Post some pictures of your city! II

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

There are, per exemple, kilometers of pre-war neighborhoods around the old city.

[shappy]

Here are some images of Toronto I captured using Google streetview. I like using it as a kind of virtual camera.

[zoomer]

Love this one, like a painting! Or from a photo shoot when a young Queen Elizabeth visited incognito.



And next time those classy ladies on the porch need food delivery can you give them my number?

[Metro-One]

Awesome pics of Victoria on the last page, Zoomer!

If your interest is in older, nicer urban settings with unique local flare and direct access to the great outdoors, I think a fantastic four city tour of Canada from west to east would be Victoria, Saskatoon, Quebec City and Halifax. In fact I would probably recommend this over a Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal tour.

[ScreamingViking]

The eastern piers and industrial land of the Port of Hamilton, adjacent to the QEW and Beach Strip neighbourhood, with the Skyway Bridge and Burlington in the background.


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[SignalHillHiker]

Realtor drone shots are getting nicer

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

If your interest is in older, nicer urban settings with unique local flare and direct access to the great outdoors, I think a fantastic four city tour of Canada from west to east would be Victoria, Saskatoon, Quebec City and Halifax. In fact I would probably recommend this over a Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal tour.

That sounds like more of a trip someone would take if they've already seen the first four cities and their surroundings. I also don't think Saskatoon is a good substitute for Calgary when it comes to access to the great outdoors.

Besides, that trip would be very expensive and time-consuming and you'd end up having to transfer flights through the hub airports of the first four cities anyway.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Realtor drone shots are getting nicer

These real estate drone shots have to be one of the biggest improvements to the availability of city photos in a long time. You used to have to scour the internet for the odd decent new aerial photo and now there are new ones every few days.

On the other hand I find that while Instagram and other social media have a lot of nice photos there isn't as much variety in style or subject. It's the same filtered shots of the same downtown landmarks over and over.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Besides, that trip would be very expensive and time-consuming and you'd end up having to transfer flights through the hub airports of the first four cities anyway.

That's a good point. Then again, while Montreal is much larger and has more to see, it is qualitatively different from Quebec City or Halifax. Quebec City is very charming and appealing to tourists and Halifax is simply in a different region.

Quebec City and Halifax may be the worst city pair in the country for size, distance, and travel options. Both over 500k and regional level cities, about 650 km apart, no direct flights, 10 hr highway drive, or 20+ hour train ride. There's the protrusion of Maine in the middle plus the language difference. It would be dead last on the metric "max km/h travel between two IKEA locations in Canada".

[someone123]

Halifax

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[Nouvellecosse]

^ That looks really beautiful. Well, other than the surface parking around the port area. I hope someday that Loblaws gets converted into an urban format. Maybe it could be on the ground floor of a new highrise. It's weird because this is a denser area on the edge of downtown yet Quinpool has a much more urban layout with the parking hidden behind it.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

It's weird because this is a denser area on the edge of downtown yet Quinpool has a much more urban layout with the parking hidden behind it.

To me it shows how the 90's were a low point for the city. The Quinpool Rd grocery store is built up to the street and is part of a multi-use complex from the 70's, but in the 90's Loblaws was allowed to build a cookie cutter big box store with parking in the urban core. The Queen St Sobeys and Cogswell Staples are two other mistakes like that.

It was years ago but I seem to recall reading a comment somewhere that the seaport area is hard to develop due to complicated land ownership (4 or 5 owners of different slices of that surface parking?).

I'm not sure why there are so many aerial photos with the train there when there are only a few trains a week. Do they time it? Do the trains sit there for a day when not running?

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by someone123

I'm not sure why there are so many aerial photos with the train there when there are only a few trains a week. Do they time it? Do the trains sit there for a day when not running?

