What is the inner harbour area of Kingston, Ontario like?

March 16, 2009 9:14 PM

What is the inner harbour residential area of Kingston, Ontario like?

I'm looking for apartments around town and am not too familiar with this area at all (inner harbour around the baseball diamonds). I'm looking for answers regarding safety especially (I'm a 22 year old female), but also answers about the kind of community this end of town has and any other things you might like to share that would convince me to live there!

posted by nothingsconstant to home & garden (9 comments total)

I just paid $5 to reccomend the city of Kingston to you. My girlfriend lives there and I've only been spending a lot of time there since September. Anywhere near Queen's campus is more or less overrun by students, so as a 22-year old you'll fit right in! I'm not entirely sure where exactly you mean by 'inner harbour' but safety has never been a concern for me or my girlfriend. One thing I found was that most entertainment venues (at least, the ones within walking distance of students) are pretty expensive, be it dining, dancing or drinking, I'd imagine because there's money to be made off of rich Queen's students. I hope your apartment search goes well!
posted by battlebison at 9:56 PM on March 16

I lived in Kingston for 4 years while I was at Queens, in 2 different areas of town. Nthing the love of Kingston in general, it's a wonderful place to be, especially at your age.

Inner Harbour area isn't bad. My favourite place has been where I lived in my last year, which is King St. W & West Street. That area, from West St. to Brock, and Ontario up to Sydenham, is all quite nice. A bit more residential, quieter towards the centre (like Wellington & Earl), but close to everything. The only issue is that as a female you might not want to be walking late at night alone through City Park, also known for good reason as Pervert Park.

I've got a few friends who live respectively up near McBurney Park [also known as skeleton park, which has an interesting history] - if you can find apartments right there, it might be nice. Less students, more actual Kingston residents.

Finally, I've got a friend who lives in an apartment on Queen and...Montreal I think, maybe Queen and Sydenham. In a full apartment building, I think he likes it there. If you want, MeMail / email me and I can try to put you in touch with him to give you a hand re: landlords. I know that the student area has some landlords to run the hell away from, that might be true up to the Inner Harbour.

Finally Finally, your previous questions imply that you're going to Teacher's College there? If I'm right, congratulations, and I'm 90% sure I have a friend from my undergrad there who'll be starting that in the Fall as well: again, if you want, get in touch with me and I can connect you with him for any advice.
posted by Lemurrhea at 10:28 PM on March 16

Oh one other thing: if I'm right about Teacher's college, check to see where your classes are. I have a feeling that a bunch will be over on West Campus, which is a good 20-minute walk or so from main campus, and if you're 20 minutes further east, you'll want to make sure you're near a bus route or live on the western side of campus, maybe Collingwood or Victoria at either Earl or University.
posted by Lemurrhea at 10:31 PM on March 16

Grew up in Kingston. As long as you're living near campus, I wouldn't be worried about safety. I'm not quite sure what the 'inner harbour area' is, but the only downtown area I would stay away from is Montreal St moving east of Princess; it's a bit dodgy.

Also, Lemurrhea is right: there's a good chance some/most of your classes will be on West campus if you're in the teaching program. There's a bus that runs out there, or you'll have to bike or walk (~20-30 mins from the middle of campus). Of course, you could look for places in Portsmouth Village, which is right by West campus, but then you'd be far away from downtown and the main campus.

Kingston is very much a college town - some people like this, others don't; I like the size and the general friendliness. People talk about Queen's being very white/upper middle class/homogenous/not diverse: this is sort of true, but it's not like the whole campus is one big frat house.

Oh - almost all of my high school teachers had come to Kingston for teaching school, and then chose to stay and live there, so that's probably a positive thing to note.
posted by iona at 4:51 AM on March 17

Thanks for all the great responses so far! The Inner Harbour, according to the city's website is north to joseph st., south to princess, east to barrie, west to division.

I am not 100% sure I have been accepted to TC at Queen's yet but have found a really great full time job downtown. I'm looking to move away from where all the students live to a more residential part of town. Any other great parts I should look at? I don't have access to a car but am adept at riding the bus (so long as it's not a 40 min ride)...
posted by nothingsconstant at 6:33 AM on March 17

Previously (sorta). It's a great town, enjoy it!
posted by roombythelake at 6:53 AM on March 17

The student area (or Student Ghetto as it's known) is generally defined as South of Princess St., between Victoria and Barrie. The area you call the inner harbour is, if I'm reading google maps properly, part of the larger area for commonly referred to as The Heights. To be honest I wouldn't really call this a nice residential area.

You might try looking in the area just East of City Park. It is just across the park from main campus and very close to downtown. In my experience, this area is quite different than the student ghetto. Most people who live in this area are grad students and med/law student. It is an older area but extremely pleasant to walk around in.

As other have said though, teacher's college classes are almost exclusively on West campus so you'll have to decide between living close to downtown or living close to class. That said there are buses specifically for traveling between West and main campus.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 9:23 AM on March 17

Seconding East of City Park. You're almost right downtown, yet on the waterfront and near the park. There will be some students out there, but they are largely in the area bounded by Princess/Union/Alfred/Barrie. West of that area is also good -- I used to live on Frontenac at Brock and it was great.

I wouldn't live out in the townships or the housing developments west of the city; you'll really be out in the middle of nowhere, with just big box stores to keep you company. Kingston has some great restaurants for a city its size, and the downtown is really charming.
posted by krunk at 11:37 AM on March 17

The area you call the inner harbour is, if I'm reading google maps properly, part of the larger area for commonly referred to as The Heights. To be honest I wouldn't really call this a nice residential area.

Oh, the Heights - yeah, don't live there. East of City Park is very nice, not too student-y, and very close to downtown. Don't count on using the buses too much; I can count the number of times I used Kingston buses on one hand (and I lived in Kingston for 17 years), but those were generally not positive experiences.
posted by iona at 4:58 AM on March 18