Toronto 1978 - The Golden Years

Toronto is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,731,571 in 2016, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,245,438 people (as of 2016) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) proper had a 2016 population of 6,417,516. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world.
#toronto #ontario #GTA
People have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years.After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York and suffered heavy damage by American troops.York was renamed and incorporated in 1834 as the city of Toronto. It was designated as the capital of the province of Ontario in 1867 during Canadian Confederation. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through both annexation and amalgamation to its current area of 630.2 km2 (243.3 sq mi).
The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada.More than 50 percent of residents belong to a visible minority population group,and over 200 distinct ethnic origins are represented among its inhabitants.[30] While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city Mainly Chinese and Hindi.
Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production,[and is home to the headquarters of Canada's major national broadcast networks and media outlets.Its varied cultural institutions,which include numerous museums and galleries, festivals and public events, entertainment districts, national historic sites, and sports activities, attract over 43 million tourists each year.Toronto is known for its many skyscrapers and high-rise buildings in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, the CN Tower
The city is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks,and the headquarters of many large Canadian and multinational corporations.Its economy is highly diversified with strengths in technology, design, financial services, life sciences, education, arts, fashion, aerospace, environmental innovation, food services, and tourism.
#toronto #ontario #GTA
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Please watch: "Mike in The Night ! - The Great Reset - #mikeinthenight #talkshow #Thegreatreset"
• Mike in The Night ! - ...
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[@findingjoy4725]

So much more space in the city back then. Look at the City Hall photo (at 4:50) - there's so much sky around it - and you don't need to look straight up to see it!! Great pics - thanks for the look back into those years... Maybe no time is purely magical, but those 70's years in Toronto came pretty close...

[@trainrover]

I remember Ton o' rot's Bay Street's endlessness in giant car parks yet a filmed coach ride up it sometime during the past nine months showed all if not most of those tracts as being developed yet still NO character whatsoever! .. queerly telling, Canadia/en/nes not minding cleptoparasitically corporate barons crookedly in their midsts...

[@adamcrawford3297]

Sadly, the homeless are growing in numbers due to high rents and the cost of housing all across Canada. 🇨🇦

[@tjmcguire9417]

Damn right. It was a magical time. I miss the good attitudes.

[@j.g.8494]

@@adamcrawford3297 When I moved into a bachelor apartment at Yonge & Eglinton in 1976, I paid about $240 per month, including central heating in winter and air-conditioning in summer. When I left Canada in 1995, the rent had gone up to over $600. Recently, I checked the rent for a bachelor apartment at the same, renovated apartment block. I was SHOCKED to learn that the rent is now over $2000 - no extras included! How can anyone afford such outrageous rents unless they have a permanent, well-paying job?

[@60yroldRockstar-kl7mt]

One thing is true? Politicians have ruined everything.......

[@CinHalCedHerChance]

globalists, the politicians are their puppets

[@Roadghost88]

Someone voted for those politicians.

[@pietrogervasi6435]

and Covid 19

[@CinHalCedHerChance]

@@pietrogervasi6435 lol Pietro not quite awake and realizing what's really been going on since 2020

[@victornewman508]

Ontario was truly an awesome province to live in the 70s....

[@OofusTwillip]

Thanks to Premier Bill Davis and a PC party that actually governed for the benefit of everyone, instead of being just a collection of vindictive wingnuts in the pockets of wealthy developers.

[@Todd.T]

@@OofusTwillip "Collection of vindictive wingnuts" 😂😂

[@brettfavreify]

On-tar-i-ar-i-o.

[@deanl0]

​@@brettfavreify Yours to re-cover

[@Logan-py8we]

​@OofusTwillip Naaa buddy thank the liberals for their insane immigration policies. We really didn't need or can sustain such levels.

[@1dilligaf]

What a great safe city to grow up in in the 60s and 70s

[@TabbyAngel2]

Safe? A little boy (Emanuel Jaques) was unalived downtown on Yonge Street. Downtown Toronto used to be very unsafe and seedy back in the 70s.

[@TabbyAngel2]

Safe? A little boy (Emanuel Jaques) was unalived downtown on Yonge Street. Downtown Toronto used to be very unsafe and seedy back in the 70s. Lots of seedy, illegal activity there

[@1dilligaf]

@@TabbyAngel2 yeah OK you heard about things like that. Once in a while now you hear about it every damn day.

[@AlanKelly-nm9lx]

@@TabbyAngel2 hahahahaah what , who did this crime a cop? our crack smoking mayor?

[@nibsvkh]

@@AlanKelly-nm9lx Liar…shoeshine killing it was called. Young boy was raped and then drowned in a sink. Wtf do you online troll tards spew bs?

