Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[giallo]

Originally Posted by PortaPetee

I was in Vancouver for weeks at a time three times in the 2000s and found it very lively. I don't know about any club scene, I wasn't doing that but the streets wwre always busy at night with lots of revellers. Has that changed? Did I just luck out?

Why would you think that? Vancouver has a very lively downtown. It did 20 years ago, and it does even more so today. Those 100,000+ downtown dwellers have to go out and eat and drink somewhere.

Downtown Vancouver's off-hours (outside of the 9-5 work) bustle basically exists around four streets; Granville, Robson, Denman and Davie. The Westend, Gastown, and Yaletown are the busiest neighbourhoods downtown with Coal Harbour being the most quiet.

[PortaPetee]

Originally Posted by giallo

Why would you think that? Vancouver has a very lively downtown. It did 20 years ago, and it does even more so today. Those 100,000+ downtown dwellers have to go out and eat and drink somewhere.

Downtown Vancouver's off-hours (outside of the 9-5 work) bustle basically exists around four streets; Granville, Robson, Denman and Davie. The Westend, Gastown, and Yaletown are the busiest neighbourhoods downtown with Coal Harbour being the most quiet.

I felt reading some of the posts above that a couple people felt Vancouver might not be all that lively - to be fair I may have misinterpreted the remarks. Whereas I found it very lively.

Anyway that's what I was responding to.

[PortaPetee]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

And that's a huge factor in what makes Montreal great. It preserves the city's character.

I'm quite tired of seeing bland condo and apartment buildings going up everywhere on Ottawa's main streets, with proximity to transit as a justification for demolishing established retail street fronts and handsome buildings built in the early to mid 20th Century. Many of these vibrant neighborhoods in Montreal are a stone's throw from the Metro yet are still intact. Even in Toronto, they've done a good job in preserving some of those areas along the Bloor Line.

In Ottawa, the Confederation Line is a few blocks north of our main streets (Wellington West and Richmond, 300 to 500 meters from the line and stations spaced every kilometer on average) along former industrial sites and parking lots. We can, and we are, building towers on that corridor. I don't understand why we can't protect the pleasant retail main streets that we have and limit new development to match what's currently there (3-6 floors).

Now obviously, Ottawa's main streets don't compare to the spectacular architecture and vibrancy of Montreal, but we have what we have, and it's worth protecting.

I noticed in some aerial shots that Ottawa is developing quite a bit of a "urban canyon" downtown that I don't recall being so dense in the early aughts.



Source: https://thevoice.ottawachamber.ca/2014/11/25/the-future-for-ottawa-businesses-is-bright/

[Chadillaccc]

By WIGGLEZ on SSP : https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235120&page=21

[giallo]

Originally Posted by PortaPetee

I felt reading some of the posts above that a couple people felt Vancouver might not be all that lively - to be fair I may have misinterpreted the remarks. Whereas I found it very lively.

Anyway that's what I was responding to.

Ah gotcha. I think they may have been talking more about traditional nightlife; bars, clubs etc. when compared to a city like Montreal.

Vancouver does have plenty of those, but locals tend to favour dining out with drinks and hanging out along the waterfront. There are plenty of apartment parties throughout the downtown on any given weekend.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I'd be wary of reading too much into Quebec City being "conservative". It's not Montreal but it's not that sleepy a city by Canadian or North American standards.

Areas outside of downtown like St-Roch and Avenue Cartier or even Maguire a bit further out are reasonably lively. It's not the Las Vegas Strip, but it's not sleepy either.

I'm not sure I would consider St-Roch to be "outside downtown". Sure, technically, it is (Quebec City has a walled core, so that's an easy definition of the core in a strict sense) but I would say that does not match a more common definition of what downtown is.

When my ex lived in the St-Jean-Baptiste neighborhood and worked at INRS on Crown Street (in St-Roch), I would have said she both worked and lived in downtown Quebec.

Thinking of it, it's hard to correctly define "downtown Quebec City". By comparison, downtown Sherbrooke is very well defined, and I would think at first sight, so are most other cities.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Vancouver is a lovely city, and in terms of physical setting (including the peerless Stanley Park) it is untouchable, but the liveliness of downtown is not what many might expect.

I do find the downtown peninsula of Van to be a bit sterile in general. (Just spent ~6 months living in that city.)

I wasn't that far from Commercial Drive (northernmost portion), so that was our go-to area when we needed to take people out for lunch or dinner. We'd walk that strip until finding some place our guest(s) wanted to try (usually didn't take long). That's a decently vibrant commercial area (aptly named).

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

By WIGGLEZ on SSP : https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235120&page=21

Winnipeg will always have a fond place in my heart. I have vivid memories of riding a motorcycle east on Portage and turning north onto Main, then continuing on to the Disraeli Bridge. And doing the reverse after work.

It's a decently epic downtown drive for a Canadian city.

