Edmonton is not a very walkable city. One of the negative things about this city, especially in this age of buck and a quarter gasoline, is that driving is more or less inevitable.
While the Edmonton Transit System (ETS) does a pretty good job of servicing the city, they have had trouble keeping pace with the growth of the city, so there are some parts of town where taking the bus is, at best, incredibly inconvenient.
Essentially, even if you’re taking ETS, it is relatively difficult to get around Edmonton without using some form of automobile.
However, it is still possible to explore some parts of the city on foot. Perhaps predictably, the most walkable parts of the city are generally the most historic. The most walkable parts of the city are, generally, the parts most worth wandering around and exploring.
While I like to take walks in and around downtown, most of them are relatively boring jaunts around the inner core. A few of them take in the view from the top of the river valley, but even these pale in comparison to the walking tours that Sharon over at Optimistically Cautious has put together.
I’m planning on taking in all 3 of her tours—or some variation of each—as soon as possible, and I highly recommend that each of you do the same. Better still, use Sharon’s tours as inspiration to explore your own little corner of Edmonton. Put together a walking tour of some part of the city, and then share it on your blog, or in the comments section of this post.
I’ve got a couple of little mini-walks (though, nothing close to the half-day tours Sharon has put together) that I’ll share in a future blog post. But, for now, I leave you to explore Sharon’s Edmonton Rediscovered tours.
Thanks to Mack for pointing me toward Sharon’s post.
April, that sultry bitch, has decided to play the cocktease. Just as she was beginning to show a little leg, to flash a little cleavage, she’s pulled it all back and thrown on the over-sized nightgown. She’s blanketed us with a blinding white dressing gown, and we are none to pleased. But, that is her wish, and we can do nothing to change her mind. All we can do is wait, tell her we love her, and hope that she will bare all in the coming days.
Edmonton, like all cosmopolitan cities, has cigar shops. While there are a number of shops that sell cigars in River City—ranging from newsstands to convenience stores to hotel gift shops—there are only a few that can truly be called cigar shops. There are only a few stores that are operated by true tobacconists.
To my knowledge, there are only 3 such shops in Edmonton There are at least 5 such shops in Edmonton (thanks to Greg for reminding me about a few of them): La Tienda, Humo, Burlington, River City Cigar, and Hav-a-Cigar.
I am most familiar with Burlington. Burlington is my favourite cigar shop in the city. I go there often and always get good advice from Chris and Aaron (or is it Eric? I can never seem to get his name right). Whether you’re looking for cigars, cigarillos, pipes or pipe tobacco, or even “all natural” cigarettes, Burlington can provide.
They’re also stocked with all of the accessories you’ll ever need—cutters, humidors, ashtrays, and more. Though, to be honest, I find that I can get most accessories a lot cheaper online, and so I tend to buy these things through eBay or other sources.
La Tienda is a nice little shop, but I can’t really comment much on it. I’ve only been inside once or twice, and that was back before I really got into cigars. I went in not really knowing anything, but Curtis managed to help my friend K and I pick out a few decent cigars to celebrate becoming university graduates.
While I can’t say much about La Tienda, I can definitely say that Curtis is a helpful guy who knows his shit.
Humo is a place I’ve been hearing more and more about lately. It’s the one place I’ve never been inside. Ironically, it’s also the closest place to my apartment. I’ll definitely have to go in and check it out one day soon. Until then, I can’t really comment on the place.
But, I know that at least one of my readers is a cigar enthusiast. I’m sure there are others out there who might be reading this blog. So, tell me which of Edmonton’s cigar shops is your favourite, and why. And, if it’s La Tienda or Humo, please feel free to go into great detail, since I’m not familiar enough with either of these establishments to fairly recommend (or not recommend) them to my readers.
I haven’t really pimped the Raving Poets as much as I usually do this season, but attendance has been a bit slim compared to past seasons, so I figured I’d dedicate some words to my boys and girls down at the Kasbar.
