20th St. W. is simply the most infamous street in Saskatoon. An urban Heart of Darkness to many (I remember how it was discussed in hushed terms when I was growing up), it, and the areas immediately surrounding it, were called the 'Harlem of Canada' in a famous Globe and Mail article not many years ago due to the high rates of crime, poverty and neglect found on or near the street.
Of course, in urban development, one man's trash in another's treasure, and 20th street has certainly stoked the dreams of many an idealist and 'urban pioneer'. The street's proximity to downtown, the river and Broadway, and its historical status as Saskatoon's Chinatown and Ukranian town (not to mention its current large Aboriginal population) has led to many re-development efforts, especially in the last few years. In particular, the city and province have poured a lot of money into affordable housing, streetscaping, and to try and gentrify the area via the new Farmer's Market and associated River Landing development on 19th St. and Avenue B.
While lots has been written, on this site and elsewhere, about the renewal of the Riversdale area along 20th St. W., the reality right now is that the street seems to be taking more steps backwards than forwards, despite the River Landing development and demolition of the Barry Hotel, among other efforts.
Avenues A to C, which were the densest commercial area on the street, have seen a massive outflux of businesses in the last year, despite the proximity of the farmer's market, the demolition of the Barry Hotel and the establishment of the Roxy Theatre.
Saskatoon's first ever adult amusement store, Dirk's on 20th and B., has been asked to leave by the landlord.
Longtime tenant on 20th. and Ave. C, Coad's Pharmacy, closed earlier this year. The farmer's market is in the middle distance and the site of the demolished Barry Hotel is across the street.
All that's left of Saskatoon's most infamous bar and flop house, the Barry Hotel. Despite many ambitious plans for the site, nothing has materialized.
spokenslopes and Boomtown Outfitters, between Ave. C and D., have also recently closed.
Unlike Ave. C east, from Ave. D west has never even started to gentrify. Strangely, 20th street has historically had a lot of bicycle shops. It would be cynical to say that it's because the area is home to a lot of bicycle theft, but none seem to survive very long in any case. I'm not sure what was in the building with the strange western mural on the right.
This reminds me of North Broad Street in Philadelphia: a food kitchen next to an evengelical outreach centre next to an empty lot. 20th St. and Ave. F.
Where Riversdale transitions on its western border to the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood is Station 20 West, one of the many government-funded redevelopment projects in the area. This project has been discussed on this board many times, here is the affordable housing component of the project on 20th and Ave. L. Their website says the food store is supposed to break ground this month, but I don't see any work ongoing.
There are lots of nice, underutilized parks on the west side. Here is Optimist Park on 19th and Ave. L. The Pleasant Hill Industrial Area looms in the background.
I promise stop taking pictures of unpaved roads at some point, but it's ridiculous in this city. Here's is 18th St. from Ave. N to Ave. P, UNPAVED!
One of the other many redevelopment projects in the area is the huge 'Pleasant Hill Revitalization Project' centered around St. Mary's school on 19th and Ave. O. The project is currently being held up while various groups fight about what to do with the school. The very latest news is that it is likely to be torn down, over the objection of the usual preservationist crowd, and the site used as expanded park space.
NE corner of Ave. O and 19th, part of the revitalization project. Oh yeah, 19th St. here, right by a school, is also not paved.
In a earlier post, I made fun of a lot of the pathetic little green spaces in North Park. The south part of Grace Adam Metawewinihk park has to take the cake however: it consists of one beat-up fire pit, two parking spots and a couple of inexplicable small mounds and the train tracks that mark the Riversdale/Pleasant Hill split. This is the south-east corner of the redevelopment area.
St. Mary's school on the NW corner of the revitalization area. Not long for this world.
Just so I'm fair to G.A.M. park, here's the NW side, with a nice playground and St. Paul's hospital in the background.
The south side extension of St. Mary's school, with mural. I wonder if this will survive the demolition.
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