125 Reasons to Love Vancouver

In no particular order

1. Because our first council had foresight

Vancouver city council was inaugurated on May 12, 1886. In their first piece of business, the 10 aldermen, led by a real-estate-baron mayor (Malcolm MacLean), resolved to ask the federal government for use of an area designated a military reserve (in case of American invasion). Ottawa agreed, and two years later, Lord Stanley—Canada’s governor general at the time—dedicated those 1,001 acres to “the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time.” In 2008, we renewed our lease on Stanley Park—99 years for $1. It’s the best land deal in the country, for one of the world’s great urban parks.

2. Because we haven’t felt the big one—yet

Hell hath no fury like the Ring of Fire, that parabola of seismic energy that encompasses the Pacific Ocean. Of the 173 major earthquakes recorded last year, only 21 were centred elsewhere. Just off the coast of Vancouver Island, three tectonic plates are pushing and pulling to an inevitable, earth-shaking conclusion. Yet we haven’t had a really major shaker since January 26, 1700, when a massive quake (perhaps 9.2 on the Richter scale) devastated the west coast of Vancouver Island. Not many cities along the Ring of Fire have gone as long as we have without experiencing a big one. Knock wood.

3. Because we invented an Olympic sport, and turned it into a video game

At Blackcomb Mountain in 1991, Steve Rechtschaffner and Greg Stump were in a bind. They were short one episode of Greg Stump’s World of Extremes TV series for Fox. Rechtschaffner came up with a scheme to have six snowboarders race down a course with banks and jumps. Fast-forward a couple of years: now a producer at Electronic Arts Canada, Rechtschaffner decided to turn the sport into a video game. SSX debuted as a launch title for Sony’s PlayStation 2 console in 2000, and snowboard cross debuted at the Winter Olympics in 2006. Athletes like Maëlle Ricker, who won gold in the event at the 2010 Games, still refer to it by its original name: boardercross.

4. Because we’ve finally got decent street food.

5. Because you just might bump into Reese Witherspoon.

6. Because where else have you seen a monkey-puzzle tree?

7. Because the prevailing breeze is from the west (we get fresh air, the Fraser Valley gets our emissions).

8. Because (as a visitor exclaimed recently), “You have hedges instead of fences!”

9. Because you can rent a kayak instead of going to the gym.

10. Because Vij’s makes Harrison Ford wait in line with everyone else.

11. Because we have few mosquitoes.

12. Because street art is alive and well.

13. Because VanDusen Garden is a sweet place for a picnic.

14. Because Insite, the supervised-injection site, saves lives.

15. Because you can cycle the Seawall for miles without worrying about traffic.

 
Online Companion to the June 2011 issue of Vancouver
Cover: Joe Zeff (Love illustration), Amanda Skuse (photo), Anya Ellis (hair and makeup) and Melissa Peddle (model)

16. Because Darlene Marzari killed “urban renewal”

Back in 1968, the city was working on a plan: move thousands of people out of their Strathcona homes and flatten everything south of Prior Street to make way for a 30-foot-high, 200-foot-wide, six-lane freeway from Highway 1 to Burrard Inlet downtown. The roadblocks: area residents, many of them Chinese Canadians; Mike Harcourt, then a 25-year-old storefront lawyer who would become Vancouver’s mayor and then B.C.’s premier; and Darlene Marzari, a London School of Economics grad who’d been hired by the city’s planning department to find new homes for the Strathcona evictees. In community meetings, Marzari came to see that this “urban renewal” would be a disaster. She switched teams, helping lead opposition to the project, then went on to serve 10 years as an NDP MLA. Vancouver remains the largest metropolis in North America without a city-core freeway.

17. Because we call bullshit

When the B.C. government aired its “Forests Forever” ads in the 1980s, filmmakers Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz fought back with contrarian spots denouncing tree farms. The CBC called their ads “opinion” and refused to air them. So began the Adbusters Media Foundation: magazines with editions around the world, anti-consumerist ad and live-action campaigns, even a brand of running shoe. Twenty years earlier, when Mayor Tom “Terrific” Campbell tried to stop the kids from having fun and getting high, the alternative weekly Georgia Straight was born. And 20 years after Forests Forever, Thetyee.ca took the detection of bullshit online.

