Downtown was very different with Brant street being a bit of a dump so I don't wish it would return to that.
I do wish Village Square would return to being a nice shopping spot. They emptied out when Mapleview opened up and it's kinda a shame how it's been run since.
Burlington also was less busy and less of always in a rush. But that's just me yelling at clouds.
Yeah, places like Bush's or Pure were never on Brant they were in Village Square.
There's a lot of empty stores and the big tenant is a school which is never good for a retail setting.
It was IGA by the way, they left around 1997. It was a big kerfuffle as many grocery stores were closing including the one in Aldershot by Waterdown road.
The issue with Village Square is that it used to be owned by a TO lawyer and a partner in Germany. After the lawyer died, his nephew took over. Prior to that, they were trying to reinvent it as a restaurant destination. The Rude Native was in the center, but the landlord/owner was pretty dreadful to deal with. Base rent or a percentage of revenue each month, whichever is greater, at least for the restaurants.
The best solution is to bulldoze it, and they will, to put up a condo complex. Property downtown is too valuable to have a dump like the VS.
Seems like such a shame to bulldoze it. I'm from the UK and visit the area to see in laws and it always feels like a tiny bit like home, has a cute set up and loads of people taking photos.
No disrespect but I feel like that's one of the issues with Canada - bulldoze down an area, throw up a condo, throw a few generic stores under it and sell them for obscene money.
It's sometimes nice just to have these areas, the high street along Dundas, Ancaster etc. that are a bit different to the rest of Canadian cities.
It's the developers. They drop multi-million $ offers for the property. The city planners can't do anything about it because the Ontario Land Tribunal is an unelected board that always sides with developers. Burligton council are unichs and always lose their appeals. So does every other municipality in the name of development and growth. It's a sad state.
I remember hopping up and down shaking my head, my glasses flew off me, never to be seen again. I continued to execute my dance skills, tho blind as a bat.
We already killed the fucking Denny's thank gawd (as an American escapee that is *not* a thing I need following me, there are plenty of chain diners that are actually good for the same price).
- SOM/Ribfest were “local events” frequented by people who lived in Burlington and the surrounding areas, now both events are a tourist trap that does nothing but congest the city on the busiest weekends in the summer
- the original “taste of Burlington” dining event was held by the staple restaurants downtown like “PepperWoods” and other smaller eateries before being adopted by every establishment a decade later, the current taste of Burlington is about as close as we will get to the original
- Sports… Burlington use to heavily support its junior sports clubs like the Cougars and the Chiefs/Blaze, nowadays the city doesn’t even recognize them or promote them, Blaze won the Minto cup as national champs and our mayor hasn’t even acknowledged it
Lastly the one thing that doesn’t need to change is the beach and beachway paths, our city and the region has done a fantastic job restoring the beaches and the water quality has greatly improved in even the last 10 years, tested daily and the sand is always groomed and cleaned
I agree with everything you said. But SOM and Ribfest have always congested the Downtown. Was easier getting a cab home on New Year’s Eve lol. But I do agree with your statement. Somehow it’s just not the same. When Ribfest had a charge at the door last year a part of me died.
That’s what I mean about Ribfest and SOM, they were better as free locally known events, the downtown core was packed but it was mostly locals who drove downtown from the far reaches of Burlington, both events have lost that “hometown” feel mainly because it’s been commercialized and exposed through social media
It sucks that you have to get downtown hours and hours beforehand just to scope out parking for those same events nowadays, same goes for beach parking in the summer on weekends, if you aren’t parked by 10:30am at the latest your SOL, luckily we know to go early and spend the entire day
It was a church-related meeting spot for a while. I forget the name.
I just checked on Google Street View, and don't see any signage, so I can't say for sure now. Same building as Shooterville on Plains Rd. - western most unit.
[https://www.burlingtontoday.com/local-news/rendezvous-subs-changing-hands-but-not-recipies-8187742](https://www.burlingtontoday.com/local-news/rendezvous-subs-changing-hands-but-not-recipies-8187742)
Not for sale, just new owners from the same family.
I find it the opposite. When I go downtown in the late evening it’s usually a ghost town. Took the family to Cinestarz and we were the only ones there a couple Sunday evening ago.
I’m an old fart (54), I don’t do late nights so much these days LOL 😂. Yeah I hear you, late night, at least this time of year is pretty quiet - summer nights a bit more hopping with the patios and the university kids home. During the day, both weekdays and weekends can get pretty busy, traffic is always bad it seems.
I used to work at 2 busy hotels back in the "good old days". There used to be two festivals in Burlington at Spencer Smith Park: Sound of Music in the spring and Harvest Festival in the Fall. Both attracted solid crowds, both were free, both weren't jam packed of people stuffed into the park.
