HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada > Ontario > Hamilton > Culture, Dining, Sports & Recreation


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #41  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2008, 2:17 PM
oldcoote's Avatar
oldcoote oldcoote is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 627
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown View Post
Found out that the Gown and Gavel renovation is worth $500,000.00.
Chump change compared to the London Tap House. Between 3 and 4 million.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #42  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2008, 3:00 PM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,054
the gown is looking good though.
I actually like the old interior..I hope they don't make it too modern.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #43  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2008, 5:22 PM
thistleclub thistleclub is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,728
I think that ongoing upgrades is just the nature of nightlife, though -- if you want to stay competitive, you need to offer the best, brightest, newest, most stylish. The Manhattan Complex (Up Lounge, Sky, Sundried Tomatoes, Blue Devil) was basically the London Tap House without the rooftop patioo and the production values. And because it was ratty, it was always a second-tier entry. The Gown was the alpha pub for so long that it got a bit complacent, and was overtaken by evolution (the arrival of nightclub production values over the last several years) and competitors who were hungrier, savvier and quicker to innovate. That shift has impacted downtown clubs as well. Where Hess was once a pub-dominated district that went virtually dead in the winter, it's now a year-round draw and a sponge for student dollars... so downtown clubs are competing against Hess as much as each other. The Tap House's $3-4m is a product of the structural hurdles of taking over that building and installing a rooftop patio, but also a consequence of having to make a mark in a lively market.
__________________
"Where architectural imagination is absent, the case is hopeless." - Louis Sullivan
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #44  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2008, 8:45 PM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,054
I think it also reflects the Hamilton market. If downtown was dead you wouldn't see people investing hundreds of thousands and millions into their facilities as well as new facilities moving into the core.
Those of us who live here have known this for a long time and have had it confirmed by folks who own the Corktown, Honest Lawyer, LTH, KOI/Sizzle etc....
the best is yet to come...next few years should be interesting.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #45  
Old Posted Jun 28, 2008, 4:17 PM
thistleclub thistleclub is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,728
I never suggested downtown was dead, just that the nightclub environment was competitive, which should be non-controversial. Yes, the investments are obviously more a than two-pronged consideration, and the investment metric of downtown, whether as a vital and evolving entity or just a compelling real estate value, is part of it. The standards of the groups cited are also part of it: Corktown carries the Slainte banner, LTH and Honest Lawyer are franchises, and Koi/Sizzle is an evolution of the core club consortium – they, along with Funky Munky/Diavolo/33 Hess arose from Fever, since closed. The same group operated at various points in the past in the old Odeon space (The Ballroom) and the Main and James Bank of Montreal (Puzzle). They, along with LTH/Honest Lawyer (and, to a lesser extent, Slainte/Corktown) are nightclubs of various scales and ambitions. If you get into that industry, you have to provide a certain level of production value, and you have to keep revamping every so often just to keep your audience interested. The Richmond strip is familiar enough to many 905ers -- and that's another part of the dynamic. If you want to retain thse dollars, you need to aim higher. Which is part of why Hess is starting to go vertical. Although Hess investments would be lucrative regardless of what's happening in the core. The money that is generated by a nightclub working at capacity usually dwarfs the money going into renovations.
__________________
"Where architectural imagination is absent, the case is hopeless." - Louis Sullivan
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #46  
Old Posted Jun 28, 2008, 4:19 PM
thistleclub thistleclub is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,728
Also: Agreed, the next few years should be extremely interesting.
__________________
"Where architectural imagination is absent, the case is hopeless." - Louis Sullivan
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #47  
Old Posted Jun 28, 2008, 5:58 PM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,054
FYI...thistleclub, I wasn't suggesting that you said downtown was dead.
I was simply referring to the naysayers in town who constantly say that.
sorry for the confusion.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #48  
Old Posted Jun 28, 2008, 7:36 PM
thistleclub thistleclub is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,728
No harm, no foul.

