[Boris2k7]

I decided to walk down to the bank today to make an appointment (I like to do these things in person rather than over the phone), so I took my camera along. The nearest bank is about 3.5Km away, which makes for some walking (I'm also an impatient person so I won't sit around and wait for a bus).

Anyways, afterwards I was walking home, and decided to go above and beyond (a little) so that I could get pics of not only the parts of the community I know, but the newer parts I haven't really explored. It took a while. I got lost on about 4 or 5 occassions while on the last part of the journey. Commentary will be included.

Oh yeah, and some of the night pics were really bad (high ISO -- hey, they don't put very many lights in these new burbs) so I decided to make all the pics smaller than I usually would to compensate for that...


Canvas condos under construction, and moving at a pretty good clip
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9905/img1586mf0.jpg
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9251/img1587bb9.jpg

Looking north on Shawnee Gate, with the Highbury condos Crane in the distance
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9061/img1588eq6.jpg

Covenant Church. Kinda 60's-70's swanky design. The daycare I went to was right around the corner, and once we had did a Christmas play in the basement. I was the cow.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/4301/img1589lw0.jpg

All quiet at the Highbury site. For those who don't know, a worker was killed here last week because the back wall caved in. You can just barely see it, but in this picture there is a fence just below the Church at the top that is hanging out over the hole.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/932/img1592ne0.jpg

Pedestrian Bridge over Macleod Trail, from the Fish Creek/Lacombe station to St. Mary's University-College.
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6461/img1593ww5.jpg

Macleod Trail with FC/L Station in the foreground. In the upper-left of the photo is the Agrium HQ, and in the upper-center is the Canyon Meadows complex that includes some cheap theatres. Macleod Trail itself is crossing Fish Creek Provincial Park which seperates the South from the Deep South.
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/7213/img1594tg1.jpg

One of two old churches that were out here when this part of Calgary was the Town of Midnapore... I'm still a bit nostalgic for the old grain tower that used to stand near FC/L station but was torn down sometime in the late-90's.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/2146/img1596mq7.jpg

Flowers and messages on the gate to the Highbury Construction site
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8085/img1597hu0.jpg

Fence bordering the Shawnee Slopes Golf Course driving range. NIMBY's have been fighting the sale of the course (which is privately owned BTW, by the Shaw family I think) in a desperate bid to make sure that it never gets redeveloped.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7107/img1598ac0.jpg

Views down Shawnee Drive
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5518/img1600kg6.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7484/img1601oo7.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9428/img1611hi7.jpg

Shawnee/Evergreen is one of the more affluent communities in Calgary. Enough at least, that the Estate parts have homes with different designs and materials.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/6683/img1602iy0.jpg

Must scare away the Jehovahs or something... :sly:
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6138/img1606dg8.jpg

Some more golf course shots. The deer wander all over the community from Fish Creek, and they aren't afraid of people or vehicles. They are pretty smart too, as they will wait at the crosswalk for cars to stop. The coyotes aren't afraid of people either, but for some reason people have an irrational fear of coyotes.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5905/img1612pm6.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/236/img1613yn6.jpg

Looking south on Evergreen Street
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/2670/img1617ic1.jpg

Looking west on Evergreen Drive
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6375/img1618ks1.jpg

A tree at the very top of Evergreen Street. The stairs go up the hill to the Alliance Church parking lot, though I've developed a habit from my youth to avoid the stairs and just trod up the side of the hill.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4858/img1620bt6.jpg

Shot from the Alliance Church Parking lot, looking northwest over Evergreen Estates. This is my home, regrettably or not. It's fairly isolated.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9536/img1622mw0.jpg

Almost everything you see in this view was not there five years ago. It's sad. You are looking southeast with the newest part of Millrise in the foreground, Bridlewood and the newest part of Evergreen in the middle, and the mountains as the backdrop. I swear, before 2003 there was nothing but rolling fields there.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8528/img1636fy2.jpg

Looking east on 146th Ave/James McKevitt Road, Millrise to the right and the Fairways to the left.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8513/img1643pu4.jpg

