Cradled between the ocean and
snow-capped mountains,
Vancouver's
dazzling downtown district fills a
narrow peninsula bounded by Burrard
Inlet to the north, English Bay to
the west and False Creek to the
south, with greater Vancouver
sprawling south to the Fraser River.
Edged around its idyllic waterfront
are fine beaches, a dynamic port and
a magnificent swath of parkland, not
to mention the mirror-fronted ranks
of skyscrapers that look across
Burrard Inlet and its bustling
harbour to the residential districts
of North and West Vancouver. Beyond
these comfortable suburbs, the Coast
Mountains rise in steep, forested
slopes to form a dramatic
counterpoint to the downtown skyline
and the most stunning of the city's
many outdoor playgrounds. Small
wonder, given Vancouver's
surroundings, that Greenpeace was
founded in the city.
Vancouver's 1.9 million residents
exploit their spectacular natural
setting to the hilt, and when they
tire of the immediate region can
travel a short distance to the
unimaginably vast wilderness of the
BC interior. Whether it's sailing,
swimming, fishing, hiking, skiing,
golf or tennis, locals barely have
to move to indulge in a plethora of recreational
whims. Summer and winter the city
oozes hedonism and healthy living -
it comes as no surprise to find that
you can lounge on beaches downtown -
typically West Coast obsessions that
spill over into its sophisticated arts
and culture . Vancouver claims a
world-class museum and symphony
orchestra, as well as opera, theatre
and dance companies at the cutting
edge of contemporary arts. Festivals
proliferate throughout its mild, if
occasionally rain-soaked, summer and
numerous music venues provide a
hotbed for up-and-coming rock bands
and a burgeoning jazz scene.
Vancouver is not all pleasure,
however. Business growth continues
apace in Canada's third-largest
city, much of its prosperity
stemming from a port so laden
with the raw materials of the
Canadian interior - lumber, wheat
and minerals - that it ranks as one
of North America's largest ports,
handling more dry tonnage than the
West Coast ports of Seattle, Tacoma,
Portland, San Francisco and San
Diego put together. The port in turn
owes its prominence to Vancouver's
much-trumpeted position as a gateway
to the Far East , and its
increasingly pivotal role in the new
global market of the Pacific Rim.
This lucrative realignment is
strengthened by a two-way flow in
traffic: in the past decade
Vancouver has been inundated with
Hong Kong Chinese (the so-called
"yacht people"), an influx
which has pushed up property prices
and slightly strained the city's
reputation as an ethnically
integrated metropolis.
Much of the city's earlier
immigration focused on Vancouver's
extraordinary Chinatown ,
just one of a number of ethnic
enclaves - Italian, Greek, Indian
and Japanese in particular - which
lend the city a refreshingly gritty
quality that belies its sleek,
modern reputation. So too do the
city's semi-derelict eastern
districts, whose worldly lowlife
characters, addicts and hustlers are
shockingly at odds with the glitzy
lifestyles pursued in the lush
residential neighbourhoods. Low
rents and Vancouver's cosmopolitan
young have also nurtured an
unexpected counterculture ,
at least for the time being,
distinguished by varied restaurants,
secondhand shops, avant-garde
galleries, clubs and bars - spots
where you'll probably have more fun
than in many a Canadian city. And at
the top of the scale there are
restaurants as good - and as varied
- as any in North America.
These days Vancouver is more dynamic
than ever, its growth and energy
almost palpable as you walk the
streets. In just five years, between
1987 and 1992, the city's population
increased by an extraordinary
seventeen percent. The downtown
population, currently just over half
a million, is the fastest-growing on
the continent. In response the
downtown area is spreading - visibly
- to the older and previously
run-down districts to the southeast
of the old city core. Development
over the last decade is symbolized
by a superb library and
performing-arts complex which
constitutes the most expensive
capital project ever undertaken in
the city. Real estate here is now
more expensive than Toronto, and in
the 1990s the city became North
America's largest film and TV
production centre after Los Angeles
and New York; The X Files is
just the most famous of the many
movies and programmes that have
been, or are being, made here
. Yet, in the peculiar way that
seems second nature to Canadians,
the changes are being handled in a
manner that's enhancing rather than
compromising the city's beguiling
combination of pleasure, culture,
business and natural beauty.
