Just 100 years after its founding, the city once called the Village-on-the-Edge-of-the-Rain Forest is taking its place in the sun.
All eyes were on Vancouver May 2, when Prince Charles and Lady Diana cut the ribbon to officially open Expo 86. But while Canada`s man-made exposition will take center stage, the natural attractions of this scenic city may just steal the show.
Vancouver is among the most beautifully situated cities in the world, ranking with Rio de Janeiro and Hong Kong. Wedged on an outcrop of land between Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River, it is cradled by majestic coastal mountains and cooled by Pacific breezes.
When not shrouded in clouds, the snowcapped peaks form a stunning backdrop for the city`s gleaming downtown skyscrapers, acres of emerald green urban parks and waterfronts studded with an armada of ferries, freighters, cruise ships, sailboats and yachts. Add to this superb public transporation, a cosmopolitan ambience and a mild year-round climate moderated by the Japan Current, Kuroshio, and you`ve got a destination that most tourism publicists can only dream about.
The only glitch in the scenario (there`s always something) is rain. Vancouver gets buckets of it, averaging 60 inches a year in the downtown area, though most of it falls between the non-Expo months of November and March.
First impressions can tell a lot about a place. Mine came aboard a Hustle Bus ($5.75 Canadian) which practically greeted our plane at Vancouver International Airport and whisked its load of weary passengers downtown in 20 minutes. On airport-adjoining roads usually given over to industry, we passed tidy little houses and yards brimming with a rainbow profusion of flowers;
bushes and shrubs were neatly sculpted into mushroom, gumdrop and cone shapes, lending an overall impression of Candyland.
Yet Vancouver`s private plots are only a prelude to all the areas set aside as public gardens and nature preserves. Foremost among them is Stanley Park, a 1,000-acre tract of Douglas firs, red cedars and wilderness trails just five minutes west of downtown. Here, visitors tired of the tourist shuffle may pause to watch a rollicking game of cricket or rugby, snap photos by the totem poles near Hallelujah Point or join the joggers, cyclists and roller-skaters on the seven-mile-long seawall promenade.
Stanley Park is also a good vantage point for mountain and ocean views, followed by a stop for Sunday brunch at Ferguson Point Teahouse overlooking English Bay; reservations are advised. Kids will enjoy the kangaroos and the killer and Beluga whales at the newly expanded ocean aquarium, Canada`s largest.
Leading into the park along Robson Street is Robsonstrasse, a strand of charming European-style cafes, shops, bakeries and delis that now share space with upscale boutiques and sushi bars. Join the literary crowd lunching on Golden Mantle oysters at Binky`s Oyster Bar, 784 Thurlow, or on raw fish at Kamei Sushi, 811 Thurlow.
These days, as ”Expo Fever” grips the city, Vancouverites are outdoing themselves festooning their homes with flowers and sprucing up their parks, buildings and shops. In addition to the Expo pavilions, several new attractions have been added to the cityscape in recent months.
Perhaps the most eyecatching is Canada Place, the national host pavilion that will be Vancouver`s permanent convention center and cruiseship terminal after the fair. Jutting out over Burrard Inlet, it`s shaped like a giant ocean liner, with five billowing white Teflon-coated fiberglass sails soaring above. The futuristic complex is anchored by the Japanese-built Pan Pacific, an elegant new luxury hotel (one of several built in time for Expo) where suites rent for up to $1,000 a day.
Canada Place is linked to the fairgrounds a mile away by the new SkyTrain, an elevated monorail that made its debut in January. The high-tech rapid transit system, with cruising speeds of up to 50 miles an hour, follows a 13.5-mile route from Vancouver`s waterfront through the suburbs.
Also new is the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, behind the Chinese Cultural Center at 50 E. Pender. Constructed by artisans from the People`s Republic, it`s a classical walled Ming Dynasty garden, said to be the only one of its kind built since 1492. With bridges, temples, framed views and intimate spaces, it`s modeled after the 15th-Century garden compound of Suzhou, China`s leading ”garden” city, which sent a representative to be chief architect of the project. Touted as ”refreshment for the heart,” the garden may be a welcome respite from the glitz and bustle of the fair.
On your way to the new garden, soak up the sights and sounds of Vancouver`s Chinatown, the second largest in North America (10 percent of the city`s 1.2 million population is Chinese). You`ll pass pagoda-topped phone booths, wrinkled Chinese grandmothers in black pajamas, herbalist shops and barbecued ducks hanging feet side up. Look for No. 8 Pender, a five-foot-wide bulding that is reputed to be the world`s narrowest, and try the custard tarts at Maxim`s Chinese Bakery at 257 Keefer.
Just north of Chinatown is historic Gastown, where Vancouver began in the late 1860s when ”Gassy” Jack Deighton canoed in with a couple of barrels of whisky to open a saloon. A few years later, Vancouver`s future was assured when the growing logging community was selected as the western terminus of the Trans-Canada railroad. This year, the city (Canada`s third largest) and the Canadian Pacific Railway are marking their centennials with special events coinciding with Expo.
Gastown, after bottoming out during the 1960s as a notorious Skid Row, is today a revitalized district of red-brick sidewalks, antique street lamps, restored Victorian buildings, Indian art galleries and cafes catering to the tourist trade. Its landmark is a steam-powered clock, circa 1875, that plays the opening notes of London`s Westminster chimes on the quarter hour.
Stop by Umberto Al Porto to sample homemade pasta and other quality Italian fare of one of Vancouver`s premier chefs, Umberto Menghi, who also operates three higher-priced restaurants (specializing in game, seafood and northern Italian) across town on Hornby Street.
Umberto`s Gastown Restaurant offers a great view of the harbor in this decidedly water-oriented city, which boasts the largest seaport on the Pacific Coast and handles more grain and other dry tonnage than all other West Coast ports–Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego–combined.
Vancouverites, with more than 100 miles of waterfront, know how to take advantage of their settings. Many commuters zip to work via SeaBus, transferring from regular buses and cars to the aluminum catamaran-like vessels that are designed with two front ends so they don`t have to turn around. And an estimated one in four residents owns a boat–some even live on them in an upscale community of houseboats moored at Granville Island, a former industrial park transformed into a bright urban playground of shops, cafes and marinas on False Creek.
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Reserve at least a half day for the island, starting off with blueberry crumpets at the colorful Granville Island Public Market. Work up an appetite browsing among pyramids of fist-sized strawberries, jumbo artichokes, glistening pastas, and ducks and rabbits so fresh-looking you`d swear you almost saw them blink.
Wash down your snacks with Granville Island beer, an unpasteurized lager made on the island, and try to catch a tour of the small brewery. You could spend hours studying the avant garde works displayed at the Emily Carr College of Art and exploring such boutiques as Kids Only with its innovative toys, clothing and coloring books. Take home a souvenir from Circle craft, a cooperative featuring the works of two dozen British Columbia artists.
Just across the bridge leading to Granville Island is Jade World, 1696 W. 1st Ave., a factory where workers carve objects from jade mined in mountains 800 miles north of Vancouver, in areas where snow can fall every month of the year. The firm also ships 100 tons of jade annually to the Orient, where it`s carved and reshipped back to Vancouver giftshops. British Columbia, famous for its jade, accounts for 60 to 70 percent of the world`s supply.
From Granville Island, it`s not far to the University of British Columbia campus, with its fine gardens and Museum of Anthropology, respected for its architecture and fine displays of Northwest Indian culture. Near campus is Wreck beach, where nude sunbathers vie for sightseeing interest with Vancouver`s mountains and other natural attractions.