Only in Vancouver

...do you see a headline like this: "Dead heron won't be removed from tree near Stanley Park tennis courts." That's what the CBC is reporting (please click to see the gross photo!).

According to the report, "The Vancouver Park Board has no plans to remove a dead heron hanging in a tree next the Stanley Park tennis courts. Spectators at a weekend tennis tournament expressed concern that the carcass, which was likely from the Great Blue Heron colony in trees next to the tennis court at the southeast entrance to the park, should be removed. But park board chair Korina Houghton said staff recommended that the dead bird, which is suspended in the branches about four metres above the ground, be left in the tree until it falls out on its own."

Posted by Sebastian / July 24, 2008 /
 

Vancouver's floating foot problem

Despite my unabashed love affair with Vancouver, I'm the first to admit the city has the highest sketchiness-quotient of just about any big city on the continent. There is, of course, Vancouver's missing women, the bizarre Robert Pickton, drug violence, and so on...and now comes news about a little washed-up foot problem.

A fifth human foot was found washed ashore near Vancouver recently but the BBC reports, "Police have said there is no evidence that the feet were deliberately severed or removed by force." A few days later, Reuters reported that the sixth foot found was actually an animal’s paw and seaweed stuffed into a sock. WTF?

• Toronto Star: BC floats endless foot theories

Posted by Sebastian / June 21, 2008 /
 

Sam Sullivan out!

So the Vancouver mayor, whom I was so loud to support during his bid for office three years ago, has been defeated and is on his way out this fall. This week Sam Sullivan lost his party's mayoral nomination bid to Peter Ladner, a city councilor from Sullivan's Non-Partisan Association party. Municipal elections are set for this fall; in the meantime, Sullivan will continue to preside over Vancouver City Council, of which Ladner, of course, is a member. Awkward much?

In any event, Sullivan's ouster seems to be great news for Vancouver. I've yet to meet anyone who wasn't for him in the 2005 election, and who isn't against him now. The woman who dumped a large jug of icy Coca-Cola on Sullivan in the Downtown Eastside this week, since arrested by police, may have had the right idea. The Globe and Mail’s Gary Mason offered up a simple reason for Sullivan’s unpopularity: people “just can’t stand him."

Posted by Sebastian / June 9, 2008 /
 

Vick Vancouver

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the launch party for "Vick Vancouver," the hilarious animated series about gay life in Vancouver that's sweeping YouTube by storm.

Vick moves to town from Halifax and encounters all sorts of hilarious big city trials and tribulations as he settles into Vancouver's uber-gay West End. He is described as "Friendly and outgoing on the internet but wow--this boy’s got something to learn about real-life interpersonal relationships." The show is brilliant and completely believable. I am in love!

New episodes come out every Sunday night, and according to one of the fairly secretive figures involved in the show's creation, the season is about to get pretty steamy. But let's just hope they don't go the way of Queer as Folk in its final season, becoming completely cliche as it attempted to tackle every gay issue in every episode. Nice work Nixey, David, Jody, et al.

Posted by Sebastian / Media / April 26, 2008 /
 

Have I told you lately I hate dog (owners)

One thing I love about Vancouver is the lack of dog crap on the streets. Any New Yorker knows how much this counts for quality of life -- in NYC, the stuff is everywhere. You know what I'm talking about. Bad dog owners run rampant and the punishment for leaving doggie doo on the sidewalks and streets and parks, if ever enforced, is a mere pittance. Vancouver, despite being a dog-owning yuppieville, doesn't screw around -- they slap violators with $2,000 fines. Seems sensible to me.

Posted by Sebastian / April 21, 2008 /
 

Sun Run, survived.

Well, I survived it again. Despite my threats to the contrary, I did manage to complete the Vancouver Sun Run yesterday. This year's was event was even more massive than last year's, with more than 59,000 beating a path through downtown Vancouver in what is Canada's largest race, and the world's third-largest.

This year I was seeded a lot better than last year, so instead of beginning the race in the last slow-poke wave, I was in the first wave. Not having to trample over people made all the difference. I shaved five minutes off last year's time and ended in 2,893rd place, the top 4-5%. Yay! For anyone looking for an excuse for a trip, sign up for next year's race -- it is the most fun race I do all year! See you then!

In other running news, congrats to my friend John who ran and somehow managed to finish the Boston Marathon today!

Posted by Sebastian / April 21, 2008 /
 

West Coast weather

Vancouver's weather is notoriously unpredictable. Last night it snowed; this morning it's gorgeous and sunny. Out in English Bay this morning, sailboats were out in force while people were still dusting snow off their cars.

Posted by Sebastian / April 19, 2008 /
 

The place.

The New York Times spring travel magazine has a huge spread on Vancouver, with a cool interactive feature accompanying it online. Check it out!

Posted by Sebastian / Vancouver / April 3, 2008 /
 

For sale: 'Sex with a hot cop' -- combien?

British Columbia may be the capital of Canada's sex trade, but it's usually the cops doing the arresting, not the soliciting. The CP reports today, "An RCMP officer who had sex on the job and used his uniform to draw dates will have to resign. Constable Trent Richards has been suspended with pay since January of 2007, from the rural Shawnigan Lake detachment, where he had sex on duty on 15 or 16 occasions. Constable Richards posted his profile on Internet dating sites offering 'sex with a hot cop,' and used RCMP computers and his police cruiser in his extra-curricular pursuits."

Posted by Sebastian / February 28, 2008 /
 

'A festering sore'

It's always interesting when Vancouver's infamous Downtown Eastside gets mentioned in an article. You just never know what adjectives writers will use to describe the place!

In today's Globe and Mail, the DTES is styled as, "Canada's poorest postal code, a festering sore in the middle of a hip, glitzy city, with open drug-dealing, routine violence, homelessness and appalling living conditions for many residents lucky enough to have a roof at all." Oy vey.

Posted by Sebastian / January 26, 2008 /
 

A pre-Olympics hotel boom

This Sunday's New York Times has a good piece on Vancouver's pre-Olympics building boom. I'm obsessed with new hotels, and the piece focuses on all the new ones coming to town, including a Ritz-Carlton, the continent's first Shangri-La, and my fav construction project: the new Fairmont Pacific Rim.

