In December of 2016, Westdale’s iconic movie theatre was put on the market. Opening in 1935, the 495 seat, 6630-square-foot, single-screen avenue was a staple of the Hamilton community.
At the time, Ward 1 councillor and longtime theatregoer Aidan Johnson had been working for over a year to designate the theatre as property of Cultural Heritage to help protect it under the Ontario Heritage Act.
“The cinema is an integral part of the original heritage landscape of Westdale Village. It is inseparable from Westdale itself. It needs to be protected,” said Johnson
The Westdale Cinema Group, a non-profit, was formed to purchase the theatre shortly after, and their offer was accepted in February. A group of individuals and organizations alike, they are continuing to find the donations needed to restore the theatre.
The planned renovations promise new washrooms, an expanded snack bar, new theatre seats, state-of-the-art projection and sound equipment, and an expanded stage to host theatre, music and lecture series.
Films remain a priority, but it is apparent that they wish to expand the functions of the area to make a multi-purpose venue.
“Through our Board of Directors, our goal is to create Hamilton’s premier cinema screening experience for art and independent films and a state-of-the-art exhibition space for music, readings, lecture, video streaming and public meetings,” said the group.
Despite these additions and changes, they also promise that the heritage and historic atmosphere of the theatre will remain intact with a restored 1935 façade, restored architectural detailing, a restored auditorium and the consistency of the front lobby snack bar and back lobby lounge.
While restoration of the theatre begins this month, the group still needs $1.5 million. They are accepting grants from all levels of government, but they need additional funds. Their method is a public fundraising campaign called, “Building Magic,” with reward levels similar to a Kickstarter with products and services from local companies and people featured.
The lowest starts at $19.35 with a custom designed pin by local designer Rachelle Letain. The mid levels include a special screening of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with the film’s producer, multiple options for limited-edition prints, the ability to name a seat and the ability to have your message on the marquee for a week. The maximum level is
$10 000, which offers the full theatre for the night with unlimited popcorn and soft drinks for all attendees.
They are also accepting volunteers if you would like to contribute with time instead of money.
“As we build the new Westdale, we want the tradition of presenting magic to continue — whether visiting the Westdale, for film, music, theatre, or to hear an author.”
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This year’s annual shuffle of students in the Westdale-Ainslie Wood area was not the best showing for McMaster undergrads.
Anyone who walked through the neighbourhoods saw a variety of eyesores on May 1: old mattresses on the side of the road, extra bags of garbage, leftover furniture and other abandoned items. Judging by the eye test, two in five houses on Dalewood South had a by-law violation notice posted on their door following the first garbage pick-up day of the month.
As students moved out, they left the area in disarray, giving more ammunition to the residents who disdain the McMaster undergrad population. And it is hard to disagree with them.
Students complain about the amount of pushback we get from residents and this paper has generally agreed that we have an unfairly negative reputation. But the garbage left behind for others to deal with is exactly what earns us the label of “entitled” or “disrespectful.”
The behavior is not as malicious as it seems, but needs to be fixed. No one really tells students how to move out – there’s no manual or guide for moving – and students should take more responsibility.
As wild as it sounds, moving dates can sneak up on students because it comes at the end of a month filled with exams. Some students may still be looking for jobs. So when it is suddenly April 29 and you have two days to pack up your life and move, of course it is going to be a messy transition. Suddenly, you’re asking questions you never thought about: what do I do with an old mattress I don’t need? How do I get rid of this couch? Do I leave this old TV stand at the side of the road and hope the city garbage collectors take it?
If students can clean this up, it could go a long way in repairing the relationship with Westdale/Ainslie Wood. It looks trashy to have the garbage lying on the side of the road for a week and we know Westdale residents pride themselves on the look of the neighbourhood. This is the same group who designed multiple Snapchat filters for a suburb within a suburb. (The Westdale sign one is terrible, by the way. Takes up too much space.)
Students have to make moving a larger priority, but some resources would help. Perhaps the Society of Off-Campus students or the Student Community Support Network could put something together. The answers to these questions are relatively straightforward but it is a matter of knowing where to look.
Like most disagreements, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Students are nowhere near as bad as residents make us out to be and we are far from perfect neighbours. Putting more effort into making our moves cleaner would show residents that we are at least trying to get better.
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I will preface this review by saying I come from a Caribbean family and therefore walked into Caribbean Flavah with higher than normal expectations for a take-out restaurant.