18. Because we climb every mountain

The cliché is that you can golf and play tennis and go skiing, all in the same day. Some of the continent’s best kayaking and hiking is right at our doorstep, and people come from all over to go mountain biking on the North Shore. God’s StairMaster (aka the Grouse Grind) is thick with climbers all season long, and an astonishing 50,000 people did the 2011 Sun Run. We don’t just look at the mountains and the ocean—that’s why we have the lowest obesity rate and the highest life expectancy in Canada.

19. Because rich people can walk the streets without bodyguards.

20. Because you might see a whale in False Creek.

21. Because a superb dinner costs half what it would in London or Paris.

22. Because Seth Rogan honed his chops at the Urban Well on Yew Street.

23. Because UBC is one of the world’s great campuses.

24. Because Nardwuar the Human Serviette asks the tough questions (to Mikhail Gorbachev: “Of all the world leaders you’ve met, who has the biggest pants?”)

25. Because our police chief gets job offers galore but isn’t going anywhere.

26. Because Greenpeace was born in a Point Grey living room.

27. Because in April the streets turn pink with cherry blossoms.

28. Because Opera Man serenades shoppers on South Granville.

29. Because we recycle more than any other North American city.

30. Because the Sedin twins play like two bodies sharing a single mind (except during the 2011 playoffs…).

31. Because Dak Leon Mark wanted his money back

Beginning in 1885, Chinese immigrants were charged a head tax, which started at $50 and increased tenfold by the 1920s. (No other group was so targeted.) In 1983, Dak Leon Mark, who had paid $500 to enter Canada, presented his receipt to his local MP, East Vancouver NDPer Margaret Mitchell. Reading the new Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Mark believed he deserved reimbursement, and Mitchell took his request to Pierre Trudeau. By the 1980s, more than 4,000 people across Canada had joined a class-action lawsuit seeking an apology and symbolic financial redress. Mark died before the issue was resolved, but on June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for our country’s unfair treatment of Chinese immigrants who, he said, came here seeking to build a better life.

32. Because we value books

Traditional book publishing’s been gutted by the Internet, yet Douglas & McIntyre soldiers on, the last major Canadian independent house standing. Book tours have gone the way of the dodo, and authors are told to do their own marketing—start a blog, use Facebook and Twitter— yet the Vancouver International Writers Festival grows bigger and better each year. Independent bookstores close, yet the quirky MacLeod’s remains a bibliophile’s treasure chest. And some of the country’s best writers—Steven Galloway, Ann Ireland, Lee Henderson, Zsuzsi Gartner, Madeleine Thien—got their start through UBC’s creative writing program, where nary a word is said about search-engine optimization. Books are dead? Long live books.

33. Because Sam Sullivan can say hello in seven languages

The former mayor will be remembered for many things—some good (his disability nonprofits, representing Canada at the Turin Olympics), some dubious (Project Civil City, giving cash to addicts), and one that’s overlooked. During his 2005 mayoral campaign, he impressed voters with his ability to converse in Cantonese and give speeches in Punjabi. With Vancouver’s English-as-mother-tongue ratio dropping fast, this was acknowledgment that public officials needed to outgrow their language silos, and confirmation that Vancouver had become a truly cosmopolitan city. Sullivan’s latest venture, Greeting Fluency, invites us to learn common phrases in the languages most spoken here: Cantonese, Punjabi, Tagalog, Kamusta.Kung paano kayo, kapitbahay? How are you, neighbour?