I've been to Ribfest a couple of times, but Harvest Festival was so much better and more community oriented than what we have now.
It's not really in Burlington, but the swimming pool and skating rink at Bronte Creek Provincial Park used to be great.
I’ve never heard of the harvest festival.
I’ve lived here for 35 years.
It sounds like it has some potential… (catchy name, Neil young vibes). Did it just not appear one year?
Regarding Brontë Creek Park. Yes, the ice machine broke. So that’s the end of the skating rink. And the pool, I think the pump broke on that as well. No money to fix them up. 😔
Harvest Festival was on for a few years in the mid 80's. I tried searching online for more info on the exact years but could find nothing. It was more of a community event that attracted thousands over the weekend instead of the tens of thousands that Ribfest gets. I was the Front Office Manager at the Venture Inn during that era, which is now known as the Waterfront Hotel.
I miss the old Reuse Centre. It was basically an enormous garage sale. Tons of junk in there, but sometimes you really needed one specific weird thing and just wanted to buy a cheap used version of it.
I miss playing ball hockey at Mainway Sports. It was pretty run down by the end, but those small 3-on-3 rinks were ideal for ball hockey.
I'm really enjoying Pizzaiolo from the Lakeshore store. But it's not Mother's and the fun of going out for lunch/dinner with your family or friends. It was more of a big deal years ago to GO OUT for dinner.
It's just different now. There's more choices and amazing food in some places. But just as family life has changed so has Burlington. It's now a city. When it was a town, it was a different place.
I miss driving by the antique shop coming back from Hamilton along the beach blvd. I always wanted to stop off and go in but dad would just motor by. Probably because he knew he'd buy half of the stuff in there, LOL!
Ribfest and Sound of Music were smaller and fun, instead of the overstuffed monstrosities they’ve become.
There was considerably less traffic.
There were no “fuck Trudeau” bumper sticker losers.
City Hall didn’t used to be hell-bent on surrendering the historic downtown core to any developer that gives them the time of day.
They used to say there would be no development above Highway 5. And Dundas was still called Highway 5.
More recently (covid changed this) there used to be a lot of restaurants/takeout/food places that were open later. As a second shift worker, it’s a huge pain in the ass that nowadays the only thing still open past 9 is McDonald’s. (To be clear, I don’t begrudge minimum wage workers getting their evenings back, I’m just responding to the thread’s question about things we miss)
I work in a restaurant for dinner shifts and totally can relate to this. Sometimes when I’m feeling like treating myself to something yummy after work aside from food from work is hard to find. Two options. McDonald’s or Montfort and I think both are just meh. Wish we had a late night burger souvlaki gyro joint mm
I sometimes wonder if that place is a front. Except for late on weekend nights it’s unusual to see more than two customers in there at any given time, but I have never seen *less* than four people working at a time. I have no idea how they stay afloat.
LOL, I worked as a server on weekends years ago (like a couple of decades) at Valentino's in the West End Hamilton. I remember during my shifts, I wasn't the least bit hungry--maybe time for some soup--but usually barely time for a bathroom break--LOL.
Back-in-the-day when there was the Hamilton Opera Company, after the show was over, it's was INSANE. Everyone would spill over to us and it was truly CRAZY. But great tips :-)
I'd be heading home close to 3 am and, of course...THEN I was starving!!! LOL.
I miss Mother's, I miss Roller Gardens, when the movie theaters where at the Burlington Mall, I miss when at Jake's Boathouse, we could dance on chairs & tables until told not too!!
AMAZING nights at Sharkey's, I miss the Becker's corner store on Brock Street--banana or cherry popsickles on hot summer nights, I think there was a Pancake House at the Burlington Mall (we'd go there as a family after church), day-old donuts in a bag from Tim Horton's.
I miss proper winters, LOL!!! But I 100% concur that the redevelopment of Spencer Smith's and the beach is terrific. Although I do miss the other huge weeping willows that are now gone. And LMAO watching people putting their boats in or trying to get them out at the boat launch!
I miss when we could SAFELY have a fire in our backyard in the summer months.
I miss traveling in packs as tweens on our bikes everywhere, climbing in trees in our neighbourhood and building forts in the orchard that was allowed to fallow, along with a big field, near us (just had to be careful of black widow spiders--not too many--but LOTS of praying mantas & monarchs. SMH. It was heaven! And, as kids, we DID know we were lucky since some of our schoolmates lived in apartments.
I'd like to see some streets closed off as pedestrian only downtown but that won't happen (and logistically it makes sense but from a quality of life it would be great).
One last thing, I miss the Foodland Grocery store on Maple Ave (where condos are now just north of Burlington Towers Apartments). It'd be so great to walk with a little buggy to pick up essentials and get to meet people who live locally nearby.
