Simpson's 1911

A postcard from 1908.

A full page Simpson's ad from the Toronto World 1911.

Toronto House Prices 1910

A selection of real estate ads from 1910.
A time machine would be helpful.

Lux Burlesque/Then and Now

Back in the 1950's and 60's Toronto had quite a few Burlesque Houses where men could go to watch women take their clothes off (but not all of their clothes) The Lux was on College at the top of Bellvue.

Looking west along College.
2011.
The men are waiting...
The girls arrive...There's a good article here.

A couple of ads from 1945 for the Casino on Queen.

The Casino (outlined). By this point it had changed names to the Festival and was showing international films. Built in 1936 the Casino finally closed it's doors in 1965 band was soon demolished.

Bat Fink Ratmobile

Two of my favourite things from the sixties. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's Rat Fink driving George Barris' 1966 Batmobile.
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, holding a model of "The Outlaw" model and box in front of the real "Outlaw" circa 1964.
The kit.
Rat Fink.
The antithesis of mickey Mouse.

Bloor and Lansdowne /Then and Now

Looking north up Lansdowne from south of Bloor in the early 1960's. I'm not sure what this TTC vehicle is, perhaps something to do with rail grinding....

A little research has revealed that this is a sand car and was used to delivery sand to the various car houses. Sand was used to give the street cars traction on slippery days. This car was scrapped in 1967.

2010

Sandcar W26 (photo courtesy Curt Frey, from the collection of P. Lambert)

.

A traditional TTC grinding car set up.

Royal York and Glenroy/Then and Now

This is Glenroy Avenue in Etobicoke looking east from Royal York Road at the turn of the century (1900).

A similar view in 2010.

Kipling and Lakeshore/Then and Now

Almont Hotel, July 1953.
N/W corner of Kipling and Lakeshore.
Giant television!

2010.

Dundas West/Then and Now

The north side of Dundas West looking east towards the Humber River in 1890 or so.

2010 and a lot has changed but the little Ontario Cottage has survived!
From the front.

Dundas West/Then and Now

Lambton Mills Methodist Church, built in 1878.
North side of Dundas just east of Prince Edward.

The Church was re-purposed years ago, first as an antique store and now a rug store.
Note the circular window in both photos.

Dundas West/Then and Now

Gordon's Dairy and Watt's Hardware 1946.
North side of Dundas west of Islington Graveyard,
The same location today with the photo reproduced as a mural on the front of the building.

Queen and Ossington/Then and Now

Looking west along Queen at the foot of today's Ossington. When this photo was taken in 1919
This intersection was the start of Dundas Street. It would be many years until the various small streets that make up today's Dundas would be joined together.
The hotel on the right is were James Earl Ray spent his days in the summer of 1968 and to the left the original north wall of the Lunatic Asylum. According to Ron Brown in his excellent book, Toronto's Lost Villages, the tavern's name was "The Gondoratu". An earlier Hotel on the same site was called "The Queen's Head".

This photo is from 2010 (Google) and while the old hotel is still there it won't be for long.
The old hotel during demolition in the summer of 2010.
A section of the original wall (1846) surrounding the Asylum.
The original Provincial Lunatic Asylum was designed by John Howard and stood on the same site as today's facility on Queen at the foot of Ossington.
Built in 1850 it survived until 1956.
Looking south down Ossington in 1920 the Asylum's dome is visible in the distance.
A hand tinted postcard of the Asylum from 1910.

Captain George's Memory Lane on Markham Street

When I was young I collected comic books and was always on the look out for new places to buy back issues. The first store we found was the Montgomery Book Store on Queen near Parliament.

It was a small used bookstore on the corner but on Saturday mornings he would bring out old comics for "collectors". There were cheaper comics in the bins 3 for 10 cents and more expensive ones behind the counter. One comic that I do remember buying was this one.
Brave and the Bold #80
Illustrated by Neal Adams.

I then discovered the Acadia Book Store on Queen near Sherbourne.
They had a huge selection of back issues.A guy named Joe worked there and would go on to have his own used bookstore at Queen and Parliament years later. Someone at school (grade 8) told me about another store near Honest Ed's on Markham Street so we had to go there.

George Henderson (Captain) in front of his store on Markham Street.
Unless you'd been there it's almost impossible to describe the interior of that store.
It was a rat's nest of nostalgia. Packed floor to ceiling with old comics. magazines and movie posters. George sat behind the counter, smoking and talking to his customers.

My membership card circa 1971.

Back of card. Not sure what V.W.O. stands for.....

Captain George being interviewed by the CBC in 1970.
And another good article here.
Critics At Large: The Declining Art of the Movie Poster
An ad for Markham Street from 1969.
There's a good radio interview here.
The story has now come full circle as I've recently purchased this page of production art from Brave and the Bold #80.....