HERE IS THE DEALIO FOR VANCOUVER
Written: Jul 01 '02 (Updated Nov 16 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: complete multicultural diversity. cheap if you're from the UK
Cons: expensive to live here, its rains. nearly everyday. :O :O
The Bottom Line: omghi2u!!! welcome
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| mbutu1's Full Review: Vancouver |
Ok, so about 3 years ago I wrote the review below, and was extremely drunk while doing so. Here's a somewhat more helpfull review (original insanity included below)
--- update! nov 2005! ---------------
For live music, check www.livemusicvancouver.com
READ THESE!! This is basically all you need:
http://www.straight.com/
http://www.westender.com/
http://www.vanmag.com/
http://gothic.bc.ca/
http://discorder.citr.ca/
Hotels/stuff.
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The best hostel in the city (during the summer) is the Jericho Beach Hostel. They organize all sorts of bar-crawls, vollyball and the usual BS. Plus it's a giant dorm right on the beach.
However, if you're coming here anywhere outside of summer, stay here www.samesun.com/vancouver_hostel.html or check out the Cambie Hostel/Bar. Both Hostels have good bars with cheap $6-10 pitchers of beer, full of ex-pats, and opportunities to go into the interior/banff ect. The Cambie is a rowdy dive of a bar, so expect picnic tables, and lot's of beer being tossed everywhere by 19-23yr olds.
There are a few smaller hotels around Robson St. for about $90CAD a night. There's a million luxury hotels such as the Opus Hotel, and Hotel Vancouver (google for info)
Food
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For Restaurants, you can either score $0.99 sushi on Davie St or check this www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=12744 (Best of Vancouver)
420!
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Contrary to popular belief, it's not 100% legal here. However use common sense and you'll be fine. There are a few cafe's around town, and an actual store operating called 'Vancouver Connection'. Read this magazine: www.cannabisculture.com/ and ask around the forum. Also, check the 'Advertisers' section. Yes, you can order mail-order BC Bud. http://www.budmail.biz
:D :D Secret places to drink all night, and meet people
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- Bosman's Motor Hotel downtown.
1060 Howe Street www.bosmanshotel.com
If you go around back, there's a bar that sometimes never closes full of students. Apparently smoking friendly too.
- The Brickhouse
730 Main St, Vancouver
Lo-Fi place to relax on some couches, shoot pool and drink in a non BS atmosphere. meet girls and actually be able to talk to them without blasting garbage House music. No idea when it closes. Sometimes 5:00am, sometimes 2:00am.
- The Templeton Restaurant
1087 Granville St.
www.thetempleton.com
Monday night is movie night. See a movie still in theatres and get blasted on $9 pitchers of ale. It's a diner, but all the food is organic and tasty.
- Arts backstage lounge
Granville Island.
Take a $2.50 ferry ride to granville island from beach avenue. check out the best patio in vancouver. Full of Emily Carr students, and a secret place to watch the fireworks if you don't want to brave the ridiculous crowds of drunk teenagers. Closes at 2:00am. Sometimes live music.
- Butchershop on Main St.
www.butchershop.ca/
all sorts of stuff goes on here like midnight movies, local artists, great people.
- http://gothic.bc.ca
Info on events such as Sin City w/pics.
- Persian Tea House
On Davie St, between Granville St and Seymour st.
Sit down in front of a hookah and blaze crazy persian tobacco with friends, or just BS politics with the owner.
- Atlantic Trap x Gill
Right beside the Persian Tea House on the corner of Seymour and Davie st. Get faced on dirt cheap booze, watch drunken girls fall off tables and witness newfies chugging rum straight. Lobster for $19.00
Various
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Get on the skytrain and get off on Broadway St. Make your way down the hill on commercial drive and you'll come across a billion artist-run centres/cafes/bars galore.
If you really want to do something awesome, look for vacation cabins along Shushwap Lake, Christina Lake, or the millions of other cabins. Rent a boat and party till the sun comes up on the beach in Osoyoos or whatever. Not cheap :(
Finally, if you want to check out local punk/metal bands, meet awesome people and drink the cheapest booze on the planet go here www.thecobalt.net
Jobs? dey took our jerbs!
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If you want to re-locate, and want apartment prices, or wierdo job listings, check http://vancouver.craigslist.org/
---------- completely non sober review --------------
Ok I've lived in Vancouver my entire life and here's the deal:
A) Homeless People
DONT GIVE THEM MONEY. It's a pretty tragic situation, but throwing money to a junkie doesn't help anything. Canada has a very generous welfare/rehab and low income support system. You can get free food anywhere in the city almost 24hrs a day. There are tons of shelters, outreach societies, community centres to offer genuine help. 90% of the people begging on the street are drug addicts, and the rest mental patients because our gov't decided to shut down all the institutions and let them walk freely around foaming at the mouth crazy. If somebody walks up to you screaming or something look at their eyes: they're probably not even looking at you, or realize you are even there. they are INSANE. Just ignore them and move on. Everybody begging for change is doing a scam. In fact most of the people I see around the street I've seen around for about 10+ years back when I was a streetpunk and used to hustle for change myself.
Note** Picking a fight with a homeless junkie is lower on the food chain than pretending to be a girl on myspace!!
