Vancouver Magazine
Reason to Love Vancouver #15: Because Little Saigon Is the Most Delicious ’Hood in Town
Reason to Love Vancouver #27: Because Hastings-Sunrise Is the Place to Be
April’s Best Food Events in Vancouver—Where to Dine This Month
Reasons to Love Vancouver #19: Because Secret bars Are Hidden in Plain Sight
All You Need To Know About the “Crafted in BC” Wines That Are Just Hitting the Market
The Best Vancouver Happy Hours to Hit Right Now: March Edition
The Cover Story: 33 Reasons to Love Vancouver Right Now
Reason to Love Vancouver #1: Because a DJ Took Over the SkyTrain
Reason to Love Vancouver #10: Because We Have a Film Fest for Everyone
BC’s Best-Kept Culinary Destination Secret (For Now)
Very Good Day Trip Idea: Eating and Vintage Shopping Your Way Through Nanaimo
Weekend Getaway: It’s Finally Ucluelet’s Time in the Spotlight
Reason to Love Vancouver #7: Because the Dominion Building is Always Bumping
Reason to Love Vancouver #20: Because Our Slow Fashion Scene Is Growing Fast
Shop Hop: Inside the New Kit and Ace Flagship on West 4th
Despite the real estate woes and city hall drama, there are plenty of great reasons to stick around... and this list is only the beginning.
There are plenty of obvious reasons to love Vancouver—mountains, sushi, social permission to wear stretchy pants to a gala, et cetera—but our affection for this beautiful city runs deeper than the surface… and we don’t care who knows it. Here’s what keeps us swooning for the greatest city on earth (sorry, New York!), even after all these years.
Sweaty bodies were packed together, swaying and bouncing, as DJ Felix Cartal deftly whisked his hands across the sliders and glowing buttons of his deck. The bassline was thrumming, the rhythm was pulsating and his shaggy mop of hair bobbed above the controls as he prepared to mix in a track he knew would drive the crowd wild: the SkyTrain door chimes. Read more about this wild and wonderful SkyTrain pop-up show here.
Hong-Kong-style cafe Saan Saan opened quietly in Chinatown last summer, offering the gluten-free set an opportunity to feast on treats that have long been off the table. Find char siu BBQ pork and curry beef puffs ($6.75 each) on the menu alongside mochi brownies ($4) and black sesame caramel cookies ($5); Hong Kong-style hot drinks like milk tea ($4.50) and yuen yeung (coffee, tea and evaporated milk, $4.75) are available to wash it all down. 227 Main St., saansaan.ca—S.M.
Earlier this decade, if you wanted to see the northern lights, you’d need to book a flight to the Yukon. (Please pack a jacket more substantial than your Super Puff, you West Coast weakling.) But these days, the aurora borealis will occasionally put on a show much closer to home, as you’ll know if you looked up at the sky this past January. It’s happening because we’re at a sweet spot in the sun’s 11-year solar cycle, with more coronal mass ejections plunging into the Earth’s upper atmosphere with enough punch to spread beyond the polar regions. Soon, this very special time in the sun’s life will come to an end, so soak up the colours while you can… though if you miss out on seeing the real thing, there’s always Instagram.—S.M.
We just wrote about the sauna-and-cold-plunge spa trend in our February 2024 issue, but here we are, a year later, with a multitude of new saunas to acknowledge—so it’s clear this practice isn’t cooling down any time soon. Gatherwell hosts super-social community sessions (125 W Broadway, gatherwell.ca); Tality Wellness is now in Mount Pleasant, still with all-you-can-drink kombucha (107 E 3rd Ave., talitywellness.ca); Kolm Kontrast features a 50-person sauna and essential-oil- infused snowballs (101–525 W 5th Ave., kolmkontrast.com); Aether Haus looms mysteriously in the West End (1768 Davie St., aetherhaus.ca).—S.M.
It’s no secret that commercial real estate carries a hefty price tag, so we’ve been loving how the savviest of Vancouver’s restaurateurs are splitting the rent and dividing one location’s operation into multiple restaurants (giving us even more tasty locales to frequent). Take Chinatown’s Hunnybee Bruncheonette (789 Gore Ave.), which transforms after 5 p.m. into Taqueria Chicatana on Mondays and Tuesdays and Thank You Pizza on Wednesday through Saturday. Or Birds and the Beets (54 Alexander St.), whose back space becomes Bar Tartare at night. Or how Dear Gus (2040 Quebec St.) acted as a staging point for Cowdog Coffee, operating out of the restaurant two days a week until eventually it opened in a new brick and mortar location (3720 Oak St.), proving that sharing really is caring.—Dani Wright
Check out these four beautiful modern renovations that take the builder-basic form to new heights.
