What's Hamilton like?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have found myself faced with the prospect of spending the next 2 years in Hamilton - my wife has applied (and it looks like she’ll be accepted) to McMaster University.

The problem being neither of us have ever been to, or even met anyone from, Hamilton. We’ve seen the Ti-Cats play though. So, I turn to you for help.

Is it possible for me to live in Hamilton and work in Toronto (I suspect I stand a better chance of finding a job in Toronto)? They look close on a map, but is it realistic?

What’s the weather like? What is there to see/do? Nice city or rathole? How’s the job market (I work in IT)?

Anything else I should know?

2

I could not possibly live in Hamilton and work in Toronto. I would have to get a plane to work each morning. I live in Hamilton in Scotland though… Thought I would try and inject a bit of humour into the thred. Hope you don’t mind
:wink:

3

Having lived in Hamilton as well as having attended McMaster, I feel I’m qualified to comment.

Ahem…

Hamilton is the pimple on the ass of Ontario.

However, that applies mostly to the downtown and east ends. The mountain and west end are actually quite nice. I assume that you’ll be living in the west end since you’d want to be close to Mac. Housing prices are a lot better in Hammytown than in Vancouver, so you might be in for a nice surprise there.

You can commute from Hamilton to Toronto, in the sense that it is possible. Would you want to? Probably not. You’d probably be looking at about a 1 1/2 hour commute.

I know some people in IT, so if you want to email me and give me an idea of what your field is, I can put out some feelers for you.

4

I’ve never lived in Hamilton but my brother and a number of my friends have, so I’ve been a frequent visitor over the years. Dante has it wrong, though. It’s the armpit of Ontario.

Actually, it’s a working-class, blue-collar steel town and proud of it. At one time, Hamilton Bay was one of the most polluted bodies of water in Ontario. Massive clean-up efforts in recent years have greatly improved the situation and removed that peculiar smell. As stated above, much of downtown is grimy and run-down with the occasional pocket of upper-class wealth scattered throughout. It’s quite different on top of the mountain which is dominated by middle-class suburbs, shopping malls, Mohawk College and Hamilton Airport. The West End near McMaster has a younger, more bohemian feel with plenty of second hand clothing stores smelling of incense. The weather is cold, wet and snowy in winter and hot, humid and smoggy in summer.

The night life rocks in Hamilton. There’re plenty of places to go and the live music scene is thriving. Definitely check out Hess Village which is a small block near downtown where nearly every building is some sort of pub, cafe or bar. You can go into one place to hear some sort of spoken-word hippie type thing, wander next door to check out a hardcore punk band, then cross the street to listen to a jazz trio. Speaking of jazz, they used to close that block off for for 3 days in the summer for a Jazz Festival. It’s been awhile since I’ve attended so I’m not sure if they’re still doing it.

A commute to Toronto is certainly possible but it would be far from pleasant. In the off-hours, say on a Sunday afternoon, you could theoretically drive from Hamilton to downtown Toronto in about 45 minutes. In practice, during rush hour hell, it could take 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The QEW and Hwy 401 can be an absolute nightmare during peak hours. One possible option would be to take the GO train from Burlington (a smaller, richer, more sedate community just next door to Hamilton). It probably wouldn’t save much time on the commute but it would definitely save you a lot of headaches. Of course, you’d still have to deal with Hamilton’s bizzare network of one way streets and their almost surreal parking laws (there was a recent thread on this but search isn’t working for me right now)

Overall, it’s a pretty decent place once you get used to its quirks. I can certainly think of worse places to live. And, if you find yourself on Upper James or Hwy 20, get your ass to The Egg & I. Best. Breakfest. Ever.

5

Thanks for the info, guys. So it’s either an ass-pimple or an armpit. Charming. I can hardly wait to move. Sounds like Surrey with crappier weather.

Wife’s allergic to egg. Definitely not going to happen :frowning:

Dante, thanks for the offer. I’ll send you an email. We won’t know for sure if she has been accepted until June, and I can’t move until October, so it’s probably a little early to start job hunting.

6

How about the compromise: it’s the pimple in the armpit of Ontario!

