Winnipeg | Historical discussion

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by neutroniks

https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/currybuilding.shtml


Was doing some friday afternoon Manitoba Archives surfing 'cause I was bored, and noticed saw that the Curry building was designed to be 8 storeys, but only rose to 2. Anyone know if the foundation was ever built to handle 8 storeys and would anyone be able to build on top of it or does it's national historic designation prevent that? Figured it would be a good project to add some height to downtown.

Yes it was designed to. If I recall it had to do with the fall out after WW1 and how we started to stagnate so it ne er got finished.

[bomberjet]

Patiently waiting for a nice, tasteful addition to that building.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Patiently waiting for a nice, tasteful addition to that building.

I sincerely hope no-one tries it. We'll get a windowless concrete block decorated with rusty scrap metal auto parts and barb wire.

[trueviking]

Did I hear rusty metal?! I’m in!

[Luisito]

Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this, but Do you guys think it's a wrap for Chinatown, or can it be revived??? When I moved to Winnipeg there were still quite a few businesses in the area. Driving through there now its kind of sad to see the state of the place.

I know there has been talk about a new Chinatown forming in the south end along Pembina. While I do notice quite a few Chinese businesses down there its still far away from being a chinatown. Maybe when we get an enitre strip mall with Chinese businesses we can say that.


I drove up McPhillips the other day from Notre dame to Leila. I noticed quite a few Asians businesses the entire trip. Is the Asian community still growing in that area? Do you guys think McPhillips is a good area to have designated asian district on Mcphilips?

[neutroniks]

Originally Posted by Luisito

Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this, but Do you guys think it's a wrap for Chinatown, or can it be revived??? When I moved to Winnipeg there were still quite a few businesses in the area. Driving through there now its kind of sad to see the state of the place.

I know there has been talk about a new Chinatown forming in the south end along Pembina. While I do notice quite a few Chinese businesses down there its still far away from being a chinatown. Maybe when we get an enitre strip mall with Chinese businesses we can say that.


I drove up McPhillips the other day from Notre dame to Leila. I noticed quite a few Asians businesses the entire trip. Is the Asian community still growing in that area? Do you guys think McPhillips is a good area to have designated asian district on Mcphilips?

Chinatown has a new "Shanghai Tower" currently being constructed as we speak and the Winnipeg Chinatown group is making efforts to revive Chinatown, as seen by their Annual festival in September.

South Pembina is a pseudoChina town just because of the large population that lives in that area and all the numerous businesses spread out in Fort Richmond & beyond.

McPhillips (sometimes referred to as McPhilippines lol) has a very high concentration of Filipino and South East Asian population, as seen with the restaurants, Youngs Markets, Sea Food City. Although not officially designated as Little Manila, or Little India, North West Winnipeg is pretty much known as such. McPhillips and Maples / Ambertrails has the highest density concentration of Filipinos in all of Canada and weighed into the decision to open the first Jollibee and Sea Food City in Canada when they were first expanding into Canada.

[Biff]

Originally Posted by Luisito

I know there has been talk about a new Chinatown forming in the south end along Pembina. While I do notice quite a few Chinese businesses down there its still far away from being a chinatown. Maybe when we get an enitre strip mall with Chinese businesses we can say that.

Do you mean a strip mall like this on south Pembina?

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Yeah, I don't get it.

There are already clusters of successful Asian businesses (amongst others) downtown, on Pembina, in the northwest end, and elsewhere in the city.

I don't think we need signage saying 'welcome to _____ town'.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by Biff

Do you mean a strip mall like this on south Pembina?

Yeah but that thats not all Chinese though, there is african, indian etc etc. Its just that top level and that one chinese restaurant on the bottom. Pretty small compared to the others strip malls in the area.

[Luisito]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Mr Tall Forehead

Yeah, I don't get it.

You don't get what?

There are already clusters of successful Asian businesses (amongst others) downtown, on Pembina, in the northwest end, and elsewhere in the city.

Where exactly?

I don't think we need signage saying 'welcome to _____ town'.

No one said that. My original question was about the historical chinatown. Pembina still has a ways to go to get to that point. I hope we don't lose it at is a cool feature of Winnipeg and many other cities.

[WildCake]

[QUOTE=Luisito;10524443]

You don't get what?




Where exactly?




