Vintage Video on Yonge Street (1974)

Vintage Video on Yonge Street (1974) - Toronto, Canada

Рет қаралды 46,810

4 жыл бұрын

Film I shot on Yonge Street while studying at Ryerson in 1974 - converted to digital in 2019. No drones back then - I was flying the plane to capture the aerials. Title design credit goes to my brother, Andrew Csefko (who also appears at :29s - with the beard). Enjoy!

Пікірлер: 164

@Parkwaymania 3 жыл бұрын

Who else watches these old videos and looks for people you knew?

@maryanngonneau2856 3 жыл бұрын

I looked for myself lol

@xierraleone1905 2 жыл бұрын

I don’t because I’m not old

@PopShoppekid Жыл бұрын

@@maryanngonneau2856 yes I was 15 at that time. And we would come in from Mississauga and get into a bit of trouble on Yonge St 😂

@funkfunkable Жыл бұрын

Yes..I'm 66 and found one!! Me and my best friend walking east on Charles St ( where I lived) towards Yonge Street . We were like 8 or 9..all alone, not a care in the world. Best childhood ever. I saved the video. I was shocked to see my young self.

@barney6888 3 ай бұрын

I was looking to see Sam leaning out on his front door.

@Redhackle 9 ай бұрын

This was my Toronto. I was 22 a starving art student at the Ontario College of Art. It was very safe and people were friendly.

@oliviajohnjohnolivia8142 4 ай бұрын

I hope you are not starving 😊

@sevind7 2 ай бұрын

probably rose tinted glasses. Yonge street was far from safe back then. It's much better now.

@ianarchibald1423 2 ай бұрын

@@sevind7 Yeah, in those days it was dirty, sleazy, and crawling with weirdos. Toronto, like most cities has been completely gentrified. Is it ideal? Perhaps not, but the city is generally safer now I would think.

@thegoldendog7991 2 ай бұрын

⁠@@sevind7 Yes. Yonge St went through a change following the Emanuel Jaques murder.

@1dilligaf Ай бұрын

@@ianarchibald1423 I was 14 years old and me and my friend used to go down and hang out on Young Street all the time ( at the arcade by Sam the record Man ) and we never once had an issue I wouldn’t dare let my 14 year-old kid go and hang out down on Young Street now

@northhavencreative 2 жыл бұрын

The Imperial Six and Sam The Record Man. That's when you knew you were on Yonge Street in the 70s.

@bgorveatt Ай бұрын

Why is it B/W?

@ytzpilot 9 күн бұрын

@@bgorveattblack and white film was cheaper back then, film was expensive

@100PaulRees 17 күн бұрын

Is was born in Regent Park 1960 and basically grew up on Yonge Street. This just brings back soooo many memories. Thanks for posting.

@khent712 Ай бұрын

I emigrated to Toronto Canada from England in 1974, this brings back memories for sure.

@mattwaters6987 14 күн бұрын

Great flick! I was 15 and now 64. This brings back good memories of old.

@curiousbo Жыл бұрын

I was obsessed with those popcorn / candy apple carts when I was a kid

@CinHalCedHerChance 20 күн бұрын

1:53 - please use time stamps, others would really appreciate it, only takes a second

@marmaly 10 ай бұрын

Outstanding film. It really captures the look and feel of 1974.

@MML996 2 жыл бұрын

I was 14 and miss those days

@GP-ed1ti Жыл бұрын

The candy apple and popcorn carts! I can still smell them!

@CinHalCedHerChance 20 күн бұрын

1:53 - please use time stamps, others would really appreciate it, only takes a second

@ClintScottFischer 7 күн бұрын

I was 1 year's old. I think this might have been the year they started building the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

@michaelsweenie-lane359 7 ай бұрын

This is the first year I hit Yonge Street as a teen - Still remember exiting the Wellesley Subway station on my way to buy a pair platforms and Master Johns

@ingenewell5359 Ай бұрын

Omg! Good times, had 2 pairs of there shoes, add some satin pants, and off to see Bowie at the okeefe centre 👍♥️

@BeeRich33 Ай бұрын

Whoah, memories! I was 5. Imperial 6 = Star Wars / Close Encounters.

