S U B U R B I A !

[Austinlee]

Canada has nice dense subdivisions it seems. The subdivisions where I live are nowhere near that dense.

Great pics!

[smArTaLlone]

The interesting thing to me the way they advertise the developments.

"Dream It, Live It, Love It "

Here in Atlanta this is more reminiscent of the way they sell condo developments where they advertise a "lifestyle".

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

Quick question: How come they say Toronto is the LA of the North?

I think the two cities are compared because they both have similar sized skylines and also they both have monstrous freeways:

LA:



Toronto:



LA:


Toronto:

[LAsam]

I dunno... not sure if Toronto and LA are a good comparison. Of course, my exposure to Toronto is fairly limited, but LA and TO felt very different to me. Toronto definately has more of an East Coast/Midwest vibe than West Coast vibe.

[zaphod]

I don't see how they are comparable.

Toronto is maybe half the size of LA anyways

[ChrisLA]

Also not to be too technical, but that picture of the LA skyline is quite old.

[flar]

I'm not sure where the comparison comes from, but even without having been to LA I'm willing to bet it's quite a bit different than Toronto on the ground. That would go for suburban areas too. From what I've seen there is a lot of Spanish influence in the residential architecture that is just not seen in Ontario.

[ajknee]

What the hell is this:


I'm most definitely not living, loving, and dreaming that.

[rsbear]

Originally Posted by ajknee

What the hell is this:


I'm most definitely not living, loving, and dreaming that.

All it needs is a gate, some guard towers and a few cops with rifles. Presto, suburban prison.

[Wigs]

^ I'm assuming the subdivision is close to a highway

[KevinFromTexas]

Not too bad. At least the houses are different from one another and the colors are different. Some of the crap being built south and north of Austin is just horrible. Not only do the houses look exactly the same with design and floorplans, but the colors are all a dull gray or tan color. It's like whoever designed them was not only color blind, but also had poor taste.

[Jimby]

Wow. Nice tour. Are gated communities allowed by municipalities in Ontario?

[DrJoe]

It's a sound barrier I'm sure.

[ikerrin]

Originally Posted by ajknee

What the hell is this:

Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!!

Oops, sorry, I had a flach back to 1985.

[fastcarsfreedom]

"Now That'(s) Barn Fresh!" Having spent some time as a youngster working on a farm--I can confirm the barn was extremely "fresh". For those who don't know, The Barn is a local supermarket chain--and that "Barn Fresh!" slogan has always puzzled and amused me. Market Fresh...sure, but Barn Fresh???

[flar]

It's a sound barrier. This is one of the subdivisions along the QEW. The road in the foreground is the QEW's North Service Road. This is also the only exit from this subdivision.


Another peculiarity to Hamilton that I've noticed is that everyone here says "survey" instead of "subdivision". Everywhere else I've lived people use the term subdivision for new housing developments.

[flar]

Originally Posted by livingforthecity

Wow. Nice tour. Are gated communities allowed by municipalities in Ontario?

There aren't too many truly gated communities (ie: with an actual gate that needs to be opened to get in), but there are some. Most of the ones I've seen are Christian communities, such as St. Elizabeth Village in south Hamilton.

[SteelTown]

Almost all gated communities are fake.

[krudmonk]

Those sound walls are the worst I've ever seen. I almost loves the ones I see here now.

[DC83]

Originally Posted by flar

Another peculiarity to Hamilton that I've noticed is that everyone here says "survey" instead of "subdivision". Everywhere else I've lived people use the term subdivision for new housing developments.

It's funny you mention that b/c I just called a subdivision a 'survey' in another thread a couple mins ago! hahaha I guess it's a Hamilton thing?

Hamilton's 'gated' communities are NOTHING like American ones. We don't have gates... it' usually just a set of pillars at the opening of a street that leads into a survey. There may be a gate sometimes, but they're not locked or hardly ever shut.

I believe Hamilton's 1st 'gated' community was Barnesdale Blvd in the (inner)city's East End (Main St E & Barnesdale Blvd S Hamilton ON if you wanna google-map it). There is a set of pillars at the South entrance to the street (from Main) which used to have globes ontop that would light up the entrance at night. I had a real estate agent tell me there was once a gate, but had since been removed... but upon further inspection, I have yet to see any evidence of a gate being there.