Your city's commercial streets

shappy · #1 Posted **Aug 17, 2022, 7:33 PM**

Showcase some of the commercial areas of your city; streets, neighbourhood strips, multi-street commercial or mixed-use districts. Any interesting history, architecture, uses, etc?

Here are some of my favourites from Toronto:

Queen West - starting at University and going west to Bathurst, this is the iconic Toronto commercial stretch.
https://goo.gl/maps/xscCuzj6RzwfBhdH8
https://goo.gl/maps/XSkJSoyK9mAHM2QZ7
https://goo.gl/maps/XeNJGPr8bD3GXhtP6
https://goo.gl/maps/Ggp8cw2KKoDKjL7d8

West Queen West - a pretty seamless transition beyond Bathurst, this stretch of Queen takes on a bit more subdued vibe. Still tons of character with interesting shops, bars, restaurants.
https://goo.gl/maps/KeqHBjbCSmAJciva6
https://goo.gl/maps/DXxAHdMwMmFtzX9i9

The Annex (Bloor St W) - young, unpretentious and fun is a good way to describe this stretch of Bloor. Mostly catering to the University crowd nearby.
https://goo.gl/maps/L54AQbjH6rwPoURy6
https://goo.gl/maps/Mnm32Cpsd9na9FQZ7

Little Italy (College St) - kind of a Euro vibe on this strip with good nightlife and restaurants.
https://goo.gl/maps/reMS7tRYnLMPsDF17
https://goo.gl/maps/A9Meqnc755kiy6RK8

Hali87 · #2 Posted **Aug 17, 2022, 9:11 PM**

Barrington: Downtown Halifax. The historic "main street", and also a major traffic/transit corridor, it's reasonably busy but unfocused as far as retail/food/nightlife goes. The main entertainment districts along Argyle and Lower Water kind of spill over onto Barrington as does the financial/corporate stuff along Hollis. As a whole it's a bit chaotic and has a sort of "attitude" along the lines of what you might expect in certain US Eastern Seaboard cities, or Montreal.
https://goo.gl/maps/PFCz3EVzKuafH1uA7

Spring Garden: South End. The most upscale, large presence of Asian businesses and national/international brands with a lot of local stuff as well. Adjacent to Dalhousie's main campuses. The street itself is currently being re-done as a combined pedestrian/transit mall with nice landscaping and a lot of traffic problems. The fancy new library is on Spring Garden. Decent nightlife venues. Cinemas.
https://goo.gl/maps/C4dMhiXm1kmDWHWn9

Gottingen: North End. The most countercultural/anti-gentrification, Black and First Nations oriented. Mostly local businesses, although Global TV's studios are there. Fairly active as a "secondary" entertainment district. Used to feel sketchier, but now that limited sketchiness is spread more evenly through the city while Gottingen itself feels less sketchy and admittedly a bit less interesting than it did 10-20 years ago.
https://goo.gl/maps/QvUZeRLQzPpSESk27

Quinpool: West End, the middle ground between the two. Mid-market chains and local indie retail, Greek, Lebanese, and Korean businesses, skatepark/cycling culture. Lots of food and retail but not much "entertainment" per se.
https://goo.gl/maps/pYYGGnUiNtRovRaAA

Agricola: North End, a few streets uphill from Gottingen. Hipster central. Less gritty than Gottingen. Old-school delis and diners and "bring your own jar" type grocers.
https://goo.gl/maps/JWQeWPjHmB9nuacq5

Portland: Downtown Dartmouth. Really narrow. Sort of has elements of all the other ones combined, plus a nice view:
https://goo.gl/maps/PbTqV1nYAQZsRx5e7

SignalHillHiker · #3 Posted **Aug 17, 2022, 9:21 PM**

There's precious little worthwhile here. The City only had about 50,000 people when we stopped building anything worth having. So...

1. Water Street. Formerly "Lower Path". We claim it's the oldest street in North America, and while this can't be conclusively determined, the case is decent - certainly far better than our previous claims of being the oldest city.