The Dominion is a Gastown landmark, and though the 13-storey, Beaux Arts-style tower is more than 115 years old (and no longer the highest building in the British Empire), she’s still full of life. Read more about the new wave of cool-girl fashion boutiques (many of them vintage-focused) ruling the roost.
You can always tell when Stoney Paradise Farm is at the Trout Lake Farmers Market because the lineup of tomato hounds stretches out into the park. Milan Djordjevich is known as the Tomato Man, a legend for his eccentric devotion to his Sungolds and San Marzanos and widely considered to be the purveyor of the best in the province. If you can’t wait 45 minutes to get your hands on a basket of his perfect red gems, never fear: you can get a taste of the good stuff at pretty much any one of your favourite restaurants (Livia, Magari, L’Abattoir, Elisa et al.). The Trout Lake Farmers Market re-opens this April, eatlocal.org—S.M.
Lee’s Donuts isn’t the only spot to get a little pick-me-up on Granville Island. Arts Umbrella’s mini gallery showcases work from the young artists taking classes in the handsome, modernist facility. The (free!) rotating exhibition might display models from six-year-old architecture students, tween photography, mixed-media sculpture from the toddler set or charcoal still lifes from fourth graders. Everything is impressive or adorable—take that, VAG. 1400 Johnston St., artsumbrella.com—S.M.
Vancouver is a cinephile’s paradise, and not just because dozens of movies are filmed here each year. The sheer number of film festivals that run through town means that you pretty much never have to settle for a screening of Smurfs 3 at Tinseltown—indie cinema constantly awaits at a theatre near you. Read on for all your film fest options, coming soon to a theatre near you.
Rogers Arena was packed to the brim on January 8 with fans screaming at the top of their lungs. But they weren’t there to cheer on the Canucks (sorry, guys): they’d assembled to pledge allegiance to the athletic prowess of the Toronto Sceptres and Montreal Victoire, two of the Professional Women’s Hockey League teams currently on a takeover tour of North American cities. Between the fervour in the stadium that night, the news that the WBNA’s new Toronto Tempo will be playing regular-season games in Vancouver in 2026, too, and the announcement of our very own pro women’s soccer team, the Rise FC, women’s sports are finally getting their moment in the spotlight. And that’s something worth cheering for. The Rise kicks off as part of the Northern Super League’s inaugural season this April.—S.M.
There weren’t a ton of reasons to laugh in the aftermath of 2020’s lockdowns—and thanks to a rash of comedy club shutdowns around that time, not a lot of places to laugh, either. The two duelling standup clubs, Yuk Yuks and the Comedy Mix, both closed up shop before the pandemic hit; beloved indie rooms like the Kino Cafe and Little Mountain Gallery shuttered in the ensuing years, too. But from the comedy ashes, a new slew of venues is arising, including a trio of exciting rooms within blocks of each other in Gastown: read about all three here.
Vancouver Chinatown Foundation chair Carol Lee (#1 on our 2025 Power 50 list) is the perfect person for the Sisyphean task of revitalizing the iconic, long-shuttered Foo’s Ho Ho restaurant in Chinatown. She’s got plenty of restaurant experience under her belt already, thanks to her critically acclaimed, always buzzing Chinatown BBQ, but more importantly, she has experience in patience—the community housing project her foundation finished last year, Bob and Michael’s Place, took 13 years to complete thanks to red tape and a funding slog. The Ho Ho is unfortunately shaping up to be a long-haul project too: seven years into the restoration, Lee has been delayed by flood after flood after flood and an opening date remains elusive. We know, though, when it does finally open, that it’ll be a boon to the neighbourhood: something that fuels the community with more than just (very tasty) wontons. Here’s hoping the neon chopsticks are lit up again soon.—S.M.
There’s a lot of exciting stuff happening in the B.C. biotech sector that, to be honest, is way over our heads (what is a stem cell, exactly?), but Aspect Biosystems is making moves that even our liberal arts brains can understand: its 3D printing technology can create synthetic tissues of living cells to repair organs. Pop one of these into someone with an impaired pancreas or liver, and organ functions resume within minutes. For anyone waiting for a transplant, this tech will be a gamechanger, and obviously investors think so too: Aspect has recently received $72.5 million from the provincial and federal governments for a new manufacturing plant, and a $115 million USD from U.S. investment firm Dimension Management.—S.M.
