Ducky's Pub Part 2

We arrived at Ducky's Pub, 4th and 21st in the Mission. Ducky's is in a small plaza next to the Great Canadian Diner.

When you walk up to Ducky's you're greeted by a pub with iron bars over the windows..and security along with 20 or so smokers out front. To the average passerby it probably looks like a dump.

Ducky's is a unique place. I've eaten there and I think they have 4 things on the menu. It's not a place you take the family for dinner. Ducky's has a clientele that's ..... well everyone that's not at the martini bar up the street. 50 year old guys talking about work...to pink haired glam rocker chicks..to girls having a night out...etc. In short, anyone goes there. The tables resemble the ones in cheap cafes you'd find in a truck stop. The decor..is a few very large TV's, tables, and a pool table with some VLT's.

But Ducky's..is a breath of fresh air in Calgary. It's a place where people go..to have fun. It's not pretentious...it's a place where you can be you. I was in the bathroom going pee & a female walked in to talk to the guy she was with. She..was trashed but saw me pissing and said "is it OK?". I replied, sure. I didn't attempt to walk in the female washroom..;-)

Ducky's is home to karaoke 7 days a week. It is...THE most bizarre place. The choice of music ranges right across the map..and it gets more amusing when the dance floor actually fills up with dancers, dancing to poorly sung Akon songs. The clientele of the bar (should I use that word) have a wide variety of musical tastes...I watched one table rock out to BackStreet Boys..then to Ozzy..then to Black Eyed Peas. The singing..is...terrible, but that doesn't seem to matter.

I don't know about the future of Ducky's pub. I had heard the plaza was going to be razed to put in more swank condo's, but I suspect with the market cooling off, this won't happen. All I can say is GOOD..because a neighborhood needs more than rich art stores and martini bars.

If you like karaoke, if you like dancing to karaoke, or perhaps you're just sick of the rest of the club scene in Calgary...try Ducky's. And if you smoke, you'll probably leave with some new friends. It's a pretty social place, no one seems to take offense to anyone & I've never seen any type of problems at the pub.

Five Stars for Ducky's, in a sick, twisted..but GOOD way. Beer runs about 7 bucks.

Ducky's Pub

Calgary is a place where many of the "dive" pubs have closed down or had their leases nuked..and been replaced by upscale night clubs. My neighborhood is full of them.

Saturday, I headed with a bud looking for some place to go. Our first stop in Mission was OJ's, which was packed full. Not a seat in the house as the hockey game was on. We headed up the street, second stop was Wyldwood. Someone had rented out the entire place for...a party. So..we headed toward downtown again and hit Joyce. It too, packed full. Unlike back East, pubs here FILL up early.

We jumped on the bus and headed downtown to Stephen Ave, then over to Palomino. I've written about this place before, but it's always cool. It's a dive bar, has great meat & that night had some crasy dancer in the downstairs area. Palo..is cool, it's busy, but not too busy and has a great cowboy breakfast. It's got interesting entertainment going on..from live rock music to..pretty much anything. The bathrooms also encourage you to write messages on the wall. Only problem is, it's on 7th Ave, the ;hood in Calgary.

Afterward, headed out to Stephen Ave..home of the "martini" club & a sort of place you go to dress up, look good and look at each other. Bleh.

So we caught a cab...

Food

One bone I have to pick with living in Calgary is the high cost of food. Every time I go to the grocery store, I feel like I've been mugged, especially by Safeway & CO OP. The prices on things can be outrageous at times, things like cereal & fresh fruit are at least twice the price that they are in other parts of Canada. This seems to be a Calgary thing...because in Edmonton, I find prices are far more reasonable. This could be because Edmonton has better choices for food stores & just more competition overall. As time passes and you live out here, you become conditioned to paying 7 bucks for a box of bran flakes or 3 dollars for a red pepper. Or the 3 dollar loaf of bread. Who needs those carbs anyways?

Eating out isn't much better. Typically now, lunch is going to run you 10 bucks, maybe 12 in some places. The pub up the street from my house has their Burger & Fries (sit down Irish Pub) for nearly 14 dollars. With a couple of beers at 7 bucks a pop, an evening out in Calgary pushes 60 bucks.

The better way to save your money is to sign up online to have the grocery stores send you whats on sale to your inbox. One thing about Calgary is that there is definitely a Safeway in your neighborhood, and most likely a CO OP, so going store to store isn't a big deal. Superstore (Loblaws) on the other hand is different..it's a evening long adventure in hell. I've grown to appreciate smaller grocery stores that make getting in and out quickly...part of the package.

I sometimes wonder how a family of 5 lives out here with both parents working. Their food bill must push 1000 bucks a month easily. And that doesn't include eating out.

The Great Canadian Diner in Mission

Another gem in the Mission is the Great Canadian Diner..in the old plaza near Ducky's pub at 4th and 21st. May's is owned by what appears to be an Asian family and open 6 days a week...from 7 AM to 4 PM. It's a classic diner...in every sense..including the fact it doesn't take debit. That annoys the hell out of me..but such is life I guess.

Nearly the entire menu which is mostly typical Canadian breakfast fare & some Chinese food for lunch is under 10 bucks. That sounds like alot..but in Calgary, anything under 10 bucks is a deal. I had Steak Breakfast which was about 9 bucks with a couple of cups of coffee. The food is good & the service is fast. Besides, where can you get a steak for less than 10 bucks for breakfast ?