@gregoryian123 Жыл бұрын

boy did we love city back then

@RideAcrossTheRiver Ай бұрын

It's a hole now.

@TheAverycross 4 жыл бұрын

Great film with a touch of jazz! I enjoyed it very much:)

@monicapushkin3274 7 ай бұрын

Awesome, this is priceless. So sad this is all gone.

@glennledrew8347 Ай бұрын

And 50 years from now folk will be bemoaning the loss of those glorious days of 2024. ;) It has ever been the so, and always will be, when nostalgia is given free rein. The halcyon days of our younger years elicit potent feelings about those simpler and more care-free times. Particularly where our teen years are concerned, when we begin to leave childhood behind while still having the security of a family and home. But this nostalgia thing is a rolling train, following us throughout life, trailing behind by about 30 years and more. Calling to us with memories given a rosier tint, being always compared to the current travails of modern living. And who would have it any other way? That special mixture of wistful longing and warming glow of reflecting back on long past times is one of the wonderful pleasures afforded by an imaginative, reflective, contemplative consciousness. It is an aspect of the way in which time heals.

@monicapushkin3274 Ай бұрын

@@glennledrew8347 Very true. I recall reading one of the ancient Greek writers bemoaning his present day, and how much better it was in the "good old days" 2500 years ago! You can find this throughout literature going back centuries.

@RideAcrossTheRiver Ай бұрын

@@glennledrew8347 Nobody is celebrating Toronto today.

@RideAcrossTheRiver Ай бұрын

@@monicapushkin3274 No, now that cameras and AI are here, it'll be about five years.

@kenkur27 Жыл бұрын

That was the summer I moved to Toronto for grad studies at U of T, spent a fair bit of time exploring Yonge St. A long stretch of the street was closed to cars and turned into a pedestrian mall.

@johnw706 29 күн бұрын

Outstanding . Oh how I miss Sam the Record Man . I spent a lot of Saturday mornings there in the late 60s and early 70s . Thanks !

@Jim-ku6ry Ай бұрын

Memories... Hook up with the boys after work on a Friday. Start off at Yonge St Station for 50 cents draughts ordered by the tray. Sometimes we'd head over the Old Spaghetti Factory for a bite or just hit one of the many pubs on Yonge. Tons of live music back in the day. The Gas Works was great rock club. Not too hard to take a gal home after. Once things closed, 1 am back in those days we'd usually hit the Happy Lucky Chinese food joint at Bloor St or head up to Yonge and St Clair and hit Frans all night diner for bite to soak up the booze and head home. No bar fights. No shootings or stabbings. No BS. Just a great night out on the town. Really miss those days

@shawnattwells5355 Жыл бұрын

I miss Sam the Record Man. 😢

@marymarymillidweeb2661 3 жыл бұрын

I wish it was longer! But thanks for sharing what you have.

@elid3906 Жыл бұрын

Me Too 👍🏼

@wolfgangzander3972 29 күн бұрын

I was in Toronto 1974 and I enyoid it very much. At that time I turned to 21 years. Now I am already 71 years old 😢😊

@GFiacconi 3 жыл бұрын

This is a great video that deserves more views! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome footage of our city!

@lee-ann1589 3 жыл бұрын

I remember it and I loved the film!

@intercommerce 4 ай бұрын

Yonge St. used to be fun! Too bad it got ruined...

@CinHalCedHerChance 20 күн бұрын

I was there last night, OMG, what happened????????????????????????????? I don't recognize it anymore, it's like a movie set with big buildings and seedy little sidestreets and Ubers all over with bikes

@JustFluffyQuiltingYarnCrafts Жыл бұрын

Excellent work. Thanks for sharing. ♥️

@Laughandsong 3 жыл бұрын

At the time you shot this, I was 7 years old in Montreal I live in Toronto since 1994 and just love to see old footage. Great music score too! Did you end up working as a cinematographer? Thanks again!

@TributetoCanada 2 жыл бұрын

Amazing and thank you!