I've written much about the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel and residences, but I think it is worth repeating that this will (hilariously) be the fourth Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver (fifth if you count the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, which I don't, sixth if you count the Fairmont Empress Hotel, which I don't).

Fairmont has taken the Starbucks approach to site selection and has practically saturated Vancouver with hotels on every possible corner. The Pacific Rim stands two blocks from the Fairmont Waterfront (and their views will be virtually identical!). Four blocks south is the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Nine miles south is the Fairmont Vancouver Airport.

Posted by Sebastian / January 12, 2008 /
 

New restos

I recently tried out three different restaurants for the first time, and I've quickly fallen in love with each of them!

Over the past month, I've twice been to Markt, the delish Belgian joint that moved out of the Meatpacking District to make way for the new Apple Store. The frites are incredible, and the decor so rustic-perfect. If you insist on getting me a present this holiday season, I'll take a gift certificate here!

Last night I checked out TBar Steak & Lounge on the (gasp) Upper East Side, with my friend Eric, and it was to-die-for. Compared to Markt, it's decidedly more upscale -- all the women seemed to have a touch of plastic in their faces. But the fries, cooked in peanut oil, were out of this world!

Lolita's in Vancouver is my other new fav. It's a known and accepted fact, along the lines of the-earth-revolves-around-the-sun, that the Gay Village has a dearth of fine dining. Lolita's is a great addition, tucked away beyond the main bustle of Davie, between Jervis and Broughton. The salmon quesadillas are tasty, and so is the beef. And the wine, Burrowing Owl from Kelowna, is heavenly!

Posted by Sebastian / NYC / December 22, 2007 /
 

Nice rack!

Holiday party season is here! Last night I attended my first, with Chris and Basil and these crazy racks!

Posted by Sebastian / December 8, 2007 /
 

Mount Baker

Mount Baker looms large over Greater Vancouver. This morning, my Air Canada flight got up close and personal with the impressive and imposing mountain on our descent into YVR.

East of Mount Baker:

Posted by Sebastian / December 7, 2007 /
 

Silly signs in Vancouver

 

Posted by Sebastian / Sept. 6, 2007 /
 

Seen around Vancouver

Fall seems to have come early to Vancouver. In 2006, summer was a three-month affair, but not this year. Check out the leaves in Coal Harbour this morning!

Check out this bird I caught in mid-flight!

Posted by Sebastian / Vancouver / Sept. 3, 2007 /
 

Vancouver sun

Urban Photo, one of my fav web sites, has a great entry on English Bay sunsets: "Each evening, then, as a sunny day fades into a brisk Pacific night, the beach at English Bay, flanked by restaurants and apartment towers, becomes the greatest kind of urban living room. Here, in a way that seems befitting of the West Coast, the granite paving stones of a piazza are exchanged for sand, well-worn grass and an asphalt promenade." At the risk of sounding sappy, sitting and watching the sunset and the streaked skies over English Bay is truly one of the most amazing "moments" in life.

Posted by Sebastian / August 28, 2007 /
 

Mixed messages

It was an interesting end to the week in Vancouver. On Thursday The Economist named the city the world's most livable (Liam, feel free to chime in with your commentary on these surveys!) for the fifth straight year -- beating out Melbourne, Zurich, Sydney and others -- and then today the Globe and Mail reported that drug-fueled property crimes remain so epidemic in Vancouver (49,736 incidents last year!) that the city is concerned about being able to recruit enough qualified officers to combat the ugliness!

Posted by Sebastian / August 25, 2007 /
 

Vancouver in the Times

The New York Times 36 Hours feature on Vancouver, which runs tomorrow, includes this amazing shot, below, of the sunset and skyline from False Creek.

The Times writes: "Vancouver, British Columbia, is two cities rolled into one. For outdoorsy types, this western Canadian city is a nature paradise, with miles of scenic hiking trails and bike paths that sweep along the Strait of Georgia, the pine tree-lined waterway that connects Vancouver with the Pacific Ocean. For urbanites, Vancouver is a sophisticated destination, with thriving immigrant enclaves, an ever-expanding restaurant scene, quirky neighborhoods, distinctive shops and lively bars that party all night. Part of the fun is weaving your way through Vancouver's two sides, and realizing that's why the city ranks as one of the world's most livable places."

Posted by Sebastian / July 14, 2007 /

Microsoft puts the moves on Canada

Implying that U.S. government-imposed limits on visas for skilled workers was limiting its ability to find qualified employees, Microsoft announced last week that it would open a new software development centre in Vancouver, mere hours from its Seattle home, and potentially double the reviled software giant's presence in Canada.

"Vancouver is such an international gateway with a diverse population and a reach that gives us access to the best and brightest population, that is what I would say is the number one interest in the Vancouver market," Microsoft Canada's president said.

Posted by Sebastian / July 8, 2007 /

Vancouver's Olympic clock

Vancouver's new Olympic countdown clock: Oh, how I love thee!

This gorgeous clock will be counting down for the next three years and then when it hits zero, as Vancouver magazine puts it, it will "start counting upwards, toward infinity. You'll never know whether you're late for work, but you will know exactly how long it's been since the world set its gaze upon our fair city, once upon a time in 2010."

Posted by Sebastian / June 9, 2007 /
 

Vancouver's economy: what economy?

Next to 'Who killed Laura Palmer?' the world's second-biggest mystery involves Vancouver and the question of what people actually do there. I'm the first to admit having no shortage of friends with dubious "careers." Wander the streets of business district, which seems pretty bereft of businesses, and you'll probably wonder the same thing. What exactly do people in Vancouver do? No one knows, but Vancouver magazine has an interesting article on the bizarreness:

"Vancouver's core attitude--a sense of God-granted entitlement--twinned with a need for quick returns are our legacies from history, because wealth here was generated by scooping minerals, knocking down forests, and since 1986, harvesting the last of our non-renewable natural resources: water-view real estate."