34. Because you can take the Canada Line to YVR.

35. Because city council killed a casino expansion we didn’t need.

36. Because the Fraser River is full of salmon (or, at least it was last year).

37. Because Elvis Costello and Diana Krall live here.

38. Because Charlie Sheen doesn’t live here.

39. Because we put an end to frowning with the invention of Botox.

40. Because we have trees that are older than our buildings.

41. Because Jim Byrnes sings the blues.

42. Because an hour in a float plane takes you right off the grid.

43. Because you can catch your own crab supper in Deep Cove.

44. Because the B.C. Lions are no worse than 8-1 to win the Grey Cup each year.

45. Because our Restaurant Awards bring the city’s great chefs together under one roof.

 

 

 

46. Because we inhale

The question: Does Vancouver really deserve its reputation as Vansterdam, a city where marijuana is widely enjoyed, to no discernible ill effect? The empirical evidence is supportive. According to a 2007 study, 16.8 percent of Canadians age 15 to 64 used during the prior year, tops among industrialized nations. Meanwhile, StatsCan reports that over 50 percent of B.C. folks have tried weed, the highest ratio among provinces. And why not? Like alcohol and cigarettes, weed has some harmful effects; but it also provides health benefits for some—which may explain why the police decline to enforce laws that most people view as outdated and costly. So there’s your answer. But wait—what was the question?

47. Because public art has finally taken root here

After the debacle in 2008 that saw us lose Denis Oppenheim’s fine sculpture, Device to Root Out Evil (an upside-down church by Coal Harbour), dozens of first-rate outdoor works have been installed. Martin Creed’s fluorescent text piece, Everything Is Going to Be Alright, is the crown atop Bob Rennie’s audacious Pender Street gallery. Stan Douglas’s photo-mural Riot Act, which re-creates the Gastown Riots in the atrium of the Woodward’s building, is a testament to our activist roots. Douglas Coupland’s Digital Orca and the Inges Idee’s 20-metre-high Drop are must-see photo ops at the new convention centre, and Jaume Plensa’s aluminum We, a five-metre-tall figure crouching at Sunset Beach, has turned into a mascot for picnic parties. At last we get it: our greatest cultural venue is the out-of-doors.

48. Because we keep going, and going, and going…

Aren’t old folks supposed to park their walkers in front of TV sets and slot machines? Dal Richards (93) still leads his big band; Gordon Smith (92) paints as brilliantly as ever; Olga Kotelko (91) holds all 17 world track-and-field records for her age class; Cornelia Oberlander (86) remains a landscape architect of renown; Jimmy Pattison (82) operates one of the largest private companies in Canada. Hey, David Suzuki: great that you’ve launched a new TV show, but we’ll be more impressed when you do it again 10 years from now, when you’re 85.

49. Because Steve Nash helped bring us Major League Soccer.

50. Because we have guerilla gardeners.

51. Because Bob Rennie built his own art gallery.

52. Because United We Can helps street people earn an income.

53. Because the Vancouver Foundation funds all sorts of worthwhile projects.

54. Because Bill Reid left us masterpieces of Haida art.

55. Because Nickelback spends most of their time elsewhere.

56. Because Joe Houssian turned Whistler into a great ski resort.

57. Because Dr. Julio Montaner is committed to eradicating AIDS.

58. Because the Museum of Anthropology kicks ass.

59. Because electric vehicles are starting to catch on here.

60. Because Michael Bublé doesn’t take himself too seriously.

 

 

61. Because Mike Gillis is a genius

Stanley Cup or not, the Canucks are an excellent team and a rock-solid NHL franchise. How did we get there? As an agent, Mike Gillis cut eye-popping deals for his players. As GM of the Canucks, he’s negotiated stellar, long-term contracts for owner Francesco Aquilini (who was widely derided for hiring him). Dozens of NHLers out-earn the Sedin twins ($6.1 million each), hundreds out-earn Alex Burrows ($2 million), and almost all out-earn Yannik Hansen ($825,000). Astutely evaluating and signing core players before they blossom, Gillis left himself room to add depth and versatility. And he’s instilled a culture that encourages the players to thrive. His smarts guarantee us a first-class team for years to come.

