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Hogtown 101 Profile
Hogtown 101

@Hogtown101

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Toronto history from various angles

Toronto, Ontario
Joined September 2012
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
25 days
Coffee Crisp is a Toronto candy bar. A coffee-flavoured variant of a British wafer bar, Coffee Crisp was first produced in 1939 at the Rowntree Co. Ltd. factory on Sterling Rd. near Dundas W. and has never been made anywhere else in the world.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
I recognize only one King
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
In 1968, Bob Rae & Michael Ignatieff were both U of T students working for the student paper, The Varsity. The future political rivals were also friends and roommates, sharing an apartment above a shoe store at 618A Bloor St. W. at Palmerston.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
This is Texaco's effort to define Toronto in 1967, on the cover of a street map. I think I get the vibe they're aiming for here, but I also feel like this is a book cover for "Nancy Drew & The Case of the After-Hours Saloon."
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Before she was a legendary pilot, young Amelia Earhart, an American, worked as a nurse’s aide in Toronto from 1917-1919. During this time, she lived at the St. Regis Hotel at 392 Sherbourne near Carlton. Here she is hanging out on her Toronto apartment balcony (📷 Harvard U)
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
12,000 years ago Toronto was at the bottom of a lake. That midtown incline that kills you as you ride your bike up past Davenport is the slope leading to the original shoreline of prehistoric Lake Iroquois.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
21 days
The one known photo of Bloor Street namesake Joseph Bloore (1789–1862) is striking, to say the least. It begs for a second, more neutral image for comparison. Well, I found a curious photo. Some facts seem to rule it out, but could it be Bloore? Judge for yourself. A thread:
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
16 days
In 1989, 32-year old Olivia Chow appeared in NOW Magazine's regular "What I Wear" fashion feature. Chow was a school board trustee at the time, still two years away from being elected to Toronto City Council.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
I sometimes forget how far south Toronto is compared to the rest of Canada - and to the U.S. Compared to the States, we are further south than most of Maine, Wisconsin, South Dakota & Idaho + ALL of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana & Washington State. But you already knew that.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
In 1973, the very first Roots store opened across from the Rosedale Subway station at 1052 Yonge St., in the Crescent Road Apartments building (built 1926 and still there). Their “negative heel” shoes were so hot by 1974, even Elton John popped in for a pair.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
This topographical map from 1966 does a great job of highlighting Toronto's elevations and network of ravines.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
3 years
Sometimes, the shifting sands on the south shore of Toronto Island reveal the buried hull of what is believed to be the wreck of the Monarch, a steamer that ran aground during a storm on Nov. 29, 1856. The sands simply re-bury the ruins, and apparently, they remain there today.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Kensington Market circa 1940s. Still all very recognizable. Photos in the collection of Library and Archives Canada.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
A lot has changed at Davenport & Dupont since this 1948 photo was taken, yet it still looks familiar. Here’s a short thread to explain the numbers I’ve added, using alternative views of this intersection from around the same era.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
In the early 1900s, a giant white milk bottle 100-feet above the roof of City Dairy (on Spadina Crescent, now U of T's Borden Buildings) could be seen by most citizens (at night, it was lit by spotlights). The steel bottle actually functioned as a 25,000-gallon water tank.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
The Cameron House as we know it today - as a bar, music venue and event space - began in 1981. For over eight decades before then, the Cameron House (named in 1896) functioned as a hotel.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Toronto artist R. York Wilson was in the prime of his career when he agreed to paint a 100-ft mural for the new O’Keefe Centre for the Performing Arts, set to open in 1960. In Sept. 1959 Wilson began 8-months of work on 'The Seven Lively Arts' - still on display 60 years later.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
By 1973, Kensington Market, particularly Augusta Avenue, was an enclave of Portuguese businesses like Casa Lisboa, seen here. It was these residents (80% were from the Azores) who began painting Kensington houses in bright colours reminiscent of their coastal homelands.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 month
I stumbled upon a Toronto-based graphic novel memoir, ‘I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together’ by Maurice Vellekoop (Random House Canada, 2024), about a gay artist’s coming of age in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Many references and visual details depicting the city in past decades.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
Kudos to this unknown artist from 1986 whose work for the Horseshoe Tavern took concert listings to another level. It’s no mystery why Blue Rodeo gigs feature so prominently here: they were running their indie record label (Risque Disque) out of the Horseshoe’s basement.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
We're finally into patio season. Here's a 1986 ad for the rooftop patio at The Imperial Pub (54 Dundas E), offering some views of the action at Yonge & Dundas and funky plastic chairs of questionable comfort.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
1957 postcard with Toronto's skyline from the bay.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
5 years
People talk about how cool Queen West used to be once upon a time. This Rivoli events calendar from December 1986 is a who's who of legendary Toronto talent. (from Nerve magazine).