[@Holly707]

Nobody loves Toronto anymore. The city we knew is gone and will never be the same again. Everything that was enjoyable was taken away from us. Including the best restaurants and movie theatres. We had live entertainment on the streets that were fun to watch and now its just borining.

[@janetcraft]

True.

[@marquefan1]

Crime and politics.

[@jenniferdarline]

I was born in 82, Scarborough and wish I could have experienced this. Can someone enlighten me what caused this all to go away. I know there is the population part but was it rich people and politics that did the undoing?

[@TheTdh1972]

@@jenniferdarline The new law in 65 and what Trudeau Sr. did thereafter

[@Holly707]

@@jenniferdarline It was politics. They changed the laws for street ventors. Street ventors needed a permit to sell on the street and it was un affordable for them so they have to give that up. As for the street entertainment, im not sure what happened with that. The restaurants are now catered to the immigrants and to the rich. For the regular folks, like me, there are the fast food and franchise restaurants which after a while get boring since its the same menue everywhere now. The politicians wanted Toronto to be rich and glamorous so they got rid of the old and put in the new (buildings) again, for the rich. Toronto was for everyone of all cultures and ages. Now its for the rich/immigrants. This is why they keep coming. Mind you, the immigrants come here have been lied to. Canada isnt what was sold to them. I know this because the immigrants have told me and some want to leave. I wont go to Toronto anymore. My entire family, aunts, uncles, cousins, my mother and all my children (adults) have left and won't return. In the 1980's there were dancing clubs, amazing restaurants, lots to choose from, all non franchised, personally owned, fun, romantic, any mood you were in, had great food. Canada is no longer Canada. Toronto is not Toronto.

[@jimjackson4256]

Oh man this makes my heart ache .

[@realmikemartins]

Yes JJ me as well

[@jimjackson4256]

@@realmikemartins I was 22 or23 then.A totally different time.

[@De_facto23]

I miss what Toronto was, not over crowded could be boring at times, but so much space to breathe.

[@alonzorodriguez8878]

💔

[@kermitfrog593]

I would argue it's boring now. Everything is unaffordable, can't really do much but walk around.

[@Andrew-he7xm]

Real Canada and its lovely city which is gone sadly .

[@MuffHam]

Canada fell once everyone was allow in. Multiculturalism has destroyed the western world.

[@prospects0007]

Why because brown people living there and people of colour all Toronto was a few building

[@zed22bahman]

@@prospects0007 I am from Iran and I came to Toronto back in 1978 as a student and frankly you do not know what you are talking about!

[@mikesmith7326]

My parents and relatives always talk about these times

[@brucemcinnis1886]

Great photos. Moved to Toronto in June 1979 at 18 years old and got my first apartment. It was a bachelor apartment and the rent was only $200 bucks a month. First full time job, had no car but life was great, on my own in the big city.

[@j.g.8494]

I lived in a bachelor apartment at Yonge & Eglinton from December 1976 to March 1995. When I moved in, in 1976, I was paying about $240 monthly, including water & electricity and heating in winter & air conditioning in summer. When I left, I was paying over $600. A few months ago, I checked the prices of the same kind of apartment in the renovated block where I used to live. Guess what the monthly rent is? $2,400! (extras NOT included). OUTRAGEOUS! Can someone living in Toronto in 2024 explain to me how a single person manages to pay such high rents and survive in Toronto?

[@BeyondTravel82]

@@j.g.8494you can thank all the useless politicans along with parasites like real estate brokers

[@stephenfermoyle4578]

dito!!!

[@carolannaitken5812]

Very similar experience. my first apartment was a bachelor apt. at Yonge * Eg. with no car and the subway close by. It was so much fun to be young and independent in the big city. I didn't have a lot but it was such a happy time in my life.

[@6ixalive]

200$wtfff im about to be 18 and rent here is now like 2500$+ and it’s shyt!!

[@superx9619]

Back during a time that if you were new to Canada, you could get a job anywhere doing pretty much anything and be able to afford a place to live, have a car, have a family and a decent life. Crazy how you can't do that no more...

[@nivagnoswal]

i was 24 in 1978, living at yonge and eglinton...and yes those the golden years...

[@leejones7439]

I live at Yonge/Eglinton. It's not what it was when I moved here in 1998. Looks like a war zone with all the construction and subways to nowhere.

[@j.g.8494]

Same here! I lived at Yonge & Eglinton from the 1970s to 1995. I didn't know that they were "The Golden Years"! I wonder whether Frans Restaurant & Coffee Shop is still there. (I used to enjoy having breakfast there on Sunday morning.)

