OT: Visiting Calgary (General City / Area Discussion)
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Figgy44
A toast of purple gato for the memories
- Dec 15, 2014
- 14,231
- 9,633
Yes. You take the first Banff exit and you turn left (South) towards Banff or right (North) towards Minnewanka/Two Jack/Cascade Ponds.
Love
Registered User
- Feb 29, 2012
- 15,190
- 12,666
Hey Calgary friends, I’m a Vancouverite who’s sick of Vancouver so my wife and I are looking to buy and settle down in/near Calgary. We’ve been looking in the very Northwest area (Nolan Hill, Sage Hill, etc) but honestly we’re not super familiar with Calgary so we’re kinda flying blind here.
We’re looking for a place we can own a single family detached home for under 500k, hence why we’ve been drawn to places like Nolan Hill, Sage Hill, and Evanston so far. But perhaps there’s other places we should be looking. I’ve zeroed in on Northwest Calgary for a couple reasons:
1. It seems that most of the more desirable suburbs of Calgary are in the Northwest quadrant. Correct me if I’m wrong on this, I’ve just been googling.
2. Being on the west side of Calgary is closer to my family in BC and the mountains for getaway weekends and whatnot.
Anyway I just wanted to post here to ask for some general advice. Any neighbourhood recommendations? Any neighbourhoods to avoid? One thing to keep in mind is that I work remotely but my wife is 50/50 whether she can work from home or not in her industry. So there is a potential that she’d have to commute to a downtown office, although ideally not.
We’re looking for a place we can own a single family detached home for under 500k, hence why we’ve been drawn to places like Nolan Hill, Sage Hill, and Evanston so far. But perhaps there’s other places we should be looking. I’ve zeroed in on Northwest Calgary for a couple reasons:
1. It seems that most of the more desirable suburbs of Calgary are in the Northwest quadrant. Correct me if I’m wrong on this, I’ve just been googling.
2. Being on the west side of Calgary is closer to my family in BC and the mountains for getaway weekends and whatnot.
Anyway I just wanted to post here to ask for some general advice. Any neighbourhood recommendations? Any neighbourhoods to avoid? One thing to keep in mind is that I work remotely but my wife is 50/50 whether she can work from home or not in her industry. So there is a potential that she’d have to commute to a downtown office, although ideally not.
Yo! I'm a NW Calgary resident and I have to say I really do like it in the suburbs up here. I've been in the NW for years so I'm probably biased but I don't think you can go wrong with wherever you end up in the NW. That said, I'm not too familiar with Nolan Hill or Sage Hill as those are super north and newer communities. Still, I've been up around there a few times and they have everything you'd need in terms of shopping complexes, groceries, gas stations, restaurants... you get the picture. The one thing I would say is that because Nolan Hill and Sage Hill are more north and not as much west, your wife might find it tougher to commute to downtown (unless she drives). You'd be close to Shaganappi and Sarcee (two main highways in Calgary) which connect you to Stoney Trail (the ring road that goes around the city) but there's not a very direct way of getting downtown to my knowledge. Unless she plans to drive, she would have to figure out the bus routes that work best. That said, Stoney connects you to 16th Ave which is the Transcanada and that takes you right to the mountains.
Evanston, Dalhousie, Royal Oak, and even Tuscany and Silver Springs are going to be better options for getting to downtown. All of those communites are right near Crowchild Trail which will be your fastest and most direct route to downtown (driving), as well as being right along the main LRT line that also feeds into downtown. Crowchild south also connects you to 16th Ave, Crowchild north takes you up to Stoney Trail as well as Cochrane. In terms of downtown commute, this definitely gives you (and your wife) the most options. All those communities are going to be older than Sage Hill/Nolan Hill, but that doesn't make them bad by any means.
Hope this info helps, let me know if you have any other questions. I'll do my best to answer.
Ace Rimmer
Stoke me a clipper.
If you can both work from home, I highly recommend looking outside of Calgary. There are many good options you could consider - Cochrane and Okotoks are probably the ones that fit the bill for your stated goals, but there are smaller communities that you could also look into (Black Diamond, Turner Valley) where you might get better value for your dollar, and still reasonably close to major services. As a resident of Chestermere for 10 years, I wouldn't recommend it, the air is shitty due to the prevailing winds from the west, blowing Calgary's smog into town on the regular, and Langdon still has the funny smell from the old feedlot and all of the overland drainage.
Within Calgary, my rule of thumb is to look west of Deerfoot Trail. There are exceptions (ie Douglas Glen) but those are few.
Also, I would never go into a new city and immediately buy a house. Rent in the area first, to see if you like it. Otherwise it's an expensive mistake.
Nanuuk
Registered User
Okie-dokie. Avoid the NE quadrant. It was true when I first moved to Calgary in 1978 and still is.
