Canada's most underrated neighbourhoods - Page 2

kool maudit · #21 Posted **Nov 5, 2020, 9:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I wouldn't call this an underrated neighbourhood. It's always intrigued me. It consists of low to mid rise apartments building (not as common as one would think in Toronto) that isn't next to or near any major avenue.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6390.../data=!3m1!1e3

That built form, if not the architecture, is most of Stockholm.

casper · #22 Posted **Nov 5, 2020, 10:15 AM**

In Saskatoon I would say it is Riversdale.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ri...4d-106.6813376

Close to downtown, the commercial arterial is re-inventing itself and the housing stock is the same as other neighborhoods close to the city center. It is in a state of transition.

SaskScraper · #23 Posted **Nov 5, 2020, 11:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by casper

In Saskatoon I would say it is Riversdale.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ri...4d-106.6813376

Close to downtown, the commercial arterial is re-inventing itself and the housing stock is the same as other neighborhoods close to the city center. It is in a state of transition.

A diamond in the rough, Riversdale's old stock of buildings and theatres plus gentrifying with newer cafe & coffee establishments, retail home furnishings, and cycle/bike shops etc has helped it turn a page on grittier past of biker bars and porn stores.

Just across the river is my favourite residential neighbourhood in Saskatoon. Idylwyld Park has some of the best treelined streets and mix of houses in the city.

https://www.saskatoonpics.com/New/i-VfVhQ8x/A

Quaint parks wedged near some charming houses along side some more palatial homes with swimming pools and boat docks, plus it's only a few blocks away from the Broadway Retail & Entertainment district. Marr Residence National Historic site, one of the city's oldest houses in Saskatoon, is less than a stones throw away.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Th...4d-106.6632302

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.1166...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.1162...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.1188...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fr...4d-106.6745025

rbt · #24 Posted **Nov 5, 2020, 1:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by biguc

Is Smart Track still happening?

5 stations (St. Clair-Old Weston, King-Liberty, Gerrard-Carlaw, Lawrence-Kennedy, Finch Kennedy) have federal/city funding and are progressing with design/engineering by the city. Service will be whatever GO finds reasonable to provide based on crowding levels.

A 6th station with federal funding is East Harbour but the province took responsibility for it when they proposed the Ontario Line. It will likely be tendered as part of the Ontario Line east/north contract BUT a large chunk of the work will be mainline GO station.

niwell · #25 Posted **Nov 5, 2020, 2:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I wouldn't call this an underrated neighbourhood. It's always intrigued me. It consists of low to mid rise apartments building (not as common as one would think in Toronto) that isn't next to or near any major avenue.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6390.../data=!3m1!1e3

It's an interesting area for sure - a friend lived there for a while and his place was quite nice and spacious inside. The buildings seem well taken care of, but it's surprisingly isolated from services given the density.

There's a couple more I can think of that range from seemingly high end to lower income - most of the buildings seem to date from immediately post-war and many feature some interesting deco inspired features. There was seemingly a ton of low to mid-rise multifamily built around then until we switched to slab apartments in the 60s.

Kingsway:
https://goo.gl/maps/KjAXM8gU2TXxKFG78
https://goo.gl/maps/EetW5PYorRRConbSA
https://goo.gl/maps/Fc1EjYRWq14MpzgS8

Lawrence Manor:
https://goo.gl/maps/S3mX1zyt5zZDRPLGA
https://goo.gl/maps/JSBNCyh5AFK9Je8a8
https://goo.gl/maps/JzPiDKz1345r94779

Near Bathurst and Wilson:
https://goo.gl/maps/qELbdrr7yQ7QGwQW6
https://goo.gl/maps/63rr326mmPEzcQXf7

Similar but small lowrise apartments on the regular streetgrid near Glencairn station, almost a spread out 50s Montreal:
https://goo.gl/maps/KMk8CjQPiwDxioVy9
https://goo.gl/maps/oghSBvogwGtfKmfc9
https://goo.gl/maps/Wgc78tQoxfYMtaaS6

urbandreamer · #26 Posted **Nov 5, 2020, 4:35 PM**

Old South/Wortley Village - London - is probably the nicest neighbourhood I walked through this year outside of Toronto. I never used to think of it this way, having hung out here in the 1980s on weekends. Lovely old homes, a small village strip with a Valumart, yet reasonably close to downtown. I'm very tempted to buy a buff brick home here sometime.

