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What I Miss About Toronto In 60's

Admiral Beez said:
Beauty, but don't chop British bikes! Yikes.

Here's mine, 1969 Triumph T100S 490cc.
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When I say "chop" I don't necessarily mean in the classic sense, at the time, the challenge was to put in a larger engine and gearbox. That may have required mods to the cradle. I don't know how it ended up, I lost contact with that crowd when I moved from home into a 'hippy' house, and 'dropped out'.
Admiral Beez said:
Beauty, but don't chop British bikes! Yikes.
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They were (at that time and in that condition, albeit God knows had we known then what we know now) otherwise scrap metal. I remember going to McBride's Bikes on Dundas for parts, and ogling the latest Nortons, Bonnies and Gold Stars.

Fortunately I got out of the motorcycle thing before I killed myself...

McBride's Bikes...now there's an institution to remember. The Junction just isn't the same with the awful looking Lego Castle that sits there now.

Of all the Brit bikes on display, half of them had an oil puddle under them of various amounts, albeit I believe the Nortons had much tighter tolerances and almost eliminated that problem. Of course, they cost more...

Btw: Is that 100S considered a 'Tiger' or some other name?
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Oh lord...the memories of HS in the early 90s. 25 cents chocolate chip cookies freshly baked at the cafeteria in the morning (2 + milk = breakfast); $1 medium fries with gravy, served with cheapo ketchup (and a buck more with grilled cheese). Sure beats packed lunch.

AoD
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Hah, the memories. There was always something cookin in the cafe. From what I recall, you had to get em treats before they ran out. I remember the few times my mom packed a sandwhich.. cold and soggy, bleh (in middle school). For high school, it was straight buying. And then after school, grab a $3.99 McDonald's comb, or several $0.69 tacos for a snack. Back when you could be a bottomless pit and not have to worry about anything. Now even eating 1 meal like that, there's a quota for it.
 
blixtex said:
Hah, the memories. There was always something cookin in the cafe. From what I recall, you had to get em treats before they ran out. I remember the few times my mom packed a sandwhich.. cold and soggy, bleh (in middle school). For high school, it was straight buying. And then after school, grab a $3.99 McDonald's comb, or several $0.69 tacos for a snack. Back when you could be a bottomless pit and not have to worry about anything. Now even eating 1 meal like that, there's a quota for it.
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I am trying really, really hard to remember if there was anything remotely healthy (i.e. green) on menu - and I can't remember any whatsoever. Not even dressing drenched salads. Surprised I survived cafeteria food relatively unscathed. But of course now they tell us browned fries may cause cancer :/

And yep, remember post-school fast-food as well. You'd put anything into your mouth those days...

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
I am trying really, really hard to remember if there was anything remotely healthy (i.e. green) on menu - and I can't remember any whatsoever. Not even dressing drenched salads. Surprised I survived cafeteria food relatively unscathed. But of course now they tell us browned fries may cause cancer :/

And yep, remember post-school fast-food as well. You'd put anything into your mouth those days...

AoD
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I remember the browned fries drowned in brown gravy, topped with some no name generic ketchup. That was the cafeteria's biggest seller.

We had salads made up in the cooler, small styrofoam bowls filled with chopped lettuce, one slice of tomato and cucumber. We would smother the salad in thick gooey ranch or thousand island dressing.

Breakfast was so cheap. I think was like $1.99 for bacon and eggs. All the classrooms located on the cafeteria floor smelled like bacon. mmm....bacon.
 
I miss the 3% sales tax (introduced by the Progressive Conservatives). With hindsight, the 3% was a dream.

Without it highways wouldn't have been widened or built, subways were built, health care was implemented, community collages and other post-education institutions were established, etc..