This fence extends all the way from the Alliance Church at the top of the hill down to the entrance to Shawnee Slopes in the middle, which eventually resumes as a retaining wall beside Highbury at the bottom.
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/4413/img1644kg6.jpg

This used to be 146th Ave, until the city moved the road. I'm 99% sure that the reason is because the newest residents of Evergreen Estates, back around 2000, were complaining because of the traffic noise behind their homes, so they got the road moved. All the development the left came after that move.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2560/img1649jz9.jpg

Looking south towards the end of Evergreen Drive as it intersects with the new 146th Ave/whatever it's called...
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/324/img1650lm0.jpg

There are some common themes running along with the development of the newest Evergreen/Bridlewood suburbia. These are as follows: lots of apartments and townhomes, really complex street layouts that confuse the crap out of me, and huge, totally unecessary fields about every three blocks. There's a ton of these, all over the place, and I don't think many are going to be developed. Some of them are actually big runoff ponds. This was one of the medium-sized fields
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/842/img1652bf6.jpg

The materials are crap, but at least these homes have nice frontage as compared to having a giant garage door.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7708/img1653ap6.jpg

Ah, look. A small park with a monument in the center, with the community logo, a leaf. How cute.
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7105/img1655ku7.jpg

Pathway leading between houses... this is the sprawlier part of the community, with lots of SFU's. Oh, BTW, this path leads to a big dirt field... which got mud and snow into me shoes...
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4757/img1660jm6.jpg

This is that dirt field I was talking about. I think it is the biggest empty space in the community. There is a cellphone tower on the other side... :X
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9181/img1661dw9.jpg

Somewhere between that last picture and this picture I got really, really lost. The only way I found out where I was is because of the Mormon Church at the edge of the community. You know, with the mass-produced white steeples? Anyways, this park has a light in it.
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/7903/img1664ev5.jpg

Approximately 1/3 of the vehicles in this suburb are minivans and pickup trucks.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/1382/img1665wk8.jpg

Ummm... newish apartment building with dining room at bottom. They even have a waiter. :O
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9831/img1668fu3.jpg

"Hey Steve, what do you want to do tonight?" "I dunno, hang out at Shoppers?" NOTE: This is an entirely different shoppers from the one at the start of the thread.
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/9985/img1672ma0.jpg

Hard to see in this light (but hey, at least I am sparing your eyes from the fugliness), but you can make out the outlines of apartment buildings, senior's lodges, townhomes, duplexes, etc. Mostly Pointe of View.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/6237/img1673dg5.jpg
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/4342/img1674zu5.jpg

"Everybody now: SELL, SELL, SELL!"
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/5194/img1677ws4.jpg

This is a lonely little street. It is past 24th Street SW, and we are looking west. There is a big field off to the left, part of which will be a Fire/EMS station and part of which has a sales office for a condo building yet to be started. There is also a big field off to the right, which has goal posts, and is surrounded by nothing but fugly rowhomes and a single fugly SFU.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/1476/img1679ri8.jpg

Glenmore Christian Academy, which used to be surrounded by farmland but now has shops and condos around it. Sometimes when my family was driving back from Montana we would use the Cowboy Trail for the last bit of the trip and end up going past GCA. It's weird to see it "inside the city."
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/3506/img1691jc5.jpg

Line of shops at the edge of Bridlecrest. This is pretty much the end of development in the Deep South ATM. If you keep going south you will hit 22X and then be back into those empty fields that once were much closer to the city.
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/8075/img1697dd2.jpg

Well, that's it for this set. I hope this was educational for some and entertaining for others.

Who knows, I may go take a better daytime set of the communities involved depending on the responses to this thread. The area is really indicative of the patterns in suburban development in the last five years and makes for an interesting case study.

[Jeffsey500]

There's so much space. Like a lot of space. My community so does not have that kind of space.

[Boris2k7]

There's way too much goddamn space. It takes forever to get around on foot. I've learned my lesson, if I get out again and take some daytime shots tomorrow, I'm using my bike...

Hmmmm... if I go by bike I may be able to cover Millrise, Somerset, and Shawnessy. Midnapore and Sundance are out of the question, make someone else do them... anything south of 22x is also out of the question. No way I am going to Chapparal, Cranston, Arbour Lake, or Silverado.