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
For decades following its foundation in 1876, the Mount Pleasant Cemetery landscape featured man-made ponds and a small lake with swans, with foot-bridges, waterfalls and fountains. Due to high maintenance costs, these were all drained and buried in the 1930s.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Josephine Baker was 17 in 1923, when she first performed on a Toronto stage (Royal Alex) as a chorus girl with the popular all-Black musical Shuffle Along. But when Baker returned to the Royal Alex stage 40 years later in 1964, she was the star - a legendary icon the Jazz Age.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
In March 1943, this 8-foot skeleton stood as a warning at College & Bathurst where there'd been 21 car accidents in 1942. Similar death figures stood at other intersections, where 62 pedestrians had been killed and over 3,000 injured in traffic accidents the previous year.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
22 days
July-Oct. 1969: Three Great Lakes freight ships (built 1895-1900) being towed into place, sunk and filled with concrete, to be used as a breakwater to protect the Ontario Place marina. The Douglass Houghton, Howard L. Shaw & Victorious are still there.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
Exhibit rooms inside the Ontario Science Centre in the early 1970s. Architect Raymond Moriyama set the exhibition halls in low, dark spaces so the visitor forgets about the building & escapes into the content in the same way that a moviegoer forgets they’re in a theatre.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
In the early 1900s, a giant white milk bottle 100-feet above the roof of City Dairy (on Spadina Crescent, now U of T's Borden Buildings) could be seen by most citizens (at night, it was lit by spotlights). The steel bottle actually functioned as a 25,000-gallon water tank.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
3 years
Interior photos of the luxurious, mahogany-filled steamer ship, the 'S.S. Toronto'. Launched in 1898 and servicing a route from Toronto to Prescott, it included a grand piano, a barber shop, and a room designed specifically to accommodate letter-writing.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
The Toronto Coach Terminal at Bay & Dundas opened in time for Christmas travel on Dec. 19, 1931: exactly 90 years ago today. But the era of Bay St. bus terminal ended earlier this year with its closure. The fate of the building (owned by a TTC subsidiary) is undecided.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
From 1911, here is artist J.W. Beatty at his studio in the Union Block (Toronto St. at Adelaide). The fireman-turned-painter is best remembered as an OCA art teacher who influenced the Group of Seven and built a stone memorial to Tom Thomson at Canoe Lake, the site of his death.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
After a phenomenal year for Gordon Lightfoot in 1965, the RPM Awards (precursor to the Juno Awards) named him Top Folk Singer. Gord responded to the award in RPM magazine, taking out a 1/4-page advert that just said "Thanks." Hey Gord, thank YOU. RIP #gordonlightfoot
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
A TTC snow sweeper clearing a track (King St?) in 1966. Postcard image from Ingenium Digital Archives.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
In 1833, the Gooderham & Worts windmill became a prominent Toronto landmark. It’s a shame it didn’t survive past 1859. But its original foundation was discovered in 2003, and today, a red brick semi-circle on Gristmill Lane in the Distillery District identifies where it’s buried.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
Some mid-20th century ephemeral delights from Toronto restaurant chain Steak 'N Burger.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
During a stay in Toronto in 1884, future 'Dracula' author Bram Stoker went tobogganing with a local toboggan club at Riverdale Park. Stoker was in town as theatre manager for a famous travelling troupe; his day job. He had one novel under his belt but Dracula was 13 years away.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
The earliest descriptions of Toronto refer to large oak trees. 150 oaks, around 150 years old, still stand in an ancient grove along the old Toronto Carrying Place trail. One at Jane & Weatherell is 260+ years old. Find our heritage protected trees here:
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
One of the oddest collaborations of Toronto talent was Doug Henning’s first big production as a magician-showman: “Spellbound” (1973) at the Royal Alex, starring Henning, produced by Ivan Reitman, co-starring Jennifer Dale, written by David Cronenberg, with music by Howard Shore.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
18 days
The American Hotel stood on the N.E. corner of Yonge & Front circa 1844-1889, across from the current Hockey Hall of Fame. Here is a menu from 1884 from the American Hotel’s restaurant, whose cuisine at the time reportedly “ranks as the very best.”
