Vancouver is home to lots of lucky people. Vibrant with cultural diversity, blessed with four seasons, surrounded by water and mountains, and no hghway through the city by design.
I love living in Vancouver. I am a Vancouverite by birth and have experienced it grow from a "town" to the internationally know city it is today.
My first home was on the corner of Main and Powell. The building doesn't exist any more. It was an apartment block with with a coffee shop on the corner side and a barber shop on the other. My Dad and a couple of relatives also owned the land that stretched to the alley. It had a car mechanic shop. There were stairs that divided the apartment building. We lived on one side and rented the other side.
I can remember Uncle George taking us big kids to the railroad station at the foot of Main Street. We watched the ships come into Burrrard Inlet and waited for the bustle in the train station. I still love the sound of trains.
Powell and Main Streets housed many of our friends, mostly in "roomsies' as they were called. The single folks and families alike would rent one or two rooms, shared bathrooms, kitchen, and common living room. I can remember the Jangs with 3 boys all living in one room before they bought their big three bedroom bungalow with basement on 45th and Quebec. There were many families living this way until they could aford their own homes. And we all got along, cared for and about each other.
We knew every proprietor and every family that lived on our route to Strathcona Elementary. We passed the big imposing Cop Stop at Main and Hastings, Carnegie building opposite, 200 blockE Pender (still Chinatown to me) or sometimes, we would walk up Hastings Street to school. Nowadays, we label this area Downtown Eastside, some of the buildings are still there, but the safe community I knew is gone.
While we were living there, i looked forward to a couple of big events. In the summer was Lumberman's Arch Fish 'n Chips. My father would take all of us, our family of 5 kids, our neighbour's kids 'n relations to get the best fish 'n chips. He taught me to like malt vinegar on my chips. Visit Lumberman's Arch, that big log must still be there.
August was the PNE Parade. I still like the sound of bagpipes and drums! The beautiful ladies were on floats, clowns entertained, bands marched, horses clip-clopped, there were always mucky mucks sitting in convertables, dancers danced. We would try to get as close to the corner of Main and Hastings as that is where groups would stop to "perform." I think many kids thought about joining the circus just because of that parde, or at least getting to the PNE for some of that cotton candy.
Wintertime was wondertime at the Woodward's Christmas displays. What magic! Crowds of people lining up, noses pressed at the windows in total awe of the displays. What an exciting trip to the 6th floor to have your photo taken with Santa. (Of course you have to walk through the toy department to get there). All the kids knew their way to Woodward's. Just look for the giant revolving W. You could pick it out from as far away as Queen Elizabeth Park.
In fact, we were so happy to find out our next home was a few blocks to Oakridge Mall that had a Woodward's and reindeers and Santa. (Oakridge used to be an open mall and they did bring reindeers into the middle of the mall.)
Woodward's giant W is dwarf in today's skyline. The roof of the Vancouver Hotel (Fairmont) is not as prominant from Queen Elizabeth Park. The distance to downtown, UBC, or even SFU doesn't seem so long anymore. I can't hear the Nine O'clock gun or the train anymore. Airplanes flying overhead doesn't seem so loud anymore.
Vancouver has grown up. It's not so much that the city has grown to house more people or has become an important business centre, but it is that Vancouver has matured to embrace all people that we should be proud of. This is what makes Vancouver one of the most liveable cities in the world.
i have lived in the Vancouver area all my life. This is my home. How lucky I am!