It's pedestrian-only in summer, lined with patios, genuinely very fun.
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5621...7i16384!8i8192

2. Duckworth Street. Formerly "Upper Path". It runs mostly parallel to Water Street, as topography allows, and the two are linked by some small streets and a few pedestrian-only staircases. It's less active than Water Street, and has sections of wooden buildings.
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5648...7i16384!8i8192

3. George Street. I hesitate to include this separately as it's really a glorified back lane between Water and Duckworth, but it is our entertainment capital so, voila.
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5615...7i16384!8i8192

4. Harvey's Road, Long's Hill, Freshwater Road. This is the border between Downtown, Pennywell, and Rabbittown. It was quite a busy commercial area in the 1950s. Now it mostly caters to the surrounding areas.
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5643...7i16384!8i8192

And that's pretty much it worth seeing. There are other core pockets of genuinely nice commercial (Military, Barnes, etc.) but they're MOSTLY residential. And after that it's just suburban shit. This, for example, is the main commercial strip in Mount Pearl, Commonwealth Avenue:
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5187...7i13312!8i6656

kwoldtimer · #4 Posted **Aug 17, 2022, 9:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

There's precious little worthwhile here. The City only had about 50,000 people when we stopped building anything worth having. So...

1. Water Street. Formerly "Lower Path". We claim it's the oldest street in North America, and while this can't be conclusively determined, the case is decent - certainly far better than our previous claims of being the oldest city.

It's pedestrian-only in summer, lined with patios, genuinely very fun.
...

Dominican Republic claims it's Calle las Damas in Santo Domingo (1502). Christopher Columbus's daughter-in-law was among the early "damas".

Architype · #5 Posted **Aug 17, 2022, 10:05 PM**

These are commercial streets that I visit often in East Van, not downtown commercial density, but streetcar suburbs just a few minutes from the core.

Commercial Drive

https://goo.gl/maps/RmcXuqRBk7n6VFMt5

Main Street

https://goo.gl/maps/fDpkNfotgGFZGKxp9

Kingsway & Main St

https://goo.gl/maps/LUw7mHbyug7PqByTA

East Broadway (during Millennium Line / Broadway Subway Construction)

https://goo.gl/maps/wPMwEGvrA6mRSW1m9

J.OT13 · #6 Posted **Aug 18, 2022, 4:12 PM**

Ottawa's commercial streets, referred to as "Traditional Main Streets", were often the heart of streetcar suburbs in the first half of the 20th century. Many of them are slowly having their character stripped in favour of larger, often bland, mid-rise condo buildings.

Starting Downtown, we have Sparks Street, which was lined with big banks and mid-sized department stores. It's now pedestrian mall (since the 60s) that's mostly dead evenings and weekend (and all the time now with a large proportion of WFH in the federal Public Service).

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4234...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4211...7i16384!8i8192

Rideau Street, the first of two streets built in Bytown in 1826 (Wellington across the Canal being the other). It was always an important retail street and hosted the biggest department stores in Ottawa, all locals for the most part. The rise of crime and flight to suburban malls introduced a decline in the 70s, which was only exasperated by the bus mall with enclosed, heated shelters attracting drug use and the homeless, along with the inward facing Rideau Centre. Today, all but one grand department stores (Freimans, now HBC) have been demolished or reduced to facades or replicas however, with renovations to the Rideau Centre, including a more outward facing front, the addition of new restaurant patios, a newly pedestrianized cross street (Nicholas, now Ogilvy Square in honour of a former department store) moving the STO buses to the old Transitway on the other side of the mall, wide sidewalks, bike lanes and the O-Train subway station, the street has become far more pleasant than it has been over the last 40+ years.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4252...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4267...7i16384!8i8192

Elgin, largely residential in the early 20th Century, it is now one of the liveliest restaurant/bar streets in Ottawa. A recent rebuild has introduced wider sidewalks and pop-up patios.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4149...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4156...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4171...7i16384!8i8192

I'll post more at a later date.

kool maudit · #7 Posted **Aug 18, 2022, 6:02 PM**

Hornsgatan, for the sake of mixing it up.

Begins at Slussen (view here looks backwards over the old town)
https://goo.gl/maps/bRRHjLLw6TwwwqZG6

Two levels by the Maria Magdelena church:
https://goo.gl/maps/HBL8KXLzrXrQK1YdA

Mariatorget: named for Mary, but with a big statue of Thor:
https://goo.gl/maps/WMzADwMB7zac96ys7

Peak Hornsgatan
https://goo.gl/maps/97CrahCoHRkoSrkj7

Setbacks make a square:
https://goo.gl/maps/WMruGMfskAGiHTEm8

Last stop before postwar-town:
https://goo.gl/maps/A1cXX7PpeE2tVPAU8

Broken on the back of midcentury scale:
https://goo.gl/maps/zQWGyt2DnJNzBwTR9

Prewar can't save you once you're doing this:
https://goo.gl/maps/ES5yKkQ6u35B7dZD7

Södermalm ends, rising bridge to the left:
https://goo.gl/maps/952FpcrWmXWq5PdcA

lio45 · #8 Posted **Aug 18, 2022, 6:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Dominican Republic claims it's Calle las Damas in Santo Domingo (1502). Christopher Columbus's daughter-in-law was among the early "damas".