First, the W5 on the Raving Poets:
Who: Anyone and everyone. If you want to read a poem, just show up and add your name to the list. 16 readers are drawn from the hat. If your name is pulled, you are now a Raving Poet for the night. There are, of course, regulars, but everyone is welcome.
What: An open mic poetry night with live improvised music.
Where: Kasbar Lounge, in the basement of Yianni’s Taverna (10444 Whyte Avenue).
When: Every Wednesday until the end of May. Sign-up is at 7:30pm, readings start at 8pm.
Why: Because words matter, and they’re worth sharing. And because Edmonton has an incredible poetry scene. Even if you aren’t interested in sharing your work, there is always something worth watching.
And, on top of that, the Raving Poets will be selling “heart beat” pins this Wednesday—$5 for a pack of 4—with the proceeds going to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Not only will you get to hear some great music, some great poetry, and drink a lot of good booze, you’ll also be able to donate money to a worthy charity and get some cool buttons in return.
As a dude with a heart condition, the Heart and Stroke Foundation is one of my favoured charities, so you can bet I’ll be shelling out my $5. Plus, I love buttons and pins, so it’s a win-win situation.
I haven’t been posting much here recently. Partly, this is because of my own laziness. I have no good excuse for this. I will do my best to start posting regularly again, soon. However, I am wondering if people would like to write guest posts for River City Writer.
This is a blog about Edmonton, but it’s really only about my experience of Edmonton. I’d like it to be a blog about how other people experience Edmonton, as well.
If you’re interested in writing a guest post here, either as a one-off thing, or as a regular column, let me know.
I am a bad, bad blogger. I have not been posting nearly as often as I should be. I will try to remedy this. In the meantime, check out some of the Alberta/Edmonton blogs on the list fellow Edmonton-based blogger, Aaron Braaten, has put together.
Spring is starting to show her beautiful face here in Edmonton, and that means that Edmontonians will soon begin one of the great traditions of Edmonton life—getting the hell out of River City.
Leaving Edmonton is an odd part of Edmonton culture. Often, this involves leaving permanently. For many people, succeeding in business or in art means leaving Edmonton for Vancouver or Toronto.
For others, Edmonton is simply too “boring” to remain past the age of 24 or 25. These people tend to leave as soon as they graduate from university or college.
It’s not these permanent ex-pats that I’m referring to here, though. I’m talking about the great Edmonton tradition of travel. I’ve noticed that Edmontonians love to travel the world. At the very least, we love to take day trips around Alberta.
As the snow begins to melt, and the roads around the province dry-up, Edmontonians will start hitting the road, and visiting other communities within the Wild Rose province.
With that in mind, I’m hoping that between you and I, we can compile a list of good food outside of Edmonton. If you were to take a food pilgrimage around Alberta, where would be make sure that you stopped?
I’ve got a few locations, including:
- Peter’s Drive-In, Calgary (219 16 Avenune NE) - I’ll admit, the food at Peter’s isn’t really anything special, but they have the best milkshakes in North America.
- Tubby Dog, Calgary (1022 17 Avenue SW) - Where else can you get a hot dog that’s bacon-wrapped then deep-fried and topped with ham, homemade chili, cheese, mustard, bacon, hot peppers, onions and a fried egg?
- The Palisades Restaurant, Jasper (401 Patricia Street) - Best bison burgers in the province.
- Miss Italia Ristorante, Jasper (610 Patricia Street, 2nd Floor) - Exquisite Italian cuisine that won’t empty your wallet. I found this place a couple of years ago when I was looking for a different restaurant that used to be nearby. It’s become a “must-have” whenever I visit Jasper.
Those are just a few of the places that came into my head immediately. I’ll add more to the list as I think of them, and I hope that you’ll help increase the size of the list by leaving comments with some of your favourite food places around Alberta.
And, if you have any Edmonton restaurants you’d like to mention, leave a comment on the Edmonton Restaurant Guide.
