Young street was pretty edgy during the 70's...Then came the Emanuel Jaques murder. The fallout changed Toronto forever.
Vintage Toronto
- Thread starter The Oracle
- Start date
At the height of the Yonge Street sleeze period, there were live sex shows in the back of the Times Square Bookstore next to Funland.
First strip joint I went to in Toronto was the Upfront Lounge on Front St near Church St. many years ago. There were no VIP rooms back then and the girls would come on a stage to do their thing and we sat on a seat on the front row of many rows of seats. Girl came on the stage, most beautiful girl and did a karaoke song showing of her body at the same time. After she finished I waved at her to join me and she did. Turned out she was from Georgia with the most beautiful Southern accent. She sat with me and talked for 10 minutes, had to leave, kissed me on the cheek, fell in love forever.LOL.
An eyewitness to vaudeville. Props.
I'm guessing that when the belle was fully undressed, she was still wearing underpants and pasties with tassels on the ends.
70's, the downtown "cool" areas were still undeveloped. No Queen West. No Cabbagetown. Yorkville was still scruffy. High crime and general street sleaze.
The 50's and 60's had a lot of middle class relocation to the burbs. The middle class move back to the downtown core starts to happen in the late 70's and 80's.
What happened to the ,convenience shop at finch bus station where you can get the YRT buses? It is now closed and empty .20 years ago There was a shop where you can get snacks, and bus tickets
I lived at the point of the red dot in the late 1960's. The prominent east-west street just above the words 'Balmy Beach Park' is Queen Street East; the north-south to the left of 'Fallingbrook' is Victoria Park Avenue. That area was almost exclusively residential, with mainly sole proprietor small stores on that stretch of Queen, plus The Fox rep theater and 'The Goof'. Right around the knife and fork icon is a grocery store. It might possibly still have the horse ride machine in the front of the store, but if it does, it costs more than ten cents for the ride.
Compared to today's clinical looking downtown? I say it's cool. Maybe you didn't like it growing up then. lol
But going by comparisons of images from back then to today? Back then seemed liked it had a caricature vibe to it.
I was far too young to get a job during that brief mid 1970s halcyon period when Canadians took their standard of living for granted. Lots of boomers on drugs.
Factory workers not yet hammered to death by automation and Japan, Germany, etc. High commodity prices also aiding the Canadian standard of living.
The 1980s was a period for professionals and high unemployment.
Any former or current Etobians here? Thorncrest Village. A unique planned community. Old plaza photos. Gas station is no longer there. I worked there for a few years.
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I took a pic of the Sikorski Helicopter dropping the final top piece on the C N tower way back in the day. Must go through my library to find it. What year was that anyways??
Loved in the beaches as a school kid went to Kew Beach School, Lakeshore Blvd. ended at Coxwell Ave. and east of that was a wooded area called the Cut. Balmy Beach was great and hed Lacrosse Baseball and Soccer. Queen St. ended at Falling Brook Ave, and the corner lot which was fenced in was owned by the Seagram family. To bad my father sold our beautiful house on Kenilworth Ave. and bought a home in Cabbagetown. LOL
Toronto in the 60s was the rock and roll capital of North America, Yonge St has great bars featuring great entertainment such as the Colonial Tavern. Friars, Le Coq Dor, Sapphire Tavern, Upfront Lounge, Malloneys Tavern which was the first bar that allowed patrons to carry a beer from one table to another. Concord Tavern on Bloor St that featured bands like Ronnie Hawkins, Levon Helm and the Band. So many more. Also had some dance halls such as the Maseryck on Queen West, Club Trocadero on Dupont St. which had the best R & B dance music, The Avenue Rd Club in Yorkville had 2 dance floors, and they all had lots of gorgeous girls. Pretty well, got to take a girl home most nights. Aw, THOSE WERE THE DAYS.