62. Because we know how to party (and, yes, riot)

Vancouver got high-fives during the 2010 Winter Games—full marks to the VPD for turning a blind eye to what otherwise might have been classified as disorderly conduct. It wasn’t ever thus. In Gastown in 1971, when a smoke-in to protest drug raids got heated, the cops took to trying out their newly issued batons. A year later, 2,500 Stones fans crashed Pacific Coliseum, inciting a riot. Ditto in 2002, when Guns ’n Roses cancelled their show. When the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup final in 1994, 70,000 mourners convened on Robson. It took rubber bullets and tear gas to remedy the situation. And in 1997, at the APEC summit, the students of UBC learned that you can’t bring pacifism to a pepper-spray fight. Who says it’s a good party when the cops show up?

63. Because we turn devastation into inspiration

When Terry Fox began his lonely, hobbled run in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in April 1980, nobody knew who he was. By the time he reached Ontario, two months later, he was the lead item on the national news. Today, the Terry Fox Run is a global phenomenon that has raised more than $500 million for cancer research. Rick Hansen’s round-the-world wheelchair odyssey, Man in Motion, was every bit as inspiring and laudable; he’s raised $250 million and made life better for untold thousands of people who’ve suffered spinal injuries. And let’s not forget Michael J. Fox, whose grace, intelligence, and humour in the face of Parkinson’s have brought new attention to finding a cure for the disease.

 

64. Because a West Van couple secretly raised a bear in their backyard.

65. Because Chip Wilson got women out of sweatpants. 

66. Because 49,000 people did the Sun Run this year.

67. Because Daiso in the Aberdeen Centre is David Sedaris’s favourite store.

68. Because we kick butt at utimate Frisbee.

69. Because the Jimi Hendrix used to live in Strathcona.

70. Because we were ranked the #1 Pet friendly city.

71. Because Tommy Lee and Jodie Foster sport tats from West Coast Tattoo.

72. Because Marc Emery defied the Yanks.

73. Bob Geldof/Georgia Straight/Boomtown Rats

74. Because with undersea explorer Phil Nuytten, we have our own Jules Verne.

75. Because a socialist premier can become a capitalist tycoon

B.C. politics—need we say more? Yet beyond the infamous flakes, rubes, drunks, and mediocrities, the vast majority of our politicians have proven to be competent, principled, and selfless public servants who go on to impressive achievements once they leave office. Never mind the ones we liked: the Mike Harcourts, Carole Taylors, and Rafe Mairs. Consider the one we didn’t. After Glen Clark left the premier’s office in 1999 in disgrace, he was hired by Jim Pattison. Today, after a series of promotions, he’s not only a Pattison Group VP, but Pattison’s presumed successor. Which says something about our politicians—and about our captains of industry, too.

76. Because we coin memorable phrases

“Hey Todd: If you can leave your McJob for the evening, and kick your cyberspace habit too, come join us for dinner. We’re doing the 100-mile diet thing—gotta reduce that eco-footprint.” Utter that sentence and English speakers around the world will know exactly what you’re talking about. “McJob” (along with “Microserf” and “Generation X”, not to mention “City of Glass”) was popularized by Douglas Coupland, while cyberspace was first envisioned by William Gibson. The 100-Mile Diet is a 2007 book by James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, while the ecological footprint is a concept invented by the UBC geographer William Rees.

77. Because the “W” stands for “we”

Former city councillor Jim Green, the hat-wearing Southern gentleman who’s championed the Woodward’s housing project since its infancy, points out that his master-planned housing baby has no equal on the planet. The 536 kitted-out condos offset the 200 social-housing units in a balancing act that lured the city’s yuppies further east than ever before. The mix of housing brings folks from every walk of life together on a single city block. The biggest surprise to come out of this social experiment? Nothing went wrong. The sidewalk did not split open to swallow Woodward’s, and 6,000 people pass through its courtyard every day. One block down, 10,000 to go.

