The Ugly Canada Thread

[esquire]

^ That thing O-tactular posted looks like some dope-ass 1980s OHL rink. It looks like it should be called the Galt Communiplex or something in that vein.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Wow, that reminds me of Memorial University's French program campus in St-Pierre:

Terre Neuve et St-Pierre et Miquelon by R C, on Flickr

That looks like the type of police / gestapo compound you'd find in a South American dictatorship. I picture poor dissidents being sent there and 'disappeared'.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ That thing O-tactular posted looks like some dope-ass 1980s OHL rink. It looks like it should be called the Galt Communiplex or something in that vein.

It's funny because when I first saw it in the distance it reminded me of an old Honda dealership in Calgary. I was certain it was a car dealership until I looked more closely.

[O-tacular]

I think a good rule of thumb is the more bunker-like a religious institution's building, the sketchier it is. I could imagine Warren Jeffs having this as his central command post.

[O-tacular]

I was trying to find a good image of Gateway Blvd in Edmonton and this came up. I don't remember seeing it but there's a sea of ugly hotels there.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Did you drive in from Calgary on the QE2? If you headed straight in maybe it was less bad than if you needed to turn around after missing your turn.

No, we hit Edmonton first coming from the west on Highway 16. Didn't really have any trouble getting to our hotel downtown, though you're right, driving around after that there was a ridiculous amount of road construction that drove our GPS to panic.

We went to Calgary after, via Drumheller so we came in on Highway 9 and then down the Deerfoot. I remember after walking around Nose Hill Park we decided to go to North Hill Centre to eat and we had the hardest time getting there, circling through the residential neighbourhood just north. Looking at a map now it shouldn't have been that hard

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

No, we hit Edmonton first coming from the west on Highway 16. Didn't really have any trouble getting to our hotel downtown, though you're right, driving around after that there was a ridiculous amount of road construction that drove our GPS to panic.

We went to Calgary after, via Drumheller so we came in on Highway 9 and then down the Deerfoot. I remember after walking around Nose Hill Park we decided to go to North Hill Centre to eat and we had the hardest time getting there, circling through the residential neighbourhood just north. Looking at a map now it shouldn't have been that hard

Well that explains it then. Getting out of Edmonton isn't difficult. It's getting in from the south that's the problem. At seemingly every chance it tries to divert you away. The other stupid thing I don't understand is the road names for what basically is just the QE2. The one stretch of big box hell land with one way traffic on both sides is called Gateway blvd, but then when it realigns itself close together again further south it's Calgary Trail, then once it splits apart again with the mile wide median it's the QE2. And signs are atrocious. They don't tell you where to turn until it's too late. Trying to get around without GPS is almost impossible.

Edit: just checked a map and see that south bound is named Calgary Trail and northbound is Gateway blvd. Still confusing as all hell.

[MolsonExport]

Along the 401 in Ontario, in the outlying areas of larger urban areas (usually adjacent to distribution-land), there is a cancer. It is metastasizing. it is in the form of 4-6 storey stuccoed discount hotels. Motel 6. Holiday Inn Express. Sandman. Best Western. Hampton Suites. Marriott Courtyard. They all look exactly the same. Everyfuckingwhere. Any highway exit could be interchangeable. The miltonization of the universe.

Here is a London Example:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9275729,...yaw%3D80.4832%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

[MolsonExport]

Other uglies:

trump's rectum

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Along the 401 in Ontario, in the outlying areas of larger urban areas (usually adjacent to distribution-land), there is a cancer. It is metastasizing. it is in the form of 4-6 storey stuccoed discount hotels. Motel 6. Holiday Inn Express. Sandman. Best Western. Hampton Suites. Marriott Courtyard. They all look exactly the same. Everyfuckingwhere. Any highway exit could be interchangeable. The miltonization of the universe.

Here is a London Example:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9275729,...yaw%3D80.4832%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Yes those same shit box hotels are beginning to clot the landscape around the Airport in Calgary too.

To me though the image that defined my trip to Edmonton wasn't the awful hotels, the big box outlets, the terrible roads or even that prison church... It was that old prairie graveyard absorbed by urban sprawl that now sits in a Rona parking lot.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.425,-113...kmvUCMZ6Q3LBaZUzzycDw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[itom 987]

That is one of the nicest Superstores I have ever seen, I don't think it belongs in this thread.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by itom 987

That is one of the nicest Superstores I have ever seen, I don't think it belongs in this thread.

Agreed Lol! There is actually one much nicer than this one though in Deerfoot Meadows in Calgary. The inside is still a sterile, fluorescent shit hole though. The rest of them here are much uglier than the one Molson posted though. Stupid store is the Canadian equivalent of Wal-Mart. I hate the spectacled dweeb President on the commercials too. And let's not forget the factory collapse that killed 2000 people making their Joe Fresh clothes.

[MolsonExport]

I personally can't stand Galen Weston. Pretends to be a caring community man. Shamelessly closes the store he filmed one of his phoney commercials in, to kill the union.


JoeFresh'sRectum

[Architype]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Wow, that reminds me of Memorial University's French program campus in St-Pierre:

Terre Neuve et St-Pierre et Miquelon by R C, on Flickr

It must have been inspired by Le Corbusier:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=le+corbus...CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIhe7SxM6EyAIVRqWICh1rqwtN

So, I'm betting Memorial didn't build it themselves.

[Dwils01]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Along the 401 in Ontario, in the outlying areas of larger urban areas (usually adjacent to distribution-land), there is a cancer. It is metastasizing. it is in the form of 4-6 storey stuccoed discount hotels. Motel 6. Holiday Inn Express. Sandman. Best Western. Hampton Suites. Marriott Courtyard. They all look exactly the same. Everyfuckingwhere. Any highway exit could be interchangeable. The miltonization of the universe.

Here is a London Example:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9275729,...yaw%3D80.4832%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

That's the area that my family stayed in when we went for medical tests at Western. I wanted to stay downtown but my parents chose this area because it was cheaper.

The pool and food was good but there was nothing good to look at outside the window. Just stucco, fast food chains, and the 401.

[O-tacular]

A couple funny streetviews from the 'Chuck:

I love that these street lights match the Ikea colours:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Edmont...0224580deff23:0x411fa00c4af6155d!6m1!1e1

This blue roofed monster has been a landmark for me visiting Edmonton ever since I was a kid. Not sure if it's still open or not as it wouldn't list it as a hotel when I was google mapping it. Either way it's ugly as fuck.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4542947,...90311%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

For those of you who haven't visited before here is the entrance to the city:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4102334,...siSalpsWMzzMdzCQAwExQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I'm still completely baffled by who would use this park. Shortly after this grande entrance and some big box stores you are then forced to think quickly or be completely diverted outside the city by the ring road. If you make it past this point further up Gateway Avenue you can then run the gauntlet of even more big box stores sandwiched between one ways on either side.

Should you actually find your way to the West end of the city you can look forward to traffic alignments and intersections like this one:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Edmont...!1s0x53a0224580deff23:0x411fa00c4af6155d

W-T-F?!? :babyeat:

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Other uglies:

trump's rectum

Ours have the same look.

Regatta Day by R C, on Flickr

Regatta Day by R C, on Flickr

[O-tacular]

That looks like a bank. Maybe St. John's could petition Stupidstore to build their stores in the local vernacular a la 'The Rooms'?

[SignalHillHiker]

I'll PM you about your suspension.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Hadn't the blue-roofed monster had been converted into rental units?

I thought that traffic alignment was a public service design, designed to keep people away from Olive Garden.