So the wife wants to move closer to her family - but not too far away from downtown where she works.
Problem is her family is in Chestermere, and I don't feel like living in Forest Lawn (yes, I am a snob).
So it limits our choices - essentially Vic Park, East Village, Bridgeland, Inglewood, etc.
I found a place I like in Inglewood, but she says no - says Inglewood is too noisy and smells bad - anyone with experiences that can confirm/deny this?
Lived in Inglewood for seven years. For noise - yes there is noise from the train tracks that I completely tuned out in short order. When I met my wife she was incredulous that I never noticed the train noise at night. Plane noise in certain parts of Inglewood (like where I was on 15 St SE) can be worse in certain air conditions.
Smell - sometimes smell from the yeast plant but I don't find that to be unpleasant. Smells like brewing. The chicken plant smell never seems to be an issue in Inglewood, that is more of a Ramsay thing.
Someone PM'd me a while back with Inglewood questions so here is a cut and paste of unsolicited commentary.
Quote:
I lived there for about seven years, had a small (<1000 sq ft) 1910 house. So one small downside was having such an old house. Lack of insulation, foundation needed work, etc. The size of the house was the biggest reason I moved, I got married and gained a couple of kids and we just couldn't find a house big enough for the four of us in our price range. Otherwise we would have stayed in Inglewood quite likely. My wife agrees that once the kids move out and we are ready to downsize we will look strongly at moving back.
Things I liked - I knew all my neighbors, it is a very friendly neighborhood. My previous house was in Tuscany and I found it a lot more impersonal. Loved being able to bike and walk a lot of places. I am big into cycling, and the ride home from no matter where you go is always downhill home to inglewood. A small thing, but a nice thing. Close to the river is nice, there is an off leash park or two if you have a dog.
Parts of it can be loud with the trains and flight path, I stopped noticing it but my wife did for the year or so she was there. One downside is no grocery store. There is Bite, but it is limited and expensive. I would just plan to drive to get groceries in Forest Lawn or Beltline in the winter. I would bike to Mission Safeway in the summer.
Good liquor stores, pubs, coffee places. Inglewood Pizza is a civic treasure. Despite being so close to DT, it seems so peaceful. Hard to describe why, but I always felt pretty relaxed there compared to when I lived in beltline. Lots of trees I think soak up the noise.
The community association walks the fine line of being a bit NIMBY but have stayed on the good side so far in my opinion.
It can be a bit heavy traffic on 9th in rush hour, but I would just bike along the river pathway to work and back so I never noticed. The number 1 bus, despite it's reputation, is just fine for getting around if the weather sucks. I am biased in that above all I try to avoid being stuck in my car in traffic and choose to live wherever I can minimize that.
Sorry for the novel, hopefully it helps. Any other specific questions, I'm happy to answer. I still love the neighborhood and have lots of friends there.
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Where are you living now? Unless she is biking to Chestermere, is there really that much difference between Inglewood and somewhere like Renfrew, Winston Heights, or even Tuxedo/Mount Pleasant? Maybe a couple extra minutes driving on 16th Ave?
Sorry, I know the OP was asking specifically about Inglewood... just seems like a strange concession to make for some place that's still a good 20 (?) minute drive away...
I currently live in Inglewood, over behind the school.
Definitely below the flight path of the airport, which can be annoying the backyard sometimes. I live less than 2 blocks from the train, and they are quieter than when I lived in the east village facing the tracks.
As for the smell, I live a few blocks away from the yeast plant, and can only really smell it when driving Alyth road/Blackfoot.
As for access, it can't be beat. <10 minutes to downtown, Blackfoot is right there, so is Deerfoot. Only caveat is that the 9th avenue bridge into downtown is going to be replaced in 2018-19, which will make getting into downtown a bit of a pain.
Move to Renfrew. I lived in inglewood for 5 years before moving to Renfrew and it's an amazing neighbourhood. Much faster to get to chestermere and better transit to downtown.
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I lived in Inglewood for 10 years. It's noisy for sure... the planes are almost a constant, the trains, as mentioned already, become unnoticeable background after a while, but for me, the biggest one was constant freeway roar coming from Deerfoot across the river or from Blackfoot. It dissipates in the summer because the trees absorb the sound, but in winter, it never goes.
I never noticed a smell, to be honest.
As for the neighbourhood itself, I moved there as a more affordable alternative to Beltline, but it is kind of a disappointment if that's what you're expecting. It's walkable, sure, but the kinds of places in Inglewood weren't for me, although it is changing a lot and since I've come overseas, it's changed even more. So maybe my opinions are outdated.
I just never had the desire to go antique shopping or sit in a hipster coffee shop. I like Starbucks and was happy when that opened. Maybe that's hypocritical, I don't know, I'm just a slave to my brands I guess.
The pubs are not my kinds of places, there was one where people would bring their dogs and others that had live music a lot. I'm more of a sports pub kind of guy. Hose and Hound was okay for that but often it was hard to get a table to see a TV.
Inglewood is great for driving into downtown, not as good for taking the bus. The #1 is your bus, and it's already full from its run through Forest Lawn by the time you get on.
