Bathurst & College (Toronto, 1980s)

Corner of Bathurst & College in Toronto (shot 1984 or 1985)

[@anonnon4737]

Toronto was a hidden gem in the 1980s. I had friends in LA who used to come to Toronto for vacation and loved the Queen West Art scene, City TV when it was an independent station, CFNY, the Twilight Zone, Tazmanian Ballroom, Nuts and Bolts, the Copa. In the last 5-10 years, Toronto has become all condos.

[@JarlOfSwot]

Ahh back when everything didn't suck. I miss that.

[@at1212b]

Mann, I could have been on that streetcar. I lived on Bathurst just north of Bloor at this time. My mom would take us to Ontario Place a couple of times so I could have been on that streetcar. What a great great time and childhood to grow up in that area.

[@buckaroo1949]

612 Bathurst St. early 60's. Went to Midtown Kiwanis boys club.

[@glenguerin217]

A piece of history for sure.The entire city has changed so much.

[@georgejetson1025]

If you look closely at the shots going north on Bathurst you can see them starting work on the Ellington Crosstown

[@intercommerce]

Firstly, it's Eglinton, not 'Ellington', And it wasn't even imagined yet until decades later....

[@gholamhassani758]

The guy is making a joke Karen… and Ellington is what apple auto-corrects eglinton

[@gholamhassani758]

Just in case you are vaccine damaged, the joke is commentary on how long it has been taking construction companies to build the Eglinton line, dating it back all the way to the 80s…

[@andrewcharles459]

My first job was in 1980 at the Quality Bakery just east of Bathurst.

[@edwardbliss8931]

Amazing. No one is looking down at their phone

[@amandahacksel4238]

Exactly what I was thinking

[@brianlacroix822]

simmer down there grandad we know technology and change offend you. interestingly enough, pedestrians in torono still sloth around with the same indifference to their surroundings then as they do now.

[@amandahacksel4238]

@@brianlacroix822 I'm from "torono" as well and believe that he was just making an observation, seems to me that he's not the one who's offended.

[@stevenprosser689]

One guy was.

[@donjames7971]

No rampant cellphones in the early-80s ...

[@jrfoster.532]

Those were the good old days, 5 cents to get on the street car, no one getting shot, no one looking down on there cellphones, wow, the good times.

[@brianlacroix822]

ya wow 1980s canada sounds amazing: no cellphones, stagnant wages, inflation, high unemployment, corrupt government after corrupt government, meanwhile usa booming, everyone getting richer, and fewer people making low wages that qualify them for welfare. yeah amazing, i mean we're going right back to the 1980s with our government now but yeah those were the days 🙄🙄🙄

[@tdunph4250]

Yeah now we just have ANTIFA, BLM, a sanctuary city full of tent city people, and not only corrupt politicians but extremely woke politicians. Sounds like a good trade off eh?

[@kenlompart9905]

@@brianlacroix822 Wow have you got the 80s wrong. Toronto was growing rapidly in the 80s, unemployment was not high, inflation is worse right now than it was in the 80s, have you bought gas or gone to the grocery store lately, government was no more corrupt than they are now, at least government wasn't pro communist like your hero Trudope and the US was still very segregated, check out a few videos about the conditions of American ghettos in the 80s and see if you still think the US was a wonderful place to live, it was wonderful if you had money but hell if you didn't

[@intercommerce]

Uh, I was in my 20's, cost more for the streetcar than a damn nickel!

[@dixonpinfold2582]

Seven tokens for $4.90 at that time.

[@NewToronto]

1980's Toronto. 1960's video camera.

[@Murray-wk3hz]

Little known fact, all the phones were in boxes back then and it cost 25cents to use them each time. That's like a pack of gum a call.

[@dsmaller]

I was a student at Horizon Alternative School in 1984 / 85. I was probably on that very block at that moment.

[@monicapushkin3274]

Priceless, thank you.

[@gr8witenorth61]

a more innocent time ❤❤❤❤

[@mrcanadaoso]

Thank you for putting that on, I remember this area back in the mid 1980s, right about the time you filmed this, I was 8 years old in 1985...Now, being 38 years old today, I walked this area again, and some parts did change, though I believe Scotiabank is still there...I dont think that gas station is there anymore though....

[@Matzohball77]

+Gaston Palavicino bank still there, the Sanga is sneaky dee's, the gas station is the parking lot. I believe the church was already a condo development, but the landscaping was better then. Might be wrong.

