Vancouver, a city of two million, unites urban excitement with outdoor adventure. Surrounded on three sides by water there are some areas where the mountains literally meet the sea. Walking trails along the water surround down town. It is an exciting, busy, cosmopolitan, healthy, fairly quiet, clean city that is pedestrian friendly. Downtown is easy to walk and distances are short.
The
year round balmy climate is perfect for the plentiful lush parklands. Exquisite
formal gardens contrast with bold architecture throughout the city. Recreational
facilities are abundant throughout the city.
The city is a mosaic of people, cultures, food, and language. The rich
combination of cultures from around the world has brought the best of native
cuisine to Vancouver with the 4000 restaurants, bistros, and cafes serving 25
different kinds of food. We had wonderful Asian meals and after each said we’d
have to return to that restaurant, but the next one was just as good and we
never visited the same restaurant twice!
Today the city is one of immigrants with
many Chinese, Japanese & East Indians. Between 1881-1885 17,000 Chinese
arrived to work on the railroad, mines, (copper, zinc, lead, coal and gold)
canneries, and to serve as house servants.
The 1885 Chinese Immigration Act prohibited the Chinese a vote, able to
lease land, or to choose a profession.
Japanese arrived in large numbers in 1886.
They worked in the herring and fish industry, in the mills, on farms, and
opened shops and stores. By the 1890s the original Musqueams and Squeamish
peoples saw their life style disappear.
By the turn of the century Vancouver had
become the financial, transportation and supply center of British Columbia.
Salmon canneries boomed and the demand for paper & pulp created 100 new
forestry companies in 10 years. Between
1910-1912 the population swelled from 27,000 to 122,000! Streetcars traveled
over 250 miles of track. Roads were brick, macadam, or mud. High-rise
buildings---4-5 stories high---started to emerge.
The West End is densely populated with
40,000 people living there, which translates to 625 people per square
kilometer. That compares to 4.5 people per square kilometer in all of British Columbia! Here
people walk to work. There are no freeways in the city, they all end just
outside the city.
British Columbia is larger than Texas. There
are 197 Nation Bands (indigenous people) in the province. If you remember that
the north to south roads in the city are streets, and the east to west roads
are avenues, it is easy to find your way around.
It
was immediately obvious that glass towers and spires dominate the city’s
skyline. Many of the glass buildings were built when the city hosted the 1986
Expo. Dark glass indicates that the building was built in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
The later buildings have lighter glass.
The
classical columns of the Vancouver Art Gallery, the art deco detail of the
Marine Building, and the Roman echoes of the Vancouver Public Library temper
the glass-sheathed business towers. The Marine Building, built in 1929, now has
the only art deco remaining in the city. The depression hit the city hard
resulting in much unemployment and many bankruptcies, and in the early 1930s
the Guinness family (of liquor fame) bought the building for $900,000. In 1933
the first four floors (of 20) were leased out.
The
Gothic revival tower on the Holy Rosary Cathedral, built in 1900, is 66 meters
tall and contains eight bells that are still rung by hand.
The
Hotel Vancouver built in 1887, was replaced in 1916, and replaced again in
1936. Until 1972 it was the tallest building in the city.
An
exotic mix of ancient aboriginal settlements mix with ultra modern high rise
buildings to surround the beautiful and busy harbor. The port of Vancouver,
stretching 145 miles along the Burrard Inlet, is the largest in North America
The Sea
Bus Terminal is in the old Canadian Pacific Railroad building, just at the edge
of Gastown.
Canada
Place with its five distinctive white sails is the ship terminal. A million
people a year pass through the terminal on cruise ships on their way to Alaska.
More Vancouver next time.
Check posts 11/3/10 , 3/9/11 , 7/20/11 for more info
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