Finally feeling local

Downtown Kitchener has a lot of great residential areas, and I have lived in one for over five years. But only very recently have I started to "feel local".

I worked in a Waterloo tech area, seldom went downtown, except walking to the library now and then.

Over the last year, I have realized how great my area is. We started going (and walking) to the symphony, regularly going (again, walking) to the KW|AG¹, and I have just generally walked much, much more. I have discovered parks all over, hidden lane-ways, interesting houses, buildings and gardens.

Part of this was just slowly becoming aware of our surroundings. Part of this was having a baby that finds walking calming. Part of this was switching to a job downtown. And part of this was biking.

Biking puts you right on the streets, exposed to the noises and smells² of downtown. In the car, I would have the radio on; when I walk, I often listen to podcasts. When I am cycling it is just me, the bike and the city. I expected to get bored taking the same short route every day, but there is something new to notice all the time. This morning I was thinking about what I will see if I keep biking this same route until the snow comes.

In late summer, the grasses along the tracks will turn yellow and seedy. In fall the huge maples on Louisa and Wellington will turn yellow and red. The small multiplex at Wellington and Duke is already almost done replacing all the balconies. The redevelopment of industrial spaces seems to be continuing along the tracks towards Krug, I am curious to see what the The Breithaupt Block will look like, and what companies will locate there. The industrial and commercial areas are in the midst of an exciting transition; only blocks away the residential areas seem so green and full of life.

I am excited about the rest of the summer and the fall. I am certainly a much bigger fan of downtown than I was before. Be it resolved that now when someone asks me where I live, I will say "Downtown Kitchener", rather than "Near Uptown Waterloo".

- Eric M
Google

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1. I remembered the KW Art Gallery from public school as sort of a dusty shrine to Homer Watson. Maybe it was never really like that, but it definitely isn't now. Great contemporary shows, both local and touring.
2. Why can't I smell cakes being baked at the new cake place at Victoria and Duke? I am sure I wouldn't be able to resist if I could smell that on the way home. Or is it the wind direction?

Holy Heritage

Rumpel Felt Building, facing Duke

The downside of having the shortest commute is that my stats aren't impressive. I am at the bottom of the mileage heap, but it isn't for lack of commuting. In fact, I have commuted every single day. I haven't commuted by car or foot a single time, either direction, since the moment the bike was handed to me. Though with such a short distance, that isn't hard to achieve. I have to admit, I am looking at the folks who have broken 100km with shame and envy, but it hardly makes sense to regularly commute farther than point A to B, particularly in this weather.

Rumpel Felt is another great old listed industrial building on my route, and since I cross Victoria at Duke Street, I have plenty of time to contemplate the pictured side of the building while waiting for the incredibly slow lights. There is a rusty dump-chute of some sort (to the left of the pictured area) that is so interesting that at first I didn't notice the inexplicable garage-style door that opens to nothing on the third floor. My first guess here is that it was an opening cut for installing or removing heavy equipment. Alternate guess: steampunk shuttle bay door? The traffic light here really is slow.

Lang Tannery, facing Joseph

Back at the Lang Tannery, there is a square patched hole facing Joseph on the second floor. Walking back from a lunch in Victoria park with some co-workers last week, one of them wondered what the hole was from. It took me a minute, but I remembered that this was roughly where the overhead link was from the now-demolished boiler house (only the chimney remains). There are old drawings of the complex near the bike racks, and we were able to confirm that was in fact where the junction was. Of the dozens of bricked up openings on this building, I was pleased to be able to explain the history of one of them.

The curb along this stretch is an example of my new pet peeve since I have been bike commuting: non-flush curbs. The pavement here is about an inch and a half lower than the curb base, just enough to make it dangerous to bike tires. Wellington is like this too, and it inserts a dangerous edge 10 inches or so into the roadway. This pushes cyclists further into the road, creating a sort of negative bike lane, and serves no purpose that I can determine. Anyone want to illuminate me here? Why not keep these surfaces flush?

- Eric M
Google

Follow-up from last week - the legacy elevators (two of them apparently) still exist! Thanks to Brendan, I located one of them in a whole section I didn't even know was accessible.