What I Miss About Toronto In 60's

[MisterF]

Looking at this image of 1960s Toronto, you can see the lost chance to build parkland instead of a condo wall on the lakefront, and perhaps a huge urban park to the right of University Ave. The green space in front of City Hall should have been kept.

That land was all privately owned. The city would have had to spend a fortune to buy it all to make it parkland. The "condo wall" is a neighbourhood that makes getting to the waterfront more pleasant than it ever was with the railway wall that was there before, created a pedestrian friendly boulevard with shops on the ground floor along the waterfront, and has the added benefit of screening the Gardiner. There's also more public space there than there was in the 60s. It's no different from what exists in other high rise cities like New York or Chicago or Sydney or Singapore.

 

[Admiral Beez]

It's no different from what exists in other high rise cities like New York or Chicago or Sydney or Singapore.

Fair points. But I have to say I envy how Chicago did not go the condo wall route with their waterfront.

 

[MisterF]

Oh but they did.

http://www.geomarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/chicago-skyline-day-high-res-640x315.jpg

Apart from Grant Park, in most of downtown Chicago the highrises go almost right to the water. The experience of being on the water in the Mag Mile area is pretty dismal, dominated by the highway. Toronto's "wall of condos" is what prevents its waterfront from being similarly dominated by the Gardiner and allows it to be a real neighbourhood. I think most people who lament the "wall" are probably drivers on the Gardiner.

Toronto's opportunity for something like Grant Park was lost when the railways were built there. Given its state in the 1960s, I think the city has done a decent job with the waterfront, connecting it to the rest of the city, and creating new parks. The quality and diversity of the architecture could be better though.

 

[Johnny Au]

At least there's still the Toronto Islands.

Even if condo development were permitted, the soft sandy soil of the islands won't support the condos' weight.

Oh, and the islands are very low-lying (right down to them being Toronto's lowest point of land), which we have seen last year.

 

[junctionist]

Fair points. But I have to say I envy how Chicago did not go the condo wall route with their waterfront.

The second photo is dated. It looks far more interesting today with Southcore and Cityplace. Though there's less parkland, there are unique landmarks like the CN Tower, Skydome, and Harbourfront Centre that don't have any analogues in the Chicago photo.

 

[lrookies]

Looking at this image of 1960s Toronto, you can see the lost chance to build parkland instead of a condo wall on the lakefront, and perhaps a huge urban park to the right of University Ave. The green space in front of City Hall should have been kept.

That is where the Sheraton is now...I wish they had left it as green space too. My wife and I used to spend our anniversary weekend there in Decembers. Now its so expensive there is no way...$400 for a hotel room for the night...really????

 

[Transportfan]

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

Nope. Because most people didn't belong to unions, and rightly resented the overpaid and underworked people that did.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Nope. Because most people didn't belong to unions, and rightly resented the overpaid and underworked people that did.

Go onto a construction site and tell the unionised guys that they’re underworked and overpaid. Several of my mates work in the trades (elevator mechanic, tower crane operator, mason, electrician) and most are unionized.

 

[kEiThZ]

As a UK-born, university-educated, healthy, able-bodied, white, male, heterosexual, married (to white woman) with kids, church-going, middle class home-owning, credit eschewing office guy who loves vintage motorcycles, I think the 1960s would have been idyllic for me. Not so much for everyone else.

Thanks for recognizing this.

 

[lrookies]

Nope. Because most people didn't belong to unions, and rightly resented the overpaid and underworked people that did.

This touches on what I don't miss from the 1960's:

Actually, Transportfan...I belonged to the Union and most of us were hard workers...and your characterization that Union workers are over-paid and underworked smacks of discrimination...Generalizations such as this are wrong. You don't know me. How do you know what my work habits were and whether or not I was overpaid... Over the years I have known many Union workers, non Union workers and management types. Some worked hard. Some didn't. Some were over-paid, some were over-worked. Some were enthusiastic, some were lazy.

I became a steward in my Union...Do you know why? Management abuse of employees...name-calling, verbal and yes, sexual harassment of employees, unfair and unreasonable discipline (my company wrote a guy up for being 37 seconds late...by the SUPERVISOR'S watch...I worked in the "field"...no office clock), nepotism, discrimination, sexist hiring practices and generally ignoring legally entitled rights of employees.

The sad part of the 1960's and into the 1970's was an idea by employers that employees were theirs to use and abuse. My involvement in the Union was to put an end to management abuse, and by the mid to late 1990's many of the Union's "suggestions" were formally adopted as policy...Some not willingly...many had to be forced on them by courts and tribunals...some of which I was in attendance for on behalf of my fellow workers...Union and Non Union as it turned out.. because even non Union employees benefitted from decisions won in these legal exercises. Even you. You're welcome.

As a result, laws were rewritten to protect ALL workers (You're welcome!!!) from employers abuses...documents such as the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Human Rights Act, Pay Equity, etc etc.

Oh and the next time you have to go to the doctor, remember this: The idea of Universal Health Care came from a Union Supporter...Tommy Douglas. Its not just Union members that benefitted from the work of Unions. You're welcome!

The history lesson is free...no charge...wouldn't want you to think I was over-paid for my work here.

 

[Johnny Au]

The 1960s was never a good time to have autism.

It took decades for autism to be recognized as a disability to be protected (and even today in Ontario, those with autism are still discriminated against).

 

[Michael1985]

I lived my childhood through the 80s and 90s. I can't even picture Toronto without mass crowds and over sized buildings!

 

[lrookies]

I lived my childhood through the 80s and 90s. I can't even picture Toronto without mass crowds and over sized buildings!

Michael1985...before the days of Sunday shopping you could walk down the middle of Bloor Street near Spadina on a Sunday fairly safely (sidestepping the occasional car)....

But only after 1966...Before then, you might have been hit by a PCC streetcar...the Bloor Danforth subway opened in 1966 negating the need for streetcars on Bloor.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Michael1985...before the days of Sunday shopping you could walk down the middle of Bloor Street near Spadina on a Sunday fairly safely (sidestepping the occasional car)....

But only after 1966...Before then, you might have been hit by a PCC streetcar...the Bloor Danforth subway opened in 1966 negating the need for streetcars on Bloor.

No amusements allowed on Sundays. No baseball on Sundays. The playgrounds were padlocked shut. No shopping on Sundays. But you did have the Sunday stops for buses and streetcars.

 

[Johnny Au]

No amusements allowed on Sundays. No baseball on Sundays. The playgrounds were padlocked shut. No shopping on Sundays. But you did have the Sunday stops for buses and streetcars.

...oh, and no newspapers on Sundays.

The G&M still doesn't publish a Sunday edition even to this day!

Because of the historical prohibition of the publishing of newspapers in Canada on Sundays, many Canadian newspapers carry Sunday comics sections on Saturdays, even to this day (and some Canadian newspapers with Sunday editions publish Saturday comics on Sunday).

Before comic strips were published on the Internet, Americans who live near the Canadian border sometimes subscribe to Canadian newspapers just to get the Sunday comics a day early.