What I Miss About Toronto In 60's

[W. K. Lis]

The 1950's and 1960's were the height of television antennas on the rooftops (pointing towards Buffalo) and 300-ohm twin-lead wires down to the television set (singular).

And we had to sometimes add another antenna (small one pointing towards someplace called Agincourt) to get a clearer picture from the brand new Canadian television station called the CTV Television Network around 1961 (channel 9 on January 1, 1961 in Toronto)!! See link.

 

[Johnny Au]

The 1950's and 1960's were the height of television antennas on the rooftops (pointing towards Buffalo) and 300-ohm twin-lead wires down to the television set (singular).

And we had to sometimes add another antenna (small one pointing towards someplace called Agincourt) to get a clearer picture from the brand new Canadian television station called the CTV Television Network around 1961 (channel 9 on January 1, 1961 in Toronto)!! See link.

More specifically, the Buffalo-based television stations have their reception primarily from Grand Island (more specifically near the Fantasy Island amusement park if I remember), perhaps because Grand Island is on higher elevation and is the municipality within Erie County closest to Toronto; many Buffalo-based stations relied on Torontonians for their survival.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Most of the rooftop antennas had to be grounded, either to a water pipe or grounding rod into the earth. It was to create a pathway for lightning strikes. Without it, lightning will follow the pipes and/or wiring inside the houses.

Same reason satellite dishes should be grounded.

 

[lrookies]

Most of the rooftop antennas had to be grounded, either to a water pipe or grounding rod into the earth. It was to create a pathway for lightning strikes. Without it, lightning will follow the pipes and/or wiring inside the houses.

Same reason satellite dishes should be grounded.

The last one kinda reminds me of a restaurant on Queen Street back in the early 1990's when I was a meter reader for Consumers Gas (now Enbridge). They grounded their rooftop satellite disc to the gas meter...not terribly smart, if you ask me.

 

[lrookies]

This is the house I grew up in at 478 Huron Street. It is known as the George C. Pidgeon House, donated to Bloor Street United Church in the 1950's...my Dad was the caretaker at the church from 1959 to 1992. We moved there in 1963 and my parents moved out in 1992 when my Dad retired. The bottom floor was a nursery school and we lived in the 2nd and 3rd floors. It was a house filled with warm family memories and love. After my parents moved out in '92, it was converted to offices...the United Church Observer had offices there. Recently they moved out. My wife and I were near there on Saturday April 01, 2017 and decided to have a look...the house now is an office to 4 different businesses (according to the note on the front door). Sadly it is starting to show its age and is deteriorating....the rot is showing around those big bay windows and the outside upper areas of the house (clearly visible in the photo) Unfortunately, Bloor Street United Church does not have the funds to restore it, which ultimately may spell its eventual doom. All things change, I guess.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The last one kinda reminds me of a restaurant on Queen Street back in the early 1990's when I was a meter reader for Consumers Gas (now Enbridge). They grounded their rooftop satellite disc to the gas meter...not terribly smart, if you ask me.

With a lot of the formerly metal pipes being converted over to plastic or some other non-metal pipe, I can see that grounding rods will have to be more or more used. Hopefully, that is in the building codes, since the house's or building's electrical system also has to be grounded the same way.

 

[reggieintoronto]

This is a list of things that have changed from the 1960's in Toronto that I miss from my childhood (in no particular order). Am I being ridiculously sentimental? Did I miss anything|?

-The Eaton’s Window at Christmas
-The Simpson’s Window at Christmas
-The Eaton’s Santa Claus Parade
-Winston Churchill Park and my Dad taking us tobogganing on Sundays in winter
-Sam The Record Man on Yonge Street and Gould…69 cent singles (45 rpm vinyl singles)
-Sam The Record Man selling Beatle wigs for 1 shiny penny (circa 1964)
-Midtown Theatre Bloor and Bathurst (North East side)
-Alhambra Theatre Bloor and Bathurst (North West side)
-Kresge’s Lunch Counter, Bloor and Bathurst or Yonge and College
-Maple Leaf Gardens and my first NHL game there (Nov. 27, 1965; Boston 2 Leafs 1)
-Doug Laurie’s Sports where I bought my first hockey stick…fibre glass wrapped….$10
-Tamblyn’s Drug Store, N & N Supermarket, Varsity Restaurant and Meyers Cigar store, Bloor Street between Madison and Spadina
-The Barber Shop in the back of Meyers Cigar Store, Bloor and Madison
-The TV tube tester, Meyers Cigar Store
-1 cent candy at Meyers Cigar Store
-Bazooka Joe bubble gum for 1 cent, Bonamo Turkish Taffee (3 flavours), sponge toffee, and my brother’s love of “Black Balls” and Thrills Gum (my Mom used to describe as smelling like soap), red wax lips. Pixie Stix, Lickamaid, black pipe and cigar licorice, Popeye Candy Cigarettes, all sold at Meyers Cigar Store
-Old style Pepsi Cooler in Meyers Cigar Store
-Street washer/sprayer trucks on Huron Street
-Fire hydrants that filled the washer trucks; the kids used to line up in front of the hydrant at Huron near Lowther Ave on hot days and when the crew finished they would spray the kids from the water in the hydrants;
-PCC Street Cars rumbling across Bloor St till 1966 when Subway opened
-Soda shop on Bloor Street at Spadina
-A & W Drive in; Waitresses (that's what they were called) on roller skates hanging trays of food on car windows
-Canadian Tire Flagship Store on Yonge Street...clerks on roller skates, parking lot so steeply hilled, it was recommended you use your emergency brakes to keep your car from rolling downhill
-The CNE from the 1960’s
-CHUM booth at the CNE
-CHUM radio (Jay Nelson, Larry Solway, Bob McAdory etc.)
-CHUM Charts
-Bloor Street between Huron and Spadina Avenue
-Bloor Street United Church, 300 Bloor Street West (my Dad worked there 1959-1992)
-478 Huron Street…the home I grew up in (Now a United Church Observer office)
-Sundays at home in the 60’s…especially Sunday night TV…Ed Sullivan
-Most TV shows from the 1960’s
-2 Cent deposit on 10 ounce Pepsi bottles, long before championing the environment before it became fashionable to do so
-Philosophers Walk; tobogganing in the winter
-Huron Street Park Huron and Lowther in the winter; the city built an informal natural ice rink every winter (can't do that anymore; liabilities)

Anything else???

