Few places in southern Ontario have made as big, and as quick of an economic turnaround as downtown Hamilton. Pictured is a conceptual rendering of 75 James Street South, Hamilton, ON. Photo credit: Fengate
Initially it was cheap real estate that lured some art gallery owners to set along James Street North in Hamilton. According to the local independent film Hearts, produced by Zena Hagerty and directed by Cody Lanktree, the group of gallery owners then decided to keep their doors open late at night on the second Friday of every night.
It was a success, as people started to spend their Friday night visiting the late-night art galleries. The stigma of Hamilton’s downtown drug and crime scene slowly started to wither away.
With the increased pedestrian foot traffic, local artists started to set up sidewalk stands to sell their unique crafts. Restaurants got busy. You actually had to wait in line at the Mulberry Coffee House.
It became known as Art Crawl, and it was free! Soon after, families started to arrive and started to actually spend money. This created a draw for more investment into the ageing buildings, where trendy restaurants and novelty stores started to open up. Although Art Crawl was once a month, people started to visit the downtown every weekend.
Today, you can barely find a spot at The Mule that serves up delicious tacos and flights of tequila. After dinner, you can enjoy a local craft beer at Merit Brewing. And if you want sumptuous Portuguese cooking, one must stop at the Wild Orchid.
An offspring of Art Crawl is SuperCrawl. The director of this premier event is Tim Potocic, where he writes on the website describing the event, “Supercrawl is Hamilton’s premier multi-arts festival, fusing new and independent music with art installations, fashion, performance, literature, theatre, and artisanal craft. Supercrawl’s diverse multi-disciplinary program of sound, performance, visual and media arts is staged along a pedestrian-only creative corridor in the heart of downtown.”
This year’s Supercrawl event is scheduled from September 10-12, and it remains free to attend.
With large crowds heading downtown, people realized it is actually safe to not only visit the downtown, but actually live there too. Real estate started to become expensive as condominium developers started to prepare their business models. Gentrification became a reality as the depressed urban area changed when wealthier people started to move in, displacing current inhabitants in the process. Even Mission Services that provide needed services to Hamilton’s homelessness population is leaving the area for a more modern space with greater capacity.
Although there has been a departure of the original neighbourhood, the independent art and culture scene remains intact. Today, condominiums are filling the skyline and are offering a “…hub of urban activity fueled by eclectic local neighbourhoods, diverse culture, artistic inspiration, and a world of evolving flavour and flair.”
Joining the action is Metrolinx, who opened West Harbour GO Station connecting new residents from Niagara Falls to Toronto. Hamilton’s waterfront is just a few walking minutes away and McMaster University has established a downtown campus. The central library is in the neighbourhood along with Hamilton’s Farmer Market.
It is no wonder that the City of Hamilton experienced a record setting $2 billion milestone in construction building permits last year. Hamilton has surpassed the $1 billion threshold for the past 12 years. The growth is across all residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial sectors.
There is actually no need to live in Toronto. The scene to be seen is in downtown Hamilton, that offers a creative blend of living, working and just having fun!
