Home..Sweet Home

The sign above is the one at the corner of 112th Street and Whyte Ave, across from the U of A campus & just around the corner from where I live.

Whyte Ave is 82nd Street and part of it runs through an area known as Old Strathcona. The "cool" part of Whyte Ave seems to start around 99th Street and heads west to about 112th where Whyte ends..at the U of A campus. The area is called Old Strathcona & also consists of another area called Garneau which is more or less the U of A campus & some businesses along 109th street

Old Strathcona is..without question...the best area in this city. It's a charming place, a mix of modern businesses like Chapters that sit next to mom & pop stores. It's home to a dozen pubs, live music venues, interesting food places & just about everything else you can think of. One could spend weeks just walking around, going into each pub, etc just to see what's going on.

The area next to Old Strathcona is Garneau. It's the University & a few blocks of streets with 90 foot trees and old homes. The roads are narrow & the area is incredibly pleasant..it reminds me of the better neighborhoods back in Toronto or Ottawa. It's also where I live and has probably been my saviour while I've lived here. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Old Strathcona is as good OR BETTER than Calgary neighborhoods like Mission or Kensington. It's a true gem & one of the best neighborhoods in Western Canada.

What makes Whyte/Strathcona so different from Mission or Kensington in Calgary is that it's not all upscale. This is a place where little indie food places still manage to survive..whereas in Calgary they're long since vapourized when the boom hit and rent soared. Whyte Ave reminds me of Marda Loop..years ago, before the upscaleness hit the area and all the interesting shops were replaced by stores designed to cater to people with 6 figure incomes.

Strangely..a whole bunch of people in Edmonton either like or hate Whyte Ave. They seem to see the bad side of it, the late night drunks, the noise when the Oilers play, the 20 somethings that line up at Lucky 13 to go and get toasted. That's only a small fraction of what goes on in this neighborhood but it's the part of the 'hood that catches the attention of people.

I've spent 5 months living here and I give this place 5 stars out of 5. And I've yet to really explore it .... because for the most part, the temps make it too cold to go walking. When I leave Edmonton..there isn't alot I will miss, but I will miss this area. If you come up this way..park the car and walk. It's worth it. I'll get into detail on some of the pubs, etc that you'll find on Whyte in the next while