Toronto, Canada 1977

[@rugosetexture2716]

I know I have said it before - you have a wonderful collection of old videos. Thank you for this!

[@thomassmith8140]

coming here from the toronto 1958 video, its remarkable how much can change in only 20 years

[@Blendeture]

That makes two of us with the same clicking habits!

[@billyboy4797]

Less class, more grit.

[@Alex_Plante]

I visited the CN Tower on my 12th birthday, in 1977. I was with my grandmother, and we came by train from St. Catharines. I remember well that golden building.

[@MH_Bikes]

Royal Bank Tower gets it's golden look from actual gold in the glass. "The buildings were and still are unlike anything built in the city. Clad in dazzling gold-bronze glass, over 2,500 ounces of gold are built right into the towers' approximately 14,000 windows." $3,734.04 per ounce today, 2,500 ounces, for a window only value of $9,335,100.

[@HuatulcoGuy]

This was the golden age of Toronto. Single family detached homes were still affordable for most people, little sign of homeless people living in tents. We had no idea how good we had it at the time.

[@Meister333]

and then feminism happened

[@tammyjoma]

Not nearly as ideal as it may have seemed. Gay people being beaten up in alleyways and children living on the streets. I was a street kid around that time downtown. Abuse not talked about, lots of drug and alcohol use and racism in society, etc., etc. I guess it depended on who you were and I don't mean that unkindly.

[@d33763]

People were courteous, drivers were relatively sane. No smash and grabs at jewellery stores every week!

[@thesketchydude1315]

As a Canadian this was a welcome surprise from this channel! I'd be curious to see if you have any others like this for the Neighboring Province of Manitoba? (my home) great footage as always!

[@RandomDailies-vi1so]

Thanks for the upload. Its funny that the narrator in the begining says, it was less ugly than he expected. He should see it today.

[@yanuriroschev7270]

Awesome archive! I grew up in Toronto in the 70s so it was quite the timewarp! Look, no cellphones! Great post! Thanks!

[@スミル日本]

i love watching these decade old videos. i waa born in 2004 and i don't necessarily wish i could travel back to that time but i just find it fascinating watch color videos from the past

[@kaliyuga9406]

The city looks so safe and clean.

[@j.w.2391]

Not quite...1977 was considered the year Toronto lost it's "innocence"...find out why...

[@DebbieMonroe-k2b]

​@@j.w.2391 Emanuel Jaques.

[@licksnkicks1166]

I did the Edge Walk at the CN Tower. It was a blast. I love Toronto. Born there.

[@555ontario]

Cool. I enjoyed your video. Really digging the accompanying music. When I look at these old Toronto videos, it may just be my imagination, but I see a flow of life, more in tune, and somehow, in line. Yes, there was a seedy underbelly on Yonge St but it was obvious and open. The Emanuel 'shoe shine boy' incident started the change of all that. These days, it seems life downtown is disjointed and encased in a mess of road work, traffic, and congestion.

[@tdunph4250]

You forgot to mention A LOT more crime and street people now as well.

[@BlueToronto]

It's all friggin condos and buildings now.

[@Coolestmovies]

Street people were a plague back then, and they’re a plague now. It wasn’t better back then. People just think it was because they were young and protected from stuff. Then they got old, fear set in, and they see boogeymen everywhere. I walk Yonge Street from north of Bloor down to King multiple times a week between midnight and 4 am for the past 18 years. Not a tough guy. Nothing to do with bars, clubs, gangs, homeless, or other dregs. I’ve never had a problem, even last night. Are there risks? Of course, but I don’t look for them and they don’t find me. The condos and newer buildings replaced a lot of DUMPS, and that gentrification displaced a lot of crime that was rampant in the 70’s and 80’s along Yonge (surprising how many people forget this). 👍

[@c3d266]

That song sounded so familiar. Took me a while to find it. Elton John?

[@jimross3593]

What song is it?

[@c3d266]

@@jimross3593 __ Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding . Probably the most prog rock thing I have heard from Elton John.