The NW quadrant is nice, but a lot of hills. If you thought driving in Vancouver was a pain when it snows, wait til you get a load of NW Calgary.
The SW is nice and until the ring road opened was often hard to get in and out of the city. That has vastly improved. Still some hilly spots, but for the most part it is flatter.
The SE has some sketchy areas, moreso just south of 16th ave. It definitely has a flatter terrain. Access to the LRT in areas east of Deerfoot Trail isn't the best or at least until the Green Line is built (or not). So you might have a rough commute (not as bad as Vancouver).
I live in Lake Bonavista. It is in the SE and is fairly centrally located. There are a number of communities near by that are very nice, some more expensive than others. Deer Run, Parkland, Midnapore (a favourite of mine), Sundance, Cranston and newer communities further south.
One thing you won't regret (I think) is saying goodbye to the 50 shades of grey weather in the winter. Yes it will get cold here, but more often than not with glorious sunshine. And the Chinooks are often like a beautiful spring day.
One other thing. Repeat after me. Go Flames Go. GO FLAMES GO! And when they score its Yahoo! Never Yeehaw.
Zirakzigil
The Global Hangman wishes he could be
North West would be my recommendation. Sage Hill and Nolan hill are nice. I’m in Royal Oak, which will be on the edge of your price range, depending on how big you’re looking.
Look at Hidden Valley, Citadel and Arbour Lake. Slightly older and more established new communities. But still great areas in the NW.
Look at Hidden Valley, Citadel and Arbour Lake. Slightly older and more established new communities. But still great areas in the NW.
Volica
Papa Shango
- May 15, 2012
- 21,849
- 11,540
Welcome to YYC!
As the local official unofficial guide and as someone who's heavily involved in Real Estate you've picked an awesome city to move to.
1) desirable is in the eye of the beholder. You couldn't pay me to leave the inner city, but my best friend is settled in the West-most community in Calgary along Highway 1 and you couldn't pay him to swap with me. Essentially the new suburbs within Calgary are being built along the outside of the ring road; the most desirable of the them are being built, as you correctly said in the NW and the other ones in the very South of the city.
2) With the ring road nearing completion, I'd honestly say anything that's not completely East of it (and again, as others have said, avoid the NE if you have the option or no cultural roots to the area) will have you out of the city fairly quick. For example, coming out of Evanston in the North and the Bridlewood area in the South is an extra 10 minutes to your drive out to Banff.
Here are my personal recommendations:
- I'm not a fan of newly built homes, personally. You are generally paying premium market prices from a developer; more often than not your home has a hard time retaining value in the short term. For example, a personal friend of mine bought a townhouse in Evanston for $329,000 only 5 years ago, when we were looking at market comparables they're now being listed in the $320,000's. After real estate fees, closing fees, you're looking at upwards of $30,000 losses on investment.
- The 'burbs in Calgary generally don't keep up the with the neighbourhoods closer to the city centre in terms of value improvement. For example, when people say 'Calgary real estate is up 7%!' it doesn't mean every neighbourhood is up 7%. It means that some are up 10-20% and some of them are flat or up 1-2% only.
- If you're set on buying a new home/infill, please check the builder and see what people are saying. The last thing you want is the home you purchase as a new build to have all kinds of issues and the builder has a long standing history of being slow on warranty issues. On the infill side, we have a number of builders, and I won't point to their ethnicity or anything because it's not an all-encompassing note, that take A LOT of shortcuts during their builds. You'll walk into the home and be like WOW because it's white, and shiny and has nice appliances, but when you sort of look around you'll see a bunch of questionable choices and shortcuts made throughout the home.
I'd suggest expanding your search to places in the West. There are some really, really nice places that you can get in at under $500k with nice sizes, that are more mature neighborhoods, having more services, closer to town if you go in to work, closer to train lines for quick transit into anywhere in Calgary.
This list would be: Strathcona, Signal Hill, Coach Hill, Patterson, Scenic Acres or Silver Springs. They're all NW communities, close to shopping, transit and built from the 1980's-2000's. Established.
Let me know if you ever want to chat more! I'm happy to provide any insight I can!
Love
Registered User
- Feb 29, 2012
- 15,190
- 12,666
THANK YOU everyone who responded! I’m blown away. Truly these are extremely helpful and thoughtful responses.
I’m going to heed each response and continue to investigate. My wife and I have a lot to figure out but with neither of us having lived in Calgary before this is huge. It’s one thing to get general opinions online about living in Calgary, but I really appreciate the specificity with which my questions were answered. Thanks again!