Most students who have lived in Westdale-Ainsliewood for the last few years are already very well-acquainted with the restaurant, as the signage for the store went up roughly two years ago. While its presence has been looming, the restaurant itself only opened two months ago, towards the end of November.
I went to the restaurant in time for their take-out lunch specials. From 11-4 p.m. they offer five dollar lunch specials that include your choice of meat (jerk chicken, curry chicken, fried chicken, stewed chicken or jerk pork), served with rice and beans and coleslaw.
I ordered the jerk and curry chicken, and they both had good flavour. The jerk was definitely the better of the two, but both seemed to have a lot of pieces of broken bone floating in the rice, a sign of poorly cut and prepared meat. It is understandable that the meat didn’t have the best cut because of the low price, but a more sustainable business practice could be to offer fewer options of better quality food for a slightly higher price. Encountering pointy bits of cartilage in my meal was off-putting and deters me from returning again, even if it is a great deal. The rice on the other hand had great flavour and consistency and made up for the sketchy bone cutting.
The lunch deals also came with a canned pop or bottled water. I really wanted to upgrade my canned pop to bottles of Ting (a Jamaican grapefruit drink), but they unfortunately had no way to pay for an upgrade, and the one person working there forced me to take the pop either way. I really wanted that Ting.
Caribbean Flavah has had a long start-up, and they seem to still have some planning to go. They do offer a wide range of dishes though, and are a unique addition to Westdale’s restaurant scene.
Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor
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By: Sophie Geffros
Community members in Westdale and Ainslie Wood are right to be concerned about the continued growth of so-called “student ghettos” in those neighbourhoods. Given that an increase in student residents leads to higher rents, fewer single family homes and an increase in high-end expensive retail outlets, it is hard to see this growth in its current form as anything other than gentrification in a mortarboard.
One of the great tragedies of gentrification is the rate at which it forces the elderly out of homes they have lived in all their lives. This is partially caused by the fact that businesses no longer cater to them — why bother when there are thousands of young people with ample disposable income — and partially by the rapid increase in the cost of living in a gentrifying neighbourhood. Since 2006 the population of Westdale over the age of 65 has decreased dramatically.
Ainslie Wood encompasses the area east of Osler, south of McMaster, and west of Longwood. A longstanding working class neighbourhood, the majority of the low rises and single-family homes were built after World War II to provide housing for veterans and widows. Many of the single-family homes were sold to veterans in the post-war period for a dollar. Unlike Westdale, it remained a strong working class neighbourhood until well into the 21st century — only recently has the number of student occupants overtaken traditional residents. Many community members have expressed the opinion that the closing of Prince Philip School and the construction of a 15-room student house sound a death knell for the neighbourhood.
To understand how the 18 to 24 year old population of Ainslie Wood could increase from approximately 15 percent in 2001 to 45 percent in 2012, we first need to look at McMaster University’s full-time undergraduate enrollment numbers, which have increased by 129 percent since 2001. In that time, the student population has more than doubled. In the 2009 Campus Capacity Report, it was noted that there exists a 30 percent student housing deficit, meaning that there is not space for 30 percent of students who apply for student housing. In that same period, rents in Westdale Village increased by over 20 percent. In their rush to cater to wealthy students, Westdale landlords had effectively made it very difficult for students — or anyone else — to live there.
Rents have increased in Hamilton as a whole over the past five years, no doubt in part due to the two percent vacancy rate in the city. Since 2012, the waitlist for social housing in Hamilton has increased by six percent. At present, there are 6,000 households waiting for placement in city housing. Many of those households are currently waiting in shelters or in accommodation that is unsafe for human habitation. One of the most common complaints about gentrification is the way that gentrifiers move into a neighbourhood, raising the rents and changing the cultural landscape, and then leave. 35 percent of the residents of Westdale and Ainslie Wood moved there within the last five years.
Ironically, student renters are victims of this gentrification as much as they are perpetrators of it. It is not unusual to see single rooms in student houses be rented for 500 or even 700 dollars — rents that would fetch a onew or two-bedroom apartment on the East Mountain and in Stoney Creek. It’s no wonder that over the past ten years, the non-student population of Westdale and Ainslie Wood has decreased to one third of its previous size.
Students have a responsibility to our neighbourhoods, and to our city. It doesn’t benefit anyone to have the elderly and families with children pushed out of neighbourhoods so that unscrupulous landlords can charge outrageous rents to students. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen and heard these students express disdain towards living in the city centre or in the east end, and by extension, towards the residents who already live there. There is a pervasive perception of the downtown and the east end as dirty and dangerous, and not places where university students should even think of renting. It’s classism in its purist form.
