Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[BeeRich]

<snip>
http://www.pinet.on.ca/peeldiglib/Page.asp?PageID=3949

Amazing map. So at the top right, is St. Clair Avenue at Yonge. The "Good Water Supply" is the David Balfour Park, which is a water system at the top of the hill. I grew up there for 30 years (I am still growing up) since I was 8 years old.

The bridge, which was mere feet from our house on Inglewood, is not there yet. Avoca is there, down to Rosehill, and it has a valley road going across to the East side, branching off at Pleasant Blvd. This route has been continued by the Parks department. It's the only paved access route to the bottom of that ravine. Questionable stuff happens down there.

I had several bike routes around the Brickworks and Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, which took me up this road. One hilly bastard, but a great way to finish a ride. But I had no clue it was an old way of getting across the valley.

When that bridge was originally built, there was an access bridge (from the map, probably the same route) heading SW from Inglewood & St. Clair, while the bridge construction happened. My Dad had a picture of that. In fact, it was taken from a height that is quite strange. How they got that high back then, baffles me.

Oh you'll never guess what I just found.

 

[donoreo]

They were trying to hide the Dixie Cup. They failed.

No, a Lilly cup!

 

[Anna]

When that bridge was originally built, there was an access bridge (from the map, probably the same route) heading SW from Inglewood & St. Clair, while the bridge construction happened. My Dad had a picture of that. In fact, it was taken from a height that is quite strange. How they got that high back then, baffles me.

Oh you'll never guess what I just found.

View attachment 7799

That was the original bridge from Pleasant across the valley. There are lots of photos of it on the Archives site.

http://wholemap.com/map/index.php?pin=TORARCHV-312

 

[DSC]

Oh you'll never guess what I just found./QUOTE]

There are other pictures of the rebuilding of the St Clair street bridge, maybe very early in this thread. You may note the railing of the old bridge, it is still in use, as the railing along the east side of Avoca Avenue running south from the 'new' bridge towards the path that leads down to the ravine.

 

[BeeRich]

That was the original bridge from Pleasant across the valley. There are lots of photos of it on the Archives site.

http://wholemap.com/map/index.php?pin=TORARCHV-312

Anna, you rock! I used to have my adventures down in that ravine (the childhood type). I'm going to check out that blog as well.

While we lived there, in the past 10 years, the main St. Clair bridge was redone as well, taking out the bike lanes. So very Rob Ford.

 

[BeeRich]

Oh you'll never guess what I just found./QUOTE]

There are other pictures of the rebuilding of the St Clair street bridge, maybe very early in this thread. You may note the railing of the old bridge, it is still in use, as the railing along the east side of Avoca Avenue running south from the 'new' bridge towards the path that leads down to the ravine.

Oh yes! I thought I recognized that. Wouldn't want to drive over that bridge though.

 

[Long Island Mike]

This classic stone house was preserved and renovated...and it looks good!

This one is 147 years old - and the following, 144.

Goldie: This is a neat comparison picture-back in 1982 this solidly-built stone house
could have been abandoned or torn down but it was saved and looks even better today!

I like stone and brick construction in particular because it is solid and built to last...

LI MIKE

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for Sep 13.


Then. Queen and Carlaw, 1982, looking west along Queen. Picture sourced by Valshere.

More than a few overhead wires here for moe45673 to admire.

Now. June 2011.

 

[moe45673]

No wonder I get nostalgic. I was actually alive in 1982 (albeit 1)! When did they stop being such a part of the city?

Btw, it's not so much the wires as the posts and wires together. I don't know what it is but the only times I went downtown (where these kinds of wires appeared more frequently) as a small boy were with my folks on special family trips (baseball games at the Ex, Centre Island, etc) so it holds meaning.

 

[Paleo]

No wonder I get nostalgic. I was actually alive in 1982 (albeit 1)! When did they stop being such a part of the city?

Btw, it's not so much the wires as the posts and wires together. I don't know what it is but the only times I went downtown (where these kinds of wires appeared more frequently) as a small boy were with my folks on special family trips (baseball games at the Ex, Centre Island, etc) so it holds meaning.

I especially like the "now" picture where you can clearly see they put in a new metal pole but the old one from 30 years ago is still there.

Toronto Hydro or whoever really needs to be taken to task for this. I'll bet the new pole has been in place for several years in all probability.

 

[Mustapha]

No wonder I get nostalgic. I was actually alive in 1982 (albeit 1)! When did they stop being such a part of the city?

Btw, it's not so much the wires as the posts and wires together. I don't know what it is but the only times I went downtown (where these kinds of wires appeared more frequently) as a small boy were with my folks on special family trips (baseball games at the Ex, Centre Island, etc) so it holds meaning.

It's amazing how long some aspects of the streetscape stay with us. thecharioteer showed us a c1900 picture of overhead wires like this a few pages back; here it is in 1982 and nothing superficially has changed. In the year you were born rotary dial phones were still in service, and many customer service organizations still had live operators to assist rotary users. I remember calling City Hall or something and automated prompts like: 'if you do not have a touch tone phone please stay on the line and an operator will assist you'; or similar. Actually, I do believe the term 'touch tone phone' has long passed into - ahem - the past.

 

[Mustapha]

I especially like the "now" picture where you can clearly see they put in a new metal pole but the old one from 30 years ago is still there.

Toronto Hydro or whoever really needs to be taken to task for this. I'll bet the new pole has been in place for several years in all probability.

Paleo, perhaps they were put in place by different agencies: one by Hydro as you mention; another by Bell. More poles means more space for those glue backed flyers.


Does anyone here know if the City of Toronto hires people to scrape ads/posters off hydro poles? On rare occasions I see someone doing this and I've always wondered if they were hired to do it or if they were doing it out of some self sense of civic clean up duty.

 

[Goldie]

I do believe the term 'touch tone phone' has long passed into - ahem - the past.

The term may be 'old hat' these days but Bell still charges an extra fee for it. When will we demand that such an outdated fee be discontinued?

 

[thecharioteer]

It's amazing how long some aspects of the streetscape stay with us. thecharioteer showed us a c1900 picture of overhead wires like this a few pages back; here it is in 1982 and nothing superficially has changed. In the year you were born rotary dial phones were still in service, and many customer service organizations still had live operators to assist rotary users. I remember calling City Hall or something and automated prompts like: 'if you do not have a touch tone phone please stay on the line and an operator will assist you'; or similar. Actually, I do believe the term 'touch tone phone' has long passed into - ahem - the past.

Hey, I still remember when my parent's telephone exchange was Russell (i.e. RU=78) and my grandmother had a "party" line........

 

[Mustapha]

Hey, I still remember when my parent's telephone exchange was Russell (i.e. RU=78) and my grandmother had a "party" line........

My parents was Hudson (HU=48).

My grandmother's was Empire (EM=36).

Hard to believe that a phone number was once given out verbally as: 'Hudson8-****'. I suppose 'twitter' will one day seem old fashioned.