[@pillsareyummy]

@@j.g.8494 I used to visit my Aunt, who was attending UofT in the late 70s, early 80s. I remember Frans Restaurant, we went there for breakfast as well. I lived in Toronto for about 15 years, I moved about nine years ago. I remember the (awesome) Famous Players theater on Young & Eglinton, it had only two theaters, one downstairs, one upstairs. I saw The Empire Strikes back there in 1980 and again in 1998 when the original Star Wars trilogy was re-released in theaters. It's gone, replaced by a new Famous Players multiplex. Maple Leaf Gardens, gone ... Sam the Record Man, gone ...

[@tjmcguire9417]

Good to hear from you. You've got me by 2 years. Golden years is damn straight. You may remember going to The Bandshell at the CNE and seeing incredible bands. For free. Carry on MacDuff. Even better --- The golden age of Ontario Place.

[@annfoster6116]

We had the cleanest subway in the world and there were no shootings and the streets were spotless and no tents !

[@alanwatchesstuff]

we also enjoyed years of economic boom. no shit if everyone is making money, they wont do crime!

[@Alsatiagent-zu1rx]

That's the problem. Benefits from the vast increase in productivity always go to the morbidly wealthy. @@alanwatchesstuff

[@yesyesnonono]

yeah .. urrr ... rose coloured glasses. There was plenty of crime in the 80s we just weren't inundated with 24/7 news cycles.

[@user-yh2of2nz2s]

@@yesyesnonono True, but the 1970's were, without a doubt, a nicer time to be alive in Toronto.

[@josephforest7605]

@@user-yh2of2nz2s So true the women were great , many white blondes , now too many brown ladies .Before the blacks came up from the Caribbean and turned Toronto into a killing patch .

[@suespony]

In the fall of 1978, about 60 high school seniors ( including myself) boarded 2 buses from the finger lakes area of NYS and headed to Toronto. I will never forget my senior trip. No one needed a passport, we did have to have a birth certificate, but no one's was ever even looked at. 3 nights of just an amazing time to be a kid from a small town. Only had to be 18 to drink, we were able to pretty much do almost anything we wanted. What a blast it was. I can remember we all went to Ed's for dinner one night

[@stephenscharbach2071]

love that story !

[@pargolf3158]

Where is NYS? ( obviously not New York Sity)

[@suespony]

Finger lakes area ​@@pargolf3158

[@phillydisco]

@@pargolf3158 New York State.

[@Logan-py8we]

@@pargolf3158 New York State - people are dumb geez

[@user-to1yw8vv2k]

Toronto was the greatest big city in the world to live in at that time. We here in Hamilton wanted to be like Toronto back then . We don't want to be like Toronto anymore.

[@baconchannel307]

Its ok. No ones ever said “i want to be like Hamilton”

[@Logan-py8we]

@@baconchannel307 and yet thousands have moved to Hamilton from Toronto. Explain that professor ?

[@baconchannel307]

@@Logan-py8we cheap housing

[@du3223]

I grew up in Hamilton at the same time and no one ever wished we could be like Toronto. I’ve lived in Ottawa for the last 25 years and I wish it was more like Hamilton.

[@dean-marr]

Beautiful upload, born in 76, i miss Toronto of the 80s and 90s

[@wowweechip-robotdog8598]

I was 12 yrs old in 1978. I remember T.O. back then...a magical era for a kid to be there. As a young adult, in the mid to late 80's...every Friday night, go for dinner with my girlfriend (at the time...now my wife...34 years, today, as a matter of fact) Mr. Greenjeans at the Eaton's Center...then cruise up and down Yonge Street... Best time to be a kid, was back then. Thanks for sharing this great compilation of timeless photography!

[@johnpatterson4272]

Oh yeah baby! That was livin' large in the 80s. I did the very same thing with my (then) girlfriend, (now) my wife of 33 years. Life seemed more straight-forward then, with BS you could predict and eventually avoid. Mr. Greenjeans was an awesome place, and then the cruise up Yonge from Harbourfront to Steeles, that was magical. All the best my Homie.

[@grahamkane2993]

FAR OUT. !

[@davidmulhall2710]

Yeah me too . Born in ‘66. Went to school downtown for years, grades 3,4 and 5. Really learned my way around. Went into the Easton’s Centre first day it was opened after school, watched the hole in the ground for a few years getting off the subway at Dundas or queen.

