handful of brewpubs, Dix serves its own heady tipples as well as brews from favored local producers like North Vancouver’s Red Truck Beer Company.
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If your liquid lunch hasn’t got the better of you, continue south along Beatty to the next corner, then turn right up Smithe St. Head west over Cambie St. and on your right is Artworks Gallery, a popular exhibition space where everything is for sale. Nip inside and check out the array of landscape, abstract, and photography works.
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Continue west on Smithe, crossing Hamilton St. and passing Fire Hall Number 8 on your right. On the corner of the next block, you’ll pass Subeez Café, one of Vancouver’s favorite nighttime haunts. The dark interior of this cavernous spot is atmospherically lined with giant, half-melted candles. Make a mental note to come back in the evening for a chatty meal with friends or to join the martini scrum around the small bar. On balmy summer nights, the narrow patio here is usually packed to the gills.
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Maintain a westerly direction as you stroll up the slight incline and take the next left along Richards St. This thoroughfare has been transformed over the last decade with a forest of glass condo towers—a far cry from the rooming houses and railway-worker cottages that used to be here. Even the sidewalks have been beautified: check out the leaf prints artfully pressed into the cement.
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Cross to the right side of Richards and continue southward to the intersection with Nelson St. On the corner here you’ll find the free-entry Contemporary Art Gallery, a small public exhibition space focused on local and international modern works. Photography is usually well-represented here and it’s well worth a few minutes to nip in and see what’s on the walls.
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Turn east down Nelson and, after two blocks, turn right onto Hamilton St. This is your introduction to the brick-lined heart of old Yaletown. Also keep your eyes peeled for the remnants of old rail lines embedded in the asphalt of the roads here. Head up the ramp along Hamilton’s right-hand sidewalk and at the end of the block you’ll come to Blue Water Café on your right. An exemplar of the kind of stylish regeneration that has taken place here, this is one of the city’s most popular restaurants. Seafood fans come for its delectable Pacific Northwest approach to regional catches, as well as its Japanese-style raw bar, renowned as one of Vancouver’s top sushi joints.
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Cross over Helmcken St. and continue south along Hamilton. Among the designer shops and precious boutiques lining this stretch, you’ll spot the Mini car dealership, an indicator of Yaletown’s yuppie provenance. Take the next turn left along Davie St. and stroll down the hill. On your right is the Opus Hotel, one of the city’s favorite boutique sleepovers. Its mod rooms include the kind of swanky features only rich people view as standard, including mini oxygen canisters that allegedly enhance metabolism: of course wealth is no guarantee of intelligence. The hotel’s guests have included Michael Stipe, Robert De Niro, and Harrison Ford and its on-site coffee shop is a handy place for a java stop.
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Fully wired, continue south down Davie and take the next left along Mainland St., the other brick-lined Yaletown thoroughfare. Continue north along Mainland and on your left you’ll soon come to the tiny Chocoatl, a boutique confectionary store where a little over-indulgence goes a long way. There’s a small seating area here where you can sip on some hot chocolate and indulge in a choc-dipped marshmallow or two. But takeout is your best bet: scoop up a bag full of bars and bonbons and pretend you’re taking them home for the kids.
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Backpack bulging, continue north along Mainland to the end of the block. At the corner is the Yaletown Brewing Company, the area’s favorite brewpub. If you have time, nip inside. On its left is the narrow, brick-lined bar where you can sup on brews like Mainland Lager and Frank’s Nut Brown; on the right is the large restaurant area where pub classics are served—the cappicola and mushroom pizza is recommended. The patio here is always packed on sunny evenings, so arrive early if you’d like an outside perch to watch the designer-dressed locals cruise by.
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From here, cross over Mainland into the parking lot opposite the pub. Stroll east through the lot and the little park adjoining it. Within a minute or two, you’ll come to Pacific Blvd. Turn right along Pacific, then turn left along Davie St. Ahead on your right is one of the city’s best historic sites. Enter the Roundhouse Arts & Recreation Centre and visit the handsomely preserved Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive number 374. This is the steam engine that pulled the first transcontinental train into Vancouver on May 23, 1887, symbolically unifying the nation. Its museum home is now staffed by volunteers from Squamish’s West Coast Railway Heritage Park. Save time to check out the fully restored 1888-built train turntable outside. One of the city’s oldest structures, this is an ideal spot to conclude your Yaletown exploration.
CELEBRATING SPORTING HEROES
After perusing the stadium’s exterior, consider ducking inside to the BC Sports Hall of Fame, accessed via Gate A. One of the city’s small museum gems, this smashing little exhibition space is lined with memorabilia from decades of regional and international sporting achievement. There are strips here from long-forgotten teams as well as medals from local heroes who triumphed in past Olympic Games. There’s also plenty for children to do, including races, basketball practice, and lots of push-button shenanigans. The museum’s most poignant gallery honors national legend Terry Fox, the young Port Coquitlam cancer sufferer whose one-legged 1980 Marathon of Hope run across Canada ended abruptly after 143 days and 3,339 miles/5373km when the disease spread to his lungs. Fox died the following year but his achievement is marked by a large memorial outside the stadium, across from the foot of Robson St. The shiny steel interior of the walk-through archway, designed by architect Franklin Allen, is etched with a large image of Fox and a map tracing the route of his trek. When Fox started his run, he received very little attention, but by the time he was forced to stop, the entire country was behind him. Every year since his death, fundraising runs have been staged across Canada and around the world in his honor. The Terry Fox Foundation estimates that, to date, these have raised more than $400 million for cancer research.
POINTS OF INTEREST
BC Place 777 Pacific Blvd., 604-669-2300
BC Sports Hall of Fame 777 Pacific Blvd., 604-687-5520
Dix BBQ & Brewery 1871 Beatty St., 604-682-2739
Artworks Gallery 225 Smithe St., 604-688-3301
Subeez Café 891 Homer St., 604-687-6107
Contemporary Art Gallery 555 Nelson St., 604-681-2700
Blue Water Café 1095 Hamilton St., 604-688-8078
Opus Hotel 322 Davie St., 604-642-6787
Chocoatl 1127 Mainland St., 604-676-9977
Yaletown Brewing Company 1111 Mainland St., 604-688-0064
Roundhouse Arts & Recreation Centre 181 Roundhouse Mews, 604-713-1800
handful of brewpubs, Dix serves its own heady tipples as well as brews from favored local producers like North Vancouver’s Red Truck Beer Company.
