THUNDER BAY | Nature•Industry•Fort William•Port Arthur•Finnish Quarter

flar · #1 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 2:52 AM**

Fort William

Port Arthur

The Finnish Quarter

ColDayMan · #2 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 3:30 AM**

Wow.

ue · #3 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 3:52 AM**

Awesome. I really liked the landscape shots in particular. Did you get to meet up with the mighty vid?

xzmattzx · #4 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 3:54 AM**

Great pictures! I didn't think you'd end up in Thunder Bay at all. When were these pictures taken? In October?

This set seems to be a mish-mash. I'm used to your threads having some type of theme, even if it's a "life in the city" or artsy theme. This seems to be a mix of art and geography.

What's the Finnish Quarter?

Centropolis · #5 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 5:01 AM**

A killer product, chock with mystery.

Expat · #6 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 12:25 PM**

Striking photos.

Danny · #7 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 1:58 PM**

Very nice pictures, like you use to show us!

Great landscapes and urban sceneries.

Thanks for the pictures!

Congratulations and greetings from Madrid, Spain!

flar · #8 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 4:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ue

Awesome. I really liked the landscape shots in particular. Did you get to meet up with the mighty vid?

Unfortunately I had a packed schedule and vid was working. He gave me some great tips on things to see though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Great pictures! I didn't think you'd end up in Thunder Bay at all. When were these pictures taken? In October?

This set seems to be a mish-mash. I'm used to your threads having some type of theme, even if it's a "life in the city" or artsy theme. This seems to be a mix of art and geography.

What's the Finnish Quarter?

These were taken this past weekend. Thunder Bay is a tough city to photograph because it has multiple cores, there is no single place where you can capture the essence of Thunder Bay. You also can't leave out the natural surroundings because the land is immense up there and dominates the views wherever you look.

The Finnish Quarter is a small neighbourhood with some Finnish businesses. Thunder Bay has a large Finnish community.

the pope · #9 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 4:24 PM**

why hello there random (to me) canada.

I like this building and the pizza monkey

giovanni sasso · #10 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 5:41 PM**

i like the pizza monkey too.

excellent and seemingly accurate coverage. this looks like uluru on the canadian prairie:

Coldrsx · #11 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 8:32 PM**

Ah the PA... we may or may not have crashed a 'dream wedding' there in 2010 while en route to Edmonton.

MPK · #12 Posted **Nov 3, 2011, 11:42 PM**

Thanks for these, Flar. I spent a year at Lakehead U in Thunder Bay not too long ago. I LOVED it there. There are a lot of quirky little cultural things that make the area really interesting. Thunder Bay really puts into perspective how huge and vast Ontario (and Canada) is; the 15 hour drive to Thunder Bay from Hamilton/Toronto doesn't even bring you close to the province's borders. The landscape surrounding the city is breathtaking (I like the first pic of the Sleeping Giant).

TBay is also home to my favourite bar on the planet, Scuttlebutt's. On certain nights you were able to use Canadian Tire money to purchase your drinks! (Canadian Tire money is basically coupons from the Canadian automotive/houseware retail chain, Canadian Tire).

vid · #13 Posted **Nov 4, 2011, 1:28 AM**

Scuttlebutts just got busted again for using unlicensed bouncers. I think their liquor license is on hold for a month or something. It's the second bar blitz in this city in a few months. More than half of Ontario's busted unlicensed bouncers are working here.

Unfortunately I was working at the time, but he went down my street (and didn't drop by? I could have given you free water!) and even took a photo of our warehouse. I saw his photo in the paper the next day, which was kind of cool. It figures that now that I have a job and therefore no free time, you guys are starting to visit this place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by giovanni sasso

i like the pizza monkey too.

excellent and seemingly accurate coverage. this looks like uluru on the canadian prairie:

It is as high as First Canadian Place (actually a bit taller), and as wide and deep as downtown Toronto. To give you a sense of scale. The pizza monkey is brand new, it was painted the day before he took these photos. It's part of a campaign by local businesses to make their areas more colourful.

It's cool to see the city through someone else's eyes. You really show off how downtrodden Fort William is compared to Port Arthur.

Urbanguy · #14 Posted **Nov 4, 2011, 2:14 AM**

Yay, I've finally been able to see some pics of the infamous Thunder Bay! It looks like a very interesting yet lonely place to be. Thanks for sharing.

flar · #15 Posted **Nov 7, 2011, 3:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid

Scuttlebutts just got busted again for using unlicensed bouncers. I think their liquor license is on hold for a month or something. It's the second bar blitz in this city in a few months. More than half of Ontario's busted unlicensed bouncers are working here.

Unfortunately I was working at the time, but he went down my street (and didn't drop by? I could have given you free water!) and even took a photo of our warehouse. I saw his photo in the paper the next day, which was kind of cool. It figures that now that I have a job and therefore no free time, you guys are starting to visit this place.

It is as high as First Canadian Place (actually a bit taller), and as wide and deep as downtown Toronto. To give you a sense of scale. The pizza monkey is brand new, it was painted the day before he took these photos. It's part of a campaign by local businesses to make their areas more colourful.

It's cool to see the city through someone else's eyes. You really show off how downtrodden Fort William is compared to Port Arthur.

I got my picture in the paper? It must have been the Lakehead newspaper because I declined other media coverage.

Fort William does look a bit rough. It looks like you might be able to get yourself into trouble (if you're looking for it) on Simpson St. That Victoriaville Mall is an abomination, I mean they put a ramp to a parking garage directly in front of this building. What were they thinking?

llamaorama · #16 Posted **Nov 7, 2011, 6:35 PM**

the pizza monkey is funny.

what's the construction site? Looks like something big

Chef · #17 Posted **Nov 7, 2011, 11:25 PM**

Cool thread! I've never been to Thunder Bay but it looks familiar. It's definitely cut from the same cloth as northern Minnesota.

vid · #18 Posted **Nov 7, 2011, 11:53 PM**

The construction site is Thunder Bay's new consolidated courthouse. It is the largest construction project in that part of the city since the era of grain elevators. You can see renderings here. It will be the new tallest building for the southern half of the city, and the 4th or 5th tallest overall, excluding the grain elevators which average between 40m and 50m high.

Being so isolated from the rest of Canada, many people here feel a stronger connection to Northern Minnesota than other parts of Ontario or Canada. We have a very good relationship with the Grand Portage Reserve just south of the border.

Ex-Ithacan · #19 Posted **Nov 8, 2011, 12:07 AM**

Entertaining tour flar. Now I understand why vid is the way he is.

Thanks.

CCF · #20 Posted **Nov 8, 2011, 12:25 AM**

One thing I noticed, that bothered me, was the decentralization of major office within Thunder Bay. Rather than being located in the downtown, there were a number of newer office buildings that were amongst big box stores. Missed opportunity to inject some life into a declining core.