48 Hours in Niagara Falls

Three years ago, Niagara Falls’ Queen Street was a sagging strip of struggling shops and boarded-up buildings. Like so many others, the town’s former retail heart had been pummelled since the 1970s by two newer, customer-sucking malls that opened nearby.

Today, due to the unlikely mash-up of a large property developer and the local arts community, the shoppers are back on main street.

It all began when Historic Niagara Developments purchased more than 60 buildings on the street, began to renovate them and immediately offered free gallery space to artists for one year. Naturally, festivals, concerts, fashion and art shows followed the artists to the area. Today, all that action is a part of the area’s DNA as much as freshly roasted coffee and fresh produce.

“The revitalization brought arts and culture to a decrepit downtown, helping to [return] it back to the local community,” says Mordechai Grun, Historic Niagara’s CEO and the person who spearheaded the project.

Queen Street’s restored art deco and Beaux Arts buildings now house a hot French bistro, a cozy microbrewery and artists of international calibre, including Edward Spera and John Newby. Older businesses also remain, like Hi-Lite Restaurant (opened in 1931!) and Robert’s Jewelers (1946), linking the street to its proud past.

Whether you’re in town to run the whole tourist gauntlet of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum and the Great Canadian Midway, or just want to check out the Falls and have a quick bite, be sure to stop by the new Niagara Falls arts district and these highlights

1. Taps Brewing Company Inc.
Call ahead to book a free tour and sample unique lagers, red cream ale and vanilla wheat at this locally loved microbrewery. While there, have dinner or stay for live music. (4680 Queen St., 289-477-1010, tapsbeer.ca)

2. Maestro Angelo Rossi galleria & Glass Blowing Studio
The product of seven centuries of Venetian glass blowers, Angelo Rossi sculpts rare Cranberry glass and other custom collectibles out of air, fire and a robust imagination. Buy pieces ready-made or commissioned. (4678 Queen St., 905-354-1200, angelorossi.ca)

3. Voices Aboriginal expressions through the arts
More than just a place to buy a bounty of artwork and handcrafted jewellery from Mohawk and Ojibway artists, this gallery is a centre for learning, too. Try a workshop in soapstone carving, beading or dream catcher creation. (4661 Queen St., 289-296-0561, canadianurbanindian.ca)

4. Seneca Theatre
Take in some live musical theatre at this former movie palace. Built in 1940, the neglected art deco beauty, rescued by Grun, is once again Queen Street royalty. (4630 Queen St., senecatheatre.ca)

5. Paris Crêpes Bistro cafe
The Eiffel Tower on the roof may be tacky, but the gourmet cuisine served up by French natives Mireille and Thierry Clement is genuine. Try the onion soup, savoury buckwheat crepes and crème brulée. (4613 Queen St., 289-296-4174, pariscrepesbistro.com)

6. Hi-Lite Restaurant
Have lunch in a time capsule. Back when the Seneca was a movie palace, be-boppers came here after the show to flirt and buy songs for a nickel. The jukeboxes are still here, along with wooden booths and orange swivel stools. (4524 Queen St., 905-356-8682, hi-litedowntown.com)

7. Historic Niagara Artistic Exhibition Center
Buy work from local artists or national stars at this grassroots co-op. The sprawling gallery is housed in a Beaux Arts building built in 1904. (4323 Queen St., 289-296-6251, niagaragallery.ca)