Photos of Vancouver (Downtown, Jericho Beach, W 4th, and Kerrisdale) - December 2006 - Part III

Here's Vancouver's version of Toronto's Union Station: Waterfront Station - a huge transportation hub of SeaBus (ferry service to North Vancouver), SkyTrain (a medium-capacity metro system), West Coast Express (commuter train service that links Downtown Vancouver to the Tri-Cities, Ridge Meadows, and Mission), and conventional and rapid bus (98 B-Line - which will be replaced by the Canada Line subway line in 2009) services.

Terminal City Club Tower, a mixed-use residential and hotel complex, on W. Hastings and Hornby (A Chanel store is located right across from here)












The addition of extra floors (and office space) at Bentall 5 on Burrard and Dunsmuir has not finished as of December last year.













The Shaw Tower (with Jean Claude Van Damme having a penthouse suite) overwatching the tireless cranes that are used to construct the convention centre extension (scheduled to be completed on time for the Olympics).








A window to the City of North Vancouver (Lonsdale, where the quay and SeaBus terminal are located).




I don't know what is the point of having the a house along the northern seawall overlooking Stanley Park, but I think it's better than nothing.


An early evening shot on the expensive apartments dotting along Coal Harbour.







An angle shot along Denman St. outside King George high school. Props to the planners who made West End a neighbourhood that is friendly to all people, not just empty nesters and seniors.

Hell has certainly frozen as this is the first Starbucks that lost out to competition.







Even the bus is getting into the festive mood by having decorations on it!







Davie west of Bute, outside of Rogers Video (for those of you who are not familiar with Vancouver, Davie is the city's answer to Church St.) on a quiet Friday evening when everyone heads home for dinner.

A glimpse of Yaletown... which becomes a ghost town except for the numerous restaurants located in the area. Should this be the model for downtown redevelopment in other areas? I don't think so.

The Granville St. Entertainment District between Robosn and Davie, a few hours before hordes of clubbers flood the scene on a beautiful Friday evening.

One more glance at the intersection of Robson and Thurlow (infamous for having two Starbucks at the NE and SW corners) before heading home.

Photos of Vancouver (Downtown, Jericho Beach, W 4th, and Kerrisdale) - December 2006 - Part II

The neighbourhood of Kerrisdale has been long recognized as a trendy yet pleasant neighbourhood littered with affluent people as well as students from UBC. There is a feel of being an outdoor shopping mall as major international and national chain stores occupied key locations in the area, mainly along W 41st on the western side of the rail tracks. (Heck, this is my first time touring Kerrisdale on foot after living in Greater Vancouver for 17 years before commencing my studies at York University!)

The fate of this lonely set of tracks (between East and West Boulevards) that carried freight traffic across expensive homes in the west side of Vancouver has been subject to a lot of debate in the past decades. Nonetheless planners at the City Hall still are dreaming of having streetcars running along these tracks. (Pic taken at Kerrisdale)



The section of W 4th between Macdonald and Burrard is becoming the second coming of Robson Street, as hip and trendy stores are starting to occupy storefronts. Fortunately there are still signs of a healthy neighbourhood with local mom-and-pops stores visible in the landscape.

This has to be one of my favourites in the outing. I took five separate pictures and combined them in Photoshop to produce a seamless Downtown Vancouver skyline that stretches all the way to the Siwash Rock in Stanley Park. (Picture taken at the northern point of Dunbar, east of Jericho Beach)

A row of beautifully restored homes on Dunbar and Point Grey, near Jericho Beach. If you don't have around $1.5 million, don't even think about buying one of them! Hopefully things will be better once Winter Olympics conclude in 2010.

Photos of Vancouver (Downtown, Jericho Beach, W 4th, and Kerrisdale) - December 2006 - Part I

A shot immediately outside Stadium SkyTrain station overlooking the condos at CityGate. It is strange to see a Costco is located immediately at the bottom of the condo on the left-hand side of the picture.

The internal square just outside Vancouver's Central Library. One can notice the drastic difference inside and outside of the actual library, as the outside is bustling with energy with people sitting down on a table and start chatting while a sense of peace and quietness can be felt once a person is inside.





Here is a zoomed-in look from the previous picture.
















The Centre (formerly Ford Centre of the Performing Arts), immediately adjacent to the central library. Now it becomes a showhouse featuring mainly Chinese-made shows (as the owner of this place is also himself Chinese).

The coliseum wannabe: Vancouver's Central Library. It was once a unique building until Salt Lake City decide to ask Moshie Safdie, the architect, to build a replica down at the capital of Mormon State. A taller structure situated on the back of it is occupied by the federal government. Here is one last look before proceeding down along Robson at the SW corner of Robson and Homer.

Here is a look at the future version of Yonge and Bloor for Vancouver: the intersection of Robson and Granville. Like in Toronto, we have smaller TVs blasting advertisments to passersby.

Why the fence at the left hand side of the picture? That's because of the construction of the Canada Line subway line, which will intersect with the existing SkyTrain line at Granville Station, forming a mega underground transfer point for transit riders (hence the comparison with Yonge and Bloor).

A shot of the Vancouver Art Gallery (formerly the Supreme Court of British Columbia - front centre), Hotel Vancouver (back centre with the copper roof), and Cathedral Building (immediately to the right of Hotel Vancouver) at the SE corner of Robson and Howe.

A funky-looking Chapters flagship store at Robson and Howe, with residential units placed on top.






I don't know how many pics have I taken on the same spot at Burrard and Robson. But I have an excuse since I lost all the previous ones :D

I wish Virgin is still here rather than the huge pink sign of HMV (maybe because it is rare to see a Virgin store in North America compared to Britain?) Well at least there is a small Virgin store over at the Vancouver International Airport.

Robson Street on a typical Friday afternoon as it is packed with people and cars, similar to Queen W or Yonge around Dundas in Toronto. What else can I say as the area (along with Burrard between Robson and Georgia) is becoming a semi-Rodeo Drive with medium- to high-end stores paying premium rents to do business here?