What i've noticed recently is the lack of pictures of the Toronto skyline dated before the 1990's. If you search for other big cities, its not hard to fined some, however, Toronto lacks in this department. I've only been able to find two. The first is from the 60's and the second is from the late 70's.

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/547/28toronto42s-l1960s.jpg

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/547/28toronto30-1970s.jpg

If anyone has anymore pre-1990 pictures, please post them. It is nice to see how the Toronto skyline has progressed over the years.

Is that torontos tallest in the first pic?

Toronto is not Toronto without the CN Tower, it's like Paris without the Eiffel Tower :D

It's interesting to see how those black buildings look so big in the first pic and in the 2nd they get to look so small :D

That first picture looks like current day buffalo.

the 1st one reminds me of detroit...in the present

FCP looks so good there - nice and white vs the dirty tower today. It also looks much better without the antena's

Don't fear, hillis is here :D and a I have enough old Toronto skyline pics to shake a stick at:

...

http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/23001.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/29ryhotel.gif
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/319toronto2-14-87.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/Toronto47-1980s.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/img0031.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/photo-toronto-2.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/to1908.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/to1930s.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/to1960.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/toronto-1917.jpg
http://urbancanada.com/images/toronto/old-skyline-pics/view_of_toronto_skyline.jpg

More to come soon...

Very nice Hillis. Do you know the date of the 5th pic you posted?

I have a CN tower guidebook from the early 80's that has a number of pictures somewhere, though I have never scanned them.

In fact, just looked at it and most of the pictures have the Royal Bank being built, with a couple having the BoM being built.

The 5th image posted by Hillis includes the Bank of Nova Scotia building which was built at King and Bay in around 1948.

Great pics, Hills and Jano! Please keep posting them.

You can date the 5th picture even later than that. You can clearly see an elevated highway which would be the Gardiner Expressway. It began construction in 1955 and was completed in 1966, but that's for the entire length. In the photo it appears as if the eastern section hasn't been completed yet, so I would put the date around the late 1950s or more likely the early 1960s.

Another:
http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/cn_tower_shots/raw/charbonneau_load_up.jpg

^Good find Hillis... hahah ;)

Hey.. I found quite a few pics :)

Source: York University


The R-100 airship visits Toronto in 1930, flying over the University Ave site of the Sun Life Assurance Co building
http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/Visual%20Modernity%20in%20Toronto/Commercial%20architecture/R100%201930%20over%20TO.jpg

Toronto in 1938.
http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/Visual%20Modernity%20in%20Toronto/Commercial%20architecture/Toronto%20skyline%201938.jpg

Downtown Toronto, 1959
http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/Visual%20Modernity%20in%20Toronto/Commercial%20architecture/Downtown%20TO%201959.jpg

Richmond and Yonge 1900
http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/Visual%20Modernity%20in%20Toronto/Commercial%20architecture/Richmond%20at%20Yonge%20TO%201900s.jpg
^How's this for urban density?

:eek:

:D Cool

Proposed street, never built, 1929
http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/Visual%20Modernity%20in%20Toronto/Commercial%20architecture/Proposed%20Cambrai%20Ave%20TO%201929.jpg

I've hit some kind of jackpot. :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

Source: Iron Workers Toronto Local 721

http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/cn_tower_shots/600/bw_tower_far.jpg
http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/cn_tower_shots/600/bubble_collage.jpg
http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/cn_tower_shots/raw/cn1.jpg http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/cn_tower_shots/raw/cnMag.jpg http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/cn_tower_shots/raw/cn4.jpg http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/cn_tower_shots/raw/cn3.jpg http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/cn_tower_shots/raw/cn2.jpghttp://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/old_time_ironworkers/600/ac_near_top.jpg
http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/old_time_ironworkers/600/ac_top.jpg


BCE Place
http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/old_time_ironworkers/600/bce.jpg

Skydome
http://www.iw721.org/gallery/historical/old_time_ironworkers/600/skydome1.jpg