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

1. Water Street. Formerly "Lower Path". We claim it's the oldest street in North America, and while this can't be conclusively determined, the case is decent ...

Natives are so irredeemably considered low-tech that anything they ever did can never count as a street?

Also, it requires a definition of North America that starts at the Rio Grande because the Aztec capital definitely had "streets":

(which means that there's no way Santo Domingo has the oldest streets in "North America".)

someone123 · #9 Posted **Aug 18, 2022, 6:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lio45

Also, it requires a definition of North America that starts at the Rio Grande because the Aztec capital definitely had "streets"

There are still old Mayan highways that are quite impressive, with raised beds and stones covered in a hard limestone surface, kind of like the old Roman roads. These mostly went between temple sites (pyramids etc., they would have just been the highways of their day) and they're still around. There are probably some towns with streets based on those old roads, or maybe you can just find some in urban areas. Some of the old towns have stone churches that were built out of the old Mayan temples. The Mayan civilization declined around 900 AD while Aztecs were later.

Architype · #10 Posted **Aug 18, 2022, 7:16 PM**

Vancouver: West Broadway, East to West, via Google, some of these show the street during the construction of the Broadway subway line:

https://goo.gl/maps/1mnznxZ4VbeAvMj78

https://goo.gl/maps/LE2FBQzVKyApRsyd9

https://goo.gl/maps/nZM2bPDM1iiHP1zw6

https://goo.gl/maps/ywcmj3bGbZCrqwXi9

https://goo.gl/maps/siELshRfcwjstDvu6

https://goo.gl/maps/d4s8AY7x4ErS49vv7

Google caught them filming a movie at the Hollywood Theatre:

https://goo.gl/maps/2VH55GX8CcLyU9iZ6

https://goo.gl/maps/pofBogE8tWynFRyf9

kwoldtimer · #11 Posted **Aug 18, 2022, 8:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lio45

Natives are so irredeemably considered low-tech that anything they ever did can never count as a street?

Also, it requires a definition of North America that starts at the Rio Grande because the Aztec capital definitely had "streets":

(which means that there's no way Santo Domingo has the oldest streets in "North America".)

Yes. Oldest colonial street would be more accurate.

Kilgore Trout · #12 Posted **Aug 18, 2022, 9:00 PM**

Montreal has too many commercial streets for one post, so I'll just do the commercial streets within a 15-minute walk of my home. Like many parts of central Montreal, there is a particularly dense concentration of commercial streets so it's very convenient

Beaubien
A long commercial street with a mix of everyday essentials like grocery stores, bakeries, butchers, etc. as well as lots of bars, cafés and restaurants.

https://goo.gl/maps/ShJY6LDjn5EFQs7QA

Saint-Zotique
A little more mixed residential/commercial than Beaubien, fairly restaurant heavy, but with a lot of daily essentials like grocery stores too.

https://goo.gl/maps/PWHM8RtoCZ9Nozt96

Dante
Another mixed residential/commercial street. Most of the businesses are food-related but there's also a famous hardware store. Kind of the spiritual heart of Little Italy.

https://goo.gl/maps/bNG5oct1AmNNDPma8

Saint-Laurent
A real mixed bag. Little Italy. Lots of restaurants, cafés and bars, but also plenty of grocery stores. Attracts a lot of visitors from the suburbs.

https://goo.gl/maps/nTNhPxKRYyBNqiGV6

Jean-Talon
A major traffic artery, not very pleasant to walk on, but there's a very interesting mix of businesses, with a lot of ethnic grocery stores, spillover from the Jean-Talon Market, and in the west there are music venues, breweries and bars.

https://goo.gl/maps/rDi5ZTYFuLAMDdiD8

Bélanger
An odd duck. Lots of useful shops and restaurants, many of them Latin American, but the street feels neither here nor there.

https://goo.gl/maps/FPgKMAZSSFy5F4wP8

De Castelnau
A lovely little neighbourhood street that is pedestrianized during the summer months. Feels like the heart of a village.

https://goo.gl/maps/ADuLMaby6DM187938

Saint-Hubert
The big one. Ugly but very lively. Chain stores, quirky independent shops, lots of Latin American businesses, bars, restaurants. Parts are gentrifying quickly but the north end is getting even more immigrant-focused.

https://goo.gl/maps/d4byxYkGKgTMMDJ37

Masoliantekw · #13 Posted **Aug 18, 2022, 9:53 PM**

I love the links to Google Street View!

