Ugly Canada 2 (Only architecture, planning and design faux pas)

[megadude]

I, and probably 99% of the population, don't know if body rubs are legal or not. I think it's a grey zone. You don't have to be a registered massage therapist to legally provide massages, but if you provide sex acts on top of that then I believe it's the client who partakes in that is breaking a law, but not the provider.

And IIRC, all of this is legal if the sex workers come to your house or hotel for sex. But if you go to a place to pay for sex then it's illegal. That place would be considered a bawdy house (aka a brothel). This ain't Nevada, where that is legal.

So when dudes go to Niagara for a bachelor's party and hire a couple of pros to come fellatiate them at the Blue Rose Motel or some shit, it's perfectly acceptable.

99% of people are going to go a "bawdy house" as in rub and tug or brothel or an escort's apartment because it's way cheaper to do that than have them travel to you, often with a pimp/security (I worked with a guy at a summer warehouse job that used to drive the girls around and act as security). And 99.9% of the time cops won't be there to bust you. I'ts very rare for cops to raid these places unless maybe it's some fly by night place that is not established or they know some trafficking is happening in there.

My old company granted mortgages to a couple of places with rub and tugs. We have language in our documentation that prohibits leasing out to immoral tenants but most clients don't read the fine print and some don't care. Obviously, both times the borrower leased these places after we funded the loan. One was in Brampton in the old Mandarin plaza and was three doors down from where I used to get my hair cut. The other in St. Catharines, in a light industrial plaza. The owner used to run Casino Niagara and was head of the Niagara Italian Canadian Business Association. Both he and us as lender got cease and desist letters twice from the city but we ignored it.

And lol, it does look like a former Pizza Hut. But I can confirm it was not. But the law firm on Lakeshore in Mississauga that handled my wife's grandma's estate is run out of a former burger joint, possibly Harveys judging by the sign. I mean, I might have reservations about hiring a firm whose sign is in the shape of a burger, even if all the staff were top notch lawyers.

[niwell]

I'm not sure how much this has changed with the ease of arranging things online, but when I helped out with the Toronto Employment Survey years ago was shocked at how many rub and tugs exist in the city. Virtually every "massage parlour" that was on the second storey apartment level of any stripmall in the inner suburbs. Which is a lot.

[O-tacular]

What appears to be vinyl siding is going up on a highrise office to residential conversion in Calgary.

[megadude]

A few years ago I drove around Westmount and took in the view from the overlook you can park at. Anyway, fascinating neighbourhood. A real pleasure to drive them windy, up and down roads.

And the mix of housing styles is possibly the most diverse I've ever seen. But with that mix comes some of the oddest or dumbest I've ever seen. But, also a lot of beautiful homes.

And some of the houses just seem so impractical for what you pay. You get a sliver of front yard/driveway or backyard due to the land just dropping off. This is like those homes on Trafalgar or Dunn in Oakville that are at the top of the Sixteen Mile Creek valley. Great views but nowhere to barbecue or kick the ball around. And I wonder why they were built so close to each other. It's like Forest Hill or other super rich neighbourhoods in Toronto. I mean, if the land was demised into parcels a long time ago, did the owner or builder back then not want to leave more than shoulder width space between houses? Did you really have to max out the ratio on what was always going to be a spacious house?

Also, good luck when you have visitors let alone a party. It seems some streets might not even allow street parking due to the narrow width, which would be awful with snowbanks, but even if they did, I wouldn't want to leave my car on the road for an extended period of time on those narrow roads. And lots of the driveways only fit two cars. You can pay $10m for a house but get pretty bad returns for some fundamental features of a property.

[megadude]

I always wondered if this "observation deck" in Oakville is actually functional. Like that periscope window I posted in Kleinburg, I really want to know what the thought process was and how they came to be. Because none of the other houses around have those features. Like, was that an option from the builder and they were the only ones who took them up on it or were the houses modified later on?

[megadude]

I prefer the previous version of this house in St Catharines. Might as well paint the rest black and throw a Steelers or Ticats logo on it.

[jonny24]

If the bright yellow is the new version, I prefer that one. Beige, boring, bland etc for the bottom picture vs bright and lively.

Is the lower portion (that didn't change) just uncoloured stucco?

[Wigs]

If you're going to go yellow, choose a dark blue over black for the accent colour, in my humble opinion.

I'm fine with colour as the seemingly decade long trend of greys and greige is so depressing, particularly in a cold weather climate.

