VELOCITYWG #9 — “Grant Park”
I love reading about history, but once in a while when you go digging into the past, you really learn something as disturbing as it is fascinating. We always start our neighbourhood posts with some basic knowledge of the area backed with some Internet (AKA “lazy”) research. Our Design Intern, Rebecca, from Winnipeg Technical College was reading up on this week’s entry when she came across this article by blogger Reid Dickie.
Who knew that a pleasant suburban neighbourhood in Winnipeg was once a shantytown populated by poor Métis families and rail-riding transients.
VELOCITYWG #9 is “Grant Park” by Design Intern, Rebecca Waczko
Rooster Town was the colourful name for the grim Depression-era village which formed on the outskirts of South Winnipeg. No road connection or running water, no city services, just a rail-line which provided transport in and out of the surrounding bush, and the occasional box-car sold to the poor as makeshift homes.
It’s hard to believe that just eight years after Mayor Stephen Juba had the last residents evicted and the last traces of Rooster Town were bulldozed away, Winnipeg introduced the Western Hemisphere to the state-of-the-art Pan Am Pool built for the 1967 Pan-American Games.
Rebecca’s comments:
When given the task of designing this week’s logo for Grant Park, I thought it was going to be very challenging. But once I started to dig into the history of the area it proved to be quite interesting. I chose to use the Grant’s Scottish tartan since Grant Avenue was named to commemorate Cuthbert James Grant. When I found out the remarkable history about Rooster Town, I felt it only right to pay tribute to this lost suburb. Now every time I visit the mall I’ll find it hard not to remember what it once was.
My fondest memories of Grant Park almost always involve lining up for a hotly-anticipated film (such as 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) For a fine afternoon/evening out, I suggest a nice espresso or a late at LaGrotta Market on Taylor and Waverly, take in the 60s and 70s architecture of the apartments and churches on Grant Avenue, peruse the endless selection of engaging titles at McNally Robinson, and finish off with a holiday blockbuster at the Empire 8.
If it’s a clear night and not too cold, enjoy a little star gazing behind Grant Park High. Listen for the train-whistle and think of Rooster Town.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
VELOCITYWG #9 — “Wildwood”
East of Pembina Highway and south of Lord Roberts and Riverview, Wildwood fits snugly in a heavily treed oxbow of the Red River. Initially settled by William Pearson in the early 1900s, the area is best known for the Wildwood Park subdivision — one of only two Winnipeg neighbourhoods built on the Radburn system of residential super-blocks.
VELOCITYWG #9 is “Wildwood” by Senior Designer, Colette Boisvert
Wildwood Park was developed in the 40s by Hubert Bird, and designed by Winnipeg’s famous Green Blankstein Russell (the firm behind the Winnipeg International Airport, City Hall, the Centennial Concert Hall, Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, and others). Like West Norwood, houses in Wildwood Park have no front street, only a sidewalk and a back lane, giving the area an unusual and wonderfully park-like feel.
Perched on Wildwood’s southernmost point is St. John’s-Ravenscourt School, a prestigious university prep-school for girls and boys. Founded as the Red River Mission School in 1820, the school has undergone considerable changes in its near-two century history (Ravenscourt was once located in Armstrong’s Point). The school is an anchoring landmark in the area, and its fine, wooded grounds and secluded castle-quality make it the closest thing Winnipeg has to Hogwart’s.
From Pembina, (thermos of hot cocoa firmly in hand) take Riverwood or Waterford Avenue up to the Viscount Alexander School on Point Road. Stroll up North Drive around the scenic Wildwood Golf Course and down again to SJR (Wave to any local Muggles you might encounter). From South Drive, cut up through the middle of Wildwood Park, marvel at the sheer number of trees and picturesque homes, and then cross up and over to Manchester Boulevard.
Wonder why more neighbourhoods aren’t built on the Radburn model.