[@giovanna722]

​@@c3d266 Sounds terrific!

[@chrish8903]

How appropriate. Funeral for a Friend. Toronto RIP.

[@dancostello6465]

What changed? Toronto once looked neat and clean.

[@solitaire5142]

Immigration.

[@martinroncetti4134]

The Liberal Party of Canada.

[@rickm3779]

Justin Trudeau.

[@CinHalCedHerChance]

2:47 loved Yonge st... so much personality, wish I was a teen during those years.

[@geralddavis8160]

Damn sweet; still looks like Canada in this video.

[@talon1706]

This is around the time I started to go to Toronto to hit the bar scene on Yonge Street. There wasn't much in Stouffville at that time.

[@1dilligaf]

The 60s 70s were a great time to grow up in Toronto. Too bad kids now will never know the same freedoms we had growing up.

[@Showzstarz]

Dude get over the twilight conditioning, you think there would be skyscrapers built without a even slightly more dystopian future to come😂

[@1dilligaf]

@@Showzstarz are you for real. People like you are the problem today.

[@Showzstarz]

@@1dilligaf Wait so what went wrong since then?

[@1dilligaf]

@@Showzstarz would you let your child go out in the morning after breakfast not come home until dinner time and not worry about where they are nowadays back then that used to be OK. Too many sick people in the world nowadays you can’t trust anybody.

[@Showzstarz]

@@1dilligaf You know i get what you are saying and i wish everyone had the same tolerance for vital information without going crazy, but it does seem like what is going on these days does just seem to be a late stage situation rather than things all of the sudden going wrong. it really depends on what you are willing to accept.

[@thomassmith1922]

Lots of Mr. Sub back then. I enjoyed the pictures of the windows

[@stansmw]

there was a world without technology and cell phones! People still lived, ate, enjoyed...

[@yangionet8116]

Tf you mean without technology

[@yangionet8116]

It’s 1977 not 977

[@Studio-62]

The opening music is Elton John’s Funeral For A Friend, but it’s a live version.

[@LifeofWalk]

Who doesn't love 1977 Toronto? I wasn't even born yet and even I recognize it! @0:49 outside Union Station, @1:40 Bay Street, @2:09 the Zanzibar, @2:00 Yonge Street and @2:23 Eaton Centre! Looks like a great year in a great city!

[@billsmith4153]

Yes it was. I was born 1960 Toronto. Mothers home was day Ave, Rodgers and duffren. I was back 2024 from Vancouver. Boy I want to go back

[@DimitrisDantsakis-fh5jx]

Από Διδυμότειχο Έβρου τό Τορόντο έχει δουλιεσ καί χρήμα πολύ

[@lvfreeAdventures]

I wish I had a time machine

[@Sal_on_pawz]

I love looking at all the old cars. Grand Prix!

[@JGProductions6581]

The CN Tower was brand new. Much Music didn’t exist yet. The events of Turning Red didn’t happen yet.

[@7425park]

My Moms cousin owned the Stollery’s mens store at Yonge and Bloor. He was an old guy in the mid 1960s, but he got on his hands and knees and played on the kitchen floor with me and my Corgi toys. I remember that house was a mansion.

[@glen6945]

yes think i knew your cousin

[@lee02jepson]

@@glen6945 I remember Stollery's, I work in the office for Studio 267 down the street. Stollery's was friendly completion. Hated to see Stollery's go, the building look lovely.

[@BlueToronto]

@@lee02jepson I remember it too. It's too bad Toronto is losing all these charming and interesting places.

[@harrymovios3943]

Loved that place. Worked across the street in the office tower. Didn't buy anything. Too expensive fir Mt measly office budget 😂

[@TheIronDuke9]

Bought my first suit there. The salesman taught me how to properly fold and hang a pair of slacks

[@MrDomestosWC]

I am a Polish-born Canadian who emigrated to Canada years ago. When I was a little boy in Poland, my neighbor's dad used to go to Canada every few years to work illegally for a few months, as he had a sister there. Upon his return, he had enough money to live comfortably for years, with a nice house and a vehicle. This was unusual in Soviet-occupied Poland, where poverty was widespread. Seeing photographs and hearing stories about Canada, which seemed so modern with a high standard of living, fueled my desire to move there. Eventually, I made it to Canada, worked my way up, and became a Professional Engineer. When I visit Poland now, I am amazed at how much it has developed compared to Canada, which seems to be stuck in the 80s. We need to do something about this.

