My beloved Toronto that I was born in…in 1958, and lived my entire life, has now become a city choking on its own traffic and public transit that was once great, is now lagging and can’t keep up with the population increases.
A few tears before I was born. I do remember living with my mum at her parents' home for a year just down the road from Wellesley subway station back in '66. I was just comingv5 yrs old. Didn't even realize I was living right in the heart of Toronto. A bit overwhelming at times. In truth, I would have preferred to stay in Vancouver. Missed my dad. But when he eventually came to Toront, we lived at Yonge & Sherbourne, then Donlands Ave and Cosburn Ave...all in or near the downtown core. I had it pretty good...even got to go to Maple Leaf Gardens in February of '68 to watch the Leafs play the Rangers!! Toronto👍
I lived in Toronto in 1958. I was 5 years old. I can still remember asking my dad which was taller, the Royal York or the Bank of Commerce building. I can remember going down to the waterfront and seeing the lake boats tied up at the grain elevators. In this video, the CNE has just the north covered grandstand. There was a southern uncovered grandstand built in the early 60s to increase the stadium capacity for football. I loved growing up in that city!
Beautiful. I want to go back to that world. What a change. Love the Ex. Love the cars. Good old-time narration by Pierre Burton. Looks like some of it was shot in 1955. The City as it was when my parents met working at Eaton's downtown.
I was born in 1958 and I wish Toronto and the QEW still looked like that. People always dressed well when they went out. The only thing that has stayed the same are the crashing cars. Today, that's just the parking lot at Walmart.
I visited Toronto in 1980,last year I returned and I didn't recognize Younge street anymore,all the mom and pop shops were gone,its freakin MASSIVE now!!
Best part of Toronto in 1958 --- the arrival of Ronnie Hawkins and his Quartet from Arkansas, including a young Levon Helm on drums. This was the genesis of the band that became Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, later the Band. Canada was wide open for rock and roll and rockabilly back then, and the Hawk became the Founding Father of Canadian Rock and Roll. I don't think there has been anyone as hugely popular and influential in Canadian rock and roll history as the Hawk. He really did set a standard for professional excellence in performing live and in recording. There was also a really great jazz scene in Toronto, with many great clubs featuring all the biggest names from the US (and Canada like Oscar Peterson). Unfortunately they are virtually 98% gone now. It was a true Renaissance that we'll never see again.
Well there definitely was less stress for people back then compared to nowadays by way of digital technology. Just because things become more convenient, it doesn’t mean that the stresses of daily modern life have diminished.
We CAN work towards this again. Instead of partisan politics, we should be investing in reasonable places for people to actually live affordably. Instead now we are so focused on Luxury houses and condos, and that is a big source of Toronto's stress. Imagine if we had those affordable townhouses and low apartments again. In the 50's and 60's, Toronto invested heavily making our Subway lines, those two lines are still the only ones that carry a much more bustling and busy city. We need to properly invest in transit again. Most people back then had fun manual rear wheel drive cars back then, now people drive dreary appliances with auto-this and self-driving that, imagine if we got the majority of commuters into transit again. Moist people already don't want to drive, so imagine if they don't have to!
If you're feeling nostalgic, go to Commerce Court North. (The small Empire State Building lookalike) It still has wooden elevators that are terrifying. Tallest building in the British Empire for quite some time.
Born in York(Toronto) in 1964, my home, was great growing up in downtown, miss it very much, today it is a much different city, it’s ruined now, why I live 5 hours north
Just to keep things in balance, it wasn't all good back then. I remember the horrible stench passing the three large smoke stacks when dad drove past them going east on the Gardiner Expressway. Absolutely horrid smell! I dreaded it...and how dirty the Don River was...but more than ample good things to compensate for the bad
1898, 1901, 1903, 1905 the years my grandfathers and grandmothers were born in Toronto. My grandfather on my father's side was very wealthy during the Great Depression.
1958, one year before i was born. My mother and father met when he was going to Ryerson business college and boarded at a home on Winchester street across from what use to be the Riverdale Zoo. I do remember visiting my grandmother with the intersection of Parliament and Winchester being a dangerous seedy place. Is the Winchester hotel still standing ? alot of stabbings there apparently back in the day.
I vividly recall the Toronto depicted here as a 10 year old boy who was already well known both at the CNR Spadina Roundhouse as well as the CPR John Street Roundhouse where I was already marshalling locomotives, some which were the newfangled diesel electric types of yard and road switchers made by General Motors Diesel in London, Ontario. The tallest buildings were still the CP Royal York Hotel in Front Street across from Union Station and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building at King and Bay Street, both of which were the same height of 36 storeys!
The Ex was awesome in 1958, why did they tear down that awesome stadium? It looks like it's where the present day BMO field is. Toronto really needs to do something with the Ex, it would be the perfect space for an NFL stadium.
Maybe I'm wrong but the greater Toronto area might be one million back then though I doubt it. But if my memory is correct in the late sixties early seventies Toronto's downtown population was around 640 thousand hardly a million.
Wonderful time capsule !
Thank you for sharing this!
