B E A S L E Y - one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods

[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





BEASLEY
Hamilton, Ontario


Beasley is one of Hamilton's original neighbourhoods (the others are Corktown, Central and Durand). It is located
northeast of downtown Hamilton. A large chunk of downtown Hamilton is technically in Beasley, but this tour
focuses on "Beasley the neighbourhood" which is quite distinct and separate from downtown.

Beasley is the poorest neighbourhood in Hamilton and one of the poorest in Canada, with an average per capita
annual income of just $6,226. With it's cheap rents, the neighbourhood is home to a large transient population
and also a large population of immigrants. In 2006, the Hamilton Spectator ran a four part series on Beasley,
highlighting the neighbourhood's problems. Many considered the Spectator articles exploitative and overly negative.
As you will see in the photos, Beasley is a diverse neighbourhood with both good things and bad things, and a wide
variety of people. Nevertheless, the neighbourhood does suffer from a litany of social problems. Several of the
residents that I spoke with while taking photographs refered to Beasley as "crack central." Drugs, poverty,
homeless shelters and soup kitchens are central features of Beasley. Some of the people you see in Beasley
are stark reminders that our society creates both winners and losers.

Here are two different viewpoints on Beasley:

Beasley: Portrait of a neighbourhood - This isn't Mr. Rogers' neighbourhood
http://www.thespec.com/article/262185

It's a Beautiful Day in My Neighbourhood
http://www.viewmag.com/printer.php?storyid=3829









_





A sea of parking lots separates the residential section of Beasley from downtown. It's sad to think of how many
buildings were demolished. I can only speculate, but I believe that there were once many large industrial/warehouse
type buildings in this area:


Some remain:








There are a number of highrise apartments in Beasley, but not nearly as many as in other downtown neighbourhoods.
_

Quite a few rowhouses remain in Beasley:










Multilane one-way roads only add to the neighbourhood's woes.




This house was built in 1845




There happened to be a murder the same day I was taking the pictures. It would be a mistake to think the area is
dangerous based on this. This was Hamilton's sixth murder this year. Last year Hamilton had the lowest homicide
rate of Canadian cities over 500,000.


















So many parking lots!




There is a prison here:






_





Beasley Park














A former industrial site:
























One of my favourite rows in Hamilton. Another reminder that Beasley is not all poor.




Alleys like this are found throughout Beasley.




_

[Top Of The Park]

has a kind of well worn look

[Thundertubs]

Great tour. Love the bricks.
-
Parking lots near downtown like that always make me glum. Chances are the buildings that stood there were awesome.

[jodelli]

Nice shots. Looks like I could fit right in there.

[10101000]

Nice

[Jibba]

Wow, Hamilton continues to impress. Some seriously nice looking buildings here. Excellent pictures as usual.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. Beasley might be poor, but it doesn't have the outright decay that you would find in a lot of American cities. That still looks better than the poorest neighborhoods of even a smaller city like Wilmington. I think the way that the houses are kept looking at least somewhat respectable helps make everything look better.

[raisethehammer]

great pics...the residential stock is awesome. Beasley has a bright future based on that alone.
It's already been turning the corner the past few years.
Those rowhomes on Catharine St are some of my favourite in the city too. Great job!

[TinChelseaNYC]

Was this the real purpose of your trip?



LOL! Just kidding!

Those multilane one-ways tend to be neighborhood killers, don't they?

You caught the spirit of this place very well. But $6,000 per year per capita income? YOWSERS! I feel so fortunate right now.

[Arriviste]

AWESOME!
If I'm ever in the area I'll definitely be spending an afternoon taking pics.

[denveraztec]

Historic and tons of red brick! What is not to love?

[JivecitySTL]

Your threads are so fucking the shit. Great looking city.

[Evergrey]

this neighborhood is hard

[flar]

I found a photo looking down into the Beasley neighbourhood. Two downtown streets are pictured near the bottom of the photo (King William St. at right and James St. North at left). Behind the downtown blocks are the several blocks of parking lots, running through the centre of the photo and off to the right. Behind the parking lots is the neighbourhood seen in this tour. In the upper left you can see the bright orange Barton St. Jail.

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Nice pictures. Beasley might be poor, but it doesn't have the outright decay that you would find in a lot of American cities. That still looks better than the poorest neighborhoods of even a smaller city like Wilmington. I think the way that the houses are kept looking at least somewhat respectable helps make everything look better.

This neighbourhood has improved over the past couple years, it's getting harder and harder to find gritty residential streets in Hamilton. Commercial streets are another story, tons of gritty commercial strips throughout the lower city.

[artvandelay]

Nice shots, looks to be a well functioning working class neighborhood with a few challenges - not the ghetto that is described in that sensationalistic Spectator article.

[SuburbanNation]

Hamilton is definitely my kind of town of all the Canadian cities I've seen.

[SuburbanNation]

Originally Posted by JivecitySTL

Your threads are so fucking the shit. Great looking city.

Didn't even noticed this douche bag commented. (sorry, i'm drunk Jive)

kinda reminds me of the drunk white people wandering around here...but pushing strollers with brown glass bottles in southwest city on streets with mature pin oaks..

[Chelsea Spy]

great pics, veru interesting tour

[Halovet]

My Grandmother was born on James Street in 1892. My Greatgrandmother was born there to in The 1860s. They Knew Harriet Tubman very well. From the stories I herd, that part of "The Hammer" has always been HARDCORE, and they left there for Greener Pastures in BUFFALO. Imagine That! Beasley is as hard as a US Hood for sure, but not every Hood. You could put it on Buffalo's West side, and it would blend right in.

[raisethehammer]

Originally Posted by flar

I found a photo looking down into the Beasley neighbourhood. Two downtown streets are pictured near the bottom of the photo (King William St. at right and James St. North at left). Behind the downtown blocks are the several blocks of parking lots, running through the centre of the photo and off to the right. Behind the parking lots is the neighbourhood seen in this tour. In the upper left you can see the bright orange Barton St. Jail.

not to be confused with the bright orange Annex Lofts and bright orange General Hospital. Lol.