By DAVID VAN DYKE Above photo is a panorama I shot back in 2014 of the Alpine Hotel. The insert photo shows a panorama of the location that I took recently. The hotel was built in 1927 and was located on the sunny side of Kingston Road, just east of Victoria Park Avenue. I remember […]
Category: Deja Views
Deja Views: Leuty Lifeguard Station has been part of the Beach for more than 100 years
By DAVID VAN DYKE It is the most photographed landmark in the Beach. How many ways can one shoot a white box with a red roof? Well apparently there are plenty. Lorie Murdoch gave us a unique perspective of the Leuty Lifeguard Station in 1982. It has a long history of being moved around, falling […]
Deja Views: The Willow Avenue ‘fixer-upper’ that went for $51,000 in 1985
By David Van Dyke In 1985, Fauna Coates and her husband purchased a then-condemned cottage on the bottom of Willow Avenue, north of Queen. The cost? $51,000! Certainly, this would never happen in today’s marketplace. Thank you Fauna for sending me this wonderful image. You and your husband did an awesome job restoring this house […]
Deja Views: Looking back to the Queen Street East and Lee Avenue area in 1996
By DAVID VAN DYKE Lorie Murdoch sent me the wonderful image above. She photographed these businesses (on the sunny side of Queen Street East, just a little west of Lee Avenue) in 1996. Thank you Lorie, I don’t know how many times my son and I strolled into Beach Food Mart to be warmly greeted […]
Deja Views: The building of the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant in 1933
By DAVID VAN DYKE This archival photograph (above) depicts the laying down of 42-inch concrete drain pipes in the reservoir of the still to be completed R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant on Queen Street East. The year is 1933, just a year into its construction. Another eight years would pass before the plant would become […]
Deja Views: The Price Bros. homes on Glen Manor Drive remembered
By DAVID VAN DYKE Thanks to Barbara Myrvold for sending the photo at top of page showing the double duplexes from 48 to 90 Glen Manor Dr. The year is 1929 and these buildings were near completion. They were built and owned by the Price Bros. and built on the site of the former Scarboro […]
Deja Views: Celebrating Beach Metro’s 50th anniversary and looking back at the changes in Beach house prices
By DAVID VAN DYKE Congratulations Beach Metro Community News on your 50th anniversary, to the friendly staff, the board members and all of our readers. That is an incredible milestone to achieve, especially for print media in today’s era. I remember, it’s been more than 20 years now, strolling into the BMN office on Gerrard […]
Deja Views: Looking towards Kew Gardens in 1904
By DAVID VAN DYKE This archival photograph at the top of this page was taken in 1904. The location is Queen Street East just west of Lee Avenue. In the background, left of the frame, is Kew Gardens which was established in 1879. At the time the above photo was taken, the Beaches Public Library […]
Deja Views: A look at, and some information on, Woodbine Avenue stores in 1921
By DAVID VAN DYKE Look at the merchants that used to be on the southeast corner of Woodbine and Corley avenues, between Kingston Road and Gerrard Street East. There was once a meat shop, a shoe repair shop and store there that sold cigars and other items. The above photo was taken in 1921. Thanks […]
Deja Views: A Greenwood racetrack grandstand memory
By DAVID VAN DYKE After his wife passed, John Leslie Harrison moved to the Beaches Lions Centennial Apartments on Norway Avenue. He would regularly walk up to three kilometres a day, often with a camera in tow. The photograph above was taken in the late 1980s, and is looking north from Lake Shore Boulevard East […]