Went for another walk this week. This time, my neighbourhood of Oliver
This is not intended to show how pretty Edmonton is. My eyes were bleeding at times. I love Edmonton's people, and there are many cool places. The buildings... the architecture... the city planning... well.... Edmonton, you're suffering a variant of abused woman's syndrome....
But there is hope. The north edge and Jasper East could be done right, and
must be done right.
We'll start our walk at my house. Here's a shot looking West.
And here's one looking east over my roof.
And straight east
Looking south.
Looking North
And now, we start walking Note the 'faux' fort.
121st Street, with some beautiful houses converted to business.
The double line of trees. In the summer this is spectacular.
The old brewery buildings.
See, this is what a brick, industrial building should look like. Refer back to this image later.
History of expansion, built in brick.
Wow. Four floor woodframe condos. Sooo much better than the railyard that they replaced.
Aah. much better.
Much worse.
Honest brutality.
Corner of 104th Ave and 124 Street... Actually, I think it's turned into Stony Plain by now...
The chunk of 124th Street that will suddenly make the street come alive when it's redeveloped.
Looking south from the same spot the last picture was taken form.
On Stoney Plain, just west of 124th. This is how to do an urban strip mall. Please refer back to this.
Just a neat building.
124th St. It's all about the galleries.
Part of the Udell gallery. Sculptures in the snow.
Rosies. It will be a memory soon.
Somebody done gone prettified this up.
Let's see if they'll be able to prettify this one.
Yes Virgina, there are Liberals in Alberta, but they definitely don't need a big building.
124 St also has some nice shops, such as this lighting store...
This is one massive mofo of a building. Squatscraper.
Trees in space!
You know it's a nice shopping strip when there's a MEC.
High street on 102 Ave.
Another shot of the squatscraper.
These houses are going to be torn down by some lucky developer. Ten stories overlooking the groat ravine? Money baby!
The 102 Ave bridge over the groat ravine.
Yup. That's going to be money.
Time for coffee.
... but first, I'll do a little browsing at Call the Kettle Black.
OK. Coffee time.
The City of Edmonton notice is up for the buildings at the start of Jasper.
Jasper ave, has some residential towers.
It'd be interesting to know how much that little house is worth. Jasper Ave address, overlooking the valley...
Shame about the view.
Let's just put some sculpture on this building. And then clad the other side in vinyl.
One last look north up 124th Street.
And from the same spot, looking East up Jasper Ave.
Peeking through two buildings across the valley, to the University.
Definitely 'of an era'
Along the edge of the valley, looking east.
A panorama. That's a view.
The University of Alberta.
The gallery walk starts here.
Edmonton does have a sign bylaw. Really.
Just a shot.
Organic food. In Alberta. It's a good thing.
Some random residential towers in Oliver.
OOOH! A crane!
Another building with public art stuck onto it. I actually quite appreciate it.
Just so you don't think that ugly woodframe walkups are a new phenomenon in Edmonton. We're still living with these....
Yup. On Edmonton's main street.
Here's the last of the uglies. They're on a deathwatch...
Another place of worship... this is the second ugliest we'll see.
A few construction shots.
Another place of worship... and in front is a two storey home with vinyl siding. On Jasper. Facing the side street.. very odd.
Earls. The Tin Palace. An institution we've rammed down the throats of many others.
More residential.
Champion grocers in the podium of a massive tower. With lots of parking. In the foreground is one of Edmonton's little oddities. Suede, next to the Subway is a very, very cool martini bar/ lounge.
Let's sell some condos.
Sobeys eat your heart out. These folks would slay if they bothered to compete.
Edmonton pride.
The Druid. Gotta take a shot of the bars I frequent, or in this case, infrequent.
Anything built here will improve the view. Ugly has a long history in Edmonton.
Yeah, I'm scratching my head too.
More Oliver residential
My favourite Edmonton church.
Joey Tomatos. This is another fairly good example of an urban strip mall. The parking is at the back, but it sucks for two reasons. It's only got one story, and it's that ugly colour palette.
Oh, and that's Stantec in the background. Yes, we're out of residential, and almost into commercial.
The Devonian is almost done.
A shot north, capturing how close Stantec and the Devonian are.
Here's the old hospital.
Another shot of Stantec and the Devonian.
Please tell me that they aren't leaving that...
Another shot of the hospital.
One more residential.
But these are commercial. I hope.
Crane farm!
That'd be a look north
That'd be another urban strip mall. Edmonton sure has a lot of them. :?
That's the site of a recent demo.
Looking north, this is where the railyards were.
Another shot of the demo. Bobcat on the hill.
We'll see these woodframe four stories again.
Lovely.
Squatscraper. IBM. Big Blue. I think so.
Looking south on 109th from Jasper. This is a view that doesn't make it into the tourbooks.
Enjoy this, 'cause they're going to destroy this classic.
The base has been hit by an ugly stick. That glass entry way is just wrong.