"We’re settling into a Rio-like future as a resort attached to our festering favela, the Downtown Eastside. Vancouver is a wonderful place to visit, to play, to shoot up, to check out of a career, to retire, but it’s no longer a serious business centre.The first people I heard describe Vancouver as a 'resort' were Hong Kong- and Taiwan-born businessmen as they re-aligned their investments towards China after briefly nesting here in the 1990s. Vancouver is arguably the least corporate major city on the continent."

"The resortification of our downtown has been a quiet secret in Vancouver’s development and urban planning communities for a decade; real estate brokers long ago stopped listing land here as potential office sites—the returns from condos being so much higher."

"Vancouver: your parks, theatres, schools, community centres and transit lines are all wonderful, but sooner or later you will need to generate wealth in a renewable way to pay for them."

Posted by Sebastian / June 5, 2007 /
 

The Downtown Eastside and the 'Olympics' greatest legacy'

As someone who started college as an urban studies major, the Downtown Eastside is fascinating to me. The other morning I was wandering around the neighbourhood -- the poorest in Canada; the HIV and injection-drug capital of the continent, and a place seething with sadness -- and continued to be struck by the contrasts it exposes in Vancouver society.

There is hope that some day, things will be better here: The housing stock in the DES has long been dominated by the infamous single-room occupancy hotel, or SRO. The city had planned to snatch up a whole slew of them, one by one for the next ten years, evict the rats and roaches, and turn them into social housing. Then in a bold move, three weeks ago they decided to buy ten SROs this year alone, providing 1,200 units of housing for the poor and homeless. It'll cost $80 million and was described by the Globe and Mail as "the single biggest initiative to deal with the homeless crisis in Canada."

Globe columnist Gary Mason hits the nail on the head with his assessment of this surprise move: "This is all about the Olympics. Sad, but true. If the Olympic Games weren't coming, along with tens of thousands of visitors from around the world, there would not be the impetus to deal with the homeless problem in the city. The last thing Mr. Campbell [premier of B.C.] wants is for his guests to be tripping over some guy in a sleeping bag when they walk out of their hotel in the morning. If it took the Olympics to get politicians focused on the issue, so be it. At least something is being done, and it will be the Olympics' greatest legacy in B.C."

Posted by Sebastian / April 19, 2007 /
 

Life imitating art

They say art imitates life, but sometimes it's the other way around. Case in point: this morning I was biking through Stanley Park when I came upon this fallen tree. It is, of course, one of the victims of December's terrific storm, which destroyed much of Vancouver's crown jewel.

While the memorializing of fallen trees seems to have subsided in the local press, a few weeks ago, Maisonneuve Mediascout did report on an interesting extrapolation: "Vancouver’s pristine, evergreen urban wilderness, Stanley Park, is not a victim of global warming—it’s a victim of Asia’s economic boom. This is the finding of a study, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that says industrial pollution in the rapidly-developing Chinese and Indian economies is responsible for freakish weather over the Pacific Ocean."

Posted by Sebastian / Vancouver / April 16, 2007 /
 

Sun Run survived

This year's Sun Run was amazing! It turned out to the be the largest race in Canadian history, boasting 54,000 participants. The winner clocked in at just under 30 minutes; I did 50:57, which surprised me! That put me in 4,626th place. I didn't win my age bracket, but if I was a 70-75 year old woman, I would have won.

I was astounded at how easy the race felt. It coursed westward through downtown Vancouver to Stanley Park before ricocheting back east, over the Burrard Bridge, back over the Cambie Street Bridge before finishing up at BC Place (read: home of the Olympic opening ceremonies in 2010!).

I started off under in the 10-20,000 numbered participant wave, which passed through the start line on West Georgia Street a good 30 minutes after the first runners started -- after the winner had already won. Running this race was a lot easier than those I typically do in New York, which usually only attract 5,000 people, because in New York they restrict runners to one lane of traffic whereas in Vancouver we were spread out over as many as six lanes (shown above on West Georgia). The road did not feel overrun with runners, and there was an incredible energy along the route with bands and screamers the entire distance. Can't wait for next year's!

Posted by Sebastian / Sports / Vancouver / April 15, 2007 /
 

Spring Storm?

So I hear there's going to be a really bad storm in New York? Sucks. Glad I'm here wearing shorts, getting some sun, and being outdoorsy. Good luck, suckers.

Posted by Sebastian / Vancouver / April 14, 2007 /
 

'Who knew Vancouver was such a mess?'

Vancouver is, above all, a city of contrasts. Stroll west to east down just about any downtown thoroughfare and you can see the problems mount. In this past Saturday's Globe and Mail, Gary Mason wrote an excellent piece on efforts by the city to stamp out some of the seediness that mars my fav city.

He writes: "Who knew this city was such a mess? It's a wonder those who annually rate Vancouver one of the most livable places in the world have missed all the people urinating and defecating in the streets. But apparently they're out there and are among the targets of Mayor Sam Sullivan's Project Civil City campaign."

"Project Civil City was officially launched Jan. 1. In announcing the initiative, the mayor said a survey by his office showed 85 per cent of city residents believed public disorder had become worse in the past five years. And 81 per cent believed this disorder was hurting our reputation internationally. And yet somehow Vancouver continues to be rated among the top two or three best cities in the world in which to live."

Posted by Sebastian / April 4, 2007 /
 

Sculptures for sale

The fabulous and huge sculptures spotted throughout Vancouver can now be yours -- if you've got $40,000-2 million floating around. That's the range some are estimating the works included in the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale will fetch at auction. Here are a few of my favs:

Posted by Sebastian / March 4, 2007 /
 

Vancouver visions

I was planning to head to Vancouver last week, and something came up. I rescheduled for this week, and something else came up. So I'll just console myself with photo memories for now:

Posted by Sebastian / February 20, 2007 /
 

Did sex sink this ship?

Last year's sinking of the British Columbia ferry, Queen of the North, raised tons of questions about the safety of the BC Ferries fleet, but it turns out something else might have sunk that ship: sex. "A B.C. Ferries spokesperson acknowledges there has been speculation about sex playing a role in the sinking, but wouldn't comment further." Oy vey!

