Calgary's Marda Loop: Where styles converge

Surrealplaces · #1 Posted **Aug 4, 2009, 6:29 PM**

Sunday afternoon I snapped a few photos of Marda Loop and it's adjacent neighborhoods, South Calgary and Garrison Woods.

Garrison Woods and South Calgary are two neighborhoods that could not be more different.
Garrison Woods, which is a master planned, 'heritage' themed neighborhood seems to be the polar opposite of South Calgary, an eclectic mix of small old homes, and large ultra modern styled houses.

The ever evolving Marda Loop, isn't itself, a neighborhood, but a business area and acts like a halfway buffer zone in the middle. It's considered by many to be an inner city neighborhood, even though it's situated about 3km from the downtown.

Marda Loop

The Main drag through Marda Loop (33rd Ave SW)

Garrison Woods Located just to the south of Marda Loop, is a master planned neighborhood that used to be a former army base (CFB Currie Barracks). Abouth half the neighborhood (maybe more) is made up of multi-family housing.

South Calgary, often confused for meaning the whole south side of Calgary is the actual name of the neighborhood just to the north of Marda Loop. This hilly neighborhood is made up of mostly single family homes and duplexes although there is some mutli-family residential not shown in this thread. Most residences in this neighborhood enjoy great views of downtown Calgary.

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Wooster · #2 Posted **Aug 4, 2009, 6:36 PM**

Indeed, very eclectic. I like the area, despite some of its less inspired efforts and failures. I think there is still potential to infill some of the vacant lots and suburban style strip malls to complete the area a bit better.

South Calgary and Bankview combined have some of the most interesting mixes of built form, housing types and style.

Nice photos.

Surrealplaces · #3 Posted **Aug 4, 2009, 6:47 PM**

Agreed about Bankview and South Calgary. The next time I'm in that area, I'm going to do a Bankview/South Calgary thread. There are some really interesting projects between the two neighborhoods.

Marda Loop has a ways top go before it matches Mission or Kensington, but I believe it'll get much better, it's just going to take a bit of time.

I'm going to post this thread in the city photos section. If anyone has a Garrison Woods/South Calgary picture they'd like to add, just add it to this thread, and I'll add it in.

CorporateWhore · #4 Posted **Aug 4, 2009, 8:12 PM**

I refuse to go to Marda Loop unless they get rid of the street toughs. The last thing we need is more Hell's Angels.

Wooster · #5 Posted **Aug 4, 2009, 8:22 PM**

that's awesome.

Calalb · #6 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 8:18 AM**

Nice photos Surreal! This is the old Marda/Odeon Theatre. It was located at 2101-33rd AVE SW and existed from 1953-88.

ue · #7 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 8:23 AM**

Thanks for snapping these photographs. looks like a nice area.

MarkL · #8 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 8:51 AM**

Marda Loop has a lot of potential, but also has quite a few holes to fill before it really captures a high street feel, most notably the other three corners at the intersection where Treo is being built (parking lot, strip mall, Casablanca video buildings and the horrible gym thing all have to go. Also the strip of low density residential on the north side of 33rd across from the Petro Canada needs to be rezoned/redeveloped.

There's alot more than that that can be done, but that to me is the bare minimum to have the strip start to reach a critical mass that would attract people from farther away than the immediate vicinity.

Me&You · #9 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 12:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkL

Marda Loop has a lot of potential, but also has quite a few holes to fill before it really captures a high street feel, most notably the other three corners at the intersection where Treo is being built (parking lot, strip mall, Casablanca video buildings and the horrible gym thing all have to go. Also the strip of low density residential on the north side of 33rd across from the Petro Canada needs to be rezoned/redeveloped.

There's alot more than that that can be done, but that to me is the bare minimum to have the strip start to reach a critical mass that would attract people from farther away than the immediate vicinity.

I agree that the Pro Bodies / Casablanca 'complex' may not be the prettiest, but at least it is mostly street front, with parking to the interior. Plus, outside of the Starbucks, I think Pro Bodies adds the most vibrancy to the area, by way of being constantly busy 7 days a week.

The biggest holes and problem areas are the Mac's complex (retaining wall next to the side walk, with parking out front) and the two parcels east of that (empty lot and the office building with another retaining wall and parking out front). The 33rd/20th intersection should be the heart of the area, but it is no where near it's potential currently.

Big Sky · #10 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 2:17 PM**

Marda Loop's getting better by the looks of it. IMO, the single biggest improvement to Marda would be a well designed development in the lot north of Treo. I'm sure it will be developed some day, and hopefully the do something with good street and patio interaction. I don't care for the strip mall with the Mac's, but I could live with it. Nice pictures!

