Calgary is a city of rapid growth and little respect for history and culture.
Why preserve a historic building when you can tear it down and pave it for cheaper?
The downtown is a ghost town by 6pm after workers have hopped in their SUV’s and high-tailed it down the freeway to their stucco-clad mcMansions.

Despite all this, it’s good to hear that there’s still a strong design scene in the city, thanks for sharing.

I learned how to love Calgary after a couple of months living there. It is a corporate city but there is something happening in the art scene thanks to the Alberta College of Art and Design. Also, The Banff Centre for the Arts which is amazing.

The River Café used to be my favourite.

Ghost downtown after 6pm can be even interesting if you learn how to live with it!

OMG. This is a godsend.

i LOVE calgary (and all the areas mentioned here) but this post makes me sad because my roommate is moving back there today & taking his two kitties with him! aaack i’m going to miss them :(

Calgary has a bad rep, but they have some really great young musicians and poster artists.

How wonderful is it to see a Canadian city on one of my favorite blogs!!! And, MY Canadian city ;) Yes, we could stand for my culture here(it’s better in Edmonton–wish we would compete with them as hard for that as we do in sports), but the design scene here is wonderful. And, you haven’t lived until you’ve had a treat from Brulee.

Yay! So great to see some Canadian content!! Thanks for the great info!

Let’s try Edmonton next!

Edmonton also has a great scene. Edmonton has always been Calgary’s gritty little brother. Where Calgary is a white collar town, Edmonton is definitely a blue collar town, and I think that shows up a lot in the art communities. Edmonton’s music scene tends to be dirtier and more rock, Calgary’s music scene is poppier and lighter. I find Edmotnon design to be a lot harsher and darker.

You should do an Edmonton guide. This town is awesome!

I’ve been to Calgary and found it pretty dull..

I hope you guys do a review of Montreal.

I agree with Christine! As excited as I was to see a Canadian city being featured that’s not Vancouver or Toronto, I would have rather seen Edmonton there instead. Not just because I live here, but because I think it has more art, design, and culture than Calgary.

How wonderful to open this blog and come upon a guide to my own city! Don’t forget about Meet, Ming, and Milk Tiger for cocktails, and the Coup and Mercato for dinner! Tubby Dog and Beano are other fantastic places for late night eats and coffee- Calgary has a bad rep, but thankfully lots more is starting to happen here!

PS: Don’t foget Honeybees in Kensington and Steeling Home off on 17th ave for home accessories

Here are my Calgary recommendations on Poppytalk – some repeats, but some other personal favourites (with photos).
http://poppytalk.blogspot.com/search/label/Calgary%20City%20Guide

How wonderful to see so many of my favourite places mentioned. Calgary is a great city that has many little independent places for you to find. The average on looker may think that there is nothing to this city but “mcMansions”. Dig just a little deeper and you can find real gems.

My top list for Calgary eats at least would have to be Eat Eat! in Inglewood (9th avenue)
4th street SE is an often over looked area that is the host of the ever growing Lilac Festival. Many interesting places to explore along with some great sushi.
Thanks again for representing a great city.

How wonderful to see my hometown featured here! I’m excited for my next trip back to explore some of these places! It has been so long since I have lived in Calgary that many of these places are new to me!
I’m also excited to hear that Calgary is growing more of a creative and design culture, something that is hard to do when the snow dusted peaks of the mountains beckon each weekend!

PS. I completely agree with Brodie Peariso, McMansions are easy to see, they are huge! However it doesn’t represent the whole population. You just have to look a little harder…

I’m so happy to see Calgary here! I am not native but I’ve been living in it for 4 years now. Calgary has a bad rep for good reason, it is all about big money, shiny exteriors and hiding dirty secretes. There is some wonderful stuff here, you just have to look

I disagree Molly Malone’s is a good pub. I know too many people who have gotten food poisoning and it is damn gross in there. The Kensington Pub is just steps away and has much more charm.

Don’t forget about Cooks and Co. Great kitchen resource store.

Brodie, My favorite diner is Eat Eat! too.

Twice a year ACAD has a student sale, you can get beautiful artwork, pottery and blown glass.

Art Central is full of little shops owned by local artisans, it is thrilling to walk through

There are also several artist run centers. You cannot buy artwork there, but it is free to look at contemporary art and the openings (also free) have snacks and the artists to mingle with. They are TRUCK, Stride, and The New Gallery

There are so many more great places… if you do not like drunk teens and crowded venues, stay clear during Stampede week.

I hope to see a Montreal guide! There would be so many options!

Wow, some folks are pretty harsh on Calgary. I was raised & I am still living in Calgary so I can tell you that there is a lot going on in this city design wise – there have been some big movements in the past few years including Arts Central downtown & many festivals and shows to attend.

There have in the past been a lot of SUV driving oil & gas men that is for sure, however, that generation is past & I think if you take a second and look past your stereotypes you will catch on to the excitement of a relatively young city that is figuring itself out & where anything is possible. Every city started somewhere & simply because you don’t trip over design everywhere (like in a city such as Vancouver) doesn’t mean it’s not here – it just means you aren’t really looking. Calgary is a city of opportunity & enthusiasm & I think that to write it off is a mistake. Like a few postings have said before – slow down and take a minute to look deeper & you will see what you’ve been missing.

yes! i’ve been hoping for this post for a long time. and whatever haters, calgary rocks.