They'll leave you alone if you just say 'sorry, no'.
B) OTHER BARS BESIDE GRANVILLE. ST OR
GASTOWN:
Cheap bars with eclectic crowds:
The Brickyard
The Bourbon
The Cambie
The Arch
The Brickhouse in chinatown
SoHo's on Davie/Denman st. Pints of Guiness for $4. Aussie footie on the TV screens. Right beside the beach! :O
Pick up local newspapers such as the 'Westender' or the 'georgia straight' anywhere downtown.
C) CRIME
- don't walk alone in Stanley park in the evening or early morning by yourself on deserted trails just like you wouldn't walk around Central Park in NYC by yourself at night.
- E. Hastings isn't that bad. Yes it is full of people with scabs all over their faces from freebasing crack cocaine all night and heroin addicts passed out in the street. I have walked through this area my entire life and nothing has ever happened to me. during the day i see Korean students walking around there all the time. Don't walk alone at night around here and you'll be fine. (And never ever go into any of the hotels or bars on e hastings its junkie central with like 15 people squatting in one room and shooting up meth and crack).. exceptions of course are the fine Lotus hotel/Milk/honey bars, and of course, the astoria.
There are alot of afterhours in the e. end at night (not right on E. Hastings but surrounding areas like Abbot St)
For after-hours, check www.clubvibes.com
D) CHINATOWN
Our chinatown rules on any china town this side of New York City. San Fran's chinatown is yuppified and completely californicated with squeaky clean trinket shops with people that speak english. Our chinatown borders E. Hastings St and is straight out of Kowloon and safe to walk around.
E) NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN
DOWNTOWN
- Robson St. / Denman St.
Pretty much where all the tourists end up. The lower half of robson is all Korean which makes for really cheap restaurants that serve up amazing food. Plus Koreans are cool and you could stay in an internet cafe all night and walk home without every once fearing for your safety at all. Every night there is a parade of scantilly clad girls in designer clothing walking the street while dudes from the suburbs cruise up and down in cars cranking EMINEM
- Granville St.
Nightclub district.. lot's of bars lot's of clubs.
Robson St/Alberni is all designer clothing while granville is skateboards/hip hop and punk. Safe at night because it's always full of people spilling out
from the bars.
- Davie St
Gay area. Lots of gaybars and cool restaurants. If you walk all the way down Davie to Denman st. you'll end up on the Beach. Bring the beer!
- Gastown
Tourista Zona maxima. Lots of tourist shops selling
canadian trinkets. Some of the better Vancouver Nightclubs like SONAR and SHINE. Most restaurants are expensive and there are alot of pan handlers.
- Seymour St
Welcome to language school central. rows of international student language schools and mini universities. Completely safe all the time.
- South Granville / Kitsilano
Welcome to yuppie heaven! Clothing stores/restaurants/bars and immaculate neighborhoods. You could probably pass out on W.4th ave with a handfull of USD and nobody would take it.
Kits / Jericho beach is pretty cool. Broadway street has alot of restaurants from Vietnamese to african.
- Marpole / S. vancouver near airport area
Cheap apartments. If you don't care about taking a 15 minute bus ride into downtown. CHEAAAAPPP apartments galore. But kind of soul sucking. I recommend getting an apartment in the West End, or off Beach Avenue.
- Kingsway/Main st/Victoria
Little vietnam, and little india on the tip of Main st.
- Commercial Dr.
Activist and bohemia central for vancouver. big italian/ el salvadoran/ mexican / portuguese neighborhood. always something to do here as almost every restaurant is really good. If you like soccer, come here. do NOT walk all the way down commercial dr. to hastings st. / pandora at night it is really DODGEY.
- North vancouver
nothing intresting. alot of wealthy people living in boring houses. the only saviour is the large iranian community with alot of restaurants and strange shops. and the touristy crap like the Suspension Bridge, the awesome lynn valley canyon, blah.
XXX OTHER SUBURBS AND AREAS XXX
- Whistler
tourist haven. everybody knows about this place. Check out other ski mountains like Big White, Manning Park, or just over the border at Mt. Baker (cheap cabins)
- Surrey / Delta / Whiterock / langley
If you want to see pure drunken human theatre, go to either the O-Zone nightclub off King George Highway, or Cheers Nightclub in Delta. Check www.clubvibes.com
- Richmond
this is basically little Kowloon/Hong Kong. There are BILLIONS of chinese and japanese restaurants everywhere. If you speak ZERO english you could easily get around richmond if you knew cantonese/japanese . Alot of karoke and counterstrike/internet bars here as well. Giant all asian malls here make for intresting shopping. The Airport is here also.
I hear from travellers that the best Hostel is the Jericho Beach hostel, and the easiest place to find a temporary job is whistler/Banff. However, with a 6mos work visa anybody will hire you. Especially bars, and especially the samesun.com hostel. Work with incredibly hot Australian girls, and watch Jackass the movie on a big screen. w00t.
Jobs/Apartments/Everything
http://vancouver.craigslist.org/
email me if you need any info on vancouver neuromancerx@hotmail.com
BESERKER
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Students
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
mbutu1
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Member: OMG HI2U
Location: vancouver
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Hi. uhm, ?
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