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Published: November 14th 2009
Westside Heritage Homes
1918 Craftsman home located on a heritage streetscape. Neighbourhood Hopping on the Westside
Hopping south across the Burrard Street, Granville Street and Cambie Street bridges, Vancouver's westside offers tourist attractions embedded in its residential neighbourhoods that feature single-family dwellings, tree-lined streets, shopping districts, and private schools, clubs and golf courses.
Queen Elizabeth Park, VanDusen Gardens, Nitobe Gardens, University Endownment Lands, public beaches and golf courses, University of British Columbia, museums, live theatre venues and Granville Island Public Market are visitor highlights. On some of the westside's shopping streets, some of the best restaurants and shops in Vancouver can be discovered. Walks along the University Endownment Lands trails, along the beachfront or along the lively shopping streets make for great times on the westside.
Kerrisdale, Dunbar & Southlands Kerrisdale's history....In 1862, The McCleery's Farm on the Fraser River was one of the first settlements on the westside of Vancouver, located just east of the ancient aboriginal village of Musqueam. Named in 1905 in honour of one of the pioneers' old family home in Kerrydale ("little seat of the fairies") in Scotland when the interurban stop at Wilson Road, now called West 41st Avenue, was called Kerry's Dale, it was quickly corrupted to Kerrisdale. Kerrisdale was once
Neighbourhood Banners
Every neighbourhood has unique banners adorning their shopping streets and bridges.
Banners change depending on the season of the year or promote special events or tourist sites! part of the Municipality of Point Grey. On January 1, 1929, the City of Vancouver, the Municipality of South Vancouver and the Municipality of Point Grey were amalgamated into the third largest city in Canada, which is now known as the City of Vancouver!
Kerrisdale today...is one of 23 neighbourhoods in Vancouver. The Travelling Canucks have called Kerrisdale home for most of our lives, although Mama Canuck and Canuck Junior were both born in Kitsilano! Not only does Kerrisdale have lovely parks, such as Kerrisdale Centennial Park, site of the Kerrisdale Community and Seniors Centre with indoor pool, Elm Park, location of the Kerrisdale Lawn Bowling Club, and Maple Grove Park, its tree-lined streets are complemented with heritage homes and some of Vancouver’s best shops call Kerrisdale home, such as Buchan’s, one of the best stationery stores; Hills, a fashion store for tweens, teens and young fashion conscious yuppies; and, Isola Bella's, selling European couture for children.
Here are some of the Travelling Canucks' favourite restaurants in Kerrisdale:
• Bean Brothers - breakfast, brunch and lunch hot spot.
• Secret Garden Tea Company - lunch and high tea on West Boulevard. Lovely ambiance for high tea! Reservations recommended since it's
Stanley Theatre, South Granville
A heritage building that presents live theatre in the district of Shaughnessy with wonderful restaurants for dining before or after a performance. popular!
• Irashai Sushi - busy Japanese restaurant.
• Sugarcane Vietnamese Cafe on West Boulevard
• Baan Wasana - great Thai restaurant.
• Golden Ocean Seafood - one of the best dim sum and Chinese restaurants in Vancouver.
Southlands features large estates with private and public horse stables on the banks of the Fraser River. Dunbar Street is the dividing line between Kerrisdale and Dunbar offering a few restaurants worth trying! If you are interested in stamp and coin collecting, drop by All Nations Stamps just off Dunbar Street & 41st Avenue for a great collection of Canadian coins and stamps, including Vancouver 2010 Olympic collections!
Dunbar- Recommended Restaurants & Cafes • La Buca - Italian dining off Macdonald & King Edward Avenue (25th Avenue).
• Handi - Indian cuisine on Dunbar Street. Rated as one of Vancouver's best moderately priced Indian restaurants. Excellent service!
• Butter - bakery on Dunbar Street at 30th offering delicious homemade desserts. Love the Oreo and Peanut Butter filled cookies and marshmallow treats!
