Would You like to live back in the 1930s??

Amazing to look back at this to get the full perspective. My dad was born in 1920 in Dauphin. Came to Toronto in 1922 becoming his true hometown. He sold newspapers at 13 during the Depression on downtown streets and Maple Leaf Gardens to make a buck for the family. Was at the Toronto Maple Leaf overtime game where Ken Doraty scored the eventual winner. Back then, overtime ran a full 10 minutes with unlimited scoring. My dad, arguably the greatest newsy in Canada, sold a record 4,110 newspapers (incl. Telly fun cheques, for car draw) by the CNE ferris wheel on a single Labor Day in the 1960s. He was steeped in Toronto history and one of the Three Stooges was his friend, Curly Joe DeRita, who would send us a Christmas card every year. I got autographed pictures of the Stooges at the Royal York Hotel after a performance at the CNE's Exhibition Grandstand. Many fond memories. Thought you might find this interesting. I was very lucky to have such a great father.

1:08 City Hall and Clock Tower 1:24 Bay Street looking north towards City Hall Clock Tower 1:32 Yonge Street looking north at King Street (Hennessy’s Drug Store, Yonge Street) 1:50 King Street looking east at Yonge Street 2:25 Canadian Pacific Railway building, 69 Yonge Street 3:10 The Royal York Hotel 3:48 Union Station train terminal 4:09 Casa Loma 4:16 Birth home of actress Mary Pickford (211 University Avenue, now demolished) 4:30 Ontario Legislative Building at Queen’s Park 4:51 University College building at University of Toronto campus 5:11 Hart House building at University of Toronto campus 5:21 Sunnyside Amusement Park 5:58 Sunnyside Beach 6:32 Princes’ Gates entry to Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) 6:50 Arts, Crafts and Hobbies Building at CNE grounds (now Medieval Times Dinner Theatre) 7:07 Horticulture Building at CNE grounds (now Toronto Event Centre) 7:15 The Midway Strip of the CNE

My father came to Toronto in 1926, when he was 18. He saw signs that read "No Catholics or Irish need apply." Nevertheless he made his way and really enjoyed Toronto, living in beautiful Parkdale, and joining what would become The Boulevard Club, playing Tennis. He told us of all the great music in the 30s and 40s, when he would go dancing,imlooked for him at Sunnyside.

Whoa I didn’t realize it was already such a big city in the 1920s!

The shots of Bay Street towards Old City Hall, casaloma, and the University of Toronto feels like not much has changed. It's kind of eerie to look at all these people even the children and realize they are long gone

This is absolutely wonderful to see. I’m from Toronto and this means a lot that you did a video on the city where I live. So fascinating to see this. Thank you and a wonderful job you did on this restoration with an accompanying soundscape. Cheers! 👍🏻😀

Very nice but you went a little overboard with the car horns.

So wild seeing my home town like this. Thank you for everything that you do. ♥️

At 1:25. Many of those buildings in this shot of Bay Street still stand today. And on Yonge Street the same. There are office towers there from the 1890s. Part of the current Hudson's Bay department store has the original building from the 1800s.

Amazing to see this. As a Torontonian of 55+ years, I certainly recognize most of the locations. This footage reminds me of my folks and grandparents.

Would love to see a video like this around Christmas time and see how everything was decorated back then.

I was at the CNE celebrating its 100th birthday and now it's coming up to its 150th.

That little boy really knew how to charm those two young ladies sitting on the steps didn't he? ;-) Outstanding restoration, thank you!

So nice to see my city as it was in the 1920s. So many of the buildings are still around today. The city has changed in so many ways while remaining somewhat familiar. Toronto has truly evolved over the last 100 years. Today's metropolitan population is roughly 8 times what it was in the late 20s. Crazy to see the CNE as packed back then, as it is today. Thanks for this wonderful time capsule. Hope there are more videos like this one out there.

There's something creepy errie to seeing old videos of people motioning about way back when they were alive, and knowing they are dead now as if ghosts frozen in time.

This is wonderful footage of Toronto and dutifully remastered. Thank you.

It's amazing how the Canadian and American cities looked so dang similar. Great post, thanks. My only bone to pick is that the horn honks from the cars sound too modern. Didn't they have more of a bull horn sound. Just watch the old Laurel and Hardy or Three Stooges episodes and you will see.