Fond memories of West Toronto in the 50s and 60s. My world was north of Bloor St between Lansdowne and Dufferin. Other things missed:
the Milkman (milk in quart glass bottles with cream on top);
the Breadman (Weston Bakeries stopped this in 1960);
the Toronto Telegram (pink cover on Wednesdays);
Popcorn carts (10 cents a bag)
Pool Halls (not as bad as people thought and they had big snooker tables, not the little billiard tables);
Saturday Kids Matinees at most theatres (10 cents admission);
Landsdowne and Academy Theatres (around the corner from each other at Lansdowne & Bloor);
the big and grand theatres like Lowe's Uptown, Eglinton, University and Imperial - all gone now;
Fish and Chips delivered to your home wrapped in newspaper;
5 and Dime Store;
free admission to Royal Ontario Museum - used to go there all the time;

and, probably from the 1950s:
Mr Peanut - large statue on truck came by at least once a month;
Ice Man - delivered ice to homes including mine;
Coal Man - delivered coal to homes including mine. He would be covered in soot when he dumped bags of coal though our basement window.

 

[lrookies]

Fond memories of West Toronto in the 50s and 60s. My world was north of Bloor St between Lansdowne and Dufferin. Other things missed:
the Milkman (milk in quart glass bottles with cream on top);
the Breadman (Weston Bakeries stopped this in 1960);
the Toronto Telegram (pink cover on Wednesdays);
Popcorn carts (10 cents a bag)
Pool Halls (not as bad as people thought and they had big snooker tables, not the little billiard tables);
Saturday Kids Matinees at most theatres (10 cents admission);
Landsdowne and Academy Theatres (around the corner from each other at Lansdowne & Bloor);
the big and grand theatres like Lowe's Uptown, Eglinton, University and Imperial - all gone now;
Fish and Chips delivered to your home wrapped in newspaper;
5 and Dime Store;
free admission to Royal Ontario Museum - used to go there all the time;

and, probably from the 1950s:
Mr Peanut - large statue on truck came by at least once a month;
Ice Man - delivered ice to homes including mine;
Coal Man - delivered coal to homes including mine. He would be covered in soot when he dumped bags of coal though our basement window.

Awesome list!

 

[Johnny Au]

The Toronto Telegram was a working class conservative paper.

However, it was much better than working class conservative papers today, including its successor, the Toronto Sun, by far.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The Toronto Telegram was a working class conservative paper.

However, it was much better than working class conservative papers today, including its successor, the Toronto Sun, by far.

I've never understood why working class papers are so against organized labour or the mob taking action to improve their lot.

 

[Johnny Au]

I've never understood why working class papers are so against organized labour or the mob taking action to improve their lot.

Easy: lack of post-secondary education

It's also why the Toronto Sun has such an excellent sports section (despite the rest of the paper being worse than toilet paper); this does not mean that professional sports are only popular with working class conservatives.

 

[lrookies]

Easy: lack of post-secondary education

It's also why the Toronto Sun has such an excellent sports section (despite the rest of the paper being worse than toilet paper); this does not mean that professional sports are only popular with working class conservatives.

LOL...Yes great sports section....and "worse than toilet paper (LMAO)" is absolutely true. But I can give you a list of 10 people that would never touch the Toronto Sun regardless of the sports section without 1 thing ...the Sunshine Girl.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I suppose had I been around in the 1960s I would have enjoyed being part of the more clearly defined English-UK culture, as opposed to being a POWP (Plain Old White People) in Canada today. As an uni-lingual, caucasian, English-born Canuck who's been here since the 1970s there really isn't an identifiable culture for me. Not that I ever sought one out, but I sometimes envy my pals with their Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, etc., and even Scottish ex-pat culture and activities that have no parallel for me. In the 1960s I imagine one knew what an English-Canuck was, though being a catholic I suppose the Orange Order wouldn't have attracted my family.

 

[old boy]

On my small street in the east end around Gerrard and Greenwood we had Irish, English, Scottish, Japanese, Estonian, and Italian families in the early 50's. I remember it fondly. I used to hear the horse-drawn milk wagon very early in the morning clip-clopping down the street. Also, I remember the popcorn carts and the knife sharpeners, and in all the neighbourhood parks there'd be public skating in the winter and baseball and soccer in the summer. Going to Cherry Beach or the Islands, or to High Park was an outing.

 

[LPCI]

The knife sharpener man pulling his wheel, ringing a handbell.
Please Walk on the Grass signs at the Islands.
A real cafeteria at Lawrence Park CI.
All the school doors were unlocked.
The neighbourhood mothers each had their own noisemaker to call you home for dinner.
Milk delivered to the milk hatch.
Doors were only locked at night.
Playing tag games all over everyone’s backyards.
Jumping of garage roofs.
Tree swing ropes in the ravines.