I’m going to heed each response and continue to investigate. My wife and I have a lot to figure out but with neither of us having lived in Calgary before this is huge. It’s one thing to get general opinions online about living in Calgary, but I really appreciate the specificity with which my questions were answered. Thanks again!
Unlimited Chequing
Christian Yellow
@Love
My mom lives in Sage Hill and I live downtown and like @Drop Out said, Nolan Hill and Sage Hill are definitely more north than northwest, so it doesn't really help you get to the mountains any quicker. For that you want to look at the more western communities, though I can't comment on which ones as I don't know what it would cost to live in those areas.
I can say that it is a pain in the ass driving to my mom's each weekend for family dinners and when she needs help fixing dumb shit she can't wait for. It's like 30-40 minutes on a Sunday with little to no traffic. There really isn't any quick and easy route downtown from the northern communities.
My mom lives in Sage Hill and I live downtown and like @Drop Out said, Nolan Hill and Sage Hill are definitely more north than northwest, so it doesn't really help you get to the mountains any quicker. For that you want to look at the more western communities, though I can't comment on which ones as I don't know what it would cost to live in those areas.
I can say that it is a pain in the ass driving to my mom's each weekend for family dinners and when she needs help fixing dumb shit she can't wait for. It's like 30-40 minutes on a Sunday with little to no traffic. There really isn't any quick and easy route downtown from the northern communities.
ChicagoBlues
Terraformers
- Oct 24, 2006
- 16,877
- 7,499
Not sure where else to post this.
Does anyone know of a similar message board like this for the WHL?
I'd like to check up on the Calgary Hitmen, specifically Blues D prospect, Galloway.
Thank you in advance and go Flames!
EDIT: Alrighty then! I'll find one.
Does anyone know of a similar message board like this for the WHL?
I'd like to check up on the Calgary Hitmen, specifically Blues D prospect, Galloway.
Thank you in advance and go Flames!
EDIT: Alrighty then! I'll find one.
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Perratrooper
Registered User
Is there anywhere to get autographs authenticated here? My cousin was in the Sochi olympics and used to train with Bouwmeester.
After the gold medal game, my cousin was walking around the VIP area when he was put in a headlock from behind. When he finally managed to wiggle his way free he turned to see none other than Jay Bo himself. Bouwmeester then proceeded to bring my cousin into the Team Canada locker room, where he met Crosby, Babcock and some other notable members of the team. During the course of this he received a signed game used stick from Pietrangelo.
Eventually he put the stick up for auction at a charity event. The winner decided they didn’t overly want the stick and asked my cousin if they knew anyone who would like to purchase it. That’s where I come in. Seeing as how my cousin isn’t a huge hockey fan and he knows I am he asked if I’d like to buy it, which I did. Now that I’ve had the stick for a couple years, I would like to look into authenticating it, but don’t know the first place to start! If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome.
Thanks in advance!
After the gold medal game, my cousin was walking around the VIP area when he was put in a headlock from behind. When he finally managed to wiggle his way free he turned to see none other than Jay Bo himself. Bouwmeester then proceeded to bring my cousin into the Team Canada locker room, where he met Crosby, Babcock and some other notable members of the team. During the course of this he received a signed game used stick from Pietrangelo.
Eventually he put the stick up for auction at a charity event. The winner decided they didn’t overly want the stick and asked my cousin if they knew anyone who would like to purchase it. That’s where I come in. Seeing as how my cousin isn’t a huge hockey fan and he knows I am he asked if I’d like to buy it, which I did. Now that I’ve had the stick for a couple years, I would like to look into authenticating it, but don’t know the first place to start! If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome.
Thanks in advance!
Figgy44
A toast of purple gato for the memories
- Dec 15, 2014
- 14,231
- 9,633
A few of us were probably napping at the wheel, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's a dedicated place to look into the Hitmen games. You'd basically have to see if you can find a Hitman fan on some website (ie: HF, reddit or CP) and rely in their POV by combing through their post history/asking specific questions.
I don't know much about this type of stuff, but given that your cousin knows JayBo, I wonder if asking him to write a letter describing the situation that led to the stick being autographed might help authenticity and as a result improve the value of the stick?
Unlimited Chequing
Christian Yellow
I personally wouldn't trust any of those autograph authentication services. I was watching the news or youtube or something and these people were going around getting their collectables authenticated at various vendors at a convention. Each vendor promised a certificate of authentication for the autograph and had experts doing the verification, yadda yadda yadda. Sure enough, they paid and got their autographs "authenticated" except they weren't real; the guy doing the video just made up the autographs hahaha! Those certificates of authenticity don't really mean much if these guys are just printing them up.
I'm sure there's legit services, but I'm willing to bet more of them are just taking your money.
I'm sure there's legit services, but I'm willing to bet more of them are just taking your money.
rangers1314
Registered User
NYR fan here - Coming to Calgary for the rangers/Flames game in Feb.
