It was a busy weekend, taken up largely by work and a sick dog, but GC and I found time to go on a couple of the Jane’s Walks this weekend.
On Saturday we went on the Folk Walk, which was led by Arthur McGregor and took place in the area around his store, the Ottawa Folklore Centre, in Old Ottawa South. (He’s trying to get the neighbourhood renamed to Sunnyside Village, by the way.)
He told us that when the City tore up the roads to replace the aging underground infrastructure, they agreed to embed brass plaques in the new sidewalk. Each plaque is in the shape of a maple leaf, and bears the name of a Canadian folk music legend, such as Bruce Cockburn or Stan Rogers.
We walked from plaque to plaque, and at each plaque Arthur would tell us a little bit about the person, and we’d sing one of their songs. (Arthur brought his guitar and lyrics for all of us.)
There were about 20 of us on this walk, which lasted about an hour and was a lot of fun.
On Sunday we went on the Chinatown walk, which was led by local blogger Jackson Couse.
Chinatown is one of my favourite neighbourhoods. I lived there for eight years.
Jackson not only lives in Chinatown, but he grew up there. He focused his walk on the kind of childhood this neighbourhood provides. He talked about diversity and density as being key ingredients of a good childhood, and how Chinatown provides both those things. (There was a third thing too, but I forget…)
We started on Cambridge Street, which in the unofficial blogging capital of Ottawa. That’s where all the cool bloggers live, and where I aspire to live someday.
We then went up above the bluff, where Jackson showed us a rock wall in a small green space that technically belongs to the nuns, but which was a key feature of his childhood. He often went there to be alone.
Children need green space. They need trees and dirt. Give them half a dozen trees and they’ll use their imaginations to transform it into a full-fledged forest. This particular neighbourhood – Chinatown, or West Centretown – has very little green space (.01km2 per thousand people, which is half the Ottawa average).
Then we walked along upper Lorne Avenue, where he pointed out my friend Julia’s house, and then along Somerset to Booth, where he talked about some memorable and tragic fires in the neighbourhood, attributable to a combination of factors such as slum landlords and balloon construction.
From there we headed down to the low-income housing project on Gladstone, and walked through it. The children stared at us wide-eyed, since they don’t often have groups of fifty people marching through their little neighbourhood.
Then we headed over to Cambridge School, which is probably one of the most multicultural schools in Ottawa.
I liked how Jackson approached his walk, through the eyes of a child. I also liked his genuine appreciation of the neighbourhood’s ethnic and economic diversity.
I think there’s actually only one cool blogger left on Cambridge Street isn’t there? The others have all moved away or are about to move away. It still seems like a cool place to live though.
I live on Cambridge. Now I feel like I should start a blog!
Great piece, Nut, wish I had done the walk this year. Shame.
I am sorry to have missed the Chinatown walk.
I will need to pay more attention next year.
It’s not “West Centretown;” it’s Dalhousie. That’s the name of the City of Ottawa ward before amalgamation, thusly named by the Earl or Duke or whatever of Dalhousie, who owned the property.
– RG>
More than one, XUP. I’d name them, but they might not like that. (You’re right though, at least three have moved to other streets…)
Parasol, do it! Start a blog!
Milan, I think you would have liked it.
Grouchy, according to the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study, West Centretown is bounded by Albert Street and Scott Street on the north, Carling Avenue on the south, Bronson Avenue to the east, and the O-Train line and Bayswater Avenue to the west.
Yes, and they’re wrong. It’s a revisionist name that erases the history of the neighbourhood.
– RG>
It’s known by a lot of names. Lots of people call it Chinatown or Little Italy. The ONS calls it Centretown West. You call it Dalhousie. The cabbies call it the Short West. My guess is that most people who have never lived there would have no idea what part of Ottawa ‘Dalhousie’ is.
Speaking of revisionism, what do you think about changing the name of Old Ottawa South to Sunnyside Village? (It seems to me that as the city has grown, names like ‘Old Ottawa South’ are no longer accurate…)
Actually, the “old” is an appendage due to the growth of the City–hence South of Old Ottawa.
I think it’s as bad as, if not worse than, the BIA’s assertion that a nondescript part of Hintonburg is all of a sudden to be known as West Wellington.
At least OOS has history as a distinct community.
– RG>
So glad you came out to the walk!
It makes me laugh (and cry a little) to hear developer-types and the property-value minded call apartment things like “Centretown adjacent,” as I saw in a few months ago. There was once a time when being next to Centretown was not a selling point.
I see Chinatown, Little Italy, Lebreton Flats, and Centretown as inter-related neighborhoods in the greater district of Somerset West. The neighborhoods each have their own character and advantages. Likewise, the areas south of the Queensway have their own flavour. These parts come together when they share common interests. This dynamic interaction between neighborhoods can be a really strong and beneficial relationship. The neighborhoods have pull when they pull together.
It’s important to note too that this district is bordered by two of the more powerful neighborhoods in Ottawa: the Glebe and the Golden Triangle. The importance of this inter-district exchange shouldn’t be forgotten. For example, teenagers from Somerset West go to high school at Lisgar and Glebe, two of the best in the city. Despite significant physical barriers (the tracks, the highway) Chinatown is not a ghettoized slum.
And that block of Cambridge is a world unto itself, a great little microcosm of city life.