The Ugly Canada Thread - Page 299

kwoldtimer · #**5961** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 6:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Fantastic first post in the Ugly Canada thread! I like the clocktower mall and WTF is with that castle?!? What kind of business is it? Lately Ontario is winning the Ugly Canada battle. Even Laval seems like a one trick pony compared to the layers of ugliness you see in K/W and Niagara Falls. Hamilton seems to have been beaten with the ugly stick too as every photo update I see posted by Thomax in the skyline thread just depresses me.

The castle is the office/store of Oktoberfest - a kitsch HQ for a kitsch festival. And we won't highlight the recently-refurbished glockenspiel across the street that plays Walt Disney tunes! Actually, the state/appearance of Downtown Kitchener makes for a very interesting study - the interplay of multiple grand urban plans over the years intersecting with a strong "progressive" but extremely pragmatic local culture that emphasized form over esthetics set, in recent decades, with the challenges of rust-belt economics. It's an impressive, if sometimes unsightly, saga made even more impressive by the high tech renaissance that continues to gain traction.

HomeInMyShoes · #**5962** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 6:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Biohazard or not that block of heritage buildings has more character than anything on Macleod Trail period. The oldest stuff you find on Macleod is from the 50's and everything is awful with parking lots facing the street. The business concentration is basically the same every few blocks. vape shop, car wash, adult video / sex toy store, auto glass shop, car dealership, shitty Asian restaurant / fast food, cash loan store / pawnshop.

The Cash Store from that block South two blocks.

You are correct in the quality of the potential. You can buy the Traveller's Building, but no one would at the 1.75 million price tag and the inevitable 10 million rehabilitation fee. I don't think that would even cover biohazard removal. All of those will be bulldozed at some point. It's one of my favorite blocks on Broad Street because it could have totally been made into what the Main Street of any prairie town was, but it's way past that.

My guess is the whole block is bulldozed in 2035. Once the mold in the Traveller's Building eats its way through the front the city will have to quarantine the block for demolition.

O-tacular · #**5963** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 6:59 PM**

Looking at that area of Regina there seems to be some really nice stock of old buildings off the main road. Just a block down behind that Traveller's building there is what looks like a cool old firestation or something. There's also a nice brick municipal building.

O-tacular · #**5964** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 7:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Form the sofa ad previous page: why does the 'sofa' look like an army attack vehicle?

To me it looked like a torture device like an iron maiden or something. Was thinking of Photoshopping pinhead with some poor victim strapped into that thing but I'm too busy today and It seems like it might be too hard to do with the layers of horrible font.

HomeInMyShoes · #**5965** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 7:17 PM**

^Haha.

11th Avenue. Did you see the quality pedestrian-street-interaction Tim Hortons on the corner with Broad Street? The building kitty-corner used to be PayDay Loans that move further South.

11th Avenue certainly has potential, but it's going nowhere fast. They lost the Asian Grocery store that was on it a long time ago and we've learned that The Artful Dodger that opened is moving into the warehouse area. Otherwise we've got the Police Station is close proximity and Soul's Harrbour and other community organizations. The area has appeared to be getting rougher and rougher over the past while so I don't see much hope for a rebound in the next decade. News Stories like this from a nicer area off of 11th are not going to help the image or spur investment in the area either. While MacLeod Trail is ugly, this has everything not going for it. With very little in the way of positive traffic now that The Dodger is moving.

O-tacular · #**5966** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 8:16 PM**

O-tacular · #**5967** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 8:18 PM**

Desolation:

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Macleod...8f1d4b87!8m2!3d50.9740379!4d-114.0714754

An abandoned Go-Kart track across from an ugly golf dome, high tension power lines and train tracks.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0072012,-...CI9bVgkvlHJPpbe13xgAg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

More empty land in the centre of the the city beside Macleod Trail.

O-tacular · #**5968** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 8:20 PM**

Can you see it behind the house?