Regardless of what neighbourhood you rent in, students must start thinking of ourselves as residents of a city. Neighbourhoods around the university are not de facto McMaster dorms, they are established communities with vibrant histories. Students must be more interested in integrating into communities, in supporting local initiatives around gentrification and transit justice, and in living with the local residents rather than displacing them. If we don’t, we can’t act surprised when locals object to more student housing in their neighbourhoods.
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“It became more than just a hot dog stand on campus,” said Jim Bontaine, owner of the McMaster Willy Dog stand and several other locations around Hamilton.
“To this day I still find it surreal to have become, well, an institution within an institution.”
This fall marks 12 years of the Willy Dog stand on campus, and with this milestone comes exciting news that Bontaine will be expanding his services into a fixed restaurant location in Westdale.
Every student and staff member at McMaster knows the iconic red and yellow cart located outside the Student Centre. The Willy Dog stand has always been open to provide delicious hot dogs and sausages to the McMaster community, whether it’s during a crazy and chaotic Welcome Week, after a brutally long night class, or simply during your lunch break when you need a mid-day pick me up.
The Willy Dog stand first opened in November of 2003 after a former McMaster hot dog vendor closed up shop.
“Right away we had a lot of business, but what I found out was [the vendors] that had been here before, everybody loved them… I knew right away that I had some big shoes to fill,” said Bontaine.
Bontaine has since filled those shoes, and has become a staple in the McMaster community. In the 12 years he’s been here, he has gone on to win the Best Hot Dog Vendor in North America in 2014, and came in second place in 2015. He has spent time taking part in charity events on campus, donating annually to bursary programs and Charity Ball fundraisers.
He initially got started after an old friend introduced him to the vendor business. “Willy Dog was started by a friend of mine who I grew up with. He had been involved with a few business ventures, and at one point he decided to start a hot dog cart. His name was Will, so he came up with Willy Dog,” said Bontaine.
"To this day I still find it surreal to have become, well, an institution within an institution."- Jim Bontaine, Owner, Willy Dog
“I was working elsewhere and helped him whenever I could as far as dealing with his business, setting up new franchises, going to franchise shows… He had been bugging me to get into it. I tried it a few times, I knew about the business… my boss at the time wouldn’t give me time off to try [vending], so I quit a sales job I had for five years and started this.”
Bontaine’s initial set-up involved a primary cart on Dundurn as well as working the bars late at night.
“When I started, business was great in the summer, but by the time October rolled around, I wasn’t earning enough to make a living.” In an effort to expand his business, Bontaine used his sales background to setup more shops and daytime locations throughout Hamilton. After doing this for 8 years, he opened his spot on campus.
Bontaine has always been involved in the food industry. As a teenager, he spent time working at his parents’ trailer park in Cayuga running the snack bar.
“Growing up with my parents owning a trailer park and running the snack bar, it was a sort of natural direction,” he said.
When Bontaine first setup shop on campus, it crossed his mind to open a storefront, but time constrictions already associated with running multiple stands made him put this on hold.
Twelve years later and Bontaine is now opening up that shop close to the intersection of King West and Paradise North in Westdale. The store will be called Great Tastes Only and will offer takeout and delivery items including fresh ground beef burgers, fresh cut fries, a variety of poutines, specialty sandwiches, salads and of course, willy dogs and sausages. The restaurant is predicted to open by the end of this coming July, and will also be setup to accept meal plans and student cards as a form of payment.
The new location will have a different moniker, but the name Willy Dog won’t be lost. The stand on campus will still be fully operating as well as a few other locations around the city. Bontaine’s friend who initially coined the name is no longer in touch with the new franchises, and Bontaine is ready to develop a style of his own.
“I’ve always loved the Pontiac GTO cars… since I was on the drag strip in Cayuga in my youth. I decided to try to see what I could come up with name-wise to use the GTO acronym, and that’s when I came up with ‘Great Tastes Only’.”
Bontaine is one of a few street vendors looking to setup a permanent home, with both Hamilton’s Gorilla Cheese and Southern Smoke looking at locations on Ottawa North. The food truck and stand industry can be a lucrative one, but with it comes a lot of red tape surrounding health and safety issues as well as challenges with cooking space and storage. Brick and mortar shops allow vendors to create a more diverse menu with more freedom.