@robmil2012 5 ай бұрын

Toronto was a safe place at one time mr sub at yonge and dundas was always open baskin robbins was open late at DUNDAS SQUARE Across from elcockador before the Eaton center was built 😊

@canman5060 3 жыл бұрын

1:45 I missed SAM The Record Man.

@johnchumadventures8075 3 ай бұрын

Dang I remember going g to that theater.

@Argonaut121 Ай бұрын

I have lived my entire life in Toronto. I turned 20 in 1974. Unlike a lot of folks my age I really don't look back at those days with rose-coloured glasses. As this video make clear, Toronto was dirtier, scruffier, less interesting all round. Great video, BTW.

@rontyler1234 5 ай бұрын

Wonderful video, I spent a lot of time on the strip way back in the day. It's great to look back in time. Thanks man.

@trainluvr Ай бұрын

Around the time of my first enchantment with T.O.

@dg1006 Ай бұрын

Mine was 1969.

@ecologics 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing

@nikaa4237 Ай бұрын

Great to see old videos of Toronto. I see a lot of comments where some people feel that it was safer while others say it was pretty seedy. On one hand I remember travelling downtown on my own when I was 15 to buy art supplies and I would go out and about on my own at about 12! Then again I remember being in my late teens and heading downtown and being followed by guys and creepy guys walking by and making comments. And yes I just wouldn't walk down certain parts of Yonge street.

@marcoarchilaus 14 күн бұрын

Safe, Clean, Friendly and thriving that was Canada before the current madness

@dlprod11 Жыл бұрын

Great film!

@outonthetiles 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome!! ✌️❤️🇨🇦

@Sam-yg7pc Ай бұрын

I remember slum street very well.

@MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts 3 жыл бұрын

I wasn’t born till 81’ but omg Tysm!! Even this is closer to what I knew then how it is now 😅💖

@xierraleone1905 2 жыл бұрын

You should follow me on Instagram

@BrianBaileyedtech 10 ай бұрын

Awesome vid! I was 10 when this was taken and we used to drive down to Toronto from Kingston a couple times a year to stay in the big city. Used to stay at the what was then the new Holiday Inn beside the new City Hall on Chestnut street. You can see the stub of the CN Tower under construction, people were afraid that when it was completed it was going to fall and kill people in a wide radius (I kid you not)! The city today is completely unrecognizable. Yonge Street was the sleaze capital of Canada in those years just before they built the Eaton Centre. Amazing.

@helenpage7988 Жыл бұрын

Love this. The gal around .57 secs. looks very much like I did then! Several friends agree, but would have been earlier than 74. Any chance some shots are earlier? It's just uncanny!

@andrewmarkmusic Ай бұрын

It was about this time I went down to Sam’s and bought the original Lynryd Skynard album with them in fire. I believe they were using helicopters to put up the CN. tower on that day. In a way, it was on that day at 15 that I knew (GNOSIS) what Toronto was and who owned it and why things have happened in the way they have. And yeah...I busked in the pit at Dundas and Young between 79 and 85...I still have the guitar that has the dents when coins hit it:-P

@historybuff333 2 жыл бұрын

This is super. I love it. How can I get a hold of you to ask a question ?

@americanparlor9994 3 жыл бұрын

Great clip. Looking to contact you about it. Let me know if there's a way to get in touch. Thanks!

@CosminNeagu 3 жыл бұрын

Hi! Can I cut and use some of the shots for a video? This clip is awesome!

@peterhogan9537 Жыл бұрын

I remember the Yonge st. crossing back then. they had great bands.

@gregoryworth84 10 ай бұрын

zumburgers ! likely the best burgers in toronto ! i often frequented the location on bloor east just east of yonge...MrMiniCooper79, thanks for the memories !

@clearlynotwoke4929 Жыл бұрын

What’s missing from the crowd?

@BigLisaFan 13 күн бұрын

Turdo’s people.

@sadee1287 Жыл бұрын

Seems like the "red district" part of Toronto.... I recall those fur coats and the "hippie" hairstyles that carried over from the 60s. Wow - lots of garbage blowing around Yonge back in '74! And those Hare Krishnas chanting up and down.......haven't seen them around in decades. I wonder if you re-shot the same area today how it would compare 48 years later......

