Media

Talk About a Great Place

By RTH Staff
Published September 06, 2012

Here's a 1983 video extolling Hamilton's innovative tech sector, titled "Talk About a Great Place." The video, which runs 12:31, was shot in 16mm film by Hills' Production Services.

Enjoy!

(h/t to David-James Fernandes for finding the link)

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By moylek (registered) - website | Posted September 06, 2012 at 07:40:50

I was intrigued by the architectural shots: just about every building shown was some version of modernist and pretty much unloved today. You'd think from the video that there were absolutely no pre-1950s buildings in Hamilton.

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By DowntownInHamilton (registered) | Posted September 06, 2012 at 07:53:04

Great find. Thanks for sharing. Sad that most of the businesses shown aren't with us any more.

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By JM (registered) | Posted September 06, 2012 at 11:40:26

it's amazing how little the city itself has changed since then.... the shots of the skyline, waterfront, etc. all look the same as they do today!

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By Vod_Kann (registered) | Posted September 06, 2012 at 11:54:45

Ivor Wynne Stadium with its original 3 part press box!

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By Calliope (anonymous) | Posted September 06, 2012 at 17:19:23

Turning corners like a merry-go-round!

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By Impressed (anonymous) | Posted September 06, 2012 at 17:24:11

Great video! Thanks for sharing.

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By rednic (registered) | Posted September 07, 2012 at 03:13:37

Are any of the featured companies still in business today,In hamilton. I know Stelco has morphed to US steel. The rest I think have left. That says more about corporate morals than Hamilton.

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By DrAwesomesauce (registered) | Posted September 07, 2012 at 06:22:54

Nice find and nice perm, Anne! I miss the 80s something fierce.

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By ScreamingViking (registered) | Posted September 07, 2012 at 23:31:39

Yellow and black stripe HSR paint scheme. 4-lane QEW with grass median and flimsy rail barrier. The clothing. Copps Coliseum and the Sheraton going up - the tail end of the 1970s/early-80s downtown construction boom.

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By ScreamingViking (registered) | Posted September 09, 2012 at 03:00:29

Watched that video again. What does it really reflect? Positivity of the day, or a last gasp try to revive some?

I often wonder what happened 30-some years ago. A city that seemed to hold some enthusiasm for the future lost it, and ambition turned to subsistence. The recession of the early-80s hit hard and the local economy took some body blows as heavy industry closed or shrank. And city leadership morphed from looking ahead to what could be, to simply looking after what was here. Was it really that simple? Leading to two decades in the doldrums, followed by another of political dust-settling after amalgamation?

I don't want to dwell on the past, because there's no changing it. But seriously, what do people here think? I've got a certain perspective of it given my education as an urban geographer, but that's all based on looking at a past I wasn't old enough to understand as it unfolded.

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By Fred Street (anonymous) | Posted September 09, 2012 at 10:43:14 in reply to Comment 80788

Hamilton was a heavily industrial 30 years ago. The onset of recession coincided with a four-month strike at Stelco and the 1982 layoff of a third of Stelco's workforce. This might have struck at the confidence of a population whose identity was enmeshed with industry.

But the "subsistence" arguably started earlier, and the "doldrums" extended by another decade.

1950-1970: 104,701 population growth
1970-1990: 10,334 population growth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Population-coh-1816-2006.png

Hamilton's parade of grand civic projects from 1967's Civic Square to the genesis of Copps Coliseum a decade later (it makes a cameo in 1979's Their Town) was intended to restore confidence and momentum.

Even now there is an institutional fetishization of the 1940s and '50s, an era when Hamilton was the second largest city in Ontario. Today, when (even after amalgamation) we may soon become the fourth largest city in Ontario.

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By Egg (anonymous) | Posted September 10, 2012 at 17:41:14

"First place chick is hot, but has an attitude, doesn't date magicians. Second place is someone weird usually, like a Chinese girl or a geologist. But third place, although a little bit plain, has super low self-esteem. So I step in and, uh, lay her crown upon my sweet head." - Gob Bluth

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