Ottawa: Then and Now

[Aylmer]

I know we bitch and complain about how Ottawa is, but damn, it's a heck of a lot better than then, judging from that decidedly desolate-looking town in the video... Ottawa today looks like Shangri-la compared to some of those open fields of nothingness and endless parking lots in the centre of town.

[S-Man]

Awesome clip! I kept expecting to see shots fired near the grassy knoll!

[drawarc]

Aerial Photo of Ottawa, 1922:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rdb466...03333/sizes/o/

Link:https://flic.kr/p/fsVHfe

[Mille Sabords]

It's amazing how empty was the whole area east of the canal and north of the Laurier Bridge, before DND and the Rideau Centre. I'm also amazed at how these videos studiously avoid the Streets I'd love to see in more detail (Bank, Rideau, Dalhousie, etc.) - even Sparks gets covered very breezily. Obviously, in those days, the only thing to be proud of showing off were the main monuments, not the city's fabric.

Originally Posted by MountainView

Hopefully this hasn't been posted before. It's a video of Ottawa circa 1968-1969. Some pretty interesting things are seen in the video. Love the Queensway back then too!

• Video Link

[lrt's friend]

This is only a few years after the railways were cleared out so that is why the area east of the canal is so empty.

Lots of good memories of Ottawa from my childhood. I loved seeing the old Dow's Lake boathouse. How they used to decorate Rideau Street for Christmas. The way Sparks Street looked when the permanent mall was still quite new.

It would have been nice to see Bank Street downtown, when the theatres were still there. At that time Eaton's was at Bank and Laurier.

And then there was all the old cars that were mostly the size of boats. How times are changed?

The biggest change was the E.B. Eddy mills.

I noticed that by the time of this film, the globe street lights were already removed from downtown. I wonder when that happened. Those old lights really gave downtown character.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I noticed that by the time of this film, the globe street lights were already removed from downtown. I wonder when that happened. Those old lights really gave downtown character.

Probably banned at the same time as overhead hanging signs.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Probably banned at the same time as overhead hanging signs.

I know, for safety reasons, no doubt.

As a child, theatre marquees were marvelous to look at with all the neon and flashing lights. They made downtown look vibrant and exciting especially through a child's eyes. All the theatres had a marquee until the 1960s then the city forced them to remove them. Boo!


https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7053/6...5cf2a91a_z.jpg

Imagine all this neon at night and in colour with parts flashing and animated. And there are a couple of the globe light standards, that were on all the downtown streets and were on Bank Street at least as far south as Gladstone and perhaps further.

On my trip, I stayed across the street from a theatre that still had a marquee in Savannah Georgia. Did it ever look great. That theatre has live productions and I went to one of them. Lots of fun.


http://farm1.staticflickr.com/106/38...c18edf3b_o.jpg
It is always hard to fully capture this sort of thing in a night picture but this gives you an idea.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MountainView

Hopefully this hasn't been posted before. It's a video of Ottawa circa 1968-1969. Some pretty interesting things are seen in the video. Love the Queensway back then too!

• Video Link

Love the video but I suspect it might be from the early part to the mid 70s.

A few things that tip me off is the OC Transpo bus stops have the rigid red and white flags that did not appear (at least I think) until into the 70s and lasted long after that decade.

Also, federal properties (the Hill, the parkways) all have bilingual signage which did not become comprehensive until well into the 1970s (the Official Languages Act was only passed in 1968 or 69 so stuff did not become bilingual overnight).

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Love the video but I suspect it might be from the early part to the mid 70s.

A few things that tip me off is the OC Transpo bus stops have the rigid red and white flags that did not appear (at least I think) until into the 70s and lasted long after that decade.

Also, federal properties (the Hill, the parkways) all have bilingual signage which did not become comprehensive until well into the 1970s (the Official Languages Act was only passed in 1968 or 69 so stuff did not become bilingual overnight).

According to Wikipedia, the construction of the Major-General George R. Pearkes Building on Colonel By Drive took place between 1969 and 1974. The presence of Christmas decorations suggest that this film is from November 1968, although the NAC was not opened until 1969.

I believe the red and white striped OTC bus stop signs were in use in the 1960s and were quite quickly replaced with OC Transpo signs (today's style) by the mid 70s.

Also, you can see the silhouettes of elm trees downtown still. Dutch elm disease became rampant in the early 70s and that is when most of the old trees would have been removed.

[drawarc]

Also, when the video shows McGregor Easson public school on Dynes Road, it briefly glimpses south from the school parking lot, at 7:39 in the film, showing farmland. That area was built with houses by early 70s.

[J.OT13]

The absence of Place Bell and the John Edmonds Towers are a huge giveaway that this was before 1970.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

This is only a few years after the railways were cleared out so that is why the area east of the canal is so empty.

Lots of good memories of Ottawa from my childhood. I loved seeing the old Dow's Lake boathouse. How they used to decorate Rideau Street for Christmas. The way Sparks Street looked when the permanent mall was still quite new.

It would have been nice to see Bank Street downtown, when the theatres were still there. At that time Eaton's was at Bank and Laurier.

And then there was all the old cars that were mostly the size of boats. How times are changed?

The biggest change was the E.B. Eddy mills.

I noticed that by the time of this film, the globe street lights were already removed from downtown. I wonder when that happened. Those old lights really gave downtown character.

Globe lamp posts like the ones on the Capitol Theatre picture (and Sparks Street Mall logo)? Those were pretty nice.

I wish I could have seen downtown in its 1950s glory.

Anyway, where was Eaton's? Yellow brick building on the right of below pic?



http://www.pastottawa.com/comparison...ing-north/190/

Always thought Eaton's first appearance in the Ottawa market was the Rideau Centre.

[Harley613]

Believe it or not, in my mid-twenties I used to live at 194 Lyon, where Claridge built 'The Pinnacle'. They had to buy us out our lease on our townhouse when they wanted to build early and I ended up negotiating from $800 to $5000 per person (my roommate and I) I took the money and went backpacking around Europe for a month in 2004.

[J.OT13]

That was a cool, yet very sketchy, building.

[Urbanarchit]

*

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Globe lamp posts like the ones on the Capitol Theatre picture (and Sparks Street Mall logo)? Those were pretty nice.

I wish I could have seen downtown in its 1950s glory.

Anyway, where was Eaton's? Yellow brick building on the right of below pic?



http://www.pastottawa.com/comparison...ing-north/190/

Always thought Eaton's first appearance in the Ottawa market was the Rideau Centre.

The three storey building on the right was Eaton's store in Ottawa before the Rideau Centre.

[Harley613]

I'm 33. That building a block up is VERY similar, but in far better condition. I moved out of the townhouse in 2004 (Europe was in October). I am guessing The Pinnacle was finished in 2006.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I know, for safety reasons, no doubt.

Yes, because the cities that do allow overhead hanging signs have epidemic proportions of SIGN DEATH.

[Harley613]

A shot I took of the War Museum under construction

[drawarc]

Ottawa Postcard, circa 1970?, showing Place de Ville under construction.


https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/...type=3&theater