Posted by Sebastian / February 20, 2007 /
 

Week three revelation: Pickton's a nose-picker

From today's Maisonneuve MediaScout, an update from Vancouver: "Yesterday, the Pickton case got visual as jurors sat through videotapes showing the 57-year-old Port Coquitlam pig farmer in conversation with his assumed cellmate [a police officer planted as a criminal]. Pickton hammed it up for the security camera, smiling and waving before he turned and mimed the numbers 5-0 discretely to the plant in his cell, signalling his desired body count. The Star reports that in the comfort of his cell, Pickton 'strips down to his skivvies and undershirt,' 'burps' and 'picks his nose and eats it.' A suave Hannibal Lecter, Pickton is not."

Posted by Sebastian / February 7, 2007 /
 

How high can Vancouver condo prices go?

Despite being British Columbia's biggest booster, the constant stream of headlines about Vancouver's sizzling real estate market is almost getting tiring. The latest report out this weeks says the market -- which many believed would turn out to be a too-good-to-be-true bubble -- will only continue to soar. Vancouver condos cost an average of $307,000 this year and are expected to reach $350,000 by 2010. That's still a bargain compared to U.S. big cities (few of which have offer the views that Vancouver does, thanks to restrictive zoning that gives virtually every new condo a "view corridor" to the mountains or the sea...and protects the views city-wide of the mountains).

"Vancouver's condominium market took off in 2001 and has not looked back," the report says, and supply has not kept up with demand. "People are seeing a lot more skyscrapers and cranes [around Vancouver] and are wondering 'who is buying all these things, and [saying] it can't last,'" Genworth Financial president Peter Vukanovich said.

And now for the obligatory vanity-in-Vancouver shot:

Posted by Sebastian / Real Estate / February 2, 2007 /
 

Is the Stanley Park crisis overblown?

In Vancouver, the Pickton trial is getting a wee bit less exciting as it enters its second week. Or at least that's the only thing one can infer by the latest string of stories being produced by reporters who've been covering the trial. While prosecutors dig up more evidence in the case of the pig man and the prostitutes, Christopher Mason from the New York Times and Rosie DiManno from the Toronto Star are among those who have decamped for Stanley Park to instead cover the immense damage to Vancouver's crown jewel caused by last month's high winds.

While the Times piece offers up a good lesson on Vancouver's urban appeal, in the Star, the prolific and beloved Rosie DiManno takes a more pessimistic approach to the state of Stanley and the outpouring of affection for all the fallen trees:

Trees have spirits, many believe. Their passing has broken hearts and provoked intense grieving. Some, the most sickly green of the Greens, actually suggested grief counselling sessions to deal with the trauma of loss. That was a tad silly, even for Vancouver...Certainly some rhetoric has been absurdly over the top. Mayor Sam Sullivan declared that collecting the dead trees was 'the equivalent of loading up stones from St. Peter's Basilica into a dump truck.'

Its Wild Heart Broken, a City, Like Its Eagles, Rebuilds (NYT)
Stanley Park 'tragedy' spurs grief (Star)

Posted by Sebastian / Vancouver / January 30, 2007 /
 

Pickton Trial, Day Four

In yesterday’s Pickton trial proceedings, jurors were shown a videotape in which the deadliest alleged serial killer in Canadian history all but confesses to the murders of various Vancouver prostitutes. In the 2002 video, Pig Farmer Pickton agreed to cooperate with the investigation into the disappearance of the women if they stopped searching his farm for evidence. Hmmm...

“Pickton's offer to negotiate came not long after police told him there was a witness who had told them she saw him butchering a woman's body at the farm near Vancouver. ‘She talks about coming in while you were skinning a girl, hanging on a hook,’ RCMP Inspector Don Adam tells Pickton during the interview as police attempt to get him to confess to murder. Police say Pickton hired the women on the streets of the city's down-and-out Downtown Eastside neighborhood, took them to his farm, killed them after having sex, and butchered their bodies to dispose of the remains.”

Posted by Sebastian / January 25, 2007 /
 

Downtown Eastside description of the day

The Robert Pickton trial continued today in Vancouver -- and let's just say that after the evidence being presented and the media attention the case is getting, it's going to be going on a very long time.

Describing the city's Downtown Eastside, where the women allegedly killed by pig-farmer Pickton lived, Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star calls it "a human cesspool inhabited by whores, drug addicts and vagrants." Not too far off.

And now for the gory details: The missing women's "paltry remains were found in plastic buckets, chest freezers, garbage bags, troughs of dirt and mounds of debris, buried in the very soil of the Pickton farm, court heard: Some teeth here, a couple of split skulls there, fingers and heels, blood splatter across the wall, and thousands upon thousands of minute DNA traces...investigators laboriously searching the property grid by grid came upon a green garbage can near the southern wall of the slaughterhouse, tucked inside another pail. There was a skull in there too, also sliced in half, with hands and feet similarly bundled, but these remains were in a more advanced state of decomposition."

These are the bodies of some of the women you see below.

Posted by Sebastian / January 24, 2007 /
 

Vancouver's missing women trial begins
 

One of the stories I've always found interesting about Vancouver is that of its missing women. In recent years, dozens of women have vanished from the streets of the city's notorious Downtown Eastside without a trace. Robert Pickton, the pig farmer accused of killing at least 26 of them, began his trial yesterday in a suburban Vancover courtroom in a scene the New York Times described as simply, "grisly."

As the paper explains, "The murder charges stem from the discovery of women’s remains and DNA during an 18-month excavation of the farm Mr. Pickton owned with his brother. The authorities found the heads of three women sliced in half vertically, the hands and partial feet of the same three women, and DNA, clothing and belongings that have been traced to the other women he is accused of killing...After Mr. Pickton’s arrest, the police issued a tainted meat warning for pork from the farm for fear that it may have contained human remains."

Eerily, six years ago Vancouver magazine wrote, "The Vancouver Police Department has no bodies and no clues, no crime scenes and no witnesses, and repeatedly downplays suggestions that a serial killer might be on the prowl." Oh how times change!

