Vancouver Magazine
The Broadway/Cambie Corridor Has Become a Hub for Excellent Chinese Restaurants
Flaky, Fluffy and Freaking Delicious: Vancouver’s Top Fry Bread and Bannock
Care to travel the world, one plate at time? Visit Kamloops.
Protected: The Wick is Lit for This Fraser Valley Winery
Wine Collab of the Week: The Best Bottle to Welcome a Vancouver Spring
Naked Malt Blended Malt Scotch Whisky Celebrates Versatility and Spirit
5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (March 27-April 2)
Meet Missy D, the Bilingual Vancouver Hip Hop Artist for the Whole Family
5 Ways We Can (Seriously) Fix Vancouver’s Real Estate Market
What It’s Like to Get Lost on a Run With a Pro Trail Runner
8 Things to Do in Abbotsford (Even If It’s Pouring Rain)
Explore the Rockies by Rail with Rocky Mountaineer
The Future of Beauty: How One Medical Aesthetics Clinic is Changing the Game
4 Fashion Designers From African Fashion Week Vancouver to Put on Your Radar
Before Hibernation Season Ends: A Round-Up of the Coziest Shopping Picks
photo credit: Lucas Finlay
1. Cary Pinkowski (founder of Astur Gold) met his wife, Katya, in Moscow (where she took degrees in public relations and municipal politics). The two were married in Salzburg, Austria, and now travel constantly. They bought this West Van home from Intrawest CEO Mo Faris in 1999 (realtor mom Donna helped with the sale). Dog Chelsea, named for the soccer team, was born in Moscow, too
2. The view was originally obstructed by a palisade of 30-foot pine trees (the remaining few have been bonsai’d over 10 years); the slope was dominated by cotoneaster and laurel. Dad Rudi, designer of the Mediterranean-inspired garden, spends 20 hours each week tending the grounds for his son (Cary’s busy developing a gold mine in Asturias, Spain); he lives just up the hill
3. The garden, as well as being a welcoming respite, exists for two reasons: to shock visitors (“We don’t all live in igloos with dog sleds parked outside!” says Rudi with glee) and to remind them of a larger world beyond these shores. Rudi, who retired after 40 years expanding his hair salon chains (His & Hers, Expressions, Waves Hair Design), admits gardening is “a hobby that has come to control me”
4. In 1988, Rudi—as president of the Pacific Northwest Palm & Exotic Plant Society—approached Hermann Christian, then the city’s park supervisor, with a proposition: a trial planting of 16 palm trees, paid for by a $25,000 donation, at English Bay. The idea for such an adventurous planting began when sister city Odessa gifted Vancouver five palms in the late ’60s. (One of the originals survives near the aquarium.) There are now well over 100 palm trees along Pacific and Denman streets—all donations