the program and they sometimes played their programs for two or more weeks. Many, many great movie memories at the Imperial Six too, but it wasn't a grindhouse.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Brilliant, thanks for those photos charioteer! I have soooo many great memories inside that place watching the wild, the weird and the wonderful (and seeing movies too!). Aside from the Uptown which was the best cinema on Yonge St. downtown I think I miss the Biltmore most. Perhaps the Yonge/Elgin too but the Biltmore changed their program every week and offered 3 or 4 movies, where the Yonge usually only offered one or two movies, depending on the program and they sometimes played their programs for two or more weeks. Many, many great movie memories at the Imperial Six too, but it wasn't a grindhouse.
Click to expand...

I'm reminded by your comments that up until 1970 or so; many movie theatres would have 'Continuous Shows'. I'm not talking about the 3 or 4 movies a la Rio, here. This was the practice of re-running the same movie again with only a 20 minutes or so break. This meant that you could just sit and see the movie again. If I'm not mistaken this was even done for first run films.

Anyways, I love the new multiplexes of today with their larger seats, greater leg room and better facilities.
 
Then and Now for Dec 16.


Then. Yonge and Hayden, NE corner, c1921. A handsome little bank. Just conjecture but I believe it survived up until the demolition of this block for the present development, although our handsome bank was by then hidden under siding. Can anyone confirm? Thanks to wwwebster for another rare picture.

YongeHaydenNEc1921.jpg



Now. July 2011. 'One Bloor East' is underway.

CSC_0028.jpg
 
Mustapha said:
I'm reminded by your comments that up until 1970 or so; many movie theatres would have 'Continuous Shows'. I'm not talking about the 3 or 4 movies a la Rio, here. This was the practice of re-running the same movie again with only a 20 minutes or so break. This meant that you could just sit and see the movie again. If I'm not mistaken this was even done for first run films.

Anyways, I love the new multiplexes of today with their larger seats, greater leg room and better facilities.
Click to expand...

That was still happening in the '70's when, as a kid/young teenager I started hitting the legit downtown cinemas like Uptown, Imperial Six, Yonge/Elgin etc. They'd have short breaks between screenings (where they'd run five or six shows a day, depending on the running time) and I'd see people come in perhaps half way through a movie then sit through the short 15-20 minute break between screenings and presumably watch the movie to where they first came in. I never understood how someone could watch a movie that way! The Eaton Centre Cineplex broke that policy when it opened in '79 vowing not to allow that to happen, and they didn't for the first few years but it soon changed and became the same as the other cinemas.
Growing up in Scarborough and going to the Golden Mile, Elaine, Don Mills, Cedarbrae, Bijou cinemas & such I don't recall seeing that happening, but then they only ran two shows a night, except on weekends & holidays and the showtimes were more spaced out.
I like the leg room in the new cinemas, the sound systems, the new digital projection systems (in some cinemas) but the auditoriums themselves are boring, featureless and depressing. I miss curtains, intermission music instead of on screen adverting, the big marquee signs out front, the grand lobby's of the old cinema palaces, well behaved audiences (no talking/seat kicking/cell phones going off/texting etc.) and the sense that going to the movies when I was younger was really an event. I don't feel that at all today, to me everything is too hard on my head, too busy and noisy. There's several films I want to see that are just coming out now and in the next few weeks, but I'll wait until the crowds die down in January and catch them then on weekday matinees to avoid the crowds. Maybe it's my age, though as I say I do embrace some of the improvements in going to the movies.
 
Mustapha said:
Then and Now for Dec 16.


Then. Yonge and Hayden, NE corner, c1921. A handsome little bank. Just conjecture but I believe it survived up until the demolition of this block for the present development, although our handsome bank was by then hidden under siding. Can anyone confirm? Thanks to wwwebster for another rare picture.

YongeHaydenNEc1921.jpg
Click to expand...
this was a beer store for quite a while
 
Mustapha said:
Then. Yonge and Hayden, NE corner, c1921. A handsome little bank. Just conjecture but I believe it survived up until the demolition of this block for the present development, although our handsome bank was by then hidden under siding. Can anyone confirm?
Click to expand...

Not sure if it was a reno or a total rebuild, but its latter-day appearance was as a 1960s patterned-concrete-black-screen affair. Doubtful that any substantive detail remained beneath.
 
Mustapha said:
Has anyone been to the new Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws yet? There's bits and pieces left over from the old Gardens incorporated into the new store. It's a very nice grocery store too.


DSC_0517-1.jpg
Click to expand...

About that mural, I'm a bit confused. The plaque calls him John Russell Richmond, then refers to him as Richard. So did anyone vet this plaque before it went up?
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
That was still happening in the '70's when, as a kid/young teenager I started hitting the legit downtown cinemas like Uptown, Imperial Six, Yonge/Elgin etc. They'd have short breaks between screenings (where they'd run five or six shows a day, depending on the running time) and I'd see people come in perhaps half way through a movie then sit through the short 15-20 minute break between screenings and presumably watch the movie to where they first came in. I never understood how someone could watch a movie that way! The Eaton Centre Cineplex broke that policy when it opened in '79 vowing not to allow that to happen, and they didn't for the first few years but it soon changed and became the same as the other cinemas.
Growing up in Scarborough and going to the Golden Mile, Elaine, Don Mills, Cedarbrae, Bijou cinemas & such I don't recall seeing that happening, but then they only ran two shows a night, except on weekends & holidays and the showtimes were more spaced out.
I like the leg room in the new cinemas, the sound systems, the new digital projection systems (in some cinemas) but the auditoriums themselves are boring, featureless and depressing. I miss curtains, intermission music instead of on screen adverting, the big marquee signs out front, the grand lobby's of the old cinema palaces, well behaved audiences (no talking/seat kicking/cell phones going off/texting etc.) and the sense that going to the movies when I was younger was really an event. I don't feel that at all today, to me everything is too hard on my head, too busy and noisy. There's several films I want to see that are just coming out now and in the next few weeks, but I'll wait until the crowds die down in January and catch them then on weekday matinees to avoid the crowds. Maybe it's my age, though as I say I do embrace some of the improvements in going to the movies.
Click to expand...

I miss the curtains too! Big red velvet ones that would sweep (well, slide) open when the movie was to start.

I used to live just a 5 min walk to Elaine. Lol. I remember seeing a few movies there and I remember when it closed down. For the longest time it had 'Surf Nazis 2' or something (was it Surf Party Massacre 2? Something with 2 in it). Lol. Golden Mile is where I saw my first movie, apparently. But, I was only 3 years old, so I don't remember.
 
Then and Now for Dec 19.


Then. 318 Yonge circa 1910. A wwwebster sourced picture. Our downtown Yonge street buildings/shops... if you go far back enough, before age and the turnover of repetitive makeovers and demolitions took their toll, our 'main drag' was pretty, handsome, dignified even.

318Yongec1910.jpg



Now. July 2011.

CSC_0041.jpg
 
Now and Then for Dec. 20.


Then. 'Prest-o-lite Building'. Elm and Centre Avenues, NE corner c1919. A wwwebster picture.

ElmCentreAveNEc1919.jpg



Now. July 2011. Elm still exists of course, but Centre now ends a block to the south. Various university and Sick Childrens hospital buildings have eliminated our intersection, as well as this old manufacturing plant. Prestolite is still in the automotive electrics business - I haven't researched it but I wonder if they still have Canadian based manufacturing? The present building looks to be about 50 years old.

CSC_0036.jpg
 
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