Bontaine has run a catering business out of Hamilton for the last few years, and has a loyal following not just from there, but from his many stands as well. He is currently in the process of hiring a chef to help make his dreams a reality, and would also like to develop a food truck that he has already purchased.
It’s been a busy 20 years running the Willy Dog stands, and Bontaine hopes that the new restaurant as well as some new staff members will help lighten the load and change his style of work.
“I have Scott coming on board who is going to look after the Mac location. It needs more than I’m going to be able to give anymore because of the expansion, and I don’t want to lose that personal touch,” he said.
Scott Bennett will be overseeing the cart. He has always had a passion for street vending and a daughter who recently graduated from Mac has made him well acquainted with our campus community.
“Almost every occasion I’ve been working—Canada day, Victoria day, you name it, I’ve been working, and it’s taken me away from my family. Especially now that I have grandchildren it’s all about trying to oversee it now and spend more time with my family,” said Bontaine.
Playing more of a management role, Bontaine is ready to take on a different approach to vending. Westdale will be his new main location, but McMaster will always be part of his business.
“I owe the success on campus to the support I’ve had over the years. I enjoy the interaction with students and faculty, it’s something that I think is a great privilege.”
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By: Max Lightstone
Student number lost and found
If you’ve ever found someone’s student card but not know how to contact them, do not despair. E-mails sent to student#@mcmaster.ca will be delivered to the McMaster email account.
Costco gift card magic
It’s often believed that you need a membership to shop at Costco, but having a Costco gift card of any amount can get you the same access. On top of that, you can pay any excess with debit or credit.
Fiddes wholesale produce
This is the place to go if you want inexpensive groceries. They supply the grocery stores, but also open their warehouse to the community. They are found on 60 Ewen Road #4 and are open 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday.
Metro’s student discount
Another way to save money on groceries is to visit Metro. Students get 10 percent off on Tuesdays. Be sure to bring your student card.
Recipes made for your fridge
Have you ever looked at your kitchen and wondered what in the world you could make with all those ingredients? Supercook.com is a website that lets you enter what you have, and then tells you what you can make from it. You can even specify what you are in the mood for, and it’ll give you its best attempt.
The ultimate Mac app
MacSMS is a student-run app made to provide campus updates in real time. It is a great resource for finding how long the bus will be, what the weather’s like, and more. Check out www.macsms.me for more info.
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Westdale residents voiced their fierce opposition to the University’s proposed rezoning of a house on Forsyth Avenue at a community consultation meeting last week.
“It’s truly an incredibly stupid idea,” said one audience member at the Jan. 16 meeting in Gilmour Hall. The idea, to move services into an off-campus house, is attractive to a University short on space but unwelcome by the neighbourhood.
McMaster purchased 88 Forsyth Avenue in December for $735,000 with the intent of turning it into student lounge and office space. The Society of Off-Campus Students, Student Community Support Network and the Off-Campus Resource Centre are three MSU and McMaster organizations that would inhabit this 3,000 square foot home.
The thought to relocate these services came from the successful test drive of a SOCS student lounge in a vacant Wentworth House prior to its demolition last year. SOCS had temporarily taken over the old Phoenix restaurant and bar area and had found that having a large, dedicated lounge and quiet study space was beneficial to off-campus students between classes.
The Forsyth house would operate in a similar fashion. The building would be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and may be open on some weekends. Students would be welcome to access the formal services offered by SCSN and OCRC or enjoy quiet study space, a lounge and kitchen area, and a basement games room.
Supervision of the space would be provided daily by regular campus security personnel.
While no structural changes are planned for the blueprint of the house, fire regulations for a rezoning would require reinforced separation between floors. Other planned renovations include painting, updating the wiring and re-carpeting.
The property was previously owned by the Muslim Association of Canada, which used the space in a way similar to what the University has planned. Under the Association’s ownership, the property was called Cordoba House and operated as a library and resource centre for Muslim students. Since it was not being used as a family home, Cordoba House had been run without the proper zoning status for the past many years. The quiet nature of its mandate and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule, however, meant that the neighbours who understood its illegal zoning status weren’t bothered. Now, with fears of late-night activity and backyard parties, the community is ready to challenge the University on its intentions and oppose the rezoning of the house.
Residents potentially affected can lobby City officials to veto the rezoning. A presumed decrease in property value and potential noise issues were the major concerns of the community members opposed to rezoning the property for non-residential use. “We will fight this all the way,” said one Forsyth Avenue resident at the meeting. Rezoning involves a lengthy application to the City and progress is not expected for several months.
