Thanks to the wonderful reception from the last article, along with my friends complaining that I’ve only mentioned the North part of Vancouver, this article will be focused on several other areas, including beaches, shopping and food (yes, I’m basic).
Kitsilano
Which means that I will start with Kitsilano, an older, more “Canadian” suburb of Vancouver. Seriously, if you check out the houses in this area, most of them start at $1 million plus, partially due to NIMBY and absurd zoning laws (fight me in the comments) and partially due to the fact it’s an amazing place to live.
Nice and peaceful
Another contributor to the prices is also the location’s proximity to a friendly Safeway grocery store (those who know know) and more importantly the beach!
Unfortunately, the day I went the sun decided to hide away. This was actually pretty helpful to the many people enjoying outdoor sports, which included tennis courts, basketball and of course beach volleyball!
Or sitting and doing nothing, Alex’s favorite sport
For those not wanting to dip their toes in the ocean, there is Canada’s longest pool that is open from mid-may to mid-september.
Tad chilly
Another fun activity, particularly for families, is the Kits Showboat, which hosts live performances June to August. I myself have fond memories of both watching sub shows and marveling at the fireworks (which unfortunately haven’t happened this year).
Usually the performance has more people
For those with more cash to splash, you can literally splash cash in the ocean through renting / owning a boat! If you look off in the distance, you can see lots of pleasure craft, being dominated by giant oil tankers.
Walking on the beach itself, there is mix between sand (well it is a beach) and green space.
I’d like to take a moment to appreciate how, despite we Canadians grovel about our taxes, that Kit’s beach and many other natural attractions are free for the public. However, Capitalism still managed to make it mark through the Boathouse Restaurant. The place actually is not too bad, just be aware that you’re mostly paying for the fantastic view - so don’t get the inside tables! And while they have a pretty good happy hour, I did find their Bellini a bit too sweet.
Walking further along the beach, we get to Vanier Park, which is home to a few Museums including the Vancouver Maritime, Museum of Vancouver and my Favorite, the H. R. MacMillan Space Centre.
Thankfully the center has re-opened. As a young boy, I enjoyed playing around with spacecraft and video games in this center, and even having summer camps / sleepovers there! Would highly recommend enrolling your children in this, since the world could use more dreamers and less consultants. Also, I don’t really know why there is a giant crab in front.
Walking even further to the west, we come to another favorite childhood memory of mine…
Granville Island
Managed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (Canada’s legal backstop for housing prices), Granville Island is the place to be during the summer. The mini island has shopping and gifts, lots of Arts and Culture and great food and drink in abundance. And, as an advanced child, it also has a fun public market. This could easily be a day trip, though best taken during a sunny, 20C day to slowly enjoy the outdoors.
Under the bridge, not over it
Entering the island, you’ll notice lots of boats - but don’t be fooled, you’re going on an island. There are however, a few places to rent boats of all manners, including paddle boats / waterbikes that require you to cycle to move.
I would actually recommend walking the southern part / park of the island first to get an appetite for lunch. There’s a variety of beautiful trails that meander through trees and other flora, along with wonderful sites of small lakes and the rest of False Creek.
Don’t walk into the lake
Vancouver was rated as one of the healthiest cities by CNN, and the active people playing tennis, running, biking, paddling around Granville island is a testament to that. For those that have been to Amsterdam, the vibe and smells :) I felt that afternoon was extremely similar: a laid back, slow place that nevertheless was a hotbed for exercise.
The eastern side of the island plays host to several marinas, along with a few overpriced restaurants - save your appetite!
I also did see some parked water taxis - there some quite affordable hop-on-hop off water taxis for just over $20.
Strolling back along the shore of the island, we can see some…houses? Yessir - while we all know Vancouver real estate is expensive, some have found a unique way to live. Please be respectful that there are actual residents there, and that this isn’t a tourist attraction.
Along the center of the island, we can see a few relics of Granville’s past. Originally a fishing village for the First Nations, WWII necessitated greater industrial capacity in the form of wire, steel, machinery. While this has moved to other places, remnants of both the industrial equipment and construction style remain.
Always found it interesting how spaces changed
Another point of interest is the False Creek Community center - for those with children, there is an active water park in the summer, but for now it is closed.
After all that running around, you must be a bit hungry at least. This brings us to the Granville Island Public Market! What I love about this place is the diversity of food that is available, ranging from savory pies to fresh fish and chips to hearty European wieners…you get it.