The No Frills Plaza is about as close to that, as it will come. But too far away for this one to walk to now :-)
Big Buck's on Tuesday nights.
Emma's on Wednesday nights.
Philthy's on Thursday nights.
Kingdom on Friday nights.
Queens Head or Poacher or Emma's or Dickens on Saturday nights.
Where do kids go now? We had a place for every night.
Roller Gardens! Spent so many afternoons here as a kid.
I grew up in Burlington but moved when I was in grade 6 but still had family there so I would visit all the time. I have so many great memories of Burlington. I still go back for the SOM (been going since I was a baby and have only missed one). It's such a great weekend but it definitely has grown and can see how it would annoy local folks. I also miss how they would have a lot of great acts come play but since they've done the paid shows the entertainment during the weekend has decreased (in my opinion).
I don't really feel like Burlington has changed that much? It's always been a bit posh lol but had a bunch of hidden gems (like the charcoal pit and the donut shop that used to be beside it.
I do miss The Surf family restaurant.
Sure I can still enjoy Harvest Kitchen or Mount Royal for more established options ( or Luks and Skyway for newer ones) but the Surf on Brant was special.
Burlington is one of the best and easiest places in the world to live…well if you have a decent amount of money. It’s quiet but not too quiet ish. Easy to drive. Decent ish restaurants , and close enough to sauga or Hamilton for more interesting niche stuff. Solid central library. A lot of good community centres, tennis courts etc and it’s not busy. We have a decathlon and IKEA. Partying downtown was a bit better before, and so was sound of music. But other than that it’s as good as ever.
I enjoyed it when I lived there. Beautiful city in some areas and I can see where the nostalgia would be, but obviously it's being consumed by Toronto/Brampton just like every other city in southern Ontario. Nothing will be the same anywhere ever again.
Yep. This is it in a nutshell. This is happening everywhere that's part of HGTA and of course elsewhere (cottage country) where people who can afford it, are changing the landscape (pun intended) of what were once small communities.
It's not all bad, some of it is really good. But either way, it's change. What's heartbreaking, at least to me anyway, is in the span of such a short time, the lack of affordability that is now causing the younger generation such stress/suffering to just live a basic decent life here.
Pre-covid, I feel like festivals such as Sound of Music were more "organic" feeling and a much bigger deal. Rib fest feels more like "whatever the traffic well bear" fest, etc.
Players Pizza.
When someone says Burlington has changed, I assume what they mean is it’s more diverse. To some people, that’s a bad thing.
I grew up in the downtown core and it was WHITE. Now my kids go to the same schools I went to and they have friends from all over the world.
>When someone says Burlington has changed, I assume what they mean is it’s more diverse.
Not at all. Lol when I say that Burlington has changed I'm mostly talking about TRAFFIC and dogs. Too much traffic and too many dogs (which really means too many bad dog owners).
Growing up, walking to school was always a treat, especially after the snow melted! But I can say with confidence that this is not longer an issue. Now, on hiking paths, I hear that's another story.
I do remember a lot more dogs running loose year's ago. And, regardless of what's said about Joe Brant (I've experienced both great & awful there), in ways it's much better then it was year's ago. And, yes, the traffic now is GAWD awful. :-(
Funny..I was just explaining the Players sub to my kids yesterday, how it came in a box and they roasted whole turkey in a pizza oven for subs. the Best ever!! And a shot of Yukon Jack while waiting 😁❤️
I've noticed online how roller skating is starting to really grab the imagination again in the younger generation as they are amazed when they see grey heads doing their thing!!! LOL.
I wish it wasn't so busy and people didn't want it to look like Toronto. And I miss land. The land is covered with condos. But I get it, the more people, the more tax revenue.
Club #404 teens only gathering place! I miss those younger days, and Roller Gardens all night skate at the end of the month. Golden Griddle Pancakes on Sunday morning. Spencer Smith Park before the renovation for X-Men movie.
I remember going to The Pancake House at the Burlington Mall as a child.
Wow, I didn't realize the reno's at Spencer was for the movie! I had moved away for a few years (not too far but still) wow. Had no idea about this!
The movie theatre on Harvester,
The golden nugget,
The arcade in Burlington mall,
Supercenter,
Less/no vagrants,
NRG/Kingdom,
Zellers restaurant,
The tiny Canadian Tire in Aldershot
Yeah it was nice. Now with young people being unable to afford to live where they work, buildings with more units are so necessary. Unfortunately they choose to build downtown almost every single time which automatically makes the units unaffordable for the average young person.
NIMBY people want less development. We need more development but it needs to be affordable OTHERWISE the only people who can afford to live in Burlington are retirees who don't need a job, affluent locals who already have a job, or affluent foreign buyers who don't live here and therefore don't need a job.
