Why is Birch Avenue so weird? | Faded Hamilton

This started as a joke on Twitter, and now I've spent the past month of my spare time working on this...
Special thanks to Hamilton Transit History for being an incredible resource. www.trainweb.or...
Images courtesy of the Hamilton Public Library, Local History & Archives.
Arial photos courtesy of McMaster Digital Archives.
1942 video footage from NRHS Buffalo Convention ( • Sell 42 NRHS Buffalo C... )
Music credit: "Strangers On A Train (Instrumental)" by Lovage

[@calliope137]

Hi Matt! I am new here but I agree. I am saddened to see what a utopia Hamilton used to be. You had radial lines, street cars and OH MY! incredible medium density building all along these routes. I am excited to be learning about Hamilton via this channel and I love that you focus so much on bikes.

[@dbgdbg111]

Well done! Really enjoyed watching this episode. Was sad to see there wasn't a series.. wtf? lol Think you are on to something here. Hamilton very much needs to see and be reminded of the interesting history, especially in such a relaxed and enjoyable as well as educational way you told the tale. Thanks for your video. I will never look at Birch the same way again.

[@danielstewart-martin1317]

I was hoping this was a series as well!

[@MattGrande]

Hopefully it will be a series soon :)

[@marylouisepigott9702]

Well now you’ve done it Matt. We demand more Faded Hamilton!!

[@MsBaby1959]

Thumbs up 👍🏻 from this Hamilton, Ontario expat and new subbie. Miss my hometown 😊

[@dawnsacks5161]

Your history videos are great

[@thelstew]

Please make more of these! Faded Hamilton! Yes!

[@WadeNunnBetter]

Great videos my friend, keep em coming!

[@zam200864]

Another solid episode

[@rogerw-interested]

lived on gibson, never knew. did notice the bridges had strange openings. thank you for this

[@thatgrrlca]

I hope you post more, Matt. A lot of work put into this and I learned more about what to look for to find old rail lines here too. I really wish the rail had been kept. If not fully functional, at least able to be used again at some point. I always feel let down when I see those trails which used to be rails.

[@Spicynoodle95]

I used to live on birch ave and most of my family lives in oakville it would have been super convenient to have this line since i didnt drive at the time 😂

[@danadelaplante6797]

This was awesome. Love the history. Such faded past brought back to us here. Great video. Thank you so much.

[@neilhoutman9288]

Well done. Fantastic sense of humour.

[@vassa1972]

I'm at 24 Tisdale street south across from the no frills plaza and find Hamilton has weird Streets

[@BenedictHarris]

Moving to Hamilton in a few weeks! Interesting stuff. We looked at a house on Birch Ave! Did not buy it.

[@jeffwatters7902]

Excellent video! I am fascinated by these little glimpses into the past of Hamilton. It makes me think of all of the lives that were affected by these long disused artefacts, and gives a glimpse into the history of the city.

[@jerryjohnson7952]

Excellent Story. Thanks

[@tommysoprano1441]

Brother this is great stuff

[@kylenoonan313]

Great work! Thanks

[@garrettlajoiemusic3577]

I never knew Bayfront was a landfill, wow. More please!

[@joannebailey7463]

That was great! I never knew there had been street cars on Birch! I worked at Burlington Steel when it was on Sherman Avenue in late '60s early 70'. Travelled on Birch every day after work due to Sherman being one way northbound.

[@scotthudsonriley]

Great work.

[@HamiltonRambler]

Great video! I hope you make more.

[@carny666]

Fantastic video!

[@magmag1059]

Dope video! Thanks so much for making it!

[@tryplot]

saw this on reddit. awesome. seems like our version of 'unfinished london'. hope you continue it.

[@BenedictHarris]

OH Unfinished London ENGLAND - I thought for a second it would be London, ON - a city so worthy of a documentary!

[@tummytalk605]

Good work!

[@DaveSmithHayes]

Hell yeah this is my favourite street in the city.

[@edgarbreau9416]

Thanks for that interesting Birch Ave video. I've always felt that there was something, yes, weird about that street and you've done a great job clearing the mystery up.

[@mjwhigginson]

This is amazing. Thank you!!!!

[@rosalindminaji4381]

Really interesting. Loved the picture of the old Queens Head Hotel in Burlington. Thanks for the informative video.