Imagine going back to 1958 and being able to afford a house
My first trip up to Toronto was 1961, so this what I pretty much remember.. So cool seeing this again in living colour, thank you!
Amazing seeing it in colour. The QEW was just a busy country road back then.
Unmistakable Pierre Berton voice
The voice of the 60s-80s
My grandfather arrived in Toronto from Italy in 1954. Worked as a brick layer building homes as soon as he arrived
My beloved Toronto that I was born in…in 1958, and lived my entire life, has now become a city choking on its own traffic and public transit that was once great, is now lagging and can’t keep up with the population increases.
Seems like there was more to the film. Would love to see the whole thing if it’s available.
I was born here. Its unrecognizable now.
This makes me sad 😢 I miss Toronto and Canada the way they used to be.
What’s gone will never come back.
Remember """who""" took this from you.
Loved this. I was born in 58' in Etobicoke.
Back when Canada was a paradise.
Beautiful little film. The colours are amazing.
A few tears before I was born. I do remember living with my mum at her parents' home for a year just down the road from Wellesley subway station back in '66. I was just comingv5 yrs old. Didn't even realize I was living right in the heart of Toronto. A bit overwhelming at times. In truth, I would have preferred to stay in Vancouver. Missed my dad. But when he eventually came to Toront, we lived at Yonge & Sherbourne, then Donlands Ave and Cosburn Ave...all in or near the downtown core. I had it pretty good...even got to go to Maple Leaf Gardens in February of '68 to watch the Leafs play the Rangers!! Toronto👍
1953 is when I moved from Italy to Toronto, I was 5 years old.
Pierre Burton missed his voice, always a positive one for Canada.
Thanks!
Thanks!
I almost want to cry seeing this
Great shots of Exhibition Stadium before the south grandstand was built in 1959 to accommodate The Argonauts move from Varsity...
I lived in Toronto in 1958. I was 5 years old. I can still remember asking my dad which was taller, the Royal York or the Bank of Commerce building. I can remember going down to the waterfront and seeing the lake boats tied up at the grain elevators. In this video, the CNE has just the north covered grandstand. There was a southern uncovered grandstand built in the early 60s to increase the stadium capacity for football. I loved growing up in that city!
Absolutely immaculate quality of this video.
Would be great to have the rest of this documentary.
This video is from the documentary Trans-Canada Summer.
Such a beautiful place back then, back when Canada was Canadian.
Beautiful. I want to go back to that world. What a change. Love the Ex. Love the cars. Good old-time narration by Pierre Burton. Looks like some of it was shot in 1955. The City as it was when my parents met working at Eaton's downtown.
I was born in 1958 and I wish Toronto and the QEW still looked like that.
People always dressed well when they went out.
The only thing that has stayed the same are the crashing cars. Today, that's just the parking lot at Walmart.
alot of old people watching this and being nostalgic for the 50s. me personally i simply find it fascinating to watch color footage from the past...
This is the Canada I remember & enjoyed. I wish there was a time machine so I can travel back to that wonderful time.
So pure and clean back in the day!!
Now it's a huge mess of confusion!!
Enjoyed seeing this...thank you!!
Those pizzicato violins 🎻 make me want to rush around and purchase consumer goods
Back when the QEW had trees. Wonderful times.
I visited Toronto in 1980,last year I returned and I didn't recognize Younge street anymore,all the mom and pop shops were gone,its freakin MASSIVE now!!
Best part of Toronto in 1958 --- the arrival of Ronnie Hawkins and his Quartet from Arkansas, including a young Levon Helm on drums. This was the genesis of the band that became Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, later the Band. Canada was wide open for rock and roll and rockabilly back then, and the Hawk became the Founding Father of Canadian Rock and Roll. I don't think there has been anyone as hugely popular and influential in Canadian rock and roll history as the Hawk. He really did set a standard for professional excellence in performing live and in recording. There was also a really great jazz scene in Toronto, with many great clubs featuring all the biggest names from the US (and Canada like Oscar Peterson). Unfortunately they are virtually 98% gone now. It was a true Renaissance that we'll never see again.
Wow, amazing how things were totally different back then!
Thanks for sharing!
Such crisp footage.
When a house cost 3 years pay.. about nine grand. To pay off over 25 years.
The good ol’ days indeed.
Mortgages were 5 percent back then an extremely low rate as the era of double digit interest rates followed.
The good old days were SO good!!!
Well there definitely was less stress for people back then compared to nowadays by way of digital technology. Just because things become more convenient, it doesn’t mean that the stresses of daily modern life have diminished.
Wow it was so beautiful!
it was great life back then.
I can't believe what we've let happen to our culture and our country. This seems like heaven to me.
Look how fit and well dressed everyone is. What happened???
Back when the CNE was relevant. It has not been for the last 20 years.
This full documentary is free to watch on the national film board of Canada website.
I wish I had a time machine
Canada was such a beautiful country, before it was destroyed.
Pierre Berton narrating what seems like a giant ad for the CNE.
You know a film is gonna be good when you hear horns and quickly-plucked violins!