Yonge & King 1927
http://www.brucebelltours.com/assets/images/Toronto_1920s.jpg

Looking north up Bay St. from King St. c1925
http://www.brucebelltours.com/assets/images/May_2003.jpg

Toronto Hydro's vision of the city in the future (1920s)
http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/Visual%20Modernity%20in%20Toronto/City%20Lights/Toronto%20Hydro%20Illuminated%20City%20from%20the%20West%201920s.jpg

queen & macdonell, looking northeast, 2002
http://www.rickmcginnis.com/toronto/queenmacdonell2.jpg

queen & macdonell, looking northeast, 1910
http://www.rickmcginnis.com/toronto/queenmacdonell1.jpg

These are great, Skybean! Thanks, and keep them coming.

Those are some mind blowing pics!!

some really good pics there!!

Really very interesting photos. :eek:

Union Station in the late 1800s
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/union_station/images/us_10_600.jpg

Hanlan's Point 1911
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/images/f1244_00192a_hanlanpoint.jpg


Bay Street looking north
from just north of Front Street
[ca. 1903]
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/images/ser409it61baystbeforefire.jpg


Front Street West, looking east from Bay Street (Great Fire)
April 1904
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/images/f1408_it002front.jpg

Old view from the air, looking up Yonge Street from Front Street 1916
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00589.jpg

Toronto downtown looking north west from the top of the Royal Bank building at King Street and Yonge Street 1915ish
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00593.jpg

Aerial view, Toronto waterfront 1918
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00920.jpg

Toronto Board of Trade Building
1950s
http://server2.minisisinc.com/WEBIMAGES/I0002476.jpg
^Love the roof!

Yonge Street, Toronto
January 1923
http://server2.minisisinc.com/WEBIMAGES/I0001054.jpg

The King!!! :bow: :bow: :bow: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) Building, King St., Toronto 1930s
http://server2.minisisinc.com/WEBIMAGES/I0001989.jpg

http://www.clr.utoronto.ca/PROJECTS/Toronto/UN-GTA/JPG/img0029.jpg
http://www.clr.utoronto.ca/PROJECTS/Toronto/UN-GTA/JPG/img0030.jpg
http://www.clr.utoronto.ca/PROJECTS/Toronto/UN-GTA/JPG/img0031.jpg
http://www.clr.utoronto.ca/PROJECTS/Toronto/UN-GTA/JPG/img0032.jpg
http://www.clr.utoronto.ca/PROJECTS/Toronto/UN-GTA/JPG/img0033.jpg

Great thread

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building is truely beautiful. Great thread!

Then...
http://server2.minisisinc.com/WEBIMAGES/I0001989.jpg




Now..
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/8109/Toronto007.jpg

bypass the post, I'm on crack...

love the royal york!

Awesome pics, look how the I.M Pei buildings dominated the skyline in the 60's, the look so much more modern the rest of Toronto did at the time. It's amazing to see how far Toronto has come and where it is going and to compare. I think the reason why there is so little picture of Toronto before the 60's is one reason, CN Tower, before that Toronto was just a city just a bit bigger then others, not even close to the scale of New York of Chicago, but since the addition of the CN tower Toronto has become a landmark and was a role model for other cities. " New York run by the Swiss"

^ TO is not NYC run by the Swiss. I really dislike that quote profusely.

As for the other topic, TO had good built form from the start, even when it was 'boring' so it was not like any other American city. It got a start before the car would have ruined it.

