Quote:
Originally Posted by zahav
Zoomer those Victoria photos are chef's kiss, perfection! And you captured so many more areas than usual, not just downtown. I gasped when I saw the girls swimming casually in the ocean! Yes it creates a fun image to play up the mildness in Victoria compared to the rest of the country, but it ain't THAT mild lol, nowhere in Canada is comfortable for being outside without clothes in early February, let alone going for a dip in the ocean. And they look so nonchalant in the picture, not like they were running in on a dare, and then immediately out. The shorts in winter thing is one thing, it's so common in Vancouver too, but getting in the water?!
Some of the historic apartments buildings look a bit run down (photos 6 and 7 in the set). I hope the owners of these buildings keep them up, they are such gems. The historic building stock is so rich in downtown Vic, these kinds of buildings must be kept up. Or maybe they are kept up, and the photos are misleading? Victoria is very lucky to have a thriving downtown, it needs to ensure it doesn't fall into negligence. There's many American towers or cities with amazing historic building stock downtown, but the towns are just dead and emptying. So sad, keeping downtown cores vibrant is a MUST for a place to succeed
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Thanks for the feedback - keeps me motivated to take more pics
I had to look back to see what the temperature was that day - a high of 10 C on February 6, so warmish in the sun, but not in the ocean! But you're right - they were so casual and hanging out, swimming around, who says girls aren't tough! It's a growing health/commitement trend (fad) to swim in the ocean on a daily basis year round. I mean some old European folks have been doing it for decades, but it's really taken off with the 20 to 40 year old crowd here. And by taken off, not really widespread, but at any beach at pretty much any time of day you'll find people going for a swim. I waited around for five minutes for them to get out of the water to get a more interesting photo, but alas they did not, and it was time for me to move on for new photo ops.
As for the buildings downtown at Douglas and Yates, yes they are a bit run down and it's been that way for decades. That block along Douglas and also along Yates. I mean they're not falling down or in terrible condition but if this continues for another decade or two they might be hard to restore. And maybe that's the intention of the owners or perhaps they're just not in a financial position to invest massive amounts of money for restoration/earthquake proofing especially when they'll not likely be able to add much new rental/for sale apartments. Financially it's tough, especially since Covid and now escalating costs. There was a proposal a couple years back for the Morgan Block (the building to the right) but that seems to have stalled:
Douglas Street - Victoria. Sunday, February 4, 2024. by
JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr
But there have been many recent historical restorations and several are underway, although many can be accused of facadism. It's tough as you know with property/construction costs on the west coast especially when you have to factor in building to earthquake standards.
The building in the middle below is currently having it's interior stripped and will be combined with two new builds on either side to form a new Hyatt Centric hotel downtown. Ironically it's directly behind the buildings pictured above on Broad street.
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