However a number of others insist on also referring to this city as "Hollywood North" and to me, that nickname reeks of an embarrassing lack of self-identity.
It's a reference to the multitude of American film and television productions made in Vancouver (the main reason they're here is for tax credits). So why not annex ourselves in name to a city in another country?
Locals and visitors to Vancouver often find on-location film and tv crews around every other corner. Sometimes you might even catch a glimpse of one of your favourite stars. Or trip over them, as could be the case with Verne Troy (aka Mini-Me) who's here in Vancouver, but largely unnoticed since he's about as tall as your knees.
Lots of films have been made here including Juno, Fantastic Four, The Accused, and X-Men. And many tv series have been or still are produced here as well: The X-Files, The L-word, Battlestar Galactica and, back in the day, 21 Jump Street which starred Johnny Depp.
Depp is once again linked to this town as part of the Vancouver-shot "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus", the same film Heath Ledger was working on at the time of his death a couple months ago.
But there's one made-in-Vancouver tv series so popular that just days ago it was renewed for an 8th season … and that series is Smallville.
The other day I came across the Smallville set:
Since I started this post ranting about names, it seems appropriate to share this next pic ... I got a kick out of the name of the portable toilet company supplying on-site facilities to Smallville and Metropolis - behold "Full Moon" washroom rentals:
Thanks to Wikipedia, here's how Vancouver locations factor into Smallville:
The show is produced at BB Studios in Burnaby (a suburb of Vanouver). Initially, production was going to be in Australia, but Vancouver had more of a "Middle America landscape". The city provided a site for the Kent farm, as well as doubling for Metropolis. It also provided a cheaper shooting location, and was in the same time zone as Los Angeles.
Apparently if you watch the pilot episode on the season one dvd, you'll hear commentary regarding interior shots of Lex Luthor's castle filmed at Shannon Mews-- a massive, old, brick mansion surrounded by low-rise condos located at West 57th avenue and Granville street. It was originally owned by the Rogers family (of Rogers Sugar products).
For a time back in the 90's, I lived at Shannon Mews. During my time there, several things happened to me including 2 memorable things in particular. #1, I had my wisdom teeth removed and #2, I met George Michael. Those two things had nothing to do with one another despite their inclusion in the same sentence.
Back to Lex Luthor, on Smallville he is the founder of LuthorCorp. Here's an overview of his company, from the Warner Bros. LuthorCorp "website":
"Imagine a brilliant invention, a timesaving innovation or an inspiring scientific endeavor, and chances are LuthorCorp is behind it."
LuthorCorp comes to life at the corner of Pender and Burrard in Vancouver:
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