Wow, great pics. I can't imagine what it must've been like to be in Toronto before the CN Tower was built. I can't think of what it would like without it. How weird it must've also been to look up and see a CN Tower half-built, like some of the pictures that have the base, but not the observation decks.

http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/CNE_1909.jpg
http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/bank_commerce1942.jpg
http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/baystreet.jpg
http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/bloor_st1908.jpg

1932 "Population over 850,000"
http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/downtown_toronto.jpg

The hated gardiner
http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/gardinerexpressway.jpg

1905
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/becker_collections/images/1905_fold_out_downtown_0280001.jpg

http://s87411149.onlinehome.us/OldTO/p3&4.jpg

If anybody is really interested in this then there are a couple of books you should check out. First Toronto then and Now By Mike Filey: excellent pics, panoramics of all different dates, intersections, etc. Also, Lost Toronto By William Dendy: Goes through all of the victorian buildings that use to be downtown before all the skyscrapers.

http://www.russianbooks.org/crime/pix/skyline-1w.jpg

^ WOW

What an excellent collection. The Hydro image posted a while back looks accurate in terms of light usage today, but quite wrong in guessing how the skyline would look.

Obviously this creek's gone now. Interesting though, they totally changed that section of the Gardiner.
http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/gardinerexpressway.jpg
EDIT: OOOPS!:D That's not a creek, that's just a section of the Gardiner without lanes.:lol:

ive got a couple of goodies but don't know how to display them
any help?

ive got a couple of goodies but don't know how to display them
any help?
You have to find a host for your pics, I suggest www.imageshack.us After that just put the link of the pic into the IMG code (you can find that above in the control panel when posting a reply or thread).

I dont know who took these

http://img94.exs.cx/img94/1821/3705528jp.jpg
http://img94.exs.cx/img94/6195/3705551qx.jpg

Behold...Toronto in 1965

http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/toronto_c1965.jpg

And some more goodies

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/torontodivision/images/1271c.jpg

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/torontodivision/images/oldjohnstrh1.jpg

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/torontodivision/images/1420-1910.jpg

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/torontodivision/images/johnstpigyd1963.jpg

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/torontodivision/images/johnstnewaerial.jpg

Looking at some of these pics I don't know whether I should laugh or cry...

Amazing. The colour one from 1965 is especially amazing. Funny how the Royal York looks so imposing from the earlier pics and in the last pic it looks so small.

Except it couldn't be 1965 with a completed TD and Royal Trust Tower....the earliest it could be is 1969 or 1970.






KGB

Buildings sure were dirty back then, eh?

????????? you guys reallllly need to put a sticky on this one.????????????????????????????

^ Indeed

That first picture looks like current day buffalo.


Holy Crap does it ever!!! and wow Toronto looks soo industrial and gritty in the old pics, lovin it, has a real chicago look to it.

Except it couldn't be 1965 with a completed TD and Royal Trust Tower....the earliest it could be is 1969 or 1970.


One of the urban toronto members dated it as fall 1968. The tower on the right still has the construction elevator afixed to it. Look very closely to the left side of the right tower.

That's eagle-eyed me. There are leaves on the trees too, so it is probably October 1968 or maybe April/May 1969. The Royal Trust tower opened in September 1969. I've seen a photo of the Royal Trust tower in early September 1968 and the construction elevator runs full height of the building, but in this photo it is being taken down.

OK, can we tell someone to sticky this? This is a _very_ informative thread.

http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/union_station/images/us_13_600.jpg

Traders' Bank on leather
1907
Original postcard
City of Toronto Archives, Series 330, File 44
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/becker_collections/images/pc_leather_traders_bank_0440008_large.jpg

Oversize "Grand Plaza, Toronto Exhibition"
ca. 1908
Original giant postcard
City of Toronto Archives, Series 330, File 298http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/becker_collections/images/cne_grand_plaza_giant_(2980005)_large.jpg

http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/becker_collections/images/pc_emily_jan_21_1915_front_spadina_large.jpg

"Deadletter" postcard of (1871) post office
June 27, 1906
Original letter and digital reproduction of recto
City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 70 http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/becker_collections/images/pc_toronto_street_large.jpg

Toronto back than looks the same as Buffalo does today.

http://www.brucebelltours.com/assets/images/Gooderham-building.jpg
http://www.fineart.utoronto.ca/canarch/ontario/toronto/toronto.jpgs/20-114.jpg

awesome photos, it's really nice to look at old pics and them look at the actual ones.


