The REAL Niagara Falls

[flar]

It always puzzles me when someone claims to show the real downtown of cities and then they only show the dilapidated, rundown parts. While I find these ghost towns interesting, they are no less real than the Clifton Hill area.

Downtown NF is really that dilapidated. Btw, Clifton Hill is unreal.

 

[adma]

And if that gives a skewed-for-the-worse representation of downtown NF, well, then you might as well argue that NF has no significant "downtown" to speak of...

 

[Long Island Mike]

Downtown Niagara Falls: A little too far out of the way...

Carewser and all: The problem with Downtown NF is that is just too "out of the way" to make it anything even close to being a "Vegas". With the building boom with casinos in the Falls area,it is even more pronounced.
The question is how do we revitalize this neglected Downtown? LI MIKE

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

I remembered reading this thread as I was driving through the falls yesterday and decided to detour through downtown to see the carnage. Well, it turns out it's a whole new ballgame since this thread petered out.

The first thing to catch my eye was a Balzac's coffee shop. Then I noticed the art galleries and the obviously-new facades on lots of other buildings. I wish I'd had the time to stop and grab photos.

After getting home and doing some research it turns out an Orthodox Jew formed an association, bought more than 50 of the buildings is basically leading a one-man getrification project. He's giving storefronts to artists rent free for a year and managed to lure The Buttery away from Niagara on the Lake.

(This National Post article covers most of it...)

Would be interesting to have someone go back through with a camera and do a before/after...

 

[Tewder]

Interesting. The Niagara area has always taken the hoards of foreign visitors for granted: overpriced, tacky, unfriendly and so on. Now that the numbers of foreign visitors are significantly down they're going to have to learn to get more creative and offer better value for the money. The redevelopment of Queen Street also seems to imply that at least somebody is starting to understand that to ride through these 'tough' times the area will have to learn to cater better to the GTA which means offering more than bad food, fudge/jam stores, plastic souvenirs and wax museums. This is definitely a step in the right direction.

 

[JasonParis]

Enter Redroom?

 

[flar]

I'm interested to see how this turns out too.

 

[Goldie]

1912 panorama of Niagara

Here's a magnificent panorama of the river and Falls from 1912

 

[Conrad Black]

That's a great shot.

 

[unimaginative2]

http://www.queenstreetniagarafalls.com/

I'm sad that I didn't go there when I was last passing through. I never imagined the revitalization would be so fast. Judging by the website, they already have a decent number of businesses. The guy who's doing this deserves a medal.

What ever happened to those plans for a people mover or some other kind of rail technology to replace those bus circulators?

 

[gabe]

wow a Balzac's Coffee shop on queen st

 

[wyliepoon]

Photos from my trip to NF by GO Train during the Civic Holiday...

Smallest Chinatown in the world

Miniature "Falls" at City Hall

Spanish Aerocar

Queenston Heights/Brock's Monument

Climb to the top of the monument... a closet-sized observation deck behind the portholes just under Brock's statue.

Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations

Robert Moses Plant across the river

Washroom/B-D Subway style tunnel from elevator to the turbine hall

Fallsview Area

Skipping the Falls... checking out the skyline and the Toronto Power Generating Station

Night

 

[Long Island Mike]

Wylie: A great photo tour of Today's Real Niagara Falls!

Wylie: Great tour of NF from your recent visit!
I will comment on some of the pics in the coming days-it looked like a good day!
You got decent pics in everything from the GO Train and the NF Rail Station
and the Queen Street area down to the Tourist District skyline and the Falls
themselves!
LI MIKE

 

[junctionist]

There's something quite novel about seeing tricycles used indoors in a generating station:

Also, it's a shame that the Toronto Power Generating Station has been unused for so many years. It's a beautiful building both inside and out, as countless urban explorers have shown. Its tailraces have proved fascinating as well.

 

[Redroom Studios]

amazing photo tour Wylie! I must apologize for not contributing more to this thread. The revitalization of Queen Street has been quite impressive over the last few years... every time I go down there I see new businesses open or construction of others underway. still not enough people down there though. Lots of cool restaurants, cafes, even a new micro brewery. side streets and secondary streets may improve if the Queen Street thing gains enough momentum. I highly encourage GTA people to come down and check it out!