East Village Rejuvenation Plan

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Maybe you should list some for him Rusty. Also you seem to have your finger on the pulse more than many here but I'll chip in my 2 cents. If they are primarily budget conscious back packers looking to Banff for a wilderness experience why not point them to many of our awesome parks in the city like Prince's Island, Nose Hill, Fish creek, Edworthy or even areas like the Riverwalk or the Inglewood bird sanctuary? Hell, Inglewood in general should be a place most backpackers check out. It's generally cheaper than 17th and has lots of eclectic quirky shops and cafés.

And you know what's REALLY EXPENSIVE? Banff!

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I love the fact that the hostel is staying in East Village, when the hood is built up it's going to be the place for any backpacking type folks to stay.

Is that one in Beltline still around? Wicked Hostel? By the Stampede grounds.

It's so nice the the Hostel will finally be in an area that has a nice feel to it. I wonder if the Hostel will stay though, as the area gets built up the land value will surely go up. Maybe a new version of the Hostel could be incorporated into a new development?

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Rusty, why are you so angry lately man?

Anger can be pleasurable- but seriously, saying "there's nothing to do in Calgary" when you operate a fucking hostel in this city- that's just ridiculous. He's literally across the street from an LRT station and can't fathom how the city is at their doorstep?

He also has this policy where you MUST be from OUT OF PROVINCE to stay there which all kinds of fucked up. So you can be from, I don't know, Revelstoke and it's cool to stay at Wicked but if you're from Ft Chip, no, you're not welcome. That's very messed up.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

And you know what's REALLY EXPENSIVE? Banff!

That's actually what I was thinking

[CorporateWhore]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

He also has this policy where you MUST be from OUT OF PROVINCE to stay there which all kinds of fucked up. So you can be from, I don't know, Revelstoke and it's cool to stay at Wicked but if you're from Ft Chip, no, you're not welcome. That's very messed up.

I would assume that's to ensure that most of the people who stay there are travellers, and not locals or possibly shadier elements (ie. transients, homeless, considering the area of town) needing a cheap place to sleep.

As a guy who used to do the hostel thing back in the day, I kinda get it. Half the fun (and also hell) of hostel life is interacting with other travellers. There's a certain vibe to hostels that they probably want to maintain.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by CorporateWhore

I would assume that's to ensure that most of the people who stay there are travellers, and not locals or possibly shadier elements (ie. transients, homeless, considering the area of town) needing a cheap place to sleep.

As a guy who used to do the hostel thing back in the day, I kinda get it. Half the fun (and also hell) of hostel life is interacting with other travellers. There's a certain vibe to hostels that they probably want to maintain.

Pretty sure they're doing it illegally. MUST have out of province ID and MUST have luggage?? How can this be legal?

[Policy Wonk]

I have seen it elsewhere on the lower end of the hotel/motel market. I don't think it's unusual.

[WickedHostelJeff]

Rusty, you seem pretty upset. First off, I spend hours everyday helping showcase Calgary to my guests, and making sure they leave Calgary with fond memories, so i find it just a little bit rude and ignorant to extrapolate one disparaging sentance about tourism to mean I don't show people what there is in calgary.

We obviously do direct guests thoughout downtown. To the coffee shops, princes island park, throughout chinatown. Calgary is a small downtown city, it takes one day to walk around and see Calgary Core and the Beltline. Yes, we have other great things like cop, the zoo, heritage park, and the spark but they are not easy to get to and can be out of our guests price range. These are backpackers, many travelling for 1 to 5+ years on a budget.

Not a fan of Ranchmans I take it? It's a big hit with most of our international guests because it's entirely different from anything they've ever seen before. They have a WTF moment when they step inside. You see, they have coffee shops everywhere else in the world Portugal has amazing coffee, as does South America even Australia has wonderful coffee shops, likewise they have Vietnamese food all over the world lIke Vietnam for example. You don't come from the other side of the world to Calgary for coffee and vietnamese, you come for country music, the friendly amazing people of this city (the people of Calgary are in my mind the best thing we offer), big trucks, and well, jobs. By not putting much into tourism I did not mean that we don't have an amazing city or things to do; just that we don't have many distinct tourist attractions, what distinct tourist destinations do we have downtown? The tower, yes. It's also an $18 roundtrip, in a backpackers world $18 for 30 min sightsee is bananas. Stephen ave, it's a shopping street. Princes Island Park is great obviously but so is Staney Park in Vancouver. Tourism-wise we compete with Banff, Vancouver and Toronto. Compare our "chinatown" to that of Vancouver or Toronto. I actually get guests thinking Calgary is a small town outside the big city of Banff. I'd also say less then 35% of our guests have heard of Stampede before arriving in Canada

As for our out of province Id policy, do you think that's unusual? I don't think I've ever stayed at hostel without a regional policy. Yes, the other hostel here in Calgary also has a regional ban policy, as do most hostels worldwide. When you say where are they going to come from Revelstoke? About 85% overseas, 10% Canada, 5% US

Sorry Rusty if this angers you more; that is not my goal. Its just my attempt to clarify.