[@bystander-view]

How did your neighbor's dad leave Poland so frequently and return safely during Soviet era when others had to risk their lives to flee as refugees? Perhaps East Germans could also cross the Berlin Wall without taking the risk of being shot, eh?

[@MrDomestosWC]

@@bystander-view there were ways to get your passport. The most common one was to cooperate with the special service as a "spy". They would release your passport, but never for your family. It was so common in Poland that if anyone had their passport, everyone around them would have known not to disclose too much, because they cooperate with the SS. My friends dad left only once when Poland was still occupied, then he wasn't able to, probably because the SS deemed his information useless. He was visiting more commonly in the 90s when the country was free but still very distressed, as a "tourist" with visa visiting his sister. There was a joke (and even a song) in Poland that Greenpoint (Polish district in New York) was the most popular Polish tourist destination. "Greenpoint, Greenpoint has been great for centuries The biggest attraction of the world's tourism Tourists spend an average of eight years here Despite the fact that there is a beautiful world somewhere else."

[@donmorfeo8901]

That was when Toronto meant something, now its an overcrowded dump full of rude people. 1977 was a bad year here though and it happened on that strip.

[@Cellmate412162]

And on top of that, there’s lots of homeless people on the streets & sidewalks, complete with lots of tents. Oh, & crime is even higher than back then.

[@kenlompart9905]

It was the reason they shut down all the sex shops and cleaned up Younge street.

[@paulmorra4424]

Yes that young show shine boy being murdered was sad. I was a couple years his junior at that time. Really hit home.

[@karagi101]

Been here since 1970. Toronto is way better now. It was a dull, dirty, grimy place and had much higher per capita violent crime rate.

[@Sthmohtwenty]

It's the same e/were

[@TheSteveRobinson]

I remember Toronto at this time... went up the CN Tower in the late summer of '76. I had no problem wandering around Yonge St. late at night, never had a problem. I wouldn't try that today.

[@Coolestmovies]

Yonge Street overnight from the early 70’s onward was as bad, or worse, than it is now. The crime (including shootings, stabbings) on the seedy stretch between Queen and, say, College was off the charts and the city rarely did anything to get it under control. Eventual waves of development and gentrification helped, a bit, but like any downtown core, the garbage tends to come out overnight - then and now - and the news and police reports from the 70’s and especially the 80’s are pretty stark to revisit now. It was no picnic back then.

[@TheSteveRobinson]

@@Coolestmovies I may have been youg, fearless and foolish, but I never had an issue back then.

[@Coolestmovies]

@@TheSteveRobinson Never doubted you, but I do it all the time, now, often between midnight and 4 am (and nothing to do with bars, nightclubs, gangs, homelessness - totally not my thing). And other than the occasional loser drunk or bum that I can easily walk around, I have never - ever - had a problem down walking Yonge from King to north of Bloor (or vice versa) multiple times a week. And I’m not some big tough guy either. I am no more at risk than I was when I did this as a teen in the late 80’s or when you did it in the 70’s. I’m very middle age right now (early 50’s). I could easily take my car and use my parking pass. I choose not too until the cold weather. Are there risks? Of course! Risks were there in the 70’s, 80’s, etc. Police reports and news coverage reminded us of that back then. Bad people are not new. However, and absolutely nothing personal, your reasons for not doing it are evidently not based on actually doing it in 2024, at least with any regularity. I leave each individual’s choices up to them, of course, but implying it’s gotten worse in certain downtown areas of any big city are always based upon our aging and fearing risk, and also upon misremembering those areas as inherently safer because we were younger. 🙂 I’ll also add that the ‘club district’ around King and John, etc., is infinitely skeevier and *feels* far riskier after midnight than any stretch of Yonge. It crawls with drunk and often disgusting 905’ers stumbling out of bars and making all manner of gross displays, panhandlers galore, other dregs. And yet, I go to TIFF Midnight Madness every year for the past 30 years and often see late shows at the Lightbox itself throughout the year, and I have to get through that awful area to get back to my car. Am I nervous? Usually. But I’ve have never had an issue. I simply overthink it because I’m older, but I really don’t need to. I don’t look for trouble, and it doesn’t find me. Cheers! 😉