:okay:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/toronto_1894.jpg

http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/pictures/sm_wallpaper/NGM1963_07p58-9.jpg

http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/pictures/sm_wallpaper/NGM1963_07p58-9.jpg


wow

^ I know. People swimming in lake ontario.

LOL - great find.
I personally like cell A3 - 'lunatic aslym'

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/toronto_1894.jpg

Wish these were larger.

1912
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00495.jpg

1902
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00524.jpg

http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/01006.jpg

1918
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00600.jpg

1910
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00335.jpg

1920
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00289.jpg

1907
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00485.jpg

1909
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00489.jpg

1912
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00491.jpg

1920
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00515.jpg

1916
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00589.jpg

1914
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00593.jpg

http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00601.jpg

1910
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00605.jpg

1910
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/00597.jpg

Before the Gardiner!

Esplanade West 1894
http://ve.torontopubliclibrary.ca/allaboard/images/x64-3.jpg

Esplanade East 1894
http://ve.torontopubliclibrary.ca/allaboard/images/971-12.jpg

The Esplanade East at Jarvis and Parliament Streets, 1907 - Jarvis Street
http://ve.torontopubliclibrary.ca/allaboard/images/980-30-16.jpg

Wow, a very impressive change. I wounder what it will look like in another 80 or so years.

Wow, what an amazing thread! Toronto used to be so gritty. I can't believe the amount of change in only 40yrs or so.

wow that's plummmmmmm..credible ppl swimming in lake ontario...there's something u never see

What a great thread! I love the Bank of Commerce Building!

http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/rules/isomap.jpg

Dam. They should take down the front street curb island and lay back the streetcar tracks.

[QUOTE=DrJoe]Wish these were larger.
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/archives/photographs/f1244/images/01006.jpg
QUOTE]

I found the date for this picture:
http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/pictures/sm_wallpaper/NGM1963_07p58-9.jpg




Toronto, Ontario, Canada - 1963 - Winfield Parks

"Burgeoning Toronto, Ontario's capital, thrusts a changing skyline above Lake Ontario. Nearly two million Canadians crowd the city's streets and push out into the suburbs. Escaping the heat, youngsters play offshore at Toronto's Center Island Park." —From "Canada's Dynamic Heartland: Ontario," National Geographic magazine, July 1963

Amazing that St James Church was actually an important part of the skyline just 40 years ago. Imagine what the skyline could look like 40 years in the future.

I was thinking the same thing Ed; the skyline has more than doubled over the past 42 years and if the current building boom continues, we can only dream of what could happen.

Found alot of old Toronto pics while looking for Canadian WWII photos...

Not sure if anyone has posted any of these yet (Don't have time to check), but I found some beauties :

http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN000708.jpg
http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN000902.jpg
http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN002878.jpg
http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN000459.jpg
http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN003938.jpg

Break time... clean up the drool off your chin :D

http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN002897.jpg
http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN002874.jpg
http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN002220.jpg


More here - http://www.imagescanada.ca/r1-116-e.php?trail=trail19

wow...those are some nice images! tho I couldn't see a major difference except the condos by the lake :) ! but still cool...

wow...those are some nice images! tho I couldn't see a major difference except the condos by the lake :) ! but still cool...

LOL!

http://www.canadianpoetry.ca/architexts/images/cn_tower_city.gif

looks like 1967.....




http://img114.echo.cx/img114/5647/aerialentire7wa.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)






KGB

This one says 1926...a few years before any of the taller skyscrapers were built....



http://www.angelfire.com/on/TORONTO/airphoto/downtown26.jpg






KGB

According to the photographer, this was taken in 1968

http://photos21.flickr.com/28935872_aad1aada3a_o.jpg

1920's
http://www.canadianheritage.ca/images/large/20552.jpg
Early 1930's
http://www.canadianheritage.ca/images/regular/20553.jpg

funny to me it seems like the 20s pic is more developped than the 30s pic
btw awesome pics everyone!!!

wow i love this thread..its awesome to see how Toronto has changed

Now compare those 20's and 30's pics to Detroit in the 20's and 30's...and then Toronto and Detriot today. That always amazes me.