BTW, another core development that I haven't seen mentioned on the board is Saffron, the Mediterranean wine bar that's just opened on the ground floor of the Crowne Plaza in the former Amores space. Looks pretty polished, and I think they're open for breakfast ($8-14ish items).
__________________
"Where architectural imagination is absent, the case is hopeless." - Louis Sullivan
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #49  
Old Posted Jun 29, 2008, 2:35 AM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,054
wow...I didn't even know about it. i'll have to check it out.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #50  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2008, 9:44 PM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,054
good Hess Village video here by the Spec.
Also, Gown and Gavel is open now.

http://www.thespec.com/videogallery/415175
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #51  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 12:12 AM
FairHamilton FairHamilton is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,768
Quote:
Originally Posted by raisethehammer View Post
good Hess Village video here by the Spec.
Also, Gown and Gavel is open now.

http://www.thespec.com/videogallery/415175
Perfect, another 120 more parking spots. We all know the Downtown Hamilton area is begging for more parking...................
__________________
The jobs, stupid!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #52  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 3:00 AM
adam adam is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Downtown Hamilton
Posts: 1,231
Just watched the above video... Is it true Hess Village is now a hot spot for the over 25 crowd? I wasn't aware of this! Or is this something new they are promoting?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #53  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 1:35 PM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,054
no, it's true. KOI, Sizzle, Celidh House (sp??), Lazy Flamingo and now potentially G&G with it's more upscale reno are all catering to the more mature crowd.
I love whats happening in the village. Next 5 years should be interesting, especially if we can ever get around to extending it down George St and if the Darko clan actually builds the live venue at King, although it sounds like those guys are spreading themselves thin now with the purchase of the Sheraton on top of everything else they are supposed to be doing downtown.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #54  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 4:22 PM
SteelTown's Avatar
SteelTown SteelTown is online now
It's Hammer Time
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Hamilton
Posts: 19,872
From pub to club: Hess stays hot

August 09, 2008
Hamilton Spectator staff

They call it pub and say nothing has changed.

But last week the Gown & Gavel -- the cornerstone of Hess Village's nightlife -- reopened with a glossy new look that mirrors what's been happening to this entertainment district for the past decade.

Plastic patio chairs have been discarded for sleek wooden table sets. Steak has been added to the pub menu and there is now a $5 cover charge on weekend nights
.

You might not recognize the old Gown & Gavel if you once frequented the bar between King and Main to raise a pint after work.

But then, you might not recognize much about this street. In a move to keep up with the short attention span of fickle nightlife partygoers, Hess Village has morphed from pubs into a club scene, as an often younger crowd wishes to dress up, drink cocktails and dance to DJ music.

And some businesses have taken a further step, moving upscale to catch the monied older crowd looking for richer dining.

The Gown & Gavel reopened quietly, yet it buzzed with the largest crowds on the street.

It's been the same way for changes on Hess. Without fanfare, a few key business people have been snapping up property after property to transform the area into a buzzing night pot, renaming bars and adding a new feeling of vibrancy, seeking out the latest in what's hot and attracting thousands to drink it up.

Not everyone has enjoyed the change. Bob Daniels, owner of Earl's Court Gallery on George Street, a framing shop, uses the word "devolved." He's run his business in the village for 35 years, beginning in a time when it looked as if the area would be filled with shops and boutiques. Now, he says, he's selling the last storefront retail business in the village to one of the major players and owner of the Gown & Gavel, Denis Vranich.

"Customers tell me I've got such a wonderful location," said Daniels. "But they're not the ones washing the puke off the back step in the mornings."
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #55  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 8:32 PM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,054
geez, Daniels sounds like a good Mountain resident.
Try operating downtown in any other real city bud...you'll have a lot more than just puke on your back step.

However, I'm glad he's selling...recent years it seems out of place and is a great spot that if redeveloped properly can add a ton of new vibrancy to the pedestrian only zone on George.
Pretty exciting stuff in the village these days.
The Spec had a huge piece today about the village...the one above seems to be a mini-version of it.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #56  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 9:26 PM
hmagazine hmagazine is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 225
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown View Post
From pub to club: Hess stays hot

August 09, 2008
Hamilton Spectator staff
Now, he says, he's selling the last storefront retail business in the village to one of the major players and owner of the Gown & Gavel, Denis Vranich.
Isn't funny that a guy who has had his share of problems with the law and also has seen a courtroom or two - owns a place called the Gown and Gavel?

