Vancouver Magazine June 2015

GRADE SCHOOL

A WEEK IN

THE CITY'S BEST

PEOPLE VS

BOXERS

MUNICH

TACOS

PESTS

43 ne n i W

rs

t s r i F al

u n n A

Craft

JUNE 2015

B

AWARDS

R PLUS

ALE STYLES 101 FOOD PAIRINGS & THE CITY'S TOP BREWS (like this Best of Show)

Opportunities Such As This Are Rare.

T H E U LT I M AT E W E S T C O A S T A D D R E S S .

A W E S T VA N C O U V E R L A N D M A R K J U ST 1 0 M I N U T E S F RO M D OW N TOW N F E AT U R I N G H O M E S W I T H U N O B S T R U C T E D O C E A N V I E W S A N D U N PA R A L L E L E D AT T E N T I O N T O D E TA I L . T H I S I S A N O P P O RT U N I T Y U N L I K E A N Y OT H E R .

57 Beachside Homes In West Vancouver Call 604.922.1380 to book a private appointment GrosvenorAmbleside.com The developer reserves the right to make changes to the information contained herein without notice.

Rendering is representational only and may not be accurate. This is not an offering for sale. E.&O.E.

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ANTHROPOLOGIE / ARITZIA / FREE PEOPLE / J.CREW / KATE SPADE NEW YORK LOFT / MICHAEL KORS / OSKA / TRATTORIA / URBAN OUTFITTERS / ZARA

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VOLUME 48

NUMBER 5

JUNE F E AT U R E S

Craft Beer Awards 53 Craft Work Following decades of corporate dominance, small independent breweries are taking over in ever-growing numbers. Rarely has being spoiled for choice tasted so sweet

By Steven Galloway

Cover photograph by Eydis Einarsdottir; illustration by Cristian Fowlie ; this page: Kevin Clark

58 The Winners More than 200 beers were entered into our inaugural competition. Here are those our 18 judged ruled to be the best of the crafty bunch

72 A Breed Apart More women and couples are happy not to have children.

Why does their freedom of choice matter to others?

By Kerry Gold

JOY ON TAP Liquid gold (and plenty of it) begins on pg. 58. These taps belong to Brassneck Brewery

J U N E 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

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JUNE

***

“I’M NOT A MOM. AND I’M NOT INFERTILE AND SAD. I CAN’T FIND MYSELF. I’M JUST NOT THERE. IT PISSES ME OFF”

—pg. 72

THE

THE

THE

32 TASTE MAKER

86 PERSONAL SHOPPER Get

12 FROM THE EDITOR Sometimes

properly accessorized for the often unpredictable West Coast transition from spring to summer

it seems everything is going to hell. But hey—there’s never been a better time to drown your sorrows!

88 MODEL CITIZEN A multi-

98 SNAP CHATTER Charity

tasking restaurateur is never too busy to look well put together

and celebration joined together at a trio of recent events

BRIEF DISH 16 VANCOUVER LIFE The long,

PG.28

bumpy road to increasing cyclists’ safety; a little kid comes out swinging; the campaign to give lab rats a better life 20 BLOCK WATCH

The changing face of Kerrisdale’s retail landscape; dream homes for those who love to bask in the glow of commerce 22 URBAN FIX

Vancouver, like many cities, is witnessing a mounting invasion by four-legged inhabitants that have historically kept their distance 26 ON THE RECORD Anglican

PG.32

bishop Melissa Skelton talks about cross-border differences and the parallels between leading a business and leading a diocese

Forget those foodcourt imposters; authentic, delicious tacos are close at hand all around the city 35 BRIEFLY NOTED

Short but sweet reviews of Ramen Koika and Corduroy Pie Company

GOODS PLUS

36 MIX MASTER 92 SWEAT EQUIT Y Burnaby’s

A resourceful 19th-century oyster merchant gifted the world Pimm’s; a Gastown bartender gifts you a DIY recipe for his version of the beloved spirit

Christine Sinclair gets ready to lead Team Canada to glory at the city-hosted FIFA Women’s World Cup

38 FRESH SHEET

94 FIELD TRIP

Long considered an Complementimport-only luxury, ing our first beer awards, we journey a locally produced to Bavaria, where caviar handily the beverage’s shows up its forpast and present eign competition are a matter of national pride 40 DECANTER Go ahead and blush over these food-friendly yearround off-reds

The jazz fest, Bard on the Beach, soccer—summer must be just around the corner

Enhanced magazine content, a comprehensive database of restaurant reviews, and so much more at the newly revamped

Va n m a g .co m

PG.94

6

Taco: Clinton Hussey: Chen: Evaan Kheraj

28 THE ESSENTIALS

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L

THE MARK OF DISTINC TION.

WILL GADD G L O B A L A D VENT U R E R

L S ERIES LEN S ES

WATCH TH E FIL M AT CANON.C A /L

Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. © 2015 Canon Canada Inc .

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EDITOR-IN- CHIEF

John Burns

DR. Shannon humphRey, DR. aLaStaiR CaRRutheRS & DR. jean CaRRutheRS

ART DIRECTOR

Paul Roelofs SENIOR EDITOR

Michael White ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR

Naomi MacDougall TRAVEL & STYLE EDITOR

Amanda Ross

answer your questions about today’s cosmetic advances & issues

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR

Jenny Reed EVENTS EDITOR

Fiona Morrow CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

I’ve heard that a sunscreen with an SPF over 30 isn’t necessary, and that it’s just a waste of money. Is this true?

How high of an SPF do we really need?

Liz R, Vancouver

Frances Bula, Christina Burridge, Mario Canseco, Petti Fong, Kerry Gold, Michael Harris, DJ Kearney, Neal McLennan, Malcolm Parry, Guy Saddy, Jim Sutherland, Timothy Taylor, Daniel Wood CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Clinton Hussey, Evaan Kheraj, Joe McKendry (contributor illustrations), Andrew Querner, Carlo Ricci, John Sinal, Martin Tessler, Milos Tosic, Luis Valdizon EDITORIAL INTERNS

Ginger Jefferies, Danielle Tsang

A high SPF is absolutely necessary. This means a broad spectrum sunscreen with at least SPF 30 for daily use and at least SPF 50 for days when you intend to spend time in the sun.

The basics of SPF boil down to application. We know that patients under-apply the required volume of sunscreen. That’s why choosing an SPF of 60 or 100 is going to give you better protection than a sunscreen with a lower SPF. If you apply SPF 30 and only apply a quarter of the required amount (and this is actually really common) you will only be getting a quarter of the SPF protection. If you’re starting with an SPF 30 and then cut that by 75%, you don’t have nearly enough protection from the sun.

ART INTERNS

Kelsi Leaming, Jamie Yeung PROOFREADER

Ruth Grossman EDITORIAL EMAIL

mail@vancouvermagazine.com

VANCOUVER OFFICE

Suite 560, 2608 Granville St. Vancouver, B.C. V6H 3V3 604-877-7732

ONLINE COORDINATOR

Jennifer Elliott ONLINE ASSISTANT

Rachel Morten VIDEOGRAPHER

Think you’re applying enough? The American Academy of Dermatology recommends at least one ounce of sunscreen (enough to fill a shot glass) to cover exposed skin. It’s more than you think! And don’t forget that sunscreen is just one part of an effective sun protection strategy.

Avoiding the sun between 10am and 2pm, opting for shade, and wearing sun protective gear are the most important parts of sun safety.

– Shannon Humphrey, frcpc – Alastair Carruthers, frcpc – Jean Carruthers, frcsc

8

Mark Philps

VANCOUVER MAGAZINE is published 10 times a year by Transcontinental Western Media Group Inc. Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without publisher’s written permission. Not responsible for unsolicited editorial material. Privacy Policy: On occasion, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened organizations whose product or service might interest you. If you prefer that we not share your name and address (postal and/or email), you can easily remove your name from our mailing lists by reaching us at any of the listed contact points. You can review our complete Privacy Policy at Vanmag.com.

Subscriptions in Canada: one year $39.99. Subscriptions in the United States: one year $59.99. Rates include GST. Back issues $10, including postage and handling. All figures in Canadian funds. For address change, send old and new address to our circulation department. Indexed in the Canadian Magazine Index by Micromedia Ltd. and also in the Canadian Periodical Index. International standard serial no. ISSN 0380-9552. Canadian publications mail product sales agreement #40064924. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Dept., Suite 560, 2608 Granville St., Vancouver, B.C., V6H 3V3. Printed in Canada by Transcontinental Printing G.P. (LGM Graphics), 737 Moray St., Winnipeg, MB, R3J 3S9. All reproduction requests must be made to: COPIBEC (paper reproductions) 800-717-2022, or CEDROM-SNi (electronic reproductions) 800-563-5665. Distributed by Coast to Coast Ltd.

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WITH GREAT POWER, COMES GREAT CONVERSATION BE A PART OF IT!

The Vancouver magazine + Brian Jessel BMW SPEAKER SERIES continues Monday, July 6.

The Aboriginal Factor in the Future of Vancouver’s Development

We tap prominent Power 50 honorees to dive deep into what’s required for a just and collaborative future for smart, efficient land use in our city.

The Power 50 speakers headlining this evening will be revealed at BrianJesselBMW.com/EventSeries

Vancouver magazine and Brian Jessel BMW team up to bring select 2014 Power 50 honorees to the stage in a networking and thought-leadership speaker series hosted at the luxurious Brian Jessel BMW dealership.

This is the third of five power-packed, personal conversation evenings—each one fuelled by 2014 Power 50 A-listers and moderated by Vancouver magazine.

M POWER EVENT SCHEDULE Monday, July 6, 2015 | 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. | Brian Jessel BMW, 2311 Boundary Road, Vancouver Don’t miss these upcoming conversations:

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int

C ar a f

t Be

·w ·a ·r

The Big Picture

er ·s

MONTH

FROM THE EDITOR

n a t iona

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THIS

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HOP TO IT FROM THE TIME THIS ISSUE HITS THE STREETS, YOU HAVE FOUR DAYS TO BUY TICKETS FOR VANCOUVER CRAFT BEER WEEK’S MAY 29 GALA, WHERE WE’LL HAND OUT OUR 43 AWARDS. COME SAMPLE WITH US. VANCOUVERCRAFTBEERWEEK.COM

It will surprise no one to hear the local craft beer scene has exploded in the past five years; we at the magazine are delighted to join the party with this issue’s inaugural Craft Beer Awards

Liquid Sunshine yesterday, it hailed. right out of a blue sky that was, according to my phone, a pleasant 10° C at the time. I’m getting used to our nonsensical weather, but sheesh am I glad I didn’t spend the winter trying to run a ski hill. Thanks to unseasonable temperatures and high rainfall, it was (literally) a wash at the local mountains; Grouse, Seymour, and Cypress all closed for lack of snow, as did Vancouver Island’s Mount Washington.

Hemlock Resort, outside Mission, didn’t even open. Industry talk now is all about ramping up summer offerings (more zip lines!) as winter revenues along the coast drop ever more.

Even for non-skiers, it’s bad news. Without adequate snowpack (it’s the second lowest in 31 years) and facing higher-thanusual temperatures this month, we’ll likely experience low river levels and limited freshwater supply over the summer. We’re not in California territory yet, but the effects of anthropogenic global warming are obvious and inarguable. Maybe this is the year to dig up that front lawn.

We’re not the only species affected. As Frances Bula notes in “Meet the Neighbours” (pg. 22), rising temperatures are a boon to many critters, especially as they follow patterns already established by humans, fleeing the countryside for the many attractions of city life. Carpenter ants, hornets, clothes moths, silverfish, bedbugs, mice, rats, squirrels, raccoons, eagles, geese, crows, coyotes, elk, deer, bears—they all dig this city’s appealing housing, dining, and hookup spots as much as we do.

The only truce in this mounting war may surprise you.

The news isn’t all gloom. Sunny skies and balmy nights have their upside, of course, not least the simple pleasure of a cold beer on the back porch or (thank you, City Hall!) a downtown patio. It will surprise precisely no one to hear the local craft beer scene has exploded in the past five years; we at the magazine are delighted to join the party with this issue’s inaugural Craft Beer Awards, presenting 43 winning beers (starting on pg. 58) as chosen by 18 industry and palate professionals. If you’re going to drown your sorrows, we’ve got a great place to start! VM

john.burns@vancouvermagazine.com

12

FIGURES BEHIND THIS ISSUE

831 bottles handled during eight hours of beer judging (pg. 58). Number dropped? 1 499 years the Germans have been making the same beer the same way (pg. 94) 50 storage boxes forming the backdrop for the portrait of professional pack rats Patrick McLaren and Jeff Cheng (pg. 85) 20 percentage of Canadian women turning 45 without children. In Japan: 33 (pg. 72)

Portrait: Evaan Kheraj; styling: Luisa Rino; clothing courtesy Holt Renfrew

JOHN BURNS

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it’s b e a u t i f u l o u t s i d e

G L O S T E R . D E D O N . B R O W N J O R D A N . J A N U S E T C I E . S I F A S . C A N E L I N E . T U U C I . K I N G S L E Y B AT E . F A S T

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VA NC O U V E R L IF E

BL OCK WAT CH

URBAN FIX

ON THE RECORD

THE ESSENTIALS

“Sure enough, the babies were still in there and the mum was freaking, right at our window”

T HE

PG. 22

The month in politics, real estate, business & culture

Ship to Shore the april 8 spill that left an estimated 2,800 litres of bunker fuel floating in English Bay drew criticism— from Mayor Gregor Robertson, Premier Christy Clark, and, seemingly, every Vancouverite with access to social media—of the Coast Guard for its slow response to the calamity. (Also under fire: the Conservatives, who in February 2013 closed the Kits station that could have responded more efficiently.) The Coast Guard countered that within a couple of days it had successfully recovered 80 percent of the spill. But Anita Burke, a Colorado-based expert in industrial-disaster response, voiced extreme skepticism, noting that a 15- to 20-percent recovery rate is usually as much as can be expected. “My experience tells me…they captured 80 percent of what they could see,” she told the Globe and Mail. “But how much sank?” As beach weather approaches and debate over increased tanker traffic escalates, her question will be echoing in the mind of every local who gazes out onto the water.

Michael Wheatley/Getty Images

The Stanley Park seawall at sunset.

Tanker-free vistas are increasingly rare

J U N E 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

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BRIEF

VA N C O U V E R L I F E

Tr e n d i n g S t o r i e s

NO. OF BIKE TRIPS EACH MARCH ACROSS THE BURRARD BRIDGE & GEORGIA VIADUCT, IN THOUSANDS

SIGN OF THE TIMES

140 –

– 140

105 –

– 105

70 –

– 70

35 –

– 35

0–

–0 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Saddle Sore

I

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and Pine. These numbers, by the way, represent only a portion of accidents: ICBC data do not cover collisions with pedestrians or other cyclists, or falls to avoid a crash.