Lovely Toronto; for an isolated city in North America of 1920's, Toronto certainly had a fair size population.

thanks nass late to the show today i never miss one of ur productions! great as always

Nass, thanks for another fabulous upload. I truly enjoy your work. At 1:30 Love scenes like this with people, streetcars, horses and cars all sharing the street. I thought at first it may be early 1920's but may be later with statue sign at 6:41. At 7:45 Canadiens had their own amusement park., They did not have to go Next door to enjoy Coney Island, New York! Haha!

I love this and was about to share it with my wife until the last few frames. She's Ojibwe you see, and the fair shots where clearly, briefly, indigenous people are 'on display' made me pause. Then the realization that basically everyone else in this video is white made me hesitate. She loves Toronto, but that would be painful for her to see. I'm white and I'm not trying to make a great statement here but it does illustrate how beautiful, yet how brutal, these times were.

great work....my mom was born in 1914 in Toronto...I wonder where she was then these shots were taken...for that matter I wonder where she is now...thanks again....

Thank you from Toronto!

Beautiful. Thanks for unearthing and sharing.

I just saw how my great grandparents lived and experienced life in Toronto. Cheers Nass, you Rock ! 🍻

Pretty cool filmography/I was think ing around 1930- thnx 4 posting👏

The Royal York Hotel 3:10 was opened on June 11, 1929. The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) 6:32 takes place annually from the third Friday in August until the first Monday in September. Therefore, this film was likely shot in 1929 during the months August to September.

Before diversity was our strength

Amazing 😍 Thank you🙏

NASS! Thanks for posting this video

Outstanding. Thanks, NASS.

I love these beautiful old buildings and also watching the interactions between humans and especially the children and how different things were how much more gentle people were

Wow, some of those buildings are still recognizable today. Some of those buildings that are still here have extended buildings built on top. Really amazing love your video thank you.

This is amazing. Thank you for sharing. If you don’t like the sound, turn down your volume.

Very nice ❤ Thanks for sharing 😊

the one city that was smart enough to not destroy its entire street car system

Muito lindo, belo vídeo!! 👍👍👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

This is Gold! I don’t care if the color is fake!…some of those tracking shots going up the buildings are exceptionally smooth, even by today’s standards. Toronto lookde so clean and uncluttered….PS, where are the dandelions?

Truly amazing

Like And Share Please!

Lived in Toronto from 1964 to 1971, then from 1977 to 2002....Strange to see how much of the city was so different in the 20s......I bet my Grandfather would see this and think of his childhood here, as this wa his era...

Thank you. As a Torontonian. It nice to see my beautiful city presented.

*masterfully done*

Wow, over 100 years ago I can’t believe people use to actually swim in the lake

I couldn't believe I actually saw a few men without hats !!! Incredible how that was such a thing back then. Probably went out of fashion in the 1950s. The Canadian National Exhibition is still packed, but nothing like what we see in this old movie. The city back then was fairly dirty and gritty. Just look at the scene at the CNE and you can see the pollution coming from smokestacks downtown.

I think the year maybe 1929. Great video. Thanks for sharing it with us. I lived in Toronto my entire life. 66 now.

Love the video, but the cars had aoogah horns.

How did you accomplish this? It is incredible. I and mine have lived in Toronto since the late 1890's. Ran an investment firm. I know all these places even now. The Royal York. Casa Loma. Old City Hall. Yonge Street stretching north out of sight. Union Station. Except for the horses; the whole psychology is the same. My dad was born in '26 and lived 86 years serving Toronto. And then there is UC. Holy cow. So good. CNE. Princess Gates... so much more. THANK YOU. I know all of these places well. (U of T and The Spadina trams... 'streetcars'.) Talk about living history.

So great to see my adopted home town from back then. I graduated from U of T and passed though those heavy doors daily. Being on campus was always like a time capsule:)

Very cool! Would love to see something like this from Houston Texas if it exists. 😊

This one rang a bell 🔔 with me. I lived in Toronto for 8 years!

Lovely old Tartarian building.

do you have a channel on bilibili? i really want to share this video in china.

What causes the “Inception” look with the windows in buildings at the beginning?

Well done, Nass! A+ to you! 👍👍👍

Maravilloso 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Can we just appreciate the technology that allowed us to travel 100 years in time and hang out in downtown Toronto.

Nice to see old pictures of my hometown much as my parents might’ve seen it as children although they were born in the 20s actually.