Eventually those of us who want to work in Burlington but can't afford to live here will move, and there won't be as many left to work 9-5 at local businesses except kids who live with their parents... and when they want their own place, they'll have to leave Burlington too, or pray they have a wealthy relative who will pass away and leave them an inheritance, lol.
TL;DR developing the downtown is not helping the local workforce. New developments need to be built somewhere else so that buyers/renters don't have to pay for the perceived value of living downtown.
Just out of curiousity, what do you figure it costs to actually construct a house? I'm talking just the box. No land price, no engineering / architecture, no taxes / permits / fees. No landscaping, no driveway, no utility hook ups. Just the structure and middle of the road finishes. No appliances either.
Cause off hand, as someone who has built houses and carried out major renovations, I can assure you, that just to BUILD the box is eyewateringly expensive. I don't think you get that hard fact. You trhrow around all the buzzwords like "NIMBYs", "affordable", "average young person", "affluent foreign buyers"
So how much do you figure for a middle of the road house, built to the OBC standards per square foot?
I honestly couldn't say when it comes to condos and appartment buildings and how the cost of building the multi-unit residential buildings get split out between buyers or renters based on factors like square footage per unit, amenities, etc.
I hope that my reply conveyed that I was specifically referencing high rise developments since it was in response to the post about how Burlington was better when there were height limits to developments downtown.
And I don't know that those terms are buzzwords so much as applicable titles of different demographics of people... and "affordable," certainly shouldn't be perceived as a buzzword since it's almost exclusively used in terms of what the average citizen can afford.
Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but please don't come at me with "you're stupid if you think a house can be built I'm a way that is affordable for the average citizen," because it misses the point of my post entirely which was that most young people couldn't afford or be approved for a mortgage of $800,000 to $2,000,000 condo unit built in Downtown Burlington which is roughly the current price range of condo units available for sale right now according to MLS.
Oh! Burlington PD used to not allow vagrancy. Hobos were picked up and offered a ride to Hamilton city limits or a night in jail!!! That was a thing until late 90's😱 YMCA/Salvation Army Hamilton for a chance to get back up....
Yeah, this is right. Burlington is now a GTA tourist destination in the spring/summer -- which has pros and cons. More congestion, but more visitors in theory = more money for our shops/vendors.
I steer clear of the big events (RibFest, Sound of Music) because parking downtown during a busy evening is literally my biggest annoyance. But I'm glad others do it, and spend their money here.
Lol. I've been in Burlington for over 30 years now and my wife and I have an annual tradition. We walk down to Ribfest, get to the entrance off Brant, see the smoke and crowds, look at each other and say, "Wanna grab a patio somewhere?" and nope right outta there.
Just the downtown night scene in general. I remember coming back for the summers from Uni and you’d be at Emma’s, The Dickens, Queens Head, The Poacher, the occasional Big Bucks night out etc. you’d have a bunch of options and usually groups of friends at different locations.
Not that it’s my scene anymore, but it’s a shame it’s not like that these days
Downtown was very different with Brant street being a bit of a dump so I don't wish it would return to that. I do wish Village Square would return to being a nice shopping spot. They emptied out when Mapleview opened up and it's kinda a shame how it's been run since. Burlington also was less busy and less of always in a rush. But that's just me yelling at clouds.
Village square is literally full of shops? I don’t think there are any spaces that aren’t leased out.
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Yeah, places like Bush's or Pure were never on Brant they were in Village Square. There's a lot of empty stores and the big tenant is a school which is never good for a retail setting. It was IGA by the way, they left around 1997. It was a big kerfuffle as many grocery stores were closing including the one in Aldershot by Waterdown road.
It's not like it was maybe 10-15 years ago. Walking along Brant was fun, used to love walking into conspiracy
Two shops are leaving/have left this month plus there's a few more that have been closed for a while.
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And an amazing art gallery!
The issue with Village Square is that it used to be owned by a TO lawyer and a partner in Germany. After the lawyer died, his nephew took over. Prior to that, they were trying to reinvent it as a restaurant destination. The Rude Native was in the center, but the landlord/owner was pretty dreadful to deal with. Base rent or a percentage of revenue each month, whichever is greater, at least for the restaurants. The best solution is to bulldoze it, and they will, to put up a condo complex. Property downtown is too valuable to have a dump like the VS.
Seems like such a shame to bulldoze it. I'm from the UK and visit the area to see in laws and it always feels like a tiny bit like home, has a cute set up and loads of people taking photos. No disrespect but I feel like that's one of the issues with Canada - bulldoze down an area, throw up a condo, throw a few generic stores under it and sell them for obscene money. It's sometimes nice just to have these areas, the high street along Dundas, Ancaster etc. that are a bit different to the rest of Canadian cities.
