Vancouver Magazine

Summer 2009's Photo Roundup of Shiny, Happy People

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Click here to view this month's photos

Editor's Note, July/August 2009

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Mostly we navigate the city by rote, ignorant of its genesis and blind to its constructed subtleties. Streets are lined with storefronts or houses or condo towers or office buildings. Parks, and parking lots, appear here and there. Disposal bins haul away detritus while concrete mixers churn out the next iteration. With its stunning outlooks, Vancouver-the built environment-is easy to take for granted.

A Pacific Spirit Murder

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

The last time Cathy Jewett saw her friend was in mid-March. It was a typical Wendy day, with a whole gang of girlfriends and their kids skiing together. Wendy had called Cathy, who lives in Whistler, out of the blue and said, "We're here. You've got to come." It was puking snow, driving many off the mountain, but Cathy, a ski patroller, took the gang to some of her best secret spots. Afterwards, she had Wendy over for dinner since Wendy's husband, Michel, was away on a five-week skiing and writing trip in Europe.

Ndidi Onukwulu

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

How does a blues singer from Britannia Beach, B.C., end up working in Paris? I was with Jericho Beach Music and I had this record coming out, No I Never. Jack Schuller, head of Jericho, sent it to many people. Two years later, he got this phone call from France, from my current manager. I happened to be finishing up my second record, The Contradictor, so Jack sent her some of the new songs. She wanted to hear more, so she came all the way to Comox to see me.

In the Pink

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

HIGH

Joie Farm 2008 Rosé - $24

Joie Farm on the Naramata Bench was the first B.C. winery to “re-think pink,” producing a hedonistic, French-inspired rosé that balances juicy acidity with a seductive touch of sweetness, perfect for the patio but also a good food match with anything from Dungeness crab to grilled lamb steaks. The 2008 is pinker, shockingly so, than last year’s, pink as early rhubarb, but brim full of strawberry, cherry, and candy floss, like grilled fruit sprinkled with sugar.

Pimm's Cup

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

As a rule we resist anything that smacks of fawning Anglophilia—that includes ascots, saying ‘“Cheerio,” and biweekly teeth brushing—but come summer we make an exception and indulge in the quintessential English cocktail: the Pimm’s Cup. It’s as refreshing as a cool breeze from the Orkneys, has both fruits and vegetables, and can easily be octupled in a pitcher for the troops.

100 Best Buys of the Summer

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Click on the names below to see which must-have items are their top shopping picks...

A Guide to Smoking and Drinking

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Barbecue is about big flavour: meat bombarded with sugar, salt, pepper, spice, vinegar, and plenty of smoke. We’re not talking subtlety here. This is no place for a fancy-pants dipsy-doodler of a wine. These gutsy reds (and a fierce white) are all winners from Vanmag’s Annual International Wine Awards, and none will break the bank. Serve them a bit chilled (10 minutes in the fridge) and you’ll enjoy them even more.

Soul Food

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Some things have soul and other things do not. You know it when you feel it. Lynyrd Skynyrd singing "Sweet Home Alabama" has soul. Kid Rock rapping over it does not. Though Vancouver has a big heart, it has a deficiency of soul. So I'm hungry to taste redemption when I can, even if it's in the humble act of sucking lashings of sauce and pork grease off my fingers.

Stand & Deliver

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

In the Social Services Seminar Room at the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre on Laurel Street, there are motorcyclists and cancer survivors, and a hale fellow with a white beard whose story this week is that he was gored in Pamplona at the running of the bulls, after he stopped to tie his shoelace. It's an amputee support group, and they're talking about their shared hatred of lingering snow and phantom pain. Do those who decide to amputate have less pain than those who lose their legs unexpectedly?

Are These Guys Nuts?

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

If all goes according to plan, the Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe will open in its questionable location just off the Robson drag around the time you read this. Between them, principals Andre McGillivray and Steve Da Cruz have raised barely enough capital to last three months in an economy that has been particularly cruel to restaurants. They're locked into a two-year contract with a 26-year-old chef who boasts a household name but little executive experience. How's that for ballsy? (Or crazy.)

Made You Look!

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

"Choice architecture" is suddenly a sexy idea, thanks largely to a recent book called Nudge. A nudge, as authors Richard Thaler (an economist) and Cass Sunstein (a legal scholar) explain, is a little intervention in our daily lives from the unseen hand of an engineer or a designer that subtly encourages a behaviour, presenting options in such a way that we're inclined to do the socially beneficial thing. It tricks us into eating our spinach. Some of the most ingenious examples come from traffic-engineering departments.