[@dixonpinfold2582]

@@Matzohball77 I think the church condo-ization was a bit later, somewhere in the '86-'91 period.

[@MorganCameronRoss]

I love it. I've been looking for some more footage/photos of that intersection recently. I've been coming up blank.

[@Matzohball77]

Hey MCR, maybe try local residents associations (Palmerston Area, Harbord-Sussex). Also, Mansfield Press did a College Street/Little Italy book a few years ago, they might have some info. Good luck.

[@Matzohball77]

Also my film "jane on a bike" was shot in the schoolyard just east of there in 1982 kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmjTZoOKhLWMbdk

[@cinthia9602]

I'll take the old Toronto any day.

[@bobwoods1302]

Everyone wants to be young again.

[@cinthia9602]

@@bobwoods1302 I like my age just fine. That doesn't have anything to do with wanting the old Toronto🙄

[@bobwoods1302]

@@cinthia9602 There was a lot of bitter old people in the 80s wishing it was the 60s too😂

[@cinthia9602]

@@bobwoods1302 I am fine with my age. What do you have against aging?

[@utubemike5]

Interesting times but better now than back in the 80s. I know that corner well. Lived on Crawford and went to Montrose. A couple of my aunts were at George brown which I think was a couple block east of Bathurst on college. we went to the gigantic church on the north west corner of college & Bathurst from the mid 70s to early 80s. Fun times at the church that was falling apart. The gym in the basement was awesome but the balcony above was totally unsafe. Kids used to play hide and seek in the many rooms in the church. I’ll guess it was one of the first churches to condo conversions in the city. The area was okay… think there were a bunch of small theatres along college but not many places to hang out back in the day. My favourite was Harvey’s which was a few blocks west of Bathurst on college. Unsure when they retired the ancient streetcars that ran on Bathurst and college lines but those new streetcars in the video were an awesome upgrade. And the old man in the videos reminds me that in the 70s and early 80s, there were tons of smokers and they smoked everywhere. Unsure that for many people that Toronto was better back then. I think per capital crime was higher, people were more ignorant and more racist. One of the few good things from back when… paper bags and the music ( probably due to my age and the fact that I have > 1000 records).

[@govegan6112]

I was looking for myself in this video!

[@swisschoklate736]

Wow. More please.

[@davidfreesefan23]

Gas price at the start: 48.9 cents per liter * 3.78 liters in a gallon = $1.85 per gallon

[@kenlompart9905]

Gas has rise over 200% since the 80s and with Trudopes useless carbon tax which will do nothing to fight climate change it will go even higher soon.

[@AChapstickOrange]

There are 4.1L in an imperial gallon. You're talking about a US gallon; we didn't use US gallons. The price of a "gallon" in _Canadian_ terms would have been about $2 a gallon, more or less.

[@dixonpinfold2582]

​@@AChapstickOrange Nope. 4.54 litres per gallon, therefore $2.22/gallon. According to online inflation calculators, what cost $1 in 1984 costs $2.65 now. So gas in '84 cost $5.88 in today's currency, or $1.296 per litre. Right now it's about $1.57 according to GasBuddy. Real change since '84: 12.1% (0.25%/yr. compounded)

[@genxtasy9914]

I wished I knew these videos existed. not that I can remember anything from that time

[@RandyDrayton]

It literally looks the same now just different cars, clothes and haircuts.

[@222radar]

@matzohball77 - I'd like to use a few seconds of this footage for a documentary. How can I get in-touch with you?

[@Matzohball77]

tell me a little bit about your project with instructions on how to contact you.

[@jacobrocks7]

Old memories ..in high school, I dated a girl for years who lived at Bathurst and queen during that time...thought i was going to marry her but then she dumped me a few years later in 1984..oh well...

[@vantastroganoff4370]

Punk chick I dated many girls Around bathurst and queen Pizza place Big ass club Toronto got glass everywhere now Vancouver the same I miss T0

[@brianlacroix822]

i got similar story of love and heartbreak at that corner too. i received my first ever dumpster bj behind the paddock bar when i was 18 in 1998. she was a cute biracial girl with the most vivid blue eyes, i was like you i wanted to marry her in that moment. i lost her number because back then you couldn't store that piece of paper on the cloud. ahh those were the days. she had a nice mouth.

[@kenlompart9905]

@@brianlacroix822 I hope she went to the clinic after being with you.