[@EScott2U]

@@davidmulhall2710 I was also born in 66, lived in Toronto for my 5th grade year (76/77) attending Brown Elementary on Avenue road, south of St. Clair. My teacher was Mr. Freestone. I was an American from Los Angeles, and it was great living in an eastern city with seasons, and an urban center that was clean and safe. I remember Brown Elementary had an 'unofficial' open campus, and a lunch period that was an hour and twenty minutes. I'd take the TTC anywhere in the city (usually down to the harbor and train yards). My Dad would take me to the Organ Grinder for pizza on special occasions. When I married my wife in 1999, Toronto was our honeymoon destination.

[@who399]

Happy 35th anniversary

[@italianmama373]

Brings back memories. Thank you!

[@manbtm1]

I absolutely loved Toronto in the late 70s in 1980s, it was just a wonderful city to be in , and Canada could be so proud of it, I was back there for two weeks last year and walking around and I felt like I didn’t even belong there anymore , Just couldn’t relate to anybody on the streets or anything. It was just so bizarre, it was like I just don’t belong there. Oh well.

[@realmikemartins]

Couldn't agree more!

[@mikeb3539]

I'm in T.O. right now. Lived here all my life and loved it. It's just getting too crowded and intense now. I'll retire up north like most folks.

[@booooboooo2010]

No you're a recent immigrant from the eastern bloc. What would you know about Toronto? Answer: Nothing.

[@markojameow]

I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, which in my opinion was the Greatest Generation. (Sorry, Tom Brokaw).

[@j.g.8494]

The best decades of the second half of the 20th century were the Fabulous Fifties & the Swinging Sixties - a time of great prosperity & optimism about the future - not to mention the carefree times

[@mrbasinstudios]

I miss those days they were the best, as child. Now Toronto has become a mass thiings were simpler then when we had more freedom as torontonians and canadians.

[@Redhackle]

It was a fantastic city back then.

[@somewhereovertherainbow4407]

I so love this!! 1978.....I was fifteeeeeen and downtown was just the best ever!! Thank you so much for this sweetness in time♥️

[@cinthia9602]

Downtown did feel much safer back then.

[@alanwatchesstuff]

@@cinthia9602if you look at the crime rate its not the case. you just have coloured lenses.

[@Freeontheland2030]

@@alanwatchesstuff Unreported crime is still crime, people don't bother reporting "minor" crimes anymore because the cops just don't give a shit.

[@schowlett3381]

I use to love going to Toronto, now I will not go there. I want to go back to the 70s.

[@cinthia9602]

If I may ask, where do you live? Can't blame you for not wanting to come back to Toronto. I myself prefer to drive most places by car because it just doesn't feel safe anymore.

[@blackbeltjones2903]

​@cinthia9602 oh please. The city is safe by most measures for a big city. Always weird out of towners who buy into the fear mongering.

[@ceer9141]

@@cinthia9602 the city is totally safer than it's ever been, plz

[@Test-vl1ib]

I lived part-time downtown in the late 70s as a kid. Time with mom who lived on St. Joseph St and time with dad who lived uptown. I can assure you that Yonge St from Queen to Bloor was a shithole. There was rampant drug use, dealing, violent crime, perverts, and hookers. And remember the sex-murder of Emanuel Jaques? The 70s were anything but good around there. The city is MUCH bigger now and we have a leftist mayor who won’t fix anything that the previous so-called conservative mayor effed up. But Bloor to Queen’s Yonge St’s biggest fault today is that it’s just dull and kind of dumpy. Other parts of the city have more to offer-Greektown, The Beach, The Annex, Queen West, the list goes on. It’s laughable to pine for the 70s. Though I get most people recall the good times no matter what.

[@Alsatiagent-zu1rx]

One of the safest in NA. @@blackbeltjones2903

[@annfoster6116]

No homeless no graffiti no cig butts no druggies! I miss it!

[@tonya8825]

Those were the days

[@frankgarrett242]

Now it’s Mogadishu North.

[@j.g.8494]

I lived in Toronto from 1975 to 1995. By the time I left Canada in 1995, I had already noted a big difference in Toronto from the way it had been in 1975. I was amazed at how many more immigrants from all over the world I could see on the Toronto subway.

[@Tarapatil2023]

lol

[@Blaze44_22]

Unless you're indigenous to this country you are an immigrant or descendants of immigrants

[@mr.spongylikeaboss4987]

Sad but true, esp in North Etobicoke - Little Somalia

[@roadstar92220]

In 1978 I lived on St. Joesph street & Younge Street in the heart of Toronto. The best times, but that era is gone, sadly.

[@7555mac]

i grew up 1955-1960 Larkfield Dr in Leaside, then the George S Henry farmhouse 1960-65 Sheppard Ave/Don Mills Rd just before Henry Farms became a subdivision, Mason Blvd 1966-72, Milton Ontario 1972-75 (pop 4500), Edmonton 1975-77, climbing the Hollywood Sign in California in 1978, Utah 1978-80, Young/Eglinton Toronto1980-1991, Utah 1993-2003, Clinton Ontario 2007-2023. This brings back great memories.

