Junction Store Fronts

A former shoe store.

Another shoe store, Art Deco inspired.

Patrick Cummins Photography

Toronto through the lens of Patrick Cummins.

Dundas and Keele Arcade Storefront

This is one of my favourite storefronts in the city. Located on Dundas just west of Keele.
Formerly May Brothers Hardware.

To the left of the main display window is a separate hall with entrances to, the apartments upstairs, another small space (bar/coffeeshop) and stairs to the basement.

Glass block (Vault Lights) in the tiled entrance way allow light into the basement which I think used to be a barbershop. These same glass blocks are found in Seattle as part of their Underground City. The blocks were originally clear but have dis-coloured over time.
Seattle Prism Glass
May Brothers is visible in this photo from 1923

Queen and Spadina/Then

The S/E corner in 1983 before Queen Street was "hip". It was mostly used book stores and cheap furniture. This photo is by Patrick Cummins.

John Travolta's Private Plane

Parked at Hamilton Airport while he was here filming Hairspray.

Bloor and Sterling/Then and Now

1934.

2010.

Bloor and Sterling/Then and Now

Dundas and Runnymede/Then and Now

Looking east along Dundas across Runnymede , Christmas Eve 1924.

2010 and the intersection remains quite intact.

Remnants of an Arcade Store Front

The "ghost" of the old arcade window display can be seen here on Queen West.

This former shoe store on Dundas near Dufferin has an arcade display storefront. These are harder and harder to find in the city as interior floor space becomes more valuable.
They allowed the customer a good view of the merchandise available before entering the store. I think this was a shoe store. It's now a coffee shop.

New Signs Are Expensive

Instead of changing the sign, the new owners of this former Embassy Cleaners outlet
just covered the "Y" and added a "K".

Sterling Avenue /Then and Now

Sterling Ave as seen from Dundas Street looking north, November 1923.

1912

2010

This building on Sterling Avenue is one of my favourites. It was opened in 1919 by the Northern Aluminum Company and was Canada’s tallest building until the Royal York Hotel opened downtown 1929. In fact, I believe it was the tallest building in the British Empire. It actually had one the first elevators in the country, and the only manufacturing facility to have one at the time. Later on it became the Aluminum Company of Canada and then Alcan over the years. It was a continuous sheet casting facility that was employed in making products for the automotive industry. Tower Automotive's largest client was Daimler Chrysler before closing its doors in 2006 and auctioning off everything in May 2007.
As seen from an alley on Lansdowne.
There's a good photo essay here.

Sorauren and Fern/Then and Now

Another listing from May 1979. A corner store on the N/W corner of Sorauren and Fern listed for $53,000 with taxes of $708. What do you think this property would cost today?
The Inflation Calculator says that it SHOULD cost $166,414.51 to buy in 2012.
It's actually closer to $900,00.00 in today's market.

In 2010 the store is gone and the ground floor is an apartment.
This clip from the 1912 City Directory has George Boadway, barber, listed and I know from talking to long time neighbours that there was a barbershop at the back for years.

Red Barn Burgers/Then and Now

Red Barn was an American chain with restaurants here in Toronto as well. This remaining building (now a Mr. Sub) is on Dundas east of the 427. I remember a rumour (probably disinformation from the competition) that they had been "caught" selling horse meat in their burgers...
A quick search of the internet revels that this rumour is well spread.
From Wikipedia:

The Red Barn restaurant was a fast-food restaurant chain that was founded in 1961 in Springfield, OH by Don Six, Martin Levine and Jim Kirsch. In 1963, the small chain was purchased by Richard O. Kearns, and the offices moved briefly to Dayton, OH, followed by a move in August 1964 to Fort Lauderdale, FL. In the late 1960s Servomation bought the company followed by Motel 6 in the late 1970s. The new owners ceased advertising for the chain and the franchise leases were allowed to expire with the last of the leases expiring around 1986. At its peak, Red Barn had 300-400 restaurants in 19 states as well as outlets in Southern Ontario, elsewhere in Canada, and in Australia.^[1]

Following the shutdown of operations, most of the Red Barn buildings were converted for other uses. A few of the chain restaurants were renamed "The Farm" in various states and continued serving the same menu items that were available when they were under their Red Barn franchise.

A vintage television commercial:

There is some discussion that these puppets were created by Jim Henson but I've found nothing to substantiate this claim.

TTC Garage at Howard Park Then and Now

Here's a TTC bus maintenance garage from June 1928 located on Howard Park
just east of Roncesvalles. Howard Park is named after John Howard who "donated"
High Park to the city in 1873
.
The same building today. Now surrounded by condos and
broken down cars. This entire block from Roncesvalles to Dundas is scheduled to fall in the next year for another massive condo complex.

Vintage snow plows on Howard Park with the garage on the left in 1924
John Howard

Queen and Jameson / Then and Now

Queen and Jameson looking south in the late 1930's, when it was a quiet tree lined street.

Again, a few years later in 1950. Some of the trees have disappeared and the street has been widened to accommodate the increased post-war traffic. The house on the right is slowly

being incorporated into the Toronto Dominion Bank building.
Today the intersection is an absolute mess. Thanks to our city planners this is now one of the most confusing intersections in the city for both drivers and pedestrians alike.
All of the houses on Jameson have been replaced by apartment buildings and as an access point to the Gardiner Expressway it's a heavily travelled route.
The apartment building to the left, The Connaught with the portico removed.

Sorauren and Pearson/Then and Now

Another corner store in Parkdale listed for $58,00 in May of 1979. Note the phone booth outside. There're not too many public phones left now that everyone has a cellphone.

This building has also been converted into a private residence.
Using the Bank of Canada's Inflation Calculator, the current price of this house SHOULD be $185,000.00.

Robert Simpson House on Bloor and St. Paul's

The original rendering.
Designed by Edmund Burke for Robert Simpson.

The finished product.
The replacement....

Mr. Simpson's store still stands at Queen and Yonge, now the Bay.