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #57  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 9:26 PM
SteelTown's Avatar
SteelTown SteelTown is online now
It's Hammer Time
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Hamilton
Posts: 19,872
Staying hot at Hess Village
It used to be about raising a pint with buddies. Now it's dressing up for the dance floor. Hess has gone from pub to club. What's next for Hamilton's entertainment hub?; Hess Village

August 09, 2008
Carli Whitwell

It's 10 p.m. and the black velvet rope goes up outside Elixir Nightclub. A girl sets up her till to claim a cover charge from the hundreds who make their way into the bar to dance, drink and see and be seen.

They trickle in slowly at first. It may be bedtime across the city, but here in Hess Village the night is just warming up.

The last five years have witnessed a major transition at Hess, a small downtown village sandwiched between Main and King, and lined with bars whose patios extend to a cobblestone-like walkway. Once known for its nurturing of new musical talent and its old-world pub comfort, the street has taken on a louder beat that thumps out dance rhythms and draws young crowds often more interested in meeting and mingling than catching up on conversation.

By 11 p.m. there is a lineup outside Elixir. Young women with shiny lips, mini-dresses and steep high heels clutch cellphones. Guys with designer shirts, distressed jeans and slick shoes look on.

Once they're in, they arm themselves with a drink -- a cocktail usually, or sometimes a beer. They sip a little, mingle a little, slip through the crowds and eventually make their way to the dance floor.

When that gets too hot, they cool off on the patio.

This is what is hot today at Hess, and that's what it's all about for the patrons and the business owners making a living off the crowds.

It has sparked a move from pub to club that has seen new bars spring up, old ones remodelled and reborn with new names, and live music nearly vanish.

Down the street from Elixir is a nightclub called Diavolo, offering a cavernous dance floor inside and an L-shaped elevated patio outside that's perfect for checking out the scene. Curly-haired Cassandra Aquilina and her smiling friend Kayla Campbell are standing in line, waiting their turn to enter. Two years ago this club would only fill with overflow from other bars when they got too crowded.

Now Diavolo is hot.

"We come here because everybody is here," says Aquilina, waiting patiently midway through the line. "It's the place to be."

And being new and hot is what it's all about, says Marvin Ryder, a marketing lecturer at McMaster University, explaining the constant transition of Hess.

"A young person going out in Hamilton doesn't want to feel that they are going to a place six months behind. They want a club that might rival an experience in New York, L.A. and Toronto."

So places such as Sizzle and its conjoined twin Koi spring up, with sleek and elegant interiors, art-deco-inspired dance floors, stylish bars and roped-off VIP sections with bottle service.

Decor, vibe, music -- the club scene must scream "current" or else it will be looked upon as trying too hard, Ryder says.

"Owners always have to be talking to customers and paying attention to media sources to watch the trends."

Because where the trends are, the crowd follows. And with the crowd comes the money, particularly when the goal is youth.

Mac pop culture professor Marc Ouellette says those under age 28 have more money to spend than any previous generation and want to spend it now. And if the money is scarce, it just means predrinking at someone else's house and going out later in the evening.

Weekend lineups at Hess peak around midnight. But they often start around 10 p.m., when that velvet rope goes up outside of Elixir and other clubs.

It's a time of night when the easy vibe at Hess is overtaken by the anticipation of a young, drinking crowd.

The nightclubs that fill Hess Village draw young crowds dressed up for the dance floor. 'We come here because everybody is here,' says one patron. 'It's the place to be.'

Shayne Godek feels it. The personal support worker is 43 and has been coming to Hess for 20 years. Sitting on the upper patio of the Lazy Flamingo with his girlfriend, Susan Cutts, Godek watches the transformation and points at what he sees as the reason behind that change.

"It's nightclub, nightclub, nightclub," he says.