A ticket to Vietnam from YVR is upwards of $1,200. A bus trip up Kingsway? Just a few bucks. Here’s where to find some of the best Vietnamese restaurants in the city.
Getting to the Tsawwassen or Horseshoe Bay ferry terminals can sometimes be as big of a trip as whatever Island journey you’ve got planned on the other side… and if you’re bringing your car, prepare to pay almost as much as you would to fly. The launch of the Hullo passenger ferry right from downtown brings a veneer of civility to the whole Island-travel affair—walk on from Canada Place, access free wi-fi, and get off 70 minutes later in downtown Nanaimo, all for a $40 ticket. The downside, of course, is that there’s no Passages gift shop or cafeteria, but we’re sure there’s somewhere else you can source your soft serve and starfish earrings. hullo.com—S.M.
We thought it would be easy to profile someone who does a podcast out of the Vancouver Public Library’s downtown branch. But it turns out That Library Show content creator Derek Gerard, with his 474,000 YouTube subscribers, one million Instagram followers and 3.5 million TikTok fans, is the sort of internet-famous person who requires layers of L.A. agents to get through and also was impossible to lock down an interview with. We just wanted to ask him why people like to watch him talk to a variety of oddball characters at a table in the stacks, but we guess we’ll just have to observe him grill (and shush) his own high school teacher and guess for ourselves. Our tax dollars pay for your podcast set, sir. Call us back.—S.M.
If you’re a Vancouver parent, you know full well that finding daycare for your kids can be competitive. But have you considered another option: leaving your child in the woods?
We don’t mean this in a “child endangerment” sort of way: we’re merely reminding you that there are more than a few outdoor daycare options out there that immerse your little one in the wonder of nature and basically never get shut down for norovirus like all the indoor daycares do.
Forest and Friends, Woods and Waves, Muddy Boot Prints, Little Nomads, Bayview Nature Program and others wrangle MuddyBuddy-clad toddlers for hours on end. It’s a West Coast dream come true: an education in chasing frogs and picking blackberries. The only downside to this alternative pre-school system? Grownups aren’t invited.—S.M.
Speakeasies of yesteryear were all about not being seen—but Vancouver has turned the trope on its head with an abundance of not-so-secret bars with passcodes, hidden entrances and fun themes. Here are five hidden bars in Vancouver worth tracking down.
Slow fashion focuses on quality over quantity, puts an emphasis on ethical and environmentally gentle production practices and promotes conscious consumption. It encourages us to build style around enduring classics and hold onto treasured statement pieces for years to come. Meet the Vancouver slow fashion designers making big waves right now.
We’re not delusional: we know that things are a little, um, rough downtown these days. But nothing warms the heart more than watching the Downtown Business Association stepping up to try to correct course. Pedestrian-ifying part of Robson Street is one way they’re bringing back some vibrancy; events like the Granville Street block party and public movie screenings at Lot 19 have been welcome (and licenced!) community-builders in the ’hood, too. And with last fall’s Immersive Perspective AR Art Walk, DTVan embraced both public art and reconcil- iation efforts—who says capitalists can’t do nice things? The free augmented-reality experience, designed by Josh Conrad, founder and art director of Slow Studies Creative, layered the work of 10 Indigenous creatives overtop of the streetscape, allowing visitors to see both Indigenous art and the downtown core come alive.—S.M.
Like seeks like, as they say, and Vancouver’s top chefs have taken to collaboration rather than competition when it comes to building creative one-off menus. From local Michelin-starred chefs finding common ground to internationally recognized industry stars, Vancouver’s local restaurant scene has been abuzz with noteworthy collab dinners that have us hungry for more. Here are some faves from the year: Botanist’s Taste of the West dinner, which welcomed chefs from Marilena, Published on Main and L’Abattoir; Meo hosting Los Angeles-based Thunderbolt bar and local pop-up Basta Barbecue; Published on Main’s collab dinner with San Francisco’s Michelin-starred Kiln; Suyo’s collab with chef Warren Chow of Wildlight; and Hawksworth’s collab with chef Jonathan Gushue, currently of Ontario’s The Gate.