The significant renovations to the roof and windows will be put on hold until the zoning matter is resolved. In the meantime, the property has been added to McMaster’s regular groundskeeping and security rotation.
No new occupants were identified for the spaces in the student centre that OCRS, SOCS and SCSN would vacate if their relocation to 88 Forsyth is successful.
The Hamilton Police Services has announced that, as of this week, there will be targeted driving and cycling enforcement leading to campus on Sterling Street. Police will specifically be targeting cycling infractions.
"The police have a number of partnerships in the Westdale community, including at McMaster. There’s been ongoing concern about cyclists obeying the rules of the road, particularly in the Westdale area," said Sgt. Scott Moreton of Hamilton Police Services.
Moreton explained that the Ainslie Wood/Westdale Community Association has been expressing concerns about road infractions by cyclists in the area, in addition to the problems observed by police. In particular, Hamilton police will be looking out for stop sign violations and cyclists riding on sidewalks.
He added the the crackdown on cycling infractions is part of a four-week "problem-oriented policing" project that began on March 3.
The Office of Sustainability notes that 37 per cent of students and 18 per cent of employees choose to walk or cycle to campus.
Westdale's Mexican take-out restaurant closes its doors
It had pulled pork, rice, beans, lettuce, lots of tomato, green peppers, cheese, salsa and guacamole. For Noah Ciglen, it wasn’t just a burrito. It was end of an era.
Ciglen, a fourth-year Arts & Science student, had the “sad honour” of purchasing the last burrito from Jimmy Gringo’s Burrito Factory, a favourite student haunt at King and Marion in Westdale, before it closed for good on Jan. 26.
“I had heard before winter break that Jimmy’s was closing, but I had no idea when,” he said. “Then I read on Twitter that it was closing that day and I thought … that I was going to regret it if I never had another burrito from them.”
Although students and local residents alike frequented the takeout restaurant, co-owner Ewan MacLachlan said that operating the business has not been an easy time.
“We’ve been open five years, and it’s been a fight since day one,” he said.
“I chose a location in Westdale because I wanted to cater to students and I liked the village atmosphere … but some of the locals didn’t like us.”
The restaurant operated as a takeout eatery only, but that wasn’t MacLachlan’s original plan for it. His initial vision was of a restaurant with seating, an outdoor patio in the summer and a liquor license so as to sell a small selection of drinks like sangria.
“They’ve got deep pockets and politicians on their side,” he said of the Westdale residents, who were resistant to the business’s presence in the neighbourhood.
The ill will was not new to Jimmy Gringo’s.
An April 2010 article in the Hamilton Spectator, reporting on the success of Hamilton’s business districts, quoted Joe Catanzano, co-owner of the restaurant. “We almost have to close our doors,” he told the Spectator. “Everybody says the city should be supporting you but, nobody here wants another Hess Village.”
Because of the residents’ issues with the restaurant’s late-night business and often rowdy customers, MacLachlan said he was often faced with a series of city inspectors and fines.
In September 2009, less than a year after its opening, Jimmy Gringo’s was brought to a City of Hamilton licensing tribunal for having a small collection of tables and chairs in its storefront, which violated code.
MacLachlan was consequently forced to pay a $1,500 fine for operating illegally, as the restaurant’s license designated it takeout-only. He alleged that this fine was imposed despite a city official assuring him he would not be violating code because the restaurant had already put in an application for seating.
As a result of the tribunal, the restaurant’s license was suspended for a day, and as well as being told to immediately remove the seating, it was ordered to put up a sign indicating that the establishment was take-out only.
So, after a tough five years, MacLachlan finally took an opportunity to close up shop.
“The timing was right, and the lease was up,” he said. “I’d had enough.”
Although students won’t have a reliable source for burritos in Westdale, some may find consolation in the opening of the American chain restaurant Taco Del Mar at Main and Emerson. But Ciglen, who considers himself among Jimmy Gringo’s cult following, won’t be among them.
“I tried [Taco Del Mar] to see if I could change it up, but it was too clean, too calculated and precise, and just not good,” he said.
There’s still some hope that Jimmy Gringo’s won’t be gone forever. MacLachlan, who said he has loved serving students, noted that he had the intention of moving elsewhere to “do what [he] had originally hoped.”
But with no location yet in mind, those loyal to Jimmy’s will be going hungry for a good burrito.