The Lazy Flamingo offers some refuge, as a holdout for the live music scene, still offering bands every night. Here the crowd is different. Golf buddies sip a pint after a day on the course, a husband and wife share an evening out, a group of guys meet up with friends from Toronto.

But even here, the 10 p.m. transformation takes place. Plastic cups replace the solid stemware served by the smiling waitresses.

McMaster's Ryder views Hess's vibe today as an entertainment hub, a one-stop shop for bars -- the miracle mile philosophy stemming from locating all major car dealerships in one district.

"It creates the idea in the consumer's mind, 'If I'm thinking about buying a car, I know if I go to that area, I'll find what I'm looking for.' The same thing happens in Hess."

But Hess has always been about giving people what they want. Designed in the 1970s as a Hamilton alternative to Toronto's chi-chi Yorkville, the village was once a flourishing hub filled with clothing boutiques, galleries, restaurants and offices.

The recession and a fraud scandal in the '80s involving Yorkfield Agencies Ltd. -- landlord to almost half of the tenants in the village -- threatened to derail the street's success.

But by the mid-'80s, the revolution of Hess Village had begun, thanks in part to John Ankers. On Nov. 5, 1981 -- his birthday -- a young and single Ankers, then owner of the Whistling Judge on Augusta Street, opened the Gown & Gavel, which even today is described fondly as the cornerstone of Hess Village.

But the familiar names from the Gown & Gavel's heyday are gone -- Ivory's, Polo's, Norma Jean's and Mermaid's Lounge, all among the fallen, abandoned for the club revolution.

And the Gown & Gavel has gone through its own transformation, sold and shut down for months. It reopened last weekend with a new look to an eager crowd numbering around 500, according to one of its bouncers.

Gone are the dark green plastic chairs and tables and the wrought-iron fence surrounding the huge outdoor sitting area. Instead, the freshly-interlocked patio is protected by an elegant glass fence with frosted panels monogrammed with G&G. Inside, the decor is sleek and minimalist with dark colours and plush, rich fabrics.

While there's no dance floor and the vibe is more lounge than club, the upscale add-ons suggest a search for the next hot trend in entertainment.

Ankers is pleased about continuing efforts to keep Hess fresh.

"It makes me feel really good if I go to Hess on a busy, hot night and I see so many people and so many young faces enjoying themselves in a liberal culture."

The challenge for Hamilton, says Ryder, is to develop more of these hubs as the city continues to grow. Hamilton needs an entertainment district to compete with surrounding areas.

"If we don't, people would have no hesitation going where the party is and they would spend their money in Mississauga and Oakville or Burlington."

Part of the challenge is divining the next trend. The Gown & Gavel renovations, and plans for hotels, would suggest that trend might be upscale.

"The demographics of the village are going to start swinging back to what they used to be," says Lazy Flamingo owner Jim Skarratt. "Classier places, higher prices, I think we'll see it across the board."
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #58  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 9:34 PM
adam adam is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Downtown Hamilton
Posts: 1,231
Wow, A Night at the Roxbury has come to Hamilton
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #59  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2008, 11:41 PM
fastcarsfreedom's Avatar
fastcarsfreedom fastcarsfreedom is offline
On Guard For Thee
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Essex County
Posts: 1,007
Sleek and polished isn't necessarily my scene--but I'm happy to see the Village thriving. It was always the place "with potential" in the city, and it's finally starting to live up to that. Onward and upward. Expansion outward--down George toward Bay, and the possible twin anchors of a live entertainment venue in the west and a hotel on the HMP site in the east could make Hess the rival of districts in far larger cities.

I feel bad for Earl's Court--his was the last holdout from Hess' first era as a chi-chi street of dress shops and art galleries. Hosing off vomit would be a bummer--but RTH is right, he could very well be dealing with condoms and syringes too. Hope he's successful wherever he goes.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #60  
Old Posted Aug 10, 2008, 12:15 AM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,054
Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcarsfreedom View Post
RTH is right

Lol...sorry, I had to.
Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada > Ontario > Hamilton > Culture, Dining, Sports & Recreation
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 8:21 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.