Shaughnessy South Granville has been one of Vancouver's premier shopping and cultural streets since the 1930s when the Stanley Theatre with an Art Deco exterior and neoclassical interior became a landmark that still survives
Glen Brae Mansion
One of the exquisite mansions in First Shaughnessy. today. After the first Granville Street Bridge was built in 1889, Shaughnessy Heights, the most exclusive subdivision developed by the CPR starting in 1910, included "First Shaughnessy" comprised of 425 acres of land between West 16th and King Edward Avenue, bounded on the east by Oak Street and on the west by the B.C. Electric Railway Vancouver—Lulu Island interurban line, known today as the Arbutus Corridor.
Vancouver’s social elite lived in the mansions that are still gracing the tree-lined streets that wind through the neighbourhood. Shaughnessy’s existing building restrictions have allowed the neighbourhood to retain its character. Walking amongst the lavish homes, manicured lawns and some of Vancouver’s finest street trees, reveals homes of many architectural traditions: Victorian, English Arts and Crafts, Tudor Revival, Craftsman, Spanish Colonial Revival, 18th century Georgian, Federal Style Homes, Cape Cod cottages and oversized California bungalows.
While distances aren't conducive for a comfortable stroll, it's a great place to drive or bike along the leafy, park-like streets, especially in the spring when trees and gardens are blossoming. As an enclave for Vancouver's budding elite, stately homes and monstrous mansions, many of which are now featured in film shoots or rented by Hollywood movie
Queen Elizabeth Park
Queen Elizabeth Park gardens at Cambie Street and 33rd Avenue in the district called Oakridge. Next to the Olympic Curling Centre.
stars while they're filming in Hollywood North, Shaughnessy is also home to many old Vancouver families with a pioneer past. The center of opulence is the Crescent, an elliptical street to the southwest of Granville and 16th Avenue.
Our favorites are:
• Frederick Kelly House at 1398 Crescent St.
• Fleck house at 1296 Crescent St.
• Nichol house at1402 McRae Ave.
• Hycroft house at 1489 McRae Ave., built in 1909, was the largest and most expensive mansion which is now popular for weddings and its annual Christmas fair.
• Glen Brae House at 1690 Matthews St., built in 1910 in a Scottish baronial-style home with a pair of twin towers with dome roofs on either side of the grand entrance porch. It is one of its most beautiful mansions that now houses Canuck Place, a children's hospice.
VanDusen Botanical Garden, located on Oak Street just south of 33rd Avenue, is home to more than 255,000 plants representing more than 7,300 varieties from around the world. The plants are organized to represent the flora of various ecosystems, including the native Pacific Northwest, sub-tropical Africa, the Himalayas, and Arctic Canada. Among the plants and trees, there is an impressive collection of sculpture from local
California Bungalows in Kits
Heritage streetscape in Kitsilano. First Nation totem poles to busts of famous Canadians to very contemporary pieces by sculptors from around the world and several fountains. The Travelling Canucks enjoy visiting the gift shop, restaurant, Christmas Lights, an annual Christmas light display, and attending the annual plant sale where we buy amazing native plants if other avid gardeners don't beat us as we race to find some of the rarest varieties! It's quite the sight to see gardeners with their wheelbarrows racing around the garden!
South Granville- Recommended Restaurants & Cafes • West Restaurant + Bar - one of Vancouver's finest restaurants on Granville Street with valet service.
• Vij's - one of Vancouver's finest restaurants, Indian cuisine, no reservations so get there early!
• Rangoli-casual dining next to Vij's, same owner.
• Meinhardt’s - delicious take away meals and desserts. Check out Picnix for Meinhardt's gourmet food while chatting at the inside communal picnic table.
Fairview, Cambie & Oakridge Both Queen Elizabeth Park at Oakridge and VanDusen Botanical Garden in Shaughnessy are worth touring during garden season, March to October. Situated on what was once the site of a quarry at 500 feet (150m) in altitude and referred to as Little Mountain, Queen
Kits Beach Voted One of the Sexiest Beaches!
Packed with beach babes and buff dudes on sunny summer weekends! Elizabeth Park has offered one of the best views in the city since the 1930s. The Quarry Garden includes a colorful array of annual and perennial flowers that change with the seasons. A stream runs through the garden and a waterfall cascades peacefully among the flowers. The Bloedel Floral Conservatory features tropical and exotic plants as well as Koi fish and exotic birds - a great escape to the tropics over the winter months.