[@nobody1322]

70s 80s and even the 90s was the time to live for sure. miss my 90s :(

[@ursulafey6183]

Exactly this year I lived in Toronto for a year as a babysitter (1978 I was 18).... from Switzerland .. thank you I love these pictures, memories come up 😍🤩

[@realmikemartins]

No worries 👍 have a great weekend

[@jamesweekes6726]

I used to love Toronto...but in the last 20 years I don't even recognize it. Ford and his developer buddies continue to wreck it with condos and sprawl and they continue to pack more and more into it...bloody shame, no longer "People City" or "Toronto, the city that works"...those sayings died in 2000. You can vote for whoever you want, but the developers and banks run the show here.

[@Jay-vr9ir]

No , condos keep people working at good paying trades , from the cement that is mixed and delivered , to the steel and all of the people that put these buildings together .When they are finished , people are needed to work in the condos . Good for Ford and John Tory .

[@jamesweekes6726]

@@Jay-vr9ir Well it's fairly obvious that any idiot can create jobs in Ontario by allowing unbridled expansion...it's doing it in a way that keeps our communities "liveable" and with community consultation that takes creativity and brains, two things Ford lacks.

[@hardyboy1959]

I moved to Toronto in '78 then away in 2000. I keep thinking that I'd like to move back but hear that it's changed for the worse. Still...Toronto's got things!

[@Jay-vr9ir]

@@jamesweekes6726 Any idiot ? That would have been Kathleen , before Ford , yes she was the perfect example of an idiot.

[@Jay-vr9ir]

@@hardyboy1959 Yes ,I being from out of town never found Toronto , to have any warmth , I have been treated better in New York City . Things are bad , way too much violence and a lazy police dept that doesn't care .

[@frankrizzo4778]

Remember going to the head shops on Young st back in the 70s and 80s

[@realmikemartins]

Yep the good ole days 😪

[@snaggletooth7031]

O man you said it,,great times

[@iwantthe80sback59]

Still a few of them down here (Yonge & Gloucester).

[@LimitlessThinker]

Yes, I remember those!

[@goldenretriever6261]

I bought a huge Judas Priest and Iron Maiden flags to put in my wall from the head that was in the basement at Yonge and Gould.

[@gerryhansen8664]

It’s obvious to me what the differences are.

[@CalgaryRambler]

Ahhh back when Toronto was Toronto the good

[@Blueskies7775]

Watching in 2024 - born in 1980, I want the good old days back…😢

[@frankrizzo4778]

Good old days. Skipping off school and going to the arcades on Younge and Dundas. Miss the old Pinball machines The song Eddie Money~I wanna go back popped into my head watching this video.

[@realmikemartins]

Ya frank . I really miss them days 😪 and dressing up like Miami Vice lolol

[@larrymccue8097]

I lived there from 77 to 80 and I loved it. Lots of good memories.

[@dt7843]

O-M-G! Look at this lack of diversity! I would go back to that time Now.

[@mikehallman5028]

I used to love Toronto and lived there for 25 years. I moved out in 2018. It doesn't even resemble the Canada that I grew up in now. Way too many foreigners now and unfortunately not the best ones .

[@FamilyMan88]

In all these old shots I’m hard pressed to find one overweight person.

[@janetcraft]

That is so true. Almost everyone looked natural.

[@brenrenn8306]

I also miss the old Toronto of the 70s and 80s, when I go back now I just don’t feel like I even belong, but we have to be honest here, life was different back than around the whole world, it doesn’t matter where you go , many other things that bother us are the same everywhere, you also have to remember big time, there was no Internet and social media That has changed our world enormously for the good and terribly bad. It has changed our lifestyles, made us a much smaller world, made us more confrontational with each other, and created a lot of ugliness, on top of giving us things like warp speed, financial access, unbelievable access to any information we want and host of other things, definitely bittersweet, I still think I’d rather be able to go back in time but that of course is impossible, it’s called change . people screamed equally loud about the industrial revolution when it happened decades and decades ago and either you went with it or you just basically fell behind.

[@johnpatterson4272]

Thanks for the memories MM. A better time in Toronto history to be sure. Just make your videos much longer, I am waiting for your next series of videos from '79 to '83.

[@realmikemartins]

Check ✔️ my yearbook Playlist on the channel. I may have covered those years ?

