New Yorker with questions about Winnipeg

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by vid

He can take a bike ride threw winnipeg!

lol

if nycr is wondering heres a series i did a couple years back kinda famouse for them due to my horid spelling and typos
A Bike ride through winnipeg Part 1 Part 2 A Part 2 B Part 2C Part 3A Part 3B

[Spocket]

NewFlyer and True,

No , I'm sorry , I think you both misunderstood my point .

Winnipeg is best appreciated by NOT comparing it to somewhere else. In other words , don't come to Winnipeg expecting to find Calgary , Las Vegas , Toronto , New York , Hong Kong or anywhere else in the world. That's the mistake that so many people who rag on this town make. They think of somewhere that they really liked and then think about why they liked it. Then they think "Well , Winnipeg doesn't have any of that." What they DON'T do is to look at what IS here and enjoy it for its own sake. In other words , people who are new to Winnipeg think of what it ISN'T rather than what it IS. That's what you , me , and everybody else who loves this city are always trying to explain to people who bash this city. For example : T.O. person "Winnipeg sucks because it's so cold !" Winnipeg person "Sure it's cold. It's also got some of the best summer weather on the continent. Ever been to Grand Beach ?"

I've got friends who come from Beijing , Sarajevo (today...not during the war obviously) , Tel-Aviv , Melbourne , and Munich. These are world class cities and few people would deny that. They don't say "Winnipeg sucks because it's not like "......". They say "It is what it is". For the most part , they love it (until winter that is) even if they prefer somewhere else they're more familiar with or (naturally) call home. They don't say "Where are the freeways ? The 1000 year old churches ? The giant airports ?" No , they take a drive along Hwy. 75 , stop around Morris , get out , take a picture of themselves against the endless horizon and smile. This is absolutely amazing to many of them ...."Wow....I can't believe this. It's so flat...I didn't think that anything like this could even exist.Hey....is that Winnipeg over there ? Didn't we just drive for hour ?! Whoa..."

[grumpy old man]

Nice post Spocket.

[nycer]

Interesting post. It's hard not to compare places especially when you've lived somewhere a long time, but I understand your point.

It does seem that from what I'm reading, Winnipeg has a fair amount of ethnic diversity and lots of different delicious foods, so that is definitely a plus.

Originally Posted by Spocket

NewFlyer and True,

No , I'm sorry , I think you both misunderstood my point .

Winnipeg is best appreciated by NOT comparing it to somewhere else. In other words , don't come to Winnipeg expecting to find Calgary , Las Vegas , Toronto , New York , Hong Kong or anywhere else in the world. That's the mistake that so many people who rag on this town make. They think of somewhere that they really liked and then think about why they liked it. Then they think "Well , Winnipeg doesn't have any of that." What they DON'T do is to look at what IS here and enjoy it for its own sake. In other words , people who are new to Winnipeg think of what it ISN'T rather than what it IS. That's what you , me , and everybody else who loves this city are always trying to explain to people who bash this city. For example : T.O. person "Winnipeg sucks because it's so cold !" Winnipeg person "Sure it's cold. It's also got some of the best summer weather on the continent. Ever been to Grand Beach ?"

I've got friends who come from Beijing , Sarajevo (today...not during the war obviously) , Tel-Aviv , Melbourne , and Munich. These are world class cities and few people would deny that. They don't say "Winnipeg sucks because it's not like "......". They say "It is what it is". For the most part , they love it (until winter that is) even if they prefer somewhere else they're more familiar with or (naturally) call home. They don't say "Where are the freeways ? The 1000 year old churches ? The giant airports ?" No , they take a drive along Hwy. 75 , stop around Morris , get out , take a picture of themselves against the endless horizon and smile. This is absolutely amazing to many of them ...."Wow....I can't believe this. It's so flat...I didn't think that anything like this could even exist.Hey....is that Winnipeg over there ? Didn't we just drive for hour ?! Whoa..."

[1ajs]

what foods are u into?

[ssiguy]

I have never lived in Winnipeg but live in Vancouver for 20 years and have lived in Toronton and Ottawa so I have a good non-partisan view. Although it is refered to some by Winterpeg when talking about its weather most Canadians affectionatly refer to as "the Peg". It is also known for being home to one of {if not thee } most famoud corner in the country....Portage & Main. When saying those two words most Canadians know it's Winnipeg.

Winnipeg was Canada's fourth most populace city until the late 60s and has been now passed by Cal/Edm/Ham/QC. Often seen as Canada's semi-dying city. Not totally dead but will never will be the city it once was. There have been great benefits to this however. Due to the city not being newly built like Van/Cal/Ed, it has many old buildings and districts whereas Van/Cal/Ed couldn't {and in Vancouver's case still} tear them down fast enough.

This has resulted in Winnipeg as being one of those cities with a real "umph" to it. It feels sturdy and, like Chicago, doesn't feel like a drop in some commodity price will bring it down. Winnipeger's are a friendly lot and quite a casual and liberal. Remember Winnipeg was the first major city in Canada with an openly gay mayor and Manitoba was the third province to legalize gay marriage.