[lio45]

Lots of surface parkings though. Look at the bottom right of that pic! That's right outside the center of the downtown.

(Am I allowed to point this out? I'm not from Winnipeg.)

[PortaPetee]

Originally Posted by lio45

Lots of surface parkings though. Look at the bottom right of that pic! That's right outside the center of the downtown.

(Am I allowed to point this out? I'm not from Winnipeg.)

It is a lot of surface parking. It looks rather underdeveloped overall.

Halifax looked like this for decades. Then a switch got flipped and it's getting filled in fairly quickly.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by lio45

Lots of surface parkings though. Look at the bottom right of that pic! That's right outside the center of the downtown.

(Am I allowed to point this out? I'm not from Winnipeg.)

Don't rain on my pleasant memories. I've worked hard on my mental health recovery, and won't suffer idiot douchebag trolls like you gladly. Stop tormenting me.





Heh

[zoomer]

That Ottawa Chamber photo is awesome! Years ago when I first visited Ottawa, coming in from the airport I was feeling pretty disappointed. Had to do with the February weather, the dirty/rough condition roads, the route the taxi took no doubt as I was expecting a much grander city for a national capital, instead it was really underwhelming.

But once I got out and started exploring (and on future visits) I found it be pretty cool with lots of great architecture, good street activity, restaurants and pubs, even though on street retail and grocery stores were sub-par. Having spent a lot of time in Edmonton, a little in Calgary, it feel that compared to Western Canada anyways, that only Vancouver comes out ahead in terms of street vibrancy. That shouldn’t be surprising considering Ottawa’s population puts it in that category and it’s a well established city.

As for the Victoria comments by Logan5, Someone123 and others.. gotta say they’re bang on and fair, no disagreement there. Offices, retail, food, beverage, residential are spread evenly and consistently throughout a wide area, so the foot traffic isn’t concentrated by time and location as it might be in cities with a more focused business district or condo area. In the past 10 years it has become much more vibrant and the downtown is a 7 days per week downtown, it doesn’t slow down just the focus changes from work to leisure/eating/shopping. Having large amounts of tourists and foreign students helps to keep all days busy as well, and no doubt the focus on being a walkable/bike friendly, patio friendly downtown helps. Even with the pandemic the level of activity has picked up again - last Saturday I was waiting for my friend who was slowly inching out of a 360 car downtown parkade where there were only 5 spots left at 4 p.m. Interesting as weekdays the parkades are still not back to normal at all. Victoria is not a nightclub city though, more of a pub, small restaurant, youR fav hole in the wall type of city, so after midnight it quiets down pretty quick other than the 2 a.m nightclub closing, so it’s not the same after midnight still bustling you’d get in big cities or St. John’s and Halifax.

[PortaPetee]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Don't rain on my pleasant memories. I've worked hard on my mental health recovery, and won't suffer idiot douchebag trolls like you gladly. Stop tormenting me.





Heh

I mean this is the definition of trolling. Why go so out of your way to provoke the guy? Jesus. I've been here all of 24 hours and can see that yes, he is aggressive (or defensive?) and doesn't let things go easily and may have earned some of the ill will (or maybe he was just responding to it), but then again why poke the bear and then castigate the bear for being upset?

[PortaPetee]

Originally Posted by zoomer

That Ottawa Chamber photo is awesome! Years ago when I first visited Ottawa, coming in from the airport I was feeling pretty disappointed. Had to do with the February weather, the dirty/rough condition roads, the route the taxi took no doubt as I was expecting a much grander city for a national capital, instead it was really underwhelming.

It really is a cool shot. i assume the table top skyline has to do with not exceeding the height of the parliament buildings or something? We have something similar in Halifax with the ramparts of the Citadel.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by PortaPetee

I mean this is the definition of trolling. Why go so out of your way to provoke the guy? Jesus. I've been here all of 24 hours and can see that yes, he is aggressive (or defensive?) and doesn't let things go easily and may have earned some of the ill will (or maybe he was just responding to it), but then again why poke the bear and then castigate the bear for being upset?

This forum is really starting to bum me out. Watching a bunch of grown men tag team someone that has made it very apparent they suffer from depression etc. is pretty sad to witness. There's a mean streak in the Canada forum that isn't very cool at all.

[drizzo_613]

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by giallo

This forum is really starting to bum me out. Watching a bunch of grown men tag team someone that has made it very apparent they suffer from depression etc. is pretty sad to witness. There's a mean streak in the Canada forum that isn't very cool at all.

This. And they think it's hilarious.

[mr.John]

[PortaPetee]

Originally Posted by Pavlov

This. And they think it's hilarious.

OK I'm glad it's not just me. I don't want to be involved, but I thought I'd offer a snapshot impression from a complete newbie.

[logan5]

Yeah. We are in on line bullying territory. For the life of me I don’t know why someone as seemingly intelligent as Rousseau would make that comment.

This is a what happens with no rule of law. It’s turning into Lord of the Flies here.