No one said that. My original question was about the historical chinatown. Pembina still has a ways to go to get to that point. I hope we don't lose it at is a cool feature of Winnipeg and many other cities.

I don't think Pembina around the U of M would be another Chinatown. There's a lot of chinese-owned businesses but it's very much spread along a large geographic area, not just a couple blocks like downtown. Roughly Plaza drive to that building that Biff shared south of Killarney is where I can think of places that are ethnic enough to have their non-english signage being the predominant signage in the area.

The second piece is that, like you mentioned, there are also other ethnic backgrounds in the area beyond Chinese or asian more globally that might not be fairly represented if that whole swath was renamed Chinatown.

[Luisito]

[QUOTE=WildCake;10524470]

Originally Posted by Luisito

I don't think Pembina around the U of M would be another Chinatown. There's a lot of chinese-owned businesses but it's very much spread along a large geographic area, not just a couple blocks like downtown. Roughly Plaza drive to that building that Biff shared south of Killarney is where I can think of places that are ethnic enough to have their non-english signage being the predominant signage in the area.

The second piece is that, like you mentioned, there are also other ethnic backgrounds in the area beyond Chinese or asian more globally that might not be fairly represented if that whole swath was renamed Chinatown.

Yeah you're right about that . It's interesting though wikipedia calls that section of pembina a defacto chinatown. I have read in other places a new chinatown is forming there. Maybe in the future the Chinese will be able to carve out more of a specfic section along there. Its real shame Winnipegs historical Chinatown is fading away.

[borkborkbork]

[QUOTE=WildCake;10524470]

Originally Posted by Luisito

I don't think Pembina around the U of M would be another Chinatown. There's a lot of chinese-owned businesses but it's very much spread along a large geographic area, not just a couple blocks like downtown. Roughly Plaza drive to that building that Biff shared south of Killarney is where I can think of places that are ethnic enough to have their non-english signage being the predominant signage in the area.

The second piece is that, like you mentioned, there are also other ethnic backgrounds in the area beyond Chinese or asian more globally that might not be fairly represented if that whole swath was renamed Chinatown.

It's not a true ethnic enclave, but those are relatively rare these days. Even Flushing, Markham, Richmond (modern chinatowns) are quite diverse.

But if there is a "chinatown" in Winnipeg, it's really no longer that downtown area. As you can see from the heatmap below, the only neighbourhoods with >20% Chinese residents are in the southwest suburbs.

[Luisito]

[QUOTE=borkborkbork;10526514]

Originally Posted by WildCake

It's not a true ethnic enclave, but those are relatively rare these days. Even Flushing, Markham, Richmond (modern chinatowns) are quite diverse.

But if there is a "chinatown" in Winnipeg, it's really no longer that downtown area. As you can see from the heatmap below, the only neighbourhoods with >20% Chinese residents are in the southwest suburbs.

You have a point as far as the residents. I was talking more about the businesses. 98% of businesses in Flushing are Chinese. Don't know about Markham as a city but first markham place mall and pacfic mall I would dare say are also overwhelmingly Chinese. I am not saying that is what Winnipeg should be aiming for. Clearly this is a very diverse city.

Speaking of that there is a Mexican bakery in Chinatown, was there a while back, they have some really good treats in there. A bit pricey but i hope thy're around for a while.

[ColdRain&Snow]

[QUOTE=Luisito;10526567]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

You have a point as far as the residents. I was talking more about the businesses. 98% of businesses in Flushing are Chinese. Don't know about Markham as a city but first markham place mall and pacfic mall I would dare say are also overwhelmingly Chinese. I am not saying that is what Winnipeg should be aiming for. Clearly this is a very diverse city.

Speaking of that there is a Mexican bakery in Chinatown, was there a while back, they have some really good treats in there. A bit pricey but i hope thy're around for a while.

I had a pulled pork sandwich there recently and it was really good! Wish them the best of luck, that's a tough location.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/featured/2026/04/10/step-into-our-citys-past

Props to Viking for an excellent historical piece.

[Sheepish]

The map is an exceptional piece of art. Is it available anywhere in poster form?

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Sheepish

The map is an exceptional piece of art. Is it available anywhere in poster form?

send me your e-mail and I can send you very high res jpeg if you want.

[Sheepish]

Thank you TV. That is a kind offer. To where should I send my email?

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Sheepish

Thank you TV. That is a kind offer. To where should I send my email?

Send him a PM