Meghan Winters knows 10th Avenue, too. She hates it: distracted drivers, hospital-bound pedestrians, suddenly opened car doors. Winters regularly commutes along this route to her office at VGH, where her SFU assistant professorship in health sciences provides a platform for her cycling research and policy advocacy. This means fighting for a Vancouver version of the bike-share system that now exists in 500 cities worldwide. This means promoting European-based urban infrastructure and safety features that allow, for example, 26 percent of Dutch cyclists to commute daily.

(Vancouver is at six.) This means starting the interactive BikeMaps (BikeMaps.org) this past spring.

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iStock/CSA Archives

Vancouver, knows the location well. The spot features prominently in the Cycling Safety Report his office is releasing this month, which names high-crash locations and provides traffic engineers with information about how things need The more fervently the city embraces to be fi xed. The menacing red dot cycling, the greater the number of run(indicating 28 cycling accidents) ins with cars and other hazards. Two city sits atop the intersection where programs aim to increase safety for all Pacific Boulevard meets the Burwho share the road rard Street Bridge.

That’s a well-known trouble if you ever ride a bike in these spot, but it’s not the worst place for parts, there’s a map you need to see. Vancouver cyclists overall. That Google “Cyclists + ICBC” and up distinction belongs to 10th Avenue, pops a display of collisions between which happens to run below Metro Vancouver cyclists and vehi- Dobrovolny’s window at City Hall. cles from 2009 to 2013. Hundreds A busy cross-town bike route of crashes, 980 injuries, and five lined with parked cars and cut fatalities are represented by myriad by traffic arteries, West and East beige, pink, and orange dots. But it’s 10th account for 159 cycling colVancouver’s most dangerous interlisions with vehicles. The single section that really catches the eye. worst intersection—and the city’s Jerry Dobrovolny, director second most dangerous corner, of transportation for the City of with 14 collisions—is at West 10th CYCLING

Andrea Fernandez; stats courtesy Vancouver.ca

THAT’S A WELLKNOWN TROUBLE SPOT, BUT IT’S NOT—BY A LONG SHOT—THE WORST FOR VANCOUVER CYCLISTS OVERALL

40

05

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iStock/CSA Archives

Andrea Fernandez; stats courtesy Vancouver.ca

5

The data-collecting and datasharing system is meant to provide cyclists and policy-makers with up-to-date reports of collisions, near misses, thefts, and hazards.

The entry from February 17, 2015, about an accident at the infamous Burrard/Pacific intersection is typical: “Six bikes all travelling at different speeds. About to overtake a slower bike. Hit brakes to avoid collision, and flew over handlebars.

Injury: minor head fracture.”

The goal of BikeMaps is to add to the data Dobrovolny already receives from ICBC and his own Active Transportation office, in order to design a city where cycling dangers are continually reduced.

With 500 kilometres of bikeways, off-street paths, and painted lanes already in place, and a $1.55-million annual budget to improve infrastructure and promote bicycling, Vancouver is now being likened to Portland—but nowhere close to Copenhagen or Amsterdam—in doing what’s required to make two-wheeled travel safe. As Europeans know, utilizing separated bike lanes—as on Hornby and Dunsmuir streets downtown—is 10 times safer than riding beside parked cars. And painted bike lanes reduce accidents by 50 percent. But as Dobrovolny points out, the greatest cause of cycling collisions is human error. Turning drivers cut off bike riders. Cyclists run stop signs. Drivers open doors into oncoming cyclists.

For every 100 million bicycle trips in B.C., there are still just 21 injuries and 14 fatalities: good odds now that will only get better when the data from BikeMaps and ICBC are, in the years ahead, utilized to rectify urban problems and to extend, as is planned, Metro Vancouver’s bikeway system by 2,400 kilometres.—Daniel Wood

PUGILISM

RUMBLE IN THE PLAYGROUND Armed with a pair of miniature bespoke gloves, one gradeschooler steps into the ring to discover the man he’ll become

LEARNING TO SHARE

 I got my first pair of boxing gloves

they had to be earned. I brought home

when I was seven. They were a gift

multiple-choice tests from my class-

from my parents, and I promptly used

room and paid my son a buck apiece

them on my kid brother. In the photo-

to mark them. Six weeks later, he had

graph of my first bout, he appears more

saved $50. Making him work was no

amused than afraid.

challenge, but finding gloves was. The

I didn’t learn how to throw a proper When Montrealbased Bixi filed for bankruptcy protection in 2014, its rollout of a Vancouver bike-share program stalled. Deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston says the city has switched to Portland-based Motivate (formerly Alta), which must still find funding and sponsorship before installation can begin. “A 2015 launch date is still possible,” he says.

Motivateco.com

stuff in stores is junk. My quest led me

punch until I was in my late teens. By

to a warehouse with a phallus scrawled

then, I had read enough Hemingway to

on the door. Gary Lee, proprietor of

know that fighting prowess was impor-

Select Boxing Equipment, answered the

tant to the man I wanted to be. I had also

buzzer. The factory behind him was dark

discovered Queensborough Boxing Club

and quiet: fewer gloves are made each

in the phone book. My ring career tal-

year. But Lee would gladly make a pair

lied more hospital visits than trophies,

for my son—and in his favourite colour.

but eventually I learned how to fight. If

It took him only two days to make a

one day I were blessed with a son, I told

pair of eight-ounce gloves in green. That

myself, he’d have an easier time of it.

night, Emil broke them in on me and then

By age three, Emil had his fight

on his younger brother. Only his young-

stance down pat. We practised on

est brother, six weeks old, escaped. By

the kitchen floor with my old sparring

the end of the night, all he wanted to do

gloves. Behind them, he concealed

was take his new gloves to the gym. It

most of his welterweight frame.

was time to return to where it all began.

I launched punches at my son from a

Again Emil entered alone, but this

position on my knees. When the action

time there was something in his step.

got too close to the china, my wife sug-

Down to its blood-spattered canvas,

gested we find a gym.

Queensborough was as I had left it

So one night, we walked hand in

two decades before. At its centre, a

hand down Granville while I laid out the

greying Scotty Jackson was barking

plan. Emil would enter the gym, ask for

out instructions at a new generation

the coach, and introduce himself as the

of fi ghters. Emil donned his gloves and

cigar-chomping, bear-boxing heavy-

began to work a bag. Scotty leaned

weight Two-Ton Tony Galento. From

over the ropes and spoke to him.

the threshold, I observed as a fat man

“You tough like your old man?” Emil

doubled over in laughter and they shook

shrugged. Scotty proceeded to tell

hands. Over a slice of pizza in a dive next

the gym about my first fi ght. “The guy

to an X-rated cinema I told him I was

fought with a broken jaw and didn’t

proud of him. I also told him what my

mention it until we arrived at the bar.

coach once told me: “You may find your-

At midnight, they wired him shut.”

self in a neighbourhood like this one day

More or less true. For a moment the

with your wife, and she’ll love you all the

gym was silent, and then my son sank

more because with you she’ll feel safe.”

his best into the same bag I had once

What Emil needed was his own gloves. They had to be good quality, and

worked. Already he possessed footwork I never had.—Peter Valing

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Tr e n d i n g S t o r i e s

SCIENCE

Cage Match Right now, a million rats are being experimented on in Canadian labs. Are we doing enough to thank them?

18

Dawley rats in her lab in UBC’s animal-welfare department. She had several inspirations: wild rat habitats; sporadic research at UBC, including from visiting scholar and “rat guru” Emily Patterson-Kane; and laboratory enrichment research that began in the 1940s and boasts colourful local contributions such as a “rat park” designed by SFU scientists in the ’70s.

Makowska created six “seminaturalistic” habitats featuring three-storey cages with enough space to allow residents to socialize and still have privacy. She decked out the cages with litter boxes and fleece blankets, bag dispensers for climbing, hammocks for chilling and perching, large PVC pipes for nesting and hiding, lava rocks for chewing, and pet-store treat balls to satisfy rats’ need to forage. The control group, by contrast, lived in standard cages that are only 20 centimetres high. (The enriched ones are 125 centimetres high and 34 times bigger overall.) Furnishings are stark: a small PVC pipe and wood-chip flooring, as dictated by the Canadian Council on Animal Care, a national organization that regulates, accredits, and audits all animal-research facilities.

Footage of the two colonies provided stunning contrasts. The standard-housing rats huddled in corners, unable to fully rear and stretch limbs, forced to rotate nesting time in the cramped pipe.

The enriched-housing rats burrowed, climbed, perched, reared,

and balanced social play with rest and sleep. In time, Makowska let these rats out for interspecies play.

Positive rat-human interactions are rare in a standard setting, even though enrichment research has established that both species benefit, particularly from tickling sessions in which rats lie on their backs emitting high vocalizations that indicate positive excitement and anticipation of reward.

The unveiling of her rat utopia footage was a hit at the 2013 Symposium of the Canadian Association for Laboratory Animal

BOTH SPECIES BENEFIT, PARTICULARLY FROM TICKLING SESSIONS IN WHICH RATS LIE ON THEIR BACKS EMITTING HIGH VOCALIZATIONS Science. A few researchers have since contacted her, hoping to implement their own enriched habitats, but generally there’s resistance to change. “My goal is to push the boundaries,” she says, “and convince decision-makers that lab rats deserve more control over their environment—to be agents in their own lives. We should strive to give them a good life.”—Danielle Egan

David Noah

joanna makowska didn’t set out to become a champion of rat rights. “I’ve always been an animal lover,” says the UBC doctoral candidate. “When I got to work with and care for rats, it became clear that they’re extremely bright, inquisitive creatures,” she says. “But there’s a big discrepancy between the way large, more charismatic lab mammals are treated compared to smaller, less-liked rodents.” She gained an interest in lab-animal welfare while an undergrad studying biology and psychology; in her current work, she’s researching the benefits of enriched environments not just for rats but for the lab technicians who handle them.

Eighty million rats and mice live in research facilities around the world—over 1.3 million in Canada, where these tiny mammals drive the bulk of animal-biomedical studies. Small, omnivorous, and prolific year-round breeders, they’re a cheap resource, available for as little as $15 each from commercial breeders in the U.S. and Europe. They also share many personality traits with humans—hence their status as the preferred species in behavioural research from addiction to neuroscience. Yet in their job they face disease, experimental drugs, and invasive surgeries, and 99 percent must also endure woefully inadequate housing. Makowska wondered how the lucky one-percenters were faring by comparison.

To answer that question, she built a utopia for 30 Sprague-

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T I A A R C L I N E A L I G N E R O S E T F L O U MOO O I F LO S M D F I TA LI A L I V I N G D I V A N I E 1 5 A R P E R K A R T E L L H E R M A N M I L L E R PAO L A L E NT I A L E S S I F L O U

IT E L E M A M E TA L A R T E F O S C A R I N I S A N TA & C O L E G A N D I A B L A S C O K N O L L E X T R E M I S R O D A B O C C I M I N O T T I M D F I TA L I A K R I S T A L I A L I V I N

170 6 WES T 1S T AV E A R M O URY D I S T R IC T VA NCO UVER 6 04 6 8 3 1116 LI VI NG S PA CE. CO M

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THE

BRIEF

B L O C K WAT C H

Real Estate

STREET LEVEL

Our Brigadoon Development marches into a tradition-favouring neighbourhood

B U I L D I N G WAT C H

FOREIGN AFFAIRS Local builders set their sites on far-off soil

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Gifts couldn’t prevail, thanks in part to untenable rents. (Hobbs’s was $10,000 a month.)

Yet relatively “affordable” lease rates of $50 a square foot (compared to Robson Street’s stratospheric $200) have motivated some intrepid newcomers like Scandinavian-inspired children’s store Blake & Riley, opened by globetrotting Hey-Sun Baek and husband Rich Scott in March. “We looked

around for a year and almost closed on a place on West Fourth, but in the end Kerrisdale was a better fit. The energy here is rising,” Baek says.

Formerly a culinary wasteland, the neighbourhood now welcomes foodie pilgrims, thanks to Gastowny interlopers like Bufala, which scrambles to keep pace with relentless lineups where predecessors (Mac Shack, Vivo Gelato) sat empty. Local

mini-chains like Rocanini Coffee are snapping up storefronts; international Jinya Ramen’s second Vancouver outpost recently staked a claim. Things look promising for some of the old guard, too, providing they refresh— both Minerva’s family Greek restaurant, operating since ’75, and 20-year-old Secret Garden Tea Company have big expansions in the works (with the latter eyeing the ground floor of the new Kerrisdale Gardens).

Perhaps a mix of sleek new and astutely adaptive old businesses will usher Kerrisdale into a new era without entirely erasing its identity.

Hill’s of the ’Dale anchors a district that was long on cram schools, short on hip nosheries pre Bufala et al.

LEVEL FURNISHED LIVING

PARCEL 9

Where 888 S. Olive St., Los Angeles Specialty Fully furnished shortterm-rental apartments totalling 37,000 square feet; amenities include a rooftop pool and indoor spin studio Completion Summer 2015 (reservations start June 15) Units 300 Developer Onni; Stayinglevel.com

Where Pacific and Broadway, San Diego Specialty Bosa Development’s most high-end San Diego project, with a unique standout silhouette Completion 2017 Units 232 Developer Bosa; Bosadev.com Gutter Credit

kerrisdale has long been defined by its upscale charm (cue words like “neighbourly” and “tony”), but a spate of small-business closures has made way for an influx of four-storey condo developments, reimagining the ’hood’s character in the process. Several stalwarts remain: third-generation Hill’s of Kerrisdale has admirably evolved from a dry-goods general store into a soothsayer of millennial trends; Buchan’s still does brisk sales in that most delightful of anachronisms, gift cards. More resolutely old-school destinations like the vinyl-boothed diner Art’s Place and betchotchked Hobbs

Bufala: Thelocalvisitor.com

by adrien ne matei

15-05-01 9:56 AM

“Tear down the Bow-Mac sign!”

—female respondent, aged 35-54, from Vancouver

FIGURE ONE

PH–1268 W. BROADWAY

In the Lower Mainland, our landmarks tend to organize themselves around stunning natural views, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few places with impressive vistas of glass, steel, and a dose of neon —Neal McLennan

$1,795,000 2,341 sq. ft., 2 beds, 3 baths It’s an oddball address unless you’re an eye surgeon or really love Tojo’s. But this two-storey penthouse might draw you in with its unobstructed view of the Bow-Mac sign.

1103–928 BEATT Y ST.

$369,000 515 sq. ft., 1 bed, 1 bath Newish building, yoga room, movie room, and a smoking view of the city’s biggest bulb—that ethereal glow that emits from BC Place when they plug in their Northern Lights Display.

For night owls only: stadium lights stay on till 11 p.m.

71–77 E. HASTINGS ST.

$5,450,000 15,618 sq. ft., 19 micro units This rebuilt-from-the-studs apartment building might make sense for a visionary who can convert the top floor for themselves and use the other units to pay the mortgage. View includes a 25-foot replica neon sign hawking “BC Collateral Sells Everything.”

PRINCIPAL TOWER

BLOOR & BATHURST

Where Worship Street, City of London Specialty Each unit has been built with full-height windows to maximize city views. Below will be a new half-acre square with shops, bars, and restaurants Completion 2018 Units 243 Developer Concord Pacific; Principaltower.com

Where Downtown Toronto Specialty Since 1948, this has been the site of Honest Ed’s, that city’s iconic discount store.

