Completely random brain droppings about Winnipeg

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

More later, going to get something to eat right now ...

what kinda food do you like?



also oldest smoke house in western canada block over from where i grew up also a museum with the oldest house in the city across the st.

plz go say hi to the ladies at metro for me say adrian sent u to peel the garlic u will get a good laugh
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.9071...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

theres a monument deticated to the person tht inspired james bond in that park as well the intrepid.


to bad im tied up with forest fires or id mke trip down give u a 1ajs tour

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

what kinda food do you like?

A lot of different stuff.

Hadn't been eating anything particularly special so far, though.

[WhiskeyJack1983]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

A lot of different stuff.

Hadn't been eating anything particularly special so far, though.

If you're staying where I think you are (near IKEA?) there's mostly restauarant chains in that area. You gotta brave the north end for good Winnipeg food

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyJack1983

If you're staying where I think you are (near IKEA?) there's mostly restauarant chains in that area. You gotta brave the north end for good Winnipeg food

Yeah I'm in this place here. So far I've only eaten at The Rec Room next door and the little eat-in place in my hotel. Both had nice burgers, though.

[Tom In Chicago]

Incidentally, Winnipeg is the Chicago of Canada. . .

I'd like to make a trip up to Winnipeg during the middle of winter just to see how people cope. . . Thunder Bay is also probably on that vague idea-of-a-road-trip. . .

. . .

[James Bond Agent 007]

I think a better analog for Winnipeg would be Kansas City. Or St Louis.

If Thunder Bay was a big city it would be a good Chicago analog.

Having said that, at about the same time I was noticing the long shadows issue, I also had this strong sense of deja vu, and then I realized what was giving me the deja vu: This city reminds me of ... Spokane. Including the frequent farm smells. It's like a bigger, denser, more compact Spokane, except that it's flat. It gives me all the same vibes Spokane does.

[Yuri]

James, from what you've seen there, which one do you think offers a better urban experience: Winnipeg, Kansas City or St. Louis?

[Blitz]

I've noticed the same thing about that weird stucco but that's confined to the Prairie cities. I don't know if it has something to do with the extreme climate there or what. It's non-existent in Southern Ontario though. As for the U of M campus, it makes sense that it's boring, especially in mid August. Are university campuses supposed to be exciting?

[Wigs]

St. Louis has the oldest bones. It was once one of the top 10 largest cities in USA as early as 1850. It peaked in prominence in the 1900 and 1910 censuses as the #4 largest city.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...ates_by_decade

Winnipeg is a lot smaller of a Metro. It's not even officially 1 million people yet. STL is around 2.8 million and KC around 2.3M.

KC seems to have the most development happening, and future potential from what I've seen. The streetcar line extension is almost finished and the thousands of new residential units built downtown in the past decade really helps. Also one of the newest airports in North America, if not the newest mid sized airport helps visitors first impression of KC.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by Yuri

James, from what you've seen there, which one do you think offers a better urban experience: Winnipeg, Kansas City or St. Louis?

Kansas City is a really cool city with lots to do. Haven't been to St Louis yet. But Winnipeg, so far from what I've seen, is more "urban" or at least denser. But it would be hard to match it with KC and probably St Louis for interesting stuff to do.

[Wigs]

Here's things to do in Winnipeg off the top of my head. All of the videos below are short (under 2 minutes)

The Provincial Legislature building is filled with Masonic architectural "treasures" or "easter eggs" if you will
• Video Link

The WAG (Winnipeg Art Gallery) has Qaumajuq, the largest Inuit art collection in Canada
• Video Link

Assiniboine Park and The Leaf
• Video Link

A more in depth listing. I don't know how I forgot about the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Definitely one of the flagship/best museums in all of Canada.
• Video Link

There's a Winnipeg attractions pass to save money. I forgot about the Royal Canadian Mint. Canada makes coins for various nations around the world. Around 15 million coins per day.
• Video Link

[harls]

I just spent the month of July in Manitoba. There were quite a few smokey days.

I spent a couple of days in Winnipeg doing an escape room and some place called 'Activate' on Portage Avenue.

Check out the Leaf if you have time, heard it's cool.

One thing I notice about Winnipeg is the stupidly short left turn lights.

I was going to stop at this place for squeaky cheese curds, but didn't. You should stop on your way back.

[niwell]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Winnipeg! I've only really been through once as an adult and didn't get to spend much time there aside from a quick stop and a much longer delay-mandated one at an airport bar. It's an interesting mix of East vs West and considerably older feeling than other cities on the latter side of the country due to slower growth post-war - you really don't have to go far from the outskirts to hit stuff from the 1930s. Known quite a few people from Winnipeg over the years and despite having not lived there for decades in some cases retain very strong feelings about the place. Always had a distinct identity and also a strong arts/music scene.

As others have mentioned the stucco thing is very Western Canada, though Winnipeg seems to have it to a greater degree in newer areas. One interesting siding choice also found in the West (not sure if Winnipeg has many) are "bottle dash" houses that are basically stucco with bits of hand smashed glass in them. Growing up in Calgary I always associated them with poorer areas but it's a legitimately interesting style. Apparently lots in Vancouver and can find them in Seattle as well: https://www.northshoreheritage.org/b...h-stucco-house

Stucco is pretty rare in Ontario and particularly the GTA where even new homes feature almost entirely brick siding (still the same stickframe construction). Some 80s/90s infill townhouse complexes have stucco and also seen it on unfortunate EIFS renovations of early 1900s homes and small apartment buildings.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

Even the poor neighborhoods in KC have nicer lawns than many of the lawns in these newer developments in Winnipeg. I saw quite a few nice, new houses and townhouses which obviously had people living in them, but their lawn was just unmowed weeds. It's like they just didn't give a damn.