If you like to ride your bike, it's outstanding. You can ride into downtown almost faster than if you drove. On the weekends you can follow the city pathways to any corner of the city without barely even crossing a road.
Inglewood is awesome, one of the cooler areas of Calgary. If I ever move back it would be on the list of areas to live. Admittedly I am a bit of a hipster though who enjoys good food and drink. The only issue is public transit but I believe that will be resolved at some point with the Green Line.
My wife sometimes mentions wanting to live closer to her parents too but I work 1,200km away so that is not happening any time soon. Also, my parents live over 13,000km away so she doesn't have it too bad.
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I love Inglewood, but there would be a few things I would be concerned about:
- There isn't really a grocery store (at least that I know of).
- They got hit pretty badly with the floods.
- Traffic & noise.
- Old infrastructure/roads, as someone mentioned the 9th Ave bridge is going to need to be replaced. Hopefully they wait until the 12th St bridge is finished before they start.
The pros are great though:
- Awesome pubs & restaurants.
- Future CT Train Green line will be going through Inglewood.
- Ride your bike to work easily, even walk in the summer.
- Lots of fun culture and events happen in the summer.
- Homes are unique and have a ton of character (although could be a money pit as well).
- Spolumbo's
Edit - Minh Chau is also my favourite Vietnamese food in the city - I still drive across the city to have their sate chicken pho.
I'd also suggest Bridgeland as a spot to look, super easy access to the downtown via walking, biking (new Edmonton trail cycle track), LRT, or even driving. The neighbourhood continues to evolve with more multi-family going in on the Bridges site and infill seems to be happening on every other lot in the northern portion of the community.
You still get the airplane noise there (which I consider a bonus), but as you and others have mentioned that fades into the background for most people. Bonus that with the new runway you are only really getting 1/2 as much flyover traffic than before.
I lived there in a new condo from 2005-2007 and couldn't believe how much it had changed and matured when I went back a few years ago for the first time.
Edit: Renfrew north of Bridgeland really seems to be coming along too, lots of character homes, established homes, and new development going in. Slightly longer for access to downtown (and riding the bike back up the hill would be "fun") but good road access to 16th to head east and grocery store options right there with Co-op.
I love Inglewood, it's a fantastically-located neighbourhood with a lot of character. I find that some of the industrial nature of it adds to it's personality. The downsides are the flood-prone areas, the somewhat limited housing stock, and the schools don't seem to be great (if you're of that age where that's important).
As others suggested, if you want a similarly vibe (but not quite as active), slightly cheaper (thanks NE!), flood-proofier (because it's mostly on a hill), definitely give Bridgeland a look. Bridgeland also gives you more options in terms of access to Memorial and Deerfoot.
Although if you have small kids please stay away. My kids don't need the extra competition getting into the school here.
Regarding the flood stuff, although Pearce Estate Park was ravaged, the condos and townhouses across the train tracks from there (not the ones on Blackfoot, the ones in the back corner) were virtually untouched by water. In fact I'd venture to say outside of a few homes right on the river, most of the neighbourhood wasn't really affected other than by being evacuated. Not to mention, they have upgraded the river banks in some of the prone areas since then.
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I live in Ramsay, the ugly step child of Inglewood. My house is fairly fair north so I normally walk into Inglewood given Ramsay doesn't have much in the way of amenities (Primetime is awesome though!). I can pretty much echo everyone's feelings here that Inglewood/Ramsay is a great neighbourhood. I live close to the train but rarely hear more than a low murmur at night. It feels like a community and I've gotten to know a lot of my neighbours in the short time I've lived there.
The only downside is no grocery story (Bite works in a pinch but is expensive).
I live in Inglewood, and truly love it. I am a small town person and love being able to walk to everything (except a grocery store). We shop up the road in Forest Lawn at the Co-op and it doesn't seem very inconvenient. Great restaurants and pubs (The Hose N' Hound is rebranding). There is a great day care at the Alexandria and another going in at the new condo's further down 9th. I work downtown now, and being able to walk to work is really adding to my quality of life. We live in the eastern end of Inglewood and it is a $9.00 UBER to Misson/17th/Kensignton. Plus you have no issues getting an UBER.
When you consider the noise and stuff, meh, we got used to it and it doesn't take away from all the positives. Plus there are two new brewery's that are exceptional and help you tune out the noise.
One big negative currently is the dang zoo bridge. I heard they are considering closing it down for another year yet and possibly replacing the existing bridge. While that is annoying, it is only temporary.
As some have said, Bridgeland and Refrew are good options too. Someone mentioned Mayland Heights, but IMO, I'd look into Albert Park instead (MaxBell area). I believe the area by MaxBell is slowly starting to gentrify. It's far enough from Forest Lawn that things should be ok there. Close to train stations, close to down town and tucked in an area that isn't high volume of traffic. Radisson is worth looking into as well, but Albert Park seems to be the one that is gentrifying more at the moment.
Why not try Ramsay? Less noise to worry about, and probably cheaper land to purchase. I have friends who live in that neighborhood and they love it. And I love visiting there too.
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Living in Inglewood?