Plans include day care, markets, and public art space in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario Completion TBA Units 1,000 Developer Westbank; Bloorandbathurst.com

*

Sign Language As Vancouver’s skyline complexifies, many of its decades-old business signs are going the way of rubble, while others, rescued or reimagined, live on as artful reminders of our enterprising past.

Save On Meats’ heritage sign remains an authentic Downtown Eastside memento; the Arbutus Ridge marquee will soon top—what else?—shiny new condos; Broadway’s Bow-Mac symbol skillfully dovetails past with present by melding with the Toys ‘R’ Us logo for a newly iconic neon screen. Are these markers of nostalgia universally embraced?

71% feel signs are part of our city’s heritage

36% say these signs only serve to confuse tourists

58% would prefer to preserve buildings instead

*

BASKING IN THE GLOW

Results are based on online interviews that Insights West conducted for Vancouver magazine with a representative sample of 603 residents of Metro Vancouver between April 22 and 24. The margin of error is 4.5%

HOT BUYS

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URBAN FIX

 FR ANCES BUL A

Civic Af fairs

Meet the Neighbours Cities, besieged by everything from bugs to bears, need a fresh approach illustr ation by rob dobi

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sheila dong sometimes feels like she’s barely holding on. All around the modest 1933 bungalow her family bought four years ago, invading armies are massed. She noticed the roof rats first. Then the coyote in the alley. A squad of raccoons tore up the lawn, tried to get through the barbecue cover,

popped a few soccer balls, and left poop everywhere. A skunk was next, then carpenter ants, followed by termites. Rats ate the wiring of their Honda CR-V out on the street. She finds herself on alert, listening for scratching sounds, scrutinizing black specks for signs of a new invasion, all the time. “You

wouldn’t think I was a block from a major street in the middle of a city,” she says from their West End home in New Westminster. Dong, 35, doesn’t remember these kinds of battles when she was growing up in South Burnaby. “My parents never had issues like this,” she says, adding that she gets anxious for herself and her baby and toddler when the house has to be sprayed. But this is a war she’s determined to win.

At her houses in, first, Mount Pleasant and, recently, near Douglas Park, Carol Nest has had to cope with pigeons, squirrels, raccoons, carpenter ants, hornets, mice, and silverfish. Lately, there have been renewed incursions. “We had one corner where squirrels were going in and out, so we closed it up with some chicken wire. But sure enough, the babies were still in there and the mum was freaking, right at our window.” Down came the wire and in came a different solution. With the raccoons, which were living in a tree in the front yard and using the side of the house as their toilet, Nest called a service to have them humanely moved to the North Shore. Until she found out it was going to be $1,000 for the family of five.

Instead, she wrapped some metal flashing around her tree, and the raccoons moved on.

It’s a fight that never ends, one that pushes people to the limits of their ethical boundaries as they test how much they’ll spend, and what they’re willing to endure, to get rid of the uninvited. Dong has found herself developing a decidedly non-karmic attitude to some of God’s creatures (“I like finding rats’ bodies—I like them when they’re dead”), but with anything larger she remains philosophical. “After talking to everyone and hearing all the problems they’re

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There is one place in the city where wildlife definitely does not thrive. Toxoplasmosis from cat feces, the temperature changes that humans can effect, stormwater bearing oil, asphalt, lead, and more—none encourages marine life at any scale (E. coli excepted)

having, we’ve realized it is something we just have to live with.”

But not everyone lives and lets live.

“We’ve had to investigate homeowners because they’re trying to do things like drown animals,” says Sara Dubois, the chief scientific officer for B.C.’s SPCA. Calls to the group’s cruelty hotline are going up, as is the number of wild animals the association is taking to wildlife-rehabilitation services.

Her staff has found raccoons walking around with traps on their legs.

In one case, they received a call about someone who had “put a raccoon in a garbage bag and hooked it up to the exhaust of their car.”

In Port Coquitlam, where George Leon has lived since 1969 on a quiet street not far from Cedar Creek, people used to see the odd bear. They’d come down out of the forest looking for salmon when the season was right. “But they weren’t parading around the neighbourhood,” says Leon, who runs a window-installation business. It’s a different story now, which seems strange to him since the city has been adding houses and population steadily. “There are more people, and yet it’s becoming wilder.” The deer, coyotes, and rats are still around—more than ever.

The bears are especially visible.

Everyone has a story. A friend of Leon’s, who lives on a busy arterial street, had a bear come into her garage and start eating from the bags of groceries she couldn’t carry inside in the first round of unloading her car. So many people have complained about bears heaving around garbage cans to get at their contents, the City of Port Coquitlam now requires that every can have a bear lock.

Leon thinks the garbage strewing may have led to the increase in rats in the neighbourhood, which

has led to rats eating the soycoated wiring in his car, as they did with Sheila Dong’s Honda. He also speculates that the bear demographic is the result of all the clearcutting on nearby Burke Mountain for subdivisions. “We’re the ones that bulldozed their homes,” he concludes. “It’s a sad situation.” some scientists disagree.

There is some “edge effect”—a bigger boundary for human/animal interface—as cities grow, but broadly, humans aren’t crowding animals out of their habitat; instead, animals are coming to us. “Since the 1970s, there’s been lots of attention to creating green spaces in cities,” says Stan Gehrt, an Ohio State University professor who has studied the coyote and deer populations in Chicago and Cleveland for 15 years. “And then there’s been the maturation of the woody growth. New York City has more canopy growth today than 50 years ago. There is just more green habitat.” We’ve made cities so attractive to creatures, they’re naturally following what the United Nations has been announcing as a trend for the last decade: the move to cities. Everything millennials like, it turns out that bedbugs, raccoons, pigeons, coyotes, bears, geese, silverfish, clothes moths, crows, mice, and rats like too. They appreciate all the great resting places (aka buildings), rich food sources (garbage), abundant plant life (gardens, parks, landscaping around apartment blocks), and intensive networking, dating, and reproduction possibilities that are essential functions of urban centres everywhere.

It’s the same story the world over. There are deer in various B.C. towns, elk in Banff, hawks in Chicago, stone martens in Berlin,

CONCRETE JUNGLE Feel bad that we’ve displaced coyotes’ habitat, forcing them to roam our streets? Don’t, says Dan Straker, urban wildlife programs coordinator for the Stanley Park Ecology Society.

Coyotes were only first spotted here in the mid 1980s. Last year, there were 2,500 sightings.

(To see a map, visit Stanleyparkecol ogy.ca.) Neighbourhoods with the reputation for a high proportion of vacant homes (Shaughnessy, Dunbar, Kerrisdale) are favoured areas

baboons in Cape Town, and leopards in Mumbai. And right here at the region’s landfill in Delta? A rich food source for eagles—so rich that it draws them from kilometres away.

(At least until everyone really does start recycling food scraps.) “Cities are literally acting like vacuum cleaners and sucking animals in,” says Gehrt. In places as disparate as Alaska and Romania, hunters are having less luck finding brown bears within a certain radius just outside cities, because any bears near cities migrate right in. “They’re just acting like great big raccoons.”

Besides all their other attractions, cities also create warm climates especially useful for certain species. “Most cities produce an urban heat-island effect. They are these intense areas where they can breed more and survive more successfully,” says Tristan Donovan. He wrote his just-published book, Feral Cities, after his interest was sparked by a public uproar a few years ago over the apparent takeover of hometown London, England, by foxes. They’ve lived in cities since at least the 1930s, but in recent years their populations have increased and their behaviour now points to a complacency in sharing their spaces with humans.

“They’ve lost their fear of people.”

Once urban-minded critters get established, their populations can grow quickly. Without predators, deer, geese, and fur-bearing animals that would get culled elsewhere find a kind of witness-protection paradise in cities. (And, in fact, they help keep down populations of other animals; coyotes dine on rats and have largely chased silver foxes out of American Midwestern cities.) Insects seem to be doing well just because of the greenery and the warmth, plus the increased global travel of their human hosts, who

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URBAN FIX

Civic Af fairs

help them spread widely. Bedbugs have been on the rise in cities around the world. In Vancouver, the city has created a task force just to deal with their effects in some of the meanest hotels and rooming houses, but they’re not restricted to poor neighbourhoods. On the San Francisco-based Bed Bug Registry’s map of Vancouver, 1,944 citations blanket the metro region without regard to price per square foot.

Just as there are no hunters in the city to shoot mammals, there are no humans with powerful pesticides in cities to wipe out insects. Substances like DDT are banned, and other chemicals have strict limits. So people like John Menzetti, who runs a popcorn concession in Stanley Park, find themselves dealing with the fallout.

Twice in the last eight years he’s had to go through a purge because of bedbug infestations. The first time, he threw out everything except a glass coffee table. The second, in a different West End apartment building, he couldn’t afford to, so he just settled for the landlord’s pest-control efforts and a lot of dry-cleaning. He put his clothes into bags and kept them there for six months on his diningroom table. When he found what looked like yet another bedbug last fall, Menzetti immediately cancelled his own birthday party and instructed everyone to stay home.

It turned out to be a carpet beetle.

He’s since become an expert in telling the difference. (It’s their backs.)

Without powerful poisons, rats and mice pose similar threats.

“We’ve been using the same stuff for an awfully long time, and there’s a bit of resistance developing. More products need to be released,” says Chris Ashby at Local Pest Control, who’s been in the business for a couple of decades. They’re also

24

adapting to high-rises. Most strata councils have a relationship with a pest-control company. “In one high-rise we have, we just cannot control them. They’re getting in somehow through the foundations and going up the walls. We’re at the point where we’re just trying to block everything off with wire mesh. It’s definitely getting to be more of a struggle.”

More like a defensive war. In Vancouver, animal-control services pick up over 1,000 dead (mostly wild) animals a year, including the occasional seal and otter, along with squirrels, owls, and skunks.

Downtown buildings frequently install spikes along windowsills and roof edges to keep the pigeons away.

On the more proactive side, the city has recently developed a strategy that mandates new building design ideas that are less lethal to birds: more markers on glass windows to make them aware that they’re solid, less reflective glass, less landscaping close to glass structures. That last measure has the benefit of adding greenery throughout the city, to encourage the kinds of birds that have seen their populations go down as sparrows, starlings, and pigeons have taken over.

Back in Britain, Donovan says most cities are doing nothing, turning a blind eye to the problems or going after the easiest fi xes, like bear locks. That may be because no one knows quite what to do. The science of urban mammals is in its infancy. There has been very little research done, and people are only beginning to understand how these new urban animals are using the city.

On the ground, the only end to the arms race may be a shift in how people view wild animals. Not as pests, perhaps, but as neighbours.

Such a transformation may take a

while, especially given the fortress mentality so prevalent. “We think the city is completely ours,” says Donovan. “We can’t believe things are moving in. We still have this idea that wildlife is outside the city. So people say, ‘Oh, there’s this fox. It must be lost, I want animal control to remove it.’ And they say, ‘Where to? This is its home.’ ” VM

EVERYTHING MILLENNIALS LIKE, IT TURNS OUT THAT BEDBUGS, RACCOONS, PIGEONS, COYOTES, BEARS, GEESE, SILVERFISH, CLOTHES MOTHS, CROWS, MICE, AND RATS LIKE TOO

THE

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2015-04-30 10:26 AM

A SPECTACULAR EVENING TO BENEFIT THE CONSERVATION OF OUR OCEANS. Journey to an enchanting aquatic world at Night at the Aquarium—Vancouver’s most unforgettable philanthropic event of the year. Come face to face with some of the greatest mysteries of the deep while enjoying fine food, wine, exciting entertainment and incredible live and silent auctions.

All proceeds support the Vancouver Aquarium’s research, education and direct action programs that benefit ocean conservation.

June 18, 2015 • 7 P.M.

nightattheaquarium.org

PRESENTED BY

The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre is a non-profit society dedicated to the conservation of aquatic life.

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THE

BRIEF

ON THE RECORD

 PET TI FONG

Newsmakers

An Unorthodox History Elected to lead the region’s faithful a year ago, Melissa Skelton has racked up a number of firsts: first female bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster, first American to hold the post, and first to have previously worked as a brand manager for Procter & Gamble PETTI FONG Which aspects of Anglicanism in this country have most surprised you?

MELISSA SKELTON Canada is a place of civility. It’s not that the U.S. isn’t, but I’m from the American South, where those values of civility and manners were so important. The diversity has also surprised me. I knew people from all over the globe have made Vancouver their home, but when you go into the parishes and see them—and the great range

really hard school; I’m surprised I got in. It was very principle-based, quantitative. What I’ve applied from that experience is to always seek the principles and to work in teams.

PF How does that apply to the task of leading 68 parishes?

MS I have respect for the data. In our case, that’s attendance—how many people are part of our orbit in parishes. And I listen fully within the team. The best managers I ever worked with on the business side were those who listened before acting. That’s similar to the practice in monastic circles in the early church.

Saint Benedict began monastic life with the rule that when a decision was to be made, he gathered all the monks and made a point of listening to the youngest person in the room. Sometimes that’s where wisdom comes from.

IN BRIEF Melissa Skelton was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1951, and replaced controversial bishop Michael Ingham in March 2014.

The diocese is headquartered at Christ Church Cathedral

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of where they were born, the languages spoken—that’s been striking.

PF What kind of power does being a bishop give you?

MS In Canada the office has more respect. It was a surprise and a delight to find that out. I think some of that has to do with the ongoing relationship with the U.K. In the U.S. there’s great ambivalence about those given power and authority.

PF You did degrees in divinity and business at the same time. Does your business background make you sometimes impatient just to get to the bottom line?

MS The University of Chicago was a

PF You’ve used the phrase “leaning in” twice since we sat down. What does that mean to you, and does Sheryl Sandberg owe you?

MS I was using that phrase before the book came out—honestly! To me, it means this: you go ahead even if you’re feeling afraid. I grew up at a time when women were pretty much expected to support their lovely male leaders and stay behind rather than being up front.

I was second-in-command in a lot of jobs, and I just had to say to myself, “Enough!” The fear doesn’t ever go away. I still get little flickers of it, but I can’t let that stop me. VM

John Sinal

TO ME, “LEANING IN” MEANS THIS: YOU GO AHEAD EVEN IF YOU’RE FEELING AFRAID. THE FEAR DOESN’T EVER GO AWAY

2015-04-29 10:22 AM

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THE

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THE ESSENTIALS

S t u f f You Should Do

SPORTS

TROPHY HUNTERS The world hits our nets FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP BC PLACE STADIUM. JUNE 8 TO JULY 5

Black Mountain

 Canada plays host to the FIFA

ROCK

Women’s World Cup this year—the

Soul Survivor The Lone Star singer emerged rooted in a sonic tradition, but her music-first philosophy now seems positively radical ERYKAH BADU, ORPHEUM THEATRE. JUNE 23

when she appeared in 1997, dallas-born Erykah Badu was held aloft as the most promising exponent of the emerging “neo soul” movement— a loose association of artists whose music harked back to the late ’60s and 1970s, when R & B was still defined by human-generated beats and singers whose voices were more important than their bodies. Her debut album, Baduizm, sold in the millions, and Badu—singing like Billie Holiday and looking like a natural-born star—seemed destined for a fame as lofty and old-fashioned as her sound.