I don’t like Hamilton as a city (mainly because I will always be biased towards Montreal, and I’ve never seen Vancouver - Toronto is ok, but anyways…). We live close to Mac right now (I can see Thode library from the second floor of this house), but are (thankfully) moving a little further away this week (into a better apartment). Can you tell I like brackets?

The west end is pretty nice. Westdale has a bit of a small-town feeling, which is cool, and there are a lot of conveniences in the area, thanks to the student population (no less than 5 grocery stores, at least 4 videostores, quite a bit of clothing stores, Tim Hortons on every second corner, although this is Ontario, so don’t expect any less, and a relatively close LCBO and Beer Store).

Cost is decent, I suppose. You can get a nice 2 bedroom apartment for approx. 750$ more or less. Though avoid Camelot Towers like the plague :slight_smile: The parking laws are ridiculous, but most apartments have their own lots (I’m assuming, for only a 2 year stay, that thats what you’re going to look for). If you want to live close to Mac, then I’d suggest looking at one of the buildings on Main West (on a map, the curved bit going towards Ancaster), or even in Dundas, which is a really cute town. On the other hand, there are a LOT of buildings in the downtown area which are cheaper, and closer to, well, the downtown (and Hess).

As a Mac student, your wife should be getting a free bus pass, so pretty much anywhere in the city is relatively easy access by bus. The advantage for you, if you’re downtown, is the ease of taking the GO train towards Toronto. I wouldn’t look for work all the way there, though. I commute to Guelph (a much better school :P) and take the 403 a short stretch, and it backs up pretty badly. A good bit of Mississauga is within decent commute range, though, so look for a job there. I might actually be doing that commute this summer (if I get the job I hope to get) so I can let you know later on how that is :slight_smile: You might also be able to find something in Burlington or maybe even Oakville.

As for things to see or do, well, the nightlife is good. There are also some really nice walking/biking trails, and Cootes Paradise/Princess Point and the Royal Botanical Gardens are REALLY beautiful places to spend time in. Hamilton is also the home of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (i’ve never been, but you did mention the Ti-Cats), and there are a few other museums and historical locations to see. Shopping is pretty good. The small-town feel of Westdale, or going to Dundas is fun. There are also larger shopping areas throughout the city - Jackson Square downtown, or that one on the mountain that I forgot the name of, or Ancaster’s Meadowlands.

Wow…did I type all that…? :slight_smile: My email isn’t public, but I’ll keep an eye on this tread if you have any more questions or if I can help you with anything. The housing market (I think) is a little low, but that might only be in the poor student price range…so I’d start looking for a place once you get an answer from Mac.

Good luck, and maybe one day we could have a HamDope :slight_smile:

7

GASP! How dare you! Guelph isn’t a school, it’s the sound made by putting your foot in a bucket of yogurt! :smiley:

8

LOL! Is this something you do often? Figures, considering you got a degree at Mac…can’t imagine how you could get a better job than yoghurt squishing with THAT on your resume :smiley:

9

Shows how much you know. I didn’t get a degree from Mac! I dropped out to concentrate on being a full time alcoholic and drug addict. Did that for four years instead, and then got into yogurt squishing.

And I’m V.P. of yogurt squishing, thank you very much. :smiley:

There was a “How many <insert university name here> does it take to change a light bulb?” link somewhere around here…

10

So, after those four years, can you tell the difference between what you did, and what would have happened if you did get a degree at Mac? No? Neither can I :slight_smile:

Although I shouldn’t bash the school TOO much - my SO is in the room and he’s stronger than me!

Guelph is still better, though.

11

Sure, I would have had one of those useful psych degrees.

You want fries with that?

12

Here you go: Changing light bulbs at Canadian Universities

13

Well, I’m back from my first trip to Hamilton. The weather sucked and we didn’t have a car, so we didn’t get to see too much. I don’t think we missed anything. I like Toronto and Newmarket, but I’m not thrilled at the prospect of moving to Hamilton.