I just wanted to leave a quick note for all of my readers to let you know that I will soon be switching my RSS feed to a Feedburner feed. If you’re feed reader stops giving you updates in the next day or 2, it’s not because I haven’t been writing. It’s because the feed location has changed, so you’ll need to update your subscription.
Check back soon for the new feed location.
Update 03-12-2008: The new feed location is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/river-city-writer.
I was reading the CBC news this morning and came across what may be the most ridiculous idea ever proposed in the Edmonton city council. Councilor Kim Krushell wants to put a giant, temporary dome over Churchill Square in the winter months, so that we can have an outdoor winter festival in Edmonton.
The idea was so absurd that I couldn’t help but leave a comment on the CBC website in response to the article. I’ve republished my comments here, and they can be seen below the excerpt.
Edmonton could extend its popular summer festival season by placing a transparent dome on Churchill Square, a city councillor suggested Monday.
At a cost of $200,000, the 15-metre high, 30-metre wide geodesic dome would allow the city’s main downtown square to be used even in Edmonton’s bone-chilling winters, Coun. Kim Krushell said.
“It would be a way to make Churchill Square, which we did spend a lot of money developing, to actually work for us,” Krushell said.
The dome is designed to be removed, but meant to remain up most of the winter.
The square, which received a $12.3 million makeover in 2004, is home to a succession of summer festivals, including the Works Art and Design Festival and Edmonton International Street Performers Festival.
The dome would allow natural light to enter and could be heated, providing room for up to 1,200 people, Krushell said. (More…)
What a ridiculous idea. I’m in favour of Edmonton having a winter festival (or several), and I think Churchill Square should be the focal point of any such festival. But, a giant temporary dome? How absurd.
Sure, having one or two smaller “warming tents” for people to go inside and warm up if it’s cold out during the festival would be good (and likely necessary), but to cover the entire Square in one big plastic dome? Please, let’s get serious.
The point of a winter festival is largely to embrace the outdoors, despite the cold temperatures. Hiding away inside of a dome is no different than hanging out in the mall during the winter.
If Edmonton is going to have a winter festival, it should be held outdoors, in the cold.
Is the Suburban Burger at New City Likwid Lounge the best burger in Edmonton? I’ve been thinking about that question since I had one for the first time on Saturday night.
At the time, I was telling my friends that it wasn’t the best burger I’d ever eaten, but it was definitely high up in the list. This remains true. However, I also said that it wasn’t the best in the city. I said that it was one of the best, but not the best. This, as the rather leading headline to this article indicates, is inaccurate.
Having thought about all of the glorious, juicy, flavourful goodness that was packed into the Suburban Burger, I have to say that it is the best burger in Edmonton. Maybe, one day, I’ll eat a burger in this town that’s better, but that day hasn’t come.
The Suburban Burger even beats out the 100% Sirloin Burger at Two Rooms Cafe. It’s a few bucks cheaper, at $9 (compared to $11), and bacon, mushrooms, and cheese can be added for $0.50 each. Even if you load on those extra toppings, the Suburban still comes in $0.50 cheaper.
Of course, price doesn’t determine quality. Ultimately, taste is all that matters, and the Suburban Burger is packed full of flavour. The hand-made patty is incredibly juicy, but it’s not sloppy.
I’ve eaten burgers that were incredibly juicy, but which have fallen apart after the first couple of bites, making them an awkward mess to eat. And, of course, on the other end of the spectrum, there are burgers that are solidly constructed, but which are about as moist as a cardboard box.
The cooks in the Likwid Lounge kitchen have managed to find a near perfect balance between juiciness and solid construction.
Drink this with a pint of Big Rock Traditional Ale ($4.25 a pint every night from 8pm to closing) and you’re set for one of the best burger experiences in River City. I recommend sticking with fries to make the meal complete, but you can change that to a garden salad if you want to pretend you’re eating a healthy meal.
For more information about New City Likwid Lounge, read my review of the New City Compound.
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