Wow...great pics. It is a shame to see what the automobile has done to downtown Toronto. In pics from the 1900-1950's, there were very little parking lots....the huge one's;). Now we can see them destroying some of the density.....

^^ So true.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that lakeshore blvd on the left? Anybody know which is the gardiner in that photo?

Obviously this creek's gone now. Interesting though, they totally changed that section of the Gardiner.
http://www.othercat.net/postcards/images/gardinerexpressway.jpg
EDIT: OOOPS!:D That's not a creek, that's just a section of the Gardiner without lanes.:lol:

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that lakeshore blvd on the left? Anybody know which is the gardiner in that photo?
That unfinished thing in the trench heheh... Stumped me when I looked at it too:)

It's only about half paved and without lanes.

http://p083.ezboard.com/ftorontoskyscraperforumfrm18.showMessage?topicID=1196.topic

Here is the goldmine. You will not regret the time looking at these photos.

I went into google earth and I think I found this location. By the looks of it the gardiner is in the centre (that half finished trough) and the eb and wb lakeshore blvd splits around it. The bridge in the foreground would then be the Jameson ave. bridge and the next one in the midground is Dowling ave. In the background I think is the pedestriab bridge from the intersection of Queen and King. It must have been taken around the time of the gardiner's construction b/c it's not complete, you can still see patches of construction. What a difference though

That unfinished thing in the trench heheh... Stumped me when I looked at it too:)

It's only about half paved and without lanes.

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/fo1244/f1244_it1725.jpg

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/fo1244/f1244_it10058.jpg

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/fo1231/f1231_it0100.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/boons97/BaysouthfromQueen1930.jpg

Holy s--t! There were some absolutely fantastic images posted.

Just one of the shots which i noticed we could recreate:

http://www.rickmcginnis.com/toronto/queenmacdonell1.jpg

Notice the awnings adorning the storefronts? This is something i think they should bring back- signs could be moved higher as to not limit store recognition, with awnings covering over parts of the sidewalk.

p5

Hey...that Parkdale stretch doesn't look really any different now than it did them....minus the awnings of course.

I think awnings are pretty much banned in most circumstances...nothing allowed to really be hanging over the public sidewalk...just one of those silly little municipal liability issues. Even those sandwich boards that are everywhere are technically illegal I think.






KGB

Check this out:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/eighteighths/queenmacdonell1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/eighteighths/queenmacdonell2.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/boons97/BaysouthfromQueen1930.jpg

i love that pic :)

KGB: I can understand the sandwich boards being illegal- those things are a pain the ass and do absolutely nothing except take up precious room from the sidewalks, but the awnings being illegal? Why? What would the reasoning be behind that?

Sunlight or lack thereof? The risk that the awning might fall on someone- uh oh, i see a lawsuit.

What a shame, they really give the streetscape that added something.

p5

I don't think they are illegal city-wide. You see them all over Kensington Market.

I notice awnings over greengrocers, delis, and patios, but I can't say that I've seen them over other businesses in town.

I'm not sure if the awnings found in some spots has to do with it being permited in certain circustances...grandfathered in...or just not enforced bylaws (like the sandwich boards).

And Kensington breaks every rule in the code book...but because of it's unique status as a neighbourhood, the city pretty much turns a blind eye (they did make them remove the live animals years ago though).






KGB.

Killer thread.

Whatever the reason- illegal or not, overlooked bylaws etc.,- i think they add a hell of a lot to the streetscape- especially in areas such as Queen W., or College where the streets are lined with older houses; these types of buildings should dictate the look and feel of the street.

p5

Ok yeah but they are still out there.

