I have grown up and lived in Dartmouth NS for most of my life and am very tired of the constant trashing of MY city by people in a city trying hard to be a Little Montreal.
You have the Worst parking in Canada, Ticket Nazi’s, Little or No property on your $300,000+ properties… Women trying to dress uniquely and looking all the same. The best thing about Halifax is the VIEW from Dartmouth. —Darcy M
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2010.
Only someone from Darkside would complain like that…
it’s just light ribbing… I’m sure you can take it a little more gracefully than that.
enjoy your parking, lack of ticket nazi’s, and the $85 000+ properties….
and STFU.
I dunno… but I live in a house with a drive way and a garden. My rent is high-ish, but not THAT bad. I’ve never been ticketed (because I put change in the meter) but I can walk downtown and that’s what I do, mostly. I dress how I like and don’t care what you think. Every time I go to Dartmouth, I just don’t enjoy it. I try, I really do, but it just has this vibe of sleazy that I can’t shake. And not being from here, I don’t really have a deep rooted stigma. Meh. Suck it up. Dartmouth just isn’t as nice a place to be. If YOU like it, then isn’t that all that really matters?
Oh puh-lease
And the best thing about Dartmouth is…? Nope?
Me neither. Just kidding, been a Dartmagonian for 5 years now and no complaints so far.
Small city vs. big town is hardly worth declaring jihad over now is it?
Don’t quite get “Little Montreal” though. “Courteous Boston” – Maybe. “Fredericton with vital signs” – absolutely.
But “Little Montreal” -Naaaaah.
The Darkside rocks! That’s where all the lakes are. Matt Mays wrote a wicked song about it…”at the end of the day I will return to the City of Lakes, where the real people roam and the real waves break”. Cue guitar solo…
well the drivers remind me of Montreal…
I think La Perla is my favorite part of Dartmouth.
The lakes are lover-ly. Agreed. I think it was the downtown I had in mind. And pretty much any of their shopping districts. Never been to La Perla though. Gotta try it one of these days.
Dartmouth is for lovers!
or losers
😉
Predictable for a Dartmouthian to bitch about parking — you live in one big suburban industrial park. Take your obese hands off the steering wheel for once and walk around, you might see why people aren’t aching for downtown Halifax to be leveled to one big parking lot.
You learn life skills in Dartmouth that not even the most elite private schools in Halifax can teach, such as:
Math (how to add profits from drug sales/stolen property)
Physical Education (dodging bullets)
Driver’s Ed (how to do drive-by shootings)
Physics (how to aim/fire a gun)
Health (how to patch a bullet wound)
Chemistry (how to create meth)
English (how not to speak like a Haligonian)
I love Dartmouth, and have a button from Two If By Sea to prove it. One of the best things is not having to shovel the sidewalks when it snows. Yeah!!!! And the lakes rock.
OMG Sebastian! No crime in Halifax!!! Tell me it isn’t so!
It’s like a low budget Narnia no one wants to end up in.
Oceanlady, didn’t you know there is no crime in Halifax. We prefer to spend our time in friendship circles and skipping with friends down Barrington to our backing track ‘The Courtship of Eddie’s Father’ by Harry Nilsson.
every city makes sport of the closest burbs dude : Toronto-Scarberia, Vancouver-Scurvy etc. that’s just the way it is
“People let me tell you ’bout my best friend, he’s my one joy, my cuddly toy, I love him ’til the end…” ~Why would anyone not want to be in Halifax? Heheheh…
Actually, I love both cities, Bedford and Bagville though can’t even compare.
Sebastien you’re a loser with your head waaaay up your ass. Ever been to Gottingen St, Fairview, Spryfield? Lovely neighborhoods.
But, OL: bedford, as a whole, is oh so much more morally superior to everyone on the planet! I’ve never seen a bunch of SNOTS in my life….and I used to LIVE in bedford. I can’t wait until the burger place where chicken is used comes to Hfx 🙂
Also: Mmmontreal. *drool* I *heart* montreal. If anything la ville de quebec is a little montreal.
Alsox2: I’m pretty sure Clayton Park (particularly Clayton Park West) > rest of HRM 😛
I lived in Dartmouth for pretty much all of my life, minus 3 years. I cannot even express to you how much I hate that place. I know more Darthmouthians (or whatever they’re called ;D) that bash Halifax than Haligonians that bash Dartmouth. Halifax is all fine and dandy for when Darts want to have a good time or shop but then when you leave it’s all “OMG IT’S SO SHITTY AND CROWDED AND I HAD TO WALK AN EXTRA FIVE MINUTES BECAUSE I COULDN’T FIND A PARKING SPOT”. Like someone else said, I don’t need to drive anywhere in this city because I can just WALK there. I never use my car on weekends, unless I need to buy a bunch of groceries. I don’t have to set aside 3 hours of my day taking transit as my longest bus ride is only half an hour at the very most. When I lived in Dartmouth, I would come to Halifax all the time and as soon as I got over the bridge I would feel at ease. I get such a different feeling from Halifax. Everyone is damn sexy. It feels alive and people are always having a good time. Then when I would leave Halifax to go back to Dartmouth, I could feel the life suck right out of me the closer I got to the tolls. When I go to Dartmouth, it’s filled with mini vans and frazzled, fat soccer moms screaming at their various children to shut up. People don’t see a problem with wearing dirty sweat pants or cow pajamas in public when they’re 45. It’s always foggy and cloudy whenever I visit my parents, while it’s still sunny in Halifax. I could go on but then I’ll just sound snobby ;P! I love Halifax! It’s just a different vibe than Dartmouth; if you prefer the suburbs and giant parking lots to Halifax, then go for it. I do not so I live here. I never bash Dartmouth on my own, it’s only in response to a Dart bashing Halifax.