EDIT: Actually, on second though, Millrise, Somerset and Shawnessy are out of the question. I'll just stick to the newest areas and leave it at that.

[Ayreonaut]

My cousins go to school at GCU, and my aunt teaches there. I went there once last year to watch them in a play, classy place compared to my school. Does anybody use those massive fields? I know I'd play football and frisbee, but I can't see them being very utilized.

[mersar]

My cousins go to school at GCU, and my aunt teaches there. I went there once last year to watch them in a play, classy place compared to my school. Does anybody use those massive fields? I know I'd play football and frisbee, but I can't see them being very utilized.

I'd imagine they are not. A number of them are there simply because the city requires certain percentages of new developments to be set aside for future schools, public facilities, etc, with the schools usually taking the larger parcels. Unfortunately by the time said schools are to be built (often many years after the last house goes up) they are no longer needed and they sit empty and unused. Which had lead to a huge number of these sites throughout the city, and the Mayor and province were talking on how to redistribute them a while back.

[1ajs]

yea its prity bad down there... borris post this in the my city photos section...

[Boris2k7]

I'll see how this thread does first, thanks. :)

For anyone interested, this is roughly the area covered... I've also indicated in blue the areas which the city stopped around 5 years ago, aside from some small pockets like GCA...

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/5954/fotoshoot1gn7.jpg

[CMD UW]

I'd imagine they are not. A number of them are there simply because the city requires certain percentages of new developments to be set aside for future schools, public facilities, etc, with the schools usually taking the larger parcels. Unfortunately by the time said schools are to be built (often many years after the last house goes up) they are no longer needed and they sit empty and unused. Which had lead to a huge number of these sites throughout the city, and the Mayor and province were talking on how to redistribute them a while back.

You are correct. These fields and other open spaces are part of the 10% land dedication that is required with the subdivision of the land. Some of this 10% is used to preserve trees, used as future school sites, sports fields or just simple open space. The municipality takes ownership of these sites once the subdivision is approved.

And yes, there are many that have been dedicated and never used.

[coolguyj]

boris i think that grain elevator was torn down around 2003 not the late 90's. i think i was on holidays when they tore it down. i got back and was surprised when i saw it wasnt there anymore. i thought it wouldve been great to keep it.

[Boris2k7]

boris i think that grain elevator was torn down around 2003 not the late 90's. i think i was on holidays when they tore it down. i got back and was surprised when i saw it wasnt there anymore. i thought it wouldve been great to keep it.

Could be. I'm not really sure, I didn't pay too much attention back then. I thought it was gone before FC/L was completed though (Oct. 2001).

[1ajs]

i vagly remember somthing about the elevator being demolished on the news...

[bigcanuck]

There's way too much goddamn space. It takes forever to get around on foot. I've learned my lesson, if I get out again and take some daytime shots tomorrow, I'm using my bike...

Hmmmm... if I go by bike I may be able to cover Millrise, Somerset, and Shawnessy. Midnapore and Sundance are out of the question, make someone else do them... anything south of 22x is also out of the question. No way I am going to Chapparal, Cranston, Arbour Lake, or Silverado.

EDIT: Actually, on second though, Millrise, Somerset and Shawnessy are out of the question. I'll just stick to the newest areas and leave it at that.

If you want to hit Arbour Lake, you may want to hop on the train - it's a bit far for a cyclist... :haha:

(assuming you meant Auburn Bay)

[Mid1]

Could be. I'm not really sure, I didn't pay too much attention back then. I thought it was gone before FC/L was completed though (Oct. 2001).

The grain elevator was still their when FC/L was built but was gone once Somerset and Shawnessy were built to make more room for a car dealership. I also believe that there were two grain elevators at one point and the last one still had silos up until the early 1990's.

[Boris2k7]

If you want to hit Arbour Lake, you may want to hop on the train - it's a bit far for a cyclist... :haha:

(assuming you meant Auburn Bay)

Oh, uhhhh, yeah. Brainfart.

The grain elevator was still their when FC/L was built but was gone once Somerset and Shawnessy were built to make more room for a car dealership. I also believe that there were two grain elevators at one point and the last one still had silos up until the early 1990's.