Giant sign so you won’t get lost
Nice and cosy
There’s a market too!
This place is also quite affordable (think ~$15 for a guy that pretends to weightlift like myself), and most importantly there’s a great view from the dining area.
You’ll be seeing this (hopefully sunny)
Once you’ve taking in the views, it’s time to venture back outside for some shopping. One curious thing you might notice is that there are tracks that wind around Granville Island.
I was young enough to remember that there used to be streetcars that rambled across the island. Unfortunately, it’s been almost a decade since they were in service. However, the tracks can lead you towards the shopping districts on the West and South sides of the island.
The vast majority of these stores are independent, selling…basically anything. One of the more common things for sale though are whale / sea tours, which may be worthwhile in the summertime. Personally I just like to wonder that area, but please do try to be respectful and / or buy something.
Another important area for shopping is the KIDS MARKET! It’s actually quite small physically, which again makes sense given it was designed for kids.
Inside, there are a lot of toy stores (why of course), children’s clothing and best of all multiple play areas.
Arrrrrrrr
Sadly too small for adults
Same with clothing sizes unfortunately
While my judgement may be clouded by fond childhood memories, I still believe this is an incredible day trip for visitors or residents of Vancouver. And many people seem to agree, given that a brewery popped up by the Children’s market!
Richmond
During the mid 1990s, Hong Kong was switching over to becoming a Special Administrative Region of China. Given political uncertainty, many immigrants from Hong Kong, along with those in other parts of Asia, chose to settle in Vancouver. Richmond is one of the most prominent of those groupings - a 2016 census showed that over 53% of residents in Richmond are visible minorities, with significant South Asian and Filipino populations as well. And prehaps the best embodiment of this is…this sign?? I’ll explain later. But for now, let’s take a stroll around Richmond, and admire that for now, the city has struck the right balance between density and nature.
Richmond Center is located near the aptly named Skytrain station Richmond-Brighouse, but is also quite accessible by car.
Bless the Bay
Besides a great number of restaurants, Richmond Center acts as the…center of Richmond. And I’m running out of jokes. There are a variety of important amenities, including a hospital - for you Americans there, I did have to wait a few hours for a minor head wound, but at least it didn’t cost the equivalent of a car. This is important for people visiting countries :)
Prehaps it is apt that there is a Workplace BC (our province’s employment and safety regulator) building along with a Health Sciences center nearby.
No plane jokes
Moving onto more happy pictures, the Minoru complex is a vast community park for people of all ages…and bunnies!
Is the fur camouflage? If so, its not doing a good job
Leaves or grass? Who knows
On a more serious note, don’t feed them or try to pet them. Instead, just take annoying pictures and post them on the internet. Moving on, Minoru boasts an impressive nature garden that reminded me of Victoria.
Particularly as we are approaching the winter months, I would caution against visiting the park as it’s much more fun when it’s warmer. Instead, head up to the free athletics facilities, including a track, baseball diamond, playground and workout locations.
That’s a shirt not a rabbit
Run forest run!
Given the high density of families in the area, I was not surprised to see several sports teams, including baseball and soccer.
Yellow, so you can find a kid even if it’s not yours
For those who prefer the water, the new Minoru Centre for Active Living has opened that has several pools and leisure areas. One of the best things about Vancouver as a whole is it’s commitment to keeping everyone active: a drop is in $6/7, which is quite affordable for someone looking to continue the gain train on vacation.
The are other activities here, including a library and cultural center; while I am sure the latter would be interesting to tourists, unfortunately it was closed the day I went there. Continuing on with the tradition of looking at new buildings, I walked to the newly built Richmond City Hall.
Municipal elections have some of the biggest day to day impact on citizen’s lives, so make sure you vote for them as well! While there isn’t much to do as a tourist, one can admire the architecture, and see where community tax dollars are going to.
Onto something less depressing is Canada’s first Mcdonalds, opened in 1967. It’s been renovated, and still serves up that greasy American goodness.
This should ideally fuel you up for some shopping. Which you can technically do online, but what’s the fun?
CF Richmond Center is partially owned by two pension plans - logical, as they are long term, illiquid investments that should spit out distributions / rental payments for the plan’s dependents. So feel a bit better parting your hard earned cash.
I went on the weekend, and it was indeed quite crowded; however, everyone was wearing masks, and properly distancing.
