Curb Appeal

Curb Appeal | End of the Line

Former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s private campaign car pulled into the Aspen Crossing faux-railway station in 2006 >

When the City of Lethbridge planned to demolish its obsolete, 1.9-million-litre water tower in 2000, local developer Douglas Bergen stepped in with a scheme to cut windows into the steel tank and turn it into a restaurant. >

Built to Last

They don’t make buildings in Edmonton like they used to. In fact, there are no others standing on 97 Street that are timber-pressed, metal-clad or built before World War II. >

Stop, Look and Listen

NOT MANY PEOPLE FIND THE bellowing noise of city streets calming. But when Derek Besant saw two deaf passersby signing in front of K&W Audio, he found himself stuck in a peculiar paradox: the noisy Calgary street was suddenly rendered eerily silent. >

Making an Impact

IT’S FITTING THAT A HOCKEY PUCK sits wedged into the side of the Edmonton Oil Kings office. >

In the Spirit

Long before the Alberta government privatized liquor retail and distribution, Emilio Picariello was already in it for himself, illegally. >

The Hole Truth

ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION a passerby has telephoned Peter Achtem to inform him that there’s a big hole in the back of his downtown Edmonton building. >

Stranger than Fiction

IT’S A CASE OF LIFE IMITATING ART. Back in the 1960s, editorial cartoonist Yardley Jones fell so in love with the village of New Sarepta that he often made reference to it in his work.

Out to Pasture

Bay Street Analysts describe the region between Calgary and Edmonton as an economic tiger, one of the most prosperous places in Canada. To the thousands of motorists who zip up and down the QEII each day, though, the busy stretch of highway resembles a cattle drive.
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No Business Like Show Business

Calgary and New York may seem worlds apart but the one thing both metropoli have in common is a gigantic primate wreaking havoc on their buildings. Fear not, the one scaling the wall of Movie Poster Shop on Calgary’s 16th Avenue NW isn’t about to scare the pants off anyone King Kong-style. “We have a term in the movie business called showmanship and that’s what we did with our marketing,” says Sol Candel, the owner of Western Canada’s largest resource of original and vintage movie and music posters. “We just wanted to be more creative, and our gorilla certainly has great visibility on this busy road.”