But she had other ideas. Since then, her leisurely work rate (only five studio albums in 18 years) has begotten songs that are increasingly uncommercial, often built upon slow grooves that take their time going nowhere in particular; hooks and intelligible lyrics are not necessarily priorities. While this has served to make her a mere cult artist rather than a brand, it’s also made her consistently fascinating and one of too few contemporary artists who seem determined to challenge audiences and reward patient listening. Thus, those in attendance when she makes her long-awaited return (she hasn’t performed here since Lilith Fair in 2010), as part of the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, will most assuredly be on board for the long haul. Coastaljazz.ca

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first time we’ve done so—with Team Canada (ranked ninth) kicking off against China (13th) in Edmonton on June 6. Several matches will be played at BC Place, including the July 5 final. Vancouver sees its first live action June 8, when Cameroon battles Nigeria.

BY THE NUMBERS: 62.8 million people tuned in to watch the 2011 FIFA Women’s

THE BLACK ARTS Vancouver trips out with an Austin Psych Fest offshoot LEVITATION VANCOUVER, MALKIN BOWL AND VARIOUS VENUES. JUNE 5 TO 7

World Cup final, when Japan beat the U.S. on penalties.

 If you like a healthy dose of psyche-

65,000 spectators watched the

delia with your beats, then get ready

very first Women’s World Cup

to rock out big-time at Levitation.

match, at Guangzhou’s Tianhe

Vancouver-based Timbre Concerts

Stadium on Nov. 16, 1991.

has teamed up with the revered Austin

179 countries have national wom-

Psych Fest to present a weekend-long

en’s soccer teams (40 unranked),

festival of all-ages gigs at Malkin Bowl,

compared to just over 60 in 1997.

followed by 19-and-up shows at venues

1991 saw Brazilian referee Clau-

along Main Street after Stanley Park’s

dia Vasconcelos appear as the

11 p.m. curfew.

first woman to officiate at a FIFA

With a lineup that includes Texan

match: the third-place game

psych-rockers the Black Angels,

between Sweden and Germany.

Atlanta punksters Black Lips, San

2 trips to the podium for Teams

Francisco experimental folktronicists

USA and Germany; Norway and

Blackbird Blackbird, and Vancouver’s

Japan have taken the trophy home

own prog-rockers Black Mountain

once. Canada’s best result thus

(we’re seeing a theme here), things

far is fourth place in 2003.

are bound to get heavy—in a good way. Proceedings will be augmented

For an interview with national

by a series of art installations as well

captain Christine Sinclair, see pg. 92

as assorted food and crafts vendors.

Levitation-vancouver.com

FIFA: Johannes Eisele; Lear: courtesy Theatre Calgary/David Cooper & Emily Cooper

R&B

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CLASS ACT SHAKESPEARE GIFTED THE THEN-NEW ROLE OF KING LEAR TO RICHARD BURBAGE, A FAVOURED ACTOR WITH THE BARD’S OWN THEATRE COMPANY. LEAR HAS SINCE BEEN PLAYED BY, AMONG OTHERS, ORSON WELLES, LAURENCE OLIVIER, JAMES EARL JONES, AND—JUST LAST YEAR—JOHN LITHGOW

T H E AT R E

Heir to the Throne An iconic Bard role gets handed down a generation KING LEAR, VANIER PARK, JUNE 18 TO SEPT. 20

let’s be honest: the title character in King Lear is a tough part for any actor. But for Benedict Campbell, it’s a role that’s been waiting in the wings all his life. His father, Douglas Campbell, played it to great acclaim in at least three productions; in 1940, his grandfather, Lewis Casson, directed John Gielgud as the embittered, aging patriarch on the boards of London’s Old Vic. Then there’s Campbell’s own history with the play: portraying Edmund opposite his father in the 1985 Stratford production; and,

in 2002, the Earl of Kent against Christopher Plummer’s lead.

No pressure, then.

“Because I did it with Dad, I have a very clear memory of the phonics of his performance,” Campbell admits. “But once you start working on the play as Lear, your own personality takes over.

Some are bound to say I remind them of my father in the role, but I don’t think it is imitative.

“I think Dad would have found my interpretation too off-the-wall, too modern. I’m a little more liberal with

how I use the text. Still, I don’t want to disappoint those who remember him in the part.”

Though at 59 he says he’s still a little young for Lear, Campbell felt the time was right to take it on. And while some productions suggest dementia at the root of Lear’s behaviour, that’s not how Campbell interprets Shakespeare’s tyrant. “To me, casting Lear’s actions as a disease trivializes his moment of epiphany—that delayed coming of enlightenment—and with it, the play’s emotional punch.”

Bardonthebeach.org W O R L D B E AT

Out of Africa An octogenarian’s sound knows no borders ABDULLAH IBRAHIM, VOGUE THEATRE. JUNE 28

along with hugh masekela and miriam makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim holds the musical key to South Africa’s history. The 80-year-old is an indelible part of the soundtrack of his homeland; his 1974 Cape jazz recording, “Mannenberg,” became the unofficial anthem of the struggle against apartheid.

Born in the roughest ghetto of Cape Town in 1934, Adolph Johannes Brand started learning piano aged seven. By 1961, he was top of the Cape Town pops, with his masterful blend of bebop-infused African rhythms. In ’62—the year Nelson Mandela was imprisoned—Brand left for Europe, thereafter heading to New York to lead the Duke Ellington band. He converted to Islam, becoming Abdullah Ibrahim, in 1970, and returned

to live in Cape Town in ’73. Three years later, after the Soweto uprising, he fled with his young family and vowed he would not return until free elections were held. He kept his word, making the pilgrimage back soon after Mandela’s release.

One can hear the history of his country’s struggle through his discography, but his musicianship is beyond borders, drawing on influences from Beethoven to Count Basie. “If what I grew up with in South Africa is world music, I don’t know what it means,” Ibrahim has said. “Perhaps it’s to identify it as folklore. But what makes it separate? Louis Armstrong said, ‘All music is folk music: I never heard a horse sing.’ The only criterion I have is whether it moves you.” Coastaljazz.ca

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SUMMER f e at u r i n g

watermelon m A R G A R I TA f r e s h s q u e e z e d wa t e r m e l o n a n d c i t r u s with cu ervo g o ld teq u il a

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TA S T E M A K ER

MIX MASTER

FRESH SHEET

THE DECANTER

“The city was filthy, its citizens filthier, and consuming raw shellfish was an endless game of gastrointestinal Russian roulette” PG. 36

T HE Hot restaurants, food trends, wines & chefs

Whatever the Weather “location, location, location” is the mantra recited to anyone planning to open a storefront. But “Timing, timing, timing” is arguably of equal consideration—especially when one’s wares are inextricably tied to a specific season. Either no one told this to brothers Dan and Ken Kim, the owners of Soft Peaks, or they didn’t care. Their Gastown shop, which specializes in organic soft-serve ice cream, launched in the dark depths of February. Yet a combination of anticipation, strong word of mouth, and the uniqueness of their product allowed them to triumph: there have been lineups from the first day for their unusual sundaes, bedecked with the likes of matcha powder, Himalayan pink salt, or yuzu marmalade (pictured). Soft Peaks’ luck was shared recently by fellow local frozen-treat purveyors Earnest Ice Cream and Rain or Shine, which opened instantly popular second locations in late January and early April, respectively.

SOFT PEAKS 25 Alexander St.

Luis Valdizon

EARNEST ICE CREAM Caption 1829 Quebec St. & 3992 Fraser St. RAIN OR SHINE 3382 Cambie St. & 1926 W. Fourth Ave.

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TA S T E M A K E R

Recently Reviewed

Nopalitos from Los Amigos

Tacomio’s tinga de pollo

Y Tu Masa También Thanks to an influx of superlative taquerías, Vancouver is in the midst of its own Mexican revolution by timothy taylor || photos by clinton hussey

T 32

the nine-seat tacomio launched in Gastown in early March. Its chef/owner, Fhernando Llanas, left his role as executive sous-chef at the Vancouver Club to open it—which kind of sums up how much of a phenomenon the taco has become in our town.

I trace the beginning of the trend to 2009, when Marcelo Romero and Alfonso Sanz threw open the doors of the first location of La Taquería, on West Hastings.

It was the first place in Vancouver

where I saw de lengua (beef tongue) tacos on the menu, and I might have eaten them in that tiny turquoise hole in the wall 100 times since then. (Conveniently, it was located across the street from my office.)

Maybe it was the location—the debut outlet of Nuba had exploded out of the same storefront—but more likely it was chemistry between culture and site and moment: more ESL students from Latin America, the opening of

W2, and the gentrification of the Victory Square neighbourhood.

The arrival of authentic Mexican street food seemed perfectly timed: bold, unexpected flavours, sold by a couple of guys and their friends, who hung a sign next to the cash register that read (something like), “Yes, this is what we’ve done with our education.”

Which turned out to be quite a lot. Type “taco” into Yelp nowadays and you get 42 pages of local results, with everyone from Joey

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Fish taco from Tacofino Commissary

La Taquería’s al pastor

to Biercraft selling them. Tour the city and you can observe the revolution yourself, in small, delicious bites that definitely require a napkin.

Los Amigos (1118 Davie St., 604-559-0220) is where I began my own taco tour, visiting mostly new arrivals to the scene. Opened late last year by Mazen Adas and Adriana Orta, this is your basic family taco joint: a wood-andlinoleum interior, 10 seats, a couple of señoras in the kitchen

turning out classics like tinga, mole, al pastor, and carnitas. The surprise hit was the nopalitos: cactus with chipotle, cilantro, and Mexican cheese. It doesn’t look like much but has a nice, salty heat. The rajas con crema was a winner, too, with its poblano and corn flavours singing through. All were very homey and pleasantly traditional. And at $8.50 for four tacos, it was the bargain among the places we tried.

Tacomio (435 Abbott St., 778-

THESE ARE HIGH-ENERGY PLATES, BOTH VISUALLY AND ON THE PLATE, WITH HEAT AND SWEET

868-7041) is its antithesis. This is fashionable, upmarket Gastown, at the mouth of a cleaned-up alley that used to be among Vancouver’s grittiest. The lively room attracts a well-dressed lunch crowd that snakes out into the street. Early on a Saturday afternoon, I snuck in just before Llanas shut the doors, having run out of the roast-ham torta that was the day’s special offering. I got the last one and ate it in Victory Square with sharp, hot pickles, crisp chicharrón, and

Jeffrey M. Pilcher, author of Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food, says the taco may have been invented in Mexico’s 18th-century silver mines. Loosely translated as “plug” or “wad,” a taco resembles the paper-wrapped gunpowder miners would use while excavating

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THE

DISH WENDY MCGUINNESS

HOW ONE OF THE CIT Y ’S TOP BARTENDERS RAISES THE BAR Of the many reasons to visit Vancouver’s Chambar—delicious mussels, the chic patio—the cocktail program may be the best. After all, bar manager Wendy McGuinness mixes some of the world’s finest drinks. She came first at the Grey Goose Pour Masters bartending competition, where she infused vermouth with locally harvested elderflowers and reinterpreted the classic martini.

Though she competes internationally, she’s happiest behind the bar.

“We can spend all day making tinctures and experimenting,” she notes. “It’s an amazing opportunity to take classics and do something new.”

WENDY ’S TOP SUMMER SOIREE TIPS 1. You can never have too much ice.

“My freezer at home is entirely dedicated to ice!”

2. Invest in high-quality bitters.

“Everything from the Bittered Sling line is amazing.”

3. Get creative with the highest quality ingredients.

“Take inspiration from where you are and what you have available.”

TA S T E M A K E R

Recently Reviewed

guacamole. Vibrant, spot-on flavours. Excellent.

I visited again for tacos: carnitas, flaked cod, tinga de pollo, nopalitos with chorizo. Counter service here means the fillings are in heat trays, assembled into tacos as they’re ordered. But without a grill to introduce a sear, the flavour profiles are subtle. These are clean, fresh bites you can spike with pickles and house-made hot sauce. But I’d welcome a more pronounced chipotle smoke in the tinga, some crisp on the carnitas.

Meanwhile, in HastingsSunrise, Tacofino Commissary (2327 E. Hastings St., 604-2538226) takes the new-school taco to even newer-school levels.

Opened in 2012, it has a loyal local following, meaning the place is jammed. But it’s a great room.

I especially love Omer Arbel’s looping, spiralling light fi xtures, which are somehow designed to support dozens of tiny cacti. And the tacos, if not always adhering to tradition, are brilliant. The pork jowl is crisp and rich, brightened with pineapple and sriracha. The crispy chicken comes with blackchili mayo and Brussels sprout kimchi. And the fish taco, with a perfectly crusted piece of ling cod

and crunchy cabbage, was by far the best of its kind we tried. These are high-energy plates, both visually and on the palate, with heat and sweet, salt and texture constantly in play. Two of these will satisfy you if you save room for the banana churros with chili-cinnamon ice cream—which you really, really should do.

I saved La Taquería (various locations. Lataqueria.com) for last. It had been a couple of years since I moved my office from Gastown to Point Grey, and that first location had grown in the meantime to a mini chain of five.

I worried success might have ruined them, but I needn’t have. It was exactly as I remembered: chili and cilantro aromas, Mexican pop music, a laid-back air. I ordered like I’d been there yesterday. And then they came: the originals (and still, for my money, the best). De lengua—tender, ideal. Al pastor—bright with achiote. Carnitas—crisped and darkened on the flat-top. And tinga de hongas, with rich, earthy chipotle flavours.

There’s my smoke. There’s my layer of gentle heat. Some extra pickled onions, a squirt of hot sauce, a bottle of Dos Equis Amber, and a seat at the back—perfection. VM

GREY GOOSE L'ORANGE AND PERRIER “Sparkling long cocktails are refreshing and perfect summer sippers. I love the herbaceousness that fresh herbs add to this drink,” says McGuinness. “Try adding a splash of green chartreuse to enhance the basil notes.”

Tacomio’s carnitas taco

1.5 parts GREY GOOSE L’Orange | 3 parts Perrier | 2 lemon wedges | Leaves of basil

ENJOY RESPONSIBLY. ©2015. GREY GOOSE, IT’S TRADE DRESS AND THE GEESE DEVICE ARE TRADEMARKS. VODKA AND FLAVOURED VODKAS EACH–40% ALC. BY VOL. DISTILLED FROM GRAIN.

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T H E U LT I M A T E B R I E F LY N O T E D

SUMMER SOIRÉE.

Ramen Koika 1231 Davie St., 604-336-2779  Vancouver is, of course, not lacking

E F F O R T L E S S LY E XCE P T I ON A L

for ramen houses—the arrival of yet another is likely to arouse ennui as much as excitement. But Ramen Koika is the first to set down in Davie Village, a neighbourhood only beginning to enjoy options beyond fast food, pubs, and middling ethnic eateries.

