The Ugly Canada Thread

[eemy]

West Kowloon Corridor, Hong Kong, judging from the picture.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I guess that's more efficient land use. Though my townhouse exits onto an alley / back lane. That's one of the upsides to them. You can avoid having vehicles in front of your house. That's also where they do trash collection from. They can be kinda fun to explore.

I enjoyed cutting through back lanes as a kid in my friends areas - mine was too "upscale" to have them. Hawkwood vs Varsity Estates in this case. It's weird that they are (or were?) seen more as a lower middle class thing in Calgary and mostly in areas with starter homes. I think it makes the actual streetscape much more attractive, just wish more of the alleys were paved.

An area that's as suburban as it gets: https://goo.gl/maps/ZzgGCFrUxRx

And one a few hundred metres away without them: https://goo.gl/maps/VURmjne6pNk


In Toronto the downtown laneways (nobody calls them alleys here) are incredibly interesting to explore. Wall to wall garages of which many have some interesting grafitti. Some of the named laneways have eclectic housing as well.

https://goo.gl/maps/GtnQLV2CaJp

https://goo.gl/maps/31yULmgTRmF2

[speedog]

Originally Posted by niwell

I enjoyed cutting through back lanes as a kid in my friends areas - mine was too "upscale" to have them. Hawkwood vs Varsity Estates in this case. It's weird that they are (or were?) seen more as a lower middle class thing in Calgary and mostly in areas with starter homes. I think it makes the actual streetscape much more attractive, just wish more of the alleys were paved.

An area that's as suburban as it gets: https://goo.gl/maps/ZzgGCFrUxRx

And one a few hundred metres away without them: https://goo.gl/maps/VURmjne6pNk


In Toronto the downtown laneways (nobody calls them alleys here) are incredibly interesting to explore. Wall to wall garages of which many have some interesting grafitti. Some of the named laneways have eclectic housing as well.

https://goo.gl/maps/GtnQLV2CaJp

https://goo.gl/maps/31yULmgTRmF2

I personally do not get the desire people have for a front facing attached garage. In the two Google Streetview in Calgary provided above, the first with no front facing garages is way more appealing to me although you'd never find me buying out in the burbs.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by niwell

I enjoyed cutting through back lanes as a kid in my friends areas - mine was too "upscale" to have them. Hawkwood vs Varsity Estates in this case. It's weird that they are (or were?) seen more as a lower middle class thing in Calgary and mostly in areas with starter homes. I think it makes the actual streetscape much more attractive, just wish more of the alleys were paved.

An area that's as suburban as it gets: https://goo.gl/maps/ZzgGCFrUxRx

And one a few hundred metres away without them: https://goo.gl/maps/VURmjne6pNk


In Toronto the downtown laneways (nobody calls them alleys here) are incredibly interesting to explore. Wall to wall garages of which many have some interesting grafitti. Some of the named laneways have eclectic housing as well.

https://goo.gl/maps/GtnQLV2CaJp

https://goo.gl/maps/31yULmgTRmF2

Maybe it's a SE thing but I never saw alleys as belonging to lower class areas. For instance Lake Bonavista (where I lived in my youth) is generally middle to upper class and is full of alleys. The bigger difference I have found is whether they are paved or not. Paved ones tend to be nicer and newer. Most of the inner city has alleys as well.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by speedog

I personally do not get the desire people have for a front facing attached garage. In the two Google Streetview in Calgary provided above, the first with no front facing garages is way more appealing to me although you'd never find me buying out in the burbs.

I can see the convenience of an attached garage and having a little more yard space in the rear. It's just not me.

[holhm22]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Lol! Where is that? China?

lmao, China doesn't even have street view nor Google

[TownGuy]

This new subdivision in Cobourg has rear laneway garages attached to the house. Definite loss of backyard space though.

https://goo.gl/maps/1kunFd5tsw52

[vid]

Thunder Bay had a downtown mall from 1975-1999, and it had a bridge over a road with a food court in it as well. It was actually pretty neat to be able to sit at the window and watch cars go by below.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattimattila/1116544493

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by holhm22

lmao, China doesn't even have street view nor Google

Pretty easy to find as it's a massive building with a highway through it

link

[MolsonExport]

HK has both street view and Google. PRC-China doesn't

[WhipperSnapper]

It's still China for nearly 20 years now.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

It's still China for nearly 20 years now.

I was gonna say.

[O-tacular]

Went out for our wedding anniversary on Friday and had my first encounter with the hordes of Pokemon zombies. This was taken in front of the historic Ranche restaurant in Fish Creek. How romantic!



Here is the building for context:

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

It's still China for nearly 20 years now.

And PRChina doesn't have google, whereas HK does.

[VIce]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Went out for our wedding anniversary on Friday and had my first encounter with the hordes of Pokemon zombies. This was taken in front of the historic Ranche restaurant in Fish Creek. How romantic!

People enjoying the summer in a beautiful provincial park counts as 'Ugly Canada'?

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by VIce

People enjoying the summer in a beautiful provincial park counts as 'Ugly Canada'?

No, people mindlessly swarming an area like zombies on their phones in a park is ugly. I guess it's great that people are going outside to play video games but it seems like it would defeat the purpose of being in Fish Creek park in the first place. How do you enjoy nature glued to a cellphone? The irony is that it's debatable whether or not they actually got more exercise than simply playing at home since almost all of them drove there and hung around in one spot anyways. I missed the Pokemon bandwagon by a few years so maybe I'm getting crustier with time, but I really don't get it.

[SignalHillHiker]

I'm normally not opposed to overt expressions of patriotism - I have our tricolour tattooed on me, after all - but the shape of our island is so ugly as a symbol. As is our provincial flag. Every time I see either in a situation like this, I cringe (driving up Kenmount today):

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I'm normally not opposed to overt expressions of patriotism - I have our tricolour tattooed on me, after all - but the shape of our island is so ugly as a symbol. As is our provincial flag. Every time I see either in a situation like this, I cringe (driving up Kenmount today):

You see those here too usually accompanied by "The Rock" in bold letters underneath it.

[O-tacular]

Since businesses can pay to have Pokemons put in their buildings do you think Clockzilla will have a new food supply?

[Architype]

^ It's also kind of insulting to Labradorians, as well as puffins, and if you go outside the province, most people won't even recognize what that outline is.