Hi everyone,

Just wondering if Wellington Street South/Young Street is a safe area? There is an apartment there I'm interested in - but I'm in Calgary and can't check it out.

Thanks
Josh

That's not a bad area. And its right on the 5 bus, and close to downtown.

Oh plus there's a park and rec centre right next door, and you're walking distance from the best pubs in town. Just saying.

It's not that close to Mac, about 20-30 minutes on the bus depending on traffic or construction. I wouldn't say it's as safe as the areas close to Mac and the farther east you go, the sketch factor sort of goes up. It's upto you though, make sure you have an idea of how the place is, like pictures and stuff.

Thanks. Anyone else have thoughts on this area?

I had a female graduate student friend who lived in that area. She definitely had problems with being taunted / solicited / threatened when she was walking home. I don't think its a terribly bad area, but its a little rougher than areas generally to the west. I'd say it depends on what you're used to / expect in terms of safety. If you've lived in a downtown before, I'd say it won't be a problem, but if you've only lived in the burbs / on campus, it might be a bit of an adjustment.

You'll find most graduate students are living in the region bounded by dundurn st on the west, aberdeen on the south king on the north and james or john on the east.

I walk or run all over downtown at night, as far east as wentworth and north to the waterfront, and haven't had any significant problems. The only times I've felt at all threatened was at closing time for the local bars / pubs when a bunch of drunk testosterone junkies got let out at once. Their being drunk and loud generally makes them easy to avoid if you do happen to be out that late.

I've only been around there in the day/early evening, and found no problems with it. No idea what it's like at night though.

The downtown core starts at Wellington Street to the east, and ends at about Bay street to the west. So that area is on the edge of downtown, and it's also part of an area called Corktown. I kind of like that area. It's one of the most historic neighbourhoods in Hamilton, where many Irish immigrants lived in the 1800's. So of course there's a lot of beautiful buildings, there's also a small pub district on Augusta street that I've been to with my friends and I liked it. It's also close to the GO station, and everything else downtown, like Jackson Square Mall(which, having worked there, I know can be pretty sketchy but some of the stores are okay so it can be useful).

So, despite all that, I still am not very familiar with that area so I can't guarantee how safe it is. It seems safe to me though. And from what I've heard, it's kind of an up and coming area, and it has been improving. I would suggest staying away from the very centre of the downtown core. It depends, some areas downtown are decent, some are really sketchy. Sure, it can be a little sketchy sometimes, and I have been harassed downtown, but if you use streetsmarts you should be fine.

Corktown neighbourhood association: http://www.corktownna.ca/

Some photos: http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.ph...rian-rows-etc-)

And I watched this podcast about it, I thought it was pretty neat. It's an illustrative podcast so if you have iTunes you can listen to the MP3 and follow along with the photos:

http://www.historyandheritag e.ca/e...hbourhood.html

It's a fairly quiet residential neighbourhood near the bottom of the escarpment. My friend lived in the area for several years with her family. I've only walked through it a few times, and it seemed nice with kids playing in the parks and an elementary school nearby. Safety shouldn't be a problem.

Geographically, it is part of downtown, but having lived in the Hammer for 10 years, I would not call it "downtown" considering all the bad rap that is associated with the term here. There are some low-income government housing there if that means anything to you.

i lived in that area for many years. don't take the government housing too seriously as there is government housing dotted throughout all of hamilton and the surrounding towns - including around the mac campus. to put it as concisely as i can without repeating the above posts... the "west end" around mac is typically upper-middle and middle class white collar. wellington south specifically would be more like middle class and below - mix of white and blue collar. of course, both neighbourhoods have a bit of a mix with some on either side of my classifications. once you hit downtown, south is generally considered better than north

Originally Posted by feonateresa

It's not that close to Mac, about 20-30 minutes on the bus depending on traffic or construction. I wouldn't say it's as safe as the areas close to Mac and the farther east you go, the sketch factor sort of goes up. It's upto you though, make sure you have an idea of how the place is, like pictures and stuff.

if i may be so bold as to clarify. moving east does not directly make it more "sketchy". it's more a matter of moving north-east.

as you get closer to the steel factories, the overall poverty level rises and the unfortunate social issues that accompany that.