More Lost Toronto in colour

[LowPolygon]

a few more odds and sods from the 70's and 80's era…

NPS in better days. i'd forgotten how lovely the proportions of the concrete slabs were. also, the fact that there was a bridge over Queen connecting the Sheraton Centre with the upper walkway of the square...

pre Dundas Square Y and D in its dumpy glory. it was ugly--but it didn't overreach, unlike its present incarnation...

near Yonge and Shuter

i assume these are early 70's.

Market Square under construction

a new park

CN tower under construction. love that Duster!

gutted Queen's Quay Terminal in background

i'm guessing this is post-Star Wars

early Lady Gaga when she still shopped at Active Surplus

no, i have absolutely no idea

 

[Edward Skira]

Market Square opened in 82. Thanks for the shots. Amazing stuff. The St Lawrence area looked so empty compared to today.

 

[Stumack]

"...NPS in better days. i'd forgotten how lovely the proportions of the concrete slabs were. also, the fact that there was a bridge over Queen connecting the Sheraton Centre with the upper walkway of the square..."

The pedestrian bridge is still there - I honestly couldn't picture it either but Google Street View confirms.

 

[Strange Advance]

Keep 'em coming. I could look at these all day. As a child of the 1980s, I find them hypnotic.

Market Square opened in 82. Thanks for the shots. Amazing stuff. The St Lawrence area looked so empty compared to today.

According to its website ( www.marketsquarecondo.com ), it was completed in '84, so that pic must be '83 or so.

 

[Edward Skira]

You're right. Cornerstone says 1982.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

What a shock it is to see Nathan Phillips Square as it was then: well-maintained lawns and open areas, clutter-free, clean, and without an armada of ugly fast-food trucks parked in front of it on Queen. Its decline over the past thirty years is absolutely criminal.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Its decline over the past thirty years is absolutely criminal." QUOTE. fiendishlibrarian


Welcome to Toronto; you ain't seen noth'in yet!

Regards,
J T

 

[junctionist]

"Its decline over the past thirty years is absolutely criminal." QUOTE. fiendishlibrarian


Welcome to Toronto; you ain't seen noth'in yet!

Regards,
J T

Well beyond that a lot of the areas in those photos look much more polished today like the St. Lawrence area and Queen's Quay West.

 

[Urban Shocker]

What a shock it is to see Nathan Phillips Square as it was then: well-maintained lawns and open areas, clutter-free, clean, and without an armada of ugly fast-food trucks parked in front of it on Queen. Its decline over the past thirty years is absolutely criminal.

... though some sort of "temporary" stage was already parked on the Square, even then.

 

[Goldie]

Flatiron

Those wonderful old photos of the Front/Wellington area reminded me of this slide from my files - I love the Flatiron Bldg. - greatest historic artifact in Toronto!

 

[GenerationW]

a few more odds and sods from the 70's and 80's era…

I lived on Whopper Combos at that Burger King for a short time in the 80's. And survived!

Now I eat BK maybe once every two years.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Lost Toronto fron the 70s and 80s...good pics and memories...

Deepend: on 12/27 you posted pics from the era I regularly visited Toronto
and I recognize:

The good Nathan Phillips Square pics including one from City Hall's roof.

Those three Yonge Street pics definitely look like the late 70s/early 80s...

Over the Waterfront...

A Metro Police officer with the uniform of that era on Front Street E looking W toward the then-new CN Tower and Royal Bank Centre but that box truck partially blocks the Gooderham Flatiron Building with the Chevy Monte Carlo...
Ontario plate # JPV*411(1976 issue?) helps date this pic-1978 would be a good guess...

E end of Union Station looking W along with the mentioned Duster - Plate# BNE*661 there is a Chevy parked next to it AYN*639 with a Mercury Comet behind next to a Dodge with plate AFL*934 all original Ontario plate issuances from the mid 70s...those plates back to the 1973 permanent issue are still valid today...Ontario plates as some remember were painted (galvanized?) steel and Ontario's winters with the use of road salt took its toll on them...
-1975 is a guess here noticing the CN Tower still under construction.

The peanut vendor truck is interesting along with a BC front plate on that white VW in this pic...

Was that R2D2's next of kin S3E3 maybe?

That young lady looks better to me then Lady Gaga-she is obviously old enough today to be perhaps her mother...scary thoughts to me!

That fire was strange-where was it?

That truck crash on the Gardiner was a nasty one-so that's where all that Tide Detergent ended up...that road ended up being cleaned in more ways then one!

Observations from LI MIKE - P.S. Happy New Year to All-one of my first posts of 2010!

 

[Urban Shocker]

The Bi way - I always found that such an amusing name for a store.

 

[LowPolygon]

The Bi way - I always found that such an amusing name for a store.

also known as the "Bi-now/Gay-later" store....

 

[Strange Advance]

E end of Union Station looking W along with the mentioned Duster...
-1975 is a guess here noticing the CN Tower still under construction.

'74 or '75 is my guess. It appears still a little early in construction, which would support '74, but that Pontiac heaving and listing its way out of the parking spot looks like a '75. Man, look at all those massive American boats!

The peanut vendor truck is interesting along with a BC front plate on that white VW in this pic...

Are you sure that's a B.C. plate? Ontario issued blue plates between '67 and '72. I miss the bold dark-blue lettering on Ont. plates between '73 and '94. Don't like the new style.

That fire was strange-where was it?

I, too, would like to know the story behind those pics. The one with the kids has a dark, eerie vibe. Anybody know the location or what structure burned down?

That truck crash on the Gardiner was a nasty one-so that's where all that Tide Detergent ended up...that road ended up being cleaned in more ways then one!

My guess for that pic is 1985, give (but not take) a year, or two at most. There isn't a post-'85 vehicle anywhere in that shot.

Observations from LI MIKE - P.S. Happy New Year to All-one of my first posts of 2010!

Same to you.