Thursday, November 5, 2009

South Granville Street, Vancouver, BC

It had been a while since we had brunch at one of our favourite restaurants along Granville Street. The South Granville neighbourhood is a one mile strip of upscale stores starting on the south side of the Granville street bridge terminating around 16th avenue.

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(South Granville: Bridge to 16th)

Vancouver is comprised of many retail areas scattered around the city. As you navigate your way along the sidewalks and peer into the small specialty stores you get the feeling that you are in a small town.

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Fall is definitely in the air as you notice from the fallen leaves and longer shadows cast by the sun, as well as people bundled up with warmer outerwear. Time to ditch the T-shirts and shorts.

There is no set demographic as you notice people of all generations. Some come by bicycle, being ECO friendly

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while others come in luxury

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Others are just here, waiting for generous souls to throw their hard earned money away into his hat. Or perhaps he is already home and we are intruding upon his personal space.

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His sign reads: "EVERYDAY, I bow and Pray that I can find a better way"

This being a Sunday there is not much traffic and only a handful of these stores are opened

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Sometimes you can't dwell on the plight of others and move on. The people who live on the street stay there by choice. We have programs on the east side which are prepared to take them in during the cold of winter where they will be fed and given a warm place to bed down.

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I would say that this area caters to the upper middle class and you will find many movie stars (famous people) mingling in with the locals trying to blend in

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You will not find many of those national chain stores if that was your desire, but rather interesting merchandise from stores with a niche market

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We happened to stumble into a well stocked store specializing in kitchen implements and they just happened to be finishing a cooking demonstration with their new stainless steel convection countertop oven. Of course samples were just being distributed to the onlookers

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I wandered about the store and could see that they had every conceivable tool available for the kitchen, all in stainless steel and every type of electrical appliance made with sales ladies in every isle for your beck and call.

The stores line both sides of Granville Street, but if you were to look around the corner you would see

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apartment buildings, many of which have been restored to their original grandeur

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You will find that not all of the underprivileged, unemployed beg for their money. Others go on their merry way scouring the alleyways and garbage bins for objects of value, while pushing their bicycle

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I stood there for a moment staring at him and wondered if he was happy in just being, and whether it was hard to forage daily for your substenance. I'm not sure I would have the fortitude, nor desire to be in his shoes. He turned the corner while I watched

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I'm not sure who was happier, this fellow content to beg for money to be thrown into his hat, or the person with the bicycle wanting to earn his own way by doing the only thing he knows.

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Or this new person who had just arrived and was sitting on the sidewalk

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I headed down the street with thoughts of more pleasant things on my mind

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(When all of us see a steaming chicken, Jack "r" sees this)

6 comments:

  1. I like Vancouver. I think I should like to be housed in one of those Victorians. In my next life I'm going to marry a rich Vancouverite.
    Up next: the Gulf Islands. I'll wait till spring for that.

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  2. Thanks again for another beautiful street view. I noticed that there are still leaves attached to the trees... in Alberta... not. Ah, Vancouver is a great place to live, maybe one day...

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  3. Everyday, I pray that I can take pictures as fine as yours. Especially that last one.
    Looks like a lovely area. Was lunch good?

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  4. Dear Bobskoot:

    I swear I have been in this Vancouver neighborhood, though it was many years ago. Most people do not realize that old apartment houses generally have exquisite tile lobbies, expensive stained glass appointments and ten-foot high ceilings. Their drawbacks are the wiring (which can be corrected) and the parking (which cannot).

    You are quite correct in visualizing my primary motivation for doing anything. Please be advised there are worse raisin d'etres... Housewares stores are great places to meet women. I once saw a sweet young thing trying to pick out a picnic tablecloth in a housewares shop. "With that tablecloth in hand, you call to mind Monet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe,” I said. She swooned. When she regained consciousness, I had moved in. Ask her. Leslie won’t deny it.

    Nice post today...

    Fondest regards,
    Jack • reep • Toad
    Twisted Roads

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  5. I remember when I got a situation like that because once I slept on the street so it was because I was very drunk.

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  6. I remember when I got a situation like that because once I slept on the street so it was because I was very drunk, after that I accessed to viagra online.

    ReplyDelete