Hmmmm... so I guess that the mounting evidence says that it was somewhere around 2003 after all. I guess that means that the grain elevator stood where the Nissan dealership is, which makes sense, as I vaguely remember it standing on that spot (I just more remember it in general, it was quite imposing... ;_;).

[Boris2k7]

Some interesting pics...

How the Deep South looked in 1988
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/3923/na5654278pto5.jpg

Shawnee Slopes in 1974 (my community would be at the top-center of the pic)
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4508/na4476936ip7.jpg

Looking the other direction (the former Town of Midnapore is in view at the other end of the golf course, but by this time it was already annexed (although not reestablished as a community until 1977)
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1299/na4476938dh3.jpg

[Surrealplaces]

Nice photos Boris!

[Surrealplaces]

There's way too much goddamn space. It takes forever to get around on foot. I've learned my lesson, if I get out again and take some daytime shots tomorrow, I'm using my bike...

Hmmmm... if I go by bike I may be able to cover Millrise, Somerset, and Shawnessy. Midnapore and Sundance are out of the question, make someone else do them... anything south of 22x is also out of the question. No way I am going to Chapparal, Cranston, Arbour Lake, or Silverado.

EDIT: Actually, on second though, Millrise, Somerset and Shawnessy are out of the question. I'll just stick to the newest areas and leave it at that.

Yup, there is no shortage of space down in the deep south. A friend of mine used to walk from Sundance over to his girlfriend's place in Chaparral. It used to take him a good half hour. She must've somehow made the trip worthwhile ;)

[Boris2k7]

Some more images from today. I didn't take as many pics, because, well... I just didn't find all that much stuff interesting.

Before that, I have a complaint. The cops pulled me over...

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/9082/300pxthescreamfy6.jpg

... for the rear light on my bike not being on. It was only a few minutes after sunset and I was literally only a minute away from home. Bastards. That two bad run-ins with the CPS so far. I demand a good encounter. One of you take a bullet for me, plz.

Oh well, at least they let me off with a warning after a brief interrogation which included a) my home phone number (it's on the id dumbass...), b) my cell phone number (?), c) why i have a big camera, d) who i'm taking pictures for, e) where I go to school (I was wearing my UofC hoodie...), f) what I'm taking in school, g) what that involves, and h) if I've taken a picture of that site where the worker was killed (highbury)...

Now, on to pictures.

Lines of houses in Evergreen
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/5577/img1700dl3.jpg
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/7869/img1701te1.jpg

This type is quite common
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6264/img1702bk6.jpg

Incredibly ugly structures, but hey, at least they're dense...
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6362/img1704up9.jpg
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1975/img1705ft1.jpg

I'm lost. Where am I?
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/6277/img1707jp7.jpg

The next thing you know, every single suburb and their sub-community is going to have a gas station w/ Tim Hortons installed
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/5041/img1710af8.jpg

Looking east on 146th Ave... funny, you SO can't see the Highbury crane when you are standing further up... I wonder how exactly this lens effect worked out
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/658/img1711mu2.jpg

Oh yeah, the current gas price is ____ (for history's sake)
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/560/img1712xp9.jpg

This is what the real countryside looks like... about a year or two before it is about to be ass-plowed for more suburbs...
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/6684/img1713jq2.jpg

Hehehehehe... the school that will never be
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/4430/img1714gx8.jpg

That's some fancy park equipment there... quite unlike the parks in Shawnee with the rusting swingsets and slides and the wood poles that will give you really bad slivers.
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/4263/img1716lo9.jpg

If you think this is bad: I saw a house in Somerset with hot pink trim :X
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1681/img1717oi5.jpg

A sunken park at the edge of Somerset...
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/4780/img1719xj0.jpg

I burst out laughing when I saw this row of houses
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6343/img1721hu6.jpg

The view from Somerset... god damn I hate the cinema's colours
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/449/img1725kx9.jpg

The view from Shawnessy... offices in Sundance in the distance
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/4002/img1727ug0.jpg

Public Junior High School U/C next to Father Doucet. I didn't even know about this one at all
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/4986/img1732wo5.jpg
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9664/img1734ki0.jpg

The Barn in Shawnessy. Functions as a community centre.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9162/img1735ri3.jpg

Some path in Shawnessy
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/3605/img1736ho9.jpg

The vibrant colours of the post-sunset
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/719/img1737sp4.jpg

[Mid1]

:previous:
You could of always said you were a lost tourist :D
But again good work on the pictures. You should've gone to some suburbs farther east (Midnapore/Sundance) where their is some vegetation among the houses, makes for a much more interesting walk.