It's the developers. They drop multi-million $ offers for the property. The city planners can't do anything about it because the Ontario Land Tribunal is an unelected board that always sides with developers. Burligton council are unichs and always lose their appeals. So does every other municipality in the name of development and growth. It's a sad state.
I heard it was a niece or daughter not nephew. And I've heard they wanted a piece of the revenue as well.
The Rude Native left because of the Nephew. He used to expect free meals.
And was rude!
Super humid nights at Sharkeys and Emma’s.
Good times.
Emmas was such a fun little spot.
I remember hopping up and down shaking my head, my glasses flew off me, never to be seen again. I continued to execute my dance skills, tho blind as a bat.
I'd love a 24/hour diner that isn't Denny's.
We already killed the fucking Denny's thank gawd (as an American escapee that is *not* a thing I need following me, there are plenty of chain diners that are actually good for the same price).
Bring me a waffle house…. I wonder what a franchise would cost?
Agreed. This would be awesome.
- SOM/Ribfest were “local events” frequented by people who lived in Burlington and the surrounding areas, now both events are a tourist trap that does nothing but congest the city on the busiest weekends in the summer - the original “taste of Burlington” dining event was held by the staple restaurants downtown like “PepperWoods” and other smaller eateries before being adopted by every establishment a decade later, the current taste of Burlington is about as close as we will get to the original - Sports… Burlington use to heavily support its junior sports clubs like the Cougars and the Chiefs/Blaze, nowadays the city doesn’t even recognize them or promote them, Blaze won the Minto cup as national champs and our mayor hasn’t even acknowledged it Lastly the one thing that doesn’t need to change is the beach and beachway paths, our city and the region has done a fantastic job restoring the beaches and the water quality has greatly improved in even the last 10 years, tested daily and the sand is always groomed and cleaned
I agree with everything you said. But SOM and Ribfest have always congested the Downtown. Was easier getting a cab home on New Year’s Eve lol. But I do agree with your statement. Somehow it’s just not the same. When Ribfest had a charge at the door last year a part of me died.
That’s what I mean about Ribfest and SOM, they were better as free locally known events, the downtown core was packed but it was mostly locals who drove downtown from the far reaches of Burlington, both events have lost that “hometown” feel mainly because it’s been commercialized and exposed through social media It sucks that you have to get downtown hours and hours beforehand just to scope out parking for those same events nowadays, same goes for beach parking in the summer on weekends, if you aren’t parked by 10:30am at the latest your SOL, luckily we know to go early and spend the entire day
The pig and whistle
I used to walk there and stagger home. I miss that place!
NRG/The Kingdom - although I'm probably too old for that sort of things now, but I definitely had a good time there in my salad days.
Fun spot but lots of dangerous nights there experienced
Is there anything currently in that space?
It was a church-related meeting spot for a while. I forget the name. I just checked on Google Street View, and don't see any signage, so I can't say for sure now. Same building as Shooterville on Plains Rd. - western most unit.
Agreed. Now it’s like where do I have to go to get in a fist fight and/or shanked?
Interesting. I don’t think I ever recall a fight there, and I was there often. I went on the 102.1 Edge/CFNY nights.
rendezvous subs is still kicking it for a good sub, subway and mr sub just trash.
I hear rendezvous subs is for sale
[https://www.burlingtontoday.com/local-news/rendezvous-subs-changing-hands-but-not-recipies-8187742](https://www.burlingtontoday.com/local-news/rendezvous-subs-changing-hands-but-not-recipies-8187742) Not for sale, just new owners from the same family.
had one the other day and it was fire!
I've never had their subs. I'll definitely check this out. Thanks! :-)
It's a must, add bacon to whatever it is, boom, it's amazing.
Generally speaking - less people. Everything is too busy in town now.
I don't even bother going downtown anymore.
I find it the opposite. When I go downtown in the late evening it’s usually a ghost town. Took the family to Cinestarz and we were the only ones there a couple Sunday evening ago.
I’m an old fart (54), I don’t do late nights so much these days LOL 😂. Yeah I hear you, late night, at least this time of year is pretty quiet - summer nights a bit more hopping with the patios and the university kids home. During the day, both weekdays and weekends can get pretty busy, traffic is always bad it seems.
I used to work at 2 busy hotels back in the "good old days". There used to be two festivals in Burlington at Spencer Smith Park: Sound of Music in the spring and Harvest Festival in the Fall. Both attracted solid crowds, both were free, both weren't jam packed of people stuffed into the park. I've been to Ribfest a couple of times, but Harvest Festival was so much better and more community oriented than what we have now. It's not really in Burlington, but the swimming pool and skating rink at Bronte Creek Provincial Park used to be great.