Related coverage:
CBC
Missing People
Pickton Trial Blog

Posted by Sebastian / January 23, 2007 /
 

Perspectives on the Downtown Eastside
 

Regular readers of this blog know my fascination with Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Ever since I first wandered through the seedy section of town many years ago, I've been intrigued by the place. Now that the Robert Pickton trial, which focuses on the lives of 26 missing women from the streets of the neighbourhood, has gotten underway, it is sure to be in the news more than ever. Here are some interesting voices on it:

Nettie Wild, filmmaker: "You run into a whole gambit of people [on the Downtown Eastside]: It’s a catchment for people who, as a society, we run out of alternatives with what to do."

Vancouver Sun: "When the international media descend on the Downtown Eastside, they will shine a light on the nation's poorest neighbourhood and one with features not commonly found elsewhere. The corner of Main and Hastings Streets is home to a drug market so brazen that dealers are able to sell crack cocaine, heroin, morphine, codeine and a variety of illegally obtained pharmaceuticals in plain view of the public and the police. Less than a block away is Insite, a supervised facility where injection drug users can use street drugs under medical supervision. Permanent syringe disposal boxes are mounted on iron poles in alleys in this neighbourhood. Addicts huddle in alleys or right on the street to smoke crack."

Urban Photo: "It isn’t a subtle change by any means. One minute you’re surrounded by healthy-looking Korean students on Seymour Street, munching on kimbob and fish cake; a few blocks later, you’re standing across from a skinny junkie smoking crack cocaine on Hastings Street. This is the Downtown Eastside, a blatant rejection of the glassy, healthy city Vancouver tries to be."

The New York Times: "Just blocks away from the boutique-filled tourist district, the Downtown Eastside is a world of its own, where the streets are lined with huddled figures, many buildings are abandoned and boarded up, and the pawnshops, taverns and rooming houses are fortified with thick metal bars. Drugs are bought and sold openly."

Posted by Sebastian / January 23, 2007 /
 

Vancouver zoning: worked too well!
 
The New York Times has a decent piece today on the what's happened in Vancouver since the city enacted an overly pro-residential zoning strategy for the downtown core. While the downtown population has doubled in recent years with the explosive growth of new neighborhoods and gleaming glass towers, businesses are being squeezed and pushed to the 'burbs. In five years the city will run out of downtown commercial space. Yikes!

As always, the Times closed out their piece with a simple zinger: “Most downtowns would love to have our problem,” the city's planning director said. “We are well-positioned to do that deeper level of urbanism.”

Posted by Sebastian / Real Estate / January 17, 2007 /
 

Stanley Park 'in ruins'

Like just about everyone who's ever been to Vancouver, Stanley Park is my fav place. But this week, parts of the park and its famed Seawall lay "in ruins" according to the media after a terrific storm on Friday ripped through the city. One thousand trees have been toppled in the city park that is larger than Central Park. I'm truly crushed. No trip to the city is complete without a walk along the Seawall (or a photo op, right).

The Vancouver Sun reports, "The damage to Stanley Park as a result of Friday's dreadful windstorm has devastated the city's crown jewel, causing damage that is apt to take generations to repair. Park Board Site Supervisor Eric Meagher said Tuesday that the famed sea wall could be closed until well into next year after winds tore away sections of asphalt, set off landslides and brought down thousands of towering trees in Vancouver's premiere urban green space."

Posted by Sebastian / December 20, 2006 /

Coal Harbour, 9:30 a.m. today

The views of the mountains and the water make Coal Harbour my fav place in Vancouver to wander around and be lazy. There's plenty to see, with sea planes taking off every few minutes for Victoria and the Gulf Islands, and then there's the amazing glassy architecture of the relatively new neighbourhood, as well. My friend snapped this vanity shot of me this morning during an excruciatingly early coffee call. Notice the yoga gear (yes, I'm sportier than I look).

Posted by Sebastian / December 10, 2006 /

Vancouver's West End, 4:30 p.m. today

The clouds today over English Bay in Vancouver are amazing! If you squint, you can almost make out Vancouver Island in the distance, beyond the mainland neighborhoods of Kitsilano and Point Grey on the left.

Posted by Sebastian / December 8, 2006 /

San Juan Islands, 1:30 p.m. today

Airplane-window shots are hard, but I wanted to share a view of the San Juan Islands and the Gulf Islands for those who've never experienced their beauty! In the very distance, center-left, you can almost see Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.

Posted by Sebastian / December 8, 2006 /

Vancouver: Top gay destination

Vancouver is tops again in another survey: this time, a survey of American gay men and lesbians has rated the city the best gay destination in Canada (The same survey says Canada is the #1 international destination for American GLBT tourists). If you're looking for a vacation of clubbing and bar-hopping, Vancouver is certainly not the place to go (Montreal, anyone?), but as a piece in today's Globe and Mail points out, "As a general rule, [Tourism Vancouver] has tried to play down the promotion of stereotypical draws, such as bars and clubs."

Tourism Vancouver | Gay-Friendly Vancouver

Posted by Sebastian / December 5, 2006 /

Vancouver gets a double whammy!

Last weekend I was hanging out with a friend in town from Vancouver, and after we parted ways, he went to a CVS to buy some bottled water before heading to the airport. Why? In case you missed the news, one million Vancouverites have been forced to boil their water for the past 12 days after a terrific storm polluted the region’s water reservoirs. Today city residents got the all-clear to resume drinking water straight from the tap. Meanwhile, a major snow storm blanketed the usually balmy area with 1-2 feet of snow. It better be gone when I'm back next week!

Posted by Sebastian / November 27, 2006 /

Vancouver's safe-injection sites working

Vancouver's safe-injection site, the first in North America, has been controversial from the start. It opened in 2004 on a trial basis to see if out-in-the-open detox efforts could truly work in reducing addiction and the spread of HIV in Canada's poorest neighborhood. But Conservatives have hated it from the start, and it's been rumored that the federal government will shut down the Downtown Eastside site in the near future.

According to a new report out today, their worries are probably completely unfounded: "Vancouver's safe injection site is slowing down the spread of HIV and helping drug users quit their habits, a new study finds -- but an expert suggested that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government won't want to hear those results."

