Toronto 16 York | 154.83m | 32s | Cadillac Fairview | a—A

[ChesterCopperpot]

Back in the early 90s I used to work at Citibank and my office overlooked all of the southcore and man was it a wasteland; how times have changed.

An understatement

 

[Jasonzed]

An understatement

Yup. That's what it looked like. I remember a Toronto Star columnist complaining that it would 20+ years to make the area look somewhat livable.

 

[maestro]

The wasteland picture from 97/98 was a massive change in itself. There was an enormous pit when we went back to back a few years earlier and a railyard a few years before that.

BTW, anyone have a photo of the York Street teamway all exposed just waiting to be demo'd?

 

[innsertnamehere]

^i've seen photos of it before its demolition but after the removal of the yard. They are around somewhere.

 

[centralblue]

^i've seen photos of it before its demolition but after the removal of the yard. They are around somewhere.

 

[Jasonzed]

View attachment 128168

I remember watching them take this down. I took pictures from the 10th floor of Citibank but I don't have a clue where there are...

 

[Miscreant]

View attachment 128168

Phew. That is grim sauce. I remember these days.

 

[Filip]

Anyone have pics of the inside of that teamway?
What year were the railyards removed?

This was before my time in Toronto.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Anyone have pics of the inside of that teamway?
What year were the railyards removed?

This was before my time in Toronto.

Yup, was a little kid back then. My mom did not exactly decide to take me on tour of the wasteland that was once our waterfront.

 

[Mr.Tang]

Its funny how people focus on how the Gardiner cut off the city from its waterfront - but these pictures really show that it was only maybe 10-20% of the gap.

 

[Toronto1834]

So did the York St. underpass used to continue all the way to the Gardiner?

 

[Filip]

So did the York St. underpass used to continue all the way to the Gardiner?

Sounds horrific doesn’t it?

Toronto was such an armpit back in those days it seems.

 

[LUVIT!]

Toronto was not as built up but it was not an 'armpit'. There was a lot going on and I had a lot of fun. However I remember dreaming about all this area and others being built up and here we are! I really do think it's been quite phenomenal. Now we have the eastern waterfront, the Port lands, the Lever area, etc. Go Toronto Go!!

 

[Edward Skira]

Toronto was such an armpit back in those days it seems.

Quite the overstatement. This was an industrial for the most part that you basically avoided. The rest of the city was doing just fine.

 

[Filip]

Quite the overstatement. This was an industrial for the most part that you basically avoided. The rest of the city was doing just fine.

Really? Those thousands of parking lots I remember paint a different story.

I think it’s fair to say it is no longer an armpit- but pictures of Toronto 1970-1990 looked like any midwestern backwater. Things have thankfully changed.