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0068672,-...S39Oa3treraw6XOdiMe6w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Here it is from the other side.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Macleod...8f1d4b87!8m2!3d50.9740379!4d-114.0714754

O-tacular · #**5969** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 8:25 PM**

The ugliest group of apartments in the city. I know some of it is low income but it's abysmal looking. Note the lack of sidewalks as well.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0033794,-...2JKL1Kj4QPOLGDiPydZyQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

It's like a mini Longueuil.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0025197,-...VFZhw92VGlgfxUOfrSD1w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

HomeInMyShoes · #**5970** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 8:58 PM**

The lack of sidewalks is interesting.

HomeInMyShoes · #**5971** Posted **Jun 6, 2016, 8:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Can you see it behind the house?

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0068672,-...S39Oa3treraw6XOdiMe6w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Here it is from the other side.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Macleod...8f1d4b87!8m2!3d50.9740379!4d-114.0714754

The picket fence really does it for me. What kind of unfeeling place would it be without it?

matthew6 · #**5972** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 1:23 AM**

[QUOTE=O-tacular;7465066]The ugliest group of apartments in the city. I know some of it is low income but it's abysmal looking. Note the lack of sidewalks as well.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0033794,-...2JKL1Kj4QPOLGDiPydZyQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

When it comes to ugly apartments few can touch Montreal. This is not even close to the worst example but I thought I'd just warm you up

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.551057,-7...QxiW7JntKTnL00Q7GTqWg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

MolsonExport · #**5973** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 1:44 AM**

yeah, whatever Montreal does, it does it well. Beauty, grit, and ugly. The largest rental stock in Canada has plenty of fuglies from nearly every era.

Proof Sheet · #**5974** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 2:02 AM**

https://goo.gl/maps/aTXYQ9jRDLB2

This struck me as particularly fugly today. When the office building (originally BNR now Federal Government I think) the houses weren't there so the blank wall look didn't overlook much

O-tacular · #**5975** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 3:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

https://goo.gl/maps/aTXYQ9jRDLB2

This struck me as particularly fugly today. When the office building (originally BNR now Federal Government I think) the houses weren't there so the blank wall look didn't overlook much

Where is that? I've never seen an asphalt driveway before.

niwell · #**5976** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 1:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Where is that? I've never seen an asphalt driveway before.

Ottawa - that neighbourhood was originally part of the experimental farm IIRC and is much newer than the surrounding areas. You had highrises across from farm fields originally!

Asphalt driveways are actually quite common in Ontario (and Quebec). Not sure why - I'd never seen them before moving here. It's pretty rare to see concrete actually, occasionally people will redo them with interlocking brick which actually looks almost nice.

WhipperSnapper · #**5977** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 1:13 PM**

Asphalt is a lot cheaper than concrete.

Acajack · #**5978** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 1:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by niwell

Ottawa - that neighbourhood was originally part of the experimental farm IIRC and is much newer than the surrounding areas. You had highrises across from farm fields originally!

Asphalt driveways are actually quite common in Ontario (and Quebec). Not sure why - I'd never seen them before moving here. It's pretty rare to see concrete actually, occasionally people will redo them with interlocking brick which actually looks almost nice.

Asphalt driveways are the suburban norm quite predominantly almost everywhere that I've lived: Maritimes, Ontario and Quebec.

Every house my parents or I or my siblings have owned has had an asphalt driveway. Although my driveway at the moment is a mix of asphalt and interlock pavers.

MolsonExport · #**5979** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 1:23 PM**

Interlock pavers. My current and previous homes have them. yeah, they look much nicer, but the fucking upkeep. Weeding. Filling in the cracks (again, and again, and fucking again). dips where your tires typically pass.

owning a home is a major pain in the ass. yard. pool. driveway. maintenance. appliances breaking down. repairs. goddamned fucking property taxes ($7K this year, wtf!!)

Acajack · #**5980** Posted **Jun 7, 2016, 1:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Interlock pavers. My current and previous homes have them. yeah, they look much nicer, but the fucking upkeep. Weeding. Filling in the cracks (again, and again, and fucking again). dips where your tires typically pass.

owning a home is a major pain in the ass. yard. pool. driveway. maintenance. appliances breaking down. repairs. goddamned fucking property taxes ($7K this year, wtf!!)

Yeah, I have those pavers around my driveway, and also have them for my walkway to my front steps and all around my pool.

Lots of upkeep due to weeds...