From our vantage point in 2014, the Toronto of the 1990s looks like a weird place. An alternative title for this post could have been "I can't believe it's Toronto" such is the level of disorientation several of these images create. Take the picture above, for example. It looks southeast during construction at Roundhouse Park on Bremner Blvd., but it could easily pass New York, Las Vegas, or anywhere, really.
The image below is another example. Taken before construction of Metro Hall, it shows the block of King St. where the Princess of Wales Theatre would soon appear. Before it was a surface parking lot, the block in the foreground was home to a massive Canadian Pacific freight yard. Trains could, until the late 1980s, penetrate as far into downtown as King and Simcoe.
Here's a look back what the rest of downtown Toronto looked like in the 1990s.
Looking over the future site of Metro Hall to King from Wellington.
The CBC Broadcast Centre, looking east towards downtown on Front.
Restaurant row on King West.
"Crazy for You" playing at the Royal Alexandra.
The Metro Toronto Convention Centre when it was new.
Speaker's Corner at Queen and John.
Mural on the side of Wayne Gretzky's sports bar.
The Hyatt Regency hotel on King West.
The Big Bop in psychedelic colours.
Now lost public art on Dundas at Yonge before the creation of Yonge-Dundas Square.
The view up Yonge from Dundas.
East on Dundas from what would become Yonge-Dundas Square before the arrival of Citytv.
Down Bay to City Hall.
Looking east across the Distillery from Parliament.
The main gates to the Distillery at Mill and Trinity streets.
New housing on the Esplanade.
Silos on the waterfront from Parliament.
Captain John's in happier times.
Southeast to the Port Lands over the Yonge and College area. That's the CBC's old Jarvis St. antenna on the extreme left.
Aerial view near Queen and Church.
An almost absurdly verdant view of Queen's Park.
Looking north up Bay towards the Sutton Place Hotel and Manulife Centre.
Dreamlike University and College.
The University of Toronto campus at College.
The roof of Scotia Plaza from the top of First Canadian Place.
Yonge and Hillsdale
Yonge and Marlborough, looking southwest
Canadian Tire at Yonge and Davenport, pre-condos
(Note: Some of these photos haven't been clearly dated by the city archives, so it's possible a few from the late 1980s or early 2000s have slipped in.)
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Images: City of Toronto Archives.
by Chris Bateman via blogTO
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