Repeat as necessary.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
VELOCITYWG #8 — “Transcona”
It’s difficult to tell when it first developed its reputation as Winnipeg’s most… how can I put this… “bumpkinesque” neighbourhood. For years, the area was an independent town that grew with the development of the Grand Trunk Pacific and National Transcontinental Railway’s repair shops. The name itself is a portmanteau of “Transcontinental” and “Strathcona” (as in Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona, railway pioneer).
VELOCITYWG #8 is “Transcona” by Interactive Designer, Lee Froese.
Firebirds up on blocks, pink flamingos, beer guts and big hair, have been the staples of jokes about “Trashcona” for many years. This working-class neighbourhood huddled on Regent between Plessis and the Perimeter has unfairly (yes, I said it) been a source of humour for the rest of Winnipeg since it amalgamated with Unicity in ’72.
Most people I know from Transcona are pretty good-humoured, salt-of-the earth folks who laugh along with the jokes, and kind of embrace the “redneck” image. Like any North American neighbourhood founded on a single heavy-industry, the social and economic landscape is changing. Today, you’re just as likely to find someone in Transcona working as a graphic designer as working for the railway. And don’t forget that the Second Greatest Canadian, Terry Fox, was born in T-Cona.
What I like about Transcona is that it never quite integrated into the rest of Winnipeg, and keeps its small-town charm. Regent Avenue is quite nice when you get past the strip malls and car dealers, past the “Hi Neighbour” into “downtown” Transcona — a lovely tree-lined street dotted with small businesses, murals, and mom ’n’ pop restaurants.
Check out the Hi Neighbour Festival in June, the old locomotive on display at Kiwanis Park, or the Transcona Historical Museum. Grab a slice of pie at Dal’s Drive Inn, or stop in at Club Regent for some black jack, a tropical cocktail or two in the Jaguar Room, and then gape in amazement at the hundreds of colourful salt-water fish in their 150,000 litre walk-through aquarium.
But don’t expect to see any pink flamingos.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
VELOCITYWG #7 — “Osborne Village”
Artists, architects, tattoo parlours, jewellers, yoga studios, salons, coffee shops, chiropractors, florists, cupcakists, upbeat DJs and happy cooks — it’s difficult to try and encapsulate everything that’s great about Osborne Village in fewer than 500 words. Having been a hub of bohemian culture, eclectic boutiques, and brilliant cuisine for over fifty years, I think it’s safe to say almost everyone who’s lived in Winnipeg for any length of time has some fond memories of the neighbourhood.
VELOCITYWG #7 is “Osborne Village” by Creative Director, Karla Burr.
Osborne was named for the Irish soldier Lieutenant-Colonel William Osborne Smith, one of Manitoba’s early pioneers. A Crimean War veteran, Smith founded the Manitoba Club, and was one of the founders of the Manitoba Historical Society.
The area has evolved considerably since the suburb of Fort Rouge, population 150, was amalgamated into the City of Winnipeg in 1882. By 1910, the population had grown into the tens of thousands, and is now the city’s most densely populated area. The “Village” we know today began to take shape in the 60s, as artists, musicians, and restaurateurs began to call Osborne home.
Village landmarks like Dutch Maid Ice Cream (now Osborne Antiques Mart), Basil’s and the Fort Rouge Theatre have come and gone, but others, like the Augustine United Church and Carlos & Murphy’s, seem to treat the passage of time with casual disregard. Like so many wonderful neighbourhoods around the world, the area continues to grow and reinvent itself with the energy of its residents. New restaurants, galleries, boutiques, are always opening, with some becoming permanent fixtures of the local landscape — McNally Robinson, for example, got its start in the Village.
Karla’s comments:
Osborne Village serves up some of the best people watching this city has to offer. It’s always a varied collection of characters, just like the bright overlaying colours in this here logo. I took the opportunity to have a little fun and do something trendy with the typography, as Winnipeg trends are often set in Osborne Village. I’ve given up some of the legibility of “Osborne” but kept “Village” nice and simple, a nod to the fact that if you say “the Village” to any Winnipegger, they know what you mean.