The West End’s Performing Arts Lounge opened back in 2006 as a new nonprofit housing model that gave artists a place to call home—and an in-building black-box theatre—with below-market rent. (Artists, the PAL Vancouver Society notes, have an income that’s 56 percent lower than the general employed population on average.) Residents are actors, directors, painters and musicians, many senior citizens or living with disabilities, but it’s also a community of Vancouverites who now can spend their time creating instead of hustling on a second or third job. PAL opened another location last fall in New West, but for those who want to keep their art-making happening in Vancouver, there’s the newer nonprofit on the block: 221A Artist Housing Society, which now operates five different properties for art-makers that each include a production space and heavily subsidized rent. If that’s not enough to inspire you to pick up a paintbrush, what is?—S.M.
We love Vancouver for its breathtaking mountains, its sushi scene and now—thanks to local artist Angela Fama—its unexpectedly vibrant conversations about death. Enter the Death Conversation Game, a deck of cards designed to help people actually talk about the one thing we’re all guaranteed to experience (but rarely acknowledge). Read more about her project that’s stoking meaningful, community-building events.
Nothing against the City of Vancouver’s hot dog game, but we’re much happier to hit the Kits Pool concession stand now that they’ve outsourced things—namely, to the folks behind Batch, the always-bumping shipping container bar that popped up a few years back in the Plaza of Nations. With Batch’s takeover of the concession stand on the west side, craft beer, local wines and ciders are on the menu; pair ’em with a smash burger from Monarch for the ideal modern picnic. Dogs are allowed, live music is always on the schedule and the only thing that can distract you from the sparkling ocean views are the charms of the swing dancing club having an ad-hoc rehearsal down on the Showboat. 2305 Cornwall Ave., batchvancouver.com—S.M.
Mount Pleasant and Commercial Drive have long fought over who gets the title of East Van’s coolest neighbourhood—on the one hand, breweries; on the other, breweries and old Italian men—but a new contender has quietly entered the ring. Click here for eight spots in Hastings-Sunrise to try next time you’re in the ‘hood.
Nordstrom closed in June 2023, but the time since the glamorous fashion retailer shuttered has flown by because we’ve all been busy speculating wildly about what’s going to take its place. The odds seem highest that it’ll be converted into a vape shop, but we love that, in the meantime, Vancouverites are daring to dream.—S.M.
Tired of your partner bragging about their 1,000-day DuoLingo streak? One-up them by enrolling in a Salish language class in UBC’s First Nations and Endangered Language program. Musqueam language courses run from intro level to advanced studies and require no prior knowledge of the language. fnel.arts.ubc.ca—S.M.
The Commodore may be the city’s most famous music venue, but the favourite spot to play for local musicians might be someplace with a little less glamour: an old autobody shop. Green Auto, with an ethos of inclusivity and prioritization of marginalized musicians, has become the de facto clubhouse of the indie music scene (it even has its own zine-y newsletter), with everyone from shred-metal darlings Cindy Lee to Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard taking a spin on the ramshackle stage. One glance at the posters for upcoming shows (Shoecraft! Hazel Blackburn! The Corps!) and it’s clear that live music in Vancouver isn’t dead—if anything, Green Auto has got it revving its engine. 1822 Pandora St., @greenautomusic—S.M.
Obviously, the editors here love print: publishing is both how we earn our living and is our reason for living. So it’s nice to know we’re not alone in our passion for the printed word. Cool indie bookstores abound around these parts, staffed by book nerds who are happy to point you toward your next great read—here are three great reccos from three great booksellers.
Sweethearts and lonely hearts are all welcome at Santi Henderson’s annual Valentine’s party at the Russian Hall, a country fair orchestrated by someone who admittedly has never actually been to a country fair. But the loosely interpreted hoedown is a charming fever dream of an event, featuring both a kissing booth and a head-shaving booth; friend speed dating; a petting zoo of performance artists dressed as cows; duels; and, of course, Palestinian Dabkeh line dancing. There’s always music, too, with live tunes from Henderson’s honky-tonk bad, Santi and the Hanky Tanks, and a rotating cast of Western-ish musical guests and other surprises. If this is what going country looks like, sign us up. @santidream—S.M.
Whether for health, financial or personal reasons, not drinking is so hot right now—Nielsen IQ even reports that the market value of non-alcoholic bevs grew by 24 percent in 2023. Contributing to that impressive market share are a trio of local booze-free bottle shops, each worth raising a glass to. Read more about these alc-free emporiums here.