Kensington as mentioned earlier
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/alteclang/48228801.jpg


All over Chinatown also.

True! Thanks for the pic!

p5

Awesome thread!

Well not exactly "Old Toronto" but compared to what we have today, it looks pretty dated. This aerial, I'm guessing this is Yonge Street and Dundas Square from the early 90's. As you can see the old eatons entrance is still there along with the world's largest jeans store and the other tacky stores along Yonge.

http://static.flickr.com/35/117783479_8ddba10582_b.jpg

i love yonge street

Hmmm... I wonder what that American flag is doing there.

There seems to be a lovely lack of parking lots in that pic.

This thread seriously needed a bump! :)

It looks like Toronto had some kind of charm to it in the 60's to 90's (In pictures). I wasn't even born until 80's. It looks so clean, and every building has interesting architecture; no boxes in the skyline. So many parks, etc. I think we lost that charm, just got too big of a city.

But we are still the best city in the world:). I just would have liked to walk down Yonge street in downtown in the 60's, a new subway, nice shops without a porno shops every 10 feet...just a booming, charming city overall.

It looks like Toronto had some kind of charm to it in the 60's to 90's (In pictures). I wasn't even born until 80's. It looks so clean, and every building has interesting architecture; no boxes in the skyline. So many parks, etc. I think we lost that charm, just got too big of a city.

But we are still the best city in the world:). I just would have liked to walk down Yonge street in downtown in the 60's, a new subway, nice shops without a porno shops every 10 feet...just a booming, charming city overall.

Believe me, it may look charming but it wasn't. Not compared to the city it is today. I moved here almost 35 years ago and I thought it was great then but I couldn't know how much greater it would become.:)

It looks like Toronto had some kind of charm to it in the 60's to 90's (In pictures). It looks so clean, and every building has interesting architecture; no boxes in the skyline. So many parks, etc.

Wait...no boxes, in the...1960s? The era of internationalist, modernist, and brutalist architecture, or when "boxes" were at their most prevalent. Sure you're not thinking of the 1860s? Does this really look all that non-boxy?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2408/2125511489_abdfc7e5ac_o.jpg

As for cleanliness, there may have been less trash on the street or cracked pavement or homeless people at that time, but in reality, during that time the inner city was actually in decline. Boarded up buildings and vacant/parking lots, as well as crime, would have been much more common.

And regarding "so many parks" - have those from that time disappeared or something? No, rather, we've added new parks and public spaces since then.


I think we lost that charm, just got too big of a city.

Thats fine if you consider blandness charm, but I'll take 2008 TO over the 1968 version, or at any period in history for that matter, personally. :)


I just would have liked to walk down Yonge street in downtown in the 60's, a new subway, nice shops without a porno shops every 10 feet...just a booming, charming city overall.

Yonge Street has always been somewhat sleazy, probably then moreso than now. Though I wasn't alive to see it, it certainly seems that way in pictures, film, and from accounts of people who were actually there at that time. I think you're romanticizing somewhat.

^ Perhaps the best depiction of Yonge Street from that time period is actually in the classic SCTV sketch "Garth and Gord and Fiona and Alice", which, incidentally, has a number of great shots of older Toronto.

Part 1:
vCcbUDBqVzo

Part 2:
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Thats fine if you consider blandness charm, but I'll take 2008 TO over the 1968 version, or at any period in history for that matter, personally. :)


Same here. I couldn't have lived in Toronto prior to 1990. I would have died of boredom. Toronto has gone through a remarkable transformation. One that continues unabated.

http://216.94.16.48/_images/common/photos/original/CN000902.jpg


This one looks really utopian... the good old days lol.