This is the first time I've seen old videos of Toronto ! I was half-hoping to see a relative in the crowd lol

Did they have drones back then lol. How they take videos from above?

Does anyone know what that large building at 0:33 is with the six columns and between the two roads? I can't figure out what it could be!

It's a wonder that the video capture had enough data to be able to be remastered. Im also wondering if "sound" was added and isn't original.

This is the time when my dad was born in Toronto. And, at least for a little while, he’s still with us! I’ll show him this video when I see him Wednesday, although the earliest times he remembers are the 1930s.

Look how nice people dressed. I love seeing people going on with their daily lives. Sure wish cities still looked like this.. not trash heaps like they are now.

OMG..LOVE IT...I am born and bred here in T.O.....great to see this...thx

its amazing how much and so little has changed, ton of people, ton of cars and a ton of bicycles, a reminder they have always been a thing

Shocked to see how many people attended the CNE back then.

Incredible. Imagine being a rural farmer and driving into this back in the day? Would have been jaw dropping.

Nice find!

At this time, The Royal York Hotel (3:10) was the tallest building in Canada

Wow, Queen's Park actually looks clean! Some of the places looks almost the same!

Holy crap, The Flyer! And to think I went on that in the early eighties!!!!

At 7:17. I can’t believe the amount of people in that crowd that’s just barely able to shuffle along. How can that possibly be an enjoyable day out? I’m not sure if this is the Canadian Exhibition or a separate amusement park, but either way how can you fight that crowd to enjoy any ride or exhibit? And I can’t help but think, what if you are in the middle of all that and suddenly have an intestinal “emergency”? You couldn’t get to where you needed to “go.”

Toronto still had horse-drawn trams in the 1920s? Wow!

In the 1920's is it the last time the Maple Leafs won Lord Stanley?

One thing l noticed is that everyone is slim. People walked everywhere back in the day as cars were expensive.

The engine sounds are accurate but all the horns! Too many, to begin with and more importantly they should be Klaxon horns with the characteristic "aoohga" sound. I would live back then in a heartbeat. There was way too much injustice but life was soo much more my speed.

Its so insane watching people get into the lake at Sunnyside. My dad used to do this as a kid.

Old City Hall looks like a fancy ginger bread house.

Ik its not a huge city but could you remaster downtown/queen st vintage footage for Niagara falls?

Was this from 1928 or 29? Because CNE says 1927 on it.

Honestly, we look like an experiment. All those people have already left, where to? where will we go? Maybe there's nothing after this. Why are we here? What is the reason ? That is the question. Much love to all.

What castle was that?

best and with most character buildings were already standing. 100+ years ago. Almost unbelievable.

Back when construction, roads, and traffic were actually organized properly 😂😂

Very cool little time machine

At 4:50. That looks like the U of Toronto campus. This building still stands.

At 2:06 now this is a scene you do not see much anymore. A man in straw hat tips his hat to the ladies and one lady in white hat straightens her hat & nods his way!

Now Toronto is a construction and traffic nightmare

Great one, thanks. As a 6th generation Torontonian, I heard many stories of the city from this era. Toronto lost a lot of its beautiful architecture in parts of the downtown, but the vast majority seen in most of this video is still there. Although, right now the wokesters have the John A Macdonald statue at the foot of Queen’s Park in a box: it’s at the 4:33 mark. Speaking of that, I have to head there now!

I wonder if any of those old Tartarian buildings are still in Toronto. Tartaria was the civilisation before ours, in case you were wondering.

wow this is ho Toronto looked like before nonstop construction. Such open streets, practically no traffic.

My Dad was born in Toronto, April 9, 1900.

My dad was born in Toronto on April 9, 1900.

Toronto still clinging to the streetcars from the 20s

Wow, amazing...if time travel was a thing, this would be it.

this is definitely after 1924 as this was the first year Canadians drove on the right hand side of the road (and the monument at 6:45 shows 1927 so must be late 20s)

Fashion is such a strange concept. Imagine dressing up to go to the beach.

My grandgmother grandfather and baby sailed from England where they owned a small green grocers to Toronto. I was born there in 52 and moved to Durham Region in my 40s. Toronto is a travesty. I had seen so many pics of the oldest Toronto. It was a wonderful dignified place...now it has been destroyed and is a chaotic ugly dissonant mess. I don't even visit. It's like landing on another planet.