@whackattack4634 Ай бұрын

I loved the imperial 6. Actually everything back then was better

@JJWiseFilms Жыл бұрын

@MrMiniCooper79 I would like to use a clip from this video in documentary feature.

Ай бұрын

I was the guy at sam's and I was very polite and forthcoming with admiration and pontalnax with booky booky.

@bladder1010 7 ай бұрын

Yonge Street is Fun Street! 🤩

@howardhulstein6530 Ай бұрын

Wow, that really brings a whole bunch of great memories!! ✌️👍

@ayoutuber0202 10 ай бұрын

Did you know Dermot Kenney, he did the midnight til dawn show on CJRT? How about Tony Lamana? Third year RTA grads in '72.

@dennistowell343 Жыл бұрын

Were you in RTA or Photo Arts?

@DarrylGold Ай бұрын

More Starvin Marvins !

@markmarsh27 Ай бұрын

Shocking how filthy the streets were back then.

@disprogreavette8545 2 жыл бұрын

The year I was born and my mum was working for Bell downtown at the time. Maybe I'll see her waddling down the road ?

@AlannahRyane 7 ай бұрын

Yep cruisin Young st in 74 was the thing to do... Zumburger and munchies

@RideAcrossTheRiver Ай бұрын

Now Toronto is just a boring playground for the wealthy.

@eltitojear 10 ай бұрын

Hello, I would like to use your video to animate a music video, would you give me permission?❤

@urbexandbrokenthings4806 Ай бұрын

Toronto was so nice back when people had civil liberties

@maryanngonneau2856 3 жыл бұрын

That's awesome. Brings back some memories as I used to work downtown then. Lots of sex shops blatantly selling their toys and I remember back then they were busted and most run out of town when a little shoe shine boy was murdered.

@MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts 3 жыл бұрын

Omg that is so sad 😞 I wasn’t around there till the 90’s but my friend Junior was also murdered. We lived in an abandoned building together with about 20 other kids at the corner of Church & Carlton, I was only 14 when he was killed

@maryanngonneau2856 3 жыл бұрын

@@MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts wow 14 and living on the streets. Sorry to hear you were in that situation. :( The Shoe Shine boy was very upsetting. Here is the story en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Emanuel_Jaques

@stumarston6812 Жыл бұрын

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rLiFfdCZqdaXpGg.html If you stop the video at around 2.42 there are two young boys in the picture. In the comments, a guy says he's certain that the young boy is Emmanuel Jacques and the older boy shining the shoes is his brother. The dates match up. The guy who posted the video says he took the pictures in late July 1977. Emmanuel was abducted around that time. Very sad.

@ranaldthurgood4875 Жыл бұрын

@@stumarston6812 I'm confused. The video is only 2 minutes and 16 seconds long, and made in 1974. Are you perhaps referring to a different video? (Added: I think you're referring to a video called "Toronto 1977."

@ranaldthurgood4875 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for posting that. you captured it well, but... no Papaya Hut?

@lamontcranston3177 Жыл бұрын

At Elm St. and Yonge?

@ranaldthurgood4875 Жыл бұрын

@@lamontcranston3177 That's right, with the carved coconut heads. It seemed exotic at the time!

@lamontcranston3177 Жыл бұрын

@@ranaldthurgood4875 I lived up the street on Elm. I would arrange to meet people at the Hut all the time.

@waivedwench 11 ай бұрын

You can see why it was a place best avoided in those days!! Any idea what month of the year this was filmed?

@RideAcrossTheRiver Ай бұрын

Toronto is best avoided today too.

@Bryan-nc3te Жыл бұрын

It's like midnight cowboy set in Tirana

@lamontcranston3177 Жыл бұрын

See the Canadian movie "Going Down The Road". Two Newfies come to Toronto for fame and fortune and wind up hanging out on 1970s Yonge St.

@Grimenoughtomaketherobotcry Ай бұрын

I liked the SCTV version better.@@lamontcranston3177

@RideAcrossTheRiver Ай бұрын

@@lamontcranston3177 You mean the _SCTV_ parody.

