Canadian skylines of the past

[MolsonExport]

awesome shots of Regina. Interesting that the downtown mall is still the place to be...compare that to the sad sack Galleria (renamed Citi Plaza) in downtown London (Ont.) which once was, but is now little more than a call-centre/food-court/continuing education emporium. Get your colorectal examination, take a french course, and pig out on some Chow Mein...all in one place!

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

awesome shots of Regina. Interesting that the downtown mall is still the place to be...compare that to the sad sack Galleria (renamed Citi Plaza) in downtown London (Ont.) which once was, but is now little more than a call-centre/food-court/continuing education emporium. Get your colorectal examination, take a french course, and pig out on some Chow Mein...all in one place!

Oddly enough, there was another downtown mall also called "The Galleria" in Regina; it went through the period of decline exactly as you described above and is now a full out office complex with a central atrium feature, but it does have an office tower attached (was built that way) so it doesn't entirely look like a converted dead mall.

There wasn't enough demand for two downtown malls (let alone two connected by a pedway), but I think at least the Cornwall survived because there is a very heavy concentration of downtown office workers in Regina. The food court is always packed and that spins off to the stores.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Andrewjm3D

I thought it was only the Oldest Santa Clause Parade but according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_parade it is the longest running annual parade. Not bad for a country that is so young as ours.

Another surprisingly old Canadian event is Thanksgiving. It's roots come from English protestant traditions, but our event stems back to 1536 and was a homecoming celebration for Frobisher. It became a celebration of the harvest among other things. The creation of the 'Order of Good Cheer' by Champlain in 1606 was just such an event. As colonists flooded into Canada, the event continued year after year.

Thanksgiving is really only celebrated in Canada and the United States, but ours is older. US Thanksgiving started in 1621.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Another surprisingly old Canadian event is Thanksgiving. It's roots come from English protestant traditions, but our event stems back to 1536 and was a homecoming celebration for Frobisher. It became a celebration of the harvest among other things. The creation of the 'Order of Good Cheer' by Champlain in 1606 was just such an event. As colonists flooded into Canada, the event continued year after year.

Thanksgiving is really only celebrated in Canada and the United States, but ours is older. US Thanksgiving started in 1621.

Yes, it may have had other meanings at the start, but as you said, it became and is essentially a Harvest Festival, which is something many many cultures observe with many of these celebrations dating back not just centuries, but millennia. We are hardly unique. What is perhaps unique is our timing, and this will vary as to when the harvest generally comes in and everything starts wrapping up. For example Ukraine celebrates Обжинки (Obzhynky - End of Harvest) in late summer rather than in the fall as we do.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Yes, it may have had other meanings at the start, but as you said, it became and is essentially a Harvest Festival, which is something many many cultures observe with many of these celebrations dating back not just centuries, but millennia. We are hardly unique. What is perhaps unique is our timing, and this will vary as to when the harvest generally comes in and everything starts wrapping up. For example Ukraine celebrates Обжинки (Obzhynky - End of Harvest) in late summer rather than in the fall as we do.

Interestingly Newfoundland did not have this celebration until we joined Canada, (being surrounded by cultures that do and coming from england you'd think we would have)[I heard somewhere however I stand to be corrected]

however we have many traditions not observed in the rest of the country.

Such as Pancake night,
Orangemen's day
bonfire night (guy fawkes night)
Memorial day
The mummering tradition
the St. John's Regatta

more recently things like george street festival and george street Mardi Gras (coming up this weekend)

[SignalHillHiker]

Beautiful pictures of Regina, Nathan.

And BOO @ Orangemen's Day, Jeddy. Very politically incorrect for that to be a statutory holiday in Newfoundland. But... can't fight the past, ha!

[davidivivid]

Montreal 1896


Montréal 1896. Panorama sur Square Victoria. par DubyDub2009, sur Flickr

[wolfewood]

I almost forgot about this thread. Time for a depressing "What we lost" Guelph post.


1913

1940

Closest comparable photo to the 1940 from today.

Probably this building, our Carnegie Library...

and this building are our greatest losses.

Most of the buildings around the square in the 1940's aerial shot (near the top-right part of the image) were knocked down for an indoor mall and several god awful bank buildings.

[someone123]

Here are some interesting 80s-era shots of Halifax from this gallery: http://www.panoramio.com/user/161168...1&photo_page=1

Duke and Granville


Spring Garden and Queen


Morris Street


View from the Citadel


Back end of buildings on Bedford Row that would be incorporated into an office building a couple of years later


Old Ginger's Tavern location. Somewhere on Hollis Street:

[cormiermax]

Halifax looked pretty gritty back then.

[Innsertnamehere]

as did any inner north american city of the 1970's.

[FrAnKs]

Wow, very nice pictures guys, I so damn love that thread. !

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

as did any inner north american city of the 1970's.

This was an interesting period in Halifax because it was right before the building boom of the mid-late 1980s. By the time I moved to Halifax in 1992 these scenes were all long gone, but not a lot changed from that time until 2000 or so when construction started to pick up again.

Another big building cycle is happening right now. I can imagine people looking back on, say, 2002 in a few years and being struck by the number of empty lots and run-down looking buildings.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Are those Riders logos in the windows??

[whiteford]

in terms of its skyline, calgary seems to have been booming from 1900, nonstop up untill today. it seems to have had massive growth on a steady pace throughout its entire history. just look at the photo's. they tell a story of a skyline that never seemed to stay the same for more than six month at a time.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Hali87

Are those Riders logos in the windows??

You're looking at the diagonal shapes on the lower windows? Not sure what is making that shape, but the current Rider logo came about in the 80s, the circular one before it is from the 60s or so, and before that they were various fonts spelling out Roughriders or "Regina Rugby Club". The two twins did have the logos plastered on their angles recently during the 100th year though.

[MTLskyline]

Longueuil before the metro:

Les îles d'Expo 67, 1966 by Archives de la Ville de Montréal, on Flickr

[Rico Rommheim]

It was nicer then

[Nouvellecosse]

I wish Longueuil would build a really impressive residential node around the metro station on the scale of NYCC or MCC, or Metrotown. Being so close to downtown, it would make for a pretty impressive cityscape.

[someone123]

Here are some interesting photos relating to Founders Square, an office building completed in Halifax in 1986:


Source

Originally Posted by Nifta

Not sure if this is the right place to put this, but the Waterside Centre facebook page has posted some excellent shots of the development of Hollis Street (mostly focusing on Founders Square)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

Founders Square under construction


Hollis Street buildings




Hollis in the 1970s, before 1801 Hollis, Founders Square, or RBC Waterside Centre: