The City of Hamilton and the Downtown BIA are bringing Barton Village back to its former glory through local art installations.
Hamilton is well known as a steel town. Back in the industrial days, most steel factories were located around Barton St. and as such it was quite a popular district. However, once factories started closing, many stores also followed and people began moving out of the neighbourhood and it became a street people avoided.
Barton St. is currently going through a transition period where various projects and initiatives are changing tides and bringing the street back to what it once was. Among these projects, the City of Hamilton and the Downtown Hamilton BIA team launched an art project between Ferguson Ave. and Sherman Ave. in Barton Village.
The art project features installations from 15 local artists in vacant storefronts along the street. Artists were selected based on how well they represent the artistic side of Hamilton using the people, places and history of Barton St.
Currently the project features works from a variety of artists. Kayla Whitney, an artist and muralist who created a piece titled “Alive and Well” to highlight the legacy of Barton St. amidst its rough history. Allison + Cam, an illustration duo who aimed to portray their vision of Barton Street’s bright future through their art installation titled “Ring Out, Barton!”.
David Trautimas, a multimedia artist who drew a large-scale Aloe Vera plant titled “Occupational Salve” to mirror Barton Street’s history and future as the plant is dependent on periods of rest and successive active growth. Edgardo Moreno, a composer and sound designer who filmed a video about the attempted revitalizations of Barton St. titled “A Fragile Balance.”
Kyle Stewart, a visual artist highlights the theme of “Anything is possible on Barton” through his work titled “Sunnyside of the Street” which emphasizes the strong community in Barton Village. Gram + Laura, who are independent artists that collaborated to produce an art installation titled “Barton Bright/Barton Night” which aims to convey its quirky and vibrant night life as opposed to a street that should be avoided at night.
Sunny Singh, an illustrator and cartoonist depicted a hazy memory (the past) or a dream (the future) in his piece “A Place to Play” to provide a sense of community and playfulness. Quinn Rockliff, an interdisciplinary artist who portrayed the unexpected everyday moments of tenderness and care that he encountered in Barton Village through his piece titled “Round Corners.” Chris Perez, an artist who created abstracted images using mundane objects in his mural titled “Everywhere you Enjoy.”
Jordan Gorle, an artist and blacksmith who honoured Hamilton’s industrial heritage through his piece “steel IS art”, which brings steel back to Barton Village. Julianna Biernacki and Dayna Gedney (Hamilton Craft Studios), an artist duo who created a collaborative tufted rug installation representing Barton Village’s communal spaces changing over time.
Sonny Bean, an illustrator who took pictures that highlight the past, present and future of Barton Village through his work titled “Intersect” which features a tiger, gardens, ladders that read for the stars and transformation. Andrew O'Connor, a multidisciplinary artist and designed who compiled Barton Street’s evolution from its celebrated industrial past to its hopeful future through his work titled “Our will to build and rebuild.”
Par Nair, an interdisciplinary artist who wrote letters on silk sarees using hand embroidery to the “mother” in her piece titled “Letters of haunting” to represent the mute history of Barton Village. Anthony Haley, a visual artist who combined the revival and what is yet to come for Barton Street in his art installation titled “None of them knew they were Robots”.
The team behind the Barton St. revitalization project hopes these pop-up window installations will help share the story of this community and foster a sense that it is a place that values art and culture.
“We have a nice collection of small, independent businesses and we hope to grow that. We hope that your experience on Barton is much different than any of the other main strips in Hamilton,” said Jessica Myers, the Executive Director of the Barton Village Business Improvement Area.
During the revitalization of Barton St., the team also wants to make sure they maintain the neighbourhood’s essence it had back in the day in Hamilton.
“[Barton Village] has a grittiness that people do enjoy, kind of [like it] hasn't been scrubbed clean just yet . . . people like that original Hamilton vibe that's a bit lost in other neighbourhoods right now . . . and it’s what we want to maintain,” said Myers.
“[Barton Village] has a grittiness that people do enjoy, kind of [like it] hasn't been scrubbed clean just yet . . . people like that original Hamilton vibe that's a bit lost in other neighbourhoods right now . . . and it’s what we want to maintain."
Jessica Myers, Executive Director of Barton Village Business Improvement Area
Moving forward, the City of Hamilton and Downtown BIA teams hope to attract more investors to continue funding projects aimed at creating a visually appealing streetscape for Barton’s businesses and residents.
After settling in the dust for a few years, a vacant restaurant space on 631 Barton St. E. has been given a new name and identity. The space now breathes the essence of tiki culture as extravagant drinks are set on fire and music pulsates through its art-covered walls and wooden floors etched in Polynesian-inspired patterns.