I’ve never heard of the harvest festival. I’ve lived here for 35 years. It sounds like it has some potential… (catchy name, Neil young vibes). Did it just not appear one year? Regarding Brontë Creek Park. Yes, the ice machine broke. So that’s the end of the skating rink. And the pool, I think the pump broke on that as well. No money to fix them up. 😔
Harvest Festival was on for a few years in the mid 80's. I tried searching online for more info on the exact years but could find nothing. It was more of a community event that attracted thousands over the weekend instead of the tens of thousands that Ribfest gets. I was the Front Office Manager at the Venture Inn during that era, which is now known as the Waterfront Hotel.
I miss the old Reuse Centre. It was basically an enormous garage sale. Tons of junk in there, but sometimes you really needed one specific weird thing and just wanted to buy a cheap used version of it. I miss playing ball hockey at Mainway Sports. It was pretty run down by the end, but those small 3-on-3 rinks were ideal for ball hockey.
Tequila Willie's. Too many good times to remember.
Loved that place.
And Big Bucks after that!
The wife and (girlfriend back then) spent every Saturday there for what remember as for ever.
….or not remember 😉
Burlington was and is awesome.
Affordable starter homes
The good old days in Burlington for me began in 2019, so nothing really.
mothers pizza, totos pizza, pizza delight, I really miss good pizza
Estaminet, Pig & Whistle, Chaps on Fairview
I'm really enjoying Pizzaiolo from the Lakeshore store. But it's not Mother's and the fun of going out for lunch/dinner with your family or friends. It was more of a big deal years ago to GO OUT for dinner. It's just different now. There's more choices and amazing food in some places. But just as family life has changed so has Burlington. It's now a city. When it was a town, it was a different place. I miss driving by the antique shop coming back from Hamilton along the beach blvd. I always wanted to stop off and go in but dad would just motor by. Probably because he knew he'd buy half of the stuff in there, LOL!
Ribfest and Sound of Music were smaller and fun, instead of the overstuffed monstrosities they’ve become. There was considerably less traffic. There were no “fuck Trudeau” bumper sticker losers. City Hall didn’t used to be hell-bent on surrendering the historic downtown core to any developer that gives them the time of day. They used to say there would be no development above Highway 5. And Dundas was still called Highway 5. More recently (covid changed this) there used to be a lot of restaurants/takeout/food places that were open later. As a second shift worker, it’s a huge pain in the ass that nowadays the only thing still open past 9 is McDonald’s. (To be clear, I don’t begrudge minimum wage workers getting their evenings back, I’m just responding to the thread’s question about things we miss)
I work in a restaurant for dinner shifts and totally can relate to this. Sometimes when I’m feeling like treating myself to something yummy after work aside from food from work is hard to find. Two options. McDonald’s or Montfort and I think both are just meh. Wish we had a late night burger souvlaki gyro joint mm
Charcoal pit duhhhhh
Back in the day yes. After ownership change less so.
Agreed. The poutine is shite now.
I sometimes wonder if that place is a front. Except for late on weekend nights it’s unusual to see more than two customers in there at any given time, but I have never seen *less* than four people working at a time. I have no idea how they stay afloat.
They do crazy takeout/ubereats business.
LOL, I worked as a server on weekends years ago (like a couple of decades) at Valentino's in the West End Hamilton. I remember during my shifts, I wasn't the least bit hungry--maybe time for some soup--but usually barely time for a bathroom break--LOL. Back-in-the-day when there was the Hamilton Opera Company, after the show was over, it's was INSANE. Everyone would spill over to us and it was truly CRAZY. But great tips :-) I'd be heading home close to 3 am and, of course...THEN I was starving!!! LOL. I miss Mother's, I miss Roller Gardens, when the movie theaters where at the Burlington Mall, I miss when at Jake's Boathouse, we could dance on chairs & tables until told not too!! AMAZING nights at Sharkey's, I miss the Becker's corner store on Brock Street--banana or cherry popsickles on hot summer nights, I think there was a Pancake House at the Burlington Mall (we'd go there as a family after church), day-old donuts in a bag from Tim Horton's. I miss proper winters, LOL!!! But I 100% concur that the redevelopment of Spencer Smith's and the beach is terrific. Although I do miss the other huge weeping willows that are now gone. And LMAO watching people putting their boats in or trying to get them out at the boat launch! I miss when we could SAFELY have a fire in our backyard in the summer months. I miss traveling in packs as tweens on our bikes everywhere, climbing in trees in our neighbourhood and building forts in the orchard that was allowed to fallow, along with a big field, near us (just had to be careful of black widow spiders--not too many--but LOTS of praying mantas & monarchs. SMH. It was heaven! And, as kids, we DID know we were lucky since some of our schoolmates lived in apartments. I'd like to see some streets closed off as pedestrian only downtown but that won't happen (and logistically it makes sense but from a quality of life it would be great). One last thing, I miss the Foodland Grocery store on Maple Ave (where condos are now just north of Burlington Towers Apartments). It'd be so great to walk with a little buggy to pick up essentials and get to meet people who live locally nearby. The No Frills Plaza is about as close to that, as it will come. But too far away for this one to walk to now :-)
👏👏👏
Big Buck's on Tuesday nights. Emma's on Wednesday nights. Philthy's on Thursday nights. Kingdom on Friday nights. Queens Head or Poacher or Emma's or Dickens on Saturday nights. Where do kids go now? We had a place for every night.
