Secret Ottawa: The Unique Guidebook to Ottawa's Hidden Sites, Sounds, and Tastes

Kerry Abel is a professor of history at Carleton University. She is the author of Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History, co-editor of Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada: Historical and Legal Aspects, and co-editor of Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History.

The Secret Places Guidebooks promise “a unique, affordable alternative
to traditional, boring guidebooks” for cities like Montreal, Toronto,
New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. With their emphasis on the quirky,
the eccentric, and the bizarre, one might well ask why Ottawa made the
cut. But anyone who has visited Ottawa recently will know that it is no
longer a bland, bureaucrats-in-business-suits kind of place. And Secret
Ottawa is a fine place to begin exploring what is now a dynamic,
beautiful city. Whether you are interested in Elvis sightings or
Lebanese fine dining, there is bound to be something in this book for
Ottawa residents and tourists alike.

Not surprisingly, some of the businesses (like laundromat-bar Wringers
or the Echo Café) have disappeared since the book’s publication. Some
of the entries seem to assume a basic knowledge of the Ottawa region
(e.g., a description of the best ways to tackle skating on the Rideau
Canal doesn’t explain what that canal is or why one might be able to
skate on it in the first place), and the inclusion of maps would have
been helpful. But overall, the author provides a good mix of sights,
tastes, and sounds. The author’s irreverent tone is well suited to the
subject. Complementing her text are fine photographs by Linda Rutenberg.