And they're small lots too, it's not like they have a ton of yard to mow, or something.

A lot of the residents in the newer developments in the south end of Winnipeg are new Canadians who immigrated from countries where lawns aren’t a thing or aren’t as important as they are to North Americans that grew up watching their parents and grandparents water the grass and mow the lawn every weekend.

[EndIt]

Originally Posted by Mr Tall Forehead

A lot of the residents in the newer developments in the south end of Winnipeg are new Canadians who immigrated from countries where lawns aren’t a thing or aren’t as important as they are to North Americans that grew up watching their parents and grandparents water the grass and mow the lawn every weekend.

Yeah, I lived with International students once upon a time and had to teach them how to mow a lawn for the chore rotation lol. If I was a landscaper I'd be hiring a Mandarin-speaker marketer to sell hardscaping in Bridgewater lol.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by niwell

One interesting siding choice also found in the West (not sure if Winnipeg has many) are "bottle dash" houses that are basically stucco with bits of hand smashed glass in them. Growing up in Calgary I always associated them with poorer areas but it's a legitimately interesting style. Apparently lots in Vancouver and can find them in Seattle as well: https://www.northshoreheritage.org/b...h-stucco-house

This kind of housing was built en masse in East Vancouver after WW2 (you don't see much of it on the Westside). My mom grew up in a house just like this in the 50s/60s. There are still plenty of examples left in East Van, but they are disappearing quickly as land assembly developments continue to reshape the eastside.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by giallo

This kind of housing was built en masse in East Vancouver after WW2 (you don't see much of it on the Westside). My mom grew up in a house just like this in the 50s/60s. There are still plenty of examples left in East Van, but they are disappearing quickly as land assembly developments continue to reshape the eastside.

Cool! Similarly a lot of (formerly) working class neighbourhoods in Calgary built around the same time were full of them. These wouldn't have been particularly desirable areas back in the 90s when I still lived there but have gentrified rapidly since so most have disappeared for new infills.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TcPm1XzuND3HfHMd9
https://maps.app.goo.gl/cbhM6X5KbUAoM14s9

Even if someone wanted to retain the style I imagine it would be extremely labour intensive (read: expensive) in this day and age.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by craigs

The California-Oregon border is pretty far north by American standards.

It is farther north than some American cities like Seattle, Minneapolis, or Boston.

But the numbers look like this:

Miami - 25.8N
LA - 34.1N
Toronto - 43.7N
Edmonton - 53.6N

Toronto is actually a bit closer to LA in latitude than Edmonton (the farthest north major Canadian city)! The 49th parallel is the border in the west, but it runs north of all the populated areas on the eastern side of the country. It is most of the way up Newfoundland. This is often not obvious on the most common maps of Canada that use a projection that shifts land northward as you go farther east.

In summer or in winter, the difference between Southern Ontario and Edmonton is very noticeable. Not just longer/shorter days but the angle of the sun and quality of the light. Edmonton has a very long summer twilight.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

7. Birds: There are a lot of seagulls here (they're very rare in Kansas City). I presume that's because of all the lakes? I also have seen only 1 House sparrow and just 2 Starlings so far. I did see 2 magpies in a shopping center parking lot across the street from me. I've never seen magpies in a parking lot before. Also, some of the "crows" I've seen look pretty big, I think they might even be Ravens.

8. A short while ago I went to this outlet mall here. There were only 2 empty storefronts, one was a Sak's "Off 5th" store that was quite big, and the other was a very small storefront (might have been a jewelry store or something). Been a while since I've seen a mall with so few vacancies. Also, there was a fair amount of people in there for a Thursday night.

9. It seems like half the population here consists of immigrants. Gotta be close, at least.

10. These two buildings here looked kinda cool. It would be neat to have a whole bunch of towers like that lining that road in the same area, would make a cool-looking "gateway" to the city from the south.

11. The Red River looks like it's kinda shallow.

12. There are two good bookstore chains: Chapters and Indigo. In the US we've long ago been reduced to just one: Barnes & Noble.

13. The traffic at rush hour is horrendous. Could be some of the worst I've experienced. Some of these major roads are just screaming to have streetcars or some sort of light rail along them. Though I suppose at least that shows that a lot of people are still working in offices downtown, as opposed to telecommuting.

Re, 8: I've had the reverse shock: the US is over-retailed and there is a lot of commercial square footage per capita, so there's a lot of vacant office space and vacant retail space everywhere. Canada is still an outlier among our peer nations, but not as much as the US.

Re 12: Chapters and Indigo are two brands that have been owned by the same parent company for nearly 25 years. I'm not sure why they maintain both brands, which are not too different from one another. They sell more or less the same stuff, but Chapters has a more late 90s aesthetic that is somewhat more nostalgic.

Re 13: Canadian cities have bad traffic. We have slightly better transit service, but our cities are still overwhelmingly built for the car, but we lack the car infrastructure of American cities. A lot of Canadian cities rely on arterial roads to move large volumes of traffic - truck traffic, long distance through traffic, etc. - that would go on an Interstate highway in the States.

[Docere]

Winnipeg grew really rapidly in the first two decades of the 20th century. In the interwar years, it was more or less tied with Vancouver in population. Since it grew at a more modest pace, it's retained a lot of its historic character.