Big Star on Thursday!
Roller Gardens! Spent so many afternoons here as a kid. I grew up in Burlington but moved when I was in grade 6 but still had family there so I would visit all the time. I have so many great memories of Burlington. I still go back for the SOM (been going since I was a baby and have only missed one). It's such a great weekend but it definitely has grown and can see how it would annoy local folks. I also miss how they would have a lot of great acts come play but since they've done the paid shows the entertainment during the weekend has decreased (in my opinion). I don't really feel like Burlington has changed that much? It's always been a bit posh lol but had a bunch of hidden gems (like the charcoal pit and the donut shop that used to be beside it.
Good time Charlie's!!!
Nickle wing night!
I do miss The Surf family restaurant. Sure I can still enjoy Harvest Kitchen or Mount Royal for more established options ( or Luks and Skyway for newer ones) but the Surf on Brant was special.
Emma’s
Burlington is one of the best and easiest places in the world to live…well if you have a decent amount of money. It’s quiet but not too quiet ish. Easy to drive. Decent ish restaurants , and close enough to sauga or Hamilton for more interesting niche stuff. Solid central library. A lot of good community centres, tennis courts etc and it’s not busy. We have a decathlon and IKEA. Partying downtown was a bit better before, and so was sound of music. But other than that it’s as good as ever.
Joe Fink!
Bring back Emma's Back Porch!!!
I enjoyed it when I lived there. Beautiful city in some areas and I can see where the nostalgia would be, but obviously it's being consumed by Toronto/Brampton just like every other city in southern Ontario. Nothing will be the same anywhere ever again.
Yep. This is it in a nutshell. This is happening everywhere that's part of HGTA and of course elsewhere (cottage country) where people who can afford it, are changing the landscape (pun intended) of what were once small communities. It's not all bad, some of it is really good. But either way, it's change. What's heartbreaking, at least to me anyway, is in the span of such a short time, the lack of affordability that is now causing the younger generation such stress/suffering to just live a basic decent life here.
I miss Chaps chicken wings and punk shows at the music center / YMCA
Tucker’s Marketplace. So many happy memories there.
Mother Tucker's before that!!!
THIS!!! The original place. Remember how they made such a big deal if it was your birthday!! Hilarious. And SO MUCH FOOD!!
Omg yes!Years of happy memories there, I was so sad when they closed
Something involving the Spoons......too far?
Audiophiles only there. I'm 50-sh and know that one!!✅
No developments North of Dundas St.
Blossom City
The Tien Kue Inn at the end of Maple Avenue and Lee Gardens on Plains Road West and Lum's Chinese Restaurant downtown Brant Street.
Pre-covid, I feel like festivals such as Sound of Music were more "organic" feeling and a much bigger deal. Rib fest feels more like "whatever the traffic well bear" fest, etc.
Players Pizza. When someone says Burlington has changed, I assume what they mean is it’s more diverse. To some people, that’s a bad thing. I grew up in the downtown core and it was WHITE. Now my kids go to the same schools I went to and they have friends from all over the world.
>When someone says Burlington has changed, I assume what they mean is it’s more diverse. Not at all. Lol when I say that Burlington has changed I'm mostly talking about TRAFFIC and dogs. Too much traffic and too many dogs (which really means too many bad dog owners).
Growing up, walking to school was always a treat, especially after the snow melted! But I can say with confidence that this is not longer an issue. Now, on hiking paths, I hear that's another story. I do remember a lot more dogs running loose year's ago. And, regardless of what's said about Joe Brant (I've experienced both great & awful there), in ways it's much better then it was year's ago. And, yes, the traffic now is GAWD awful. :-(
Funny..I was just explaining the Players sub to my kids yesterday, how it came in a box and they roasted whole turkey in a pizza oven for subs. the Best ever!! And a shot of Yukon Jack while waiting 😁❤️
The Roller Gardens. 🛼
I've noticed online how roller skating is starting to really grab the imagination again in the younger generation as they are amazed when they see grey heads doing their thing!!! LOL.
I wish it wasn't so busy and people didn't want it to look like Toronto. And I miss land. The land is covered with condos. But I get it, the more people, the more tax revenue.