Ah, the good old days
Great watch, thank you.
i always loved the old cars
We CAN work towards this again. Instead of partisan politics, we should be investing in reasonable places for people to actually live affordably. Instead now we are so focused on Luxury houses and condos, and that is a big source of Toronto's stress. Imagine if we had those affordable townhouses and low apartments again.
In the 50's and 60's, Toronto invested heavily making our Subway lines, those two lines are still the only ones that carry a much more bustling and busy city. We need to properly invest in transit again. Most people back then had fun manual rear wheel drive cars back then, now people drive dreary appliances with auto-this and self-driving that, imagine if we got the majority of commuters into transit again. Moist people already don't want to drive, so imagine if they don't have to!
No Canadian flags were harmed in this production! Ahhh the good old days!
Excellent film quality!
If you're feeling nostalgic, go to Commerce Court North. (The small Empire State Building lookalike) It still has wooden elevators that are terrifying.
Tallest building in the British Empire for quite some time.
Born in York(Toronto) in 1964, my home, was great growing up in downtown, miss it very much, today it is a much different city, it’s ruined now, why I live 5 hours north
Pierre Burton - great voice
A Canadian legend , he wrote books that are entertaining and enlightening. I will read all of his books someday.
The old QEW, where cars just pulled up to, and exited at roads.
Was born in 58, nice to see things haven't changed much 😅
Yeah, me too in December. I miss those days. But the 70's in Toronto was the greatest time ever.
Just to keep things in balance, it wasn't all good back then. I remember the horrible stench passing the three large smoke stacks when dad drove past them going east on the Gardiner Expressway. Absolutely horrid smell! I dreaded it...and how dirty the Don River was...but more than ample good things to compensate for the bad
much better than today!
Back when Toronto was not more overpriced than a MacBook.
And looked so clean
My grandma was a Toronto baby in 1904 💔❤️
1898, 1901, 1903, 1905 the years my grandfathers and grandmothers were born in Toronto. My grandfather on my father's side was very wealthy during the Great Depression.
This looks much more like 1955. What is the original NFB title?
Wonder how they knocked down those skyscrapers at 0:40. They don't exist anymore. 🤔
So cool thanks made my day.
Toronto was once a nice place.
Classy back then. Everyone was on the same page. So different now in a negative way.
this shot at 0:45 is nuts. 1958. A railroad super hotel and I think a Scotiabank building. Toronto!
Just look at those ppl .. good old days
1958, one year before i was born. My mother and father met when he was going to Ryerson business college and boarded at a home on Winchester street across from what use to be the Riverdale Zoo. I do remember visiting my grandmother with the intersection of Parliament and Winchester being a dangerous seedy place. Is the Winchester hotel still standing ? alot of stabbings there apparently back in the day.
wow this must be going back to when before my Parents were Born! They Lived for the Longest Time in Ontario!
Wonder if this was originally in colour, or has it been colourized?
'Looks natural!
'Lots of varieties of colour film then. Kodak even had a film production and processing plant in Toronto from about that time!
Great video!
What a lovely place to live and raise a family
So many things have changed but if we could snap our fingers and have it the exact same as then, would we really?
Everyone back then looked so smartly dressed... Nowadays we all look like homeless schlubs...
1 million people.. jeez, barely bigger than Winnipeg
When Toronto was good.
The definition of this video makes 1958 look like at least 1988
Born in Scarborough 1981, this is amazing how basic the skyline was.....QEW looks like a cottage road lol
Wow! This is amazing.
Back when they knew how to build roads.
We didn't have locks on our doors until 94.
Toronto seems like such a lovely place before the Indians got there.
That was qew back in the day?! Wow, id love to see 50 60s
I vividly recall the Toronto depicted here as a 10 year old boy who was already well known both at the CNR Spadina Roundhouse as well as the CPR John Street Roundhouse where I was already marshalling locomotives, some which were the newfangled diesel electric types of yard and road switchers made by General Motors Diesel in London, Ontario. The tallest buildings were still the CP Royal York Hotel in Front Street across from Union Station and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building at King and Bay Street, both of which were the same height of 36 storeys!
What about some mall footage/media?
Late 50s Toronto - where you can catch the Leafs playing in the Stanley Cup final game at the Gardens and watch them lose to the Habs.
The summer before my presence was known.
Wow, unrecognizable!
01:20 Those cars would be worth a lot of money today. Stunts shows and destruction derby's destroyed a lot of now valuable classic cars.
The Ex was awesome in 1958, why did they tear down that awesome stadium? It looks like it's where the present day BMO field is.
Toronto really needs to do something with the Ex, it would be the perfect space for an NFL stadium.
Was also Blue Jay Stadium for over 10 years!
Back when people were proud to be Canadian and assimilated.
I like how it ends with the rise of the car... we know how that turned out in the end.
Maybe I'm wrong but the greater Toronto area might be one million back then though I doubt it. But if my memory is correct in the late sixties early seventies Toronto's downtown population was around 640 thousand hardly a million.
I wonder if they counted Etobicoke, Mississauga, and North York
Pierre is talking about Metropolitan Toronto, which had about 1.5 Million people in 1958
Toronto is so much more peaceful now with all the diversity