[@peteryeung111]

@@kenlompart9905 🤣🤣🤣 that was hilarious. Maybe in his dreams ? I mean, that sounded like a 80’s porn scene. Could be true though, get it?…Trudeau…lol

[@michaelhughes3302]

​@@brianlacroix822Biracial girl, BJ's and a dumpster? I really think you have all the makings of a bestselling Romance novel! It's never too late Brian. Michael in Milton.

[@bobsobie678]

Lots of smokers and newspaper boxes, like stepping in a time machine.

[@soggyjungle6065]

Bathhouse upper floor south east corner. My dad brought home towels.

[@tdunph4250]

Excellent comment lol

[@Ynalaw]

Jack Layton loved massage parlours. Did they ever meet?

[@lamontcranston3177]

There was no bathouse inside Sneeky Dees.

[@lamontcranston3177]

@@Ynalaw Jack loved your mother even more.

[@Ynalaw]

@@lamontcranston3177 Are you angry because you defend Jack Layton's hankering for massages? Or are you angry because a massage parlour is where you work?

[@MarkHoltze]

0:30 Baby Bronco 2

[@VEA-un9hx]

bruh they are still rocking the same str car

[@foff4446]

gritty

[@incarnateTheGreat]

I forgot what was at the spot where Sneaky Dee's is today.

[@Matzohball77]

incarnateTheGreat - was called The Sanga

[@dixonpinfold2582]

Sanga, a dive bar owned and staffed by southeast Asians. It had a cheap sub sandwich counter near the front. Mugs or trays of cheap draft, or bottled beer. It was hideous inside, not at all clean, quite stuffy, smelled musty and smoky. Seldom very busy, older clientele nearly all men, occasional tables of poor university students out 'slumming.'

[@incarnateTheGreat]

@@dixonpinfold2582 thanks! Wish I could find more info on this place. Great details. I wonder what it was upstairs.

[@dixonpinfold2582]

@@incarnateTheGreat Some other post says the upstairs was a bathhouse back then. Scan down for it. (Decades before, if I understand correctly, there was not necessarily anything sleazy about such a place. I think not all homes had hot water till the 1940s, or water-heaters were low capacity, so people just went to have a good, long hot bath. Another one nearby on Bathurst, Oak Leaf Steam Baths, was there until around 2015 (!), I kid you not. I never went, of course. Sounded 200% gross.) Concerning Sanga, I'm surprised you want more details. Surely I told you all there was to tell!

[@incarnateTheGreat]

@@dixonpinfold2582 eh. I'm just a fan of random history. Oak Leaf was around for a long time. The odd music show used to be hosted there. Mimi's greasy spoon was there, too.

[@robichj]

Price of gas was 48.9 so this has to be late 80's

[@peteryeung111]

He's using a camera from the 60's 😂

[@peteryeung111]

Can't argue with you on this. I was in my early teens back then, didn't know much about politics or the economy, but I do know about the high interest rates. I only remembered I had a pretty good time back then. The video camera quality joke is just that lol...thanks for the quick history lesson Mike 👍

[@kenlompart9905]

Don't pay attention to Mr negative there. Canada had it's faults in the 80s just like every decade before and after it but things were good for most of us and the US was no better off than us, in fact when the US was in a recession in the 80s Canada did much better. Reagan was elected in 1980 because their economy was so bad people wanted change and dumped Carter, they slowly came back but and so did we, I used to go to the US regularly in the 80s for work and pleasure and they were no better off than we were.

[@peteryeung111]

@@kenlompart9905 I can honestly say, that era was the best time of my life. Maybe I was young, naive and free. Good to hear different perspectives from people that actually was in the middle of it all. Trudope jr. Did mess us up pretty good as of now. Hope we stand strong and see the change here and everywhere around the free world. Thank you 🙏🇨🇦🇨🇦🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@kenlompart9905]

@@peteryeung111 After scrolling down and reading his other comments it became apparent Mr. negative is a troll, just read his response to jacobrocks7 and his colourful bj story.

[@peteryeung111]

@@kenlompart9905 😆 I replied to his original comment.

[@unknownninja4430]

its like im watching degrassi junior high

[@vantastroganoff4370]

Sneaky dee

[@mortonvizner5263]

And not a virtue-signaler in sight.... Joni was right; "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone". Good days, indeed.

[@CheaplaffsJohnson]

Everyone acting like normal human beings