Commentary
In the mid-1970s I was a struggling business and economics student. I paid for my tuition and personal expenses with physically demanding summer and part-time jobs and some student debt.
I dreamed of one day working on Canada’s version of Wall Street, which was located in Toronto at the corner of King and Bay streets. That dream came true in the spring of 1980 when the Dominion Bond Rating Service hired me as a junior analyst. Four of the five big Canadian banks occupied the corners of King and Bay in their impressive skyscrapers. A block away were the golden towers of Canada’s largest financial institution, the Royal Bank of Canada. A book published in 1982 was named “Towers of Gold, Feet of Clay,” a reference to the fact the two RBC towers literally have a thin layer of gold coating their windows.
Locating the banks and brokers so closely together made sense at the time. There was no internet, no email, no cellphones, and no video conferencing. There weren’t even spreadsheets available at the beginning of the 1980s. When bankers and brokers met to discuss a new equity or bond issue, relevant executives would meet in one of their boardrooms. In those days, there were almost no food courts. Plebes like myself would pack a sandwich and some fruit and work through lunch. Every other Friday my boss would take us to a deliciously tacky restaurant named Ed’s Warehouse and we would order the only item on the menu: roast beef with frozen peas and watery mashed potatoes. The big shots would eat lunch at pretentious restaurants and private men’s clubs.At 6 p.m. the entire area shut down, except for a few investment bankers burning the midnight oil to write up deals. As Bay Street and Toronto grew, more people flocked to the Financial District. Food courts, bars, and pubs opened. People began staying in the area after work to have dinner and drinks. Eventually, grotesque condominiums were built nearby to house those who didn’t want to commute, had no children, or didn’t make enough to afford a single-family home.
