THUNDER BAY | Nature•Industry•Fort William•Port Arthur•Finnish Quarter

[vid]

Originally Posted by CCF

One thing I noticed, that bothered me, was the decentralization of major office within Thunder Bay. Rather than being located in the downtown, there were a number of newer office buildings that were amongst big box stores. Missed opportunity to inject some life into a declining core.

It is primarily because we don't have a single downtown. Unlike most multi-core cities in Canada, Port Arthur and Fort William are almost exactly the same size, so it was basically impossible to pick which one would be the primary core. When something is proposed for one core, the other core protests. The north core was extremely pissed off that the courthouse was going in the south core, while the south core is upset about the multiplex going in the north core. (It isn't under construction yet, but is moving along in its planning stages at a decent pace.) We don't have the benefit of Kitchener-Waterloo of having the two cores very close together, either. They're six miles apart.

In the 1970s, the city decided that Intercity, the big box area between the cores, would become the new downtown. That results in business parks. The uses there are too segregated to make it a vibrant community, but if the city allows mixed use development there, it could become something similar to Mississauga City Centre.

Downtown Port Arthur has a lot are bars and is the entertainment district, with concerts pretty much every night while LU is in session. Downtown Fort William is the government district, where most government buildings are now located. We don't really have an office district, and in a way, there isn't much room in either core to accommodate them without getting rid of a lot of existing stuff. Simply building the courthouse in the south core has created a parking shortage in the area, and events downtown like hockey games or Canada Day celebrations cause gridlock on our narrow streets. The widest street in Thunder Bay is only 4 lanes, which is kind of impressive for a city this spread out, I guess. Intersections back up into neighbouring intersections during rush hour but we still get home within 15 minutes.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Thunder Bay...awesome!!!!

I spent three years there "studying." Some great spots: the Hoito, the Royalton, the Brew Pub, Fort Williams Gardens, etc. Fond memories indeed.

However, what I liked most about Thunder Bay is the wilderness around it: the ever-present Mount McKay, Sleeping Giant, some decent skiing nearby.

Naturally, the winters are pretty brutal. In my first year we had so much snow we were able to build a snow slide right up to our 2nd storey window. Super wicked awesome fun. Unfortunately, we also had a few days of -50C windchill...not so awesome. Definitely a different city in the summer months.

Thanks for taking me back in time.

p.s. You can get yourself into more than just a little trouble on Simpson street, believe me. AND I can't believe Victoriaville Mall is still open; it was complete sh*te 15 years ago.

[rockyi]

From vids numerous discriptions these pics of T-Bay are exactly how I pictured it.

Originally Posted by vid

......It is primarily because we don't have a single downtown. Unlike most multi-core cities in Canada, Port Arthur and Fort William are almost exactly the same size, so it was basically impossible to pick which one would be the primary core. When something is proposed for one core, the other core protests. The north core was extremely pissed off that the courthouse was going in the south core, while the south core is upset about the multiplex going in the north core.

Damn does that sound familiar. The Quad Cities may as well be called Thunder Bay South.

[Millstone]

I spend quite a bit of time in Thunder Bay because my business has a couple clients there.

Appears like any other middle-class southern city until you venture just a bit to the west and it hits you how isolated you are.

[Thundertubs]

AWESOME. That is some seriously brooding and beautiful landscape going on up there.

[Evergrey]

Incredible set. Very cool of you to take a trip to Thunder Bay... what an outpost!

[vid]

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

Some great spots: the Hoito, the Royalton, the Brew Pub, Fort Williams Gardens, etc. Fond memories indeed.

The Brew Pub closed about 4 years ago, and was demolished last spring to make way for a Shoppers Drug Mart.

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

Unfortunately, we also had a few days of -50C windchill...not so awesome.

Thunder Bay has never actually experienced -50 windchill. It has gone below -40 only once in my lifetime. It gets cold but not as cold as people say. It's kind of funny that they exaggerate it though, because simply saying "It's -10 today, so it's pretty mild" is enough to scare anyone from the south.

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

p.s. You can get yourself into more than just a little trouble on Simpson street, believe me. AND I can't believe Victoriaville Mall is still open; it was complete sh*te 15 years ago.

All those dive bars and hotels on Simpson are closed now and many vacant building have either burnt down or been demolished, so most of the standing buildings left on the street are occupied by businesses. The only hotel/bar left is the Adanac which is run by much more responsible people, and only the Empire Hotel and a couple one storey buildings near Charry's Corner are vacant. Out of the building stock on the street, Simpson actually has a pretty good occupancy rate for a street this hard up.

The real bad areas these days are May Street between Miles and Dease (the Mac's at May and Dease, formerly 7/11, has been robbed on average every three weeks this year) and the corner of Victoria and Brodie, due to a really shitty bar at that corner that does little to prevent drug dealing, drug use and over consumption of alcohol by patrons.

Victoriaville is being re-purposed into an office complex to complement the courthouse and isn't doing too bad. When City Hall was being renovated and all the city offices were in there, it was bustling from 9 to 5 and getting lunch at noon was nearly impossible. As soon as City Hall moved back into city hall, the mall died again. Even the dollar store went under.

[mthq]

Originally Posted by Ex-Ithacan

Entertaining tour flar. Now I understand why vid is the way he is.

HAHA!

Great pics. Didn't knew Thunder Bay had so much great old architecture there. Now I have a visual to pair vid's descriptive stories of interesting street characters to.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Re: TBay weather.

Not to be a d*ck but...the period I was referring to was during exams in December of '95. The air temperature was approximately -30C with wind gusts of >50 km/h. It may not have been -50C but it was pretty close. And just to clarify, that was the number that was being bandied about at the time...probably an exaggeration.

Regardless, that's one of things that makes Thunder Bay great. And you know, I probably would have stayed and made a go of things but I was 20 and didn't know my head from ass.

[vid]

You don't have to know your head from your ass to make it here. That is what makes this city so great!

[isaidso]

Love the landscape in and around Thunder Bay. The heavy industry, shipping, and Finnish community are very interesting. I did find the city rather isolating and grim, but like northern Ontario quite a bit. I ate at Hoito! There were more blonds in there than Finland.

[stepper77]

I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner. The photos are stunning. Thanks!

[artvandelay]

Great photos!

I've never been there, but from photos Thunder Bay certainly has the feel of a Western Canadian city. Other than a few of the brick houses that were pictured, there doesn't appear to be much in common with Southern Ontario architecturally.

[Jimby]

Great tour.

[boden]

v-i-d-e-o-l-a-n-d

[flar]

Thanks for the comments!

Thunder Bay is quite an interesting place. I saw a bit of a western influence, but there is too much brick for it to be considered a western city. I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit. Many people never make it up that way.

[Tony]

Coool!! I can say with 100% certainty this is the best Thunder Bay thread ever to grace the internet! (no offense Vid.. this just has more variety... and Rail Porn to boot!)

[vid]

I'll be sure to work rail porn and variety into my next photo thread. I just got a new camera but I still don't have enough photos that I like for a decent thread.

BTW, Rocket1964's Thunder Bay threads were also really good.