Canadian Maps and Graphics

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

I've never seen a nice looking Sears store anywhere in western Canada.

But Lio, there is a nice park across the street from sears that would contribute to the vibe you're looking for.

The unique thing is right beside that Sears centre in town was one of the best cafes and looked great after the building was renovated.

On SouthWestTV news there's a segment, I think middle of this particular episode, about the Star Cafe's history.


http://otime.ca/2018/08/20/rattlesna...d-snakes-safe/




dang, I just realized I posted the wrong SWTV news clip of the Star Cafe.

here's the correct clip:

http://otime.ca/2018/10/25/maple-cre...r-cafe-closes/

[drew]

According to wikipedia - Tombstone receives an average of 450,000 tourists per year.

If that is your idea of what a typical Prairie town in Canada should be, or should aspire to be - start encouraging your friends to make a trip to Maple Creek and hope it really takes off.

I get the whole Maple Creek and SSP back story - but having driven through there a handful of times, it appears to me to appear as a typical - if not slightly above average - prairie town.

Anyone traveling south to the Cypress Hills (beautiful spot and highly recommended) will probably stop for gas and supplies in town, so it certainly serves a purpose.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by someone123

If you find that kind of thing interesting, you might like the book "A Time of Gifts". The author walked from the Netherlands to Istanbul via Central Europe in the 1930's, which at the time has just experienced the collapse of Austria-Hungary as was dealing with Nazi and communist uprisings (he arrives in Vienna as Nazis are fighting against the police and government). Many of the places he visited were basically gone 10 years later, and many of the people died in the war. During WWII he parachuted into occupied Crete, pretended to be a shepherd, and eventually managed to capture the German commander of the island.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by drew

According to wikipedia - Tombstone receives an average of 450,000 tourists per year.

If that is your idea of what a typical Prairie town in Canada should be, or should aspire to be - start encouraging your friends to make a trip to Maple Creek and hope it really takes off.

I get the whole Maple Creek and SSP back story - but having driven through there a handful of times, it appears to me to appear as a typical - if not slightly above average - prairie town.

Anyone traveling south to the Cypress Hills (beautiful spot and highly recommended) will probably stop for gas and supplies in town, so it certainly serves a purpose.

I couldn't have said to better myself...

If you get the whole SSP back story on Maple Creek maybe you can explain the reason behind it to me. The only thing I ever did on SSP in reference to the town was post it's weather maybe a couple times a week for maybe a few months or so, maybe mentioned something like it's one of only a few places in Canada to have recorded a temp of +100F in five different months of the year, and then bang, I started to get harassed by posters in other provinces.

That was years ago, up until recently I assumed people had just moved on but Maple Creek still gets pulled out of the wood work at random. I guess any attention is good news, lots of people wouldn't know about my town if it weren't for me.

[Denscity]

Is this a good looking Sears? (Greenwood BC):

2017 - Road Trip - Greenwood - Historic Copper Street by Ted McGrath, on Flickr

[lio45]

Originally Posted by drew

According to wikipedia - Tombstone receives an average of 450,000 tourists per year.

If that is your idea of what a typical Prairie town in Canada should be, or should aspire to be ...

My point was more like how Tombstone manages to not have most of its building stock covered in cheap-ass industrial corrugated metal or vinyl board, despite having the exact same Western boom-town bones as a place like Maple Creek.

And yes, I do think that's a reasonable aspiration for a Prairie town in Canada.

[isaidso]

^^ Agree. Alot of Canadians just set an extremely low bar and don't have aspirations for better. There's no reason a town like Maple Creek couldn't pull in vastly higher numbers. It doesn't because it looks like sh*t.

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

I think people maybe think Maple Creek is suppose to keep up appearances for the benefit of tourists like as if it's a WestWorld version of an amusement park or something (if tourists want animatronic automatons to entertain you in old west fashion go to the Tunnels of Moose Jaw couple hours down the highway instead).

No, there's an expectation of minimum standards and for people to have some basic design sense.

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

As far as rejuvenating current buildings, there have been some projects in Maple Creek like the million dollar renovations to the Commercial Hotel in the 2000s but a flash flood caused damage to a lot of the town including this project's viability.




What did get done renovated looked great though.



