Night Ride - Classic Neon Yonge Street (1986)
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- Опубликовано: 13 ноя 2009
- Here's some more smooth sailing late night style from Global TV crica 1986. This clip has a nice drive around downtown T.O, including another buzz by Sam the Record Man and the legendary A&As.
when i watched this is a young teenager back in '86, little did i know i'd be watching it again 30 years later with a tear in my eye
Same here. 👍
@Lionel Muggerage You are exactly 100% correct 👍
I miss those arcades.
I miss Toronto back in the days. Young st was a lot more interesting. Thanks for posting this video. I used to watch the all night drive.
I lived in Toronto from 1986 to 1993. This will always be the Toronto I remember. Thanks for the memories.
I was a young man in the city at this time. Although Toronto had a lot more character back then, I was working a crappy warehouse job, broke, living in dumps, with no friends or family anywhere. It was depressing. I guess if you have no money and just exist, life sucks regardless of where you are. If any young people reading this are feeling down because you're in a similar situation, keep your head up, things will get better. It might take some time, but they will.
It was great to see this show again. It used to be a regular routine to help me relax and fall asleep. Part of me wishes to have Toronto back as it was....
Same here.
i miss this T.O. so much
This was something that would make you stop channel surfing at 3 in the morning. I was living in Toronto in 1986, I used to watch this every time I was up way late. Music was excellent, nothing else like it on TV in the middle of the night in the mid-80's. I probably fell asleep on the couch to this show more times than I could remember :)
+Geoff Davis The absolute perfect show for relaxing, enjoying the views of the city and sleeping it off. It was a "virtual" experience before the term had entered the common vernacular.
Back when Toronto was good.
After the mid 2000s it was all over. It is so sad.
I was born in '87 and I'm very sad that I was never able to experience this Toronto. I've grown up and lived in Mississauga my whole life but this...this is so beautiful. A Toronto before condos and shining glass everywhere? Yes PLEASE!
It's funny, but I felt so at peace watching these shows. Something about the jazz music and the content was absolutely fantastic.
I used to drive a taxi on the weekends in the late '80's and I made cassette tapes of this and night walk. It was amazing. My fares used to ask who was playing. 99% of my customers LOVED it. Of course I would only play this after 9pm so it kept it's mojo! Especially couples out on romantic dates! :D
I remember this show.
I'm sure it also influenced me to go on late night drives when I first got my license (the next year)
Thank you Night Ride.
Used to walk up and down this section of Yonge Street every Saturday morning with my friends in 1982/1983, we were only 14. Used spend our mornings in the various video game arcades. Such fun.
Loved going to Sam's to buy cassettes, yes cassettes! The smell of music
Definitely! CD s were just starting to be adopted at that time!
Driving through the night has its charms. Early risers may like the sound of roosters, while night owls lean toward smooth jazz. Two sides of the coin. Left can be wonderful enjoying these simple things.
This is amazing. I want a big slice now.
So do I.
Wow, I used to fall asleep to this every night when I was attending Carlton University. Been trying to find this for ages.
Its so cool to see the Gardens and the old TTC red rockets.
Maple Leaf Gardens should have been turned into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
OMG, Yonge Street! Toronto was so safe that on some weekends a friend and I used to walk down Yonge Street very late. We would turn on Carton St and go to the Golden Griddle (near the Maple Leaf Gardens) to have breakfast. Those were the days!
So many places of "My Toronto" back in the day: Sam the Record Man, Knossos Restaurant (good rib eye steaks), The Big Slice, The Golden Griddle, Pizza Hut on Carlton, The Carlton (now a Holiday Inn) and Maple Leaf Gardens.
During the day, a little old gentleman had a Toronto Star stand. I always purchased my paper from him.
Going to Toronto for Blue Jays homestands, we would take the subway from College to Union. For Leaf games, we would just run from the Carlton Inn to MLG without our coats.
Good memories.
I remember that old guy - dundas and yonge.
Before the internet, before google maps there was Night Ride.
man!!! I used to watch this when I was 12 at 3am in the morning...lol. This brings back such child hood memories.
I get choked up watching these clips today, Im 34 and these charming videos were a huge part of my childhood (grew up in Hamilton Ontario). The NightWalks -- NightRides have always been in the back of my mind. It is actually 3:30am right now as i type and I am watching these clips just like I was a kid again (big difference being I am on a computer compared to my old 80's t.v with the Antenna). I Also luv the O'Canada global sign off cartoon with the bird flying across Canada.