I was also asked about the Alpha House, yes we do have a few issues with their clients, more my neighbours then us. And more to do with them using the ground/parking lot as a toilet than anything, or "sleeping" on the grass. Luckily, the Alpha House staff is actually really good about coming around if we find someone passed out, or loitering in my neighbour's area. They don't tend to bother our guests all that much other than strolling by asking for change and cigarettes. Guests do get a bit concerned when walking to shoppers but we've only ever had one serious issue. We have had two attempted breakins, and two thefts. A local guy came in with one of our guests (which is not allowed) and stole a laptop. (On camera) And one person actually broke in to the front door then broke into our front desk and stole our empty cash register, all on camera. Whether it was alpha house related or not I don't know but highly doubt it.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

That's actually what I was thinking

I don't think they are staying at the Banff Springs folks.

But yeah, operating a hostel and not knowing what there is to do in Calgary is problematic.

[Bigtime]

Jeff, any thoughts to getting a few cheap cruiser bikes for your clientele to use now that the cycle tracks are up and running? Would be a great way for them to expand their range in the inner city to see more of our local attractions.

[WickedHostelJeff]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Jeff, any thoughts to getting a few cheap cruiser bikes for your clientele to use now that the cycle tracks are up and running? Would be a great way for them to expand their range in the inner city to see more of our local attractions.

Thanks Bigtime, we actually do have 3 bikes for guests to use for free, also a couple sets of golf clubs and other sports equipment they can take out etc.

[Bigtime]

Nice!

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by WickedHostelJeff

Calgary is a small downtown city, it takes one day to walk around and see Calgary Core and the Beltline.

This is the sort of thing I was reacting to. Yes it takes a day to "walk around it"'; it takes weeks to get to know it well and to find your happy sociable places there. You can spend three hours sitting in a comfortable spot at Kawa reading a book. You can while away an afternoon at Central Memorial Park. One day might be lunch, dinner and a movie and you haven't even scratched the surface of even one small corner of the inner city.

When I have people visiting me we do something like this: We walk from my house in Bankview down to River Park, play with the dogs and take in the views, head over the bridge to walk through Elbow Park and its gorgeous houses, make it to 4th Street for lunch somewhere, head up to 17th, grab a coffee and rest our feet... maybe grab something for dinner- that's full day. Taking the pathway from our house to Inglewood- that's a full day. Seeing a couple of movies at Fairy Tales or whatever film fest is on- that's a full day. You can kill a day at The Core. You can kill a day at Chinook. You can kill more than a day traversing from Kensington to Bridgeland and down to Chinatown and not spend more than a few bucks. Again, if YOU DON'T KNOW THIS CITY, it's 100% ripe for discovery and in particular this is your opportunity, as an ambassador for Calgary, to let them now that this city is way, way more than rednecks and an absolutely tiny "country music" scene comprising one bar in one of the ugliest commercial strips on the planet.

If it's Stampede I'll indulge my friends and suggest they head to Nashville North. I let them know that the whole "country" stereotype is BS and that we have way way more to offer as a modern, progressive, safe, beautiful, diverse, culturally-rich city.

Okay enough free advice. PM me if you want to talk more as this is supposed to be about the East Village anyway.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

This is the sort of thing I was reacting to. Yes it takes a day to "walk around it"'; it takes weeks to get to know it well and to find your happy sociable places there. You can spend three hours sitting in a comfortable spot at Kawa reading a book. You can while away an afternoon at Central Memorial Park. One day might be lunch, dinner and a movie and you haven't even scratched the surface of even one small corner of the inner city.

