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Scarborough Photographs: Then and Now

zanthope said:
Hello again ... more stuff from the fifties. The apartment building in that Midland/Eglinton photo was built when I was 9 years old, in 1958 during the spring and summer. When I felt ambitious during the no-school summer months of construction, I could go over there and hang around with the workers who would usually send me for cold sodas. I would gather up as many empty returnable bottles as I could carry in a bag or box, take the drink orders and change and hump the load to the Highway Grocery, or possibly Groceteria, which was located further east on Eglinton about exactly halfway to the Knob Hill Plaza, on the south side of Eglinton. I'd hump the sodas back, and the workers gave me the left-over change or the valuable empty bottles as a reward! That was my first ever "job."

The Grocery/Groceteria sat there in maybe a one acre lot pretty much all by itself, as I recall, with a small gravel parking lot in front. It seemed totally ancient to me, very old-timey, small in comparison to modern stores, maybe 2000 square feet or so. It stocked some refrigerated food, canned goods, candy, ice cream, some hardware items like nails and screws and such, and I think I remember a small display of work clothing. It smelt fabulous! My mother and grandmother would walk down there a couple of times a week for odds & ends for dinner. The bulk of our shopping was done at the Dominion by the Golden Mile.

More later
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------ Its been a while since I had a look at this thread. Keep telling stories Zanthorpe always like to hear about the area back in the day . I went to Midland Ave Collegiate myself , and before that Norman Cook. All of us could write a book of short stories about our own neighborhoods.
 
Hello again ... been a while since I posted. I'm coming up there for a couple of days this weekend, and I wondered about a cheap, non-smoking mom and pop sort of motel around Eglinton or Kingston roads. Is there such a thing? I looked at some of the Motel.com type sites and no real help.
 
Hello again everyone. I made the trip to Toronto and stayed a couple of days and loved every second of it. I hadn't been there since 2002 and it certainly has changed immensely since then. I was accidentally on hand for the Cody Simpson performance on Dundas Square Thursday evening, and although I really don't appreciate "bubble-gum" music very much I found him to be quite good, and the energy of the huge young audience was magical.

In post 223 of this thread, I told of a poor kid that lived on Commonwealth who unfortunately lived in a shacky sort of a home with an outhouse out back that we kids enjoyed often while also somewhat enjoying his embarrassment of its existence. I toured Scarborough last Wednesday, drove up Commonwealth just for curiosity, and lo and behold, their "house" is still standing at number 114, looking much the same as it was then, abandoned in a totally incongruous setting among beautiful and expensive newer homes. Pics are attached. The outhouse is gone, residents are long gone, but the shacky-ness remains.



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That's an amazing and touching story.
Is the house still be occupied?

How such a structure could remain untouched in that area for so many years is the stuff of fiction.

Could this be the cheapest 'real estate' in Toronto today?
 
Goldie said:
That's an amazing and touching story.
Is the house still be occupied?

How such a structure could remain untouched in that area for so many years is the stuff of fiction.

Could this be the cheapest 'real estate' in Toronto today?
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There is a garden out back but I didn't take any pics, the grass was recently mowed ... who knows, it may be occupied. No one was around at the time. I parked my Ranger with the funny-looking Ohio plates out front and walked up to the place camera in hand, as though I owned the joint. If challenged, I planned to tell them I was from the Ministry of Hovels. Here's a longer view of the front.

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zanthope said:
Hello again everyone. I made the trip to Toronto and stayed a couple of days and loved every second of it. I hadn't been there since 2002 and it certainly has changed immensely since then. I was accidentally on hand for the Cody Simpson performance on Dundas Square Thursday evening, and although I really don't appreciate "bubble-gum" music very much I found him to be quite good, and the energy of the huge young audience was magical.

In post 223 of this thread, I told of a poor kid that lived on Commonwealth who unfortunately lived in a shacky sort of a home with an outhouse out back that we kids enjoyed often while also somewhat enjoying his embarrassment of its existence. I toured Scarborough last Wednesday, drove up Commonwealth just for curiosity, and lo and behold, their "house" is still standing at number 114, looking much the same as it was then, abandoned in a totally incongruous setting among beautiful and expensive newer homes. Pics are attached. The outhouse is gone, residents are long gone, but the shacky-ness remains.



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Wow...that is interesting to me. My best friend lived right across the street at 113 Commonwealth. They lived there in 1972 to about 1974, if my memory serves me right. Their house (a rental) was torn down a while back and a new house was built. While my friend lived there, the house next door was put on stilts to rebuild the basement. The work got delayed and everyone on the street was complaining to the building inspectors about the possibility of the house collapsing.

My friends mom was a sweatheart (she passed in the late 80's), but his dad was an interesting peice of work. I lost touch with my friend, unfortunately, but those memories are amongst the favourite of my late teen years. We spent a lot of time at Mr. Donut on Eglinton right across from Commonwealth Rd where I fell in love with Maple glazed donuts. The Mr Donut is now a car place now. Just thought you might be interested.
 
lrookies said:
Wow...that is interesting to me. My best friend lived right across the street at 113 Commonwealth. They lived there in 1972 to about 1974, if my memory serves me right. Their house (a rental) was torn down a while back and a new house was built. While my friend lived there, the house next door was put on stilts to rebuild the basement. The work got delayed and everyone on the street was complaining to the building inspectors about the possibility of the house collapsing.
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Seems this practice is still going on on that street!

As a former general contractor I can tell you it's no easy feat. I also knew some people from this neighbourhood back in the 70's. They were up on Gilder on the north side of Eglinton. IIRC the name was Fish.
 
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Wow..i lived on Huntington..next street over for 10 years and never noticed this house....bizzare, that entire street is a bit off, great size lots but a lot of shacks near Danforth...
 
zanthope said:
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Speaking of early, minimal housing in Scarborough, I recall that some Scarborough residents who built their own homes (c.1940s) often began with the basement only. It was a common sight to discover many pioneers (on Scarborough's early streets) who lived in their 'basement-only' properties until they could afford to construct the walls and roof - often after a delay of many years.
I've searched the web for a photographic record of these unique structures without success. Does anyone else remember these "basement-only" homes and know of any visual record?
 
Goldie said:
Speaking of early, minimal housing in Scarborough, I recall that some Scarborough residents who built their own homes (c.1940s) often began with the basement only. It was a common sight to discover many pioneers (on Scarborough's early streets) who lived in their 'basement-only' properties until they could afford to construct the walls and roof - often after a delay of many years.
I've searched the web for a photographic record of these unique structures without success. Does anyone else remember these "basement-only" homes and know of any visual record?
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There's mention of them on the Scarborough Historical Society Facebook page. On an aerial photo of Wexford, it says:
"Lawrence/Pharmacy/Gooderham, 1953
--looking north east
--notice several basement living quarters built by returning servicemen on VLA lots."
I thought I saw a photo there that someone had posted of their own basement house but I can't find it.
 
adma said:
I guess that's just about the tail end for the Supertest brand.
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Yep. They were bought out by BP in 1974 or 75. I think they turned into Gulf and then PetroCanada. Not sure about the Gulf part. Cant quite remember. On long trips my parents would play "Gas Station". Of course my Dad always won because he always took Esso. But when Gulf Canada came along, we gave him a run for his money. Until my Dad lost his memory, he used to laugh every time we brought that up.
 
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