I was about to say that.

Kensington :)


https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5471/...494e2df4_b.jpg
Sunnyside Station by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5560/...5d5f852d_b.jpg
Kensington by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3909/...f09b579e_b.jpg
Kensington by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3895/...94f9e880_b.jpg
YellowCab by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3845/...e018796b_b.jpg
Memorial by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2895/...cff9a3b3_b.jpg
Memorial by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3840/...f43f1520_b.jpg
Simple Beauty by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2901/...00612211_b.jpg
Memorial by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3887/...4c0aa089_b.jpg
Fishing in Peace by Chadillaccc, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3873/...db13ca21_b.jpg
Peaceful by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

calgary seems like it might feel a lot like vancouver on street level. it's not so much the buildings, but the people, the signage, the businesses — i have never been to calgary, but i have been to vancouver, and i remember it looking sort of like that.

I don't know about the signage, but the areas that the city is focussing intensification and beautification (mostly along the waterfront, near high streets, etc) around are certainly pushing the city in that direction. I agree.

i guess it was mainly this photo:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3909/...f09b579e_b.jpg

the way the guy and girl are dressed, the street furniture, the ads — it reminds me of the western parts of downtown vancouver.

Oh okay, well yeah I guess. Kensington is a really old business area though, I wouldn't really relate it to being a "copy" of Vancouver or anything, it would have just evolved that way. But I can see a bit of Denman in that photo, you're right ;)


EDIT: I just said Kensington is "really old" forgetting that you live in Europe. What I mean to say is, really old by western Canadian standards, ie. over a century.

Man, that bridge looks fantastic.

Calgary, to me, felt like a young person with a lot of money.

Vancouver seemed more middle-aged. And it definitely had a stronger and more old-fashioned sense of social status. Nothing compared to the east, of course... but Vancouver still felt like you might not get a job there because of your surname.

Calgary felt oblivious to history as far as those sorts of things go. I imagine people there don't get sweaty palms too often upon learning someone's surname during introductions.

But, you know, a few days in each. Hard to get a well-rounded impression.

ya but where are the hipsters beards? :D

no, i didn't mean a copy — that was badly expressed. it just reminded me of my trip to vancouver, and i've never been to calgary so that's my frame of reference :)

When I saw the post with the pics, I actually had no idea what or where Kensington was, and since there were no visible license plates in the shots, I decided to see if I could narrow it down (knowing Chad travels around and post pics of plenty of places, there was no guarantee it was Calgary in my mind).

"10th Street NW" as a street name is very very Western North America. So is the style of the traffic lights. The shops and signage are actually more stereotypically West Coastish than Plains ("Sun & Moon Psychic Boutique"...)

Then the high residential towers told me it had to be a large city, and knowing Chad is unlikely to have been south of the 49th to get those pics, it narrowed it down a lot immediately.

Scrolling down further, I recognized that red bridge, so the experiment ended there.

I've spent two weeks in Vancouver back when my sister lived there and I would agree that the first few pics (street level) could've been it.

Edmonton:

Sorry, I didn't mean to infer that I thought that's what you meant. I just said that because of my previous comment, where I said the city is pushing the most intensification and beautification to the water and high streets, thereby copying Vancouver in a way.

Magical, Kevin!

You're right, Calgary is the antithesis of an establishment city. One of the few places in North America a 38 yr old brown, Ismaili Muslim professor of non-profit management named Naheed Nenshi could get elected, and no one would think twice of it. It's a very freeing civic culture to be part of.

Yeah, the Kensington district does have a Denman kind of look and vibe.

Dont usually get pictures of buildings poking above the clouds in a non coastal (or great lake) city, that's a sweet shot.

From the Bow Parkade a couple of days ago.

http://members.shaw.ca/rwinhold/ssp/...20140610-1.jpg

Portland would be NW 10th Avenue (they prefix the quadrant, and streets aren't numbered, only avenues). Seattle would be NW 10th Street, also with prefixed quadrant. SF doesn't use directionals and has few numbered streets and neither does LA. Neither does Vancouver for the most part in its inner city, so what's west coastish, much less "very very" west coast?

Also, we don't use "plains" in Canada. We speak of "prairies" and Calgary isn't, in my opinion, a prairie city at all. It's a foothills city or even a Rocky Mountain city... or better still, it's a Western Canadian city.

I wish Calgary didn't have the number system, to be honest. The beautiful names our streets used to have...

9th Avenue - Atlantic Avenue
1st Street - Notre Dame Street
etc...