& PERRIER.

Ramen Koika knows better than to deviate from the script: prices are low (most of the dozen-plus bowls are under $11), service is enthusiastic but blunt, and a consummate lack of atmosphere (not even music when we

characteristics—a concise menu, a

visited) encourages you to eat fast and

minimally appointed room, a pointed

get lost. (You might feel inclined to seat

lack of pretension—to a small store-

yourself at one of the stools ringing the

front just east of Cambie Village. Cor-

glassed-in kitchen. Don’t—your bottom

duroy Pie Company’s name lays bare

will thank you.) We especially enjoyed

its focus: pizza. Roughly a dozen pies

Black Garlic Ramen: heady and complex

(including rotating specials), plus four

but without overpowering garlic notes

beer selections and eight wines by the

that outstay their welcome. Takoyaki

glass. The End. (A full bar is available,

(breaded, fried octopus balls) are an

but cocktails were still in development

ideal bar snack—if only there were more

when we visited.)

than beer and one sake on offer.

Far from the best of its breed in the

1½ parts G R E Y G O O S E Vodka 3 parts Perrier 2 lime wedges Sprig of mint

If not for the oven (left over from former tenant Rebellious Tomato), you

city (we’re on record as loving Maru-

might think this is simply a bar, but the

tama Ra-men, just off the Denman end

room—reminiscent of Memphis Blues

of Robson), but far better than this

but with fewer wall tchotchkes—began

culinarily underachieving postal code

filling up with grateful neighbourhood

has come to expect, Ramen Koika is

families while we tore into our grub.

welcome to stay as long as it likes.

Partner Graham Marceau is on top of things in the kitchen, having had a hand in the offerings at Bufala and Pizzeria

Andrea Fernandez

Corduroy Pie Company 758 W. 16th Ave., 604-709-0200

Farina. We especially enjoyed a funky marriage of bacon, Brussels sprouts, capers, and an action painting of chili aioli, while a four-cheese pie (with fresh and smoked mozzarella, provolone, and goat cheese) was a model of simplicity. We hobbled out full, with a

 Rebecca Matthews, owner of Kits

box of leftovers, having paid less than

Point post-work mecca Corduroy, has

we expected. This crowd-pleaser is on

imported that restaurant’s defining

the right track. VM

Share your extraodinary #SummerSoiree for a chance to attend the ultimate summer event in France.

GREYGOOSE.COM/SUMMER J U N E 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

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DISH

MIX MASTER

 NE AL MCLENNAN

Spirit Guide

Cheers, Guv’nor Arguably the quintessential British spirit, Pimm’s has an amusing origin story involving suspicious bivalves and cautious diners i can’t imagine that being an oyster merchant in 19th-century London was much of a treat. The city was fi lthy, its citizens fi lthier, and consuming raw shellfish was an endless game of gastrointestinal Russian roulette. A farmer’s son from Kent named James Pimm solved the problem in 1823 by unleashing the cleansing simplicity of alcohol (with a few additions) as a “tonic” to aid the digestion of patrons

at his dining establishment. He took the rotgut gin prevalent at the time, added a proprietary mélange of herbs and liqueurs, and aged the mixture in his “No. 1” tankard. Soon it didn’t matter if the oysters had been sitting on a sunny dock for a fortnight—people couldn’t get enough of Pimm’s No. 1 Cup. London has cleaned up considerably since then, Londoners shower almost daily, and every

serving of oysters comes with a printed health warning. But a glass of No.1—served with some cucumber, a sprig of mint, and a splash of lemonade—is still the perfect remedy for just about anything that ails you. James Pimm’s creation has transformed into the official drink of those who wouldn’t have been caught dead in an 1823 oyster house—for instance, the members of Wimbledon’s All England Club and the PIMM’S NO. 1 CUP patrons of Royal Ascot.

Over the years, Pimm’s has ($22.60) experimented with several Cups: Until Pimm’s Blackberry & No. 2 was based on scotch; No. 3, Elderflower flavour brandy; and No. 5, rye. But it’s the is imported into classic No. 1 that has persevered.

Canada, we’re And while, at $22.60, a bottle is left with only the original, which isn’t an affordable trip to Jolly Old, it hasn’t stopped creative mixolosuch a hardship gists from formulating their own versions. Some try to recreate the You’ve made your discontinued Cups and some try own Pimm’s— to create new ones, like a fabled now what? Go to Vanmag.com for a Pimm’s No. 7 made with tequila. summer-friendly Meanwhile, Tacofino bar mancocktail recipe ager Justin Darnes chose to make from Darnes like Vin Diesel with a 1970 Dodge Charger and has souped up the original recipe. VM THE BOT TLE

THE DRINK

Homemade Pimm’s From Justin Darnes, Tacofino Gastown, 15 W. Cordova St., 604-899-7907

6 navel oranges, sliced, skin left on

1 lemon, sliced

2 tbsp dried bitter orange peel

12 oz port

1 bunch mint

21 oz Cointreau

10 strawberries, chopped

42 oz sweet vermouth

1 cucumber, chopped

60 oz gin

9 oz sweet sherry

 Combine all ingredients in a large preserve jar and infuse Justin Darnes, Tacofino Caption White

for exactly three days. Strain. Makes roughly the equivalent of four 750ml bottles. “It will keep for years,” says Darnes.

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Andrew Querner

THE

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DISTILLED ONCE. BECAUSE WHEN YOU START WITH THE BEST, ONCE IS ENOUGH.

ENJOY RESPONSIBLY ©2015. GREY GOOSE, ITS TRADE DRESS AND THE GEESE DEVICE ARE TRADEMARKS. VODKA – 40% ALC. BY VOL. DISTILLED FROM GRAIN.

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THE

DISH

FRESH SHEET

Star Ingredient

The Roe Less Travelled Northern Divine sturgeon caviar makes a short trip from the Sunshine Coast to your kitchen by murr ay ba ncroft produced in sechelt, b.c., Northern Divine’s organic, sustainably harvested sturgeon caviar has been generating substantial buzz among local chefs, home cooks, and everyday gourmands. The brand’s first spawning began in 2000 with eggs collected from the Fraser River watershed.

The sturgeon and its eggs are now housed in massive freshwater tanks that use enviro-friendly heating and filtering systems.

(The sturgeon themselves are later harvested for human consumption.) Look for Northern Divine at some of the city’s best seafood-forward restaurants, and try it with this recipe from Chris Stewart, executive winery chef at Mission Hill Family Estate. VM

Sturgeon with Caviar PICKLED ONIONS 1⁄2 cup red- or white-wine vinegar 1⁄4 cup granulated sugar 1⁄4 cup water 1 pinch kosher salt 1 pinch mustard seeds 1 pinch coriander seeds 1 bay leaf 1⁄2 cup shallots, peeled and halved 1⁄2 cup green onion (white parts only), sliced NORI-INFUSED OIL 1 cup canola oil 4 sheets nori

cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes), then refrigerate.

Meanwhile, heat the canola oil to lukewarm. Remove from heat and break the nori sheets into the oil, allowFor the sturgeon, heat the canola oil in a nonstick pan until very hot. Season the fish with salt, then place it in the pan. Let it cook for 40 seconds, then add the butter. Remove the pan from the heat; the butter will give the fish a golden-brown sear. Flip it over and continue to spoon the browned butter cooked.

Plate the sturgeon and spoon a small amount of the nori-infused oil over top, with some of the pickled onions surrounding it. Garnish with a tablespoon of Northern Divine caviar

In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, water, salt, spices, and bay

TOWN

ing them to infuse it for 20 minutes.

and oil over the fish until you feel it is STURGEON 4 5-oz pieces sturgeon, skin removed salt to taste 1⁄4 cup canola oil 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter

AROUND

on top of each piece. Serves four.

Find Northern Divine caviar on the shelves at various locations of Choices Markets (Choices markets.com) and Urban Fare (Urban fare.com), and at Osaka Supermarket (2200 Park Royal S., West Vancouver, 778-2798988). Or have an extravagant night out and enjoy it with classic accompaniments at Le Crocodile (909 Burrard St., 604-669-4298, Lecrocodile restaurant.com)

leaf and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar. Allow to cool for fi ve minutes, then pour the liquid over the shallots and green onion in a bowl. Allow to

Clintom Hussey

THE RECIPE

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THE

DISH

THE DECANTER

 DJ KE ARNE Y

Wines Discovered

MORE BLUSHING BE AUTIES OLIVARES JUMILLA ROSÉ 2013 ($11.29)

In the Pink

Structured and medium bodied, this spectacularly watermelon-hued rosé—made from monastrell and a modicum of syrah—sports deep red-berry flavours, nice palate grip, and a dusty, emphatically dry finish. Try it with a juicy lamb burger

Rosé offers perfect summer refreshment, but its impressive diversity and sophistication make it a smart choice at all times of year pink wines have a long and colourful history. It’s highly probable that reds made by Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks were a dark rosé colour, and the Provençals were early exponents when they started producing wine 26 centuries ago. In medieval times, Bordeaux turned out a pale red called clairette (giving us the word “claret”), and both Burgundy and Champagne made much-admired wines poetically named oeil de perdrix (“eye of the partridge”—and yes, it’s a beady, anemic red).

There are three ways to make rosé: blending red and white wine (this is seldom done); bleeding off some lightly coloured juice when making reds (a method called saignée); or ensuring short duration of skin contact, by which red grapes soak for one to three days before the juice alone is fermented.

The best pinks in the world are made this way, from purposegrown grapes.

Rosé is now produced around the wine world from multitudinous red grapes, in a rainbow of attractive pink hues and in every imaginable style. These fine selections—including the Best Rosé winner in our 11th annual Wine Awards—are primed for summer.

But like all pinks, they’re a joy to drink at any time of year. VM

40

2015 WINE AWARDS WINNER

BEST

CELLAR

DOMAINE LAFOND ROC EPINE TAVEL 2013 ($21.79)

Tavel is a roséonly region in the southern Rhône.

Pale in colour and deceptively light at first, on the palate this reveals the secret of great Tavel rosé: a sumptuous texture suggesting sweetness, combined with a mineral finish

MIRAVAL CÔTES DE PROVENCE 2014

($27, available mid June) This is the famous Pitt/Jolie rosé, a ballet-pink blend of four grapes that smells as pretty as it looks: blossoms and red berries on the nose, with peach-skin and dried-herb flavours ending in a lovely saline-dry finish

HAY WIRE GAMAY NOIR ROSÉ 2013 ($22.90)  Crisp and bone-dry, this is a pure expression of the less-is-more philosophy of consulting winemaker Alberto Antonini, whose aim is always to let the terroir speak. In the Okanagan, that means a lip-smacking combination of juicy freshness and savoury, earthy flavours. This is serious rosé meant for food.

 BARBARA PHILIP, Canada’s first female Master of Wine, has the enviable job of buying European wine for BC Liquor Stores. A diehard rosé fan (a predilection she displays each year as one of our Wine Awards judges), she travels nonstop to find the diverse selection of Euro pinks adorning their shelves.

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | J U N E 2 O 15

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SPONSORED REPORT

Summer City Guide 2015 Explore Vancouver and discover its many adventures and activities.

BARD ON THE BEACH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

The Comedy of Errors, 2015

Waterfront Cinema at Canada Place Waterfront Zumba® at Canada Place

June 4 to September 26 Four entertaining productions staged in modern theatre tents in a spectacular waterfront setting.

2015 Season – The Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Shakespeare’s Rebel

by C.C. Humphreys.

Reserved Seating - Tickets from $26 Bard Box Office: 604-739-0559 Festival details: bardonthebeach.org

Your city, delivered SIGN UP

Sign up four our three-times-a-week Vancouver Insider, packed with summer activities, dining scoops, shopping tips and exclusive invites.

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WATEFRONT CINEMA AND WATERFRONT ZUMBA® AT CANADA PLACE Free outdoor fun in the heart of Vancouver’s harbour!

Waterfront Cinema - Thursdays* at dusk, beginning July 9. Watch a movie under the stars, featuring great Canadian talent! Bring a blanket or lawn chair.

Popcorn and beverages available for purchase.

Waterfront Zumba® - Mondays* at 5:30 p.m. beginning July 6. No dance experience or partner required. No class August 3. *Cancelled in the case of rain.

Details/movie listings: www.canadaplace.ca

THEATRE UNDER THE STARS Vancouver’s beloved summer tradition returns July 10 - August 22, 2015 with a pair of irresistibly fun musicals Hairspray and Oliver!

Taking place at The Malkin Bowl amidst Stanley Park’s serene outdoor beauty, Theatre Under the Stars has been filling summer nights with joyful song & dance since 1940!

Tickets On Sale Now! Online at: tuts.ca Or by phone at: 1-877-840-0457

PLAYLAND Open until September 20 Come out to Playland for a full day of fun! A Playland PlayPass gives you access to over 30 rides and attractions including the historic Wooden Roller Coaster, Atmosfear, and new this year, the extreme thrill ride, The Beast!

Plus Crazy Beach Party is back in a new location. Playland also features Kids Playce, an area with rides and attractions for children aged 2-10. pne.ca

MOA Heaven, Hell and Somewhere In Between: Portuguese Popular Art On view at the Museum of Anthropology through October 12, 2015 moa.ubc.ca @moa_ubc #visitMOA

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SPONSORED REPORT

Vancouver’s Smartest Real Estate Investments

We tap deep metrics and realtor insight to reveal the eight hotspots to buy, invest and renovate in the Lower Mainland

Neighbourhoods by page

methodology

2 4

Ambleside

+ Vacation Properties 6 7 8 8

Lynn Valley

2

Sunshine Coast

Lower Lonsdale

Bowen Island Sooke Pemberton

3

4

Kitsilano

5 5

3

Hastings Vancouver Heights Grandview

Mount Pleasant

The neighbourhoods were selected based on available Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver data and realtor input for momentum in price appreciation, value, walkability, amenities, transit, bike routes, future development plans, sense of community, and other factors.

• MLS Home Price Index (HPI) is a tool to measure how home prices change over time. Introduced in 2012 by the Real-Estate Boards of Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and the Canadian Real Estate Association, it provides benchmark prices of homes with typical characteristics in a given area or sub-area, taking into consideration what averages and medians do not—factors such as lot size, age, and number of rooms. The data used in this guide is based on the Feb. 2015 HPI data.

• The neighbourhoods in this ranking use boundaries defined by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, which may not correspond with those determined by municipalities or business associations.

• Regarding statistics, some instances state “no data.” This is due to an insufficient number of sales for that particular property type within that area within the reporting period.

Single-family detached homes Condominiums Created in partnership with Vancouver magazine and HSBC. Vancouver magazine sponsored report 1

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SPONSORED REPORT

Lower Lonsdale

Plant yourself here and you’ll have the most scenic and serene commute in the region. Lower Lonsdale is the base for 12-minute trips downtown across Vancouver Harbour by SeaBus, with postcard-worthy views of Stanley Park, the Lions Gate Bridge and the city skyline. But there’s much more to the area known as LoLo than epic transit access.