I was hooked on these shows when I was younger. Going downtown was not something we did often as kids, so I was glad to be able to see the sights of the downtown core along with some smooth jazz music. It was the jazz that got me interested in music and audio engineering.
Simple programs yet loaded with artistic goodness.
I just found this! I was in my teens in 1986, my sister and I went downtown to go record shopping then to the dance clubs Fri and Sat nights religiously, for years. In fact I kind of was looking to see if I was in any of the shots (LOL). The 80s was so magical, I feel very blessed for being a teenager in the 80s. I remember seeing this series on tv, I liked it, but never gave it a thought back then. Now, I am very happy there are still some episodes still existing.
Used to watch all these videos back in the 80's after coming home from night shifts. My first 3 beers of the early morning were devoted to watching these. Now a days if you go mall shopping and don't get shot at then it was a great day!
It was composed specifically for this series by Guido Basso
Was about 13 when this was made and much older now and now missing the past wondering where the time goes ...life is very strange when your in a good time your completley unaware its only ages later you realize how good it was
Very true. Blessings be with you, you're still relatively young!...❤
Miss the 80's.
God this brings back so many memories for me...my husband and I used to watch this every Saturday night...just chillin out. So wonderful to see these clips again. Thanks for sharing and allowing me to reminisce.
Guido Basso CM, I forgot all about this great Canadian talent! The restless city at night, Toronto has come a long way since Donald Shebib's movie, "Goin' Down the Road," when the characters headed down to Yonge St. Fun to see the way things were, we growed up since then. Like this.
Oh. The Funland Arcade. You have so, so many of my quarters.
A fantastic glimpse of Toronto during the 80's. A time when indie businesses were healthy.
And gave the city charm and character.
Thanks for uploading this. I can't remember the number of nights I had this for company while I hammered away late into the night on my Smith Corona typewriter, rushing to finish my projects.
what a great time this was, no messed up people sleeping or walking on the street....
The Toronto of my teenage years, I have such fond memories of that time.
I tried getting in touch with Global a few years ago to inquire if they had copies of the entire series around and surprisingly they had no idea what I was talking about. I think it was Night Ride, Night Walk and Night Moves. I wish I had known how to operate the VCR as a kid, I would have recorded all of them. It would be nice to have the entire series. These shows are fantastic. Michael Spivak wrote fantastic music and the visuals are just stunning.
D. Ryan CITY-TV did this
City TV did what?
you said that you were trying to get this series off of Global ... City TV created this show
Patrick Ross No, they did not. It was for Global
Retrontario I stand corrected. Sorry about that
When i used to visit Toronto every summer i always did alot of night walks. I sure do miss Sam the Record Man and all the Pawn Shops.
I used to stay up and watched this during hight school, you know when you weren't old enough to go out.. but don't want to go to bed...on the weekends, hanging out at the records stores and headshops ,looking for band posters and t shirts, in the basement, with some loud Zeppelin in the background...one dude that worked there had a green long mohawk, I wonder where he is now...I'm really happy to find these videos again however I haven't managed to finished one run , the nostalgia really hit me hard ..holy crap
I remember that guy with the long green spiked mohawk! He had several facial piercings as well and for all the times I saw him, I never heard him say a word! lol
@@resp0nse_beats haha, true, oh man !! Im glad you replied, yeah I wonder. I saw him often with black baseball cap backward. it's crazy what vision'/memory sticks in your head hahaha
Wonder what he ended up doing after his gig at the headshops.. lol@@drylaundry
I've lived in Toronto since 1997. Needless to say, I've seen it experience a LOT of transformation since then. These sights brought back memories of walking down Yonge st as a young adult. Thanks for uploading.
Toronto was so much better back then. Yonge at Dundas was a cool place with all sorts of badass stores, etc. Now it's big box stores and generic convenience. True, it was a bit more "seedy", but so much more colourful. And as a whole, the city was friendlier and less tense.
Rockwell Jeans! Mr Submarine. Is the Public Library Tavern still around with their pickled eggs on the bar & and old jazz on the jukebox?
It is ironic how we have to turn to the "internet" to view the past and then wish we could turn the clock back and return when there was no such thing as the "internet".
atelectro1 Yep....ain’t it the truth....
I was telling my wife about this a few weeks ago. she's not from Toronto so I glad I had a chance to show her this
Beautiful and love the music
Thank you so much for another great trip to my misspent youth! Well, 20s anyway.