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
3 years
City of Toronto website hosts an interactive map of local street art (a joint effort with StreetARToronto), highlighting the many utility boxes, underpasses, shop walls and laneway garages that have been decorated by urban artists in the past decade:
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 month
Before Tim Hortons, there was Honey Dew. It began in Parkdale in 1916 – a new orange beverage (Honey Dew) grew into a Canadian coffee shop chain (later restaurants) over the next few decades, bolstered in the late ‘20s by a controlling stake in the company by Orange Crush Ltd.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
21 days
4/8 I tinted the eBay photo, reduced its transparency and placed it over the Bloor photo (see video here). Using the nose as an anchor (itself a perfect match), I was surprised by how it all lined up when Bloor’s expression is taken into consideration.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
In the early 1900s, to solve problem of the weak sales during the winter months, the Neilson ice cream company of Toronto turned to making chocolates – eventually creating (amongst many others) Jersey Milk (1924), Crispy Crunch, Sweet Marie & Mr. Big – all originating in Toronto.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Junction Triangle smelled like hair spray in 1980. Residents breathed in the noxious air of 20 industrial factories - paint, rubber, bottle caps, chickens. In 1982, gallons of chemicals were dumped into their sewers, finally prompting a pollution alert system & a city task force.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
It’s been 30 years since you’ve seen “Simpsons” on a Toronto building. But this colour photo of the Christmas window at the former Simpsons location at Queen & Bay, although taken in 1969, looks like it was taken yesterday.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
3 years
It’s been a decade since Union Station had an arcade. It began in 1965 as Amuse-O-Matic Centre, with shooting gallery games & even a Victorian “peep show” machine. Pinball and video games came later - but by 2011, no one was dropping loonies for Cruis'n USA anymore. Game over.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
Downtown Toronto during rush hour in the early 1940s, photographed by C.D. Woodley (1910-2003), an amateur Toronto photographer. His work is now held by Archives Canada (offline) but some photos are on his estate website and at
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 months
In the 1890s, the Black Bull Hotel (est. 1838 at 298 Queen W) had its own amateur baseball team. Once a year, the Black Bull squad faced-off against the Cameron House baseball team.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
By the time The Torontonian apt. building near Yonge & Eglinton opened in 1967, the term “Torontonian” had been around for over 100 years. While the term was published in two Canadian papers as far back as 1850, a New York Herald article from 1849 appears to be the oldest.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
@JodiesJumpsuit Scott Pilgrim vs. Brampton
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
Ad for the Silver Snail comic shop from 1976, the year it first opened (originally at 321 Queen W). The shop was born out of Bakka, a sci-fi bookstore across the street, where one co-owners’ initial dabbling in selling “a few” comics grew so big, he had to set-up shop elsewhere.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
There was a time when Old City Hall was known as New City Hall. It was opened in Sept. 1899, but the tower was a bit naked: it would take over a year to get the clock & bells delivered from the U.K. and installed. An elevator carried passengers to the tower top until the 1920s.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
Great, fun short doc now streaming on Gem: 'Patty vs. Patty': "The story of Toronto’s bizarre 1985 'patty wars,' when Jamaican-Canadian bakers went head-to-head with the federal government over the name of their beloved beef patty." .
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
McMaster is Hamilton’s most prestigious University, but it was originally a Toronto institution (est. 1887) before transferring to Hamilton in 1929-30. The former Toronto site, McMaster Hall, is now home to the Royal Conservatory of Music on Bloor St. W - minus the ivy.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
Carlton Street, northwest side at Church Street, in 1912: a grocer, a tailor, a barber and a “Chinese laundry.” Twenty years later, this would all be replaced by Maple Leafs Gardens. (image at right is tagged with listings from the 1912 Toronto city directory)
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Escaped slaves from Kentucky (via Michigan) made up a large % of the Black population of 600 in Toronto in 1837. Most notably were Thornton & Lucie Blackburn, who became prominent in business & activism in Toronto: a success now commemorated with a plaque in Kentucky.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
From 1967: Drag queens arrive at the Letros Tavern (50 King E.) for their annual Halloween Drag Ball. While it looks like everyone here is having fun, the scary part of this Halloween tradition were the homophobic threats and hostility from some in the outside crowds.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
On May 14, 1932, Detroit News photographed Toronto from a plane. These photos, now held at Wayne State U, are online. Don't just look at the little jpegs here; use their web viewer to zoom into these stunning hi-res images like it's a 1932 satellite :
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
In 1906, the Gooderham family took advantage of bad water advisories in Toronto to sell York Springs bottled water, pumped from a spring recently discovered at Yonge & York Mills. This rare image shows the exact location of their hillside source - the “Hemlock Spring” well.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
