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Twenty old Toronto postcards for two bucks!

W

wyliepoon

Guest
I happened to pass by the Toronto T-Shirt Company on Yonge today. I went inside for a little look at its closing sale, but didn't find anything interesting until I started to leave. It was then that I saw the antique Toronto postcards rack and the sign that said "Postcards: 10 for 1$". On came the impulse buying moment, and I quickly snapped up twenty postcards for two dollars plus tax.

I don't know what to do with them. If you're particularly interested in any of them, let me know. I'll sell them at $2 each! :) Maybe I should frame them if I find time.

I apologize if the postcard views below don't turn out right. I was too lazy to turn on the scanner and scan them, so I just propped each photo up against my laptop and took a photo of it with my camera. I've added the description on the back of the postcard at the bottom of each photo.

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"Sprawling at the feet of the 56 floor Toronto Dominion Centre, the 240 square miles of Metropolitan Toronto are partially seen from this west view as the visitor feels the fun and excitement waiting."

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"Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has its Head Office in this spacious office-banking-shopping community. The tallest of the four buildings (57 storeys, 784 fe.) is finished in stainless steel and reflective glass."

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"Like a sparkling and colorful bracelet of jewels, the lights of downtown Toronto glisten on the quiet waters of Lake Ontario. The fireburst illuminates the 1815 ft. CN Tower, the world's tallest free-standing structure."

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"TORONTO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Air Canada's giant 747 graces the tarmac of No. 2 Terminal, a short distance from the beautifully designed Aeroquay, which serves thousands of people arriving and departing from Toronto daily. At the airport entrance, adjacent to the passenger terminal, a grouping of gala flags fly over the great concrete Sun Dial which forms a pedestrian mall. The airport is magnificently lighted at night."

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"In the shade of Toronto Islands grennery and gaily coloured beach umbrellas, visitors enjoy the spectacular panorama of Toronto's skyline backdropping pleasure boats and white sails dotting the harbour."

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"Macdonald-Cartier Freeway 401, looking west, intersecting with Dufferin Street. The famed Yorkdale Shopping Centre, to the left, features two department stores. Eaton's shown in foreground, Simpson's in background."

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"ROYAL BANK PLAZA, TORONTO: Twin towers of bronze mirror glass reach 41 and 26 storeys, and flank a 130-foot-high glass-enclosed banking hall. The Plaza is being built at Bay and Front Streets and will be completed in the autumn of 1976."

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"Bright warm lights of the Skyline at night, shimmering on Lake Ontario, reflect the beauty, fun and excitement of Toronto."

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"A night view of this very impressive New "AEROQUAY" Terminal."

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"A night view of the skyline." (1972)

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"Slicing through the city as far as the eye can see, Yonge is the longest street in Toronto, starting from the shores of Lake Ontario, stretching miles beyond the city's outskirts and reaching into Ontario's north country. Exciting boutiques, fashionable shops, fine foods as well as fabulous entertainment, make downtown Yonge Street the focal point for fun and excitement."

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"FAIRVIEW SHOPPING MALL North York, Toronto, Ontario: Located north of the MacDonald-Cartier Freeway, on the corner of Sheppard Ave. E and Woodbine Avenue, Fairview Shopping Mall offers countless shops and services bordering spacious malls accented with greenery, fountains and spectacular lighting."

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"The colourful paddleboats from the Ontario Place Marina (largest marina on the Great Lakes) skirt the Cruiser "Haida" permanently anchored along the Toronto waterfront for inspection by visitors. The CN Tower dominates the downtown skyline; at 1815 ft., it is the world's tallest free-standing structure."

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"Ontario Place at night with the Toronto skyline in the background. Featuring restaurants, pubs and beer gardens of different nationalities with exciting live entertainment to suit a variety of tastes. Visitors can also enjoy films and exhibits plus entertainment in the unique outdoor Forum and shopping in a variety of boutiques."

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"CITY HALLS OLD AND NEW: Advances in technology and design are an example of international achievement and recognition for Toronto's City Hall as compared with the older structure."

