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What are these things? Arrived Vancouver 1951, left 1997, haven’t been back since . . . other than briefly. I assume the two stacks are circa ’70’s: the blue retail, anytime, even today
Such piles abound!
“They have learned nothing and they have forgotten nothing!” Charles Tallyrand French foreign minister, 1799. Give the Sun King credit: he had pride in his city!
Some we call planners, some, architects? The English dictionary needs re-write.
Ummm… Roger…. you live in Nanaimo!
Parking lots, self-storage warehouses, shopping malls, big wide roads – narrow or non-existent sidewalks. Yes, that Nanaimo. Ever heard about the pot and the kettle?
“Ever heard about the pot and the kettle? ” Well, errrr Ron, I have. Have you?
Nanaimo is definitely sprawl in the North. They tried it in the South but the money wasn’t there.
Until I got too old to pull the ropes I had my sailboat conveniently moored in the harbor where I could see it.
Nanaimo’s saving grace is its downtown crescent on the waterfront, where I live: all daily necessities within walking, human scale!
Such scale is possible today but that is not how the money junkies operate: hence from institution to individual families every one, everything is up to their eyeballs in debt.
Talking of sprawl. Gord is currently running a wonderful series on his visit to Buenos Aires. He waxes eloquently about his urban experiences but I wonder, what are his thoughts as he leaves for Ezeiza airport heading home? Wow talk about BA sprawl and it comes in twelve story chunks!
It’s worth remembering too, development in such places as Palermo Viejo, Avenida Florida etc. were all conceived in the sixteenth century.
I lived and practiced in Vancouver from 1952 to 1997: West Van, Kits Point, Shaughnessy I built Nanaimo hospital and some coloured houses: http://www.theyorkshirelad.ca
I watched the sprawl multiply exponentially.
All that blather, the mountains, the sea and beaches, the views but in the end, from the UEL to Abbotsford and beyond sprawl, sprawl, sprawl!
The view talk gets us off the hook!
I suppose there is no point in using such expletives as ugly. City hall planners, who frequent this blog, wouldn’t like that. Fact is, nevertheless, Vancouver, like all urban conurbations, from WW2 on, careen for bland to ugly.
Vancouver is no exception and so long as you’re in denial it can only get worse!
I walk by this corner often, and admire the tenacity of Big City Autobody in the face of such rapid change. Unfortunately, I’ve even given them a bit of business! They do great work.