[thecharioteer]

Sorry guys, but all these pics are from the Archives and are unfortunately undated. I think it's appropriate given that they're from Yorkville, that we've now expanded our forensic dating methods beyond cars to include fashion.

Films are another method, and one can see that "Cabaret" (released in 1972) is playing at the University in this shot. The dilemma, however, is whether it's the first run screening or a later revival (my hunch is that it's later; I don't think the Diner came along until the 80's):

 

[LowPolygon]

Sorry guys, but all these pics are from the Archives and are unfortunately undated. I think it's appropriate given that they're from Yorkville, that we've now expanded our forensic dating methods beyond cars to include fashion.

Films are another method, and one can see that "Cabaret" (released in 1972) is playing at the University in this shot. The dilemma, however, is whether it's the first run screening or a later revival (my hunch is that it's later; I don't think the Diner came along until the 80's):

Its definitely from the 80's. The artwork on that billboard--with Joel Grey as the star--doesn't match the original campaign which had Liza Minnelli front and center. She was a huge star at the time, and he was unknown.

Grey starred in revivals of Cabaret on Broadway and the West End of London in 1986 and 1987, so that poster is almost certainly from that time. maybe the production had a run in Toronto….

also, the ugly gold car in the foreground appears to be a first gen Ford Taurus, which didn't begin production until 1986.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I think 4-D's Diner opened around '88 and was renamed Flo's before it moved to Yorkville and the building was demolished.

 

[Tranplanner]

also, the ugly gold car in the foreground appears to be a first gen Ford Taurus, which didn't begin production until 1986.

I think it's actually a Ford Tempo...same vintage though.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Cabaret starring Joel Grey was scheduled to play the O'Keefe in November 1990.

 

[thecharioteer]

Cabaret starring Joel Grey was scheduled to play the O'Keefe in November 1990.

I think you're right; it's an ad for the play. At this point the University Theatre was already closed (having been shuttered in, I believe, 1986), and the facadectomy of it and the Pearcy House was imminent.

 

[hogdust]

I think it's actually a Ford Tempo...same vintage though.

Looks like a Tempo or Topaz to me as well

 

[Stumack]

In the first group (with the lovely in the white leotard thing), the newest vehicles are a white 1979+ Mustang and a white 1980+ Chevette - I'd think they're likely from 1980 or '81.

 

[thecharioteer]

For Christmas:

 

[adma]

I guess it would seem that the old Knox/Woolworth store to the right remained un-encased in metal into the early 60s...

 

[condovo]

totally fantastic! a small cornucopia of late 70's-mid 80's fashion and design signifiers--from the leggings and boots worn with a big bulky sweater, the high-top pleated chinos, the white pants and loafers, the big shoulders and tapered pantsuit (the famous inverted wedge), to the oversized slope shouldered prewashed denim jackets. egads!

All and all, further evidence that the 80’s truly was the decade that taste forgot!

LOL! Spot on except for the 'leggings', which only made their appearance in the 90s. That woman's actually wearing leotards.

 

[thecharioteer]

Christmas at Queen's Park 1958 (Ontario Archives):

 

[Edward]

Ah Christmas at Simpsons. How come they can't do windows like that anymore?

 

[LowPolygon]

Ah Christmas at Simpsons. How come they can't do windows like that anymore?

indeed--both Eaton's and Simpson's used their windows as a form of urban commercial pop culture right up until the 1970's. and of course the "Queen Street Bay" carries this on in a tired and rote way.

the fact that Eaton's decided to do away with this convention when the Eaton Centre opened in 1977 says a great deal about the eclipse of this form of urban spectacle; a definitive turning away from the street as a place for 'staging culture'.

the windows were also used as a form of commemoration, celebration and memorial, often expressing Royalist or nationalist sentiments:

an interesting subset of window display are those that function in a very abstract and formal way; using inanimate objects and dry goods as the basis for a kind of "Busby Berkeley" type of spectacle!

some of the earliest examples are oddly quotidian, quiet and plain and almost eerie looking…

 

[thecharioteer]

Great pics of the windows, deepend! Wasn't there a "Twilight Zone" episode about windows such as these coming to life after hours?