[frinkprof]

Thanks for the peek into the deep south, Boris. Some good points and some bad points. A lot of these suburbs are denser and provide more housing options than the 70s and 80s suburbs, however they are still out in the middle of nowhere. That "sunken park" likely acts as a dry pond for heavy rains.

Don't answer if you don't want, but what did you say to the cops when they asked you who you were taking the pictures for and if you took pictures of Highbury, and their response to your answers?

Cops going on power trips irk me. I respect what they do and all, but I don't like when officers step over the line by doing things like interrogating clearly unimposing and harmless people. Anyway, off topic, but it gets on my nerves.

[Boris2k7]

Oh, I just told them that I was taking pics because of my degree, and that I did take a pic of the site and that there were flowers and everything on the gate. I was in the frame of mind that they were trying to prove I was legit...

[freeweed]

I find it HIGHLY ironic that in this age of cheap digital cameras, ie: mass throw-away photography for the masses, police and other authority figures would even bother to ever ask stupid questions like that - let alone the sheer paranoia angle I notice more and more.

Hey, dipshits, here's a tip: it costs $0 for me to take 1000 pictures of nothing, every day of my life. I'm taking pictures of nothing because I CAN.

[rrskylar]

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6362/img1704up9.jpg

After the fire spread through that under construction Edmonton subdivision I would be scared to live in shit like this!

[Boris2k7]

Moar from 2day

Shawnessy Station
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7257/img1783ne5.jpg

Looking south from the FC/L Pedestrian Bridge... the grain elevator must have sat where the Nissan dealership is, because I vaguely remember the empty space between Macleod and the tracks being filled with industrial materials/equipment
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/226/img1816ot3.jpg

FC/L Station
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7379/img1817gp7.jpg

Those churches I mentioned before
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8094/img1818di6.jpg

Looking north from the FC/L Pedestrian Bridge... Downtown in the hazy distance
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/5345/img1819nk4.jpg

Entrance to St. Mary's
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/3328/img1820bg5.jpg

Looking back west at the pedestrian Bridge... Highbury site in distance
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9296/img1821qh4.jpg

A small soccer field right in front of the main St. Mary's building
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7431/img1822cc5.jpg

Aforementioned building
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1734/img1823gw5.jpg

Older structures on site
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7458/img1824bd0.jpg

This tower is old, and it nearly burnt down back in the 90's. It was repainted from it's former burnt brown look a couple of years ago
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8751/img1825si2.jpg

Le Fort Building
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/5069/img1826iv7.jpg
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2254/img1827ak6.jpg

St. Basil Building
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5919/img1828uu7.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4601/img1830bs4.jpg

Looking north from St. Mary's across Fish Creek Park... both the Southland area and Downtown visible in the distance
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/4112/img1831bg5.jpg

Looking west from St. Mary's, again towards Highbury, but this time from a little more elevated position
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/6530/img1832nw5.jpg

A stone pedestal/marker at the entrance to St. Mary's
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3832/img1835ej8.jpg

South on Bannister Road
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5916/img1837pm8.jpg

Canvas Under Construction
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2411/img1839ri8.jpg

[Mid1]

It seems like that brown tower is leaning quite a bit! But great pictures again Boris.

[djmichaelallen]

Would it be possible for you to go deeper into Midnapore? I used to live in that area (Just off of Midridge Drive SE), and I miss Fish Creek, and how many trees that were in that area.

I even got my car serviced at Fish Creek Nissan. I feel all Nostalgic now.

[Jimby]

Wow nice sunset capture Boris. That office building in Sundance seems to be taking a long time to be built.