When I have people visiting me we do something like this: We walk from my house in Bankview down to River Park, play with the dogs and take in the views, head over the bridge to walk through Elbow Park and its gorgeous houses, make it to 4th Street for lunch somewhere, head up to 17th, grab a coffee and rest our feet... maybe grab something for dinner- that's full day. Taking the pathway from our house to Inglewood- that's a full day. Seeing a couple of movies at Fairy Tales or whatever film fest is on- that's a full day. You can kill a day at The Core. You can kill a day at Chinook. You can kill more than a day traversing from Kensington to Bridgeland and down to Chinatown and not spend more than a few bucks. Again, if YOU DON'T KNOW THIS CITY, it's 100% ripe for discovery and in particular this is your opportunity, as an ambassador for Calgary, to let them now that this city is way, way more than rednecks and an absolutely tiny "country music" scene comprising one bar in one of the ugliest commercial strips on the planet.

If it's Stampede I'll indulge my friends and suggest they head to Nashville North. I let them know that the whole "country" stereotype is BS and that we have way way more to offer as a modern, progressive, safe, beautiful, diverse, culturally-rich city.

Okay enough free advice. PM me if you want to talk more as this is supposed to be about the East Village anyway.

Great suggestions, but he's running a hostel, not a seniors' centre.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by Ramsayfarian

Great suggestions, but he's running a hostel, not a seniors' centre.

Oh hilarity.

I'm not sure what he's actually running and I'm not sure he knows either. He lends golf clubs but hosts people he claims can't afford lunch. It's all so confusing and yeah I see his fatalistic view of Calgary to be more than a little insulting.

I contacted HI Calgary- they don't accommodate "local residents" but absolutely don't require that somebody be from out of province.

Through with this- this thread isn't supposed to be about Wicked or anything outside of east village.

[CalgaryAlex]

Originally Posted by Ramsayfarian

Great suggestions, but he's running a hostel, not a seniors' centre.

While I agree with a number of Rusty's points, your post...

First good laugh-out-loud-while-sitting-in-my-cubicle moment in weeks.


Calgary is definitely more than a couple rivers, mostly fabricated cowboy history and the Calgary Tower. But any good backpacker (ie not just someone who wants to drink their face off at night and sleep all day) has the ability and desire to explore any city they visit. I've never relied on a hostel owner to keep me busy when I stumble into a new city, town or village.

[Spring2008]

The truth. We've still got some gaps to fill but the inner-city's a great place to explore with a solid list of amenities which keep getting better every year.

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

If it's Stampede I'll indulge my friends and suggest they head to Nashville North. I let them know that the whole "country" stereotype is BS and that we have way way more to offer as a modern, progressive, safe, beautiful, diverse, culturally-rich city.

[Riise]

Originally Posted by WickedHostelJeff

By not putting much into tourism I did not mean that we don't have an amazing city or things to do; just that we don't have many distinct tourist attractions, what distinct tourist destinations do we have downtown? The tower, yes. It's also an $18 roundtrip, in a backpackers world $18 for 30 min sightsee is bananas. Stephen ave, it's a shopping street. Princes Island Park is great obviously but so is Staney Park in Vancouver. Tourism-wise we compete with Banff, Vancouver and Toronto

While I understand where you are coming from and realize that Calgary may not have as much going on as ‘World Class’ cities, I also see where Rusty is going. As someone that does a fair bit of travelling, I think you are placing too much of an emphasis on distinct tourist destinations. When I travel to other cities I do visit the distinct tourist destinations but it is the regular amenities that keep me occupied. For instance, visited St. James Gate, St. Stephen’s Green and Temple Bar when I was in Dublin but it was the laidback burger resto, Little Dublin Museum and cafes/shops in an area beside Grafton that keep me busy. While Calgary may not have as many of these amenities and as part of a continuous urban fabric like London and New York or even Amsterdam and Melbourne, it does exist and is worth the effort it takes to explore.

Originally Posted by Spring2008

The truth. We've still got some gaps to fill but the inner-city's a great place to explore with a solid list of amenities which keep getting better every year.

Quoted for truth.

[UofC.engineer]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

Oh hilarity.

I'm not sure what he's actually running and I'm not sure he knows either.

I'm sorry, I can't stay quiet on this...Rusty, I've alway wondered but until now I've been too polite to ask.

Why are you such a prick?

I enjoy your posts on the food, coffee, etc. thread and it's ok if you don't like Jeff's business very much but you don't have to be such a dick about it.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by UofC.engineer

I'm sorry, I can't stay quiet on this...Rusty, I've alway wondered but until now I've been too polite to ask.

Why are you such a prick?

I enjoy your posts on the food, coffee, etc. thread and it's ok if you don't like Jeff's business very much but you don't have to be such a dick about it.

Well his name is Rusty Van Red DICK.....