Five Miles of Grit: A long walk down Barton St. in Hamilton

[Shadow11P]

Considering I live near Dundas Street in London, I thought it couldn't get any shittier in Canada when it comes to streets. But it does have a lot of potential.

Otherwise, I think Hamilton's a great city.

[the dude]

barton's always depressed the shit outta me. ironically, i live about 50m from it...the western portion of it at least. i have to say that i don't share other people's optimism. i just can't get past how it looks.

[vertex]

flar, nice documentation.

The building on the right in this picture looks really old, maybe 18th century. What do you know about it?

[SteelTown]

That old building is the Smart-Turner building, it's an architectural gem. It's one of the first industrial building in Hamilton, Victorian industrial vernacular stone architecture.

It's currently under redevelopment, it's going to converted to an adult version of a Ronald McDonald House, an affordable place for families of critical care and cancer patients to stay. Hamilton General Hospital is next to the Smart-Turner building. You can see the Hospital behind the Smart-Turner building.

[rousseau]

Friday nights at Gallery 435 a bunch of aging folkies/hippies get together for beers and singing with guitars and such. The owner doesn't make a living off of the paintings on the wall, though. He does it by selling marijuana, which he grows at his farm. Actually, people smoke pot openly both on the first floor and in the basement. I used to go there now and then to jam about five years ago, and was always surprised that the cops never hassled them. I wonder if the Friday night thing is still going on?

[rousseau]

More comments:

1. Another gritty stretch is Cannon, all the way from Kenilworth to Bay Street (it's parallel to Barton, and complements Barton in a more residential way). I've driven along there a number of times and marveled both at how intact it is as a lower-income neighbourhood, and how utterly depressing the people are who live there.

2. I used to live in Winnipeg, and Selkirk isn't in the same league as Barton when it comes to grit. Granted, Selkirk (and Winnipeg in general) is probably a lot more threatening/dangerous than Barton is, but it doesn't have that East/Midwest/rust belt vibe going on.

3. Dundas Street in London mentioned in a thread about Barton Street in Hamilton? Does not compute.

[raisethehammer]

yea, those Friday night's at 435 still go on. If you want another treat a few blocks west, pop into 'The Studio Gallery'. Bill Powell is one of the artists and is a great chat. Politics especially. Barton is a beauty.....someday it'll be humming with an off the wall type of vibrancy of a Kensington Market/East Vancouver type of vibe.

[rousseau]

You're more optimistic than I. My sense is that Barton is about as Kensington as it's ever going to get. If it were ever going to turn into a true hotbed of indie funkiness it would have started happening twenty years ago.

Hamilton's saving grace is that it is close to Toronto. End of story. Fifty years from now when the last steel mill is gone and the last brownspace is cleaned up, Hamilton's waterfront will be a sight to behold a la Queen's Quay (and populated by refugees from Toronto) and most of Barton will be torn down and rebuilt into generic townhouses or condos. And mostly forgotten. Barton isn't intact enough to make it that attractive to gentrifiers, and fifty years from now it will be too far from the waterfront for anyone to bother much with.

That's the way I see it, anyway.

[Kilgore Trout]

this thread is classic. you've really documented a certain time and place... there are a lot of really interesting details in these photos.

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Wicked Grit. As for the Grit Capital of Canada, it has to be Montreal. There is just soooo much grit in Montreal.

really? i've never seen anything like this in montreal, even in point st. charles and the outskirts of hochelaga-maisonneuve. maybe in the 1990s...

[Boomtown_Hamilton]

Great job as always with the pix flar.....some of these photos are really funny....best part of all is these are the streets I grew up in.......

The very first picture is on Barton and Greig street....I grew up on 41 Greig (first 26-years of my life) that picture brings back alot of great memories.....

The next noteworthy picture for me is the Barton street Jail which is the site of the very last man killed by execution in Canada by the Death Penalty....It was a hanging.........

Some of these areas look really nasty but for the people outside of Hamilton looking at these pictures these streets look bad BUT they are not as bad as they look....you can actually walk these streets here at night....it use to be worse actually especially along Barton and Sherman with the street gangs they use to have there by the same name (Barton & Sherman gang)......

Next noteworthy picture is the J.Rumor supermarket....the owners there are Portuguese and recent 6-49 Lotto winners....Gotta wonder now if it was THEIR ticket or someone else's?....hmmm.....they also own the Duarte Supermarket........

Next noteworthy picture is "Ways to Wisdom" Occult Boutique....best spot in town for Psychic readings....local Police sometimes refer to them for help....and not too far off from this spot use to be a Sports Card and Memorabilia shop owned by Leo Savelli who use to have an original game worn NHL Hamilton Tigers jersey hanging from the store front window......

Next noteworthy spot is the TROCADERO restaurant which use to be a MOB hangout here in town...place has alot of history....is also the very first site in Ontario to have Brick Oven for Pizza making........the very next picture after that one you can see in the background a building that use to be the Canadian headquarters for WESTINGHOUSE Company before they closed up shop and left Hamilton for good....being transformed into Lofts last time I checked it out........

