Parks atop malls, breweries galore and an influx of Toronto transplants are all helping transform Steeltown into a port city that can be proud of how it combines urban, industrial and green space

In five words

Beyond the grit and steel

Sound of the city

The public image of Hamilton has historically been one of industry, factories and smokestacks. But most people don’t know that it is also home to the sound of more than 100 waterfalls, tucked into the forested area that surrounds the city’s core.

Best building

Cannon (Chipman-Holton) Knitting Mills is a 110,000 sq ft industrial factory complex, currently abandoned and awaiting rebirth. Established in 1854, it used to house a foundry and textile mill (two leading industries of the era). Most people now walk by without knowing its beauty: an internal courtyard, a sun-lit factory atrium and an ornate rounded corner window. It’s a total dream.

How green is the city?

Hamilton and “green city” are not typically words that you hear together. The steel manufacturing that has dominated much of Hamilton’s economy for the better part of a century contributes to the city’s bad green rap. But Hamilton is undergoing an urban renaissance that is helping to contribute to a new vision of the city, and some emphasis is being placed on public transportation and walkability/bikeability. There has been some progress in creating dedicated bike lanes and just last year SoBi (a bike-share programme) launched, becoming a convenient and easy way for downtowners to move around.

This new greener vision is not entirely embraced by the city as a whole, though, and it often pits downtown dwellers against suburbanites. But despite Hamilton’s green image being tainted by its steel mill skyline, the city is surrounded by green spaces, nature reserves, and some of the largest farming/agricultural lands in the province.

Homegrown talent

Jessy Lanza is an electropop R&B singer who released her critically acclaimed debut album, Pull My Hair Back, on the UK label Hyperdub in 2013. It was co-written and produced by Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys, who also calls Hamilton home. This video of hers was filmed in Hamilton and features a real-life Hamilton character, Jed the dancing guy.

Worst building

Kitschy fortress … City Centre. Photograph: Thomas Allen Photograph: Thomas Allen

The worst building in Hamilton is the City Centre, which dominates a two-block corner of prime, downtown retail real estate. It’s an impenetrable fortress with few windows or opportunities to connect the inside and outside worlds together, built in a weirdly ornate and kitschy 1980s postmodern style. Despite its desirable location it continues to suffer from low occupancy levels, leaving it eerily quiet.

Recently, however, the interior gallery has been getting a lot of Instagram love for its soaring, sunlit glass dome and stark white spaces. People are starting to see it in a new, perhaps less pessimistic light. As the recent mantra of the city goes, “It has so much potential” – let’s hope one day City Centre lives up to it.

Street style

Facebook Twitter Pinterest City stickers … street style in the city. Photograph: girlonthewing.ca

A new generation of young creatives are starting to stick around the city, along with an influx of Toronto transplants, who are all contributing to the growing arts community. You can see that influence in the choice of colour, patterns and unique vintage looks popping up on the streets.

Most underrated location

Windowless world … Jackson Square Rooftop. Photograph: Forris Borris

Jackson Square Rooftop – a park/square on top of a downtown mall – is an underused spot with a unique view over the city’s core. The mall on which it perches is a blight compared to the city’s original downtown historic architecture. Entire city blocks were torn down to make Jackson Square back in the 1970s, and by default the rooftop gets lumped in with the overall disenchantment that most people feel towards the building -but unlike the mostly windowless world of the mall below, the rooftop offers grassy knolls, sun and shade in summer, live music, a beer festival and a refuge from an otherwise bustling area of town.

Biggest controversy

The mountain/downtown divide. The downtown portion of the city is bordered by the bay of Hamilton Harbour and nestled up against the ridge of the Niagara Escarpment, to which Hamiltonians affectionately refer as “the mountain”. It’s a natural geographic divide: the suburban landscape on the mountain versus the city down below.

These areas encapsulate two contradictory ways of living and thinking that often clash at City Hall. As downtown residents push for urban renewal (complete streets, one-way to two-way road conversions, increased public transportation and pedestrian access) they are often fought by suburbanites who typically consider downtown less a destination than a thoroughfare on the way to the office – by car – and back.

Last year there was a huge ruckus when the majority of suburban city councilors voted to scrap a downtown bus lane, part of a proposal to set the stage for a Light Rail Transit plan. What got many downtown citizens and councilors so bent out of shape was the fact that suburban councillors essentially held a veto over a decision that affected only a small stretch of downtown.

Best Instagram account

“They say Hamilton’s dirty. Send me your dirty pics.” This is the tongue-in-cheek tagline of the Instagram account sex.drugs.hamont. It features a curated selection of local Instagrammers’ shots, ranging from post-industrial factory grittiness to lush greenery, art, architecture and nature.

Moment in history

A decade ago, James Street North was converted from a one-way to a two-way street, which started nothing less than a gradual change in the downtown psyche.

The slower car traffic that resulted, combined with new storefront opportunities and some strategic planning among the art community (to set up galleries on James and start a monthly art crawl), helped to fuel a cultural renaissance. Streets once pockmarked with boarded-up buildings are starting to fill in with new restaurants, galleries and shops. Many expect that the restoration and resurrection of the downtown’s largest abandoned building, The Royal Connaught, will be a game-changer.

This video is a preview from a five-part documentary, Neighbourhood Rising, which charts the changes in Hamilton.

Best local artist

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hear Hamilton roar … an illustration by local artist Jacqui Oakley. Photograph: Jacqui Oakley

Illustrator Jacqui Oakley has had her work published by the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Penguin Books, National Geographic and more. When not illustrating movie posters, maps, magazines and novels (most recently Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes and the works of LM Montgomery), Jacqui and her husband, designer Jamie Lawson, work together on large-scale murals like the one on indie music label Sonic Unyon’s building with the En-Masse collective.

Top insider’s tip

Keep an open mind to the local food scene. Although you’d never guess it, it has exploded - particularly the breweries. Sample the roster at the recently opened Collective Arts Brewery and get your growlers filled, or try the annual Because Beer Festival, which hosts southern Ontario’s best local craft beers; and check out the gourmet food trucks at special events like Supercrawl and the Sew Hungry food truck rally. Foodies @theRealChanry and @TasteHamOnt are relentless in sampling all Hamilton has to offer.

Five to follow

Paper Street Journal

I Heart Hamilton

Raise The Hammer

Rebuild Hamilton



Hamilton Arts Council

From me

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Seema Narula

Seema Narula is a part-time teacher and freelance writer whose blog This Must Be The Place chronicles her love for all things Hamilton. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram