VANCOUVER’S ‘GREAT STREETS’
`The Drive' — vibrant, low-rise and café cultured — tops the list for most residents
Vancouver city councillors say they're going to create a “Great Street” on Broadway.
That's one of the big promises in the Broadway plan, which has already enticed more than 100 developers to propose mostly highrise residential towers for the seven-kilometre thoroughfare.
Given public skepticism about the city's vision for the roaring Broadway corridor, we asked readers what they consider to be Vancouver's greatest street.
Readers' top pick in the greatstreet competition was east Vancouver's vibrant, low-rise, café-cultured Commercial Drive, between Venables and 12th Avenue.
That high status shouldn't come as too big a shock since Time Out, a global publisher of city guides, recently named Commercial Drive the fifth “coolest street” in the world.
There was a tie among readers for second place. Energetic, eclectic, multi-ethnic Main Street, between Broadway and 33rd, stacked up fairly evenly against South Granville, between Broadway and 16th, with its tony art galleries.
We looked into why readers consider these stretches of Commercial, Main and South Granville to be great streets. We also checked out about half a dozen other streets that readers suggest are the best in the city of Vancouver.
What are the qualities of a great street? They can be elusive.
But former urban-planning professor Allan Jacobs, who wrote about 13 of them around the world in his legendary book Great Streets, said: “First and foremost, a great street should help make community. … A great street should be a most desirable place to be, to spend time, to live, to play, to work. … Streets are settings for activities that bring people together.”
More specifically, Jacobs and other urban planners say great streets are characterized by design features such as benches and adjacent parks, similar-sized buildings, roomy sidewalks for leisurely strolling, interesting facades, windows that invite viewing, “multi-way boulevards,” stopping places and trees.
Let's see how such qualities apply
to some of readers' favourite streets in the city of Vancouver:
COMMERCIAL DRIVE
Sitting at a small sidewalk table outside Continental Coffee on Commercial Drive, Theodore Abbott says, “I'd call it a great street. And I think we should attach that logo to it.”
Abbott, a 26-year-old graduate of Capilano University's urban geography department, grew up a couple of blocks off Commercial. He is among the many readers who nominated this stretch of road between Venables and 12th.
One reason is the street's long devotion to café society. “That's what drives the Drive,” Abbott says.
Its Italian, Portuguese and other cafés go back decades. Starbucks
and McDonald's both tried years ago to make a go of it on Commercial, and failed.
“The 40-year-old cafés withstood the global conglomerates,” says Abbott.
Commercial is home to a multitude of restaurants, including six restaurant-bars that offer live music. That's along with dozens of independent businesses: fruit and vegetable shops, hardware stores, vintage-clothing outlets, record shops and bookstores, wellness centres, bakeries, florists and delicatessens. You name it.
Commercial Drive has mostly warded off the gentrification that has descended upon many other Vancouver streets, causing a sameness, says Abbott.
Commercial is successful in part
because many of the people who work in its shops can also afford to live in the neighbourhood, he says. That's not generally the case, he suggests, for people employed downtown or in West Broadway's retail outlets, who often have to commute from Burnaby or Coquitlam.
Around Commercial are many tree-lined streets with a mix of housing, much of it exuding character and heritage. There is also social housing in the form of co-ops, subsidized rentals and residences for seniors and Indigenous people, says Abbott.
Several other Continental Café customers proudly declare that Commercial Drive has a gritty quality, with many supports for those who are homeless or otherwise marginalized.
“We're all part of the community and we support the community. We're one big family,” says 71-yearold Kevin, who is involved in distribution of free food.
“We bring the virtues of the past to the present,” says Kevin. Asked what those virtues are, he says dignity and respect.
How long can Commercial remain as it is? Gentrification is coming as more professionals and others move in to what has long been a working-class, left-wing community, says Abbott, who has a podcast called On Site Report: Vancouver.
“The number of new Teslas on the street is pretty telling,” he says, noting the neighbourhood is now made up of more people of European background than when he attended Lord Nelson elementary school 15 years ago.
The main concern about Commercial for Abbott and others is three residential towers — of 39 storeys, 34 storeys and 31 storeys — proposed for the dramatically upzoned blocks around the SkyTrain Station at Broadway and Commercial.
Grandview-Woodland residents have been pushing for the highrises to be modified to better integrate into the community, particularly to address Metro Vancouver's devastating housing crisis by providing significant amounts of affordable housing.
“The vibe of Commercial could be impacted negatively with something alien to the community,” says Abbott. “That's not density. … That's just congestion.”
MORE OF VANCOUVER' `BEST' STREETS
Let's go through some of the runners-up for Vancouver's best street, according to the many readers who offered their opinions.
MAIN STREET
The long section of Main Street between Broadway and 33rd is “interesting, fun, and for the most part authentic,” says Blair Redlin. The stretch, which maintains a “mostly human scale,” might even be better than it was two decades ago, he says.
Redlin isn't alone in singling out this passage of mostly locally owned cafés, pubs, ethnic restaurants, flower shops, bookstores, health clinics, fish shops and plazas, plus the community Heritage Hall.
“Main Street is extremely walkable, with ma and pa shops selling everything from records to fish and produce,” says Herman Thind.
“The boulevard plazas created on side streets near cafés really add to the vibe with live music, art shows and the like. Car-free days here, and on Commercial and in Kitsilano, are a huge plus.”