Wind sculpture. Apparently it's supposed to whistle in the wind.
Condo conversion. These are very cool apartmnets. There's also a nice lounge on the first floor.
Still not a fan of the redo, but at least it's not a design I hate.
And it's great that this corner will get filled in.
A penultimate look.
Another bar. The Bank Ultra-Lounge.
A look west on Jasper.
Materials in place for the reno.
Office all set up.
Looks like they had a boo boo.
Zip across this for a coffee, then decide to head back and check out the legislature.
Looking south from Jasper.
Heading south a half block, this is a glimpse east down an alley.
Another shot east.
This may be the ugliest church of the tour.
At least it's not brutalism.
I really like this building. It has an elegance. and a sense of itself. It's gorgeous!
The Kremlin called. They want their architect back.
What are those brick barbells? What are they for? Why are they ruining the view?
Looking north from the grounds of the legislature.
There goes the neighbourhood.
Why framing a picture is important. See the picture above for contrast.
The leg's other ugly neighbour.
OK, it's definitely stalinist looking, but damnit, they ran an empire. That mofo is imposing. You can just hear it "Respect mah authoriteh!"
A shot northwest.
Straight north. You can see the college way in the distance.
The birds nest is why I took this shot.
I'm trying to figure out what that crane is for.
What is hanging out of the building? and why?
Heading back up 109th.
That's nice.
That's decent graffiti at least. Not great, but decent.
Looking south over the route for the streetcar to Whyte, and the multipurpose trail
Another shot of the impressive Bowker building.
Let's surround a pretty little church with all sorts of ugly.
Hellaciously boring, and that final floor in white is just bizarre.
Cause we've got all sorts of ugly in Edmonton.
Street car crossing. This is the one that goes to Whyte ave via the High Level Bridge.
Very 70's church, with the massive IBM building in the background.
Gee. Why do developers think the Edmonton will accept crap?
From further away this time, as I come north on 109th Ave.
There's parking....
Is that, in the distance... it somehow looks familiar.
Didn't we see these exact buildings a block south?
Really. What can you say. It's a 7-Eleven.
By this point, my eyes are bleeding from the ugliness.
It's like a train wreck. You just keep going.
The Drum shop.
Make it stop.
But it's behind me. How can it be off in the distance?
At least the school isn't building ugly.
Bearing in mind that this really was industrial and warehousing for the railyards that the ugliness was built on, I like this street. It has potential for condo loft conversions. Watch what happened on 104th Street travel up 103 Ave.
It's still quite close to town.
There's the college.
And the new building. Cladding is going up!
At the corner.
NFB building at the other corner.
And looking south from the same spot.
Liking this building!
The west wing of the last shot. Not completely built out yet.
Looking south on 109th St. from 104 Ave.
Ugly suburbanity in the foreground....
Yup. That's Edmonton.
Not excusable.
Those look like the banners that the mongol hordes flew....
The crane for the Venetian.
The hole for the second altavista.
Overtime. With the crane for the Venetian in the background.
Looking east on 109th street....at 103 Ave.
What in the name of all that is unholy is that?
The venetian.
Interesting.
Seriously. What in the name of all that is unholy is that?
The site across the street from the Venetian.
OK. In context it isn't the ugliest thing in the frame.
The least offensive of the new retail developments on 104th Ave.
The most offensive.
See, this one is pedestrian friendly! And a couple of cool shops.
In the summer, this is actually quite a nice area.
Looking East, before crossing over into the 'North Edge'
A bench in the park. I like the bronze leaf.
The industrial wasteland that is the north edge. We shall not let what happened before happen here. Nous Souviens.
It's an improvement.
Again, looking east.
Picture a mixed use building here.
And something blocking the view here.
Just nasty.
That my friends is potential staring at us full in the face.
Anyone know what's going on here? This is behind the Safeway.
A sign shop. In the downtown core.
The front of the sign shop.
A corporate headquarters, Edmonton stylee!
Quonset huts, not just for the suburbs!
Anybody want an investment property?
Zoom. Go fast.
Some funky sculpturez.
I should hope so. Wouldn't pay for it.
That church that some are upset is likely to get torn down. If you look closely, you can see that the homeless are living here enmasse.
Self explanatory. It's above ground.
I'm thinking that's the underground parking.
I don't know what that is.
Look! A magpie!
Where I think that new building is going to go.
Are those prices still in effect?
Discovered these two stores. If you're looking for cool stuff for your house, this is definitely worth looking at. From toilets to sofas to cabinet door pulls.
Oliver Square West. The desolation...
Is there anything like this a five minute walk from downtown anywhere else in Canada?
Oilver arena. The local skating rink and outdoor pool.
Almost home!
Oliver really is a neat neighbourhood. Tree lined avenues are something special
There's my home.
Just cross this street, to get to it.
And cross this street.
And I'm home!
And last, the map of my travel:
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