Re: Bloor Danforth subway 1966
Actually, I've noticed that there's a strange continuity with a lot of the photos I've seen in the collection. The built form of the city, in many cases, is virtually similar from then till now. The subway station photos are quite illustrative of this. With some of those you can get away with saying they are recent photos. Same for the streetscape shots. There is a set of photos of Eglinton looking east and west from Yonge in 1965 or so, and although the view east is somewhat different (no Union Carbide, etc.), the view west is striking for the very reason that it is virtually unchanged from the present. Even the streetlight poles are the very same ones that are still there. The New Look GM buses also provide some continuity as well because they're still in use. Even the photo above is an example. Leave aside the streetcar tracks and old cars for a moment. Picture yourself on that corner, eliminate all the clutter you'd find there now (posters, litter, newspaper boxes, etc.) and is the corner really that much different? There are entire series of photos taken along the Danforth, and again, the built form is remarkably intact. Substitute the streetcars and autos with those of today, take a similar picture, and you can see a strikingly intact lineage of built space. Very little has changed in many parts of the city over the last 40 years. Individual businesses are different, and the maintenance of the streetscape degraded to a degree, but someone who was transported from then to now would not, I think, be entirely shocked by what they would find around them.
