Boy N The (New) Hood
2007 began for me in the rock-on neighbourhood of South Main. Or Mount Pleasant. Or whatever you want to call it, but please, I beg of you, do not call it SoMa… utter absurdity, that is.
I took up residence at 14th and Grandma. I called it that because my new home was at the corner of 14th avenue and Sophia street, and that is also my Polish grandmother's first name (Sophia, not fourteenth). I had moved there December 14, 2006 and welcomed 2007 in this great 'hood.
I was so down with this place. Within blocks of my apartment was: a very cool coffee shop with a double-sided fireplace, Vancouver's awesomest record store "Neptoon Records", one of Vancouver's most random nightspots "The Anza Club", Vancouver's coolest-named restaurant "Slickety Jim's Chat 'n Chew", and Planet Bingo where the city's hardest-core gamblers whiled away the hours, dabber in hand. Here's a moment in time at the corner of 14th and Grandma:
Stanley Park Seawall Re-opens
The night I moved into 14th and Grandma, I was startled awake at 3am by what sounded like an 18-wheeler coming through my brand new bedroom window. But it was the wind. FEROCIOUS wind. More ferocious than the Ice Bear death match now playing in The Golden Compass. This was a wind that clear cut its way through Stanley Park and left Prospect Point looking like Mother Nature had gotten bored and decided to conduct a logging experiment.
11 months later, on November 16, 2007 the grand, beautiful and very-missed seawall around Vancouver's Stanley Park re-opened to walkers, joggers, cyclists and general looky-loo's. Here's our terrific seawall, back in top form:
Extreme Makeover films new episode on Cambie street
As I grew to love all that makes South Main a little bit 'o fab, it was inevitable I would also occasionally find myself in nearby neighbourhoods, like Cambie Village. This is where Vancouver temporarily looks like a postcard from Baghdad. The city's underworld has literally been exposed thanks to one of the most massive infrastructure projects this city has ever seen - the Canada Line, a light rail transit system from Vancouver International Airport to downtown Vancouver. Check it out… the construction goes 4 or 5 stories below ground:
A Mid-Summer Night's Stench
Smack dab in the middle of summer 2007 in Vancouver, the city's unionized civic workers, including garbage collectors, went on strike. Vancouverites endured this job action for about 12 weeks. So did our tourists and visitors! All because it went down right in the middle of our high-season for tourism.
I sure hope if you came here during that time that you still enjoyed our beautiful city despite some parts looking like the anti-thesis of Good Housekeepping. I also hope when I write a Top 10 for 2008 it doesn't include living in harmony with a rat population explosion.
Thankfully, Vancouver has now regained its stunning and pristine gorgeousness (much like me after an early night and a close shave - neither of which seems to happen anymore).
Becks-couver
Vancouver said hello to The Beckhams - twice - in 2007. First, in October, soccer hero and Armani underwear model David Beckham came to town with the L.A. Galaxy for an exhibition game with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Rarely does our BC Place Stadium see most of its 60,000 seats filled. If David Beckham is a soccer bandwagon, Vancouver jumped it faster than this city shuts down when it snows.
But it didn't end there. On December 2nd, Beckham's Stepford wife, Posh, spiced up VanCity on the opening night of the Spice Girls reunion tour. Poor Posh, though. She translated Canada's lack of paparazzi culture into Canada's lack of knowing who she is - so, she arranged for photogs to get shots of her shopping on Robson street. Word! That's the proof, peeps - at times, certain celebs don't want privacy.
That's the first half of my Vancouver Top 10 for 2007. More to come...
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