High Anxiety

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Last fall, an ad for drugs appeared on Craigslist. Unlike the classified site's many thinly veiled offers of recreational substances, however, this one was about just saying no. At least sometimes. "Do you need a joint to face the day at work?" it asked. "Or the evening alone? The anxiety or depression that you experience on a daily basis? If you are questioning the role marijuana plays in your life and would like to embark on a journey of self-exploration and discovery, the IMPACT Pilot Project may be for you."

Ready to Install

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

"I've based it all on a drop of water."

Chinese sculptor Ren Jun is using his beverage to describe a monumental piece of public art. He's trying to convince a dubious Barrie Mowatt, in the offices of the Vancouver Biennale near the Olympic Village, to approve his proposal for the international outdoor art festival that begins in September.

"Ren, if you want to install a 150-foot sculpture in the middle of the city, I need to see it," says Mowatt.

Sail On

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Brian Sereda, 58, has lived on his boat for almost 20 years, most of them at False Creek. The wrinkles that radiate from his eyes are hard and deep; his smile is almost toothless. "Back then," he says of his early days as a live-aboard, "I could walk everywhere. It was easy to pick up fresh food, or beer. I could walk to VGH in 10 minutes if I needed help."

Inside Out

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Concrete’s the thing at the 21st Dancing on the Edge Festival, which celebrates an urban aesthetic in two shows. Quebec icon Paul-André Fortier hits the asphalt after a distinguished career in theatres. The 61-year-old dancer performs Solo 30X30 in downtown Vancouver (30 minutes for 30 days, June 19 to July 18, at 12:15 p.m.). Having delivered the series in soggy countries before, Fortier says,“I’ve learned to cope with the rain.” Yahoos, like the drugged man who attacked him in Ottawa, can be harder to handle.

Horseshoe Bay

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Horseshoe Bay is really two neighbourhoods, distinct and dissimilar. The first, and more popular, is the crescent of fry-up restaurants and kitsch shops that orbit the ferry terminal. This is the least West Van corner in all of West Vancouver, a nexus where the mullets and mongrel retrievers of Nanaimo merge with the careful bobs and designer pooches of the North Shore. Those in the know abandon cars in the ferry lineup and duck into Baskin Robbins.

Public Dreamers

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Since the iconic Summer of Love, gentle souls have been inextricably linked with outdoor festivals. Keeping the home fires burning in the hippies’ historical turf of Kitsilano is the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Since launching 32 years ago, the people’s fest has fuelled the careers of powerhouses like Ani DiFranco, Michelle Shocked, Loreena McKennitt, Rita MacNeil, and 26-time Grammy winner Alison Krauss, who cut her teeth on its stage at the tender age of 15.

Geek Love

vanmag — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Whatever Colin Meloy thought he was doing when he formed the Decemberists at the beginning of the decade, the singer-songwriter-guitarist never envisioned a contract with the Beatles’ record label and a sellout show at the Hollywood Bowl. Yet his Portland-based quintet won both, joining forces with Capitol Records in 2006 and performing at the historic venue (accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, no less) the following year—seemingly without a shred of compromise. More than any “underground” group since Radiohead, success found them.

Best of the Jazz Festival

vanmag — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:03:55 -0400

Living legend Sonny Rollins, 78, opens the city’s 24th annual jazz fest on June 29. Rollins, performing at the Orpheum, ranks up there with Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Lester Young when it comes to mastery of the saxophone.

Four other moments that we're not missing:

Father's Day Gift Guide

vanmag — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:48:41 -0400

We hear you, dad's are impossible to shop for. Especially if you've got a dad that says he never needs anything. So we've collected a few sure-fire hits that he (and mom) will definitely approve of

Click here to view our top picks for Dad

Yaletown

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:57:52 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

Shopping Diary: June 2009

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:21:54 -0400

DA VINCI'S HOME This West Van haven of shabby-chic recently expanded, more than doubling in size and introducing new home-décor lines to an already impressive line-up. Think tabletop accessories by Michael Aram and Beatriz Ball, plus personal-care products like Voluspa candles, triple-milled soaps from Gianna Rose Atelier, and home fragrance diffusers by K. Hall Designs. 1461 Bellevue Ave., West Vancouver, 604-921-3344. Davincishome.ca

Fun in the Sun

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:14:50 -0400

View this month's Best Buys.

Read the June Shopping Diary

Coal Harbour

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:04:06 -0400

If you haven’t had occasion to stroll the seawall that skirts Coal Harbour recently, it’s worth a wander now that the dust has settled. The row of glass towers bordering that shore (entirely new, except for the old Bayshore hotel) represents a population boom of 337 percent over five years. By comparison, the city’s growth was six percent. Servicing the sudden influx are Urban Fare, two seaplane terminals, and just a pair of really worthwhile restaurants (Lift and Cardero’s).

