Retro Toronto Thread for Nostalgia Purposes.

[unassuming]

"Harvey's Hookers"!!!!!!!

 

[mandrill]

Ok here's mine.

Reading the Hockey Night in Canada team rosters for each game in the inset box in TV Guide Magazine.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

I'm trying to remember all the old rock venues. I got taken to Larry's Hideaway to see the Specials one night when they were almost unknown. My friends were cool and "downtown" and I was still going to law school in the burbs and had a stache and mullet. I was shunned by the rest of the crowd and no girls would talk to me. I was taken aside by my buddies the next day and read the riot act about my appearance!

Saw Rush at Larry's Hideaway. After they had done a U S tour. Must have owed somebody a favor.Watched them at the Gasworks before they made their first record. Used to see A foot in Cold Water at the Colonial Tavern. Saw Max Webster's first performance together at the Knob Hill.
Went to Starvin Marvin's
Used to poon at the Warwick House,On Gerrard. $30.00 fs. $10.00 for a room at Larry's Hideaway.
Watched the antenna being lowered onto the CN tower. Sitting in my car. Hungover on Sunday morning. They used a Sikorsky heavy lift helicopter.
Bars, booze and rock and roll. My wasted youth. Went on a double decker bus ride a couple of years ago, and listened to the tour guide talk about the universities, colleges, sports facilities, libraries, cultural and educational feast for those so inclined. I missed that part.
Achingly nostalgic film for me is "going down the road" by Don Shebib. I moved to Toronto shortly after the movie came out and my experiences were uncomfortably similar. It really captures the mood of Toronto in the early 70's.
Paul Bradley became an example of art imitating life.Used to see him drinking all the time in the Yonge Street Tavern. Happy hour 5 beers for $1.00. I walked over to his table and shook his hand and complimented him on the movie. He said words to the effect "God bless you for remembering. I needed a compliment after the kind of day it's been."

 

[mandrill]

https://www.facebook.com/oldtoronto/videos/947019162130800/

https://www.facebook.com/ongoinghistory/?ref=br_rs

https://www.facebook.com/oldtoronto/?ref=br_rs

https://www.facebook.com/VintageToronto/?ref=br_rs

 

[unassuming]

Watched the antenna being lowered onto the CN tower. Sitting in my car. Hungover on Sunday morning. They used a Sikorsky heavy lift helicopter.

I was there watching it also , man that Sikorsky was impressive!

 

[franci]

Ok here's mine.

Reading the Hockey Night in Canada team rosters for each game in the inset box in TV Guide Magazine.

How about Peter Puck.

 

[mandrill]

Handsome Ned - the uncrowned king of the Cameron House until his death by overdose in the mid 80's.

 

[mandrill]

Johnny McLeod and the G-Rays. They were the house band in the Rex Hotel for months if not years in the heyday of the Q West scene.

 

[explorerzip]

What I miss is the "Lick's" that was across the street (block demolished to make way for Dundas Sq) from the "Hard Rock Cafe", they made a great veggie burger, it tasted like real meat.

I seem too recall an episode of Degrassi Junior High that was partially filmed at that Lick's. Which reminds me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErnMPWBlrvc

 

[explorerzip]

Here's some more Toronto Nostalgia: Anybody else remember when the subway only went to Eglington? I grew up in Don Mills, so to get downtown - had to take the Lawrence Bus, which turned South down Leslie. The bus would stop near the Inn on the Park (another memory) so that the driver could walk through the bus and make sure that everybody had a transfer. Then the bus would continue West on Eglinton to the subway station. Back then there were transit zones, so if you went through a zone you needed to pay more (and get a transfer to prove you paid).

Other transit memories: Dial a Bus. In the early to mid 70's, this ran in my parent's neighbourhood as a pilot project. You would call, and a TTC minibus (which they have transformed into Wheel Trans) would arrive right at your door. It was incredibly wasteful as the buses typically had only a handful of passengers, so the program was cancelled.

That's before my time, but I remember getting soaked in the Eglinton bus bays and the lovely smell of Cinnabon in the concourse, which I think is still there.

 

[explorerzip]

You beat me to both speakers corner and EC.

I was on speakers corner and my clip made it to one of those "best of speakers corner" episodes....lol.


I used to see the beginning of EC on t.v on Saturday nights, then would pass it live on the street car going down Queen on my way to one of various clubs I used to hit on Queen St.

P.S, not sure if your a blue jays fan, but at the 4:34 mark of the EC clip, you'll see a black guy with a cowboy hat who was a staple on EC. That's Daulton Pompey's dad! lol



The clip of the Ex is amazing!

Never was a Jays fan except for the 2 times they went to the World Series. Time flies ma

 

[franci]

They all had lunch counters - Woolworth's, Zeller's, Kresge's, K-Mart. I used to be fascinated by the orange pop dispenser which used to flow the liquid around inside this type of clear plastic dome. No ethnic food back then. Just burgers, hot dogs and fries. And all those lunch counters stank of french fry grease.

Was "Night Heat" the show about the cop who was also a vampire? (I kid you not! That was the concept!)

 

[mandrill]

That's before my time, but I remember getting soaked in the Eglinton bus bays and the lovely smell of Cinnabon in the concourse, which I think is still there.

The Cinnabon booth. And the news paper and magazine booth. I would sneak quick looks at the Playboy centrefolds until the dragon who ran the stand glared at me.

 

[glamphotographer]

 

[black booty lover]

What I miss is the "Lick's" that was across the street (block demolished to make way for Dundas Sq) from the "Hard Rock Cafe", they made a great veggie burger, it tasted like real meat.

Was gonna mention licks, you beat me to it...lol.

 

[shack]

-Bulova Tower at CNE-everyone's meeting place

Originally the Shell Tower.

 

[shack]

Don't forget the Gasworks.........

I saw Rush there.

 

[Insidious Von]

I was a big fan. And there was that CBC Radio late night alternative rock show "Brave New Waves" (?) or something like that. Brilliant. Forget who the host was.

The host of Brave New Waves was Brent Banbury. They took over after Rainer Schwartz's Night Music went off the air in 1981. He's still working for the CBC Radio 2 today.

I have many memories of The Gasworks and Larry's Hideaway as well. I was there as a roadie for Sebastian Bach's first band Cardinal Sin when Tommy Lee tried to start a barroom brawl. He was nuts, the bouncers were all Iroquois. He was not touched, they didn't want him to come back with Motley Crue's roadies. Larry's Hideaway was a complete dive but the joint gave two bands a measure of fame: Venom and Husker Du.

I also remember JD Roberts getting totally shitfaced at the Iron Maiden concert at Kingswood/Canada's Wonderland.

 

[black booty lover]

Who remembers phones having a party line?

yeahhhhh….lol. Good call..lol.

 

[black booty lover]

"Harvey's Hookers"!!!!!!!

Hooker Harvey's. When my buddies and I first got our license, we used to drive down there to check them out. A car would pull up and holy crap, like 10 of them would rush the car...lol.