Any bar/restaurant recs? Thanks!
Any bar/restaurant recs? Thanks!
rangers1314
Registered User
Yeah that’s the plan for the day after. Driving to Banff for lunch then on to Lake Louise
I suppose if you're coming to Calgary from NY you should visit Cowboys and/or the Ranchman's.
Can't come to Calgary without visiting at least one cowboy bar.
Cowboys Dance Hall
World Famous Cowboys Dance Hall, located in Cowboys Casino. Calgary's biggest nightclub featuring country and top 40 music, weekly events and live music. Calgary, Canada
www.cowboysnightclub.com
Ranchmans Calgary
Ranchman's is Calgary’s iconic country nightclub and favorite Stampede hot spot for over 40 years. Ranchman's presents some of the biggest names in Country Music and is the Official Hospitality location of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association!
www.ranchmans.ca
Cowboys Dance Hall
World Famous Cowboys Dance Hall, located in Cowboys Casino. Calgary's biggest nightclub featuring country and top 40 music, weekly events and live music. Calgary, Canada
www.cowboysnightclub.com
Ranchmans Calgary
Ranchman's is Calgary’s iconic country nightclub and favorite Stampede hot spot for over 40 years. Ranchman's presents some of the biggest names in Country Music and is the Official Hospitality location of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association!
Volica
Papa Shango
- May 15, 2012
- 21,849
- 11,540
I suppose if you're coming to Calgary from NY you should visit Cowboys and/or the Ranchman's.
Can't come to Calgary without visiting at least one cowboy bar.
Cowboys Dance Hall
World Famous Cowboys Dance Hall, located in Cowboys Casino. Calgary's biggest nightclub featuring country and top 40 music, weekly events and live music. Calgary, Canada
Ranchmans Calgary
Ranchman's is Calgary’s iconic country nightclub and favorite Stampede hot spot for over 40 years. Ranchman's presents some of the biggest names in Country Music and is the Official Hospitality location of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association!
The guy wants a restaurant, not herpes.
I'll take your word for it. I've never had the "burning" desire to go to Cowboys.
Its also been many many years since I've been to Ranchmans and then it was just for after work drinks during Stampede.
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Unlimited Chequing
Christian Yellow
I suppose if you're coming to Calgary from NY you should visit Cowboys and/or the Ranchman's.
Can't come to Calgary without visiting at least one cowboy bar.
Cowboys Dance Hall
World Famous Cowboys Dance Hall, located in Cowboys Casino. Calgary's biggest nightclub featuring country and top 40 music, weekly events and live music. Calgary, Canada
Ranchmans Calgary
Ranchman's is Calgary’s iconic country nightclub and favorite Stampede hot spot for over 40 years. Ranchman's presents some of the biggest names in Country Music and is the Official Hospitality location of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association!
I'm born and raised Calgarian and I don't think I've ever been to a cowboy bar. I also have never caught herpes.
It's not just a coincidence.
@rangers1314 What sort of food are you looking for?
Volica
Papa Shango
- May 15, 2012
- 21,849
- 11,540
It's just greasy.
It's where 17-25 year olds go to party, night club vibe, chicks working there all have big fake bolt-ons.
I don't think it's a must to visit. It's very far from a Cowboy bar.
Figgy44
A toast of purple gato for the memories
- Dec 15, 2014
- 14,231
- 9,633
Depending on what you want to eat, Canmore might be better for food and is 10-15 mins closer than Banff. Canmore always seems like there's hidden gems when I go there that I wonder why I don't go check it out more often. Banff I don't find I typically enjoy there. Grizzly house is a gimmick.
You have to go to the Banff hot springs and rent a historical swim suit. One of the most hilarious things I've ever seen there was a group of 5-6 ish male rugby players wearing them running into a group of 4-5 ish women's volleyball players wearing them. The ladies were taller than the guys and they were arguing who wore it better.
The price of the gondola ride to the restaurant has gone to insane levels. I refuse to pay that price. As a visitor not wanting to miss out, it's your call.
Do you ski? Our section of the Rockies has Damn good powder snow. If you don't do that, renting some snow shoes and going on a hike isn't bad.
Lake louise in February might still have the horse carriage ride around the frozen lake. Definitely consider skating on it.
There's some dog sled or horse riding trail rides. Not cheap, but memorable.
Significantly more random, Drumheller is a little less than 2 hours north east of calgary. Lots of dinosaur bones there.
Heritage park is kinda interesting in its own Prairie people sort of way.
As a new Yorker, most of our city will be meh in comparison in February. It's the Prairie and natural landscapes that are worth the trip. If you're ultra lucky, you might even see northern lights around the city area.
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