Anchored by Lonsdale Quay, Lower Lonsdale offers easy access to the North Shore’s ski hills and hiking trails. With schools, restaurants, coffee shops, yoga studios, the John Braithwaite Community Centre, and the Shipyards Night Market all within walking distance, the area is primed for substantial growth.

The City of North Vancouver has a new vision for the area centred on improved waterfront access and the future Shipbuilders’ Plaza. The European-style gathering place will have indie shops and restaurants, gallery, an interactive museum, green space and multi-family Value

What’s New? Tap and Barrel, opening soon in the Shipyards, is known for craft beer and premium wine on tap ... Windsor Meats is based in the new Wallace & McDowell building and the shop carries natural and exotic meats ... Il Castello Pizzeria brings authentic Neapolitan pie to the North Shore.

Lynn Valley

Lynn Valley residents are minutes from casting a fishing line off the dock at Rice Lake, blazing down the best mountain-biking trails in the region, or crossing a suspension bridge that’s as breathtaking as the one at Capilano Canyon—without the admission fee.

Downtown in less than 20 minutes, barring rush-hour traffic, given the area’s proximity to both the Second Narrows and Lions Gate bridges.

With towering Douglas firs and western red cedars everywhere, this familyfriendly community has several daycares and schools, including the Waldorf and Cousteau—the French International

residential. LoLo also connects to a section of the North Shore Spirit Trail, a multi-use path that will soon cross from Horseshoe Bay all the way to Deep Cove.

With the waterfront expansion, the new housing stock is almost all stratabased.

Momentum

8.4%

MLS HPI: $878,900 MLS HPI Central Lonsdale: $971,400

1-year appreciation

Queensbury: $929,300; Hamilton: $869,900 MLS HPI North Vancouver: $1,065,400 MLS HPI: $354,700 MLS HPI Central Lonsdale: $366,600

-0.6%

1-year appreciation

25.3%

5-year appreciation

6.6%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1100291)

Queensbury: no data Hamilton: $379,600 MLS HPI North Vancouver: $362,400

206 175 West 1st Street; $369,000: This 620sq.-ft. one-bed suite in the Time building has been professionally renovated throughout.

Last sold in June 2006 for $320,000.

Value School of Vancouver. A 40,000-sq.-ft. library fronts the pedestrian-friendly Lynn Valley Village plaza, boasting eateries, a yoga studio, and in summer, farmers markets and evening concerts. Perhaps what distinguishes this nature-loving neighbourhood is its sense of community.

Take Lynn Valley Days: an annual weekend extravaganza with a parade, pancake breakfast, kids’ carnival and gala dinner under white tents, complete with dancing and live music. While the housing market consists predominantly of single-family homes, more recent development is focusing on townhouses and condominiums in the area’s core.

What’s New? Lynn Valley Town Centre is Bosa’s upcoming 399-unit condo development ... The Mount Fromme Parking Lot moves mountain biker cars off residential streets and closer to the trailhead ... The Lynn Valley United Church lets you pray in style in the church’s new digs in Marcon’s Millhouse development.

MLS HPI: $956,400 MLS HPI Braemar: $1,604,800

Princess Park: $1,020,100 Tempe: $1,197,400 MLS HPI North Vancouver: $1,065,400 MLS HPI: $417,500 MLS HPI Braemar: no data

Princess Park: no data Tempe: no data MLS HPI North Vancouver: $362,400

Momentum

12.4%

1-year appreciation

4.6%

1-year appreciation

16.1%

5-year appreciation

2.7%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1112543) 834 East 29th Street; $888,000: A 2,464-sq.-ft. home with open kitchen and suite potential on a flat, sunny 8,300-sq.-ft. lot. Last sold in May 2001 for $335,100.

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Hastings

Some call it the East Village. Others call it the Brewery District because Powell Street Craft Brewery, Coal Harbour Brewing Company, Storm Brewing, and Parallel 49 Brewing Company have all set up shop in the neighbourhood. Restaurants like Tacofino Commissary and Bistro Wagon Rouge regularly draw lineups. Then there are longstanding spots like Dayton Boots, which has been making handcrafted footwear since 1946. Hastings is also ideally located, with direct buses downtown and the nearby Adanac bike route. The area is walking distance to the city centre,

Value Chinatown, Gastown, Commercial Drive, and Trout Lake. SeaBus, SkyTrain, and seaplane terminals are not far. Nearby schools include Hastings Elementary and Templeton Secondary.

The mostly single-family homes in the area are giving way to condos as developers hone in on the area’s central location and popularity. Millennium Group, for example, has moved in with Bohème, a mixed-use building with 24,000 sq. ft. of retail and office space, a restaurant, and 102 residential units, while Solterra has purchased the Waldorf Hotel site.

MLS HPI: $788,400 MLS HPI Grandview: $1,015,000

Hastings East: 959,100 Renfrew: $917,100 MLS HPI Vancouver East: $990,800 MLS HPI: $248,800 MLS HPI Grandview: $296,600

Hastings East: $272,700 Renfrew: $307,700 MLS HPI Vancouver East: $318,500

Momentum

9.3%

1-year appreciation

-3.6%

What’s New? The Strathcona Library branch, named after the Musqueam phrase meaning “We are One,” is part of a $25-million social housing project ... Jackalope’s Neighbourhood Dive is a restaurant priding itself on slow-cooked meats and a chilledout vibe ... The Capilano Herbal Apothecary features First Nations teas and modern family-made indigenous food.

Vancouver Heights

Also known as Burnaby Heights or simply The Heights, the area is big on independent businesses like Cioffi’s Meat Market and Deli, a family-run shop that’s expanded to three locations within the same city block since it opened 25 years ago. With a distinct sense of history, the culturally diverse neighbourhood also has Thai, pho, sushi, and Chinese restaurants sitting alongside coffee shops and aromatic Italian bakeries.

The Heights also has location. It’s 15 minutes to downtown along Hastings or to Metrotown along Willingdon. The Value

1-year appreciation

37.4%

5-year appreciation

1.6%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1110042) 1960 East Georgia Street; $899,000: This well-kept, 1,520-sq.-ft. two-bedroom home on a quiet street has a mortgage helper.

Last sold in July 2013 for $730,000.

Trans-Canada Highway is minutes away, making it a 10-minute drive to North Vancouver, while SFU and Capilano University are also close by. Nearby Confederation Park has everything from a skateboard park to an off-leash dog trail.

A handful of schools are here, including St. Helen’s Catholic School.

While most of the housing stock is single-family, new developments have moved in. Epta has three projects in the works within a few blocks (Centro, Ma­dison, and Montage), while Censorio’s Beta is a collection of eight two-bedroom homes.

Momentum MLS HPI: $961,800 MLS HPI Willingdon Heights: $962,400

Capitol Hill: $1,006,500 Brentwood Park: $987,200 MLS HPI Burnaby North: $1,034,200 MLS HPI: $337,800 MLS HPI Willingdon Heights: $296,300

Capitol Hill: $223,300 Brentwood Park: $440,400 MLS HPI North Burnaby: $348,300

14.2%

1-year appreciation

3.7%

1-year appreciation

29.7%

5-year appreciation

-3.6%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1102615)

What’s New? Bon Bon Bakery cake shop moved to the Heights after 54 years on Victoria Drive ... Shoppers Drug Mart’s new 8,700-sq.-ft. location anchors the new Madison development ... Glenburn Soda Fountain Confectionary specializes in milkshakes, banana splits and ice-cream floats.

4051 Trinity Street; $1,249,000: This 2,648-sq.ft. home on a quiet street has views of Burrard Inlet and the North Shore mountains. Last sold in July 2011 for $960,000.

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Ambleside

Mention the word Ambleside and images of beach parks, off-leash dog zones, skateboarders and a golf course all pop to mind. Yet it’s also a low-key residential neighbourhood with high walkability. Of course the stunning beaches are the area’s biggest draw. This is where the Harmony Arts Festival takes place, attracting more than 100,000 people to its sunset concerts and huge art market. It’s also home of Bagpipes by the Beach, the West Vancouver Firefighters Charitable Society’s annual festival. John Lawson Park was recently revamped with a kids’ waterpark, while the Silk Purse Arts Centre is a local destination in an ocean-

Value front heritage home.

Ambleside Village bustles along Marine Drive, serviced by the West Vancouver Blue Bus, providing quick access to downtown and Horseshoe Bay. Residents range from empty-nesters looking to downsize to growing families drawn by Hollyburn Elementary, plus seniors in need of assisted living or affordable housing. A West Vancouver Housing Study from 2013 noted that single-detached houses made up 57 percent of private dwellings in 2011, with more than half of West Vancouver’s housing stock having been built before 1970.

What’s New? Grosvenor Ambleside is a 98-home project that will have a glazed, openended public plaza ... Farm to Table is a new speciality grocery store with everything from organic produce to straight-from-Italy burrata cheese ... The West Vancouver Community Centre has added the option of child care during select group-exercise classes.

Kitsilano

If it’s good enough for Chip Wilson, it must be extraordinary. Of course only one person can have the city’s most expensive home, but the area’s beachfront beauty and proximity to downtown and False Creek, plus its bus routes and bike paths, make Kits appealing to everyone.

Having North America’s longest saltwater pool adjacent to beautiful English Bay and a sandy beach is reason enough to be seduced. So are the magnificent views of the North Shore mountains and the abundance of fragrant, flowering cherry trees. Walkability doesn’t get more convenient, or pleasant, in the city.

Several public and independent

What’s New? Hälsa lets you bob your way to wellbeing in the spa’s flotation tanks ... Method is an indoor cycling gym with the mantra “good things come to those who sweat” ...

The Dailey Method is a ballet barre– inspired workout with alignment at its core.

MLS HPI: $1,816,900 MLS HPI Sentinel Hill: $1,730,500

Park Royal: no data Dundarave: $2,403,400 MLS HPI West Vancouver: $2,096,400 MLS HPI: $544,700 MLS HPI Sentinel Hill: no data

Park Royal: $715,500 Dundarave: $757,800 MLS HPI of City of North Vancouver

Momentum

9%

43.3%

1-year appreciation

5-year appreciation

10.4%

-0.5%

1-year appreciation

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1104117) 605 1785 Esquimalt Avenue; $329,000: This updated 575-sq.-ft. one-bedroom corner unit has peekaboo views and a south-facing patio. Last sold in September 2009 for $290,000.

schools are here, including French immersion and the Fraser Academy (for students with language-cased learning challenges). While the Naam restaurant is still going strong, West 4th has evolved from its hippie roots into a sophisticated strip of independent record stores, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Khatsalano Street Party—the annual 10-block music and arts fest.

Densely populated, Kitsilano has a diverse housing stock with detached homes,

low-rise condos, townhouses and co-ops all within walking distance to the beloved Kitsilano Showboat, which has been offering free, live outdoor shows since 1935.

Value

Momentum MLS HPI: $1,861,000 MLS HPI False Creek: no data

Point Grey: $2,540,800 Arbutus: $2,551,300 MLS HPI Vancouver West: $2,403,900 MLS HPI: $410,200 MLS HPI in False Creek: $618,500

Point Grey: $392,300 Arbutus: no data MLS HPI Vancouver West: $504,800

8.4%

1-year appreciation

1.7%

1-year appreciation

32.2%

5-year appreciation

6.8%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1108936) 2509 West 5th Avenue; $1,499,000: This 2,235-sq-ft home has three suites, with the option to occupy two levels and rent out the basement. Last sold in June 1998 for $460,000.

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Mount Pleasant

One of Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhoods is one of its hippest, with vibrant arts, shopping, and dining scenes and a focus on all things indie. This is the place with “Dude Chilling Park,” named after local artist Viktor Briestensky surreptitiously installed a sign and a grassroots movement pushed the city to keep it.

Established as the city’s first suburb in 1912, it’s now considered one of its hottest markets, with colourful heritage homes, half duplexes, and condos attracting first-time homebuyers and young families in particular, drawn to the area’s several elementary schools, parks and convenience.

Broadway, Main Street, and Kingsway

intersect here, with downtown just 10 minutes away and bus routes in all directions. The 10th Avenue bike route cuts through the eclectic enclave, while the Canada Line is a short walk away.

Numerous arts groups and galleries like Western Front and Goh Ballet call Mount Pleasant home—the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, the Biltmore Cabaret, and the Anza Club.

The 2010 Mount Pleasant Community Plan calls for a greater range of housing types, from affordable housing to laneway homes, with increased density near transit hubs and commercial centres.

Value

What’s New? Big Rock Urban Brewery arrived from Calgary and joins several local craft breweries in the ’hood ... Centre for Arts Innovation is a cultural hub that will spring from the Rize development’s cultural community amenity contribution ... Focal is an 86-unit condo and townhouse project designed by Arno Matisse Architecture is scheduled for move-in in 2016.

Grandview

This is the heart of Commercial Drive and boasts Little Italy, Grandview Park and the beloved, dog-friendly Trout Lake—the only lake in Vancouver and home to the city’s first farmers market.

It doesn’t get more diverse or culturally alive than the Drive. You’ll find lineups for deli meats at Santa Barbara Market, ocean-wise seafood at the Daily Catch, Americanos alongside sausages at Abruzzo Cappuccino Bar and midnight screenings at the Rio Theatre. The arts thrive here—Vancouver institution the Cultch turns 42 this year. The Eastside Culture Crawl, a four-day festival of

Momentum

9.4%

MLS HPI: $927,900 MLS HPI Main: $1,131,900

Fraser: $996,900 Knight: $957,700 MLS HPI Vancouver East: $990,800 MLS HPI: $323,300 MLS HPI Vancouver East: $318,500

40.6%

1-year appreciation

5-year appreciation

5.8%

17.5%

1-year appreciation

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1108930) 102 665 East 6th Avenue; $300,000: Renovated with an office nook and radiant washroom floors, this one-bedroom is 682 square feet.

Last sold in June 2013 for $242,000.

Value visual arts, crafts, and design, annually attracts more than 20,000 people to visit artists in their studios.

Britannia and Trout Lake community centres offer everything from African drumming classes to skating lessons.

Schools include primary, secondary, and Catholic. Equidistant to downtown, North Van, and Burnaby, the area has, according to Heritage Vancouver, the widest mix of housing of any neighbourhood in the city, from splendid character homes and penthouse lofts to half duplexes and co-ops.

MLS HPI: $1,015,000 MLS HPI Hastings: $824,700

Renfrew: $917,100 Victoria: $897,800 MLS HPI Vancouver East: $990,800 MLS HPI: $296,600 MLS HPI Hastings: $248,800

Renfrew: $307,700 Victoria: $322,300 MLS HPI Vancouver East: $318,500

Momentum

9.3%

5-year appreciation

0.8%

-5.8%

1-year appreciation

What’s New? Kin Kao is an authentic Thai resto serving street-style dishes like papaya salad and chicken satay ... Choices Market is the grocer’s eighth store in the former home of Drive Organics ... The Bee Space is the home of Hives for Humanity, meaning neighbourhood honey programs are coming!