MaiPai is adding to a renewed sense of prosperity on Barton Street East as new businesses open up and historic establishments are restored. It’s also riding on a wave of local tiki bar resurgence. In 2015, The Shameful Tiki Room and The Shore Leave opened in Toronto, reintroducing the concept of a Toronto bar entirely dedicated to tiki culture for the first time in two decades.
The original tiki movement can be traced back to the early 1930s when the first Polynesian-themed bar and restaurant, Don the Beachcomber, first opened in Hollywood, California following the end of Prohibition— a nationwide ban on manufacturing, transporting and selling alcohol in the United States.
Ironically, prohibition drove an accelerated production of rum, much of which aged in casks waiting to be discovered by enterprising bar owners, like Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr., who founded Trader Vic, a Polynesian-themed restaurant chain, and claimed to have made the first Mai Tai, a staple tiki bar favourite, in 1944 from 17-year-old rum from Jamaica.
History then tells the story of a post-war urge for escapism in the 1940s, igniting a tiki bar obsession all across the United States, and eventually Canada, as bargoers imagined themselves escaping the realities of the world they lived in.
By the 1960s, tiki bars were all over Ontario, and in 1975, the Trader Vic chain arrived to downtown Toronto. Tiki bars continued to provide a sense of escape until the 1970s, when their novelty eventually sizzled out as people began to lose interest. Trader Vic’s Toronto location closed its doors in 1993.
The resurgence of modern-day tiki bars begs an important question—what are we escaping from? Or perhaps the love of tiki culture is just enough reason to bring back an experience in the past and reinvent it—which is exactly what MaiPai is introducing to Hamilton and Barton Village.
MaiPai’s menu is dedicated wholeheartedly to tiki culture with a Detroit-inspired pizza twist. This style of pizza originated in the 1940s when Gus Guerro from Buddy’s Pizza made a sicilian dough pizza in a thick rectangular steel pan with cheese going right to the edge—winning over the hearts of Detroiters and Hamilton chef Salar Madadi, who’s known for opening up Pokeh, one of the first restaurants in Canada dedicated to serving poke, a Hawaiian appetizer.
It all came full circle when Madadi happened to be in Detroit, at a tiki bar, and the idea of MaiPai came to be.
Madadi then reached out to long-time friend Peter Lazar, Director at UrbanRoom Group, a Hamilton-based event production company, and asked him if he wanted to open a tiki bar.
Despite shamefully name-dropping Niagara Falls’ Rainforest Café as his closest exposure to tiki culture, Lazar quickly fell in love with the idea and Madadi’s pizzas. MaiPai brings together both their talents of creating memorable and quality experiences with food and space.
“The more I got into it, the more I fell in love with tiki as a culture . . . We both love creating an experience that really transforms [a space] or moves people into an escape,” said Lazar.
“I really like the idea of people having somewhere where they can go in and there’s basically just no reminders of the outside world. There’s no TVs, there’s no windows. You just go somewhere and like, you just need to check out and have a good experience and good food,” added Madadi.
It only takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to MaiPai’s atmosphere and for you to feel transported back in time and into another world. Antique lamps, lights, dozens of tiki mugs and decorations were salvaged from flea markets and tiki restaurants that were open in the 60s. Some interesting finds include a skull-shaped mug covered in what appears to be melted cheese and pepperoni and a matchbook from a long-gone Hamilton tiki bar rumoured to have been the Tiki Trapper.
While MaiPai Tiki Bar may be a new concept to the Gibson neighbourhood, co-owners Madadi and Lazar are no strangers to this area — in fact, they live just a couple minutes’ walk from each other and the restaurant. It felt very natural for them to be working together on a project so close to home.
Their neighbours and community have welcomed their new venture with open arms—selling out their first two weeks of reservation-only menu testing in under 12 hours.
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“Both of us really respect and love opinions. We love hearing. We love the idea that multiple people's voices can come together and make something that's really unique. I think a lot of it just boils down to respect . . . we’re so appreciative of the staff that comes into work and . . . the fact that people would want to choose to come and eat out here,” said Lazar.
MaiPai’s menu is inspired by Madadi’s travels, Hamilton and responses from the community. MaiPai also includes a selection of wings, and almost the entire pizza menu can be made vegetarian or plant based.
