City
Toronto of the 1970s
Toronto of the 1970s gives me an immediate, if not odd sense of nostalgia. I wasn't around to experience much of the decade, much less remember any of it, and yet when I look at these photographs I feel the urge to return to this time somehow. I've already said as much in a shorter photo post about both the 70s and the 80s in Toronto, but having just uploaded all these images, the freshness of the sentiment compels me to repeat myself.
The Toronto of the 1970s was, in the words of Anthony Astrachan, "a city that works." Unlike a number of major urban areas in the U.S., Toronto's downtown core was not rendered a ghost town by suburban emigration, and with the rise of the Parti Québécois in Quebec, the city experienced such an influx of English-speaking Montrealers and Montreal-based companies that it became the fastest growing in North America. In spite of this, it's worth noting, Toronto was yet to become the cultural and culinary destination it is today.
And just as Toronto experienced a building boom -- most notably in the rise of concrete apartment structures, downtown office towers, and the construction of the CN Tower -- urban planners held little regard for historic structures, knocking down such iconic buildings as the Temple Building, the original Toronto Star Building, the Mercer Reformatory and many more.
But, lest I digress into what is surely a topic for another post, I'll draw the introduction to a close and present the photographs. Where possible, I've included the date that the photographer has labeled the image with, but many don't have specific years affiliated with them. Enjoy!
Lead image of a wonderfully saturated red TTC bus by skaliwagg66.
Gone but not forgotten, 1970s record shops at Yonge and Gould
Photo by cthompsonx.
Maple Leaf Gardens with the Odeon Theatre in the background, 1970
Photo by cgfletcher.
Pre CN Tower skyline and Pier 6
Photo by mcwidi_2.
Here it comes!
Photo by Photoscream.
Flatiron building and skyline
Photoscream.
Joy Oil gas station from above (ca. 1970-73)
steveartist.
City Hall (ca. 1970)
Photo from Toronto History.
University Theatre in the background
Photo from Toronto History.
Approaching Yonge and Bloor (ca. 1971)
Photo from Toronto History.
Nathan Phillips Square 1973
Photo by Robert Taylor.
Lewis Hine-esque photo of CN Tower under construction
Originally published in Time Magazine.
Red Subway 1971
Photo by Robert Taylor.
Postcards (these somehow really seem to capture the 70s feel to me)
Video
For more of 1970s Toronto, take a look at this YouTube video from Love4SK (don't mind the longish intro and the few examples of repetition).
Discussion
64 Comments
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The photo of the worker on the CN tower freaks me out and I'm not afraid of heights...
You have pulled together a great collection of pictures from the past. I remember watching the upper portion of the CN Tower being built with a helicopter lifting each section into place.
The red subway trains at Davisville station!
Buying LP's at A&A's and Sam the Record Man!
I used to visit my dentist in the building on the north-east corner of Bloor and Yonge - shown just south of the Albert Britnell Book Store (now a Starbucks) This building was torn down to build the Hudson Bay store.
My dad, who spent his first 30 years in the city and experienced the major skyscraper rush in the city first hand (he moved BMO, Scotiabank, & RBC into their downtown buildings as a teenager), is always surprised how much there is going on when he comes to visit and how much more exciting it is now than when he grew up. Now we just have to combine all of that activity with some sanity at all levels of government so we can sort out some of the problems...
In fact, that photo, more than most of the others, really registers the difference between the TO of the 70s and of today. So much, of course, has changed.
Transit service was, to be honest, a lot better - the one part of the city that was reliably clean, at least.
HOWEVER: The TTC was clean (there was no food allowed, there were no free newspapers to litter, and people didn't put their feet up or block the seats). The sidewalks were alos cleaner, and, here's a big difference: guys weren't spitting everywhere. Now, it seems like everybody just hoarks away whenever they feel like (including some women). It's disgusting.
So, yes, more conservative, but since then a general decline in civic courtesy and etiquette.
http://electro.aminus3.com/image/2007-07-28.html
I don't remember seeing it in person, was it demolished?
It is still there and connected with Commerce Court.
Glad I live in today's Toronto!
Moreover, many of the businesses then were not chain or franchise operations. Big business still hadn't taken hold and many family busineses contributed to the variety and life of the street.
Look at Yonge Street today and you have chain restaurants, chain clothiers--on and on with pattern-book predictability.
