Glenmore Landing
A new comic in The Sprawl!
I usually share comics from my old sketchbook journal series, “The Drawing Book.” But this week, I have a new comic! Published just yesterday, in The Sprawl, a Calgary-based independent journalism outlet.
The Sprawl’s Jeremy Klaszus recorded a podcast about Calgary shopping centre Glenmore Landing, and the decades-long battle to develop (or preserve?) the land it’s located on. Over the past year or so, I’ve been collaborating with The Sprawl on some comics about Calgary history. The series is called “Curious Calgary.” This week’s zine is about Glenmore Landing.
I don’t usually share the Curious Calgary comics here on Substack, because the best place to see them is on The Sprawl website! (Go take a look, print your own zine, and check out the Sprawlcast!) But this time, I’m making an exception, because this story… well, it’s personal!
Here are some of the architectural drawings for Glenmore Landing’s original design!
My dad grew up in Toronto, arriving in Calgary in 1976 when I was two years old. I wrote about him in an earlier Substack post.
His solo architectural practice started in a small house on Memorial Drive. A few years later, business was booming. But then came the economic crash of the early 80s. My dad’s firm, like so many others, was in danger of going under. (I wrote about my youthful experience of the crash in this comic.) But the firm made it through. As a kid, I remember my parents telling me that they survived because of Glenmore Landing.
My dad travelled to southern California to take pictures of shopping malls that provided part of the inspiration for Glenmore Landing’s nautical theme - along with Vancouver’s Granville Island Market. Here are just a couple of his old photos.
When my dad’s former colleague told me that the name “Glenmore Landing” had been my dad’s idea, I was surprised. I’d never known that. But when I found this photo, I thought I could guess at what gave him the idea. My dad’s name was Peter!
That fish! It was so cool. Years later, the Glenmore Landing Safeway was renovated, and the fish ended up hanging from the ceiling at my dad’s office. Where is it now? I wish I knew!
But the lost fish isn’t the only Glenmore Landing mystery. The real question is, does anyone have a photo of the McDonald’s sign?
Here are a couple more photos from that “sod-turning” event. I asked my mom if she remembered this. She said, “it was slightly overcast, and I wore a trenchcoat.”
I also found these photos…
Who knows what’s next for Glenmore Landing? It’s sitting on a parcel of land with a complicated history and, from the looks of it, an uncertain future. Check out the Sprawlcast to find out more!