In this context, after all this time, it almost seems elegant.
My uncle lived in etobico when i was a kid, we would go visit him from time to time from 88 to 93 and i would bug him to take me to all the places i seen on nightdrive and late night on city tv...got to go to sams and the silversnail as well as the red dragon along with some arcades..never lived in t.o. but in niagara i miss the old toronto
Toronto is but a Shadow of its former self.
Yeah, the rents in Toronto are freaking insane...not only that the cost of living has skyrocketed. This is why I never bothered to try and build my teaching career in Toronto and I hit the road on the International school teaching circuit. I have been out of the country for most of the last 12 years. Only went back in 2013 and I was repulsed by what Toronto had turned into.
Someone asked a while back what the name of the song playing is. No one actually knows. The creator of these shows, Michael Spivak, actually composed all of the songs and used prominent local jazz instrumentalists like Mike Malone and Guido Basso for the recordings. I've tried to track these guys down through Global Television but no luck. Too much time has passed I guess. Gotta be grateful for the clips we have.
I managed to audio record all of the songs from all of the shows onto cassette tape years ago. I hope I still have them around...somewhere.
+D. Ryan Joe Sealy played piano on night ride so he might know.
Dan Ram did you still have them?
1986 what a perfect time to live in Toronto. The place was golden between 65-95. It’s just a big mess now unfortunately.
Finally I found this! I remember watching this when I was 6 or 7 when I'd wake up at 4 or 5am! This and Nelson's four flavour chocolate bars are my memories of mid-80's
I think we all feel the same. I miss Toronto the way it was.
Same here. Toronto lost a lot of its charm and character.
This is so Chill..Should bring this back now.
Biggz Was Here. Peace.
I used to tape this show ( although we had moved from Toronto ) and just use it as background music it was so good - seeing SAMs and A&A brings back some great memories - when you walked in to SAMs in the 60's - it was "bliss" - thanks for posting this - a lot of good memories strolling Young St back then . . . .
Loved the Maison d’ Croissants
Can't forget Doug Laurrie Sporting Goods and Harveys on Carlton. I purchased my first Leafs sweater on a school trip at DLSG and enjoyed many a burger at Harveys.
All the Grind house Cinemas. the Cornet, the Bijou, Biltmore and my favorite The Rio.
This was the Bomb, back in the day.....
Also the beginning.. Ah Sam the Record man.. When Records were still king and CDs, MP3s, and the internet providing digitial goods have yet to take over.
Now its goddamn Ryerson, all of it.. Opening tomorrow as of this comment.
The Arcade at the beginning lasted there till at least 2006.
The only places that are the same here compared to now is probably Sunrise Records (Recently closed), the Pizza Pizza at Yonge and Elm, Swiss Chalet, The Yonge Street Mission, and The Big Slice.
+TKWizard Many happy hours spent with friends from school on a Saturday afternoon going through all the record stores along Yonge...complaining that the ablum I wanted was marked with an "Import" sticker which meant $$$$$$.
And now it is no longer Ryerson but "Toronto Metropolitan University" due to political correctness and the Swiss Chalet and Lindy's are both gone...
I used to cruise up and down Yonge street in the late 70s early 80s with my 68 Camero SS playing AcDC ...
That camero in good shape today would bring you 6 figures.
I used to sit up and wait for Night Drive and Night walk! What a fucking nostalgia buster! Thank you. 👏
My sister was on Tiny Talent Time on CKCO way back in the day. Could you post some shit about that?
Not her episode per sé, but the show itself?
Oh wow. I just saw Lindy's Steakhouse and got weepy :'(
+Michael Moody I think I spotted Diana Sweets too...my mom and grandmother took me in there when I was a little kid when we would go downtown shopping BEFORE the Eaton's Centre was built. Weepiness happening... :(
La Maison Du Croissant, so many good memories of my friends and myself hanging out there :)
Yeah - Lindy's... I'll have a Mexican with salad instead of vegetables... I lived 1972 - 1980 at 96 Gerrard St. so I was a regular at Lindy's and Swiss Chalet. After I moved to Ottawa I would visit Lindy's (or Sai Woo) whenever I was in Toronto. Last time I was at Lindy's the ownership had changed and the quality was poor so I knew the writing was on the wall and the place would close soon. I said a final goodbye to my favorite waiter... a tall thin guy who had been there forever. Very sad.
Having lived in the area for 8 years in my late teens and early 20s I really appreciate seeing this video. It brings back a lot of good memories. Thanks...