^^I'm glad we finally got green grass like everywhere else, though!!
I posted these postcards last year when I found them in a Dollar Store, but
they deserve a second posting:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/postcardseriesi.jpg

what a charming spot to choose to take a professional photograph:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/postcardseriesii.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/postcardseriesiii.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/postcardseriesiv.jpg

OMG how this scene has changed today:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/postcardseries.jpg

and that famous 1963 shot that somebody posted in a thread awhile back.
I have no idea who took the picture^, but apparently it was in National
Geographic in 2003:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/toronto1963.jpg

the national geographic is one of the best period photos of Toronto - it is so unrecognizable it's not even funny. It looks like modern day Buffalo.

That photo alone shows just how much the city has changed in just one lifetime. Even St. James Cath. looks impressive!

Toronto Hydro's vision of the city in the future (1920s)
http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/Visual%20Modernity%20in%20Toronto/City%20Lights/Toronto%20Hydro%20Illuminated%20City%20from%20the%20West%201920s.jpg
They themselves must've contracted out the illustration coz the depicted hilliness there still doesn't make any sense to me . . .

Taller: I saw those old postcards at a Dollar Store on Yonge last summer too. They were so funny, my friend bought a whole bunch of them. Turnover must be very slow at that store.

They themselves must've contracted out the illustration coz the depicted hilliness there still doesn't make any sense to me . . .

It is a bit of a strange rendering... my guess is that they were trying to portray the Scarborough Bluffs. You must visit them next time you are in town! :)

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/aug0606ScarboroughBluffsiJPG.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/aug0606ScarboroughBluffsii.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/aug0606ScarboroughBluffsv.jpg

this is looking down.. it is about a 300 foot drop:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/aug0606ScarboroughBluffsvix.jpg

Taller: I saw those old postcards at a Dollar Store on Yonge last summer too. They were so funny, my friend bought a whole bunch of them. Turnover must be very slow at that store.

that Dollar Store is my Mother Ship of All Dollar Stores.. it is just brilliant and I can get so many things there! The postcards were a rare find..

When I moved here 23 years ago, there was a trend to applying faux historical facades to very plain 1950's apartment buildings.. some were nicely done, and others not so carefully. That is not something I have seen done in quite awhile, though. What do people think of the idea? I have mixed emotions about it, myself. Here are photos I took today of two installations from that period:

this one may have been an entirely new building... I can't entirely remember it being done, but
I think it was an updated earlier building:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/IMGP4556i.jpg

and one not so carefully kept up, as taken from the unfinished back:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/IMGP4588facadismlesswelldonecawthra.jpg

It's a tricky makeover to pull off. I'm not opposed to it, but suspect that most attempts would result in something worse than was originally there. The first building you posted isn't bad, but could easily have ended up like that building called the 'French Quarter' on Jarvis Street.

The town house development south of Casa Loma was done well, but those were entirely new structures. The danger is attaching a certain historical facade to a building who's proportions don't lend itself to the intended style. Georgian and Victorian architecture are very specific when it comes to proportion. When the proportions are off, the finished product can look awful.

To aim for the greatest potential for success, I'd prefer that historical facades went on entirely new construction, and old buildings were updated with ultra modern facades. Modern architecture is far more flexible as far as solutions to design issues.

That first building is good looking !! :)

I am not sure how they will stand the test of time. The applied decorative moulding is simply styrofoam covered with a type of chicken wire and thin layer of plaster. Not terribly strong. I was wondering why this type of "renovation" came and went so quickly.

the Scarborough Bluffs. You must visit them next time you are in town! :)
You're right! coz just the sight of my too-bleached skin'd frighten people back onto those buffed bluffs off of their beaches for miles around --- ahhh, tranquility, huh? (Wreck/Rec Beach is the only thing about BC that I miss.)

Too true... I always cause white-out conditions when I take off my shirt at the beach! :lol:

My favourite part of the Bluffs is not Bluffer's Park, but about a mile west of that.. around Kingston and Warden. Lot's of interesting activities around that area.

Hate to make a request here but does anyone have photos of old Maple Leaf Stadium that was at the foot of Bathurst st?

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