"By all criteria, the Vancouver facility has both saved lives and contributed toward the decreased use of illicit drugs and the reduced spread of HIV infection and other blood-borne infections," Mark Wainberg, the director of the McGill University AIDS Centre in Montreal, wrote in a commentary published alongside the study.

Posted by Sebastian / Canada / November 20, 2006 /

Canada overload in the Times

The other day I mentioned that the New York Times was going a little crazy with all their recent articles on Canada; this weekend we get two more: Rogers Pass in the Rockies and Whistler.

Posted by Sebastian / November 18, 2006 /

Tofino

The New York Times is giving some serious love to Canada this month. Last week it was Montreal, and this week it's Tofino, on Vancouver Island (for those of you who haven't figured it out, Vancouver is NOT on Vancouver Island).

Their piece describes Tofino as the hottest spot for the Hollywood elite who spend most of their week shooting in Vancouver. B.C. boy Jason Priestly is a huge fan of the place, and so is Sarah McLachlan, who four years ago bought a place in Tofino, "Just 35 minutes by Learjet from Vancouver (five hours by car and ferry)," as the paper puts it.

"Tofino's a close-knit town at the end of the world, surrounded by verdant green rain forests, raw ocean and a peaceful inlet,” Sarah told the Times. “I was very lucky to have been able to buy up here four years ago, and now I want to cry every time I have to leave.”

As in most out-of-the-way communities that have been 'discovered,' real estate prices are soaring into the multi-million dollar range. “It used to be a little year-round community out at the beach, and it’s sad in a way that many of the homes on the beach are now empty most of the year,” one local said, at his brightly painted surf shop in Tofino. “But with all the tourists, I get to do what I want to do for a living -- surf.”

I'm headed to Vancouver Island in a couple weeks, and all I can say is that I better see Sarah!

Posted by Sebastian / November 15, 2006 /
 

Spotted in Vancouver

On the wall of a cafe on Robson Street:

Posted by Sebastian / Eteceteras / November 11, 2006 /
 

Quotable

Last night Vancouver won Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards for best city in the Americas. Shocker!

Why Vancouver?

"We are ethnic-embracing, gay-loving, godless commies," says Guy Saddy, a columnist for the Globe and Mail, on Vancouverites. It may have started out as a lumber town, but with tourism, yoga gear, and new construction of glass condominium towers as its other major industries, it's clear that the city where both Greenpeace and the radical culture magazine Adbusters were founded has a default liberal streak. Despite the abundance of natural beauty, wide-open-minded views on hemp cultivation that have earned the city the nickname Vansterdam, and a seal of fashion approval from hordes of visiting style-obsessed Tokyo twentysomethings, locals view their hometown as a cultural also-ran, forever comparing it unfavorably with Toronto, Montreal, or nearby Seattle. Much like the rain that falls intermittently on the city, it's a charming bit of bluster that eventually passes--an inferiority complex as transparent as the glass-and-steel skyline."

"Almost anywhere you go in Vancouver, one unifying quality emerges: it is an uncommonly functional and versatile place, just large enough to satisfy the curiosity of even the most jaded travelers. It's a big city that nonetheless feels friendly and intimate. That friendliness comes from its sociable, socially progressive populace, many of whom came to stake a claim in the global lifestyle of this 21st-century town. 'It's the terminus of the nation,' Saddy explains. 'People come here to remake or reinvent themselves.'" More

Posted by Sebastian / October 16, 2006 /
 

Point Roberts

The U.S.-Canada border follows a straight line all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific. That works out just fine as the border slices through prairies and mountains, but when it reaches the ocean just south of Vancouver, where it leaves Point Roberts, Washington, hanging. Literally. The small town dangles at the end of a peninsula; to get to the U.S., residents must cross into Canada, then drive 25 miles to the U.S. border crossing. (Image below from National Geographic)

Point Roberts is so close to Vancouver that a suburban school district has offered to take the town's pupils in their schools; right now kids endure two border crossings and that 25-mile drive before they reach a school in the mainland of Washington state.

A couple weeks ago I was flying into Vancouver, and pointed out the town to the woman sitting next to me (you can see the peninsula off the left side of the plane upon landing in Vancouver--the airport is in the upper-right corner of this image). She thought I was making the story up. But there are many other towns like Point Roberts, especially along the Maine-New Brunswick border.

Posted by Sebastian / October 8, 2006 /
 

Vancouver

I am convinced Vancouver sunsets are the best around. I caught this shot tonight around 7:30 while out on the water in Burrard Inlet. The sail-shaped roof of the city's cruise terminal is on the far left. Earlier in the evening, four cruise ships slipped out of their berths and made their way in a regal procession underneath the Lions Gate Bridge and into the Inside Passage toward Alaska. You're looking at the priciest stretch of real estate in all of Canada.



Posted by Sebastian / September 3, 2006 /
 

Grouse Grind

There is probably no experience more quintessentially Vancouver than doing the Grouse Grind, a serious schlep up the face of Grouse Mountain, a soaring peak across the harbour from Vancouver. The trail is 3 kilometers up and the incline is quite steep.

It takes about 1 1/2 hours to ascend the mountain, but it's an easy hike and the views from the top make it well worth it. Underneath the cables of the Grouse gondola you can see the towers of downtown Vancouver and the green finger of Stanley Park jutting into the sea. Though it's hard to make out, there is a cruise ship in the very center of the photo headed for Alaska.




Posted by Sebastian / September 3, 2006 /
 

Photographic evidence of my athleticism

I like to think I'm pretty damn athletic, and finally I have photo evidence. After forcing my friend Julie to do 15 kilometers of bicycling around Stanley Park and around the entire downtown peninsula of Vancouver, we proceeded to spend the afternoon kayaking. These shots give you an excellent idea of the scale and aesthetic of Vancouver, and Yaletown in particular.

Public art is everywhere in Vancouver: here are two fine examples from Coal Harbour.

Posted by Sebastian / September 2, 2006 /
 

Spotted in Vancouver

I've got gorgeous friends. Snaps for Jules for capturing me in this silly moment, splayed up against the Seawall in Stanley Park. She looks great set against the backdrop of English Bay.