Québec also has a few commercial streets. Of course, there are lots of commercial strips in the boroughs of Beauport, Charlesbourg, Sainte-Foy or Val-Bélair (more recent).
However, here are the most interesting (according to... myself) :

Neighbourhood : Saint-Roch

Rue Saint-Joseph is probably what looks most like a downtown in Québec. It's an interesting mix of shopping, cafes, restaurants and venues. As many other streets, it is pedestrianized during summer
--> Rue Saint-Joseph

Neighbourhood : Limoilou

The heart of Limoilou is 3e Avenue, though le chemin de la Canardière is starting to be interesting too
--> 3e Avenue / chemin de la Canardière

Neighbourhood : Sillery

Avenue Maguire is Sillery's best (and only interesting) commercial street. Worth a detour if you are visiting Québec someday
--> Avenue Maguire

Neighbourhood : Montcalm

Avenue Cartier is the heart of Montcalm. It's one of Québec's great commercial streets.
--> Avenue Cartier

Neighbourhood : Université Laval

Avenue Myrand is mostly frequented by locals (a lot of whom are students from nearby ULaval)
--> Avenue Myrand

Neighbourhood : Saint-Sacrement

Chemin Sainte-Foy is somewhat interesting in Saint-Sacrament. Typical neighbourhood street.
--> Chemin Sainte-Foy

Neighbourhood : Saint-Jean-Baptiste

Saint-Jean-Baptiste is one of Québec's oldest suburbs (meaning : an area settled outside of the walls). It's main street, rue Saint-Jean, the same as inside the walls, looks very different here. You'll find interesting restaurants, an impressive number of used books stores. It's lively. It's also considered as the most LGBTQ+-friendly area in the city
--> Rue Saint-Jean

Neighbourhood : Saint-Sauveur

Rue Saint-Vallier Ouest has a kind of hipster vibe. It's the best in Saint-Sauveur. Lots of independant restos and small boutiques, and perceptible community organizations. There are other streets in Saint-Sauveur (ex.: Raoul-Jobin), but not as lively as this one
--> Rue Saint-Vallier Ouest

Neighbourhood : Colline parlementaire

La Grande-Allée is probably one of Québec's most emblematic commercial streets, though I find it overrated and overpopulated with tourists. Lots a restaurants, but it remains a relatively short stretch
--> La Grande Allée

Vieux-Québec, ville fortifiée

In the walled city, there are only 2 streets worth mentionning, the most interesting being rue Saint-Jean where you see locals mixing with the tourists. All the other streets are lined with tourist-trap boutiques. The streets ends (or starts) around the City Hall place.
-->Rue Saint-Jean

Rue Sainte-Anne is another short but interesting street in the walled city
--> Rue Sainte-Anne

Vieux-Québec, basse-ville

In the lower city, there is rue du Petit-Champlain, which is photographed a lot. It may look touristic (it is), but there are in fact many year-round residents on that street. Many of them are (surprisingly) students of ULaval and of various CEGEPs.
--> Rue du Petit-Champlain

Rue Saint-Paul starts to be interesting for someone who is not a tourist around Gare du Palais (a train station).
--> Rue Saint-Paul

Honourable mentions :
Trait-Carré / 1re Avenue (Charlesbourg); Avenue Royale (Beauport); Rue Notre-Dame (L'Ancienne-Lorette); Rue Provancher (Cap-Rouge) - for their old village feel

Innsertnamehere · #14 Posted **Aug 19, 2022, 12:59 PM**

Hamilton's most popular is probably James St N:

Locke St is sort of the "hipster" strip, with smaller, more converted houses used as commercial uses:

Ottawa St is a popular strip in the east end, known for it's antique stores. More recently several hip restaurants and coffee spots have opened. This is notably where the alleyway scene of the second season of "The Umbrella Academy" was filmed - you can see the "Avon" building in the background.