I've heard a rumour that the landlord of the building isn't renewing leasing...leaving me to fear that perhaps that building is doomed to be dozed and rebuild as more high end condo's. With the declining real estate market..perhaps plans will be put on hold. Across the street, they're working on a new commercial/residential building between 21st and 20th Ave..and it will no doubt be expensive.

The Purple Perk

I've written about this place prior..but I have to again. I live in Mission, a neighborhood where 4th Street is the spin. It's an area that's sadly going through gentrification to a more "upscale" community. As if we don't have enough of that in Calgary.

The Perk..as it's called by locals..was formerly known as Beans to locals that have been here a while. It's an indie coffee house that sells all things java related, but also has some great food. My personal favourite is the Cuban Sandwich..and I'd love to make it at home but I still haven't taken the time to learn how to make pulled pork.

The Perk is just cool. In a city that's all about being "upscale" the Perk is a refreshing place where anyone can go. It's clientele is a mix of everyone..from the hipsters surfing on their Mac's..to seniors having a chat & to future punk revolutionaries planning their next protest against the oil sands. It also has unique music playing..satellite radio with whatever the guy working seems to want to listen too. The Perk has it's own patio, which is the sidewalk of 4th Street and is usually populated by people that stop in for a cafe..presumably on their way to work in the core. They've also got a daily saying out front on a sign, and the door reads something like "No Anarchists or Crybabies over the age of 18"

It's a kick ass place..and it's the kind of place you can go to just sit alone and not feel like an idiot

Bob the Fish

Bob the Fish is a pub at the corner of 17th Ave and 4th Street SW. It's a semi frequent haunt of mine because it's close to my condo & because it has cheap wings on Wednesday.

I was in there on a Wednesday pouring back some Big Rock with a buddy and checked out their new menu. The prices..are unreal. French fries for 5.99. Onion Rings were 7.99, Poutine was 10.99 and Nachos..were 18.99.

Now even in a city with overinflated prices & high salaries, it gets a bit tough to justify paying 6 bucks for French Fries. Think about it...you and your buddy go out for Nacho's, a plate each and you're at 40 bucks...before you even drink. I would expect really high prices at places like Living Room or BLVD..but not at a sit down plain old fashioned pub.

The pub is...just a pub. Nothing special about it, tho it has a nice view of the street corner at 17th and 4th which is the heart of "go out and have fun land"..or maybe I should say the beginning of it. I can't fathom why they increased the costs so much..but needless to say, I won't be going there for food anytime soon except on cheap-o night.

Calgary is a city known for it's large vehicles & is the home of the SUV. While some will say the SUV is the root of all evil, I must disagree. The root of all evil is the driver of the high end BMW/MERCEDES/LEXUS SUV.

I'm not sure what driving school that these people went to, but they apparently missed the class on "where you can park and where you can't park". Parking your 100K overpriced showpiece in the alley or in a lane of traffic while you're going to get a coffee just isn't cool. Nor is taking up 2 parking spots for fear of getting your car scratched. When I was growing up in the West side of Toronto, doing this ensured someone keyed your car. Some call it vandalism, I call it peer pressure.


And I don't really understand the point of these SUV's. I used to drive a Jeep. It had big tires and on weekends I'd drive 1000 kms into the north, then go down some logging road for 3 hours to go mountain biking. The idea of having a 4x4 that was tough enough to go off road made sense. It also made sense for the locals in small bush towns where it snowed 440cms a year.

But it seems to defy logic that you need your BMW 9 Series 4x4 in an urban city. It's not like your taking it off road because you might "scratch it". And you're claim about needing it in the "snow"? This is as un-Canadian and gay (with all respects to LGBT community) as having a hockey puck that glows on the TV screen. It's Canada for fuck sakes, learn to drive in the snow. We used to use back wheel drive Chevy Impala's and we still managed to get to Grandpa's house for Christmas. And before that we walked everywhere anyways.

The Election

I'm a sort of an apolitical person..which in lay people terms means I think they're all a bunch of idiots. Canada's a fucked up place when you realize that the most "honest sounding" politician is Gilles Duceppe & the mandate of the guy is to create his own country.

When Harper called this election, I suspected he did so because he thought he might eek out a majority, albeit a small majority. His competition is pretty weak...Dion is too academic & Layton is just the usual shrill annoying Layton. The Green Party..for all they do..is more a movement than a political party.

This campaign has been a train wreck for Harper. People used to criticize the guy for "muzzling" his party members, but now we why. Because he HAD to...because apparently some of them don't have the sense to shut up. My own riding is Calgary Centre and our MP is Lee Richardson. He recently stated in FFWD Weekly that the bad people weren't the ones that grew up next door (implying foreigners/immigrants were bad).

It's interesting how attitudes like this always group "cultures" together. If a Chinese guy is caught in a gang, then the usual cry erupts that "we shouldn't allow these people here" and "why doesn't his community speak out against this bad person'. And this thought process exists...for every culture expect 1 culture. White people. I'm a white guy, and when another white guy does something bad, does he reflect who I am? No. And I'm not expected to "speak out" against "white people" when they do something wrong. The Chinese community is supposed to speak out against the few members of it's culture that are in Asian gangs...but I don't see white culture speaking out the few white people that are pedophiles.

The world is full of different cultures. This is a good thing...and it's even better when they open up a cheap restuarant in my 'hood and I can eat there ;-)

But let's be clear, Lee Richardson needs to realize immigrants aren't the problem. Assholes are. There are two kinds of people. Good people and assholes....and to quote Chris Rock "The Assholes have Got to GO"