Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Mustapha]

thecharioteer's 'Edgewater' pictures.. I was studying the 'Milk Bar' next door. What I wouldn't give for an interior picture of that place. It was probably all 30s Deco like the outside.

I have a thing for 30s restaurant spaces. I miss Bassells and the Queen street Bay store basement lunch counter terribly.





Then and Now for March 15, 2013.




Then. May 28, 1912. 38 - 48 Elizabeth Street. 'New Registry Office Site.'

Now. September 2012. The Registry building came and went of course. Citizens of a modern Toronto gather here at Nathan Philips Square for culture, politics and music.

 

[Goldie]

This 1929 view shows the Registry Building and the surrounding area that was eventually demolished for the New City Hall (Osgoode Hall in the foreground).

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

thecharioteer's 'Edgewater' pictures.. I was studying the 'Milk Bar' next door. What I wouldn't give for an interior picture of that place. It was probably all 30s Deco like the outside.

I have a thing for 30s restaurant spaces. I miss Bassells and the Queen street Bay store basement lunch counter terribly.

I don't know if you had a chance to visit when the Ninth Floor was open at Eaton's in Montreal, if not I think you'd have loved it. It was spectacular, the food by the last few years not so much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaton's_Ninth_Floor

 

[Mustapha]

This 1929 view shows the Registry Building and the surrounding area that was eventually demolished for the New City Hall (Osgoode Hall in the foreground).

View attachment 10706

In Arlene Chan's new book, 'The Chinese in Toronto from 1878' there is a 1940s era picture of a group of Chinese-Canadians posing for a group photo with the Registry Building steps as a background. It was provided to the author by one of our own here, another UTer. It's significant that the residents in this area were so proud of this building at that time. A great book too by the way.

 

[Mustapha]

I don't know if you had a chance to visit when the Ninth Floor was open at Eaton's in Montreal, if not I think you'd have loved it. It was spectacular, the food by the last few years not so much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaton's_Ninth_Floor

You're lucky to have experienced it. I never had the opportunity. If they opened even so much as a coffee shop in the Carlu I would be all over it.

 

[Mustapha]

What a nice original surprise photographic premier for us tonight.




Back on page 712 of the thread, Anna found some evocative pre-1956 [before Yonge was widened] Toronto Archives pictures of the York Mills area and posted them for us. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Yonge and York Mills pre-1956 was idyllic.

York Mills and Yonge in this area now present a modern public face onto the street - offices with condos intermixed.

However, in 1980 these Yonge street houses were poised on the edge of extinction.

UT-er 'Oldcamera' writes to me that: 'I felt an urgency to document these houses; as suddenly, the area was changing.'

So, he walked down Yonge between Lord Seaton Drive and York Mills in 1980 documenting away, and then stored his pictures in the proverbial shoebox.

This week they have been scanned and tonight we present them to you. I have reused a couple of Anna's Then pictures and paired them with Oldcamera's prescient captures.

Thank you Oldcamera!

 

[Goldie]

In Arlene Chan's new book, 'The Chinese in Toronto from 1878' there is a 1940s era picture of a group of Chinese-Canadians posing for a group photo with the Registry Building steps as a background. It was provided to the author by one of our own here, another UTer. It's significant that the residents in this area were so proud of this building at that time. A great book too by the way.

I'm sure many of us would like to see that '1940s group photo.'
Has it previously been posted to UT?

 

[Mustapha]

I'm sure many of us would like to see that '1940s group photo.'
Has it previously been posted to UT?

Good morning Goldie,

Yes you all would.

No it hasn't.

Here it is. Link to the book courtesy of the contributor of the photo to the book. Scroll down a bit to see the picture.


http://books.google.ca/books?id=ZnH...=people from Hester How PS in Toronto&f=false



.

 

[Goldie]

Wow! That's a wonderful photo and a great piece of Toronto history.
Thanks for sharing, Mustapha.

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for March 18, 2013.




Then. 'Elizabeth at Albert, looking north. Sep 27, 1930.' That's the Registry Building on the left. Great cars. A vanished Chinatown neighbourhood...

Now. August 2013. Nathan Philips Square in front of New City Hall.

 

[hogdust]

Love seeing old Photo's of North York. 1980 is the year I moved to Toronto from Germany. From 1980 to 2003 I lived in the North York area and have seen the huge changes that have happened over that time. I can't recall there being Houses on Yonge street south of the 401 to York Mills, but I was only 14 at the time.

 

[barit]

Did they really tear down C.W. Jefferys' house?

 

[nostalgic]

The house is still there, a heritage property... sold just over a year ago for $1.2 million. At the time there was an article about the house in the local newspaper.

http://www.mytowncrier.ca/cw-jefferys-home-sold-by-family.html

The old photos of the houses along Yonge St. north of York Mills are a great, sad collection. I only remember run-down houses (except the Jefferys house was never run down) facing a busy road (four lanes by the '50s with 401 at the top of the hill).

 

[themarc]

The house is still there, a heritage property... sold just over a year ago for $1.2 million. At the time there was an article about the house in the local newspaper.

http://www.mytowncrier.ca/cw-jefferys-home-sold-by-family.html

The old photos of the houses along Yonge St. north of York Mills are a great, sad collection. I only remember run-down houses (except the Jefferys house was never run down) facing a busy road (four lanes by the '50s with 401 at the top of the hill).

I grew up in that neighborhood during the 70's and early 80's - even went to York Mills Public School. It was a pretty amazing neighborhood to grow up in.

 

[nostalgic]

When I was in grades 7 and 8 (late '50s) our class was bussed down to York Mills PS for cooking (tomato soup and butterscotch tea biscuits were highlights) and sewing classes (apron, embroidered guest towel, and a sleeveless shirt with collar that I hated). I suppose the boys did "shop." We were also bussed to the RCAF building (that was previously the Eglinton Hunt Club), on Avenue Rd north of Eglinton, for swimming lessons in an old, cold pool that gave me a lifelong dislike of swimming.