Ivor Wynne Stadium

 

 

With only 3 home games left, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosted the Edmonton Eskimos on this brisk, sunny Hamilton day. After an early 8-0 deficit, the 'Cats rallied back to bury the Esks with 51 unanswered points. (Look at me talking like a sportscaster and all!) The atmosphere was rich with Oskiee-wee-wees and Eat 'em raw!-s and of course, although they were nowhere to be found, the traditional ARGOS SUCK! And if you really don't like the Argos, you could always express your feelings through the local urinals. 

The stadium is set for demolition at the end of the 2012 season, with no ideas as to where the TiCats will be playing next year. The plan is to play in a newly-built facility starting in 2014, which will also be used for the 2015 "Toronto" PanAm Games. After seeing football at both Ivor Wynne and SkyDome, my only hope is that they can find a venue in town rather than being forced to set up shop in a cavernous, concrete 'home' in 2013.

Photos taken at Ivor Wynne Stadium, Hamilton, Ontario on September 15, 2012.

The Who

Yeah, they're old. Yeah, Pete can't sing. Yeah, it was another pointless, greatest-hits, let's-make-some-more-dough tour. Yeah, it didn't appear that they knew where they were other than "CANADA!!"

But godDAMN it was good!

Photos taken on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario. 

Gore Park

Taken Friday, June 20, 2008 in Gore Park, Hamilton, Ontario.

(Whoops! I should know my Gages from my Gores by now)

Ham's Sam's

Whilst en route to see Sloan in Port Colborne back in August 2003, we drove through downtown Hamilton to take a look around and see just how things were looking in an everybody-now-shops-at-Lime Ridge world. The results were rather depressing.

For me, one of the major reasons for my depression was the hollow shell of what used to be the Tivoli Theatre and the Sam's outlet which had relocated a few years prior from their more logical King Street location. The relocation was an attempt to bring new life to a stretch of James Street which had been slowly declining for years. As with most attempts like this, and the opening of the kitty-cornered Hamilton Eaton Centre, people stayed away in droves, leaving behind a bad idea with a pretty cool sign.


The Hamilton Sam's was an ambitious kid-brother to the Toronto flagship store. It had a second floor devoted to Jazz and Classical music (although they really needed air conditioning up there), as well as an entire room dedicated to Country/Folk/Traditional music, nodding to the 820 CHAM crowd. The design of the store resembled a faux-50s-diner, which suited the brand and the store just fine, since Sam's itself is rather anachronistic icon of Canadian music retail. Why NOT embrace a 'heritage' style?

Slowly, the store began to shrink. On my last visit, the second floor was closed and most of the non-pop music was crammed in the main part of the store, while the pop stacks were in the former Country section. The selection was much thinner than it was at its opening, and the sale racks seemed to be full of deleted titles, rather than deals on recent releases.



Photos taken Saturday, August 2, 2003 in Hamilton, Ontario.

In late 2004, the collapse of the theatre's lobby expedited the demolition of both the theatre and the former store, leaving yet another hole in downtown Hamilton. A sidebar story which doesn't mention Sam's in particular, but which chronicles the 'devolution' of downtown Hamilton is here:

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Render&c=Page&cid=1021025161885


Photo taken Monday, June 19, 2006 in Hamilton, Ontario.