[@TheSteveRobinson]

@@Coolestmovies Believe me, I don't look for trouble either. Too old for that today, and wasn't crazy about it in my youth. But, I like Toronto back then, can't say the same today.

[@Coolestmovies]

I hear ya, but I have to say the opposite to a degree, because I lived it then (mid-late 80’s) and I continue to live it now as an older dude. It’s a great city, with a great downtown (warts and all), and it’s nowhere near as dangerous as the nostalgia fostered by these old videos makes people think. Hopefully you’re able to enjoy it again someday, even during daytime. It’s as lively as ever, even if it will never be perfect, and never was. Cheers. 🙂

[@frankdenardo8684]

2:03 Yonge Street has a lot of stores, fast food restaurants, strip clubs, adult book stores, massage parlours, and Burlesque houses. It is known as the longest street in the world.

[@stefanmodesty]

Cool Films, I miss the old days.

[@tommycanadasmobazimmer]

And Elton John’s Funeral for a Friend (live) playing in the background

[@VidWatcher-v4j]

Toronto was a lot safer back then.

[@TheValentine12345]

Agree.....

[@beverleyreid563]

you remember Yonge Street (how gawdy it was back then). Hhmm. Just saying (even the murder of the shoe shine kid).

[@VidWatcher-v4j]

​@beverleyreid563 I do remember the shoe shine boy case, it was huge news. But there were no daily shootings back then. A single shot was big news back then.

[@javiervega1065]

In the 70s? No it wasn't do you know what the murder rate in canada was?

[@PeterMorkel-fh8br]

Toronto had a higher murder rate in the 1970s compared to today.

[@Fathertyme-z2c]

My Friend Bev Luff was a Window Washer/Cleaner up in a chair or stage..No Fear at all ...T.O was a dynamite place to grow up in & aExell. party feel to it...from Queen right up to College St"s...& the Bar"s totally rocked...thanx...P.S...Exellent Vid & thanx for the memory"s...

[@Studio-62]

Ah yes, I was 16, just starting to hang on Yonge St, nothing but head shops, record stores, strip joints and massage parlours. And Flash Jacks. In another few months Punk Rock would start to take over the culture.

[@vikingblood0408]

Sure takes me back. Toronto was indeed GOOD back then!

[@Hellya38]

2:22 wow the old ladies back then walk fast, now most peep at that age are on mobile scooters

[@bystander-view]

Lived in Hamilton from 1979 to 82, visited TO often, then moved to Western Canada for university, then settled down in Texas. Proud to be a Canadian and US dual citizen. 😎😎😎 🌹🌹🌹 Oh, wait a second, is the President-elect going to annex Canada?

[@TheValentine12345]

No towels and friends .....Amazing!!

[@antonmonteleonus3616]

Who remembers when the CN was being built and completed? And when Elvis passed away. Born and raised in Toronto so much back then😊

[@writerforlifeify]

I remember the CN Tower was still under construction when we arrived in Canada from Germany. Of course time stopped on Aug 16/77; the King's face graced the covers of every single tabloid paper & magazine. My mom bought his 8-track tapes soon afterwards. I still have them.

[@Jonvos9933]

What is all that space between the driving cars ??

[@saifonlawrence2044]

Those were groovy times...dig it man !

[@discodirk48]

The 70's was the summer of a generation and now we're in winter...the end.