[@darkjusticemedia5621]

Wasnt hero in big then too

[@user-kg2fz4xo2x]

It is my favorite year. 1978...😊😊😊

[@ThingsPlus]

I really enjoyed this piece of the past! Thank you

[@realmikemartins]

Glad you liked it

[@PatreceSunflower]

@@realmikemartinsAbsolutely!

[@kiloechocharliekool2151]

Fabulous. Now? The city that can't have fun because someone would be offended. Dead city...

[@tjmcguire9417]

Fabulous. Thank You. I was there then. SAM The Record Man at D&B was my favourite place. Age 20. I was there at The Gardens for Max Webster and RUSH. Max Webster blew Rush off the stage as the first act. Good to see my Toronto.

[@realmikemartins]

I'm glad you liked it ✨️

[@richardahern3005]

Everyone more or less got along plus there was enough freedom to enjoy yourself

[@janetcraft]

Especially when Younge St. was blocked from Queen up to Bloor and no cars were allowed one summer. The whole street was a walking paradise :)

[@HalisIstanbullu]

I miss that Canada so much!!!!

[@bry4162]

....So does everyone from Canada, except Commie Castro of the WEF (from Cuba)

[@r.pres.4121]

Toronto was just right in 1978 and it didn’t need anymore major new construction. From that point on the economic development focus should have been on improving existing buildings and infrastructure and only adding new when necessary. After the Eaton Centre and the Cadillac Fairview Tower were completed that should have been it for major new development and a historic preservation process should have been implemented so Toronto could retain its soul and its uniqueness. Sadly today it is like any major global city, overwhelming, expensive, and increasingly unfriendly. The city has become too corporate for its own good.

[@j.g.8494]

In June 1975, a few months after I had arrived in Toronto, Time magazine had a cover story entitled The Greening of Toronto". "Toronto is the first major North American city to say no to the building boom, and to reject what Marshal McLuhan called "the cult of moreness"!

[@phillydisco]

At that time, they had already (or were about to) open the Spadina subway to Wilson as well. We were staying ahead of the transit curve. But within 10 years, we were already 20 years behind.

[@Richiesrant]

Wow, I lived in Toronto in 1978. I was 11. A lot of these photos bring back vivid memories of those days.

[@realmikemartins]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@jamesnash7262]

…lived and worked and played music in and out of Toronto during much of 1971-1979…stayed at the Warwick Hotel one night as i waited to go home for Christmas, had my guitars, watched John Denver special, lol…even so, the best of, the peak of, the most soulful musical decade Toronto ever had…

[@realmikemartins]

Thanks for sharing

[@glennleslie6127]

I''ve always enjoyed visiting Toronto. I haven't been there since Covid hit...

[@user-wb4cl7wm7n]

This brought back so many memories ❤

[@SA-wh3uw]

Thanks for sharing these images. Gives a glimpse into the good days gone by.

[@greasyflight6609]

I was at that Oct 1978 Bob Dylan concert at the Gardens....I was 13

[@jasond1976]

I love and miss this Toronto with all my heart, that I despise and loathe the current one.

[@Nerfvincible]

I loved this! Definitely a walk down memory lane! I remember so many of those places as a kid. Great video!

[@whatdoyouwantfromme1029]

😢 what happened 🇨🇦👈 must hold every politicians accountable for what they done to our once great country 😑

[@realmikemartins]

Exactly

[@snaggletooth7031]

Oh god what i would do ,,just to be in that time again,,awsum memories

[@TomBarradas]

All gone now... RIP Toronto

[@j.g.8494]

"All gone now." Is it really? I lived in Toronto in the 1970s to 1995. When I watch videos of Toronto in 2024 on KZbin, it looks more modern and beautiful than ever! What's wrong with Toronto now?

[@user-nb7mz3fb5p]

@@j.g.8494 If you have to ask...you never lived there in the 70's or 80's.

[@j.g.8494]

@@user-nb7mz3fb5p Oh yes, I DID live in Toronto from 1975 to 1995, at Orchard View Boulevard, one block north of Yonge & Eglinton!

[@user-nb7mz3fb5p]

@@j.g.8494 Welll...you must be a lot more tolerant than I am...I could never go back.

[@Nikolak44_AJ_Epic]

the world had gone to shit since! Toronto now is somewhere I want to get out of!

[@leejones7439]

Wow, so many memories as a teenager in 1978. Too young for the nightlife, but the Ex, Ontario Place, Edward's Gardens, walking through Yorkville and Yonge/Dundas, taking the ferry to Toronto Island, Organ Grinder restaurant, Ed's restaurant after going to one of the plays or shows at a Mirvish Theatre was exciting. Toronto has changed so much, and not for the better.

