Sunday, April 12, 2009

Welcome to Winnipeg Downtown Places !

For those of you familiar with my original West End Dumplings blog, you know that I consider myself a 'downtowner'. 

My favourite memories as a kid are of walking around the big department stores or though the streets looking to the skyline to spot gargoyles and lions. I have lived and worked in, or adjacent to, the area for the past twenty years.

During this time the "downtown", which to me includes not only the Central Business District but Central Park, West Broadway, Waterfront Drive and The Exchange District, has had its ups and downs. Often it has been a case of moving one step forward with the announcement of a new store or project, but two steps back as soon after others announced their closure. Lately, though, it has been on a sustained roll.

I find that many people formed their opinion of downtown back in the 1990's and still talk of shuttered storefronts and the fact that nothing happens after 5 pm. That's really not the case. Downtown is expanding its role as a residential, entertainment and education district.

The purpose of this blog is to provide an index of the art, buildings and other places around downtown that make it an interesting place to be. Most are created from newspaper archives and using other online sources to confirm dates and other facts, (which often vary from source to source.)  If you have additional information or changes that you would like to suggest please let me know in the comments section or at "cassidy at mts.net"

See you downtown !

3 comments:

  1. This is such a terrific blog. Lots of information that I never knew about places I've lived with all my life. As with Dumplings, This Was Manitoba and the Flickr site, I hope you have the time and energy to keep it going indefinitely. Thanks for all the research and hard work.

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  2. This is a great site and helps me when I feel homesick (I'm a Winnipegger living in Asia)

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  3. Christian, I love your blog. I'm a die hard downtowner too. I live in the Exchange and would love to know more about the Travellers Building at 283 Bannatyne. I know there was a Turkish bath in the basement for the relaxation of the travelling salesmen who used the building. I'm sure there are tonnes of interesting stories.

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