One pizza in particular is inspired by Hamilton’s plethora of sub shops. The pizza has a thick, but light and airy crust made with MaiPai’s 48-hour cold fermented dough. It’s cooked with mortadella, salami and hot peppers, and when it comes out of the oven, it’s topped with shredded lettuce, kewpie mayo and sub sauce.
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MaiPai will continue their soft launch hours into February and are hosting feature nights to test out menu items and setting cocktails on fire ahead of their official launch in March. By then, Madadi and Lazar will have opened up the second part to their space by expanding into 629 Barton Street East—tripling their capacity to 80 patrons.
Much like the passionate revival of tiki culture, there’s a very present dedication to bringing new possibilities to Barton Street East. MaiPai is a story of how Hawaii meets Hamilton in peculiar ways, and the next chapters are looking promising.
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What It Is:
Motel Restaurant (359 Barton St. East) takes your favourite brunch and lunch dishes and immerses you in the sweetly-pink ‘no-tell-motel’. From themed-cocktails to sweet and savoury plates, there is something to satisfy every palate.
The restaurant is easily noticeable due to its green painted exterior walls, which contrast the brick buildings surrounding the area. Once you step inside, you are instantly transported to the lobby and greeted by Chris Hewlett, the owner and host of Motel. A bright blue neon sign for vibrating beds, pink luggage all around and a long bar extending the length of the space creates an atmosphere that removes you from Barton Street East. On your way downstairs to the washrooms, you will see doors on either side of the hall with room numbers to make you feel as if you are about to check-in for the night.
A staple of Barton Village, Motel strives to bring a little bit of luxury to your busy week either through their daily drink specials or one of their specialty dishes like their champagne pancakes topped with edible gold-leaf.
How to get there from Campus:
For the most direct approach, take the 51 from campus towards Hamilton Go Centre. Walk to the east end of the platform and jump onto the 2. Continue to ride this bus for about 15 minutes and get off at Barton Street East and Emerald Street North. A short stroll to the north-east corner of the intersection will take you to the emerald-coloured building on your left.
For a quicker alternative, you could take the 10 from Main Street West and Emerson Street for an express ride to Main Street West and John Street South. Jump off the bus and head south towards Jackson Street East to wait for the 2 at the bus stop.
The Cost:
Entrees range in price from $16 to $19.75 and usually will require you to request a to-go box because the portions are quite large. On more than one occasion, a meal from Motel has lasted me both brunch and dinner. Sides are also available and they range from $3 to $7.50.
No great brunch can be had without a beverage to compliment. Motel offers a variety of hand-crafted espresso beverages and local freshly-squeezed juices from $4 to $6. If you’re looking for something spirituous, Motel offers a variety of “5 O’Clocktails” for $12. You can also upgrade to Motel-sized drinks for $2.50 or a flask to share with your party for $35.
Although the food is tasty and the atmosphere is inviting, I fully understand that this is not in the every-day student budget; however, Motel is great if you are looking to treat yourself after a hard week or need a go-to Hamilton spot to sit down and celebrate with friends.
What to get:
Every time I go to the restaurant, I typically have to tell Chris to come back to our table three or four times because I am so overwhelmed by the menu. I have learned that your choice will come down to whether you want something savoury or sweet for your breakfast-lunch combination. An added benefit is that Motel sources local ingredients, when they can, for their dishes.
If you are looking for a wow-factor or Instagramable moment, try the Champagne pancakes. They come with Devonshire cream, raspberry and pink champagne coulis topped with gold flakes. Fluffy pancakes topped with a light cream, fruity sauce and real gold makes for an incredible breakfast that seems as if it could only exist in a dream.
Looking for something savoury? Last time I went, Chris recommended the Loaded Breakfast Nacho Fries featuring a three cheese blend, crumbled bacon, tomato jam, jalapeno sour cream and two over-easy eggs served on a bed of crispy french fries. This may very well be my favourite item on the menu due in part to its sheer size but also because it tastes absolutely stunning.
Motel offers vegetarian options (including most of their sweet brunch options) as well as the I’m a Vegan which brings together marinated kale, quinoa, sweet potato, pecans and Brussel sprouts drizzled with a roasted vegetable vinaigrette.
Why It’s Great:
No matter what day of the week, you can expect Motel to be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., including most holidays. Some days are busier than others, but they will take your information and text you when your table is ready.
The space is a refreshing change from the typical restaurant environment. It immerses you in a different setting so far removed from Hamilton that you will forget what city you are eating in. The food will make you feel like a superstar (still really cannot get over the fact that you can eat gold on pancakes) and the staff are so inviting that you truly feel like a welcomed guest at staying at their motel.
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