[@dorisbarron6152]

So very sad how Toronto has turned out!

[@joecascone2189]

A great retrospective. Thanks very much for posting this!

[@realmikemartins]

No problem JC

[@frankdenardo8684]

I was about 12 or 13 in 1978. My first trip to Toronto was in 1987. I went again in the summer of 1990, and 2004. Winter of 2012. I hope to go again next summer for the CNE Canadian National Exhibition.

[@newhorizons9104]

Love these pictures!!! Please post more of you have:)

[@sunitachaudry390]

THIS WAS GOD DESIGNED AWESOME AND AMAZING!!!! LOVED IT WAS MUCH!

[@wmfulmer]

I lived in Toronto for 2 years (1979-80). My apartment was a studio in Parkdale with a view of the lake. I went to George Brown College Kensington Campus. Thanks for sharing the memories

[@vassa1972]

Good stuff I was born on July 15 1972 at Toronto general hospital

[@vikingblood0408]

Toronto the good I remember so well. Sadly it is not the same! Moved away over 40 years ago and don't want to go back!

[@user-tr4jj9pt7x]

Not a bike lane in sight. This city was so on track to be one of the great urban destinations in the world. On the edge of a Great Lake. It was one of the three "it" cities for both rock and roll and the punk... So sad to see what it's become.

[@planetvegan7843]

Didn't need bike lanes before you goofs starting killing people.

[@s.avelar.7979]

Miss those days, lived on queen and differin area. 😢. My father was a construction worker who built the highways, and my mom worked at the Toronto Dominion Tower's, bringing back beautiful memories.

[@kirstinedwards3473]

Thanks - I was born in Toronto in 1975 but didn't have the pleasiure of growing up there. Lovely to see what it would have been like! Thanks so much! X

[@elliotwalton6159]

Such a great city to grow up in. I was just turning 20 in '78. Great photos! I remember it all like it was yesterday.

[@jameswillett7186]

The photo of the subway is from the mid 1960's not 1978. It's at 5:25.

[@btoexport2]

I miss those times. It was the exact year that I lived there as an exchange student. My favourite spot at Younge St was the A&A record shop. I bought many records there. Went to the Queen concert at Maple Leaf Gardens on Dec 3. A great year.

[@mikeroulleau3963]

Towards the end of video they accidentally showed a photo with an S.S. KRESGE Store in it. I re-watched it and discovered it was a shot of Kresge on the left...Le Terraces in the middle...and EATON on the right of the photo on Rue St. Catherine in Montreal Centre-Ville. I went to McGill University for four years in the mid to late eighties and worked in the Downtown Montreal EATON Department Store at 677 Rue St.Catherine. That photo brought back many happy memories for me. Both the Kresge Co. 5 & 10 and Les Terraces are long demolished. The beautiful nine floor Art Deco EATON building still stands and is a mixture of both retail and office space. The lower two floors and underground are part of Le Centre EATON Montreal.

[@staytruefoundation3768]

My heart is oozing off Nostalgia of this vid ... thank you good sir! 🤩🥰

[@goilo888]

I came to Canada from the UK in ‘81. The recession there was just starting to lift but now arriving in Canada. Lucky me, I got to experience a lot of miserable years. Gone downhill from that time…. But I still don’t regret coming here after seeing what life is like over the pond.

[@NeilB.Arnold]

Love the video, I wish I had a copy of those photo's, I could use them in my throwback video's.

[@youknowcrimedontpay9257]

Thank you. I was in grade 9 at a Toronto school. Grew up in Troronto and all the pics in this video I remember. I worked at Mother's Sandwich Shop at Eglinton & Yonge St, at Duplex also went to Northern Secondary School. SCTV was a big thing back then. John Candy was a regular customer and he'd always come in at just before 2AM when we were just about to close up. Meatball sub, double meat with fries and a chocolate milk shake. He would usually leave me a nice size tip. Once he gave me a $100.00 bill. I asked him to autograph the bill which he did. I still have it in and made a plaque with a pic of John and me. Kodak Insta camera. Bro this was a special video / pics for Mr. Brings back so many memories. Thanks again!

[@heyjer8000]

thanks Mike

[@user-ph4sy1bu4s]

Wow those were the good old days of Toronto, life in Toronto, was simple and easy. Great memories too. Thank Mike, for the great video. I hope you have more pictures of Toronto if any.

[@downupblockinc1380]

really enjoyed the tunes

[@michaelt1349]

I absolutely remember that WILD MOUSE ride at the Ex! Those 90 degree turns where I thought we would go right off the tracks at what seemed like 50 feet off the ground!