Posted by Sebastian / / September 1, 2006 /
 

Gone far, far away

I've flitted off to Beautiful British Columbia to share Vancouver with my friend Julie, one of my bestest friends. She's never been to B.C. so I've got a serious schedule planned out for her that includes Grouse Grind, Stanley Park runs and bikes, drinks in Yaletown, and to please Jules, a little crazy drag at the Odyssey.

Every time I return from Vancouver I'm asked to describe what it's like to people who've never made the easy 5 1/2 hour flight from New York (closer than California!). I never know what to say. One writer puts it this way, “The city that Vancouver most resembles is Honolulu, which also has a lot of people squished into a small area bordered by mountains, hyperinflated real estate values, a sense of disconnection from the rest of the world, and, not least, a racial and ethnic mix of Natives, Europeans and Asians.”



Related: Vancouver Snaps

Posted by Sebastian / September 1, 2006 /
 

Vancouver' safe injection sites

Many people consider Vancouver a veritable sodom and gomorrah since it's home to the continent's first safe injection site. The storefront that is home to Insite in the city's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood is a place where addicts can shoot up in a supervised and controlled environment.

It opened in 2003 on a three-year trial basis that will soon expire. Stephen Harper has said that he doesn't want taxpayer money funneled to assist drug users in their addiction, so there is concern that as soon as he can, Harper will shutter the site. Insite has an average of 600 visitors per day.

This week two leading candidates for the Liberal Party leadership (that is, prime minister hopefuls) Ken Dryden and my BFF in Ottawa, Scott Brison, proclaimed that they want the sites to remain open and would welcome more of them across Canada.

Posted by Sebastian / Canada / Scott Brison / August 23, 2006 /
 

VRC boys kick some...

Congratulations to my friends from the Vancouver Rowing Club who had a stellar performance at the 1st World Outgames in Montreal last week, earning gold in the men's eight! This shot I snapped of them on Coal Harbour is one of my favs.



Posted by Sebastian / Sports / August 7, 2006 /
 

The condo capital of the continent

It was once said that Vancouver is "the best setting in the world in search of a city." That city, in my lifetime, has gone from a small town of low-slung architecture, admittedly somewhat of a backwater, into one of the most booming and alluring cities on earth. That transition has been bolstered by an urban planning philosophy that has encouraged residential development in the downtown (even when it comes at the expense of more office/commercial space) and has led the city to become the condo capital of Canada. No city in North America has as many residential high-rises, per capita, as Vancouver.

I took this photo a few mornings ago at the construction site of the Fairmont Pacific Rim, the latest big development to hit the waterfront in the Coal Harbour section of town. The Fairmont chain is taking hints from the Starbucks saturation technique and siting their new residences and hotel conveniently next door to their Fairmont Waterfront Hotel (not unlike Toronto where a new Four Seasons is going up across the street from an existing one). The new condos will be sure to fetch quite the price: Vancouver already has the highest real estate prices in the nation, and Coal Harbour tops all city locations.

From one interesting article: "Vancouver may go down as the place where the North American high-rise was unexpectedly perfected," Sutherland points out. "With few major companies" head offices on its downtown peninsula, the city has re-zoned most of the land to be residential, leading to the construction of hundreds of narrow, glass-clad, view-seeking condominiums. At street level the ambience is almost European, while 30 storeys up the Wallpaper magazine ideal is finally being lived."

Posted by Sebastian / Real Estate / June 23, 2006 /
 

A Vancouver vanity shot

I couldn't resist sharing this shot, especially since I took it myself. I raised and steadied my camera on a small pile of rocks I'd gathered then let the timer rip. In the distance, tankers are anchored in English Bay awaiting their turn to enter the Port of Vancouver.

Posted by Sebastian / SFGW / June 19, 2006 /
 

UN World Urban Forum

This week I'm fortunate to be able to attend the UN's World Urban Forum in Vancouver. There is a ton of neat stuff on the agenda, and the geographic diversity of the 8,000-ish delegates is astounding. I've never seen more people from Chad in one place.

In the photo below, Diane Finley, a member of Stephen Harper's cabinet, opens the summit. (Her boss had just addressed the confab, in French, and it wasn't pretty.) She is wearing the glasses she's become famous for wearing everywhere in Ottawa: she has Graves' Disease, which causes an increase in sensitivity to bright lights. She must wear the tinted lenses to protect her eyes.

Outside the expo center, meanwhile, demonstrators took to the street to protest the world's response to poverty, homelessness and inequality.

Posted by Sebastian / Politics / June 19, 2006 /
 

Heard on Davie Street

I was walking rather briskly down Davie Street in Vancouver the other night when a homeless guy yelled at me. He said, "You're not in Ontario! Slow down." It was funny timing since the Calgary Herald reported that day that Toronto-hating is truly a national pastime.

"Canadians are always searching for that one thing that unites the country," says Toronto filmmaker Albert Nerenberg. "And it seems the one thing they can all agree on is that they hate Toronto."

"The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has a population of 5.6 million people, representing 16 per cent of Canada's population. It is the fifth-largest city in North America. Although, as Nerenberg has discovered, many Canadians feel it carries itself with far greater stature."

Posted by Sebastian / Toronto / June 18, 2006 /
 

Vancouver

This morning at the crack of dawn I wandered down to English Bay beach and snapped this shot just as the clouds and fog were beginning to lift. The path shown here is part of the famed Seawall that runs around Stanley Park, the second-largest municipal park on the continent.

Posted by Sebastian / June 17, 2006 /
 

Vancouver

The thing I love about air travel is how far, psychologically, you can be transported in such a short time. It's amazing how far one 90-minute flight can take you.

Posted by Sebastian / June 16, 2006 /
 

Spring is here!

The biggest cliche in Vancouver is that you can be skiing in the morning and sailing in the afternoon. It's true, for the most part, and this shot from yesterday shows you how it's all possible. The city skyline is out of view, to the right.