This was before the Ontario Parliament Television Network came with all of its lovely music.
At @5:50 on the left side, Japan Camera Centre One Hour Photo. I worked there summer of 1987.
The good old days.
I saw this on my first time visiting Toronto. I visited in 1987 and it was just like that in the video.
Toronto used to be a destination that had drawing power. It could attract people for the employment and lifestyle opportunities and was well regarded in the arts and educational and science worlds with lots in between. I'm not saying that it was the number one spot but it was clearly on the map. These days people are leaving the country because they're dissatisfied with what they find. Evidently the line on the graph keeps going down. Mores the pity. What a great town this used to be.
I've been living here since 1964 at the age of two, I spent some time in Richmond Hill for three years in 1967, then came back in 1970. That adds up to fifty-seven years of experiencing Toronto. I remember these years very well. Downtown Toronto used to be the heart of the city. Much more so than people will ever give it credit for these day. It had that reputation. If you were looking for the latest Sony Walkman at the local residential mall and they didn't have it, a store clerk would probably tell you, "Just go downtown. They got all that stuff down on Yonge Street." And this applied across the board, to a wide range of things like music, fashion, favorite restaurants and the like. The place had record stores, poster shops (anyone remember black lights and black light posters?), head shops, book stores, pinball arcades, movie theaters and even those guys that sold popcorn, peanuts and candy apples seem associated with those times. On Friday and Saturday nights in the summer time the joint could really be jumping with a steady stream of people on the sidewalk, music blaring from cars cruising the strip, and all the neon lights adding to the atmosphere. It had something like a midway vibe that you'd find at a carnival. This applies more forcefully to the strip between Dundas and Collede streets. That was where the _real_ action was. And best of all, it was free. All I'd need is a couple of subway tickets for there and back and maybe five dollars for a meal somewhere. It was a fun 'let's go hang out ' kind of place when you had nothing to do and wanted to get lost in a crowd.
These days, different story. There's no longer a 'let's go hang out' kind of place left. There's lots of streets I could walk in Toronto but whenever I want to go for a stroll I still choose Yonge Street. There's no other street in Toronto that holds the same nostalgic value that Yonge Street does and I guess that's why I pick it. The thing is, strolling that street does not leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. If anything, it's depressing. Simply knowing how vibrant that street was contrasted against what's there now...it just seems sad and lifeless. Shops boarded up, 'for rent' signs in every third or fourth window, an elevated degree of vagrancy on the street, and simply _knowing_ that the streets in Toronto in general are no longer as safe as they once were, with Yonge Street being a longstanding destination for people who are down on their luck...this is what Yonge Street has deteriorated into. And the shops and the neon and the overall vibe, they're all gone now, memories that belong to another time, a different generation. I know that change is imminent, you just hate to see the past disappear. Ironically, RUclips offers more nostalgic value than the street itself does these days. I guess we should be thankful that we at least have that. It helps but the longing continues.
Ah, it sure was fun while it lasted. Maybe we should leave with an upbeat kind of thought, which is a quote from Dr. Seuss, which goes, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." And to that I'd like to add, "And we got to share in it."
All best.
So strange. My favourite music genre, video theme, technology era and basically everything is from the 90s or 80s. Nothing nostalgic, just a style I have a passion about.
My house is close enough to get Ottawa stations but not Toronto stations. Too bad. Would have loved to have seen this as a kid.
Bloody brilliant!
From the time before Toronto became a lifeless valley of condo towers and Starbucks...
Its totally sad to see famous landmarks like Sam the Record Man and Honest Ed's going. I'm going to miss all the things that gave this city it's uniqueness.
Yes a city dominated by condos is a cultural mecca...
*****
Don't worry about him; he's just having trouble coming to terms with becoming obsolete and irrelevant, besides out of touch with current times.
but at least we know the real Toronto b4 it all changed . born in Cabbagetown 1961
+NoPuns I agree....not the "livable" city I and many others once knew and loved. Try taking a "leisurely cruise" along Yonge Street these days and see how it goes. At least those of us who were around then got to experience how nice it was.
Thanks, this is wonderful! 👍
R.I.P. Guido Basso 🙏🙏
Wow…so much nostalgia here! I used to watch this and Night Walk when I was a kid in the 80s. I would sometimes specifically get up in the middle of the night and sneak downstairs to watch these shows. I was obsessed! 😂
They had a great influence on me. I always remember them and hold them close to my heart. These are some of the first shows that got me into editing. These shows and music videos of that era…huge influences. 😀
Holy Crap I Was 11 When This Was Filmed
I remember being up at nights with my baby when I see this video.
