Educator | Communicator | Photographer
“The Roasterie has been in business for thirty years. All the things you see here is from a collection of over three decades, the little coffee grinders, the coffee cans, the mugs… all of it. We’ve seen a lot of customers over the years.
Kensington? Oh, boy. What’s not to like?” Lech Wojakowski, owner of The Roasterie.
Mushrooms have invaded Memorial Drive! over ten-thousand eco-friendly blocks made of organic materials, primarily a mushroom spore, have been setup as part of Beakerhead’s IN/FLUX exhibit. People are invited to come down to the space on Memorial Drive and 11 Street NW to interact with the exhibit and see this fascinating material in real life.
“I’ve been coming here for a long time. It’s one of the few places I’ve been to where you can walk up to stranger, ask them for a light, and then talk to them for an hour. You know what? I’m having one of the longest conversations I’ve had with anybody in over a week. I guess you can say that I don’t have a lot of friends anywhere, but when I come here, I know I can just talk to anybody.” John.
“I’ve got a photo exhibition at the Roasterie right now. I’ve been around as much as I used to be, but it’s nice to come back to have some coffee and see some familiar faces. I really like your project!” Matthew Dupuis.
Member of Parliament and Canadian NDP Leader Tom Mulcair addresses his supporters at a stop-over in the Calgary-Confederation campaign office. The old Money Mart location on 10th Street NW has been converted into the headquarters of Kirk Heuser, the NDP candidate for the newly formed Calgary-Confederation district.
To find more photos of the event, please visit this link to my Flickr gallery.
“I’ve been in menswear for fifty-two years. James and Dickson began in 1992, It was a result of us breaking up with our previous business partner. This location has been here since 2000–and we have had stores in malls around the city, but we closed them down to focus on this one.
We have a master tailor, Vince Novello is his name. He works up front in the store. Many stores have tailors who work behind the scenes or will have your measurements shipped out to an outside location. Vince was born and raised in Italy–he’s the real deal.
This neighbourhood? Oh my… Getting to know my customers has been a truly wonderful experience. I would say that we have quite a loyal core of customers: people who walk here from their homes or job sites in downtown. We feel like our customers have become friends. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve dealt with the same people for forty or fifty years… I would say that it’s really an inter-store relationship. Some of my life-long colleagues run their businesses in and around this store.” Terry James Mullin, Owner, James & Dickson Clothiers.
“This city is so funny. We enjoy the full force of what the seasons have to offer, and then when it comes time for them to change, they crash into each other. It feels like the Autumn storms into the front door of Summer’s patio party. What do I love about this neighbourhood? Resilience. After a century, I’m guessing that it still has the same feel.”
Every once in a while, the graffiti art out behind Charisma and Effective Health Solutions changes over. The bright colours are a welcome change to the drab concrete alley way.
“Five houses on 9a Street. Between 3rd and 2nd. They run their office out of one of them, two more look like they’re packed with the dregs of society, and two are boarded up (they looked like crack dens you’d see on Breaking Bad). They’ve also got an empty dirt lot over on 2nd and 1st that they haven’t done anything with. They were also charged by the City for entering into a contract without a license back when the flood happened…
I supposed that’s just how it goes. It would be nice to see those houses fixed up, or at least torn down to build something nicer. You should go take a picture of that, maybe it would be an example of urban decay or like, ‘Anti-Gentrification.'”
“This summer we’re into Kensington! The City of Calgary, in partnership with the Kensington Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ), will be implementing improvements to Kensington’s public realm. The project will focus on redesigning and replacing the streetscape of Kensington Road N.W. between 10 Street N.W. and 14 Street N.W. and on 10 Street N.W. between Memorial Drive and 5 Avenue N.W.
Improvements will include the replacement of ageing infrastructure like, sidewalks, trees, street lights and street furniture to provide safer mobility in the area for all.
Currently the sidewalks in Kensington are suffering from broken or missing interlocking paving stones. By replacing the paving stones with new concrete The City will eliminate trip hazards for pedestrians and provide a uniform look for all sidewalks in the area.
Many of the trees in the Kensington area are old and dying which results in high maintenance costs every year. These old or dying trees will be replaced. Additionally, tree trenches will be installed under the sidewalk. Tree trenches provide extra room for tree roots to grow and hold rain water to keep the tree healthy.
Energy efficient LED street lighting and pedestrian lighting will be installed on 10 Street N.W. and Kensington Road N.W. Pedestrians account for much of the traffic in Kensington, providing pedestrian street lighting will enhance safety and allow citizens to enjoy Kensington once the sun goes down.
Street furniture including litter receptacles, bike racks and newspaper corrals will be installed. The installation of benches, where space is available, is also being considered by the project team.
Planning meetings between The City, BRZ and community members have occurred over the past year and will continue until construction begins. Once a contractor has been selected a more detailed construction schedule will be available. The first phase of construction is scheduled to begin in September. Efforts will be made to minimize the impact to local businesses during construction.
September/October 2015: First phase of construction begins.
Summer 2016: Construction continuation on 10 Street N.W. and Kensington Road N.W. Additionally, tree installation will take place throughout the entire project area.
Fall 2016: Construction completed.” City of Calgary Website.
“Maybe somebody should go out and shoot a ‘Before-and-after’ photo, eh?” Point taken, see you in a year!
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