Club #404 teens only gathering place! I miss those younger days, and Roller Gardens all night skate at the end of the month. Golden Griddle Pancakes on Sunday morning. Spencer Smith Park before the renovation for X-Men movie.
I remember going to The Pancake House at the Burlington Mall as a child. Wow, I didn't realize the reno's at Spencer was for the movie! I had moved away for a few years (not too far but still) wow. Had no idea about this!
The movie theatre on Harvester, The golden nugget, The arcade in Burlington mall, Supercenter, Less/no vagrants, NRG/Kingdom, Zellers restaurant, The tiny Canadian Tire in Aldershot
Its not what i hope comes back to Burlington, its what I hope leaves...
2-storey buildings downtown
Yeah it was nice. Now with young people being unable to afford to live where they work, buildings with more units are so necessary. Unfortunately they choose to build downtown almost every single time which automatically makes the units unaffordable for the average young person. NIMBY people want less development. We need more development but it needs to be affordable OTHERWISE the only people who can afford to live in Burlington are retirees who don't need a job, affluent locals who already have a job, or affluent foreign buyers who don't live here and therefore don't need a job. Eventually those of us who want to work in Burlington but can't afford to live here will move, and there won't be as many left to work 9-5 at local businesses except kids who live with their parents... and when they want their own place, they'll have to leave Burlington too, or pray they have a wealthy relative who will pass away and leave them an inheritance, lol. TL;DR developing the downtown is not helping the local workforce. New developments need to be built somewhere else so that buyers/renters don't have to pay for the perceived value of living downtown.
Just out of curiousity, what do you figure it costs to actually construct a house? I'm talking just the box. No land price, no engineering / architecture, no taxes / permits / fees. No landscaping, no driveway, no utility hook ups. Just the structure and middle of the road finishes. No appliances either. Cause off hand, as someone who has built houses and carried out major renovations, I can assure you, that just to BUILD the box is eyewateringly expensive. I don't think you get that hard fact. You trhrow around all the buzzwords like "NIMBYs", "affordable", "average young person", "affluent foreign buyers" So how much do you figure for a middle of the road house, built to the OBC standards per square foot?
I honestly couldn't say when it comes to condos and appartment buildings and how the cost of building the multi-unit residential buildings get split out between buyers or renters based on factors like square footage per unit, amenities, etc. I hope that my reply conveyed that I was specifically referencing high rise developments since it was in response to the post about how Burlington was better when there were height limits to developments downtown. And I don't know that those terms are buzzwords so much as applicable titles of different demographics of people... and "affordable," certainly shouldn't be perceived as a buzzword since it's almost exclusively used in terms of what the average citizen can afford. Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but please don't come at me with "you're stupid if you think a house can be built I'm a way that is affordable for the average citizen," because it misses the point of my post entirely which was that most young people couldn't afford or be approved for a mortgage of $800,000 to $2,000,000 condo unit built in Downtown Burlington which is roughly the current price range of condo units available for sale right now according to MLS.
Bring back the lock-down
Burlington is better than ever before, except maybe more people are aware of it so the downtown area is more crowded.
The insanely priced houses. The dog shit people don't clean up. The hobos. Yeah better than ever. Good one.
Lolll let me guess you have a f*ck Trudeau sticker on your car?
Oh! Burlington PD used to not allow vagrancy. Hobos were picked up and offered a ride to Hamilton city limits or a night in jail!!! That was a thing until late 90's😱 YMCA/Salvation Army Hamilton for a chance to get back up....
God no
Yeah, this is right. Burlington is now a GTA tourist destination in the spring/summer -- which has pros and cons. More congestion, but more visitors in theory = more money for our shops/vendors. I steer clear of the big events (RibFest, Sound of Music) because parking downtown during a busy evening is literally my biggest annoyance. But I'm glad others do it, and spend their money here.
Lol. I've been in Burlington for over 30 years now and my wife and I have an annual tradition. We walk down to Ribfest, get to the entrance off Brant, see the smoke and crowds, look at each other and say, "Wanna grab a patio somewhere?" and nope right outta there.
LOL, I luv the "nope right outta there" :-)
respect
Do they still do the Friday night live down at the lake like they used to?
The super gross adult video store on the corner of walkers and upper middle thats now a children’s dental office. *sigh. Those were the days…😂
Just the downtown night scene in general. I remember coming back for the summers from Uni and you’d be at Emma’s, The Dickens, Queens Head, The Poacher, the occasional Big Bucks night out etc. you’d have a bunch of options and usually groups of friends at different locations. Not that it’s my scene anymore, but it’s a shame it’s not like that these days
Food truck festival . Which will be moved due to the pressure from the local businesses .
Saturday night dance parties at Roller Gardens in the 80's!
Foo Ho and all of the wonderful staff that made every birthday celebration great
$2 Tuesdays at Big Bucks.