Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyB
I would bet that most people who sit in the Boston Pizza's in their neighbourhoods complaining about the lack of a cultural scene would be doing less complaining and more enjoying of the cultural scene if that scene had a real presence in their neighborhood.
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Bingo.
There is basically zero culture outside downtown/midtown/uptown Calgary, Inglewood, and Kensington in this city. Only a handful of venues even worth mentioning that aren't in that radius. And as the vast majority of the population lives in this city's absurd urban sprawl, and most cultural venues that aren't bars are closed at night, it's hard to feel a pulse of this city. The city takes on a strange peculiarity at night. It's a city in which it feels more appropriate to brownbag a 200ml bottle of Jack and wander desolate, empty alleys and streets at night smoking a cigarette or ten than to really do something. By 'feels more appropriate' I just mean that's the feeling the city has after everybody goes home after work, not that there's
nothing to do. Although, there's pretty much nothing at all if you don't want to go to a bar or a crappy multiplex movie. You can't even get a cup of coffee after 9:00 here except at one or two places I know of in urban Calgary. For a city its size, Calgary is pretty insanely dead.
We also only have one museum of note, with only an alright collection, a fractured music scene that loses a lot of talent pretty quickly and is often less appreciative of its greatest output (see Women, Chad VanGaalen) than music fans in other cities are. Etc. etc.
BUT, and it's a big BUT, we have a lot of vibrant little corners of Calgary, and if you're willing to suck it up and put up with that 35 minute transit ride more often, and do some exploring, you'll find that Calgary offers a hell of a lot to do. What is lacking is a certain sort of vibrant atmosphere, but that's mostly forgotten once you find some of the city's hidden little gems. So go for walks (I'm now addressing anyone who thinks Calgary is dull, not the troll OP), explore, try coffee shops, bars, clubs, music venues, little art galleries, restaurants etc. you haven't been to. I like to think that we've got something here, but we just gotta get it to cohere.