[@clairelolification]

so beautiful

[@potsy9973]

Holy smokes, I seen Dodge Darts used for taxi cabs. A lot changed. It used to be entertaining just going downtown to cruise Younge street in the late 80s.

[@suzyzoom]

What the bananas is up with Elton John's "Funeral for a Friend"? What a bizarre choice of music to pair with an otherwise feel-good look at Canada's biggest city. Mind you, it was neck-in-neck with Montreal for the title back then.

[@mikeohagan2206]

It was the beginning of the decline of canada. trudeaus immigrant policies have led us down a slippery slope that his son is finishing,

[@tracywyman9887]

Funny, music is “funeral for a friend” (Elton John). The BBC received English pronunciation is a turn off.

[@jefferyhansford1971]

My brothers and sisters. With Love ❤️ Jeff.

[@traderz4788]

look no jeets!

[@DebbieMonroe-k2b]

😂😂😂😂

[@mo-oh-oh]

Great clip. Love the song too! Who's the band/artist?

[@stevenmitchell5319]

Sounds like Elton

[@mo-oh-oh]

I found it,you were right! Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding (Live At Madison Square Garden) ​@stevenmitchell5319

[@argopunk]

Fun. My hometown as I recall it in the 70s.Yonge St from Queen St to Carlton St was a total cesspool--junkies, lowlifes and, sadly, a few horrible murders. (Actually, kind of like how it's returned to over the past five years, minus the murders.) Yeah, I'm not looking back with rose-coloured glasses.

[@joshuak4372]

We used to be a country.

[@ryan6766]

😥😥

[@Jay-fv5vq]

We still are. We're just in CanINDIA now

[@ront769]

@@Jay-fv5vq That's it there! I wish it wasn't but it sure as hell is.

[@petekennedy8444]

Yes but before this even.

[@leemorgan4799]

You seem to have forgotten that Canada is a land of immigrants..not necessarily white Anglo Saxon protestant or WASP..you need to learn to accept other cultures.

[@heatherrowe2979]

A year before I was born. Quite the change from the footage I saw of Toronto from the late 50's. I'd rather be back in the 50's.

[@gtechnosinc2518]

I wish I could live in that time, very nice time.

[@MH_Bikes]

We thought we so sophisticated, then the music stopped on July 29, 1977. We became something different, and the Yonge Street Strip seen in this video all but disappeared as the Toronto Police closed it down.

[@riobabic8960]

We used to go to Yonge street for the record shops and pinball and video game places. Now it’s just condos and construction , no need to go there !

[@General_MacArthur]

no indians

[@shanaaynay69]

Indians aren't the issue

[@Rodenthood]

Whiter crowds ey

[@saifonlawrence2044]

Good times

[@manvirsingh3822]

Native Indians or East Indians ? :)

[@DebbieMonroe-k2b]

​@@manvirsingh3822 most likely the eastern kind😂

[@anthonychristopher9972]

Ah, 1977 and just up on Spadina Avenue, the Rolling Stones recorded their Love You Live album. Just ask Margaret Trudeau.

[@delphi-moochymaker62]

I was 15, I remember it well.

[@barrroger1162]

Very attractive people back then compared with today

[@jaygriffin5710]

Because they're white

[@NCVBflo]

Naive

[@brianf9615]

Agreed.

[@Magictrend101]

Blame iranians who voted for trudea and spent lot of money on him for thry wanted the mass immigration

[@brianf9615]

@ never heard of that.

[@arkadeyellow2931]

00:26 the tall buildings are 'less ugly than I expected'!!!??? Is that supposed to be a compliment?

[@majestyk3337]

I wonder if EJ got royalties for his music being used.

[@AylonFilmArchives]

The KZbin advertising revenue of this video was paid to the copyright holder.

[@AcuraAddicted]

Copyright owners always get ad revenue for their content used in anyone's videos on KZbin. It's automatic, no intervention from a human is required.

[@paultoronto42]

The Aylon Film Archives watermark on this is so unnecessary. Do they think this is some masterpiece that someone might steal? It's not. Besides, AI could easily remove it.