27.7%

1-year appreciation

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1110042) 2230 East 6th Avenue; $1,249,000: You’ll find a chef’s kitchen and a wood-burning fireplace in this renovated 2,209-sq.-ft., 89-year-old home. Last sold in September 2009 for $755,000.

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Sunshine Coast

The Sunshine Coast is a necklace of communities along a 180-kilometre stretch of land that hugs the Salish Sea from Howe Sound to Desolation Sound.

Sechelt, Pender Harbour, and historic Gibsons have pristine beauty, rugged surroundings, and a small-town feel in droves—despite Horseshoe Bay being just a 40-minute ferry ride from Langdale. Flights from Vancouver to Sechelt take just 20 minutes.

The Sunshine Coast has become home to more artists per capita than any other Canadian region and now has nearly 50,000 residents. Beaches, boating, hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking, scuba diving, canoeing, and snowshoeing are big draws.

The housing stock consists almost exclusively of single-family detached homes, though new developments are growing.

The Watermark at Sechelt, for example, consists of 104 luxury suites, a café bistro, and commercial space, while Wharf Place, also in Sechelt, is a 24-condomiumin project with homes starting at $189,900.

Value What’s New? Historic Davis Bay Wharf was recently restored with an enlarged walkway, gazebo and floating dock ... Kranked EBikes are the creation of Gibsons native Bjorn Enga and are revolutionizing adrenaline sports with the development of electric, high-performance mountain bikes ... Oktoberfest in the area has never been hotter, with live music, a chili cook-off, and beer from Gibsons’ new Persephone Brewing.

MLS HPI: $349,100

Momentum

3.8%

1-year appreciation

-6.9%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1088500) 5899 Deerhorn Drive, Sechelt; $275,000: The boat launch is minutes away from this 716-sq.ft. one-bedroom loft home with ocean view.

Last sold in February 2004 for $159,700.

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Southwestern British Columbia boasts a bounty of second-home options for all tastes and budgets.

But these top four destinations are not only stunning getaways, but primed for increasing values as well

Bowen Island

Relaxing and densely forested, the 52-sq.-km. island at the foot of Howe Sound offers a rural lifestyle within easy reach of Canada’s most livable city—just 20 minutes by ferry from West Vancouver and 30 minutes from Granville Island via water taxi. Bowen is heaven for outdoors enthusiasts, with sailing, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, and swimming—even a nine-hole course. The island also has several freshwater lakes, including Killarney, a fish hatchery, and Grafton, a water reservoir.

Snug Cove, where the ferry pulls in, and the nearby Village and Artisan squares are loaded with shops, restaurants, cafes, bakeries, grocery stores and galleries.

Bowen Island Community School has

Value kindergarten to Grade 7, high-school students travel to West Vancouver, and Bowen Children’s Centre offers preschool, daycare, and after-school care.

The housing stock consists primarily of single-family dwellings as well as fastrising new developments, most notably the Cape on Bowen. The $100-million master-planned community—spearheaded by Trans City Group of Companies, Leeda Development Group, and Zongshen (Canada) Envirotech Ltd., an international company that’s publicly listed in China and Canada—has oceanfront properties ranging in price from $1.7 million to $3.68 million and inland properties going for between $655,000 and $880,000.

MLS HPI: $587,600

Momentum

5.6%

1-year appreciation

-4.5%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1111434) 202 Highland Trail; $449,000 On the commuter bus route near Snug Cove, this 1,000-sq.-ft. home has an ocean view. Last sold in April 2013 for $392,500.

What’s New? Sea to Sky Marine Trail will connect Bowen Island to Howe Sound and allow for multi-day camping trips for kayakers ... Belterra Cohousing is a multigenerational community designed and developed by residents focused on social responsibility ... Bowen Island Pub is getting a redesign and residents couldn’t be more excited about upgrading the neighbourhood watering hole.

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Sooke

Tucked into the coastal rainforest about 45 minutes northwest of Victoria along the picturesque Highway 14, Sooke boasts sparkling views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca from just about everywhere and is accessible by bike via the scenic Galloping Goose Trail or by an epic double-decker bus from B.C.’s capital.

With fishing, crabbing, sailing, scuba diving, kayaking, and whale-watching all possible from here, Sooke is also close to some of the West Coast’s most beautiful beaches, including China, French, and Sombrio, which attract hardy surfers.

It might be a tourist’s paradise, but it’s also a vibrant community, with the

District of Sooke forecasting unprecedented growth due in part to its relatively affordable housing, which is attracting young families, retirees, and investors alike. In 2011, about 71 percent of Sooke dwellings were single-detached family homes—most owner-occupied—while the rest were semi-detached, row house, or apartment units. Mariner’s Village is an example of a project that’s helping diversify the housing stock; the new project is a 12-acre oceanfront community that will have 375 units (from onebedroom condos to townhouses) as well as retail space, a medical clinic, marina and public wharf.

What’s New? Sooke Bike Park is a new professionally designed skills park geared to riders of all abilities ... TD Canada Trust just opened in the hub near Stick in the Mud Coffee House and Alternative Kitchen Café ... Sooke Bike Connector means pedestrians and cyclists can soon travel to the town centre on a multi-use trail funded by a BikeBC grant.

Pemberton

When it’s raining or snowing in Whistler, it’s often sunny and warm in Pemberton.

That’s because the area, which is nestled in the Lillooet River Valley—a glacial trough that lies between the Coast and Cascade mountains—has a multilevel microclimate. With forests of Douglas fir and western hemlock, it’s home to the Pemberton Icefield and, high above a subalpine chain of three emerald-coloured lakes, the Joffre Glacier Group.

The valley was first inhabited by the Lil’wat Nation, a branch of the Interior Salish, and even up until 50 years ago was only accessible via train or foot. The northern terminus of Highway 99 came in 1975, and the area has been growing What’s New? The Downtown Community Barn is a classic exposedwood-and-beam structure that hosts everything from markets to dances ... Elements is a 41-unit development

by Marcon with homes starting at $129,000 ... Backcountry Pizza puts everything from pulled pork to donair meat on its pies.

Value MLS HPI: $337,600

Momentum

-2.12%

1-year appreciation

-11.26%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (348397) 9-6110 Seabroom Road; $236,000: A waterfront end-unit townhouse with ocean views from every window and two sun decks. Last sold in May 2004 for $162,000.

ever since. As far as recreation goes: if you can name it, you can do it in “Pemby.”

Locals call Pemberton “Spud Valley” because of its superior potatoes, a crop that gave rise to the Pemberton Distillery, makers of premium vodka.

Several organic farms are in the area, too, some with U-pick sections. From 1996 to 2009, the population of Pemberton roughly tripled, as did its housing stock,

with 70 percent of building starts in multifamily units and the remainder in single detached units.

Value

Momentum MLS HPI: $511,300

MLS HPI: $379,700

11.8%

1-year appreciation

25.2%

1-year appreciation

13.1%

5-year appreciation

16.7%

5-year appreciation

notable MLS Listing (V1110861) 9217 Portage Road; $315,000: Nestled in the trees near Gates Lake, this 1,052-sq.-ft. home is on 1.72 acres. Last sold in March 2008 for $323,000.

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Luis Valdizon

Goodbye, days of stale draft and lame imports.

In their stead, a new generation of brewers is crafting excellence in a bewildering array of styles and flavours. Here, the best ales and lagers of 2015

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Clockwise from top left: a flight at 33 Acres on W. Eighth; Brassneck’s tasting lounge; Portland Craft on South Main (unrelated to the state of Oregon); Railtown’s Alibi Room, where it all began

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Gutter Credit

Craft 15-05-01 10:21 AM

Every week seems to herald the birth of another microbrewery in this town. The pace can’t last forever. But while it does, welcome to the cold rush

work

Beer.FINAL.N3.indd 55

by steven galloway || photos by kevin cl ark

i heard an ad the other day from molson reminding us that its beer has been brewed on Burrard Street since 1953. 1953! That’s a whole career, and during most of it, Molson ruled the barroom roost—until, as I recall, the storied introduction of ice beer. That was in 1993, and after so much time of one’s choice in beer seemingly limited to Molson and Labatt, here was a refreshing change beyond just a slightly adjusted bottle shape.

In hindsight, ice beer turned out not to be so revolutionary. The only significant things about it were that we got drunk slightly faster and the cans were extra shiny. Today’s explosion of craft beers—so-called, I assume, because it’d be weird to call them just “tasty” or “good” beers—that does seem revolutionary. Craft beer is well on its way to pushing the large brewers aside in many pasrts of North America. In Oregon and Washington, craft accounts for about 40 percent of the beer market, and here in B.C. we’re fast approaching that number. Across the province, breweries making less than 1.5 million litres a year have doubled—to 94— in only six years. (Last year, they sold $72.5 million worth of beer, up from $21 million in 2009.)

For once, it seems that our real-estate conditions favour the commoner; many of this city’s buildings once occupied by commercial endeavours have priced out traditional businesses. With just the right mix of dishevelled brick-and-beam charm to appeal to brewers (and with legislative support from a surprisingly

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craft brewers are making the same product as the big guys, but it’s more interesting, more sexy Portland Craft; 33 Acres’ bottling facility

chill provincial government) these locations, many in Mount Pleasant, allow for in-house tasting and food rooms. A case in point is Steel Toad Brewery, which took over and revitalized the old Opsal Steel building on East Second. (It’s where the judging for this issue’s awards, starting on the next page, took place.) It’s hard to imagine what might have gone in there once the structure was razed, save for condos. more and more consumers are coming around to the idea that there’s life beyond the same old suds, but marketing hoopla aside, let’s remember old-school beer is still out there, and not just among Pabst Blue Ribbon-loving hipsters. We all have fathers and grandpas and the occasional aunt who happily continue to drink this beer. Coors still markets its Silver Bullet as “the coldest-tasting beer in the world.” It has always struck me as odd that a company can successfully market its product by touting an element entirely provided by the consumer. The cold is not in fact a property of the beer at all but a testament to modern

56

Good for what ales you There is a notion that beer is less healthy than, say, red wine. Not so.

Rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, beer has also been shown in studies to help prevent the onset of serious illnesses such as heart disease and stroke (and to assist with symptoms of menopause).

Of course, moderation, as in all things.

refrigeration. It’s like advertising groceries by saying, “You could take these groceries home and cook them!”

Molson’s attempt to rebrand from the national (“I am Canadian”) to the local (since 1953!) must have something to do with the rise of craft beer.

Indeed, a union representative for brewery, winery, and distillery workers blamed the recent layoff of one-tenth of the Burrard facility’s staff on just that, calling craft beer a fad like Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice, both of which experienced an initial surge in popularity that dropped off sharply; he predicted that it won’t be long before these workers are rehired. Note that they’ll have to relocate to Moose Jaw or Medicine Hat or somewhere; the Burrard plant is for sale. More condos, surely.

His optimism is laudable but misplaced. There’s no putting the genie back in the bomber. The difference here is that the craft brewers are making the same product as the big guys, but it’s more interesting, more sexy (which explains the current cold-gold rush, as international companies snap up microbrewers).

It’s hard to think of another time in history when a product gained the sort of foothold craft beer has and then just…faded away. Even the extra cost of these fancy saisons and session ales can’t stem the tide. All those men dressed like lumberjacks brewing up a storm across North America aren’t going back into the woods just because a pint of beer costs an extra toonie. Deliciousness doesn’t die that easily.

The boom has its downsides, of course. Where pretentious wankishness was once the territory of wine drinkers and, more recently, whisky knobs, beer now has its own hipster doofuses. Such people will, while dressed indoors in a toque and scarf, expound at endless lengths on the provenance of hops both wet and dry, and the Bavarian Purity Laws (see pg.

94). These gentlemen—and they’re always men and almost always white—are the ones who named the two-litre bottle the “growler.” They will order a paddle of tasters and forensically audit the flavour palate of each tiny glass. Which is actually okay to do, but at this point you’ll be annoyed so it will seem obnoxious.

It’s a hazard. But it sure beats the heck out of ice beer.

It’s 2015, after all. We live in the future, which hasn’t turned out to be the utopia we all anticipated. So you may as well wash it down with a good glass of beer. VM

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It’s likely our craft beer awards began over a pint or three. The plan has all the hallmarks: rash, ambitious, a hazy memory. But we have no regrets.

We feel supported: 64 breweries were confident enough to enter 211 contenders into a competition with no track record. Eighteen judges, whose bios appear on pg. 70, agreed to the not-so-onerous task of blindtasting everything, and Steel Toad Brewery opened its mezzanine for a full day of sampling. (To be clear: Steel Toad was ineligible for competition; only beers in bottles and cans, available in stores yearround, were considered.)

We set out to help take the mystery out of craft beer, which can seem at times an arcane and overwhelming niche dominated by hobbits and lumberjacks. As well, with the help of our tasters (and Toronto-based beer author and master cicerone Mirella Amato, who wrote the introduction to each style category, plus the sidebars), we sought to simplify the industry, returning the focus to beverages made from a minimum of ingredients with a maximum of care. Our aim was to celebrate traditional and new-school beers that are, before all, delicious and rewarding. At least, that’s how I remember it.—John Burns

photographs by: eydis einarsdottir (bottles) luis valdizon (judging)

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Best of s ho w

STEAMWORKS BREWING CO.

Gutter Credit

The steampunk City Hall and slogan (“Neither left or right steam rises upwards! Steam abolishes red tape!”) were drawn

by James Ng and Michael Halbert

For a video showing the judging day for these awards, visit

Vanmag.com

Imperial Red Ale

judging for these inaugural craft awards was surprisingly well-mannered. Almost everyone arrived on time. There was little yelling. One quartet, all in plaid shirts, seemed especially gentlemanly as they agreed to disagree over a particular pale ale.

Until we reached Best of Show, when for two hours a schism split our genial group into two camps.

The first championed this red ale from local stalwart Steamworks. All 18 judges agree that this is a killer beer, deserving of its Gold position in the Strong category (see pg. 65). But these enthusiasts went further, arguing (by a lead of one vote) that it is the best-constructed of all the competition’s top winners: bold, balanced, rich, with, as one judge put it, “a nose I just want to curl up in.” Those initial aromas of northwest-style hops, caramel, and a hint of fruit usher in massive flavours, deserving of that imperial designation. Solid pine and dry, spicy rye balance a building sweetness and more tropical fruit as the alcohol (at 8.5 percent, high for a red ale) and deep bitterness kick in.

This year-old beer began as a winter seasonal, but after getting rave reviews it’s now on offer all year.

If such a powerhouse seems heavy for summer sun, heed the other judges and turn to our runner-up, the 2.5 percent radler from Salzburg’s Stiegl (see pg. 68). Light, refreshing, citric, that grapefruit/lager blend reminds us there’s a spot on beer’s broad continuum for every palate.

