Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Urban Shocker]

Request: Does anyone have 'Before' and 'After' views of the north-west corner of Logan and Riverdale? That block, between Riverdale and Withrow ( on the east side of Logan, too ), had a number of small commercial enterprises until fairly recently - I remember it in the mid-'70s - and there's a small house that's just gone up for sale there that was once a hairdressers. These small commercial clusters at intersections were quite common in the old city, but so many have been converted to residential.

 

[Goldie]

Withrow Park - 1912

Request: Does anyone have 'Before' and 'After' views of the north-west corner of Logan and Riverdale? That block, between Riverdale and Withrow ( on the east side of Logan, too ), had a number of small commercial enterprises until fairly recently - I remember it in the mid-'70s - and there's a small house that's just gone up for sale there that was once a hairdressers. These small commercial clusters at intersections were quite common in the old city, but so many have been converted to residential.

I don't have what you're looking for but perhaps this old photo (1912) of Withrow Park will interest you (and others).

 

[adma]

Though I'm as guilty as anyone in bemoaning the loss of all those blocks east of Yonge, south of Queen (particularly Toronto Street) as well as Financial District gems such as the Toronto Star and G&M Buildings, these pictures are a dose of much-needed cold water on my latent nostalgia. I'm not that old, but I do remember that parking garage, and like much of the area, it wasn't very pretty!

Though were that stuff a number of blocks to the west (and therefore out of financial-district range), it might well be within Margie Zeidler radar...

 

[Mustapha]

July 22 addition.



Kensington Market views.

 

[androiduk]

I see you're branching out a bit Mustapha. I like it. These simple street scenes get more interesting as time goes. It's great to look back on the fashionable clothes, shoes and hair styles of the time. Merci beaucoup.

 

[MattB]

I lived in and around Kensington for years and years ... it really hasn't changed all that much, gentrification fears notwithstanding. I do miss the live chickens ... they gave it that "European" feel and were great for pranks at U of T.

 

[thecharioteer]

Great pictures! Here are some from Kensington and the Ward from the '10's and 20's:

Bellevue Square:

Bellevue & College:

Horse and buggy, Kensington Market;

Market day:

Fish vendor:

Butcher shop:

The rag picker:

Children in the Ward:

Boys in front of movie theatre:

Chestnut Street:

Four children in the Ward:

 

[condovo]

Kind of sad that the Jews moved up the Bathurst corridor into deep suburbia. It's a pain for me to satisfy my knish fix. Today's 'King of Kensington' is 'King of Thornhill.' Thanks for the pics from the 'Old Country,' Charioteer.

 

[thecharioteer]

Kind of sad that the Jews moved up the Bathurst corridor into deep suburbia. It's a pain for me to satisfy my knish fix. Today's 'King of Kensington' is 'King of Thornhill.' Thanks for the pics from the 'Old Country,' Charioteer.

Yitz's at Eglinton and Avenue Road is not bad. Their knishes are not as good as those of my grandmother's, but then again no ones is.

 

[Mustapha]

What, no mention of United Dairy? Great cabbage rolls.

 

[thecharioteer]

Agreed, but (of course) no beef knishes at the Dairy. I do think they have potato ones though!

 

[Aaron]

Fascinating stuff. So sad is the rag picker.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Yitz's at Eglinton and Avenue Road is not bad. Their knishes are not as good as those of my grandmother's, but then again no ones is.

If there are better beef knishes downtown or midtown than Yitz's, I need to know! Yitz's knishes are as good today as in 1980 when I first tried one.

 

[Mustapha]

Hard to believe Chestnut street; Elizabeth street, etc. once hosted the Ward, then Chinatown, then 'renewal' and clearances in the 70s and now - pfff-t. Nothing left - lath and plaster workers cottages once dotted the east side of Chestnut - converted into storefronts. Wooden structures too, like you see in New Orleans. From Armoury to Dundas. Old Chinese bachelors eked out businesses from there. It was from them that I learned how to curse in Toisanese Chinese. I feel their ghosts when I walk through here - on my way to dim sum at Lai Wah Heen at the Metropolitan. Kidding. never been; cheaper on Spadina.




July 23 addition.

Dundas E, looking NNW, from about 100m E of Bathurst.

 

[LowPolygon]

those photos of the Ward reminded me how stunningly poor many immigrants were when they first arrived in the city. the conditions are hard to comprehend.