- T H E - C H R O N I C L E S - O F - S A R N I A -

[direfloyd]

I personally think you will be pleasantly surprised with Port Huron... it was also in dire straits not long ago and is coming back. I think both Port Huron and Sarnia are destined for a comeback due to their location. Great photos!

The hassle of crossing the border I would not trade for anything! Being able to wake up in the morning on a weekend and deciding I'm going to go walk the Windsor waterfront to view awesome Detroit skyline is priceless!!! I have even decided to drive to Toronto or Niagara Falls on a whim, it is great!

[GreatTallNorth2]

How easy is it for daytrips? Very, very easy. I never have a problem at the border. I live in London, which is one hour from Port Huron. Many Londoners go to Port Huron or the Detroit suburbs for day trips.

[Top Of The Park]

nice shots...interesting city

[Rico Rommheim]

Lookin' Good hair salon


--For Rent--

[denveraztec]

Wow! Some fantastic shots of some incredible homes!

[circle33]

Good stuff.

I was just back there last week. I thought of taking some pics, but some mysterious force told me not to.

The downtown is still looking kind of ratty but quite an improvement from a few years ago. I don't imagine it will ever again be as lively as it was back in the 70s (when Taylor Furniture looked pretty much exactly as it does now). Now if they could just do something about the roads. Brutal.

[jdcamb]

I played hockey in Sarnia a few times. They had some hard hitters and a loud barn there as I recall. Fun stuff.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. I've ventured as far west as London now, so places like Sarnia and Windsor are the next step some time.

[KevinFromTexas]

That one building, Kenwick Place is interesting.

This looks a bit out of place.

[jodelli]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

That one building, Kenwick Place is interesting.

This looks a bit out of place.

About thirty years ago Eaton, a major Canadian retailer at the time, partnered in developing downtown centres in smaller markets throughout Ontario. They were basically small malls anchored by Eaton stores.
The Bayside mall in the picture is one of these.
Eaton went under in the nineties and stores were acquired by either Sears Canada or The Bay, both of which exist today.

jodelli

[flar]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Nice pictures. I've ventured as far west as London now, so places like Sarnia and Windsor are the next step some time.

There is a marked change west of London, you leave Toronto's sphere of influence and enter Detroit's. It's sparsely populated compared to the Niagara peninsula and GTA and many of the towns are very small or not that interesting. Some of the towns of architectural or historical interest: Glencoe (yellow brick), Ridgetown(nice), Petrolia (oil), Dresden (Uncle Tom's Cabin), Wallaceburg (grit), Wheatly/Leamington/Kingsville(Lake Erie), Amerherstburg(history) and also the south shore of Lake St. Clair. There are just two cities, Sarnia and Windsor. Chatham thinks they are a city, they have some nice Victorian mansions.




Thanks everyone, I didn't expect Sarnia to generate this much interest

[USDollar]

looks like a decent sized town
i've noticed that in Canada, the red light on a traffic light is larger than the yellow and green lights (I guess that makes sense) :-)
great pics as usual

[Swinefeld]

Loved these chronicles of Sarnia. The Victorian era residential architecture of Canada is a real treat.

[diskojoe]

GOOD STUFF HERE. good to see so many of the old spaces still in use too.

[MolsonExport]

Nice thread.

CIBC just rudely plasters it's ugly logo on top of the elegant inscription.

Anyone else find the CIBC logo incredibly ugly?

[begratto]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

CIBC just rudely plasters it's ugly logo on top of the elegant inscription.

Anyone else find the CIBC logo incredibly ugly?

Totally agree. At least they could have put the sign at the corner of the building and left the original inscription visible.

Great pics, flar.

[circle33]

Hey, the ole home town. I'll be heading there next week. I'm surprised to see some old businesses still going (Taylor Furniture, the Olympia). Nice to see the downtown represented, but as the focal point of the city it died decades ago. That title has been ceded with generic, mediocre cluster of chains dotting the highway out of town. Like just about every other town.

[flar]

^^These shots are from two winters ago, things might have changed since then (but probably not too much )

One huge change (not downtown) that I noticed last year when I visited Sarnia was all the demolition around the old Polysar/Bayer Rubber plant. And a lot of plants have been renamed LanXess. Looks a lot different.

[66days]

Originally Posted by circle33

Hey, the ole home town. I'll be heading there next week. I'm surprised to see some old businesses still going (Taylor Furniture, the Olympia). Nice to see the downtown represented, but as the focal point of the city it died decades ago. That title has been ceded with generic, mediocre cluster of chains dotting the highway out of town. Like just about every other town.

Taylor Furniture closed, but over all downtown has improved at lot since these photos were taken.

This building it being transformed into a new art gallery. http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2754735


Also, a couple of the "flea markets" have now closed and the owners have renovated their buildings.

[circle33]

I remember when that building housed "Saks of Sarnia", the local attempt to emulate 5th Ave. I guess. Glad to hear things are looking up. I'll be having a peek next week.