Trying to plan a single day out in the Village is like trying to plan a single day out in New York; there’s simply too much to try and tackle. I recommend renting a little apartment on River or Stradbrook for a year or two and taking it in slowly. Get to know the churches on Nassau, try a different restaurant each week: sushi, tapas, spicy noodles, Thai, African, Australian, Unburgeran. Plan the occasional night of hard partying at the Toad, or Ozzy’s, and finish the night with a 3 a.m. pizza at Papa George’s. Shake off the hangover by getting Baked. Get some culture at the Gas Station. Hit a patio on Canada Day. Stay in with some French New Wave.
The best though, is after a day of Christmas shopping in the Village, bumping into an old friend and enjoying an impromptu coffee. See you there.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
VELOCITYWG #6 “The Maples”
The Manitoba Historical Society has been a great resource in finding information about many of the older neighbourhoods we’ve covered over the past few weeks. But you won’t find much about The Maples on mhs.mb.ca, unfortunately. As Google can tell you, The Maples is both a large electoral district in North Winnipeg (which includes Amber Trails, Inkster Gardens, and others), and a much smaller neighbourhood bordered by Inkster in the south, Leila in the north, Pipeline Road to the east and Mandalay Drive to the west.
VELOCITYWG #6 is “The Maples” by Senior Designer, Colette Boisvert.
I grew up in Windsor Park, and like a lot of Winnipeg neighbourhoods, the area is not home to a lot of memorable landmarks, indispensible eateries, or breathtaking natural landscapes. I think many Winnipeggers will confidently live their entire lives without having set a foot on Autumnwood Drive or Cottonwood Road.
But Windsor Park is a nice little suburban neighbourhood, with cozy little coves and corner stores. A bowling alley. A burger joint. Its fair share of bad streets, but for the most part, good people.
I’ve lived my entire life in Winnipeg, and I’ve known a lot of great people who grew up in The Maples, but I just don’t know that much about the area. I do know that it’s home to one of the largest per capita immigrant populations in Manitoba (around 35 per cent), with vibrant Filipino, Ukrainian, South Asian, and Chinese communities.
You won’t find the charm of The Maples at the local A&W, the gas station, the IGA, or any of the other interchangeable basics of North American suburban living. You’ll find the real neighbourhood is in the community centres, the churches, the temples, the little parks and the backyard barbecues.
I know from experience (my wife is Polish), most immigrant communities know how to celebrate — so your best shot at getting the feel for The Maples is making friends with a local and getting invited to a good party, where food, friends and family are always the order of the day. Failing that, buy some social tickets — with any luck, there should be one in the area this weekend. Whether it’s lumpia or perogies on the midnight buffet (or both), you’re sure to walk away a happy camper with a little more appreciation for one of Winnipeg’s lesser known, and under-appreciated communities.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
VELOCITYWG #5 — “Silver Heights”
Silver Heights is the area north of Portage Avenue, south of Ness, and situated between Moray and Mt. Royal Road. It takes its name from what should have been the home of the first Lieutenant-Governor of Rupert’s Land, William McDougall, which in turn took its name from the silver poplars that once blanketed the area. McDougall never actually lived there, owing to one Louis Riel and the Red River Rebellion.
VELOCITYWG #5 is “Silver Heights” by Interactive Designer, Lee Froese
Adams George Archibald, Manitoba’s first Lieutenant-Governor, also refused to live there at first.
“The main and permanent objection to a residence at Silver Heights, (and this applies in a special manner to the Winter Season) is its distance from Winnipeg. I should have been obliged either to keep an office in Winnipeg, and make a daily trip to town, which with the temperature, as we have recently had it, at 40° below zero, would not have been a very pleasant thing to do, or else compel every person wishing to see me, to add to his journey to Winnipeg, a further distance of five miles to go to Silver Heights.”
-Lieutenant-Governor Archibald, February 1871
It’s heartwarming to know that Manitobans have been complaining about going about their business in the cold for at least 150 years now.