In the GTA, downtown Burlington surprised me the most. Very vibrant with a great waterfront, many Victorian homes. Unfortunate that many of the newer condo towers are ugly, but they're bringing a density to the area that reminds me of Victoria. Although Hamilton has a larger core, Burlington feels more happening.

Finally, Stratford. Anywhere built pre1950s is fantastic. Stratford is the nicest small city in Ontario; Orillia in second place.

megadude · #27 Posted **Nov 5, 2020, 5:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Old South/Wortley Village - London - is probably the nicest neighbourhood I walked through this year outside of Toronto. I never used to think of it this way, having hung out here in the 1980s on weekends. Lovely old homes, a small village strip with a Valumart, yet reasonably close to downtown. I'm very tempted to buy a buff brick home here sometime.

In the GTA, downtown Burlington surprised me the most. Very vibrant with a great waterfront, many Victorian homes. Unfortunate that many of the newer condo towers are ugly, but they're bringing a density to the area that reminds me of Victoria. Although Hamilton has a larger core, Burlington feels more happening.

Finally, Stratford. Anywhere built pre1950s is fantastic. Stratford is the nicest small city in Ontario; Orillia in second place.

Funny you mention all this.

I plan on walking through DT Burlington and the waterfront this weekend due to the nice weather. I kind of feel for the residents because I wouldn't want the new condos they're putting up there either if I lived there. But when you live in a DT area of bustling region, there's always the possibility of that happening.

And I was in a nice and shitty part of Hamilton four days ago. Ancaster and then Main St. of Hamilton, Hamilton. The tacky commercial part. Was also at Upper James and Rymal commercial area, which I don't find too bad.

I mentioned Stratford on this forum a couple of days ago.

And I told my fishing buddy to go to Orillia this Saturday and launch at the narrows between Lakes Simcoe and Couchaching. I've been to Orillia twice but didn't really explore. Will do so next time I go fishing there.

MonkeyRonin · #28 Posted **Nov 5, 2020, 7:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by niwell

Lawrence Manor:
https://goo.gl/maps/S3mX1zyt5zZDRPLGA
https://goo.gl/maps/JSBNCyh5AFK9Je8a8
https://goo.gl/maps/JzPiDKz1345r94779

Wasdale! Spent a lot of time on that street and neighbouring Neptune Dr. as a kid. Grew up a couple blocks over.

There are a lot of those 1940s-50s era lowrise & plex-style apartments in the area. Mainly on the arterials, but also in clusters on the back streets:

https://goo.gl/maps/EF9myZ2ZRE7u6rPg6
https://goo.gl/maps/9jkbGHRM52XTxBSU6
https://goo.gl/maps/eBazYCREm2i5g2oF7
https://goo.gl/maps/6TNmQ18h59rbGnUc6
https://goo.gl/maps/Rm4xrjB127Fv9wyE8
https://goo.gl/maps/NjUzY6emACn7TcDd7

That early post-war era in general is perhaps a bit of an underrated (or at least obscure) typology, as it falls outside of the clearer pre-war urban / post-war suburban dichotomy. Yet arguably has many of the best features of both. Maybe I'll do a feature on one of those areas later.

Masoliantekw · #29 Posted **Dec 3, 2020, 4:13 PM**

Here's a video from an interesting series about Québec's lower town neighbourhoods. This one is about Saint-Sauveur, Québec's most important working class neighbourhood, which is probably the city's most underrated inner city area (and also my personal favourite). The video gets really interesting at 6:40 - they dive into its history and ambiance, with maps, old pictures and great footage of the area.
The video is in French.

• Video Link

MolsonExport · #30 Posted **Dec 3, 2020, 4:21 PM**

Love the video. Interesting commentary. Places like St. Sauveur are usually my favorite spots in Canadian cities. Reminds me quite a bit of St. Henri in Montreal.