Didnt know this existed until I went to College in the early 80s and saw it for the first time after a night out. What a flashback, an absolute vibe thank you for posting this.
80s Toronto was a lot better than nowadays
As a teen that is exactly how it was. We went to play pinball mostly and drop by Master John Shoes when he was open. :-)
reminds me of when i first met my daughter,i lived north of the city,and stumbled upon this on tv in 1992 , and it made me think about her
This really brings me back...it's funny, I'd always think about this show but I'd never think about it when surfing the web. So I figured I'd search for this show for the heck of it and it was really easy to find. I'm glad to know that I didn't make this show up in my head. So many fond memories back in the day...this show was part of them...
A person enjoying these reporting in... from FINLAND!
This was and is a brilliant idea, Finnish channels just showed blank nothingness after midnight or so.
This is an amazing time capsule of Toronto as it was in the 80's! The only business that is the same today as it was in this video is The Big Slice (seen at 1:10). All the others have closed or, in the case of the Zanzibar (a still-running strip club), totally changed facades.
It was called "The Rio" opened in 1939 and closed in 1991. In it's twilight years in the it was mostly a grindhouse theatre, showing double and triple feature 5+ year old movies 24/7. Usually old kung-fu, soft core porn and explotation films.
This is smooth!
if you adjusted the "rabbit ears" on top of your T.V.,
you could get this without having cable.
Belinda and I would get high and watch this. Life was perfect.
amazing
memories what a great late night show
I have been looking for these for quite a few years, I remember watching these when I was 5
I wasnt to be until 8 years later.
Then again in 30 years I'll look back at today and say "Ohh I remember 2010..good times.."
Oh man, do I ever miss it!
It's hard to put a finger on it though. Everything was simpler back then - even the bad stuff.
It's like: if there was a "bad guy" back then, he carried a knife. These days, the "bad guy" carries a friggin' AK-47.
Everything has just ramped up so much. It's horrible.
Wow FLASHBACK. I miss this view.
Nice!
Most people don't remember when Yonge didn't have street lamp posts. All the lights were on the buildings.
I used to live in Toronto and work the night shift at the Bloor Street Diner. After work I would drive around the city with my goth girl friend and look at the sights and stop at the Pearl Court for hot and sour soup. Those were the days, Toronto was so safe and clean. My favs spots on here are The Big Slice, Pizza and Panzeroti and the Maison de croissant.
I frequented all five of those myself and the first three were favourites of mine. The Maison had great coffee.
Oh, to have been an adult back then with the digital photography technology we have today (Because I love night photography, especially of city stuff, but with film, not very many pictures can be taken.). I've never been to Toronto, I'd love to go there, but it's clear to see how much soul Yonge looked to have back then compared to the way I see it on Google Maps street view now. Man, I hate gentrification.
Gentrification. That's exactly what happened here. Sad. Had a lotta character at one point, this city....the kind that developes in buildings / establishments over time.
There's a video online of Woody Allen taking a taxiride around his old neighborhood in NYC and it's the same deal where all the great old haunts he remembered are gone & replaced with frozen yogurt & coffee houses & condos.
Cruised the strip back then.
1988 5.0 mustang.
1990 300zx.
Prior to that, subway to Eaton Center up Yonge to buy 12" records at age 14.
Underage clubbing on Sundays.
If you pause at 0:56, you will see the movie theatre marquee with the movies Tough Enough and Blood Simple being shown. If I'm not mistaken, both films were released in 1983 and, assuming this was a first-run cinema, it accurately dates this footage n 1983.
Good detective work!^^
When Toronto was Toronto
Thank you so much for uploading this!
I was just wondering if you had any of the other programs like night walk or night moves if you do could you please upload them as well? Thanks again for uploading this!
The area by the Eaton Center is where they filmed Short circuit 2.
Indeed, and the Radio Shack they filmed at was on the West side of Yonge street quite a few blocks North of the Eaton Center, Also included were some scenes in the alley behind the Radio Shack.
@@Vincent_Sullivan I miss the way Toronto looked back then. Plus a lot of the stores I remember going to that don’t exist anymore today.
Mmmmm, that's good flugelhorn.
Seems like that was meant to be imagined as spoken by Johnny Carson.😄