Canadian skylines of the past

[Martin Mtl]

Ottawa (so much of this have been lost. Really a shame).

[SignalHillHiker]

Not skyline but love these for separate reasons… stolen from FB.

When The Exorcist debuted in St. John’s, it played at the penny porn cinema downtown. Whole families went - one woman locally famously had to be taken out by ambulance. The reason I like this is that the church, which boycotted the movie elsewhere, didn’t do so here - Priests and Nuns even went to see it lol



And another - Gander famously had lots of defections from the communist world as every plane crossing the Atlantic had to stop there to refuel. But St. John’s had a bit of the same with Soviet ships. Even when I was a teenager, you’d still run into Russian sailors at the gay bar. St. John’s still has payphone booths along the harbour for foreign sailors lol. They’ll be replaced with free Wifi hotspots eventually I’m sure. But I still love how… isolation is a relative thing. At this time, we were two days journey from basically anywhere in mainland Canada, but at the same time the city was filled at any given time with hundreds of sailors from around the world, especially Portugal.



For example, 1955. 4,000+ Portuguese sailors carried a gift statue of the Virgin Mary from their fishing vessels to the Basilica, the convoluted route of the procession stopping at basically every Catholic Church in the city.

[esquire]

Are there still a lot of foreign sailors calling on the Port of St. John's?

[SignalHillHiker]

Sadly no. We still get the Russians and Germans but beyond them most are Canadian and American. Every now and then we’ll get Venezuela, Portugal, or Spain. But we’re talking a couple hundred sailors every few years, not thousands every year.

I might miss some, though, because it’s still often enough that whenever a foreign ship comes in, you’ll see some local women pushing strollers down to the harbour to visit with the father.

[J.OT13]

The first phase of Place du Portage in Hull, an absolute massive office complex, u/c, early 70s. In the 60s and 70s, the Feds raised huge swaths of Hull for a promised 75/25 balance of Federal jobs between Ottawa and the Quebec side of the River. This has, do this day, never been achieved. In a pandemic/post-pandemic world with many working from home on a part or full-time basis, it will be even harder to figure out.


https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/l...08efbb13cff41c

[esquire]

I love Place du Portage. Maybe it isn't everyone's favourite from an urbanism perpsective, but it's a great example of a project from that short period that basically aligned with the PET years where Canada actually did go big for a while when it came to infrastructure. It's hard to imagine something like that getting built today.

[MolsonExport]

The Pruitt Igoe of governmental back offices.

[SignalHillHiker]

Via FB.

September 20, 1945. The year before, Browning Harvey won the contract to produce Pepsi Cola in Newfoundland. Once the war calmed down, they organized a parade to celebrate. They still produce the Pepsi on the island today and we remain one of only a handful of places where Pepsi is more popular than Coke.

[SignalHillHiker]

And one before/after of the huge section of the Old West End (Riverhead) that we destroyed to build a highway. New Gower at Hamilton in 1944 (via FB) and on Streetview:

[Rico Rommheim]

mid-1950's
View of business district from Mont Royal


1960's

https://arcmtl.org/en/postcards-from-montreal-mid-20th/

[MolsonExport]

Plateau Mt. Royal, 1943 (Papineau at Mont Royal)


Mile End, 1943 (rue St. Laurent)


Red Light District, 1943 (Rue St. Laurent)


Pte. St. Charles, 1943 (Rue Wellington)


Decarie and Saranac, 1940


Square Victoria, 1942


Beaver Hall and Craig, 1947


images c/o dailyhive

[MolsonExport]

Great Video of Montreal and Expo-67
• Video Link

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Red Light District, 1943 (Rue St. Laurent)

Nowadays, store signs that are sponsored(?) by Coca-Cola (Or Pepsi, or Fanta) are commonly seen in countries in Africa/South America/Asia/Southern Europe mostly in down-market parts of towns and cities. But I see it was also common in seedier parts of town in North America too back in the day.

[SignalHillHiker]

It’s still common here, so I guess your third world point still holds lol

[esquire]

The Coke/Pepsi store signs are less common around Winnipeg than they used to be, but you still see plenty of them around. When I was a kid they were downright ubiquitous, practically every cornerstore had a sponsored sign or awning.

[MolsonExport]

A staple of East-end Montreal are depanneurs and casse-croutes with Coke or Pepsi signs.

[SignalHillHiker]

Sad then/now of the far west end of Water Street, an area known as the Crossroads. Used to feel like part of the core. Now feels very very truck stop suburban.



Not really a surprise, and to be honest it makes sense. Just look at what the British did to the French.



Reminds me of the revelation the British had their forces off our shores in 1948-1949 to crush what they fully expected would be a violent refusal to accept Confederation in St. John’s.

[MonkeyRonin]

I feel like I've seen Coke or Pepsi logos on a lot of the Convenience stores here, but I went and checked all of my regular spots and couldn't find a single one! Figment of my imagination?

What we do seem to have on a least a few here are these old Trident logos though: https://goo.gl/maps/2atkgGnk3kumYzdS8

Or some miscellaneous chocolate bar logos: https://goo.gl/maps/438XZmWMcK1JZeyY8

[esquire]

^ Kit Kat has become a prominently advertised brand on those types of signs. I believe at one point a while back cigarette brands were also common on store signs.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Sad then/now of the far west end of Water Street, an area known as the Crossroads. Used to feel like part of the core. Now feels very very truck stop suburban.

...

The old crossroads was replaced by the Donovan's overpass crossroads, but I think of the current crossroads as the one near the Avalon Mall.
Think about it and weep, at least a 7.5/10 on the tear inducing index.

I've heard the story about the harbour being dumped with oil & set on fire before, I doubt that would have made any sense.