Recently, one of my friends posted a list put out by Vancouver magazine called "125 Reasons to Love Vancouver," a list of all the things that are positive about Vancouver. You can check out the article yourself at this particular address:
http://www.vanmag.com/Entertainment/125_Reasons_to_Love_Vancouver?page=0%2C0
While I am in favour of celebrating the communities of where we live, I can't help but think that many of the ideas and suggestions compiled in this list certainly reflect the bias of those who have put together the list, and those who are going to read the list. So while the list certainly reflects a west side or downtown sensibility, there's very little that reflects the east side of Vancouver. Certainly if anything east of Main Street is reflected in the list, it is usually an area that is in the process of gentrifying or an area that has received quite a bit of press.
So for the benefit of anyone reading this blog, here are a few humble additions to the "125 Reasons to Love Vancouver" that have roots in East Vancouver. (Should any of these ideas make it to a larger media voice, some credit would be nice.) The list is certainly not exhaustive; I'm sure I missed a few more high points of East Vancouver life, but it's certainly a start.
125 Reasons to Love Vancouver -- East Side Additions
- The fact that Avalon Dairy on Wales Street still exists in a residential area. Proof that not so long ago, the east side of Vancouver had agricultural roots.
- Built in 1958, the PNE wooden roller coaster is exceptional in its design that it has important historical value as seen by Heritage Vancouver.
- Within 1.6km along Kingsway, the neighbourhood of Renfrew Collingwood contains three valuable heritage sites: the 2400 Motel, Collingwood branch library, and the Guy Carleton Elementary School site.
- Almost as old as the city, Purdy's Chocolates (founded in 1907) can be found at 2777 Kingsway. They had moved into a former Canada Dry bottling plant.
- The neighbourhood of Renfrew Collingwood has two celebrated library branch designs: the Renfrew branch library (winning a RAIC Governor General Awards for Architecture) and Collingwood branch library (once the most visited Modernist building in East Vancouver).
- The cultivation of particular gardens at Hastings Park: Momiji Gardens, Italian Gardens and the Sanctuary. Making the PNE just a little more green.
- One of the founders of the Shakespeare Garden in Stanley Park -- John Francis Bursill -- has roots in Renfrew Collingwood.