So there you go melectric, it’s all about where you want to be in life. I choose to want to own a house instead of pissing money away every month into rent. Sure as hell can’t do that in Hal.
jeez louise melectric yer getting wordy in yer old age^^^
I like both Halifax and Dartmouth for different reasons…but driving in either place is equally nightmarish.
I never ever want to be a “home owner”. That means I’m going to be in the same spot until I die. I haven’t lived in the same house/apartment for more than 5 years at a time and I’m not complaining :)! If owning a home works for you then do that, but there’s no way I can say “Yes, I want to live in this same house/city/province/country for years and years (and possibly the rest of my life)”. I hate watching movies because I don’t like knowing what I’m going to be doing for the next two hours….I hope that makes sense to at least one person ;D. I should probably be medicated. I’m going senile already it seems PG! All this talk of Hali is making me excited, I’m off for a stroll :)!
we are (we’re) helpful, in a strange sorta way…heehaw
Dartmouth people prefer Halifax people to stay where they are.
I capice 100% Mel; I love the freedom of no house no kids no resp. ; don’t like my job bye bye now ; don’t like the city toodle-loo 🙂
Darkside 4 Life Motherfuckers!
Dartmouth Chamber of Commerce – keepin’ it real, Yo!
First of all the driving is not a nightmare. If you people complain about the traffic here then obviously you have never lived in a big city. Halifax is dying. Pretty soon it will be all restaurants as they keep pushing stores out and building more big box stores in Dartmouth Crossing for the suburbanites. I live in Halifax, but it really is 20 years behind any major North American city. Dartmouth is pretty much a suburb, and the only thing it has going for it are the nearby lakes and close proximity to various beaches.
Downtown Dartmouth is pretty grease. I live in Dartmouth and my area is beautiful along with a lot of other areas in it. I however hate hali for the same reasons, parking police, crowded streets and weirdos who wear work boots and panty hose. Not to say Hali doesnt have its nice areas too but downtown is pretty grease, along with dartmouths downtown. One things for sure, the average person is more normal in D-town.
– Down with D-town
Soon enough, Dartmouth will be the New North End, with the hipsters overrunning your precious parking and all dressing the same. The move is already on. Just wait; they’ll be fixed gears as far as the eye can see.
Being a Dartmouth transplant, I quite like it…Holy fuck! a fucking puppy!
I grew up in Dartmouth and recently moved to Halifax, have a sweet house and a sweeter backyard, walking distance to downtown (my car only gets driven on grocery day) and I hope to never have to go to Dartmouth for anything ever again (except the Mic Mac Tavern). I’m not saying one is better than the other, but Halifax is my new happy place.
For good cheap nosh you can’t beat the Hungry Hut on Ochterloser Street. The Hut burger is great for sopping up last nights hangover.
Halifax isn’t “crowded” if you’re walking. I don’t get it. Having to walk around a few people on Spring Garden at rush hour isn’t a huge inconvenience. As another poster mentioned, this isn’t a huge crowded modern city. It’s just a large town. I’m within a few minutes walk of grocery stores, liquor stores, movie theatre, major bus routes, etc. and I love it. I don’t hate Dartmouth, it just has nothing to offer me and I don’t care to go there.
Sabastien is a fucking tool for one. If you think Hali is a fairy tale no-crime land your clearly high as fuck. Probably explains most of your dumb ass thoughless comments on here. Two, Melectric hates Dartmouth cause middle class citizens actually have decent paying jobs besides working in coffee shops and buy minivans as a logical way to transport children to and from sports and extra cirricular activities, which, every child should be involved in. Of course people are gonna bitch about no parking but its not every Dartmouthian. Its the fat/lazy ones which I’m sure Hali has some of too. I enjoy both cities, for different reasons. Hali is great for night life, all the cool shops and scenes going on thoughout the day. Dartmouth is good for other things. Different folks, different strokes. For fuckes sake though, not every Dartmouthian is lazy and is against walking. Those of you who think so are fubar. Melectric dont hate soccer moms becuase they give their children a good childhood. Sorry you were beaten and left in a gutter throughout your preteen years.
Dartmouth is the Brooklyn of Halifax… and while haligonians would love to think they are some kind of progressive mecca, it’s really just a great big wannabe hipster douche fest. I’ll continue to watch you all from the right (proper) side of the harbor 😉
Downtown Halifax is overrated
Dartmouth is a sea of parking lots and low-slung warehouse buildings