The Queen Elizabeth Park Arboretum was established nearly 60 years ago with the goal of including every tree species native to Canada. Trees continue to be added in search of that goal but exotic trees from other countries are part of the landscape as well. The park has a disc (Frisbee) golf course, 3-par Pitch and Putt Course, putting green, Queen Elizabeth Park Lawn Bowling Club, 18 tennis courts, a restaurant, a lovely fountain, and a “painter’s corner”.
Vancouver's first shopping center, Oakridge Centre, located at 41st and Cambie, is a great fashion mall for touring on cold, wet days! Oakridge Station on the Canada Line makes this a convenient stop!
Fairview's Highlights:
• Granville Island Public Market - Check out our blog titled:
Kitsilano Shopping District
Gumdrops for raingear, Kitsilano Wine Celler for great wine selection and Call the Kettle Black for kitchen gadgets! Just a few of the wonderful shops on 4th Avenue! Great Times at Granville Island for the Top 5 Things to See and Do!
• Walking along the seawall that overlooks the northshore of False Creek.
• Vancouver City Hall.
Fairview & Cambie Recommended Restaurants & Cafes • Memphis Blues Barbeque House, off Broadway & Granville Street - great barbeque in a relaxed, casual atmosphere.
• Tojo's - Vancouver's most famous Japanese chef's restaurant. Pricey, but worth every bite. Favorite dish: Tojo's Tuna.
• Pied a Terre - lovely food and service at this small bistro on Cambie Street, just south of 16th Avenue.
Kitsilano Kitsilano, known as "Kits", once the centre of the 1960's counterculture, has been gentrified by yuppies, young families and students who call Kits home. There are small hints of it being the centre of hippie culture in the city. The Naam Cafe at 4th and Macdonald, providing vegetarian, vegan, and natural foods and the location where Greenpeace was founded in 1975, are two landmarks from the era. Yoga studios, organic markets and cafes still dot the shopping streets.
Kitsilano is bordered to the north by two beaches, Kitsilano Beach and Jericho Beach on the shores of English Bay. Kits Beach has been named one of the Top 10 sexiest beaches
in North America, according to an annual ranking by Forbes Traveler magazine.
Residential areas and beaches are complimented with two shopping streets, 4th Avenue and West Broadway. Some of the city's greatest shops can be found in Kits, such as Kidsbooks, a fantastic children's bookstore for ages 0 to 16 and some of the best restaurants in Vancouver with international reputations, such as Bishop's and Lumiere, call Kitsilano home.
Also, Kits, once home to Vancouver's Greek community, still celebrates its heritage with Greek Days; however, fewer Greek shops line the streets than years gone by.
Today, Kitsilano is home to Bard on the Beach, one of North America's premier Shakespearean festivals which presents Shakespearean works with West Coast flair under the tents at Vanier Park from June to September with the ocean, cityscape and mountains as the backdrop.
Museums at Vanier Park include:
• H.R. MacMillan Space Centre - Space museum, planetarium, and a full-motion virtual simulator that takes visitors on “rides” through space, Ground Station Canada, a 90-seat multi-media theater presents live action and video productions, and observatory.
• Vancouver Museum - Canada’s largest civic museum dedicated to exploring the human and natural history of the
greater Vancouver area.
• Vancouver Maritime Museum.
Kitsilano - Recommended Restaurants & Cafes • Sunshine Diner - our favorite breakfast spot for eggs benny on Broadway, east of MacDonald Street!
• Moderne Burger - a family favorite on Broadway & Larch Street. Pile on the extras for a delicious, but pricey burger.
• Vera's Burger Shack, in Kitsilano just west of the Burrard Street Bridge exit on Cornwall Street.
• Terra Breads - Kitsilano - great sandwiches on 4th Avenue, just west of Vine Street.
• Iki Japanese - great Japanese recommended by a friend a year ago. We have been going ever since! Just east of MacDonald Street on Broadway.
• Las Margaritas - great Mexican food and lively, casual atmosphere on 4th Avenue.
• Jolly's Indian Bistro - great Indian cuisine on 4th Avenue, just west of MacDonald Street.
• Bishops - quintessential West Coast cuisine on 4th Avenue, just west of Arbutus Street.
• La Quercia on Broadway & Alma Street.
• Lumiere on Broadway.
• Grounds for Coffee for the best cinnamon buns in town. Head for the corner of Alma and 10th Avenue, where they come right out of the oven - baked fresh!