@lamontcranston3177 Ай бұрын

@@RideAcrossTheRiver That too! Ha ha !

@RideAcrossTheRiver Ай бұрын

@@lamontcranston3177 "Garth, Garth! I just got her pregnant!" "Mohhhhhhpe ... now I'll have to move to Etobicoke ..."

@oldpossum57 13 күн бұрын

The Hare Krishnas outside Sam’s. They used to show up at Loyola College, Montreal, as well. I don’t know where their ashram was.

@elainelane1119 6 ай бұрын

I was 17 yrs old😊

@bobsfanjoy6569 Ай бұрын

💖🙃

@jvcpaints Ай бұрын

Look how thin everyone was.

@Valmiki168 Ай бұрын

It wasn't too diverse back then

@davidmorgen4558 6 ай бұрын

One shot look like Abbie Hoffman ?

@FrankKnight8846 5 ай бұрын

I was born in Toronto January 1974 👍🏻

@buckodonnghaile4309 Ай бұрын

How's it feel being 50? I've still got a few months before that hits. Cheeds

@FrankKnight8846 Ай бұрын

@@buckodonnghaile4309 so far so good, it’s going great

@kennova01 21 күн бұрын

When toronto was a good safe city..not anymore..

@MyViewToronto 4 ай бұрын

It looks like a Depression

@donmorfeo8901 5 ай бұрын

Alot of wild and bad stuff happened on that street, 1977 was the end of it.

@Bryan-nc3te Жыл бұрын

Schneiderman's music hall

@ricladouceur6202 2 ай бұрын

I could easily have been in this video! The only thing they missed was the Church of Scientology!

@richardleonard4281 2 жыл бұрын

I wonder what happened to the Hare Krishna people?

@Hossak Жыл бұрын

We had them in Adelaide, south Australia in the 70s and 80s. They would come chanting into the city mall daily. No idea what happened to them here either.

@danielthoman7324 Жыл бұрын

They moved to Nunavut.

@Hossak Жыл бұрын

@@danielthoman7324 Found em! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fOCWi9mF2sCpXXU.html&ab_channel=Shout%21Factory

@lamontcranston3177 Жыл бұрын

Declined due to corruption. Public lost interest. No new converts. They're still around but they are no longer obsessed with growing.

@MarcusDaGrand 2 ай бұрын

They became yuppies in the 80's.

@RideAcrossTheRiver Ай бұрын

Back before all the "world class city" nonsense.

@wesdowling1340 5 ай бұрын

Sure this is Toronto don't see any guys wearing those funny cowboy hats

@mikeohagan2206 Ай бұрын

no screaming protesters.

@WestboundPromo416 4 жыл бұрын

toronto, city of champions

@andrewcharles459 Ай бұрын

The Hare Krishnas made me LOL. Gawd, they were annoying.

@entertain402 14 күн бұрын

starvin marvins...the beginning of the alphabet nightmare

@L1V2P9 Ай бұрын

I forgot all about Zumburger. Nothing remarkable about it accept the name.

@rackrawan3191 3 жыл бұрын

1:29 proves young street always had bums those were the for fathers for all bums you see on young street now 🤣

@MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts 3 жыл бұрын

Ikr when I saw that I was like this is the first true representation of Young Street yet 😅🙈😋

@Alsatiagent 2 жыл бұрын

That was a religious sect, they were called Hare Krishna's.

@marks.3303 Жыл бұрын

And it was even worse in the 30s and before.

@lamontcranston3177 Жыл бұрын

Those are members of Iskcon. They are singers of the names of the Lord.

@TheNZDoug Ай бұрын

Sam the Record Man. “ got any third Reich marching music”? 4rth floor!

@jorgesoberanes2378 Жыл бұрын

70's fashion: yikes

@sisuriffs Ай бұрын

But what pronouns were they using?

@glen6945 2 ай бұрын

oooohhhhyes----1974

@glen6945 2 ай бұрын

oooohhhhyes

@celestemackenzie2024 2 жыл бұрын

I would like to contact you about licencing part of this for a CBC doc. series. Could you post your email? Or, search for me on Facebook. Thank you.