MolsonExport · #31 Posted **Dec 3, 2020, 4:22 PM**

Wortley Village and immediate environs are fabulous. Best (most interesting, vibrant) part of London, quite easily.

Masoliantekw · #32 Posted **Dec 3, 2020, 4:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Reminds me quite a bit of St. Henri in Montreal.

Spot on - same vibes!

MolsonExport · #33 Posted **Dec 3, 2020, 4:31 PM**

For those that understand French, here is a superb ONF video portrait, created by Hubert Aquin, of St. Henri, from 1962 (when the district was truly working class and with people en chomage). Featuring nifty theme song by Raymond Levesque. Hell it should be watched even if you don't understand French (a lot of it is in jouale), just for the images and the music.

À Saint-Henri le cinq septembre

• Video Link

Quote:

Documentaire réalisé par Hubert Aquin en 1962 portant sur une tournée de 24 heures dans le quartier populeux Saint-Henri à Montréal. On y découvre la simplicité de cette population sans complexes, ni très riche, ni absolument pauvre, qui a commencé à décroître alors que Saint-Henri n'est plus le royaume des tanneries qu'il était jadis.

Wigs · #34 Posted **Dec 3, 2020, 9:32 PM**

I'm loving this thread. Exploring via Streetview a bunch of places I've never seen or in a lot of cases even heard of

ssiguy · #35 Posted **Dec 3, 2020, 9:52 PM**

For under rated I would say Old East in London. It's still sketchy but the city has invested a lot into the area and it's starting to show results. It has a way to go but is light years ahead of what it was 20 years ago.

In Van I would say it's NuWest and Cloverdale while on the Island it's downtown Nanaimo.

manny_santos · #36 Posted **Dec 3, 2020, 11:58 PM**

New West, and also Port Moody are the ones I'd say for the Vancouver area. New West (1858) and Port Moody (1859) both were incorporated before Vancouver (1886); Port Moody was supposed to be the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway and New West was the original capital of British Columbia before it amalgamated with Vancouver Island.

Port Moody has changed tremendously in the past 4-6 years. SkyTrain arrived there in 2016 and it has since become a major craft beer hub in the region.

New West is a bit more industrial and is heavily dominated by railways, but compared to nearby Burnaby, Surrey and Coquitlam it has a lot more independent business and has its own community spirit. I personally chose to live there not only because it's somewhat less expensive than Vancouver proper, but it has a strong community of local businesses, easy SkyTrain access to Vancouver, Port Moody and other areas, easy access to Highway 1 for recreation, and even pre-Covid it wasn't overly crowded compared to Vancouver and even parts of Burnaby. In some ways New West reminds me of Kingston, though with the benefit of being part of a much larger metropolitan region.

New West also has distinctly different housing stock from Vancouver and other parts of BC. The older housing in New West reminds me a lot more of Victorian house design I'm used to in Ontario, while raised ranches are more common in other parts of Metro Vancouver.

MonkeyRonin · #37 Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 12:44 AM**

We all know the North York Centre skyline, but it's actually a pretty interesting neighbourhood as well. Lots of really good restaurants. Don't know if it's necessarily "underrated", but it's at least off the beaten path.

• Video Link

Blitz · #38 Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 2:48 AM**

The Walkerville neighbourhood in Windsor ranks right up there.

Another one in Windsor is Wyandotte Towne. It might be the neighbourhood with the highest Arabic population in the country.

Kilgore Trout · #39 Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 3:23 AM**

Those Windsor neighbourhoods look nice! Although Wyandotte Town probably isn't the most Arab neighbourhood in the country, since there are a number of areas in Montreal that are 20% Lebanese and others that are 25% Moroccan or Algerian. That said, I imagine the big Arab population in Windsor is related to the one in Detroit?

Also – good calls on New Westminster and Saint-Sauveur. Whenever I'm in Vancouver I try to make it out to New West for a short visit, just because it feels quite different from other parts of the Lower Mainland, and last time I was in Quebec City I stayed in Saint-Sauveur and loved the scale.

Blitz · #40 Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 4:14 AM**

^ I just checked the demographic data for this census tract and it says 30.2% Middle Eastern origin so it's probably close. Many people there have family in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan so the border closure has been a big blow.