June 2009's Photo Roundup of Shiny, Happy People

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:49:18 -0400

Click here to view this month's photos

Restaurants Worth the Drive

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:38:58 -0400

Wondering where to find an off-the-radar spot that will turn a mini road trip into a memorable dining experience? Here are 9 spots that make the destination worth the journey.

Click on the restaurant names for a full review plus worthwhile side trips

White Rock: Onyx

Editor's Note, June 2009

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:38:58 -0400

WHEN WE PUT out the call for this month’s anthology of pithy little stories that begins on page 52, we wondered how many freelancers and colleagues and friends would respond. We asked them to recount a true incident, an event they had witnessed or been a part of, that captured something essential about Vancouver. Within hours we had a dozen replies. Within a few days we had scores of them. Just about anyone you ask has a little gem, it turns out, and when you fit them together they form a sort of mosaic of the urban experience.

Gimlet

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:00:33 -0400

Most drinks don’t deserve to be served in a martini glass. (See the Cosmopolitan or anything with “chocolate” in the name.) But the Gimlet is like a freshman backup quarterback, eager and worthy, who subs in for a play of two when it gets hot out. It’s a beautifully simple concoction—if two ingredients can be said to be concocted—whose components can be sourced anywhere: Rose’s is available at any supermarket, and almost any gin will do. Plus, the Gimlet has just a hair more elegance than the more populist gin-and-tonic.

Malbec

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:21:49 -0400

HIGH

Alamos Catena 2008 Malbec - $16

It’s no surprise that the country with the best parilla (barbecue) restaurants makes a great wine to drink with grilled meat. Argentina’s Malbec—smoky, savoury, and brimming with sweet fruit—is just made for dinner on the deck.

Commercial Drive

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

Granville Island

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services

Downtown Vancouver

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

Strathcona

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

Hastings-Sunrise

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

North Shore

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

West Point Grey

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

South Main

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Households

Cambie Village

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

South Granville

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Households

Kerrisdale

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

Kitsilano

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

West End

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

Coal Harbour

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

Gastown/Chinatown

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0400

Eats | Shops | Services | Households

The Unlikely Revolutionary

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:00 -0400

Across from Victory Square, a crowd is celebrating the reopening of the historic Flack Block, a monument to Vancouver’s gold-profiteering past that has been transformed into a home for people who believe in changing the world one socially responsible business at a time. Mayor Gregor Robertson, reading a proclamation honouring the restored building, and several of his councillors are here on the fourth floor.

Going the Distance

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:00 -0400

This is the pace I keep in a 24-hour run,” Lone Wolf tells me as we walk along Pender toward the YWCA on Hornby. “Lone Wolf” is the self-assigned nickname of Michael Breeze, a 73-year-old former banker who’s training for the 24 Hour Relay on June 21. Yes, we’re walking—when you’re in your 70s, preparing for an ultrarun is about teaching your body to slow down.

Bankruptcy Lawyers Shine

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:00 -0400

John McLean, a partner at Gowlings, is surely the city’s only lawyer with a plaque in his office (located on the 23rd floor of Bentall 5) displaying a cheque for 50 cents. That half-dollar represents his split of the purchase price paid by the buyer of the Port Alice pulp mill, in a sale that he helped arrange in 2006 and that ranks as one of B.C.’s great industrial resurrections. A year ago, the plaque seemed bare consolation for the sad condition of McLean’s specialty: insolvency law. “In good times,” he says, “people are too busy.

Battle of the Century

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:00 -0400

Boxing’s on my mind as I pass through the expansive lobby of Electronic Arts in Burnaby and into the dauntingly named Alpha Room. Specifically, I’m thinking of Muhammad Ali’s 1974 knockout of George Foreman in the so-called Rumble in the Jungle. Ali wore Foreman down over eight rounds in a strategy he called the rope-a-dope: let your competition waste his energy coming at you, then, when he’s at his weakest, knock his block off. I’m here to test Fight Night Round 4, the latest entry in EA’s popular boxing franchise for PlayStation and Xbox.

Get Everything In

vanmag — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:00 -0400

The king of contemporary photography, Germany’s Andreas Gursky, sold his 99 Cent for $3.3 million in 2007 (far more than any other photograph has garnered). By depicting, in seven-by-eleven-foot glory, a convenience store on Sunset Boulevard, that work settled both Gursky and photography itself into a lordly position over the international art market. It took a banal subject and blew into it the glorious dimensions and thoughtfulness of a 19th-century history painting.