78. Because with undersea explorer Phil Nuytten, we have our own Jules Verne.

79. Because innovative tech companies (Flickr, Plenty of Fish, Hootsuite) started here.

80. Because Godfrey Gao’s so cool he’s the new face of Louis Vuitton.

81. Because we export our approach to planning all over the world.

82. Because the Marine Building got restored, not demolished.

83. Because we have a homeless shelter with a cat for a mental health worker.

84. Because the Save On Meats sign gets to stay.

85. Because the country’s first Louis Vuitton Maison opened here.

86. Because you can buy Stoney Paradise Farm tomatoes at Trout Lake market.

87. Because we have free blackberries for everybody.

88. Because you can hear talented UBC music students perform for free at Roy Barnett Recital Hall.

89. Because Arthur Erickson raised the architectural bar.

90. Because Ken Honey knew a Playmate when he saw one

Local photographer Ken Honey did a lot of scouting at Wreck Beach, wearing exactly what he hoped his subjects would—nothing but a pair of shoes. The strategy worked: Honey ultimately found 13 Playboy Playmates, including Canada’s first, Pamela Gordon, in 1962, and three of the most famous: Kim Conrad, who married Hugh Hefner; Dorothy Stratten, who launched an acting career before being murdered by her ex-husband; and Pamela Anderson—whom Honey famously discovered on the scoreboard at a B.C. Lions game. Anderson has proven that it’s possible to achieve mainstream success while retaining links to the porn world. Honey pulled off much the same trick during the half-century he lived here before his death this year at 86: when not shooting cheesecake nudes, he was one of the city’s leading wedding photographers.

91. Because we take a nice picture

As millions of visitors have shown, our city looks good on postcards and Flickr. Maybe that’s why we’re known internationally for a stellar roster of photographers, from Fred Herzog to members of the so-called Vancouver School of photoconceptual art: Jeff Wall, Stan Douglas, Roy Arden, Ken Lum, Rodney Graham, Ian Wallace. Wall, with recent one-man shows at both London’s Tate Modern and New York’s MOMA, is considered one of the leading artists of his generation. One result: an impression among gallery-goers around the world that we’re a brainy, bohemian kind of place, like Berlin or Brooklyn, but with mountains and totem poles on our postcards.

92. Because the city’s a smorgasbord

Your best friends are a Chinese-Caucasian couple? Your son’s pal in high school was Rwandan? You spent an evening at a Catholic church hall when your niece’s best friend threw a lavish Filipino birthday party? You shop at a mall (Park Royal) owned by an Ismaili Muslim family on land leased from the Squamish First Nation? The city was settled by Natives, named by the British in a region explored by the Spaniards, and built up in its early years by a Jewish mayor, Chinese entrepreneurs, Punjabi millworkers, and Japanese fishermen. It has the least segregated neighbourhoods in Canada and the highest proportion of interracial couples. Sushi, bánh mì, and pho for all!

93. Because you can still fish for giant sturgeon in the Fraser River.

94. Because you can watch Shakespeare in big white tents next to the beach.

95. Because the Chan Centre has brilliant acoustics.

96. Because anyone can have the perogi dinner at Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. 

97. Or curry lunch at the Shree Mahalakshmi Temple.

98. Because you can hike from Port Coquitlam to Squamish.

99. Because United We Can turns your recycled bottles into a homeless person’s dinner.

100. Because Geist is a terrific literary magazine.

101. Because Vancouver has a terrific literary community.

102. Because Car-Free day turned into a city-wide party.

103. Because the Lobster Man deals with the messy lobster boil for you.

104. Because international arrivals at YVR makes air travel a thing of grace.

 

105. Because we still have reporters who report

The city’s newspaper of record has largely followed the trend to replacing reporters with repeaters, but the scribes who remain are given wide latitude. Sometimes that means there’s no one to cover the fire/flood/assassination attempt, but at other times it means remarkable reporting—Daphne Bramham’s coverage of polygamy at Bountiful, for example, or Larry Pynn’s investigation of the floatplane industry. Howe Street crusader David Baines is the scourge of white-collar shysters, and Kim Bolan has remarkable expertise on the gang world. At a time when everybody and their yoga teacher has a blog, and offhand commentary passes for considered thought, these reporters uphold journalism’s good name.

106. Because