Instead of giving you a list of stores (which can be found here), I’ll point out some notable attractions: the store boasts a massive Hudsons Bay, Shoppers Drug Mart, H&M, along with stores carrying watches and jewelry that cost just under the an average Canadian’s salary. However, one thing that is affordable to most is the food court
To be honest, this food court is adequate, containing all the large retail chains that tend to dominate Canada (list here).
For a more “boutiquey” feel, I would have suggested the night markets, but in recent years they have been commercialized as well. Speaking of commericalization, we’ve come back to the beginning: what is happening to Richmond?
Given the massive housing crisis in Vancouver, many people are moving to Richmond for a slightly more affordable existence. In an effort to copy Hong Kong (see a much better video to explain), the city is allowing low/mid-rises to occupy the area, leading to high levels of construction. And its…not bad? As we learn in economics 101, increasing supply (all else being equal) will lead to lower prices. But for people who might want to escape this, and visit a more civilized Vancouver, it might be time to go to…
Stevenston
Nested a 30 minute bus ride, or 10 minute car ride is Stevenston, a small fishing village that aims to maintain its existence as a small, slow placed town. Which is good.
Who was this Garry?
Start your day strolling through the expansive, rolling landscape that is Garry Point - enjoy views ranging from fishing boats to oil tankers to local apartment buildings?
As noted earlier, there are a wide variety of ocean going vehicles here. I was lucky enough to see a massive tanker roll by - it was tough to capture the sheer size of the thing, but the website of Pacific Basin notes it’s size is an average of 30,000 metric tons of how much
stuff” the ship can carry.
Bring us more cheap junk please!
Beyond the sheer size of ships, the sheer size of the Fraser River is also something to be marveled at. Indeed, there were signs nearby telling people not to swim - nature is no joke!
It is here we can begin the Steveston Waterfront Greenways, allowing travelers to explore Steveston. I would actually deviate from this a bit: spend the morning enjoying the park, then stroll into the city for lunch.
One of the major industries of Steveston, besides tourism, is, as this proud sign pronounces, fishing. Take that vegetarians, especially since the sign also costed $150,000. You dont see six figure signs talking about plants do you.
There are both old industrial relics (the Canning Factory) and new (Fisheries and Oceans) fishing artifacts here. Note that unfortunately, the Canning Factory’s guided tours are shut for the present, although you can still enter between the hours of 10am-5pm. You also were able to do a party, wedding or even movie shoot inside for the reasonable price of $495, but again not possible given current circumstances. After checking out the buildings, it’s time to move onto the Harbour, and the main attraction.
Work and play
But first, you need to feed the seagull a slice of smoked salmon. I’m joking, but look at the size of the things.
Fisherman’s Wharf is a place for Fisherfolk to sell their stock directly to the public, although this isn’t a full free for all. There is nothing better than buying sashimi grade tuna or salmon directly from the ocean, or even shrimp, cod, sea urchins, crab. Just make sure to follow their instructions when cooking and moving the product to your final destination.
Unfortunately, the restaurants at the Harbour front seem to mainly be selling their views - I have been to several, and there aren’t any I can particularly recommend - that’s not to say the food isn’t good, its just not amazing.
Just a picture
Moving inwards, we can take a quick peak at how people in Steveston live. I saw a high number of families with young children, which makes sense given the slower pace of life. I indeed have played at this playround, and remember everything was a lot bigger. Then I realized that it was indeed I, who had gotten bigger. #consultant
It’s only time before you’re tall enough to reach the horizen
This used to be a lot taller.
For those of us not 5 year old stuck in a 25 year old’s body, there a variety of other attractions, notably a Japanese garden, cultural center and swimming pool.
There is also an affordable aquatic center for those of you that listened to the warnings about not swimming in rapid currents.
But for those of us who are 5 year olds, theres a giant TRAM in the middle of the city. Unfortunately, the opening hours are from Thursday - Sunday from 12:00-4:00PM, so I wasn’t able to get any great pictures.
Finally, it there was a central square at Steveston, this would be it.
Overall, Steveston is definitely worth a day from Richmond, or even downtown Vancouver, but given the closeless to those places I would not stay overnight. Expect to see a quieter side of the city, and the fish, forests and oceans that Vancouver is famous for.
Closing
Vancouver sometimes gets the reputation for being a bit…boring. While it isn’t a New York, London or Hong Kong, there is still so much to see and do here. I hope you’ve enjoyed this mini-series. Before you leave however, one final note: please don’t come during the rainy months (Oct / Nov, Feb / Mar), as Vancouver is best enjoyed when it’s sunny!