AirGuitarChampion · #11 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 2:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Me&You

I agree that the Pro Bodies / Casablanca 'complex' may not be the prettiest, but at least it is mostly street front, with parking to the interior. Plus, outside of the Starbucks, I think Pro Bodies adds the most vibrancy to the area, by way of being constantly busy 7 days a week.

The biggest holes and problem areas are the Mac's complex (retaining wall next to the side walk, with parking out front) and the two parcels east of that (empty lot and the office building with another retaining wall and parking out front). The 33rd/20th intersection should be the heart of the area, but it is no where near it's potential currently.

I disagree with that strip mall being a problem area. Wolfman's/Basils, Macs, Marda Loop Liquor, the Registry are all super busy and contribute highly to the vibrancy of the area. I'd say re-do the former shell location (that's the empty lot) and that brick/sheet metal office building before you'd touch the Wolfman's mall. OR whatever does go back in needs to re-incorporate Wolfmans and Macs. Variety is the spice of life and Wolfman's is very spicy. In fact they did change ownership about 1.5-2 years ago (?) and did a reno, got rid of live entertainment and karaoke, changed over all staff, in an attempt to attract yuppy dollars (could not have been construed as anything else!). It backfired severly and most ended up at Bally's on 14th. They did go back to the old ways halfway, alot of the clientle came back and I started going again. I'd loathe the thought that OJ's would be the slummest bar, and hence my goto choice in Marda Loop if Wolfman's was lost.

Me&You · #12 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 3:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by AirGuitarChampion

I disagree with that strip mall being a problem area. Wolfman's/Basils, Macs, Marda Loop Liquor, the Registry are all super busy and contribute highly to the vibrancy of the area. I'd say re-do the former shell location (that's the empty lot) and that brick/sheet metal office building before you'd touch the Wolfman's mall. OR whatever does go back in needs to re-incorporate Wolfmans and Macs. Variety is the spice of life and Wolfman's is very spicy. In fact they did change ownership about 1.5-2 years ago (?) and did a reno, got rid of live entertainment and karaoke, changed over all staff, in an attempt to attract yuppy dollars (could not have been construed as anything else!). It backfired severly and most ended up at Bally's on 14th. They did go back to the old ways halfway, alot of the clientle came back and I started going again. I'd loathe the thought that OJ's would be the slummest bar, and hence my goto choice in Marda Loop if Wolfman's was lost.

I'm not arguing about the importance and vibrancy in the Macs/Wolfman's strip mall, but it is the poor configuration that I have a problem with. Imagine a nice street front complex, with all the busy businesses and maybe even a patio right up on the sidewalk at Wolfman's... much better!

It would also be nice if someday, 34th could be developed to have street front businesses connecting Garrison Gate to the little strip at 19th street... it's started, but very patchy.

Witty Nickname · #13 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 3:31 PM**

I knew I'd see these shots somewhere on SSP.

Thanks for sharing your walking tour of Marda Loop!

Calgarian · #14 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 5:47 PM**

Awesome tour, thanks for sharing.

I agree with Wooster, South Calgary and Bankview probably have the best mix of styles, very cool area. It also connects to the area around Stanley Park where there is also a lot of infill.

Wooster · #15 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 7:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Awesome tour, thanks for sharing.

I agree with Wooster, South Calgary and Bankview probably have the best mix of styles, very cool area. It also connects to the area around Stanley Park where there is also a lot of infill.

River Park?

DizzyEdge · #16 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 8:45 PM**

The nice thing about South Calgary / "Marda Loop" is it's the periphery of the early 1900's suburbs that stopped abruptly when WWI began, so they were never finished until the 40's or 50's creating this mix of several decades of styles, so there's no real single style that anyone would bemoan new modern houses are breaking up.

Compare to the single family streets in Sunalta or Cliff Bungalow, where there is a very homogeneous style which many people (ok me included

) would rather be preserved. I'd also like more modern style to hit the north version of South Calgary, which would be the Capitol Hill / Mount Pleasant / Tuxedo areas which were the north periphery of early 1900s burbs.. on my block alone I think there's houses from every decade from 1910s to 2000s

Calgarian · #17 Posted **Aug 5, 2009, 10:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wooster

River Park?

The area between River Park and Stanley park, not sure what the neighborhood is called.

Me&You · #18 Posted **Aug 6, 2009, 3:28 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

The area between River Park and Stanley park, not sure what the neighborhood is called.

According to MLS, the area on the north side of the river, both east and west of Elbow Drive is Elbow Park, as well as the area south of the river and west of Elbow Dr.

South of the river and east of Elbow drive is Elboya.