• Coco & Olive for a casual lunch, French Country Style, on Broadway,
Museum of Anthropology
Located at the University of British Columbia. Worth visiting in 2010! just east of Alma!
Point Grey & UBC The local Musqueam people lived here in the ancient village of Ee'yullmough. Spaniard, Jose Narvaez discovered Point Grey in 1791 and named it Langara Point. The next year, Captains Galiano and Valdez ran into Captain Vancouver off the same shore. This meeting led to the naming of two local areas: Spanish Banks and English Bay. In 1908, the Municipality of Point Grey was established. In 1909, a one-room schoolhouse was built for the area's 24 children. The wooden structure still stands on the bluffs overlooking Spanish Banks.
West Point Grey features two notable 1913 Tudor revival mansions: Rear House is now the Aberthau Cultural Centre while Brock House, on Jericho Beach, is a senior's activity centre and a restaurant. The Old Hastings Mill Store Museum, in Pioneer Park at the foot of Alma, was the general store for the Hastings Mill, the first industrial building in Vancouver's city centre. Built in 1865, it is the oldest building in Vancouver and was moved to this site in 1930. The building was also Vancouver's first post office, first library, and first community centre. Today, the store is a museum, owned and
Bill Reid's The Raven and First Men
Featured at the Museum of Anthropology. operated by the Native Daughters of B.C.
Highlights in Point Grey are the University of British Columbia, Museum of Anthropology(MOA), Nitobe Gardens, the trails that wind through the UBC Endowment Lands and the beaches that line the shores, including Wreck Beach, Spanish Banks and Jericho Beach. Check out our blog titled:
Life’s a Beach for information on Vancouver's beaches that line English Bay and beyond!
West 10th Avenue is the shopping street in this beautiful neighbourhood where we recommend the following restaurants:
• Mix the Bakery - sandwiches and baked goods.
• Enigma - brunch.
• Burgoo Bistro - dinner.
• Provence Mediterranean Grill - brunch and dinner.
As you enter The Museum of Anthropology's massive carved-wood doors, a walkway known as the Ramp leads to the 49ft high Great Hall. The Ramp displays Haida Village artifacts including many large objects from the cedar plank houses of British Columbia's aboriginal peoples, including decorative carvings, structural beams and totem poles. The collection in the Great Hall, where the tall glass walls overlook the cliffs of Point Grey, features totem poles of the First Nations of Coastal British Columbia. Reconstructed Haida houses are built outside on the museum grounds.
One of the museum's highlights
Bard on the Beach
Great theatre of Shakespeare's greatest works at Vanier Park, Kitsilano. is a contemporary sculpture created by the late Haida craftsman Bill Reid: The Raven and the First Men. This important sculpture depicts the Haida legend that tells the story of the beginning of mankind where life started when a raven flew from heaven towards the earth and found the earth covered in snow. He then stole the sun from the gods and created animals, forests, rivers and oceans. One day, on a beach, the raven found an enormous clamshell with five men in it. The raven coaxed them into leaving the shell with the promise of a prosperous life. Hesitant at first, they eventually emerged from the shell, becoming the first Haida men. Eventually, the raven told them where to find women.
The MOA has one of the most extensive collections of anthropological items and artifacts in the world with 500,000 archaeological objects and 35,000 ethnographic pieces. The museum’s Visible Storage Gallery allows the public to view objects from the permanent collection, including not only First Nation artifacts but also objects from the Mediterranean, Africa, Indonesia, China, Oceania, India, Central America, Japan, and other parts of the world. The Visible Storage Gallery is scheduled to reopen in January 2010!
Walking Street
From Burrard Street to Larch, there are great shops and restaurants that line 4th Avenue. One of the better shopping streets! Trattoria at Italian Kitchen and Las Margaritas are just a few recommended restaurants on 4th. Other museums at UBC include the Pacific Museum of the Earth and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, a natural history museum which is planned to be open in early 2010.
Thanks for joining us on our tour of our own stomping grounds. Born, raised and living on the westside is what makes the Travelling Canucks happy to return home after travelling to other parts of the world! We enjoy the relaxed pace of life on the westside. It may not be living on the wildside, but it offers the best of westcoast living!
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