Comments on: CONTEST – Tell us about your neighbourhood!

By: Lewis

Lewis — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:21:19 +0000

A raccoon, a prostitute and I met at the intersection of Hastings and Jackson two years ago. I was in my beat-up green VW Golf, and the raccoon and the prostitute were on the corner, lit up by the lights above.

It must have been 3:00am – the streets were empty and quiet except for us.

I’d just moved into a place near Nanaimo and Dundas and I was sober and tired and on my way home from somewhere or another – definitely not in the market for a lady of ill-repute, or a raccoon (of any repute).

When I stopped at the red light, the three of us just stared at one another for some time: first me and the prostitute locked eyes, then the raccoon and the prostitute, and finally the raccoon and I.

The traffic light must have gone green, but I didn’t notice: we were all frozen in this little triangle.

I think the three of us shared a moment.

All I could think after that was, “Oh shit, a raccoon and a prostitute. Why are we all staring at each other? Did we just share a moment? What the fuck is going on here?” From the look on the woman’s face I could tell that she felt the same way.

I’m not sure what the raccoon thought but he made a move and that was that.

By: K8ie

K8ie — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:10:14 +0000

Well, I haven’t lived in Vancouver all that long – about 2 1/2 years now. Before that I roamed from Saint John, NB to Whistler BC with stops in Halifax, and Toronto so I know a thing or two about cities big and small. Vancouver is unusual in that it feels like a much smaller city than it is. I think a lot of that has to do with all of the wonderfully vibrant neighbourhoods. When I first moved here I lived in Mount Pleasant and experienced the overwhelming sense of East Side pride. Now I life on the West Side which is quieter, and maybe a little less exciting… but does involve less midnight shopping cart racing waking me from my sleep. It would be hard to pick a favourite though.

By: d. b.

d. b. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:13:11 +0000

Several years ago, but when the Marble Arch was no longer a strip club, I was in town from Whistler for a night and met a friend in there. It was my first night out on the town in Vancouver, first bar I walked into here, and the first girl I saw on the way in ran up to me, bit my cheek, and ran out the door. Some dude following her stopped and said to me “why don’t you just fuck her next time!” and then followed her out. There are no sleazy/awesome bars like that in Whistler or Victoria; it made quite an impression.

By: May

May — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:35:58 +0000

I grew up and currently live in Surrey, but going to school at UBC means that I’m in Vancouver more than I am at home. I love Vancouver for its independent cafes, mom n’ pop restaurants, natural settings, and more. One particular memory of this beautiful city comes from the past summer when a friend and I cycled from Surrey to Vancouver along the BC Parkway. This was my first time riding the parkway and it was a completely unique way of experiencing the city, as our path took us through different neighbourhoods, through Trout Lake Park, along False Creek, then ending at Stanley Park. My friend introduced me to Mr Pickwick’s in the West End for some tasty fish n’ chips, then we hit up the Book Warehouse for some cheap reads. After that we cycled the sea wall and decided to take a break and rest on the rocks while it was low tide. I took a nap on a rock while he read under the sun until the tide threatened to surround us; by then the sun had begun to set so we Skytrained back home. It was the perfect way to end the summer

By: Oswaldo Suastegui

Oswaldo Suastegui — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:04:20 +0000

While Christmas Shopping in the Business District on Downtown, my girlfriend and I were attracted to a tumultuous racket on one of the steep sidewalks and saw much to our amusement a couple of homeless people drag racing on homemade carts. People laughed at them, specially when hearing their warning: Watch out! Going down, no brakes no brakes! Wooooo!

By: angela

angela — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:02:14 +0000

I love Vancouver for the many seasons we have and the cultural diversity. I have vacationed all over the place and nothing is quite like home.

By: maria b

maria b — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:01:22 +0000

Nothing is more Vancouver to me than the pne. Such a big landmark and year after year. It’s things like this that make Vancouver so special.

By: LisaB

LisaB — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:30:52 +0000

One day my fella and I went for a walk by the water in our ‘hood (the West End). We ended up at English Bay round about sunset and we grabbed a bench at the top of the grassy bit to watch the scenery. We looked at the next bench over to see a dude with a full size harp start playing. So we watched the sun set over the ocean to lovely live harp music. When we got up to go we saw another dude with a 1980s ghettoblaster on his shoulder walk by, cranking some tunes of a different sort. On his other shoulder? A pet rat.

This is why I love Vancouver.

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:38:42 +0000

Moving from California to Burnaby was interesting – during the first week of living in a rat-infested 1 bedroom apartment that cost $800/month I remember someone got shot as a ripe 2am in the morning. Over the years I have upgraded to still live in Burnaby but this time on top of a mountain with the craziest view of the whole world. Although I don’t hear of anyone getting shot in my building anymore, I have also now upgraded to be volunteering with long-time offenders in almost every neighbourhood in Metro Vancouver. Just spreading the love!

P.S: I have also photographed the LIFE out of Metro Vancouver so this book would be an amazing inspiration and treasure to me.

By: Vancouver Special by Charles Demers — Vancouver Is Awesome

Vancouver Special by Charles Demers — Vancouver Is Awesome — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:43:05 +0000

[...] an aside to our readers: You can win a signed copy of this book! Right here. Or just go down to any good bookstore in the city and buy one. addthis_url = [...]