Next notewrothy spot for me is a Pub named ZAK's....it use to be known as the WAVERLY TAVERN and I use to be a Karaoke host and Disk Jockey at this spot in town...now is site that has Offtrack Horse betting....the owners of this Bar also own another Bar in town called; "The Dizzy Wheel."

Center Mall area is site where the old Barton street Arena use to be....original home of Hamilton's NHL team of the 1920s; The Tigers.....they moved out of town in 1926 to New York where they were renamed the NY Americans and were the very first hockey team to play out of the newly built Madison Square Garden........

Thanks for the tour flar.....Greatly appreciated!!!

[Tony]

Originally Posted by rousseau

M
3. Dundas Street in London mentioned in a thread about Barton Street in Hamilton? Does not compute.

The only place in London like Barton is Centretown, which is Dundas east of Adelaide; however, it's only a fraction of the size of Barton.

[raisethehammer]

yea, Hamilton's history comes alive on this street....funny thing is, I know folks who live in the various neighbourhoods along the corridor and they love it. More and more younger people are buying up and fixing old homes. If Hamilton ever got serious about sprawl and implemented an urban boundary we'd see a lot more attention and money paid to Barton (although I'm not sure I want Hamilton's stucco-happy, parking lot addicted, visionless, anti-creative developers and builders getting anywhere near this street).
I'd rather have it stay like this forever instead of turn into another Upper James.

[SteelTown]

I believe it has or is getting ready to expand the residential loan program to the Barton Business Improvement Area and including other BIAs in Hamilton. The residential loan program has been a successful in the downtown core, converting abandon building into lofts/condos. The city will give you an interest free loan for 10 years.

Now if they could expand the Enterprise Zone to the Barton BIA that would really help developers. Enterprise Zone is a program where the property tax is frozen from the day you purchase the property for I think 10 years. After 10 years that the property is reevaluated after the redevelopment but by that time you should have had made your profit and can afford the true assessment.

[bc2mb]

dirty and depressing. love it! thanks for sharing.

[Tony]

Originally Posted by raisethehammer

If Hamilton ever got serious about sprawl and implemented an urban boundary we'd see a lot more attention and money paid to Barton.

I'm not sure why some of you Hamiltonians are always complaining about uncontrolled sprawl in Hamilton because it is controlled. Hamilton does have an Urban Boundary, it always has, the most current version available and still in effect is the one in the old Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Official Plan. It's just that there's a lot of room designated for growth:

http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyre...RegionMap1.pdf

The City is still working on a new City of Hamilton Official Plan.

I think Greenbelt and Smart Growth Legislation would apply to basically stop expansion of this urban area for the foreseeable future because of the capacity that can still be crammed into the designated Urban Area and the requirements to intensify along identified transit & mixed use corridors.

I highly recommend that you guys pay a little more attention to what's stated in the OP's for the city that you live in.

[Shadow11P]

Originally Posted by rousseau

3. Dundas Street in London mentioned in a thread about Barton Street in Hamilton? Does not compute.

I was refering more towards the section from Adelaide eastward till you reach Highbury, which bares some resemblance. I probably should have been more specific.

[SpruceMoose]

Great set, one of the best I've seen - I like seeing the darker side of blue collar cities.

[Hozay]

Great tour!

[flar]

Thanks for your responses

I hope this set of photos communicates the extent of grittiness on Barton. It's not so much that it's the most horrible area, it's the shear size, it really is a long stretch. The amazing thing is that the street is so intact: the entire street is lined with an nearly unbroken (but dilapidated) streetwall. Hardly anything has been torn down. Since it's lasted this long, I'm guessing the street will remain much like it is now.

I believe it will remain like it is because there is a stigma associated with Barton Street, but even moreso, there is a stigma associated with the people who live around Barton. No amount of redevelopment, tax breaks or urban planning can remove the stigma because it lies in deeply rooted social problems. The cycle of poverty and all the drugs, crime, desperation, hopelessness, etc. that go along with it are deeply entrenched in that area of the city. These people have to live somewhere.

Those who live in the Barton Street area are proud of it because it's their home or where they grew up. It definately has character, and those who live there like to talk about how tough it is and exaggerate how dangerous it is. There is some danger, and as you can see in the pictures, the criminal element is always visable. On my walk I saw prostitutes, police chasing people, and homelessness, while others offered to sell me pot or crystal meth. Despite that, I didn't risk life or limb to get these photos, but I easily could have had my camera stolen. Although I'm cultured and educated now, I come from a working class background and look kinda scruffy, so I was able to mingle among the people I met on the street without much trouble. I think there would be more risk for a really clean cut, obviously privileged person walking around taking pictures there.

Also, the Centre Mall, which is located toward the end of the tour, is slated for major redevelopment which will include residential. Obviously having a Mall on the street does nothing for the vast string of empty storefronts along Barton, but it will be interesting to see what effect the new residential will have in the area.

**EDIT** I don't mean to give the impression that Barton is unsafe, just that it's a rough neighbourhood, and the residents play that up, and you will find trouble if you look for it.

[slide_rule]

the strange thing is, i did not find that area to be unsafe. maybe it was because i was lucky. maybe it was because i was naive.

hamilton does have its charm. it's hard to find the same post-industrial grit in other areas of canada.