neighbourhood part deux

Okay, so now we're up on Commercial Drive, the bustling hippie hub of the neighbourhood, modly referred to as 'The Drive', not the least reason for which are these intermittent cement blocks placed into the sidewalk.

Some of my favourite places are on the Drive, including this minimalist coffee shop called Prado. It's got white walls, wooden floors & tables, white windows, natural blinds to shield latte drinkers and espresso connaisseurs alike from the beaming sun (which happens a lot more than you'd think here in Vancouver!). Also, if you order a cappuccino, the coffee guys (no barista names here) will do the foam/espresso design in the loveliest of swirly patters. They're pros.

I found this reasonable facsimile of a latte you'd find at Prado on the net. Believe it or not, in a gallery of latte art. Cool!

Here we find some additional interesting culinary establishments... including the bakery (which I actually haven't been in but I thought had an interesting sign) and the BEST GELATO PLACE EVER, Dolce Amore. Their product is unbelievable-- a must to visit for every resident and traveler through Vancouver. On the corner of Commercial and whatever the next street North is from 1st.

And finally for now, the view down the lower (more hippy) end of the street. This is the entrance to the hot yoga studio (my own yoga teacher swears hot yoga is ridiculous and not core to the essence of being as other forms) on the drive. Their webmaster/owner seems like quite a nut, but whatever. Anyway, like the retro colouring on this photo? Note the omnipresent hills in the background. More to come later!!

a beautiful day in the neighbourhood

So welcome home. To my home that is, for now. We find ourselves at the beginning of the tour, in the lobby of the building. An exit sign looms, and one of the hallmark symbols of the building is in view: the "stained glass" window in the middle of each of the heavy red front doors. AP and I made bets on whether they originated from an Italian or a Chinese restaurant... Hard to say.

From here, we pass through the front doors to where the front entrance used to hold three cherished cherry trees. I used to love coming home in the spring and summer last year through the pink and white blossoms.. Even when they would start to rot and turn brown and stick to everything. They must have committed some either health&safety or environmental or stylistic sin, because last week somebody came along and amputated mostly all of their branches. It was too tragic to photograph, so I didn't.

We turn left over the sidewalk and look toward the end of the street. Facing north, you can see the mountains in the distance. One of my favourite pastimes is to check the status/colour of the hills every morning from the skytrain. Some days they look white, some green, some grey, and when you're lucky, my favourite: dark blue. Some days they even look black.

Today was pretty hazy so they were dark, but not bluish enough to be delicious. But you can see Grouse Mountain in the distance: the white rectangle patch that you can see illuminated by night all year round. At the stop sign is where I normally start my runs, turning right.


So Vancouver (and presumably the whole west coast) is awash with vegetation that is (for an eastern-Canada-born girl like me) quite unfamiliar. Some of my favourite specimens can be enjoyed in our neighbourhood. We're also lucky to live right on the network of bicycle paths that run through greater Vancouver. As we turn up the next street corner, we get onto the street that always makes up the first part of my runs, and also happens to be where we drive to get to the gym, the grocery store and the library:

You can see there is a school on the left, and the mountains always in view.


Here are some of the best specimens of those greenery wonders. I'm not sure what this first one iscalled, but isn't it weird how bulbous the nodes are?

Then there's this one.

It's called a monkey tree. Ha ha!! Can you believe it?! A monkey tree! This is a closeup of its "arms"!!

Beautiful, no? It's like a northern palm, if you ask me.

Speaking of palms, some kook over on 5th planted these bamboo stalks all around his front entrance. Walking through the sidewalk is like going on the wild side (but only for a few metres).

The next part of the tour will take us up to the main drag: Commercial Drive. It's a colourful place, and you'll see, full of interesting characters.

To be continued...