Dundas is also a popular, cute little retail strip:

Hess St is a popular party spot for McMaster students, and is notably pedestrianized:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

niwell · #15 Posted **Aug 19, 2022, 1:13 PM**

Some Toronto ones from areas I've lived that haven't been shown yet:

Roncesvalles: https://goo.gl/maps/bkgwgnkigWeeBqPc6

Dundas West (Little Portugal): https://goo.gl/maps/o5fSubdQNiaWEN2LA

Queen East (Riverside): https://goo.gl/maps/rjGpB4KMxaB8rwaZ8

Bloor West (Bloordale): https://goo.gl/maps/6Yuj7VwSfxgozAwP8

thebasketballgeek · #16 Posted **Aug 19, 2022, 3:42 PM**

niwell · #17 Posted **Aug 19, 2022, 3:49 PM**

Winnipeg definitely has the best bones of Canada's Western cities. Just very gappy still.

esquire · #18 Posted **Aug 19, 2022, 3:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by niwell

Winnipeg definitely has the best bones of Canada's Western cities. Just very gappy still.

Some strips are getting better, but in others, the gaps are growing. Selkirk Ave was the best commercial street out of downtown - not the fanciest, it was always blue collar at heart - but it has been on a steep downslide for pretty well the last 40 years with no real signs of stopping. Every few years another building is lost with few replacements getting built.

The trendier Osborne strip should be much better than it is, but zoning rules have basically frozen it in time circa 1980.

J.OT13 · #19 Posted **Aug 19, 2022, 4:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Ottawa's commercial streets, referred to as "Traditional Main Streets", were often the heart of streetcar suburbs in the first half of the 20th century. Many of them are slowly having their character stripped in favour of larger, often bland, mid-rise condo buildings.

To finish up Downtown, we have Bank Street. Bank is divided into four district sections, Downtown Bank (Downtown and Centertown) north of the Queensway, The Glebe between the Queensway and Rideau Canal, Old Ottawa South, between the Rideau Canal and Rideau River and Billings/AltaVista/Greenboro, south of the Rideau River, where we get into the 50s-70s suburban sprawl.

The streetcar went from Downtown to Old Ottawa South (hence, the urban parts of Bank).

Downtown, with a mix of restaurants and shops a the base of office buildings from different eras.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4210...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4201...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4191...7i16384!8i8192

Centretown, good mix of retailers and restaurants again, mostly in heritage and mid-century low-rises. The southern end has been seeing quite a few mid-rise residential towers over the last decade.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4173...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4154...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4145...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4129...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4125...7i16384!8i8192

The Glebe, a residential area with a great commercial strip with all the amenities you may need. Lansdowne Park can also be found off Bank in this area. Quite a few new mid-rise residentials have been built here as well recently.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4071...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4054...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4037...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4030...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4019...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3988...7i16384!8i8192

Old Ottawa South, with a local branch library, a heritage cinema and other interesting businesses.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3960...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3956...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Th...!4d-75.6835878

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Th...!4d-75.6835878

Not worth posting the suburban stretch.

zoomer · #20 Posted **Aug 19, 2022, 5:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masoliantekw

I love the links to Google Street View!

Québec also has a few commercial streets. Of course, there are lots of commercial strips in the boroughs of Beauport, Charlesbourg, Sainte-Foy or Val-Bélair (more recent).
However, here are the most interesting (according to... myself)

My goodness.. Ok, the rest of Canada combined outside of Ontario and Quebec might as well go home after this Masoliantekw post! I’m not sure how many of those street views are part of downtown, but it looks like quite a few are outside. This is perfection in my mind - beautiful and pleasant streets where you want to walk, shop, linger, eat, drink and be merry.

As much as I love Vancouver, outside the downtown core and a few commercial streets, most of the commercial streets are quite awful. Examples from what Architype shared above - it’s either one or two story dreadful shacks with a faded, shredded, moldy awning, or generic storefronts in mid-scale buildings with very little street presence. Even further up along East Hastings near Renfrew (and the PNE) which is a good neighbourhood surrounded by plenty of great single family houses - the long commercial strip is quite depressing. And when the one storey throw away buildings that have zero historical value are redeveloped it’s usually into a mid-rise condo with an A & W or something in the bottom.

I get the weather is wet half the year, but would it kill folks to wash or replace their awnings once every 30 years or so?

Example here, which you can find all over the city.