As Winnipeg expanded after WWII, suburban areas like Silver Heights slowly came into their prime, with the Greatest Generation settling down into modern bungalows and giving birth to the Boomers. Architect W.D. Lount and his father Frank, who played a role in building Tuxedo, were two of the area’s principle developers. In addition to houses, Lount built the retro-marvelous Silver Heights Apartments, Park Towers, and Park Terrace.
Stop in for a cold beer and some ribs (or a Hughie burger) at the iconic Silver Heights Restaurant and Lounge (ironically, a few blocks east of the official boundary) opened in 1957 by the Siwicki family. The neighbourhood gem opened the same year as Silver Heights Collegiate, which was unfortunately demolished in 2007. After supper, take a drive down Mt. Royal Road past Trail Avenue and the Silver Heights Gates (A City of Winnipeg Grade III heritage site), and look at the Christmas lights speckling the neighbourhood as jet planes carrying holiday travelers come in for a landing overhead.
For added affect, play Vince Guaraldi’s, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
You can almost imagine Winnipeg, 1965.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
VELOCITYWG #4 — “Armstrong’s Point”
Most Winnipeggers know Armstrong’s Point as “East Gate” for one of the neighbourhood’s three primary streets running off of Cornish Avenue.
Armstrong’s Point has always been an exclusive community. Built along an oxbow in the Assiniboine River, the area is naturally secluded. Although its first houses were constructed in the 1880s, it wasn’t until 1910 when residents erected the characteristic gates which still stand today.
VELOCITYWG #4 is “Armstrong’s Point” by Velocity Creative Director, Karla Burr.
Armstrong’s Point is one of those neighbourhoods that you can’t help but admire. Similar to Crescentwood, the little enclave touts a gaggle of architectural marvels from Winnipeg’s late 19th and early 20th Centuries — beautifully complemented with handsome old trees, tangled bushes, and manicured lawns.
Karla’s comments:
I had no idea that East and West Gate were actually called Armstrong’s Point. I couldn’t ignore the fact that everyone knows the area as East and West Gate — so I created a logo type that has wrought-iron details and looks like the archway of a gate. That also explains the E and W at the top.
Although spring and summer are lovely in East Gate… er… I mean Armstrong’s Point, nothing comes close to the beauty of the neighbourhood in mid to late fall, or just after a fresh dusting of November snow. Walking a complete circuit around the area won’t take long, so be sure to stop in at the Cornish Library, built in 1914 with funds donated by U.S. industrialist Andrew Carnegie and named for Winnipeg’s first mayor, Francis Cornish. It’s just about the best place possible to while away an hour or two and get lost in a good mystery novel.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly (well, we aim for weekly) design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
VELOCITYWG #3 — “Pembina Strip”
The name Pembina is derived from the French Canadian name for the berry of the viburnum trilobum or Highbush Cranberry. Pembina Highway* takes it name from the old Pembina Trail, which led from what we now call Winnipeg to Fort Pembina, a fur trading post run by the North West Company.
VELOCITYWG #3 is “Pembina Strip” by Velocity Interactive Designer, Lee Froese.
Pembina Strip is roughly the area north of Bishop Grandin and south of Chevrier Boulevard and Crescent Drive. It’s a small area of the city, and not one that most Winnipeggers would normally consider iconic or representative of the city, or talk about with out-of-towners.
But it’s not without its charms. Home to Celebrations Dinner Theatre, numerous bars and ethnic restaurants, apartment blocks, shops and amenities, it’s a bustling community at the crossroads of two major transportation arteries, and minutes from the University of Manitoba.
Lee’s comments:
The logo came out looking old-timey and that’s what I wanted. It’s a tip of the hat to the Pembina Trail and the early settlers using horse-drawn carriages.
Enjoy a coffee, a bubble tea, or a beer at one of the local pubs, take a walk through Plaza Drive Park, hangout dockside at the Pony Corral, or get a late night slice of pie.