It's not like Prairie towns don't try to have curb appeal but a lot of rural towns are just trying to keep businesses profitable.

https://www.swiftcurrentonline.com/l...bloom-champion

So what does the renovation look like? Those last 2 photos couldn't possibly be the 'after' shots. If it is, they have no clue what they're doing.

In the 2nd photo, the front doors are nice. The rest needs to go to the town dump. In the 3rd photo the staircase and ceiling beams are the only thing worth keeping. Every square inch of it besides those 2 things is absolutely revolting. The 1st photo showing the exterior shows what a handsome building it could be. It's beautiful. It just needs the paint stripped off the bricks, new windows that are historically accurate, and a few other minor touches.

In all likelihood, every single building in Maple Creek needs work. And then it needs a complete re-do of its public realm. The one in Tombstone harkens back to the time before asphalt/concrete but looks terrific. It goes to show that it doesn't need to be modern to be inviting. The one in Maple Creek? Who the hell would want to spend a second on that sidewalk?

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Is this a good looking Sears? (Greenwood BC):

2017 - Road Trip - Greenwood - Historic Copper Street by Ted McGrath, on Flickr

In my defence, I've never been to Greenwood BC.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

In my defence, I've never been to Greenwood BC.

Ha I'll take that as a yes .
And to your credit most people have never been to Greenwood.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Ha I'll take that as a yes .
And to your credit most people have never been to Greenwood.

I've lied. Just checked the map and Greenwood is on the Crowsnest and since I've traveled that road a couple of time, I have been there!

If folks think that Maple Creek has a depressing main street. You should see my hometown of Killarney. As the main service centre and a vacation destination for the region, there is so much potential to do better. But they have kind of dropped the ball with having the new community centre outside of the downtown.

https://www.google.com/maps/@49.1838...7i13312!8i6656

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Is this a good looking Sears? (Greenwood BC):

2017 - Road Trip - Greenwood - Historic Copper Street by Ted McGrath, on Flickr

As much as I hate to say it, it's so typically Canadian to blindly stick a utilitarian, suburban-strip mall sign like that onto a decent-looking heritage building, just because it's "company policy".

It's like a photo MolsonEx once showed of a heritage CIBC building that had the words BANK OF COMMERCE carved in stone on the façade, and the bank went and stuck a plastic sign with the 21st century logo in the middle of that, hiding about half the words and leaving something stupid-looking like BAN (logo) MMERCE exposed.

[Denscity]

^^^ Totally agree.

[Acajack]

Would it have killed them to install something like this?

https://blog.maliklighting.com/led-sign-services/

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As much as I hate to say it, it's so typically Canadian to blindly stick a utilitarian, suburban-strip mall sign like that onto a decent-looking heritage building, just because it's "company policy".

It's like a photo MolsonEx once showed of a heritage CIBC building that had the words BANK OF COMMERCE carved in stone on the façade, and the bank went and stuck a plastic sign with the 21st century logo in the middle of that, hiding about half the words and leaving something stupid-looking like BAN (logo) MMERCE exposed.

segaert

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

segaert

Someone.

With an education.

With a good job, a career even.

With at least some semblance of judgement.

Made that decision.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Someone.

With an education.

With a good job, a career even.

With at least some semblance of judgement.

Made that decision.

And even when they are actually called "Heritage Credit Union", they still do this.

https://goo.gl/maps/2xKQhLJKGpKtjZwW8

[wave46]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Someone.

With an education.

With a good job, a career even.

With at least some semblance of judgement.

Made that decision.

No, it's far worse than that.

Someone spent money on this.

Not just Joe Hick, who views the duct tape keeping his car fender on as acceptable.

A major Canadian corporation - one with actual money and presumably some concern for their public image - said 'that's fine' and paid for this to be installed that way.

Paid. With real money. For that.

Ghastly.

The bigger atrocity is that if they had any taste whatsoever and still needed to do the corporate branding thing, the lower signs are acceptable. Not great, but you have to live with some of these things.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Someone.

With an education.

With a good job, a career even.

With at least some semblance of judgement.

Made that decision.

The corporate norms say there's got to be a logo there. Aesthetics? Give me a break! The only thing that matters is that the public sees our logo.

It works, no? Stop it with your chichi un-Canadian notions

[Acajack]

It is precisely the mindset that leads to crappy, out of place additions getting approved for the Château Laurier.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It is precisely the mindset that leads to crappy, out of place additions getting approved for the Château Laurier.

Hopefully that idea is dead now.