In 1813, U.S. troops stole Toronto’s only fire "engine" (a 17th-C Blackfriar water pump like this one) and kept it at the Navy Yard in Brooklyn. It was paraded in Manhattan as a war trophy in the 1850s, then sent to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD - it may be there still.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Before area codes & 7-digit numbers, Toronto phones were found by exchanges: area name + a short set of numbers (i.e. Main 2852). In 1905, female operators patched local calls through to either Main, North, Park, Beach or Junction. 1905 directory:
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
5 months
Ring in the New Year at Fran's Restaurant in 1965. Here's a glimpse of the neon glow of the Yonge & College location in 1963.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
The liquor business was called Gooderham & Worts, but their manufacturing plant went by the name Toronto City Steam Mills Distillery. This rarely-seen engraving of the distillery, looking up Trinity St., was published as an advertisement in 1865.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
As a Toronto boy in the 1950s, Lorne Lipowitz spent hours forging his dreams at the College Playhouse cinema (344-346 College @ Brunswick). He had easy access: his mom worked the box office and his grandfather owned the joint. That kid grew up to be SNL creator Lorne Michaels.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Norma Shearer was one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1920s/'30s - and also a great-granddaughter of Thomas Fisher, who built the first grist mill at the Old Mill site. Norma's childhood summers were spent at Millwood, a home on Kingsway Cres. built by Fisher in the 1830s.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
At dawn on April 27, 1813, dozens of Anishinaabeg warriors rushed from a Grand Council meeting ahead of their British allies, to be the first line of defence against 1,700 American invaders firing grapeshot and landing ashore near present-day Parkdale. How’s your morning going?
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Sam Sniderman’s music empire began at 714 College St., where as a teen he sold records at the family radio repair shop. As record sales grew, in 1948 they re-branded as Sniderman’s Music Hall. Here, Sam became “The Record Man" - a name he took with him to Yonge St. in 1961.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
The Shell Oil Tower (1955) was a steel and glass observation structure that once stood at Exhibition Place. Re-branded as the Bulova Tower in the 1970s, it's prominence made it the go-to meeting place and lost-kid reunion point for CNE visitors until its demolition in 1985.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
What do Hall & Oates, LL Cool J, Slayer, Dave Brubeck & Stompin' Tom all have in common? They all played Massey Hall in 1991. A new book project, That Night at Massey Hall, is collecting your concert photos and memories: (📷 Arild Vågen) 1/2
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
The Masonic Temple in 1923, 5 years after opening, used mostly for Freemason, religious & charity events. But from 1918-1923 it also hosted lectures by Sir Arthur Currie, writers Hugh Walpole & G.K. Chesterton, explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Basil Thompson of Scotland Yard.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
23 days
A 1920 snapshot of the history of “Union Station.” Building #14 : Our current Union, still under construction. #30 : the active Union entrance in 1920, opened in 1896 as a revamp and expansion of #29 , the city’s second Union (1873) on the site of the demolished first Union (1855).
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
When it opened in 1883, the Eaton’s dept. store on Queen St. was notable for its brightness. It was designed to maximize daylight exposure and was supplemented by electric lights (a first for a Canadian store) that were powered by Eaton's own on-site, 8-engine electrical plant.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
After 60 years of business (est. 1852), in 1912 the E.W. Gillett Co. of Toronto opened a new manufacturing plant at Liberty & Fraser streets, where they continued to make one of their most enduring products: Magic Baking Power.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
Here’s a secret. Hidden inside the cornerstones of many of Toronto’s old buildings and monuments are historical treasures: coins, newspapers and other mementoes from the year the stone was laid. Here are the contents of just four of these cornerstone time capsules.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
In 1931, the domed roof of the new Maple Leaf Gardens was one of its great features. It was supported by steel trusses rather than columns that would obstruct views of the action. Here is the naked, mid-construction steel skeleton of that roof, which took four weeks to build.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
Above the front entrance of the Manning Arcade building (1882-1962) at 24-28 King St. W. was a decorative little balcony. From this vantage point, it seems these two photos of King St. (facing east to Yonge) were taken circa 1900.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
In 1848, 19-year old baker’s apprentice William Christie was newly-arrived from Scotland. His first job in Toronto was baking bread overnight then delivering them by cart to customers in Yorkville. A decade later, young “Mr. Christie” was getting a rep for his good cookies.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
A doc about CFNY and alt-music club culture in the GTA 1980s-2000s is in the works. They're looking for memorabilia: The Edge, Martin Streek, Club 102, Chris Sheppard, Phoenix, Whiskey Saigon etc. Info and a rough teaser video here: )
