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.
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 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!!
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👍
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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
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.
Back in 1965 my parent where one only few chinese people walking around downtown. They would get racist comments. Overall people where good. In the end we made it. Meet some good people along the way.🎉. I miss those times
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.
![Toronto, Canada 1920s in color [60fps, Remastered] w/sound design added](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/V0JwD77B66A/mqdefault.jpg)
Wonderful time capsule !
Thank you for sharing this!
Imagine going back to 1958 and being able to afford a house
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.
Back when Canada was a paradise.
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.
My grandfather arrived in Toronto from Italy in 1954. Worked as a brick layer building homes as soon as he arrived
Amazing seeing it in colour. The QEW was just a busy country road back then.
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!
Such a beautiful place back then, back when Canada was Canadian.
I was born here. Its unrecognizable now.
Unmistakable Pierre Berton voice
The voice of the 60s-80s
I can't believe what we've let happen to our culture and our country. This seems like heaven to me.
Loved this. I was born in 58' in Etobicoke.
And looked so clean
Seems like there was more to the film. Would love to see the whole thing if it’s available.
I almost want to cry seeing this
Absolutely immaculate quality of this video.
So pure and clean back in the day!!
Now it's a huge mess of confusion!!
Toronto was so peaceful back then, less crime unlike today.....
Canada was such a beautiful country, before it was destroyed.
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.
Beautiful little film. The colours are amazing.
Great shots of Exhibition Stadium before the south grandstand was built in 1959 to accommodate The Argonauts move from Varsity...
Wow, amazing how things were totally different back then!
Thanks for sharing!
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!!
Look how fit and well dressed everyone is. What happened???
1953 is when I moved from Italy to Toronto, I was 5 years old.
Would be great to have the rest of this documentary.
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.
This video is from the documentary Trans-Canada Summer.
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👍
Pierre Burton missed his voice, always a positive one for Canada.
Back when the CNE was relevant. It has not been for the last 20 years.
The good old days were SO good!!!
The old QEW, where cars just pulled up to, and exited at roads.
Those pizzicato violins 🎻 make me want to rush around and purchase consumer goods
Enjoyed seeing this...thank you!!
This is the Canada I remember & enjoyed. I wish there was a time machine so I can travel back to that wonderful time.
Such crisp footage.
Back when the QEW had trees. Wonderful times.
I wish I had a time machine
Wow it was so beautiful!
it was great life back then.
When Toronto was good.
Back when people were proud to be Canadian and assimilated.
We didn't have locks on our doors until 94.
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, unrecognizable!
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.
Everyone back then looked so smartly dressed... Nowadays we all look like homeless schlubs...
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.
Toronto seems like such a lovely place before the Indians got there.
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.
You know a film is gonna be good when you hear horns and quickly-plucked violins!
Ah, the good old days
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.
Great watch, thank you.
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...
Great video!
Excellent film quality!
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
Toronto was once a nice place.
i always loved the old cars
my how times have changed for the worse
Pierre Berton narrating what seems like a giant ad for the CNE.
this shot at 0:45 is nuts. 1958. A railroad super hotel and I think a Scotiabank building. Toronto!
No Canadian flags were harmed in this production! Ahhh the good old days!
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.
wow this must be going back to when before my Parents were Born! They Lived for the Longest Time in Ontario!
Pierre Burton - great voice
A Canadian legend , he wrote books that are entertaining and enlightening. I will read all of his books someday.
Just look at those ppl .. good old days
Good old days. Sad to see where we are now.
Classy back then. Everyone was on the same page. So different now in a negative way.
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!
Back when Toronto was not more overpriced than a MacBook.
So cool thanks made my day.
Thanks!
Thanks!
1 million people.. jeez, barely bigger than Winnipeg
much better than today!
Looks MUCH different now!!
A few years before birth of generation who sold/wasted it all
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
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.
This full documentary is free to watch on the national film board of Canada website.
What a lovely place to live and raise a family
Back in 1965 my parent where one only few chinese people walking around downtown. They would get racist comments. Overall people where good. In the end we made it. Meet some good people along the way.🎉. I miss those times
0:51 The Union Jack waving in North America.
Back then it WAS the Canadian flag, us being a member of the British empire. The red maple leaf wasn't adopted until February 1965.
That was qew back in the day?! Wow, id love to see 50 60s
Wow! This is amazing.
Make Canada Great Again
Toronto is so much more peaceful now with all the diversity
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.
I love how he glossed over Canada’s only subway to talk about the thing they have literally everywhere … cars
Take me back
The definition of this video makes 1958 look like at least 1988
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.
Was also Blue Jay Stadium for over 10 years!
Embedded piano ad in the opening frame 👍
I like how it ends with the rise of the car... we know how that turned out in the end.