Winnipeg's geographic isolation has helped in it's cultural develpment. Winnipeg' Royal ballet was the first one in the Americas. It's theatre, festivals, and music scene are well known and many of Canada's cultural and musical icons are from the Peg. Winnipeg is known not only nationaly but also internationally for it cultural scene. Go to any travel guide and that is always one of the things mentioned about Winnipeg. It is easily Western Canada's cultural mecca {although Vancouverites would protest} but no one else in the country would. For a city of it's size it has probably the most unique, vibrant, and interesting downtown and no other city in NA or even much of the world has Winnipeg's cultural vitality. For a city of just 660k it's quite shocking. It's a beautiful city with tree-lined streets with beautiful old homes and some are very impressive due to Winnipeg having old wealth. Winnipeg, for it's size, has a dizzing number of good restaurants and cafes' on a per-capita levels the highest in the country

It is very affordable but it has it's negative attributes namely poverty and crime much due to the fact that there is a large native population. It's cold as you know but one thing that hasn't been mentioned that really hurts her reputation........mosquitos. It's Canada's mosquito capitol and spraying of neighbourhood still goes on and the joke in the rest of Canada is the that Winnipeg has two airports.......one for the planes and one for mosquitos.

Things are a changing in the Peg in the last few years, it's economy and population is booming mostly by huge international immigrants. Winnipeg is also Canada's FIRST truly multicultural city. It was populated at the turn of the century by people from Europe looking for their future on the praries while Vancouver and Toronto were as white as the undriven snow til 1970.

In short, it's winter's are brutal, mosquitos the stuff of legends but at the same time the most vibrant, interesting, cosmopolitan, cultured city in all of NA for a city it's size and is cheap to boot. You may not want to live there long term but it is one of Canada's most unique cities {also one of the few cities that truly shaped the nation} If you are going there with an open-mind you will very much enjoy it but of don't believe me just go to the Michiline travel guide which gave it 3 of a possible 4 stars.

[grumpy old man]

Wow. What a wonderful post. Very nicely said.

btw I'd never heard the two airports joke.

[sledhead35]

im a little teary eyed myself

[grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by sledhead35

im a little teary eyed myself

Because of the airport joke?

[nycer]

Anything and everything.

Originally Posted by 1ajs

what foods are u into?

Ssiguy, why do some people characterize Winnipeg as "semi-dying," and why do you think it will not be what it "once was?"

I do appreciate your post. The liberal politics, tolerance and culture are definitely something a New Yorker can appreciate. We are still trying to have gay marriage legalized in New York but the United States is regrettably much more conservative.

[grumpy old man]

Winnipeg "once was" the Chicago of the North. The largest city in Western Canada and of significant import.

In the 1800's and early 1900's.

Winnipeg was the transportation king feeding the growing and developing Western Canada. It still plays a significant role in transportation in North America though and promises to recapture that mantle with Centerport.

I believe Winnipeg began losing its lustre in the 1980's and 1990's when the distribution centres began closing, business HQs moved and growth stagnated.

Winnipeg is enjoying a bit of a rebound. We are growing again, albeit slowly, through immigration and in-migration from other provinces, reduced exodus to the US and other Canadian provinces and increased urbanization, especially by aboriginals.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by nycer

Anything and everything.

were spoiled here though i don't know how it compares to ny

Ssiguy, why do some people characterize Winnipeg as "semi-dying," and why do you think it will not be what it "once was?"

as mentioned in responce already we were in a 20 yr recession if not longer. in the 80-90s erly 00's the 90's being the worst witch had alot of factors at play witch are tied to the provincial governemnts and the global economy of the day though one of the best things we got outa those down days was the forks redvelopment witch turned an abandond rail yard downtown into a park and market and has been slowly over the last 20 yrs growing on the city and has become a beutifull space to injoy and ever evolving espeacialy the trees

I do appreciate your post. The liberal politics, tolerance and culture are definitely something a New Yorker can appreciate. We are still trying to have gay marriage legalized in New York but the United States is regrettably much more conservative.

we had a gay mayor in the late 90's early 2000's got the ball rolling on city pride and incuraged many things then ran away to run federaly pissing off alot of people and loosing the election lol

[ssiguy]

NYCER......
Winnipeg in 1950 was just shy of Vancouver in population puting it forth.
1950-1980 say OK growth but nothing compared to most of the rest of the country especially the West. After 1980 it has basically stagnated and it's population grew VERY slowly and went from #4 to #9 nationally. Probably more important it went from the Prairies dominant city to an also ran. Important but lost the stature it once had.

The big deal now is that Winnipeg's population is finally growing agin at a decent clip, the economy is doing well, and the old Peg is starting to get back some of the attention it once had.

[dennis]

1ajs' bike ride threw winnipeg into a view of beauty and wonderment.

[1ajs]

uhuh i gues i need to do a new one theres still more areas to explore

[UrbanPlannerr]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

In short, it's winter's are brutal,

If your coming from New York City, than definitely spend some time looking around for a nice warm winter jacket, toques, mittens, boots, basically the whole nine yards... and do not take the winter weather lightly, as hypothermia and frost bite happen all the time, especially with locals....

[Spocket]

^Ah , but if you spit in January , it freezes on the way to the ground and you can watch it bounce on the sidewalk. Really now , that's just magical.

[1ajs]

or taking a hot cup of coffe and throwing it into the air to see it disapear infront of ur eyes

• Video Link

[drew]

^ of course it can't really be that bad, seeing as that guy is not wearing any mitts...

That being said, you really have to be careful when you pee in the snowbank, because if you aren't careful, the stream will freeze all the way up, and you will literally explode.

[1ajs]

hahahahaha