Redlin's concern for the future of Main is prompted by the changes he sees near Broadway and Kingsway, where generic high-end condos and expensive retail markets are appearing in anticipation of the new SkyTrain station.
While we're on the east side, let's throw in an honourable mention for another nearby street: Victoria Drive, between 33rd and 41st. It's an emerging retail village that captures the imagination of some readers.
GRANVILLE STREET SOUTH
These blocks of Granville between Broadway and 16th Avenue offer a taste of “old Vancouver,” say Daphne and Peter Spencer.
Even though the street comes with a river of cars heading into and out
of downtown, Granville's numerous pedestrian-activated traffic lights calm things down. And some of South Granville's public patios and outdoor green spaces, created when the city cut off side-street traffic, are quietly dazzling, some with murals.
Granville has many art galleries, clothing stores, bistros, furniture outlets and restaurants, plus the destination draws of a giant Indigo Books and the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, a 650-seat theatre. The Spencers say the sidewalks become suddenly alive after a theatrical production ends.
Big change is coming fast to South Granville, however. A stark 39-storey tower is almost complete at the corner of Broadway and Granville. And the city and province are encouraging scores more skyscrapers for this medium-rise neighbourhood, which the Broadway plan envisions as Vancouver's “second downtown.”
WEST BROADWAY IN KITSILANO
Greg Weir, a musician who conducts workshops with elementary school students, says, “West Broadway, from Larch to Alma, is my walkable village. I don't need to venture beyond it for anything my heart desires.”
This portion of West Broadway (which is outside the high-density Broadway plan) has “specialty food stores, the best priced fruit and vegetable stores, hardware outlets, a library, three dollar stores and four thrift stores,” says Weir.
“There are more restaurants than anyone needs, and there are five live entertainment venues, including the Hollywood theatre, the most gloriously renovated old theatre in town.”
The current commercial landlords in this part of Kitsilano tend to be “open to the community,” Weir says. Even West Broadway's chain outlets, like a McDonald's fast-food restaurant and a Safeway, offer free washroom access. And so does the Parthenon supermarket and the public library. In addition, the mostly oneand two-storey retail buildings don't cause extensive shadow problems, the way towers do, he says.
“They allow sunny sidewalks all year round.”
Will the city's across-the-board upzoning, Weir wonders, harm this special street?
The other Kitsilano street that warrants an honourable mention is West Fourth, which was the heart of Vancouver's hippie culture in the 1970s and '80s.
It still has its low-slung appeal and fascinating restaurants, say readers.
It's also fairly close to the beach. Not to mention that in 2000 it became home to Lululemon's original standalone store.
DENMAN
In the 1970s, Denman Street in Vancouver's West End was perfect for strolling down to English Bay, says Gareth Sirotnik.
“And it remains throbbing with life,” he says. “There are numerous small one-off restaurants, hundreds of people, including students from all over the world, out for a walk or on their way to work or play. It's alive and fun.”
Denman, pleasantly dishevelled, is not only near vast Stanley Park and the seaside promenades of Coal Harbour, it intersects with a still delightful section of Robson Street.
“Lower Robson in the blocks east of Denman is similarly alive with restaurants and cosmopolitan texture,” says Sirotnik.
Staying on the subject of the West End, Sirotnik puts in a good word for Davie Street Village, roughly between Burrard and Jervis. “It remains the lively gay village it's been for decades.”
He doesn't have the same sentiments for the blocks of Davie that abut Denman, which he says have been “murdered of distinct personality.” He calls it a “characterless heap of giant highrises” that is “mediocre, crowded and intimidating.”
TWO POPULAR STREETS IN TRANSITION
Veteran Vancouverites have strong feelings about the upscaling of downtown's Robson Street.
In the 1970s, it was known as “Robsonstrasse” because of the European flavour of its restaurants and charming markets.
“It was a street of small locally owned shops, friendly, with a great variety of offerings. Spice shops, bakeries, small restaurants, etc. It was classy, homey and welcoming,” says Bruce Strachan.
“This all changed by the '80s. As Robson Street modernized, Vancouver lost a large slice of character,” Strachan says.
Retailers' rents rocketed to among the highest in the world — and the “glass, chrome and highrises do nothing for the neighbourhood,” he says, while acknowledging Robson is often packed with curious tourists and shoppers.
Then there is the stretch of 41st Avenue that runs through increasingly pricey Kerrisdale.
Daphne Spencer sees its current appeal, but readily acknowledges a strong personal bias for its past. When she grew up in Kerrisdale, “the village had small stores with proprietors that knew the families. It was another time!”
Although 41st Avenue still has many handy bakeries, cafés, shoe and clothing stores, a grocery store and a London Drugs, Spencer says, “as a village, to me, it seems to have lost its casual, friendly vibe.”
Herman Thind sees the appeal of the stretch: “I love the urban village aspect of West 41st, in the heart of Kerrisdale. It kind of pops up when you drive west along 41st past rows of single-family homes. You almost don't expect it. I think that seclusion makes it special.”
However, he adds, despite 41st Avenue's animated restaurants and unique camera and book stores, “the fact vehicle traffic doesn't seem to end after the rush is harmful to the feel of the place.”
Nominate a great street in Metro Vancouver: So that's a look at readers' nominations for the greatest streets in Vancouver. But what about the rest of Metro Vancouver? What are the best streets in the 21 municipalities of this urban region of 2.5 million people? Where are the walkable, likable winners? In New Westminster, Surrey, Port Moody and elsewhere?
Send your nominations to dtodd@postmedia.com