Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

[bearcat]

Appreciate your research into this! Are you able to post those old floor plans?

Both are linked in this article: https://stevemunro.ca/2007/11/18/the-original-connection-to-union-station/ I mentioned in an earlier post.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Someone posted this very interesting page on Reddit, it’s a bunch of stories and photos of unseen and abandoned areas inside Union Station in the 90’s: http://infiltration.org/utility-union.html

Crazy that this abandoned hallway was just allowed to flood like this, yikes!

View attachment 597966

I miss you Ninjalicious!

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

You're talking about the mystery tunnel? Was it later replaced with the leather shop retail unit then? Or commuters lounge?

And the Royal York connection was on the west side of Front St Promenade, I think where the greenhouse juice store is.

IIRC it was behind the tiny pizza shop that was just east of the commuters lounge, across the hall from the LCBO and west of the convenience store/McD that were through a set of doors.

 

[bearcat]

IIRC it was behind the tiny pizza shop that was just east of the commuters lounge, across the hall from the LCBO and west of the convenience store/McD that were through a set of doors.

I am struggling to find photos of that area from the 90's and 2000's on the internet. This was also the area where the "leather shop bypass" was more recently I think. I wonder if anyone has photos of this "leather shop" or this "pizza shop" mentioned here.

I did find a photo of the Commuters Lounge, which I think was just west of the old entrance to the tunnel to the subway and the "leather shop bypass".

https://flic.kr/p/9WwyKs

P.S. If this is too off topic for this thread, maybe somebody can point me to a more appropriate thread.

 

[Willybru21]

P.S. If this is too off topic for this thread, maybe somebody can point me to a more appropriate thread.

This is Union Station related I think it’s appropriate! I love seeing photos like this of Union pre-revitalisation, there isn’t many photos of areas besides the Bay Concourse and Great Hall.

 

[evandyk]

That's definitely how it looked when I came to Toronto for my first summer job in 2000. I lived with a friend in Mississauga, so passed through Union a lot.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

I am struggling to find photos of that area from the 90's and 2000's on the internet. This was also the area where the "leather shop bypass" was more recently I think. I wonder if anyone has photos of this "leather shop" or this "pizza shop" mentioned here.

I did find a photo of the Commuters Lounge, which I think was just west of the old entrance to the tunnel to the subway and the "leather shop bypass".

https://flic.kr/p/9WwyKs

P.S. If this is too off topic for this thread, maybe somebody can point me to a more appropriate thread.

Gosh I can't remember the name of that pizza place, "grab a slice"? "pizza on the go"? But yes it was definitely one or two units to the right of the commuters lounge in the photo above. It was literally a 4 foot hole in the wall that you would order slices from. I want to say it was a former leather goods/repair shop but I don't remember for sure.

A cursory search on this forum has the term "Leather Shop Bypass" first show up in 2016, and god did this community give it it's name??? I know there were dozens of photos taken prior to the GO Concourse shutting down but I haven't been able to find any of the pizza shop/leather shop bypass.

Also I can't believe this thread has been around since May of 2005. Almost 20 yrs!!!

 

[Art Vandelay]

I am struggling to find photos of that area from the 90's and 2000's on the internet. This was also the area where the "leather shop bypass" was more recently I think. I wonder if anyone has photos of this "leather shop" or this "pizza shop" mentioned here.

I did find a photo of the Commuters Lounge, which I think was just west of the old entrance to the tunnel to the subway and the "leather shop bypass".

https://flic.kr/p/9WwyKs

P.S. If this is too off topic for this thread, maybe somebody can point me to a more appropriate thread.

I would love to see pictures of Union Station before the construction of the new Go Concourses. In particular a picture of Choo Choo's.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

I am struggling to find photos of that area from the 90's and 2000's on the internet. This was also the area where the "leather shop bypass" was more recently I think. I wonder if anyone has photos of this "leather shop" or this "pizza shop" mentioned here.

I did find a photo of the Commuters Lounge, which I think was just west of the old entrance to the tunnel to the subway and the "leather shop bypass".

https://flic.kr/p/9WwyKs

P.S. If this is too off topic for this thread, maybe somebody can point me to a more appropriate thread.

That was such a great bar, miss those dank little places that were cheap as hell and low-key.

 

[Richard White]

I am struggling to find photos of that area from the 90's and 2000's on the internet. This was also the area where the "leather shop bypass" was more recently I think. I wonder if anyone has photos of this "leather shop" or this "pizza shop" mentioned here.

I did find a photo of the Commuters Lounge, which I think was just west of the old entrance to the tunnel to the subway and the "leather shop bypass".

https://flic.kr/p/9WwyKs

P.S. If this is too off topic for this thread, maybe somebody can point me to a more appropriate thread.

I remember when I had a customary drink with the Late Derek Boles here after one of his Union Station tours.

He used to use the a portion of the tour revenue for a beer after the tours.

That's one thing I miss is the tours of Union Station. Unfortunately most (if not all) of the spaces we went into are now being used by Metrolinx. I distinctly recall going to the 4th floor and seeing doors marked CN Intermodal and going into an office overlooking York Street now used by the CEO of Metrolinx.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

It looks like @drum118 's photo stream get's closest to showing the area being discussed.

I'll post the photos now and annotate them later when I have some time.

 

[Richard White]

I took this tunnel once and it was somewhat impractical.

It let you out into a random corner of the Royal York Basement and quite honestly, it would have been faster to walk out the front door of the station. It was useful at one point but I can see why it was not restored.

 

[Willybru21]

This is a video of what the Bay Concourse and Front Street Promenade area looked like on their final day:

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

I took this tunnel once and it was somewhat impractical.

It let you out into a random corner of the Royal York Basement and quite honestly, it would have been faster to walk out the front door of the station. It was useful at one point but I can see why it was not restored.

Yeah I did the same thing years ago. I believe that basement was some sort of retail level for the Royal York that fell into disuse. Also keep in mind that the entrance is on the 'arrivals' level of Union Station, so I can see the tunnel being seen as a convenient protected connection for arriving train passengers to access the hotel (protected from both the elements and Front St. traffic) back in the days when rail travel was a thing in Canada.

 

[bearcat]

Yeah I did the same thing years ago. I believe that basement was some sort of retail level for the Royal York that fell into disuse. Also keep in mind that the entrance is on the 'arrivals' level of Union Station, so I can see the tunnel being seen as a convenient protected connection for arriving train passengers to access the hotel (protected from both the elements and Front St. traffic) back in the days when rail travel was a thing in Canada.

I also dropped by Royal York on the weekend to try and find the other end of the tunnel. I believe it's this, but can't be certain.

On the diagram of the retail basement level, in red is roughly where the photo was taken, and in blue is an unlabeled area which I believe is the tunnel entrance.