Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
The area's bones are good for sure, particularly the commercial buildings. Selkirk Avenue is the best urban strip in Winnipeg outside of the downtown area, even in spite of the many buildings that have disappeared over the last 30 years. That was about the time when it ceased being a neighbourhood high street with stores, banks, restaurants, etc. and became what it is today.
There has been a small influx of creative types who have been priced out of the Exchange District (lured by cheap studio spaces), but it is too small to have a noticeable impact on the area. Not a whole lot of immigrants either - some refugees, but not many immigrants with some resources available. It's still kind of a place where you go when you have no other choices available.
Incidentally, you picked six excellent representative samples of the North End and Point Douglas... those six views would give anyone a pretty good idea of what the area is like.
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It always looks pretty nice up there if you don't look too closely. The city tried to make it a showpiece for the working class back in the early 20th century, building thoroughfares like Burrows Avenue and Inkster as impressive double streets like you'd more typically find in posh areas. It is actually a lot like Buffalo - I was quite blown away by how Winnipeg-like Buffalo is, actually. That really nice part of old Buffalo (Elmwood, I think - same as Winnipeg has) is amazingly similar to Crescentwood or Fort Rouge. I did a few double-takes when I was there a few years back.