[@i11benji]

Annoying that the title stays on throughout film....wtf

[@BrianBaileyedtech]

Back when Toronto was in its Golden Age. No homeless then.

[@bladecastlevania3653]

The year of Blues Jays, Disco, and Star Wars.

[@BeeRich33]

My Dad owned a blue Cadillac.

[@Jeff-fn-G]

When Canada was Canadian. Those were the days

[@GeeAitch-r1r]

now people drink Tim Horton's and sing living on a prayer at hockey games. the true meaning of woke.

[@jimmyb6842]

Please put it back to normal

[@highwind8124]

I would have loved the 70s.

[@peterkonitzer4410]

You never showed the towers 'cuz there weren't any.. .Simco buildings were the tallest ( 20 fl ) , gone . FCP I work on , way after was build. .There was just nothing around....( '79 Toronto )

[@Stevierschannel]

That sounds like Malcolm McDowell is narrating.

[@alisheriff9289]

The latter half of the 20th century was pretty much the heyday of North America.

[@massapower]

Ahhh. The beautiful Sleaze of TORONTO DAYS 😛👍🏻

[@danrook5757]

I was asked to to be a shoeshine boy by so many people, never accepted the offer, young street was sketchy

[@alexjohn5086]

Braless an the pill ...it was a wonderful time to be in college!!! An some how I never got the clap.

[@charlesrb3898]

The 70s was the era of the see thru blouse. And yes still braless. Even in the office. Memories.

[@javiervega1065]

You weren't getting any action, that's how

[@alexjohn5086]

Well getting married in 1983 probably saved me from death .

[@JefferyMullen-h2u]

My grandparents lived at Ossington and Dundas. I remember taking public transit to Sunnyside Park to swim and jump off the high diving board. Toronto used to be a good place, and now I cringe if I go there 😬

[@ricardomilos1784]

I wish I was born in the 1960s

[@ericssmith2014]

Flipped footage at 0:49

[@wren1989]

what if the person who was painting the signs was upside down ?

[@roleplayingpain4349]

ah the Good Ol' Days when I was minus 2 years old

[@50kgbrain]

Check out all the Hosers.

[@vanesapinzon]

no phones in everyones hands!! wowowowow

[@keithrichards-io5db]

I’d never play nude billiards- don’t want to strike the wrong balls.

[@dhruvjani3158]

Where are all the homeless people???

[@j.w.2391]

Not as many....they were on Jarvis street - Queen East back then.

[@EvelynSaungikar]

Locked up at 999 Queen W.

[@Sweetwater20120]

Distinct lack of tattoos and pink hair

[@TheIronDuke9]

Not for long. Punk rock is right around that corner

[@afghanjay3498]

I don’t see any Indians lol students

[@charlesl8723]

no Uber and Amazon jobs back then

[@jeffcollins1097]

And it was all downhill from there

[@winterdock]

Where are the Palestinian protesters

[@mikepapillo5728]

we married in 78 i went to torontoe and bunch of a hoals didnt let me get into one other lane on finch to go to my ants fk of you could junkkk it hait it

[@petekennedy8444]

It looked ugly and it was. I am thinking you have to go back to the 1950s for it to look nice.

[@frankjames1955]

Once you left downtown area you get into a more normal decent type folks

[@EVIL-C]

The d-bags who also live in the suburbs, like everywhere else?

[@robguerrieri2490]

Wow, Before "diversity" How beautiful

[@kubrickrules]

*Toronto, Ontario

[@ironanvil2375]

I think it was still called "Toronto the Good" here.

[@Sadoodi]

Before it became little India

[@carltonmcroy3222]

When Canada was.... Canada.

[@glakiteejit1718]

Canada is unrecognizable now .. shameful what’s become what was a great country .

[@Thetruthhurts708]

Didn't see one obese person.

[@Wøtke2104]

Ethan kath....

[@johnandersonjjr]

Before Trudeau senior’s and junior’s modifications kicked in