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
6 months
Map showing the periods of urban expansion ("build-up") in the Greater Toronto Area from 1793 to 1975. In the late 1930s, more people owned homes in Toronto than Montreal, Winnipeg & Hamilton combined.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
In 1897, the demolition of a building on the N.W. corner of King & Church revealed a piece of local history that had been boxed-in and hidden by development: Toronto’s second Court House (1827-1853), which had once been prominent in Court House Square along King Street.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Before Union Station (1927-) there was Union Station (1878-1927) on the same site. For three generations, Torontonians looked up at its clock tower to check the time. That clock was spared the wrecking ball (pre-demo tower shown here) and is now on the town hall at Huntsville.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
In 1986, the owners of the new Big Bop club at Queen & Bathurst tried to fit into what Nerve mag called "the most depraved corner of downtown” by keeping the windows boarded-up and doing without a sign. The cool kids found it and lined-up down the block to fill all three floors.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
In the Fall of 1972, 22-year old Martin Short was dating Gilda Radner, and moved into her place at 77 Pears Ave. (across from Ramsden Park). The future comedy legends had met earlier in 1972 as cast members of the Toronto production of ‘Godspell’ – their stage debuts.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
After 1850, the daily ringing of the bell atop St. Lawrence Hall at 6 AM, 12 noon & 6 PM was the job of the building caretaker, who lived on site. When he died in 1892, his widow, Elizabeth Riddle, took over bell-ringing duty for 15 years, into her 70s.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
Spadina Avenue, April 1957. Besides the car styles, the thing that jumps out at me the most is the bay parking. When did that change?
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
Russia-born radical activist, Emma Goldman, first lived in Toronto during the winter of 1926-1927. One of her earliest addresses was 683 Spadina (N. of Sussex) where, on June 26th, she wrote to a fellow anarchist about her experience in Toronto. (Letter source: Duke University)
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
3 years
There's a rock in The Beaches where a struggling @Alanis Morissette used to sit in 1993 to wonder about her future. She was in Toronto only a year before trying her luck in L.A. In 1995 she returned, now a star, and re-visited that same Beaches rock - "and I just went, 'Man.'"
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 month
The marble lions in front of the R.O.M. are from c.17th-century China. The prince’s palace they once guarded (Su Wang Fu) was destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. This photo c.1922 shows the lions being carted through the streets of Beijing en route to Toronto.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
21 days
7/7 Photographers in the 1850s kept glass plate negatives. Might John Hay have inherited glass plates from James Hay and printed a copy of prominent former citizen Joseph Bloore? Or is this just a completely unrelated yet similar random face?
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
3 years
The Keg Mansion at 515 Jarvis was once (amongst other incarnations) Ryan’s Art Galleries, established by Thomas Ryan, inventor of 5-pin bowling. Here in 1927, Ted Rogers launched a new radio station, CFRB (seen in these 1929 photos from Radio News of Canada). @NEWSTALK1010
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
6 months
In 1895, Toronto Ferry Co. built a 1/4-mile bicycle track at Hanlan’s Point. The track, made of oiled wood boards, was illuminated at night for hosting bike races. In 1897, when Toronto’s pro baseball team first moved to Hanlan’s, the diamond was placed inside this bike track.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
During absences by Mayor Coatsworth in 1906-07, Toronto was overseen by Acting Mayor Wm. P. Hubbard (b. 1842 Toronto), a city Alderman & Controller - and notably, a Black man. Here’s a profile of Hubbard from an African-American paper in 1907 after a visit to his Toronto home.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
2 years
Inspired by Montreal’s famous winter carnival, in 1885 Toronto built its own “Ice Palace” at the Zoological Gardens at Front & York. Using actors, fireworks & coloured lights, a spectacle was made of an “attack” on the frozen fortress, which was “defended” by the Grenadiers.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
3 years
This illustrated view of a Toronto street (likely King St.) from 170 years ago was published in a German paper, 'Österreichische illustrierte Zeitung,' in September 1852.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
4 years
These night photos of Bloor Street (between Church and Bellair) were taken by photographer Daniel McLaughlin in December 1969. See them in a larger scale on his Flickr account:
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
1 year
From 1914: Looking down at Yonge St. at night, from just S of King St. looking north. On the west side is women’s clothing shop Fairweather (84 Yonge), Binghams drugs ( #100 ) & Hotel Lamb ( #116 ). The Strand theatre ( #91 ) & Jess Applegath hats ( #89 ) are on the east side.
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@Hogtown101
Hogtown 101
3 years
When the “Potter’s Field” cemetery at the NW corner of Yonge & Bloor (1825) closed in the 1850s, it was up to the families of the deceased to have the remains moved to the new Necropolis. Some were never claimed, until a cemetery Trust dug up the forgotten souls in 1874.
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