September 1, 1961 - March 31, 1966 3%

April 1, 1966 - April 30, 1973 5%

May 1, 1973 - April 7, 1975 7%

April 8, 1975 - December 31, 1975 5%

January 1, 1976 - April 10, 1978 7%

April 11, 1978 - October 7, 1978 4%

October 8, 1978 - May 1, 1988 7%

May 2, 1988 - July 1, 2010 8%

The Conservative Party governed Ontario from 1945 until 1984.​
 
As a kid, I was able to pick up discarded soft drink glass bottles to return them to the local convenience store for a refund (5¢ a bottle when it ended). Sometimes was able to get enough to watch a movie.

Too bad it was replaced by the current recycling program. See link.

bottles.jpg
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
I am trying really, really hard to remember if there was anything remotely healthy (i.e. green) on menu - and I can't remember any whatsoever. Not even dressing drenched salads. Surprised I survived cafeteria food relatively unscathed. But of course now they tell us browned fries may cause cancer :/

And yep, remember post-school fast-food as well. You'd put anything into your mouth those days...

AoD
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Here's the odd thing about that though. It wasn't until the next generation when the obesity problem started showing, or at at least showing itself as a very real problem. I could start listing the differences in sugar intake, fats, lack of exercise, etc, etc....except none of it really adds up.

The obesity epidemic should have started showing in the fifties. It didn't. Don't get me wrong, science hopefully is finally getting this right, but there's some massive factor missing in all of this.

Just Googled to make sure I've got this right, and evidently so, save that it started *even later* than I thought:
[The following is representative of many other hits)
When did the obesity epidemic start?
"Our research documents the emergence of the obesity epidemic among adolescents in the later half of the 1990s, and among young adults in 2000," said Hedwig Lee, who led the study while at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Jul 21, 2011
Epidemic of Obesity in U.S. Kids Began in Late '90s | Family Health ...
health.usnews.com/health-news/.../epidemic-of-obesity-in-us-kids-began-in-late-90s
Search for: When did the obesity epidemic start?
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I too ate along similar lines save for more fish in the diet (European immigrant) and retention of the boil water for vegetables into gravy stock, but sugar consumption was very high. So were starches, white bread, puddings, et al. We also watched a lot of TV.

So what's the missing factor? Anyone?

Edit to Add: Just catching up to The Admiral's comment:
Admiral Beez said:
Did anyone else notice that there were nearly zero fat people in that footage?
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Yeah. I can suggest a number of theories, genetic change taking time, etc....but none of them are very strong cases. Reading more links, they claim an accumulation of factors...it's still a weak case. Sure internet has had big influence on kids, but we watched as much TV back then as kids on their (claimed to be smart) phones, vid games, etc.

It doesn't add up.
 
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steveintoronto said:
So what's the missing factor? Anyone?

Edit to Add: Just catching up to The Admiral's comment:

Yeah. I can suggest a number of theories, genetic change taking time, etc....but none of them are very strong cases. Reading more links, they claim an accumulation of factors...it's still a weak case. Sure internet has had big influence on kids, but we watched as much TV back then as kids on their (claimed to be smart) phones, vid games, etc.

It doesn't add up.
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Perhaps another factor is the IDGAF outlook. People used to care about their appearance, and peer and societal conformity pressure was fierce.

As a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, a fat kid would have been picked on mercilessly and his parents would have reduced his food to counter it (in the feed biz we call the the Feed Conversion Ratio, or FCR). In the 1990s I wore a suit to work, always keeping myself well groomed and trim. Nowadays I work from home, wear jeans and may shave a few times a week.

Today, we celebrate the nonconformist, fat is no longer shameful, but a part of diversity to be embraced. It is odd though to be celebrating self harm. Would we have self cutting acceptance movements?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_acceptance_movement

My thoroughly state-indoctrinated school aged children would be aghast if I ever suggested a fat person had a issue, they'd probably report me to their teacher for reeducation, lol.
 
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There's the change in portion size too.

AIUI, fat cells are created when we're young, so if you can remain trim into adulthood, you're less likely to become mordidly obese.
 
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