Surprise! The beautiful Hamilton Bayfront, or "Why the North End will rise again"

[flar]

HAMILTON NEIGHBOURHOODS:
Corktown • Durand • Central • Dundas • Locke St. South • Burlington • Stinson • Westdale • St. Clair • Keith • Landsdale
The Delta • Gibson • Jamesville • Concession Street • Durand North • Durand South • Old Dundas Houses • Hess Village • Barton Street
Ancaster • North Kirkendall • South Kirkendall • McMaster University • Downtown • The Bayfront • The North End • Kenilworth
Mountain Brow • Textile District • Strathcona • North Stipley • Flamborough • Beasley • Chedoke • Stoney Creek • The Beach Strip

HAMILTON FEATURES:
C I T Y _ L I G H T S • Stone Hamilton • Twilight of the Industrial Age • Twilight of the Industrial Age II
Stone in Dundas and Ancaster • Goodbye, Hamilton (from 43 floors up) • Dirty Brick • Day for Night
This broken down old city still manages to wake up every morning... • Everywhere, Ontario • < R - E - T - R - O >
HAMILTON | Scenes from the cutting room floor • S U B U R B I A ! • Everywhere, Ontario • Hamilton Rowhouses
< H E A V Y <> I N D U S T R Y > • Old Man Winter vs. Hamilton

The Bayfront

This tour looks at the west harbour area, Bayfront Park and Cootes Paradise. Many people don't
know about Hamilton's natural beauty, or its great quality of life, but it's starting to catch on. The
redevelopment of the waterfront has led to the gentrification of the North End. In a future tour,
I'll show you more of Hamilton's waterfront--The Beach and Beach Community--located on Lake
Ontario east of the port and industrial areas.

[SteelTown]

Beauty! Definitely one of your best photo tour! Awesome work. Seriously one of the best.

The city has been a fantastic job over the years transforming the West Harbour from industrial to what you see here.

[Thundertubs]

Nice! The 2nd pic is my favorite.

[stepper77]

I've continued to be impressed by Hamilton in this forum. These only make me want to see it from myself even more!! Thanks!!

[Jimby]

Beautiful! The Hamilton Harbour Queen looks like a rust bucket.

[OhioGuy]

Lovely! Very enjoyable thread. I particularly liked the quality of this photo:

[Top Of The Park]

very nice

[Ayreonaut]

Someday I'll have to do a Southern Ontario trip, very nice thread.

[Evergrey]

me likey!

[xzmattzx]

This was a surprise! The area looks much better than I expected. I knew that they were fixing up the harbor (harbour), but I didn't realize that some of it was this natural. Quite a few pictures remind me of the Chesapeake Bay area in Maryland.

What is the water quality like, with the steel companies there and everything?

[flar]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

This was a surprise! The area looks much better than I expected. I knew that they were fixing up the harbor (harbour), but I didn't realize that some of it was this natural. Quite a few pictures remind me of the Chesapeake Bay area in Maryland.

What is the water quality like, with the steel companies there and everything?

The water quality has improved a lot compared to what it used to be. There's a small beach at the bayfront and people were swimming. Sometimes that beach is closed in hot weather, usually because of bacteria rather than pollution (I didn't photograph the beach because there were little children swimming and I didn't want to alarm their parents). There is also good fishing in the harbour. Naturalization has helped to clean and filter the water but there is still the major problem of the highly polluted Randall Reef, which will have to be encased in concrete.

All of the shoreline of Cootes Paradise (extreme western tip of Lake Ontario) and much of the shoreline of Hamilton Harbour (officially known as Burlington Bay) is protected land that will stay natural. The Royal Botanical Gardens owns 2700 acres and there is plenty of parkland in Hamilton and Burlington. There are also several cemeteries along the shoreline in both Burlington and Hamilton. So the bay will remain natural looking.

There is one area with some industry and a large rail yard along the shore of the west harbour in Hamilton that will eventually be de-industrialized.

[the dude]

if i were given one choice of where to live in hamilton it would be bay st north and i think you've done well to document why.

boy, that southern ontario haze makes for beautiful sunsets doesn't it?

[TinChelseaNYC]

Judging from your many stunning portraits of this city, it seems eminently livable. What keeps this city chugging, economy-wise?

[matt602]

you win

[jodelli]

Beautiful pictures, as usual. The harbour is a nice body of water, especially at the western end but it's been years since I've been out on it.

Got a kick out of these pictures:

Because I have this one:

[flar]

Originally Posted by TinChelseaNYC

Judging from your many stunning portraits of this city, it seems eminently livable. What keeps this city chugging, economy-wise?

Hamilton is a very livable city with a lot to offer--the lake, the escarpment, waterfalls, museums, history and architecture, great neighbourhoods--but many people, even ones that live here, don't take advantage of it and basically think of the city like this:


It's sad, but it makes these tours interesting, because Hamilton's riches are a secret.

As for the economy: manufacturing, medical research, and McMaster University. Being in Canada and near the Greater Toronto Area has helped save Hamilton from the depths of despair felt by American rust belt cities. Of course, being so near Toronto also has its disadvantages.

[MonctonRad]

What is the name of this warship and what is it doing on the Hamilton waterfront? I thought the Rush-Bagot Treaty had demilitarized the great lakes!

[SteelTown]

That's HMCS Haida, Pier 9 is it's permanent residence. Haida sunked more enemy surface tonnage than any other Canadian warship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Haida

[flar]

Here's another view of HMCS Haida, she's a museum ship now, open to the public for tours.

[hammergirl]

Great pictures as always Flar!

Now I want to go to Hutch's at Bayfront for a burger and a milkshake!