Posted by Sebastian / May 14, 2006 /
 

Vancouver

The other day I was at a bar when a guy came up to me and told me he's been on my site before--OK, weird (just kidding, I appreciated it)--and he also told me he likes my photos, which I'll admit I tend to put up when I'm really pressed for time. So tonight, knowing that someone is actually looking at this site for the pictures, I'll add one more.

As usual, I'm a sucker for a pretty sunset, and I just came across this one in a stack of photos from a Vancouver trip. Simple, but so characteristic of what it's like in Vancouver, where life revolves around nature: the parks, the seawall, and the beaches looking out to the Pacific along English Bay.

Posted by Sebastian / April 26, 2006 /
 

Vancouver

The other night I managed to score an invitation to a party hosted by Tourism Vancouver at the penthouse of the Hudson Hotel in New York. It was a neat evening, replete with signature "vantini" cosmos, Pacific sushi, and unbeatable skyline views from the rooftop terrace.

I always consider myself to be the unofficial chief promoter for the city; at this event it was no different. Only a handful of the 20 or so media in attendance had ever been to Vancouver, so everyone's eyes lit up when I excitedly explained how a visit to this Pacific paradise will truly change their life.

Posted by Sebastian / March 28, 2006 /
 

Vancouver

CNN has a great piece on Vancouver and how fabulous it is! The story explains, "Vancouver would be very different had a proposal succeeded 40 years ago to extend what is now the trans-Canada highway through the city to the sea."

"They were going to ram it through the east side of Vancouver, through historic Chinatown, and do a big sort of typical American city thing," said Bob McGilvray, an architect who worked for the city planning office for many years. Conservationists, planners, and Chinatown residents protested, and the plan was scrapped. "The result: We don't have these huge highways downtown which are just loud and a no-man's-land."

Posted by Sebastian / March 2, 2006 /
 

City by the Sea

My friend Dave sent me this shot from Locarno Beach in Vancouver. It's beautiful and a wee bit eerie!



Posted by Sebastian / February 19, 2006 /
 

Vancouverism
 
I'm reading a new urban design book, "Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination." It's great! The book traces Vancouver's development over the past 100 years from a dreary sawmill town to the gleaming city we recognize today. The book focuses on the reasons why Vancouver is constantly being looked to as the model for successful urban planning and livability.

One review explains: "Vancouver does one thing well: We build condos higher and denser than any other spot on the continent, and our global reputation is currently being set by these acts. Because of our downtown peninsula’s love affair with tall, thin towers on townhouse bases, Vancouverism is replacing Manhattanism as the maximum power setting of contemporary city building. By some analyses, the average number of people living per hectare in our central core is now higher than that of the famous island in the Hudson."

But the same reviewer is skeptical of Vancouver's constant boosters: "There is a more serious addiction in this town, one that is talked about even less than crack or crank or smack. Gallons of it are consumed daily by our city planners, developers, designers and media managers, often after a session of hot yoga, or following a light meal of pickled lotus leaves, or even just sitting around swank coffee tables strewn with international accounts of our urban success. They are drinking their own bathwater. What bugs me is that they are calling it champagne."

Posted by Sebastian / Books / January 18, 2006 /
 

The month of no-sun days
 
It's slit-your-wrists time in Vancouver, where it has rained nonstop for 27 days, just a day shy of a 53-year record. The rain has even caused massive slides and the evacuation of residents of North Vancouver. This umbrella says it all -- Shit!    



Posted by Sebastian / January 17, 2006 /
 

Rights tribunal investigating sex acts
 
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal will investigate various sexual practices including bondage, discipline and submission, and sadism and masochism undertaken by a man who said he was denied a job as a limo driver because of his sexual interests. 

Posted by Sebastian / January 10, 2006 /
 

Tree assassin goes free
 
The case of a prominent Vancouver businesswoman charged with killing three trees to protect her view of English Bay in the city's West End has been discharged by a provincial judge because of the public humiliation the woman endured.

The Globe and Mail reports, "Vancouver news media treated the case of the Beach Drive tree killing as a major crime, and Ms. Matheson became the target of hate mail, death threats and taunts." Her lawyer argued that "coast-to-coast humiliation" was punishment enough, and the court agreed.

Neighbours told police that Matheson and a friend were spotted acting suspiciously around the trees late one night. "The accused crossed to the bike path near the affected trees, and while the male paced back and forth on the bike path . . . the accused was seen to bend down in the area of each of the affected trees," prosecutors said. She then is believed to have poisoned the trees with a combination of pesticides smuggled across the U.S.-Canada border.

Posted by Sebastian / January 6, 2006 /
 

A snow-free holiday
 
Thank you for those who purchased me gifts from my wish list. That would be none of you. Still, my snow-free Christmas was wonderful. For the season's sake, here are a couple snowy shots I haven't yet had a chance to share.

The one on the left was taken in January, when an unusual snowstorm hit Vancouver. It usually doesn't snow in the city, but it certainly did that weekend! And the photo on the right is from two weeks ago in Montreal, where a statue of Queen Victoria received a new, snowy dress just in time for the holiday.



Posted by Sebastian / December 27, 2005 /
 

Vancouver, where families actually live downtown
 
The New York Times will feature an excellent piece on Vancouver's downtown evolution tomorrow. The city is one of the only places on the continent where families with children are actually moving downtown, not out to the suburbs. The number of kids living in downtown Vancouver has doubled since 1990.



Posted by Sebastian / December 24, 2005 /
 

My Zagat picks

Few activities give my life meaning as much as being able to contribute my strong opinions to the annual Zagat guides. Yesterday I gave my "witty" and "pithy" reviews of a number of places for the 2006 Canada Restaurants, Canada Nightlife, and Canada Attractions guides (all of which only cover Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver). They'll be out in a few short months and will replace the failed guides that were exclusively for Toronto and Vancouver. Montreal still gets their own guide, but it will be in French and then the "smart" and "clever" comments won't be so funny when they're lost in translation.

NIGHTLIFE: A surprise is that this year there are six gay bars in Montreal under consideration for top nightlife in Canada, while the much less overtly gay (lame, boring) scene in Vancouver has at least as many on the survey (Was that a gasp! I just heard from my Vancouver readers?!). I gave props to Odyssey and the non-gay but metro-cool