"Yo, listen up here's a story
About a little guy
That lives in a grey world
And all day and all night
And everything he sees is just grey
Like him inside and outside
Grey his house
With a grey little window
And a grey SUV
And everything is grey for him
And himself and everybody around
Cause he ain't got nobody to listen to"

[MolsonExport]

Remind me of the fugly clocktower (cue Clockzilla) that used to grace the Erin Mills Mall in Missingsausage




removed in 2014

[MolsonExport]

I hate this soul-sucking place:

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Remind me of the fugly clocktower (cue Clockzilla) that used to grace the Erin Mills Mall in Missingsausage




removed in 2014

Makes me think of this movie somehow:

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I hate this soul-sucking place:

I'll take Bouclair any day over the awfulness of JYSK(ism).

[O-tacular]

Anyone wanna blow $1.2 million on this "castle" in Red Deer?

https://www.tiktok.com/@tylerhassman...12055423339781

[lio45]

Originally Posted by jonny24

If the bright yellow is the new version, I prefer that one. Beige, boring, bland etc for the bottom picture vs bright and lively.

Look at the tree; there’s no “if” about which is the new version

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by lio45

Look at the tree; there’s no “if” about which is the new version

Lol, good point. I couldn't see it past my pro-"throw a Ticats logo on it" glasses

I have full permission from my wife to paint the front of our house Ticats Black-and-Gold if I feel like it. So far I've contented myself with flags and spray painted signs, painting seems like a lot of work.

I also thought is was such a poor example of "ugly" that I felt compelled to point out that the poster had not specified which was which.

[megadude]

I actually don't think it's ugly, I just think it looks incomplete because of the beige stucco. In other words, the yellow siding doesn't go with the stucco. If the entire house was that colour I wouldn't mind it. I am the member that mentions the most disdain for bland colours, but more so for rural properties where the backdrop of winter, especially when not surrounded by trees, is painful. I advocate for colour. Except that bright green one in Richmond Hill a couple pages back because I didn't think it was compatible with the neighbourhood. I pointed out the more muted pink one down the road was more to my liking and that if the green one was more muted I would be onboard with it.

Anyway, I didn't mention in my post that it wasn't ugly as I was rushing. I was at work and fired off that post while walking to get food. Had to rush to get something done before my family met me and toured the office for the first time. Then went to Ripley's Aquarium. And the fire alarm went off and was still going for 10 minutes and it was so loud my kids had their hands to their ears so we left halfway through. Now I have to get a refund tomorrow and arrange for them to come back downtown next week after work and try it again.

My coworker told me there's a free roller rink at Union so stopped by there on the way to train and it said they are full. There were like 8 people waiting to get in and it was cut off after them. The attendant said those people had been in line since 5. This was at 7:20. If someone put up a sign that said FREE AIR you would have dozens of people wait in line for 3 hours.

Here's some ugly Canadian marine life. Well, the paddlefish is only found in Lake Huron for some reason and extremely rare there. It's also the only fish I know of where it's legal to snag them with your hook in some states. Hopefully jonny doesn't lose his mind over this pic not being architecture.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Anyone wanna blow $1.2 million on this "castle" in Red Deer?

https://www.tiktok.com/@tylerhassman...12055423339781

The only thing more annoying than that house is the guy doing the voice over.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Anyone wanna blow $1.2 million on this "castle" in Red Deer?

https://www.tiktok.com/@tylerhassman...12055423339781

That made me burst out laughing a few times. The voice over is very annoying as well as the camera making those sudden moves. And there are too many things inside the house to laugh at, especially the decor.

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

There's two thing I've increasingly appreciated for ugliness in my former neighbourhood in Mississauga.
First, this catholic school. It really looks like a prison or some kind of courthouse. I know that's a criticism of many schools architecturally since the 60's, but cmon!
The Walk North by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr
Mind you this is a very nice streetview of the school. Take a look at it from May 2017
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5892...8192?entry=ttu

Another fugly turd is this McMansion, which now rests on two, subdivided lots.
Before,
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5820...8192?entry=ttu
After
The Walk North by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr

[megadude]

Lol St. Joes. Takes me back. Got catfished by two girls from there circa 1997. Remember ICQ and MSN Messenger? The average looking girl was using her good looking friend’s pic and chatting with me. Then she and her friend met up with me and my friend at Jack Darling Park. She admitted to the deception right away but said her friend was actually into me. Ended up seeing the good looking one a few times and just fooled around. Didn't try and go beyond that because I met her sister and her baby. She told me how her sister was a bad seed and got kicked out of the hosue and ended up traveling with her uncle's carnival, during which time she got knocked up by a carnie at age 17. It was a cautionary tale. Ended up seeing that girl a few years later at Sugar Daddy's night club too.