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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

barit said:
Well, I have fond memories of the place. Charton's Coins and Stamps were on the first floor in the 1970s. My friend and I would make regular trips to buy stamps.
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OMG, I was going to hold my tongue and not mention the same comment, after seeing the CityTV building photo. I'll amend a short comment -- I used to buy stamps at that shop around 1974-1976, and on weekend's at the "Old City Hall" (second floor, King St. location) in the 1970's. Of the very few memories which have remained in my brain, it was of the CityTV building's stamp shop. I always kept in mind that it was like "going into an old saloon, all dusty, old and ready to be torn down due to being condemned". I recall it had high white-washed ceilings with old lighting. Whether these memories are correct I don't know, but I think the stamp shop was at the most eastern side of the building along Queen West. About 4 years later I'd spend most of the next decade at Arkon and Active Surplus on Queen (just after they moved from Queen East), the latter which still exists (but not in the same "dusty and ancient" lower-level HQ).

Some added info: the guy who ran that stamp shop used to be a professional photographer, part of the PPOC association, then got into stamps. About 3-4 years ago I was attending one of those winter stamp shows in Toronto and had mentioned about this stamp guy, the "owner of the Queen St" shop (whose name alludes me right now). It was mentioned at the show that he passed away a few years ago.
 
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Mustapha said:
Given todays weather, you have to wonder what the builders were thinking. :)
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I'm sure I could find a suiting remark to make, especially in light of the current -30C weather but I'll leave that to others and Rob Ford to make :)

Just for the record, I'll chime in with my own comments. WWW-II put a damper on urban growth which then re-started a few years later after the war. Etobicoke and North York were the "new frontiers". Fortunately, this time around, young & smart professionals got involved with the urban planning in the late 40's and early 50's. Etobicoke, as we all know, was to be the first planned community in Canada. Things didn't start heating up until the 4-lane Hwy 27 was put in (1953-1956), called the "Golden Mile" in the newspapers of the day (as all the top-named industrial companies were setting up there, from Queen St. up to Dundas). Since this was all micro-planned, they decided to put in the first shopping mall in Canada, at Cloverdale. But (as the key point to my response), the population density was all but non-existent in your area + my area of middle Etobicoke. So, logically, they decided to put in the "new concept" of the outdoor strip mall, be it very small, with one main tenant (Dominion) and supporting stores (bread, child clothing, hardware, etc). There was immediate complaints in the newspaper about the ratio of parking spots, as no one envisioned the exponential population growth in middle Etobicoke (and around your area in North York). So, all early shopping malls (Cloverdale, Bayview, Dixie Mall) were outdoors since that was the natural progression from "Main Street USA", where stores (once) were all located. The golden age of the 1960s brought about a radical change in thinking across the board in all major North American cities (expressways, large centralized shopping malls, urban density, etc) - as part of that, the idea of the indoor shopping mall began to evolve and that brought us Square One (1970-1972), Sherway (planned in the early 60's but took to 1970-1972 to get past all the legal hurdles put forth from the owners of Cloverdale Mall) and then the covering-over of Cloverdale (somewhere around 1973-1974 from my memory -- a great time to be an urban construction aficionado like myself!).
 
Mustapha said:
Then. Firehall No. 6. This was located on the south side of Queen Street, just to the west of John.

It looks likely that it was long out of commission in this circa early 50s picture - even the motorized fire equipment of the 50s wouldn't have fit in that small place - I'm guessing once horse drawn equipment was obsolete so was No. 6.

The 'tower' is for drying hoses...

12111954FireHall6TorontoQueenStWssidewofJohnSt_zpsa3cd8271.jpg




Now. September 2013.

1212_zps34847467.jpg
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Had no idea about that Fire Hall at Queen and John. Thanks, Mustapha. Two more pics by Salmon from 1952 and 1954, the year of its demolition:

firehallqueen.jpg


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Edward's Photo of the Day today from Front Street was just begging for a Then and Now:

1923 (a little further east than Ed's shot):

frontsimcoe.jpg



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barit said:
Well, I have fond memories of the place. Charton's Coins and Stamps were on the first floor in the 1970s. My friend and I would make regular trips to buy stamps. We used to get a kick out of the streetcar driver at Yonge and Queen. He would bark "I'm only going to McCall Street!" and we always barked back "we know!" An added bonus: we used to dumpster dive behind the building and would pull out hundreds of dollars worth of used stamps on mail that a film distribution company in the building threw out.
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My coin place - I was a coin guy - was Arcade Coin and Stamps, inside the Arcade naturally. I was 'into' coins in the 60s and 70s so we're contemporaries. :)

Larry Becker - he, or perhaps his heirs - being the donator of much Toronto ephemera to the Toronto Archives - ran a coin and stamp place up at Yonge and Cranbrooke in the 60's and 70s.

There is a coin and stamp business at Square One Mall. It's been there since the opening of the mall back in the 70s.
 
lansd said:
I'm sure I could find a suiting remark to make, especially in light of the current -30C weather but I'll leave that to others and Rob Ford to make :)

Just for the record, I'll chime in with my own comments. WWW-II put a damper on urban growth which then re-started a few years later after the war. Etobicoke and North York were the "new frontiers". Fortunately, this time around, young & smart professionals got involved with the urban planning in the late 40's and early 50's. Etobicoke, as we all know, was to be the first planned community in Canada. Things didn't start heating up until the 4-lane Hwy 27 was put in (1953-1956), called the "Golden Mile" in the newspapers of the day (as all the top-named industrial companies were setting up there, from Queen St. up to Dundas). Since this was all micro-planned, they decided to put in the first shopping mall in Canada, at Cloverdale. But (as the key point to my response), the population density was all but non-existent in your area + my area of middle Etobicoke. So, logically, they decided to put in the "new concept" of the outdoor strip mall, be it very small, with one main tenant (Dominion) and supporting stores (bread, child clothing, hardware, etc). There was immediate complaints in the newspaper about the ratio of parking spots, as no one envisioned the exponential population growth in middle Etobicoke (and around your area in North York). So, all early shopping malls (Cloverdale, Bayview, Dixie Mall) were outdoors since that was the natural progression from "Main Street USA", where stores (once) were all located. The golden age of the 1960s brought about a radical change in thinking across the board in all major North American cities (expressways, large centralized shopping malls, urban density, etc) - as part of that, the idea of the indoor shopping mall began to evolve and that brought us Square One (1970-1972), Sherway (planned in the early 60's but took to 1970-1972 to get past all the legal hurdles put forth from the owners of Cloverdale Mall) and then the covering-over of Cloverdale (somewhere around 1973-1974 from my memory -- a great time to be an urban construction aficionado like myself!).
Click to expand...

That was succinct. Like a mini TED lecture. :) Thanks again.
 
thecharioteer said:
NW corner of York and Richmond:

1910 (York Street PS):

View attachment 21809

2014:

View attachment 21810

SW corner of York and Richmond:

1915:



2014:

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York Public School - I've never seen this image before. The school was beautifully detailed. The two people in the picture add just the right note of visual accessory; a student waiting for a friend; and a school teacher leaving. You can see blurs of people in motion to the left of the youngster, so this was a long exposure.

As a boy I remember my grandfather reminiscing about the York Street Chinatown. There aren't any online pictures sadly.

thanks thecharioteer.
 
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