Canadian skylines of the past

[Govertical]

Awesome Vancouver shots! Is the Pantages Theatre still around?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Govertical

Awesome Vancouver shots! Is the Pantages Theatre still around?

Nope. Torn down in the 60's and it is now an ugly residential building. The building to the left is still there.

Vancouver's reputation as a new city without much history is a bit of an oversimplification. Vancouver has almost nothing from before about 1890 but it has lots of great buildings from the 1900-1930 period.

[Blader]

Originally Posted by Tropics

A bottle of Coke was also 7 cents.

A great photo of Toronto.

Good eye - in 1950, the USA the price was 5 cents and the Canadian dollar was fixed relative to the USA dollar at 90.91 cents.
Sources:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/prb0326-e.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_fixed_price_of_Coca-Cola_from_1886_to_1959
So I've got too much time on my hands.
An astonishing if true snip from the Coke article:

"In another attempt, The Coca-Cola Company briefly implemented a strategy where one in every nine vending machine bottles was empty. The empty bottle was called an "official blank". This meant that, while most nickels inserted in a vending machine would yield cold drinks, one in eight patrons would have to insert two nickels in order to get a bottle. This effectively raised the price to 5.625 cents. Coca-Cola never implemented this strategy on a national scale."

[Prometheus]

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From City of Vancouver Archives: http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by franktko

Mid 60s



Even though the Place Bonaventure under construction does not have the height, it's a pretty darn big building.

Wow. Boomtown 1960s style. At one point in the 60s, Montreal had more skyscrapers above a certain height than any other city outside of the United States (and for a brief period, was ranked 3rd after NYC and Chicago)

[MolsonExport]

Great Vancouver shots.

[MolsonExport]

The world's longest bridge (at the time), 1890.

McCord

Taxi Stand (~1890)


Montreal's (then) Grandest Hotel (1890):

wikipedia

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Wow. Boomtown 1960s style. At one point in the 60s, Montreal had more skyscrapers above a certain height than any other city outside of the United States (and for a brief period, was ranked 3rd after NYC and Chicago)

And yet, based on the photos I've seen on this thread, downtown looked like a complete mess until the early 90's. Bombed-out empty lots and sad leftovers from a Victorian city that once stood there, something that would have given Belgrade a run for its money.

[SignalHillHiker]

I love that bridge shot. Looks gorgeous. Is that St. Joseph's?

[MolsonExport]

^Cathedrale Marie Renie du Monde

1/4 replica of St. Peter's in Rome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Queen_of_the_World_Cathedral

[flipv]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

And yet, based on the photos I've seen on this thread, downtown looked like a complete mess until the early 90's. Bombed-out empty lots and sad leftovers from a Victorian city that once stood there, something that would have given Belgrade a run for its money.

Belgrade in 1944 or recently? The 90s aggression was mostly select government buildings and infrastructure. The carpet bombing was by our dear German friends.

Content removed

[Ashok]

Look at Bonadventure being U/C. It looks so massive, as if they were built some intergalactic spaceship.

[MolsonExport]

From page 21 of this thread. Place Bonaventure under Construction ~1964-65


archivesdemontreal

[MolsonExport]

Montreal looking east, 1965

archives de montreal

Led Zeppelin comes to Montreal:

SSP same thread page 5

[matt602]

Montreal has definitely got it going on there, even though they suffered a much larger scale version of the blockbusting that Hamilton went through in the '70s. At least a lot of those empty lots are being filled today.

[SignalHillHiker]

That Hamilton one was so nearly our main DT street. Makes me sick to my stomach seeing it done and imagining.

[Trans Canada]

Originally Posted by drawarc

1968-69:


Source:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155425952660118&set=o.380334048732492&type=3&theater

Nice Ottawa photo. Big changes happening around this time... looks like not long after the removal of tracks to downtown station (current station visible top-left?), and the NAC looks under construction. Logs still being sent down the river. No courthouse, Place Bell, Rideau Centre, or DND.

Originally Posted by MeIsThomas

Hamilton - York Boulevard Before & After Road Widening - 1953 vs. 1975:

Source

I'm speechless on this one....

[11a2b3]

That Hamilton road widening was criminal.

[someone123]

Those 1960's Montreal aerials are great. Place Bonaventure looks enormous in its half-completed state, and it's interesting to see the buildings from that period in their original context. The international style skyscrapers were a big departure from the older buildings that existed at that time.