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"TORONTO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: This night view shows the entrance tunnel to the terminal, and the lighted parking garage is seen above the circular aeroquay. The terminal is reached via a tunnel under the aircraft ramp and aeroquay. Emerging from the tunnel, motorists have a choice of ramps leading to the departures lobby, the arrivals lobby, short-term parking or the parking garage."

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"ONTARIO PLACE: In foreground is one of three boutique and restaurant clusters. Dome-shaped structure beyond is Cinesphere, world's most advanced motion-picture theatre. Exhibition pavilion, suspended high above Lake Ontario can be seen to the right."

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"The miracle of science in the palm of your hand.

Open 7 days a week- 364 days a year"
 
Hey that bill says "March 10th" and yet this was posted on March 9th. :p
 
Awesome shots! Didn't know that Commerce Court was originally designed to have the old CIBC logo on it.
 
A trip down memory lane! Foolishly, we thought the Yonge Street pedestrian mall would return every summer.

You can, I think, see the top of Peter Dickinson's strangely named Lord Simcoe Hotel ( King and University ) in postcard no. 7. Built in the mid-'50's, it was demolished in the early '80's - I remember there was a huge contents sale ( probably all kinds of great modernist furniture to be had! ).

www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=202390
 
Never heard of this hotel before.

Was there any merit in preserving it?
 
Canuck:

The Lord Simcoe stood on the north side of King, between York and University. Teperman demolished it in December 1980 / January 1981 to make way for the Sun Life Centre east tower.

It was an east-west oriented H-shaped building with the central block taller than the side wings. The wings both had 14-floor blank walls on their southern faces ( maybe northern faces too, I'm not sure ) - which would horrify some of those who run in fear of the blank fly tower of the Four Seasons Centre and the blank outside walls of City Hall, but so be it. Dickinson produced another lovely blank wall in the south end of the fly tower at the O'Keefe ( now Hummingbird ) Centre.

The mass of the broad north and south faces of the Lord Simcoe centre block, and the smaller east and west wings, was broken up by strong vertical and horizontal banding to create the inmpression of bays.

The Lord Simcoe was the cat's meow when it opened in the 1950's and a popular social gathering place in "Modernist" Toronto. For instance, journalist, author and TV personality Pierre Berton ( not 'Burton' as one scribe recently wrote ) had a suite there.
 
... though the King Eddy and the Royal York had more social status. I once saw a reference to the effect that the opening of the Lord Simcoe was partly to blame for scrapping construction of the Lord Carlton, which I assume was another large hotel planned at that time.

I suppose the developers posthumously elevated Simcoe to the peerage in order to elevate their chances of success in competition with Sir Guy Carlton, Lord Dorchester.
 
Always great to get a history lesson on Toronto places - now and then.
 
I'm going to fix the postcard shots so they turn out right. I've taken them off Photobucket for now... will upload them again later!

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Edit: Fixed! Thanks for your patience.
 
IIRC the Lord Simcoe wasn't Dickinson. The Westbury was. But not the Lord Simcoe. (Which IMO was stodgy no-name stuff, like it only had a glass curtain wall because, by 1957, you *had* to have a glass curtain wall...)
 
Awesome shots! Didn't know that Commerce Court was originally designed to have the old CIBC logo on it.

I didn't either, though now I wish it still had it! Same goes for First Canadian Place--I think the old BMO logo suited it far better.
 
I discovered this store last summer, and bought the whole collection. I asked the owner where he found these postcards, he just smiled and said he had a good source.

Louroz
 
Awesome shots! Didn't know that Commerce Court was originally designed to have the old CIBC logo on it.

Actually (now that the jpegs are no longer dead and I can see for myself), CCW only had the logo when it was under construction--"crane decoration" or something, I guess. (Look carefully: those are construction photos.) Once it was finished, the logo went, and CCW remained nude and logo-less until the "swoosh" was tacked on a couple of years ago...
 

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