[@yesyesnonono]

I miss that era too, but this comment section is giving off "Make Toronto Great Again" vibes.. you know ... back when it was white. Before the "theys" came and ruined it all. Am I right fellow boomers?

[@realmikemartins]

Yes !

[@esticolis]

No question about it.

[@yesyesnonono]

@@esticolis I hope everyone realizes I'm criticizing those of us that have been suckered in by reactionary politics i.e. MAGA. -- demonizing immigrants for your economic woes, rather than the 1% who've enjoyed record profits year after year since 1980, while the middle class disappears. But lets focus our outrage on grooming and whatever manufactured crisis pops up next week ... whatever keeps us from paying attention to the donor-class the right wing actually serve.

[@sean367]

Rush and Max Webster nothing more Toronto than that .Rock on !!

[@dogporchdogporch171]

Brings back loads of memories.

[@wrestlingwithjay3770]

Flashback in the 70's

[@mikeroulleau3963]

There is also a shot of the Northwest Corner of Queen and Yonge Streets...showing the original T. EATON Company 190 Yonge/Queen Store (Demolished in 1977/78) and F.W. Woolworth Co. Store which is still standing and is currently under restoration and refurbishment.👍

[@1td205]

Nice! Thanks.

[@outonthetiles]

I loved growing up in Toronto through the 70’s and 80’s. Was such a fun time. ❤️🇨🇦

[@MatrixDiscovery]

What a find! I came to Toronto in 1980 and it looked so beautiful ! I remember the beach was beautiful as Miami beach before the condo's started to go up.

[@realmikemartins]

Yes tell me about it ! I think we lived during the best time

[@MatrixDiscovery]

@@realmikemartins The 80's and 90's were the last great decades.

[@johnziegelbauer4999]

Nice video Mike ..... Thanks

[@realmikemartins]

Nthank you JZ

[@NorthStarman1]

That’s the year I moved to Toronto. It went downhill after that.

[@brettfavreify]

Couple times a year in the 70s we'd come down from Northern Ontario to visit my grandparents in Oshawa, and an aunt in Kensington, and take in all that Toronto offered. So much fun. Lots of things that were affordable for families and young kids. One of favourite things was standing on the roof at Terminal 1, watching jumbo jets take off and land. Don't have that where I'm from. I lament the Toronto that's been lost.

[@jacobrocks7]

Thanks for the great memories. I used to work right across the street from AA Records and Thrifty..crazy times back then during my youth. Wish I can go back to visit during those simple times. Thanks

[@realmikemartins]

I'm happy you enjoyed the video . I grew up around Duffrin and St Claire

[@Dragonfly-LazyDynamite]

This was the year I became a mom. ❤️ During the Toronto-Montreal playoffs. Nurses had to have the score if they turned the tv off, the next morning. 😊. Almost every game was serious OT. When they actually let them play OT. We were downtown for a while. Kitty corner to the Gardens on Church, Jane & Bloor, as well as Lansdowne & Bloor before venturing further out. Those were 😊the days. Cruising Yonge St. for concert tickets from scalpers then a short walk to the Gardens. Eaton’s & Simpson’s, old Hudson’s Bay, Woolworth’s & Kresge’s. Amazing Christmas displays. When it was safe to walk anywhere, anytime downtown & the burbs. 😊 Sadly, those days are long gone.

[@wavyamar]

60s and 70s toronto def was the best era for the city it seems

[@nlisinski]

We lived at 1 Ravenrock Court from 1969-1972, I went to Brookbanks Public school for grades 1-3. We moved to Malvern east of the Sheppard and Markham Road area, and it was farmland back then. The suburbs were still developing east and Scarborough was a very "white-bread" community then, clean, no crime, middle-class neighbourhoods. Lived at 12 Griffen drive from 1972-1984, some of my fondest memories there. I kept moving east since then, now in North Oshawa (the nice part of the "Shwa").

[@user-nb7mz3fb5p]

We lived at Military Trail and Morningside Ave. in '72 (just south west of Malvern) ...and it was farmland and just our brand new Townhomes on the street...east Scarborough was like heaven back then....lol.....the nice part of the "Shwa is definitely in the north end....stay away from the south...a.k.a. "The dirty 'Shwa"...lived 12 years in Bowmanville too....from 2006...it's crazy how Durham Region is now.

[@nlisinski]

@@user-nb7mz3fb5p I deliver in the south end of the Shwa, I know what you mean. I went to West Hill starting in '77, before Pearson was completed.

[@user-nb7mz3fb5p]

@@nlisinski Wow...I actually went to West Hill briefly in '79 and we moved to Brampton in the fall of that year. Time goes by so quickly. Stay safe out there my man.