Although personally, I miss the old Cinema City.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
*Added fun fact: Just across the street from the Round Table near Pembina and Taylor, is a nifty little plaque commemorating Winnipeg’s 1974 centennial, and the 75th anniversary of the Pine to Palm Highway.
With the completion of Highway 75 (Lord Selkirk Highway) in 1899, the first continuous roadway opened from Winnipeg to New Orleans, Louisiana, dubbed the “Pine to Palm Highway” — no doubt because in those days, New Orleans has an abundance of palm trees, and Winnipeg had a number of wealthy pine-flavoured candy manufacturing barons with the surname “Pine.”
Really. Look it up.
VELOCITYWG #2 — “Crescentwood”
It’s no secret that I love history, and I love to get lost in the Manitoba Historical Society’s online archives. Researching today’s entry, I discovered this little gem in reference to Crescentwood:
“Socially, Winnipeg takes the palm. The city has scores of palatial mansions inhabited by wealthy men of plain, practical ideas, whose greatest aim is the work of building up commercially, industrially, socially and morally the city they live in. No claim can be made in Winnipeg for austere, alleged saints. The people are too active and practical for that.” — An unnamed writer, 1903
VELOCITYWG #2 is “Crescentwood” by Velocity Senior Designer, Colette Boisvert.
Founded as a community in the 1890s, Crescentwood is named for the home of John Henry Munson, owner of the largest lot on the Assiniboine River at the time, and developed by C.H. Enderton.
From the outset, Crescentwood was deemed the best place in Winnipeg to live, and many of the city’s elite emigrated from their homes and mansions in the South Broadway-Assiniboine area to the new suburb.
If Winnipeg’s Downtown has traditionally been the city’s engine of commerce, then the steering wheel has definitely been Crescentwood. Some of the city’s most famous business leaders, politicians and luminaries lived and grew up in Crescentwood. Names like Ashdown, Richardson, Roblin, and more, crop up continuously as you read about the area’s history.
Colette’s comment on the wordmark: “I wanted it to look expensive.”
Indeed. Home to some of the finest private residences in the city, Crescentwood continues to be the neighbourhood of choice for (in no particular order) the active, the practical, and the wealthy.
Grab a coffee at Stella’s on Sherbrook, and take a stroll across the Maryland Bridge, south on Wellington to Munson Park. Then loop around at Grosvenor to Ruskin Row, and watch the leaves fall from a bench in Enderton Park. No better way to spend a weekend afternoon.
Crescentwood in autumn takes the palm.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
VELOCITYWG #1 — St. Norbert
As mentioned on Friday, VELOCITYWG is our new, weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
Our first entry is “St. Norbert” by Velocity Creative Director, Karla Burr.
Winnipeg’s southernmost neighbourhood, St. Norbert is named for the first Bishop of St. Boniface, Joseph-Norbert Provencher, home to the extremely popular St. Norbert Farmers’ Market, and landmarks such as the Trappist Monastery, Aisle Richot, and the St. Norbert Catholic Parish.
Karla’s comments:
I grew up very near to St. Norbert, and as teenagers we would go and hang out at the ruins, maybe do some underage drinking maybe enjoy a soda and discuss the works of Proust. So naturally, when I think of St. Norbert, I think of the Trappist Monastery — the image in my mind of a summer evening with the warm sun hitting the face at the golden hour.
I thought of basing the design on the Farmer’s Market, as this is one of my favorite things in the city (as some of you know, I’m the Foursquare Mayor of it). But I think that the Monastery is truer to the history of St. Norbert — especially the french histoire.
So my logo is inspired by the Trappist Monastery’s remaining front facade. The O creates the hole where the rosary window once was.
St. Norbert is a bastion of French-Canadian culture, with a strong multicultural presence that’s typical of Winnipeg. Be sure to try some fresh spring rolls, vinatarta, or an empanada at the Market, and then check out the Buddhist Pagoda behind the St. Norbert Arts Centre.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues later this week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
