Caption: TTC PCC 4211 (an A3-class car built in 1942) heads westbound on Albert Street past Bay, operating on the Dundas route bound for Runnymede Loop near the CPR's West Toronto Yard. It will soon swing up Elizabeth and curve back onto Dundas for the usual westbound trip. A PCC car on the Dupont route heads south on Bay in the background, passing the sprawling factories, offices and retail space belonging to the Timothy Eaton Company Limited (Eaton's). Canadian retail giant Eaton's had amassed a large cluster of buildings over time in the Queen-Bay-Dundas-Yonge area, and starting in the early 1970's many were demolished to make way for the new Eaton Centre mall and surrounding developments.

Albert Street here used to be a through street and extend west of Bay Street, running through "The Ward" (or St. John's Ward), historically a run-down neighbourhood that had been home to new immigrants and the poor/impoverished for many decades previous. At one point, the living conditions were so bad it became a health concern to the city. Much of the area had been expropriated and redeveloped in the 1920-60's.

This section of Albert Street was soon to be eliminated and built over, due to construction beginning on a new Toronto City Hall over a large tract of land northwest of Bay and Queen starting later in 1961. Dundas cars coming off City Hall Loop (Louisa-James-Albert) and continuing west on Albert would simply be rerouted up Bay to Dundas. Today, this streetcar would be sitting in the middle of Nathan Phillips Square, in front of the current City Hall.

John F. Bromley photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection negative (large-format scanned with a DSLR, with some restoration work done).