The REAL Niagara Falls

flar · #1 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 5:14 AM**

Downtown Niagara Falls, Ontario
Away from the hotels, casinos and the bright lights of Clifton Hill...

You'd feel cheated if there wasn't a shot of the falls:

daniel_t · #2 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 5:21 AM**

Amazing shots. This is sad to see. I had no clue Niagara Falls, ON looked like that. I've never actually been but my mom has. You would think that it being a popular destination (the falls anyway) that the city would be somewhat nicer. I always thought the city was nice but i'm obviously wrong. Great shots though. Thanks for sharing.

Daniel

flar · #3 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 5:29 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniel_t

Amazing shots. This is sad to see. I had no clue Niagara Falls, ON looked like that. I've never actually been but my mom has. You would think that it being a popular destination (the falls anyway) that the city would be somewhat nicer. I always thought the city was nice but i'm obviously wrong. Great shots though. Thanks for sharing.

Daniel

This part of Niagara Falls is practically abandoned. All the action moved south, closer to the falls. Tourists stick to Clifton Hill and Marineland, they never really go downtown Niagara Falls, it's a whole different world.

Sekkle · #4 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 5:23 AM**

Love your photos, man. You are the grit king!

I always look forward to your threads. Keep up the good work.

Thundertubs · #5 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 5:34 AM**

Excellent thread!
I've always found NF to be an interesting pair of cities. I've never seen that area of the Canadian side, it looks almost as dismal as the US side (NF-NY has alot of nasty industry). On the Ontario side, even the touristy part around Lundy's Lane is pretty sleazy. I always liked the strip of cheezy fleabag motels with different themes.

Top Of The Park · #6 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 5:46 AM**

Amazing shots of an area in recession.....which might be a look some American cities begin to take on.

LSyd · #7 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 6:37 AM**

charming...at least it was, once. "it's cleaner on the canadian" side they always say...thanks for disproving that myth. great pics and thread.

this artillery piece needs help.

-

softee · #8 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 8:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top Of The Park

Amazing shots of an area in recession.....which might be a look some American cities begin to take on.

I wouldn't say that Niagara Falls is an area in recession though, it's just the old downtown that has fallen by the wayside. The rest of the city is doing fine, and the tourist area near the falls is booming with new high-rise hotel construction.

Pinion · #9 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 9:51 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top Of The Park

Amazing shots of an area in recession.....which might be a look some American cities begin to take on.

Are you saying that seriously? My reaction was "wow, a Canadian town that looks as run-down as all those countless American cities."

flar · #10 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 1:52 PM**

Brantford and Niagara Falls are the most depressed downtowns I've seen in Canada. Wallaceburg and Sarnia are pretty bad too.

As was mentioned, the touristy areas of Niagara Falls are nothing like this. You wouldn't see this if you went to Niagara Falls, you'd be staying in a highrise hotel going to the casino and eating at the Hard Rock Cafe. I've been to Niagara Falls at least 20 times and this is the first time I've been downtown, it's tucked away off the main roads and actually a bit difficult to find.

Ducov · #11 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 3:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by flar

Brantford and Niagara Falls are the most depressed downtowns I've seen in Canada. Wallaceburg and Sarnia are pretty bad too.

As was mentioned, the touristy areas of Niagara Falls are nothing like this. You wouldn't see this if you went to Niagara Falls, you'd be staying in a highrise hotel going to the casino and eating at the Hard Rock Cafe. I've been to Niagara Falls at least 20 times and this is the first time I've been downtown, it's tucked away off the main roads and actually a bit difficult to find.

Yeah, that tends to be the folly of Tourism based growth in most places. The only real economic benefits rarely spread beyond the immediate area of tourist interest.

Great pictures though, they capture the atmosphere of the place well.

pip · #12 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 6:59 AM**

and the Canadian side is the 'good side' of Niagara Falls

James2390 · #13 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 8:34 AM**

That area reminds me of Silent Hill.

softee · #14 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 8:50 AM**

^ That would be downtown Brantford! haha

giallo · #15 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 2:30 PM**

Great tour, flar. Honestly, this part of the city looks more appealing to me than the tourist trap that sits at the edge of the falls. That whole area felt like a bad acid trip.

pj3000 · #16 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 3:02 PM**

awesome shots, flar. i ventured to the downtown for the first time a couple summers ago after going to the falls. i was amazed at the level of abandonment. granted, it was early evening on a sunday, but with the booming areas so close, it seems that some spinoff would create a livlier scene. very cool tour.

DetroitSky · #17 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 3:06 PM**

I've been wondering what the real downtown looked like for a while. Nice shots.

DC83 · #18 Posted **Feb 19, 2008, 6:25 PM**

I found an old post by Kitchissippi in the Niagara Falls Development Thread.
He points out how using an old rail line through Niagara Falls could potentially reconnect Downtown to the Strip.
It could be a great revival for Downtown NF!

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...113507&page=16

Downtown Bolivar · #19 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 6:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC83

I found an old post by Kitchissippi in the Niagara Falls Development Thread.
He points out how using an old rail line through Niagara Falls could potentially reconnect Downtown to the Strip.
It could be a great revival for Downtown NF!

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...113507&page=16

The old rail line was purchased by the city from CP for a people mover to circulate tourists. Then there was no funding for it so now its just an abandoned strip of grass and gravel. It had trains running on it not that long ago. I remember being on Clifton Hill one night around midnight and seeing a huge CP intermodal train rumble through. The best part was the shocked look on the faces of tourists.

As a former res of NFNY we used to love coming across the border to go to the city cafe to drink as 19 year olds. A buddy of mine even pissed off the Rainbow Bridge. Yeah...good times. NFNY and NFON--brothers 4 life!

shovel_ready · #20 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 9:19 PM**

NFON's downtown is merely a victim of a bad geographic location. It's stuck in a weird corner (hemmed in by the gorge and rail tracks) away from the actual Falls and not central to the entire city as a whole. And like so many smaller cities, the residential fabric is low density and most residents drive their own cars, therefore they shop at stripmalls/places more convenient for their cars.

I dunno, maybe a full-fledged red-light district might be the only thing that can save the downtown...linked by a cutsey trolley on that abandoned rail bed which connects to Clifton Hill/Fallsview; would make it work well.