Kia Nurse’s guide to Hamilton: Where to eat, stroll and shop in the basketball phenom’s hometown

When Kia Nurse isn’t criss-crossing the continent playing professional basketball, she comes home to Hamilton, Ont. “It’s a great place if you just want to relax and chill,” the 25-year-old athlete says over the phone, where we’ve caught her after practice with her WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury.

Before she became an Olympian at Rio (look for her in Tokyo, too!), or placed 10th overall in the 2018 WNBA draft, or led her high school to three straight provincial championships, Nurse got her start shooting hoops here — in the driveway of her family home “on the mountain,” the local lingo for the part of the city on top of the Niagara Escarpment.

Born and raised there, she has deep roots in the former steel town: Her dad was a Hamilton Tiger-Cat, her mom played basketball at McMaster University, and her grandparents live 20 minutes down the road. Even though Nurse now spends most of her time outside Canada, she bought a house not far from where she grew up.

And while the city’s fortunes have grown alongside her own — it’s now one of the hottest real estate markets in Canada — for Nurse, it retains the tight-knit, blue-collar spirit she grew up with.

“It’s a fairly large place but a very small community,” she says, especially in basketball circles. “Everybody knows one another or has played against each other, which is cool because you get that small-town feeling.” Here are Nurse’s favourite spots when she’s home.

(Both regional travel guidelines and access to specific places can change quickly; always check official updates before you go.)

For authentic Italian fare: Sweet Paradise Bakery (630 Stone Church Rd. W., Hamilton)

“I grew up with a lot of Sweet Paradise in my life,” Nurse recalls. “It’s a family-owned store up on the mountain that does sausages, bread, lasagna.” A local institution for more than 35 years, it was a staple in her childhood (and remains so to this day), although she’s quick to caveat: “The best place to eat in Hamilton is still my mother’s kitchen.”

For a glute-burning workout: Chedoke Radial Trail

While the Devil’s Punchbowl is Hamilton’s best-known lookout spot, Nurse has a far less trafficked local alternative: the “Mountain Brow,” accessed by the Chedoke Radial Trail. The pedestrian and bicycle pathway connects the downtown to the top of the Niagara Escarpment via multiple sets of stairs, including the 289-step Chedoke Stairs — a climb worth it for the view, which stretches across the city and into neighbouring Waterdown. “It’s my favourite walk,” she says.

For the best veal sandwich in town: Paninoteca (1660 Upper James St., Hamilton)

This small, family-run cafe advertises itself as the “home of Hamilton’s best veal sandwiches” — a claim that Nurse enthusiastically endorses. “They’re the best I’ve ever had, and I continue to eat them all the time,” she raves about the hot panino bun, filled with shaved meat and topped with your choice of roasted mushrooms, red peppers, mozzarella cheese or rapini.

For a summer stroll: Confederation Beach Park (680 Van Wagners Beach Rd., Hamilton)

“You wouldn’t expect Hamilton to have a beachfront, but we do,” says Nurse, who has spent many afternoons with family down at this sandy park on Lake Ontario. No outing was complete without a visit to Hutch’s on the Beach (280 Van Wagners Beach Rd., Hamilton), a diner-style spot known for fish and chips. But that’s not why the Nurse family goes there. “My parents would take us strictly for ice cream,” she remembers. “I would always get the bubble gum flavour that made my tongue turn blue, and then we’d walk along the waterfront. You can see Toronto in the distance, and as a kid I always thought that was really cool.”

For boutique browsing: Locke Street South, Hamilton

While she spent most of her youth hanging out at Lime Ridge Mall, these days Nurse heads down to Locke Street South when she’s in the mood for a browse. “It has a really good vibe,” she says of the bustling strip, in the historic Kirkendall North neighbourhood. “There are a lot of boutiques, and you can find pretty much anything you’re looking for.” Should you get peckish, Nurse recommends Donut Monster (246 Locke St. S., Hamilton) for a snack, or another one of her Italian favourites, CIMA Enoteca (190 Locke St. S., Hamilton). “They do a really good spicy rigatoni.”

Travellers are reminded to check on public health restrictions that could affect their plans.