Yeah, I love that pic too, and both stores are so busy! I bet it was taken on a Friday or Saturday night, back when shopping for records on Yonge St. was, for many, an important ritual.
I love the Nathan Phillips Square 1973 photo. It's a very rare glimpse of the old Ford Hotel which was demolished mere weeks after that photo was taken to make way for the Atrium on Bay. The Ford Hotel spent decades as the filthy and violent "soul" of the Ward, with its proximity to both Toronto's worst slums and to the bus terminal. I wish I could've seen it back in its day... might be the closest thing TO ever had to the Hotel Chelsea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Hotel
Good times :)
Most people can't afford the price of eggs, nowadays!
I miss Toronto, but i'm sure liking it up north, for the fresh
air and reasonable rents.
But what I was really talking about was all the neon signs, and how much of a spectacle it used to be.. I wish that still existed.
Yonge Street was really Yonge Street back then. Notice how the historical colonial buildings were clear and making up the look and style of the street, despite the modernisms on Yonge. Now, Yonge Street is just a mess, too busy, inconsistent, abused, dirty and it shows that it has been raped too many times. Up until the mid-80s (as evidenced by these pictures), Yonge Street then was a little more like today's Queen Street, though with touches of the glitz it still has today.
That second and third last photographs (not including the video clip) should have been the maximum development and changes that downtown Yonge should have reached.
The thing with these photos is that transit/the subway should have been continuing expansion constantly at that time, therefore any photos of downtown before the 90s, would have shown construction work and digging to make more subway lines, such as on Queen, King, Lakeshore, etc.
I also want to add that today's Yonge Street looks plastic and without culture.
I remember many of those places and to be honest...
I really miss those days.I was just a kids but felt no fear about going anywhere in the city with just a few friends.Our parents had one rule..Home when street lights came on.
Things just seemed slower paced and much simpler.....Maybe it was just a kids view and kids of today will say the same about pictures from 2011. But as a kid growing up back then, I really loved the City but now I find it has gotten so busy and rush rush everywhere as you can tell by everyones driving.Things change that is for sure.....Wonderful memories.
I thought you were joking at first....But true ..........
It happened
The times they were a changin' yet!
You could park downtown and it you didn't have to mortgage your first born.
The Hell's Angels were in their prime and biker colours were shown with pride. None of the pictures that I have seen on various sites show the time Yonge street was closed down to imitate Spark's St. in Ottawa. Take away the sex shops and the people loved the open air feel of Toronto with tables in the street, glass blowers, warm chestnuts, just individual trades people showing their wares , making money and people interacting in a way that they cannot do today.
Their was the seedy side that at night took over and eventually shut down what could have been.
That is how I remember that time. Hot pants, low wages, sexual intimidation in the work place, as well as areas and jobs that women were not allowed to enter simply because of their gender were also part of that time. Pictures only show part of that.
Nervousness in my last and first entry caused a grammatical and extra word error. That’s why writers have editors.
It closed after a fatal crash.
Comparing my memories of 40 years ago with a visit I made last year:
* Billy Bishop is a *really* pleasant airport.
* TTC hasn't changed that much, though I miss the whistle that the conductor would blow before he shut the doors.
* The ROM is bigger and brighter, though the core collection hasn't changed very much. It's still a fine museum. The new addition, though, is ... well, let's say it's "interesting".
* The Rochedale residence at Bloor and Huron was a mess and an eyesore, and I'm glad it's been cleaned up. I miss the old SCM Bookstore, but the shoe museum is an interesting place to visit.
* Some things haven't changed: Kensington Market (especially Global Cheese), Honest Ed's, the Albert's Hall ale house (though the Climax Jazz Band is long gone).
* Canadian beer and ale use to be infinitely better than anything you could get in the States; but microbreweries in the States now make beers as good as anything I've had in Canada.
On December 17th, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hired a skywriter to write "War is Over If You Want It Happy Christmas John and Yoko" over Toronto.
I'd be dying to see footage of this, if it exists. Please shoot me an email if you remember it happening, or, better yet, if you have home footage of the actual skywriting.
Thanks internet!
Rick.
For some cool video images, search YouTube for "Toronto People City". This is the early 70's "sign-off" video for what was Channel 79...CITY-TV and the melodic vocal tribute that accompanied it. It's a classic!!!