I didn't even notice that but yeah that is kind of strange. I don't think I seen it in the last dozen or so times I've been by there and I usually go by at least once or twice a month in the summer.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by someone123

To me it shows how the 90's were a low point for the city. The Quinpool Rd grocery store is built up to the street and is part of a multi-use complex from the 70's, but in the 90's Loblaws was allowed to build a cookie cutter big box store with parking in the urban core.

That area was kind of isolated and seedy in the 1990s. Inglis up to around South Bland St. and around that square was marginal. It's very strange given that the areas it borders weren't like that.

There was a pretty low-rent strip club called the Lighthouse kitty corner to that Superstore, long gone now.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Awesome pics of Victoria on the last page, Zoomer!

If your interest is in older, nicer urban settings with unique local flare and direct access to the great outdoors, I think a fantastic four city tour of Canada from west to east would be Victoria, Saskatoon, Quebec City and Halifax. In fact I would probably recommend this over a Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal tour.

Saskatoon? Not saying I disagree, I just don't know where the older sections are or direct access to the great outdoors. All The maps show it surrounded by farmland.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

That area was kind of isolated and seedy in the 1990s. Inglis up to around South Bland St. and around that square was marginal. It's very strange given that the areas it borders weren't like that.

I guess it is because of the industry around there. South Hollis and Barrington were also run down. It's too bad because this area had a lot of nice buildings that were torn down and in some cases not replaced at all or replaced by marginally larger and uglier new buildings. These days it's mostly gentrified.

Noticed in Nova Scotia mentioned one of the rows along Inglis and how in the 80's it was rooming houses and the residents would often sit on the stoops. These days it's higher end condos. The building on the corner of Inglis and Victoria is a masonry rowhouse or apartment development covered in white vinyl siding. If that siding came off the area might instantly look better.


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[zoomer]

Beautiful Hamilton, St. John’s and Halifax pics above!

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

Saskatoon? Not saying I disagree, I just don't know where the older sections are or direct access to the great outdoors. All The maps show it surrounded by farmland.

And thanks Metro-one for your comments.

I’ve been to Regina but not Saskatoon (but have seen Echoes great pics among others) so can’t comment on how it fits Metro’s criteria of unique urban flare and direct access to nature. I’d have to think that St. John’s also fits in here, but someone else who commented getting to these cities would be an expensive journey! How about Hamilton - can you access great nature and residential neighbourhoods in less than a 30-45 minute walk from downtown?

[TorontoDrew]

I would say Winnipeg being a better choice then Saskatoon. A large old district and only about a 45 min drive to lakes and forests. I've never been to either so I'm just going from google maps.

[zoomer]

Good points about Winnipeg - another city I’ve visited although during a cool autumn week.

My criteria are a bit tougher when it comes to distance - interesting and vibrant downtown, significant historic neighbourhoods and plenty of nature (doesn't have to be wilderness - urban parks, beaches etc are cool) all within a maximum 45 minute WALK of downtown. This makes a great holiday visit for me. I think a lot of cities big and small probably qualify, it’s just to what degree.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by zoomer

How about Hamilton - can you access great nature and residential neighbourhoods in less than a 30-45 minute walk from downtown?

Definitely. The Niagara Escarpment and Bruce Trail are a little more than 1 km from what's traditionally been the "centre" of downtown (King & James streets). The waterfront parks are a little farther, but not by much. And if one is a fast walker capable of the distance, the trails and wetlands of the Royal Botanical Gardens begin 3-4 km away depending on which part of those lands one wants to access.

There are many old residential neighbourhoods adjacent to (and within) the defined downtown area... gentrified old homes interspersed with newer and tall buildings generally west and south, former working-class neighbourhoods generally to the east and north (with some of the most "income challenged" in the city for several kms eastward through the central lower city)

There was a Hamilton poster (Flar) who captured so many photos of these and other areas of the city. I haven't seen that person much here in the past couple of years though. The photo-essays and neighbourhood tours were fantastic. Quite a few are in this folder off the Hamilton sub-forum.