Things I learned on my trip to Ontario:
[ul]
[li] Ontario tap water sucks[/li][li] When on foot, in the pouring rain, it is impossible to find a place to eat in Hamilton[/li][li] If you do find somewhere to eat, don’t eat at a place named “Toby’s Good Eats”, because it isn’t.[/li][li] McMaster campus is nice, and the student services building has good couches for sleeping[/li][li] Really, all a hotel needs is a hot tub and I’m happy[/li][li] Cabbies in Hamilton get lost easily and get angry if you point out that the address you have says “Main St. West”, not East[/li][li] A lost cabbie gives you a free ride[/li][li] Spider-Man and Star Wars were good movies[/li][li] Walking from Front St to Yonge and Eglington takes a long time[/li][li] On Japanese night at Skydome, more people cheer for Ichiro and the Mariners than for the Blue Jays[/li][li] The Japanese announcer sounds like Robin Williams doing a Japanese announcer impersonation[/li][li] The Blue Jays bullpen is more than willing to blow a 5-0 lead[/li][li] The hot fudge brownie at the Hard Rock Cafe in freakin’ huge[/li][li] The GO train is cool[/li][li] My grandparents desperately want us to move out to Ontario[/li][/ul]
We’ll know in a month or so if she got in. Thanks for your advice, guys. I’ll keep you posted.

14

Holy crap! Who was the idiot who told you to do that? We got subways out here, dontcha know?

15

It’s a stupid story. Basically, we had an address (2200 Yonge) and no idea where it was. See, in Vancouver, one block will be 100, the next will be 200, then 300, etc. So, we figured 2200 = ~22 blocks = not that far. Of course, once we realized that wasn’t the case, we still figured it couldn’t be that far. It was. We took the subway back :smiley:

16
  1. Yes, yes it does. That’s why we have a Brita. Get one, you’ll really appreciate it!

2.If I’d-a been home, I would have offered:)

  1. Toby’s Good Eats? Uggg. You should have tried New Village in Westdale. Best French Onion soup outside of Quebec, IMHO.

  2. Apparently. I’m not a student there, but I have relaxed on those couches once or twice…:slight_smile:

  3. No bed?

  4. I had a cabbie once that didn’t know Hamilton had a University.

  5. We didn’t get a free ride. :frowning:

It’s not that bad a city. Sure, its ugly, and scummy, and really has not much going for it, but…well…um…maybe it IS that bad :slight_smile: But if you’re at this end (West), then you’re close to decent little towns like Ancaster and Dundas, and Guelph is nice too, and the whole area is close to fantastic hiking and biking trails, as well as great wine country. Hamilton has a good LOCATION, at least. And, I’m now commuting into Mississauga (401 and Erin Mills area) and its only a 50 minute drive, which REALLY isn’t all that bad, so it is feasible. It’s also cheaper than living in Toronto itself. And, so I hear, anyways, Mac is a pretty good school, and parts of the campus are beautiful (Guelph is better :stuck_out_tongue: ).

If she gets accepted, then I say go for it. If I can manage to live here for a few years, so can you :slight_smile: Although, as soon as I graduate, its back to la belle province for me :slight_smile:

17

I agree with Dante. We do have subways, you poor things. I hope you got a Cinnabon or something, at least. Gahh.

18

Actually, the walk wasn’t too bad - around an hour and a half. We hike a lot (This hike was just over an hour up and a little less than that down), so that wasn’t a huge deal - but it’s not as scenic as the mountains :wink: And my wife’s allergic to eggs, so Cinnabon (Cinnzeo?) is out of the question.

mnemosyne, if she gets accepted we’re pretty sure we’ll go. It’s only 2 years. And, I’ll say again, all a hotel needs is a hot tub - beds are optional.

19

Well, she was accepted! I am now going to spend the next 2 years in Hamilton. Thanks for all your input, guys.

Now, the great job search begins…

20

I managed a store in the east end of Hamilton and lived to tell about it, so it can’t be that bad. Then again, that area of town is best described as a festering boil on a bag lady’s hairy ass.

Mac, however, is on the other side of town. All in all, Hamilton is a lovely city with an active arts culture. Due to being so close to Toronto, it is under appreciated.

As far as commuting to Toronto goes, I’ve done it from Burlington, and it is a bitch. It saps your life away.

If you have a vehicle, tour the communities and ports west of Hamilton. They are really nice.

If you are there for only two years, you won’t have anywhere near enough time to enjoy all the delightful sights and activities of the region.