[@thevintagekitty]

cool! keep it up! These are so interesting

[@cadendance976]

Are they planning on ever building that church tower thing? Looks like a pretty cool condo from the concept poster, but its been years

[@MattGrande]

Who knows? 🤷🤷 I hope something shows up eventually.

[@RavynSkye617]

Fellow Hamiltonian here. Subbed.

[@Y2Kikii]

Great video! I had no clue that's were the old trains used to go!

[@NicodemusT]

Didn’t know Clint from LGR was from Hamilton.

[@MattGrande]

Clint is way more well spoken than me.

[@NicodemusT]

@@MattGrande You gotta start somewhere. Great job on these videos. This city could use more of this. I thought about making a video series about weird Hamilton things.

[@b-rare]

good one

[@libby7117]

This was really interesting; are you going to do more?

[@MattGrande]

Yes! If I ever get some free time!

[@CSskis]

Hey that was awesome! So cool to learn some of the history of our neighbourhoods. I would love to see more! Thanks for the hard work.

[@swotteh]

The next time Hamilton goes to Toronto about an LRT, do NOT ask for permission just the money. Start off with some of the infrastructure is already in place

[@rcd3671]

Why does this depress me so? Great video though

[@brianlewis9763]

Matt- I'm stunned! Great job. I really believe that we need to learn from our history- especially here in the Hammer.

[@victorious1339]

This is awesome! Super cool to see the street cars of Hamilton's past!

[@jimgraham1685]

Birch Avenue aka the Bargain Basement of Sex Work. It's even lovelier at night.

[@mary-annmeyer5748]

This was such an interesting glimpse into a piece of Hamilton's history!

[@ryanhi429]

Great vid. Is that a panoramic of Ivor Wynne stadium behind you? Where did you get that?

[@MattGrande]

It is! It's by a local artist named Paul Elia. Check out his stuff!

[@willowwatson4130]

That Matt Grande is sooooo cute!

[@lizziejones9850]

Ask him out. lol

[@willowwatson4130]

Looks like he's wearing a wedding ring though...😢

[@lizziejones9850]

@@willowwatson4130 I never noticed.

[@willowwatson4130]

Nah, he's definately happily married. I hear his wife is pretty cute too!

[@jamiepaterson2369]

Really cool. Great work. Make more and I will watch them.

[@MattGrande]

That's the plan!

[@guiltypleasuresmusic]

I totally enjoyed this! Nicely put together!

[@hamiltonfixedrider]

Great video Matt Very interesting. You should do more

[@HamiltonSeen]

Love that Lovage.

[@deer1eye]

Today it will cost about two billion to build a fraction of what they had. Almost sounds like organized crime is involved.

[@briangraham6415]

Cool vid. You should do more content like this. Maybe the line that crossed over QEW (show old traffic circle), and thru the pond in front of Baranga’s, and then along the path behind the homes on the Beach Strip and thru Burlington by Jo Brant.

[@MattGrande]

That was originally the same line that ran down Birch, from the Hamilton Radial Electric Railway! I'm hoping to do something like this in the future, but who knows when. This was a surprising amount of work!

[@J-Reyez]

Just convert it to new bikes/ hike paths for the city. Give the north end more life. lol

[@dymondgirl5555]

Great idea, 💡🙏

[@trexor14]

Very cool videos #hamont

[@stevepuglia8054]

Thats super neato 🤓

[@joemacdonald1250]

Cool..

[@jeffneven8930]

I loved the video. How can I get a link to those maps. I really want to study them closely to better understand my city.

[@MattGrande]

Here you go! Not all of these made it into the final video: * www.mapsofthepast.com/hamilton-canada-chalifour-1915-3398-x-23.html * library.mcmaster.ca/php/raremaps.php?f=more&num=107498 * maps.library.utoronto.ca/hgis/countymaps/wentworth/Went_merge.jpg * digitalarchive.mcmaster.ca/islandora/object/macrepo%3A33328

[@janetlong7660]

Hey that was great! Thanks. Now I know more about my hood. Who'd a thunk it!🦝

[@kierancommanda1075]

I like it!

[@ryandonovan5667]

Man this was great!! You should make this into a series !!

[@dymondgirl5555]

Yassssssss 👍🏼🙏

[@lizziejones9850]

It was a shame what happened to that church at the end of the video.