Just mailed off a couple of my paintings to Calgary so it clicked when I saw it on your site. Calgary is a fun and vibrant city but how about a little visit to Victoria (I’m a little prejudiced because I live there!) Maybe the Gulf Islands or Nelson (whoops I’m giving away all the secrets)

Thank you so much for profiling Calgary! Calgary has been pinned under the ‘corporate town’ rep for so long that a lot of people find it hard to see the vibrant and developing arts and design scene here. This is just what our local artists and independent shop owners need, a little good publicity around what they are working so hard to achieve.

Some comments are really harsh here, it does surprise me. I don’t understand why do people have to be so negative, if you don’t like the city is fine, but why be offensive?

I have been living in Calgary for 5 years now and you have to be here to see how much it has change and how many cool cultural and arts things are going on here. I am a dancer, I live and thrive in the arts world, I know a lot of amazing artists who work here. And frankly, I find it a bit offensive when someone says that we here in Calgary don’t respect culture. By the way I grew up in Europe, just so that it is clear that I do know what arts and culture look like :)

Downtown is a ghoest town? Maybe it was true years ago but not anymore, I go through downtown at night on regular basis and there are always people, everywhere, the C-train is full at 10pm.

One thing that Calgary does have going for it is that it grows fast, really FAST. And that means that everything changes really fast, the city is changing. For example, I go to different concerts every week, I can’t live without music. So much to pick from, classical, jazz, rock… so many guest artist now visiting Calgary. It would be really nice if people kept open mind about Calgary and wouldn’t base their opinions on what it was 5 years ago.

I used to live in Calgary and miss it a lot. It is going through some growing pains from a small town to a bigger city. I’m glad that I can go home to discover new stores here and there. One thing awesome is that they don’t have provincial tax…which is great if you go for a shopping trip.

Can you do a city guide on Vancouver? I’m fairly new, and would LOVE to figure out some cool spots to try out that are recommended by long time locals! Thanks.

Fun! Wish I’d seen this before my trip to Alberta earlier this month. Might have cheered me up a little – it was -38 our first day in Edmonton. I. Wanted. To. Die.

I agree that it would be great if the guides could head further West…Victoria would be a fun stop. While Vancouver has an established scene, Victoria is waaaaay artsier and far funkier.

Wow! I didn’t think I’d ever see my city on d*s. Thanks for sharing. Calgary does indeed have a lot of great shops, art, and interesting culture–they just tend to be more scattered around the city (and quieter) than the corporate ‘n’ cowboy elements for which it is known. Calgary is still a young city (compared to Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, etc) so I think that all this potential has so many ways to grow.

I dont think people are trying to be harsh about Calgary. I just think Calgary takes itself a wee bit too seriously. I has this feeling of shameless self promotion which reminds me of Toronto a few years back. I agree many interesting things are coming out of Calgary these days. However the hoopla and horray you hear from Calgarians living all over the country gets old. Really old.

I really liked Calgary’s surrounding country side much more than the “city” itself. The city feels like an over grown suburb. The country side and rockies are to die for!

We dont hate you Calgary. Not at all.

-With love from Montreal.

This information is a godsend thank you, I have moved here just months ago and thought i was stuck with Ikea or Urban Barn…brown stuff in a brown house (are all Calgary interiors brown???).

I have managed to eat or drink in every place listed :-)

Pulcinellas is really really bad for pizza. I found an excellent pizza place, just like italy called Il Centro way down near chinook, off to the other side of Mccloud. Service was so bad it is funny – worth it for the pizza.

Cafe Rosso in Ramsay does the best coffee I have ever had. However, with a *bucks on every corner how much are people spending on coffee in this town?

I was very happy the day I stumbled upon Arts Central, the Uppercase Gallery is brilliant and their in house graphic design in outstanding.

Alot of design agencies here are quite poor, they seem to have huge offices and quite bad portfolios.

Plus the countryside is amazing, fish creek is ace too.

Interesting to see Calgary here! Max seems to be going to all the right places! Lets support local buisnesses as much as we can and that means the Calgary Farmers Market. God bless Phil & Sebastian coffee! Calgary has, arguably, the greatest art college in Western Canada and a cool music scene if you look for it (Cantos, Beatnik, Mikey’s Juke Joint, Palomino). Don’t forget our great local designers (Shisomiso, Uppercase, Influx).As a local artist, born in Edmonton, and working in the non-profit museum sector here, I agreee that there is a lot to complain about where Calgary is concerned, but I haven’t given up on it. If all the artists leave and if people don’t go out, see art and music and buy local, then how much worse might Calgary get in the future?
Check out what Calgary Arts Development is up to: http://calgaryartsdevelopment.com/ Also, a great Calgary-based resteraunt blog:
http://ugonnaeatthat.com/

Hey, thanks for posting this. I just wanted to plug Art Central, which is tucked away in corporate Calgary’s Downtown area. I sell abstract paintings (my own) and other artworks. We are basically a mall filled with small businesses. Galleries, shops, studios and a coffee house (Deville). Thanks again!

What a wonderful guide to Calgary! Kudos to Design*Sponge for keeping such an open mind… Calgary doesn’t always leap to mind first when thinking of arts and culture, but this blogg did good! I’m new to Alberta, just moved to Edmonton, and Grace, I’d love to start working on a submission on Edmonton… it’ll keep me on the look out!
thanks so much for your inspiring blog!

Great guide to Calgary. Congratulations to Design*Sponge for giving a home to the city’s stories.
Of course the other thing that makes Calgary such a great city is its wonderful people and the random acts of kindness that happen every day. We’re colllecting Feel Good stories of the people in Alberta who make a difference: visit http://www.feelgoodripple.ca and add your Feel Good Ripple.

Thank you very much for this post!I visited several canadian cities. But I’ve never been to Calgary. Now I think it’s really worth seen.