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Light Lager

Other Lager

these contenders are light in colour, ranging from straw to gold. They distinguish themselves from pilsners in that they are more malt-forward, presenting notes of bread crumb (as opposed to crust), fresh grain, and, on occasion, biscuit, and have little to no bitterness to their finish. This delicate balance of flavours—coupled with a bold carbonation—makes them an ideal accompaniment to white fish and seafood.

★★★

★★

★

★★★

★★

★

OKANAGAN SPRING BREWERY

DEEP COVE

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Trapper John’s Lager

Craft Lager

OKANAGAN SPRING BREWERY

HOYNE BREWING CO.

VANCOUVER ISLAND BREWING

1516 DELTA

A well-balanced golden lager, named for the birth year of the purity law in the Bavarian tradition

NORTH VANCOUVER

This classic “helles” lager with a light body and hoppy floral notes is foodfriendly

VANCOUVER

A crisp helles using local hops shows more body and a slightly peppery flavour

the word “lager” calls to mind a golden-yellow brew—even, at its most ubiquitous, the sweet, light-flavoured products of the world’s largest beverage companies. But lagers come in an impressive range of colours and subtle flavours. Traditional darks include the German dunkel, schwarzbier, and Vienna lager.

These are as crisp as their golden counterparts, while presenting richer toasted and roasted malts, allowing them to pair well with grilled chicken and turkey.

Brewmaster’s Off the Grid Hermann’s Black Lager Vienna Lager Dark Lager DELTA

VICTORIA

VICTORIA

Roasted malts anchor this lager with subtle smoke, dark sweetness, and a touch of bacon

A red lager with resinous notes and some bitterness, finishing with nicely balanced hops

Charred bread and biscuity caramel tastes lurk in this smooth Bavarian dark lager

015

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Top: Vishal Marapon; bottom courtesy John Mitchell

L A G E R S

HALF ’N’ HALF  Almost all beers fi t into one of two broad categories. But unlike the main wine families of red and white, ales and lagers don’t show their difference by appearance; both come in many colours, and both are brewed using a common range of ingredients. The distinguishing element is yeast. In ale, it tends to add fruity and spicy notes (like the banana and clove commonly found in hefeweizens); in lager, it leaves no trace, allowing the malt and hop flavours to shine.

Pilsner these crystal-clear golden lagers are designed to be crisp and refreshing. They present delicate bread or cereal-grain notes, as well as herbaceous and peppery notes from the hops, which also contribute some bitterness to the finish. The brewers of Pilsner Urquell, in operation since 1842, are credited with originating the style. Great on a hot day, pilsners can also be enjoyed alongside lightflavoured foods.

THE WELLSPRING  Looking at the abundance of fresh local brews on offer

Top: Vishal Marapon; bottom courtesy John Mitchell

in Canada, it’s nice to think it all started here. The first craft

★★★

★★

★

brewery in the country after Prohibition was Horseshoe Bay

BOMBER BREWING

FERNIE BREWING CO.

STEAM WHISTLE BREWING

Brewery. In 1982, John Mitchell, wanting to brew a variety of

Pilsner

Project 9 Pils Pilsner

VANCOUVER

FERNIE

ONTARIO

Rich Bohemianstyle pilsner shows rich, bready malts and a hint of white grape

A light, effervescent Bavarian pils that’s clean, crisp, and eminently drinkable

A big pils: very rich, filling, and flavourful with sweet fruit and just a hint of skunk

beers for his pub’s customers, was annoyed to learn it was illegal. He lobbied at all levels of government for the right to brew his own, and fortunately for us all, his brewery prevailed.

Mitchell went on the next year to invent the founding beers of Victoria’s Spinnakers, the first in-house brewpub in the country, and of Howe Sound Brewing in 1996. Its Troller Bay Ale and Mitchell’s ESB from Spinnakers are still available.

John Mitchell and son Edward, with the first pints of Bay Ale, an English bitter, at Horseshoe Bay’s Troller Pub, June 1982

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Belgian & Sour

U.K. Ale

given the wide array of characterful beers traditional to Belgium, the broad range of styles here should come as no surprise. Entrants in this category include spiced and barrel-aged ales, as well as some that have been exposed to bacteria to yield a wine-like acidity. Beer is commonplace at the table in Belgium; these are good companions to food in general.

★★★

★★

★

BROUWERIJ VERHAEGHE VICHTE

FOUR WINDS BREWING

BROUWERIJ OMER VANDER GHINSTE

Saison

Cuvée des Jacobins

Duchesse de Bourgogne BELGIUM

Oak-aged Flanders red ale presents sherry-like aromas and sweet/tart flavours with a biting finish

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DELTA

A shake of pepper starts off this Belgian-style saison, which pours orange and finishes grapefruity and dry

BELGIUM

A Flanders sour red ale brewed in the traditional manner with wild yeasts and 18 months’ barrel-aging

these hail from the part of the world (England, Ireland, Scotland) that coined the term “sessionable,” meaning beers that are well suited to drinking in larger quantities. The contemporary interpretation suggests less than five percent alcohol, but the ones from this region are known at all strengths for the understated complexity of their flavours, which evolve with every sip, maintaining the drinker’s interest even after a pint or three.

★★★

★★

★

PERSEPHONE BREWING CO.

FERNIE BREWING CO.

TIMOTHY TAYLOR & CO.

Goddess Golden Ale

Big Caboose Red Ale

Timothy Taylor’s Landlord

GIBSONS

FERNIE

A distinctive aroma settles into a crisp, dry, unapologetically bitter summer ale

An easy-drinking sessionable red ale that doesn’t complicate matters.

Drink and repeat

ENGL AND

From a family-run Yorkshire brewery (est. 1863), a classic low-alcohol English pale ale

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Women Who Brew It’s likely our craft beer awards began over a pint or three. The plan has all the hallmarks: rash, ambitious, in hindsight a hazy memory. But we have no regrets. We feel supported: 64 breweries were confident enough to enter 211 contenders into a competition with no track record. Eighteen judges, whose bios appear on pg. TK, agreed to the not-so-onerous task of blind-tasting everything, and Steel Toad Brewery opened its mezzanine for a full day of sampling. (To be clear: Steel Toad was ineligible for competition; only beer in bottles and cans, available in stores year round, were considered.)

It’s likely our craft beer awards began over a pint or three. The plan has all the hallmarks: rash, ambitious, in hindsight a hazy memory. But we have no regrets. We feel supported: 64 breweries were confident enough to enter 211 contenders into a competition with no track record. Eighteen judges, whose bios appear on pg. TK, agreed to the not-so-onerous task of blind-tasting everything, and Steel Toad Brewery opened its mezzanine for a full day of sampling. (To be clear: Steel Toad was ineligible for competition; her to relax: theonly performers “are more gymnasts beer in bottles and cans, available in stores year than strippers,”round, he assured Last summer, the on pg. TK, agreed to wereher. considered.)appear Chicagoist ran athe story surveying the task neanderthal not-so-onerous of blind-tasting everything, end of the spectrum; connecting comic-book geeks and Steel Toad Brewery opened its mezzanine for and craft drinkers, it day included a quote from a full of sampling.

(To onetime be clear: Steel Toad was brewer Penny Sokody: “I see happens to thebeer in bottles and ca ineligible for what competition; only one female who may beers Wewell setbrew out to helpherself,” take theshe mystery out of craft said. “And at the end which of it, she’s a girl.

She still beer, canstill seem at times an arcane and overhas to listen to whelming the macho dick-swinging that by goes niche dominated hobbits and lumFrom left: on whenever craft meets As artwell, meets nerd.” berjacks. with the help of ourAshley tasters (and Brooks, assistant brewer at Fenn compares the current state of brewery Toronto-based beer author and master cicerone MireYaletown Brewing; staffs to thosella in law firmswho circawrote Mad Men. Amato, the But introduction to each style Ari Dressler, presiat least the legal profession’s ratio has category, plus gender the sidebars), we sought to of simplify a dent Campaign for Realto Ale, B.C.; improved. Ashley Brooks at Yaletown saysthe focus $TK million industry,Brewing returning beverClaire Wilson,owner that of her 28 classmates Kwantlen’s inaugural ages madeinfrom a minimum of ingredients with a of Dogwood Brewing; brewing coursemaximum this year, only two are of care.

Ourfemale. aim was to celebrate tradiRachaal Steele, any-are,Bomber When will the brewing catchbeers up? Ifthat tional andindustry new-school beforeBrewing all, delimanager; and Leslie one can turn the tide,and it’s this motley crew.

“Youthat’s need how cious rewarding.

At least, remember Fenn,IHowe Sound to get tough, fast,” says Wilson, Brewing owner it.—John Burns whose Dogwood

a revolution is brewing  Scan any liquor store’s craft beers and the industry’s perception of women is clear. Take Silver Moon’s Panty Dropper Ale, featuring a curvy female baseball player straddling home plate (sans pants). Or Central City’s Red Racer, whose suspendered schoolgirl also has a fondness for straddling—in this case, a bike.

Such obvious sexism in 2015 is astonishing. And it holds true behind the scenes, too. Facing yet another interview about gender and beer, the brewers gathered today seem, to a person, fed up. “If there were actually a large proportion of women in the industry, we wouldn’t constantly be asked to be the token females in these interviews,” points out Claire Wilson, owner of Dogwood Brewing. The others nod.

Their industry experience ranges from months to decades, but all have confronted the same pervasive “Don’t worry, sweetheart; I’ve got this” attitude from male couterparts.

These views aren’t confined to Vancouver. Howe Sound Brewing’s Leslie Fenn notes that several

opened in March. “If I’m brewing until 3 in the morn-

events at this year’s craft brewing conference in

ing with sweat pouring down my face, I can’t be wor-

Portland were held in strip clubs. One colleague told

ried about how my hair is looking.”—Jenni Elliott

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North American Ale

North American IPA

the boldly bitter and fragrant hop varieties that distinguish these ales have become incredibly popular since they were released by West Coast growers in the ’70s. While these hops are most closely associated with India pale ale (IPA), brewers have successfully introduced them to a range of styles, from pale and amber ales to reds and browns, and even stouts.

this style evolved from the English India pale ale, so named because it was popular among those working for the imperial East India Trading Co. in the 1700s. The characteristically bold bitterness of these American hop varieties accompanies distinctive aromas and flavours such as notes of bright citrus, pine, resin, and tropical fruit. The bitterness in golden-amber North American IPAs is a great foil for rich and oily foods like fried chicken.

★★★

★★

★

BRIDGE BREWING

CENTRAL CITY BREWING

DOUBLE MOUNTAIN BREWERY

★★★

★★

★

Vaporizer Pale Ale

BREAKSIDE BREWERY

HOPWORKS URBAN BREWERY

YELLOW DOG BREWERY

Wanderlust IPA

Hopworks IPA

Play Dead IPA

North Shore Pale Ale NORTH VANCOUVER

A textbook West Coast pale ale: sweet, bright, and zesty, with big hops and a balanced fi nish

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Red Racer Pale Ale SURREY

A clean, dry take on the style with a welcome heft to the full malt body

OREGON

Fruity and light summer patio quaffer of an unfiltered, dry-hopped pale ale

OREGON

OREGON

PORT MOODY

A light, lagery IPA with generous herbal notes and fl avours of pine, earth, and dried fruit

Strong tastes midpalate of grain, toast, and citrus.

Bonus for the use of organic malts

From a Port Moody brewer, superb nose and great length of taste.

Said one judge: “Dang delicious”

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A L E S

Imperial IPA

Strong

also known as Double IPA, this amber ale is a dialled-up version of the IPA, higher in both alcohol (often around 10 percent) and bitterness. This style originated in the ’90s and is attributed to West Coast brewer Vinnie Cilurzo. Being bold in flavour, the Imperial IPA pairs well with equally intense foods such as grilled lamb and barbecued ribs.

★★★

★★

★

SCUTTLEBUTT BREWING

CENTRAL CITY BREWING

WORTHY BREWING

Hoptopia Red Racer Imperial IPA Imperial IPA WASHINGTON

SURREY

From Everett, Washington, an orange-amber Northwest Coaststyle IPA with a passion for citrus

An outlier, this delicious dry-hopped IPA brings all the grapefruit, tangerine, and mango

Imperial IPA

these high-alcohol brews, ranging from seven to 10 percent alcohol by volume, are meant for slow, mindful sipping. Their full body and rich array of complex flavours—like dried fruits and, sometimes, rich molasses, sherry, and umami notes—are best enjoyed at cellar temperature in a small snifter glass.

★★★

★★

★

STEAMWORKS BREWING CO.

CENTRAL CITY BREWING

TOWNSITE BREWING

Imperial Red Ale

Thor’s Hammer Bourbon Barrel-Aged Barley Wine

Charleston Belgian Triple

OREGON

VANCOUVER

Another American entrant (Bend, Oregon) blends eight varieties for massive hop presence

An imperial red ale with enough malt backbone to stand up to aggressively bitter hops

SURREY

Mahogany-hued barley wine-style beer tastes of cola, herbs, burnt sugar, and caramel

POWELL RIVER

A Belgian triple out of Powell River?

A Belgian brewer coaxes out pie spices, pear syrup, and coriander

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Brown & Porter

Stout

toasted and roasted grains lend a dark brown colour and notes of bread crust, hazelnut, chocolate, molasses, and sometimes a hint of smoke. At the table, these deep, earthy beers mirror the seared notes in charbroiled food, pairing particularly well with grilled beef and roasted vegetables.

★★★

★★

YELLOW DOG BREWERY

TO ØL

Shake a Paw Smoked Porter PORT MOODY

This porter’s on fire—at least, it’s smoky like a campfire, with nice roasts and chocolate to balance

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Black Ball Porter DENMARK

Not for the faint of heart, this swaggerer tastes of chocolate, raisins, burnt sugar, and alcohol

fi nd all the shades of the night in this family of pitch-black ales derived from roasted grains.

Guinness, the best known, is categorized as a dry stout, with its lighter body and taste; oatmeal stouts, meanwhile, have more body and richer dark-chocolate notes. Their coffeelike flavours make them a solid companion to a range of desserts.

★ MOODY ALES

Smouldering Smoked Porter PORT MOODY

A smoked porter that makes no apologies for aggressive smoke, peat, and freshly turned earth

★★★

★★

★

MISSION SPRINGS

BRIDGE BREWING

FIREHALL BREWERY

Fat Guy Oatmeal Stout MISSION

The name isn’t promising, but the flavour manages to mix forest floor and Fisherman’s Friend—and that’s a good thing!

All Out Stout NORTH VANCOUVER

A local take on Guinness, with hints of dark fruits, nuts, and dark chocolate

Holy Smoke Stout OLIVER

One of a number of smoky winners, this rauchbier has a judicious restraint to its smoulder

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Spiced, Herb, Fruit & Vegetable the addition of spices is often understood as a modern trend, but herbs and spices were in use before hops were introduced in the late Middle Ages.

Early settlers commonly used root vegetables as a source of starch when grains were running low. As for fruit beer, it’s been popular in Belgium for years. Enjoy a flight of tasters with a cheese plate after a meal.

★★★

★★

★

STIEGL

BRASSERIE DUBUISSON

MILL ST. BREWERY

Radler AUSTRIA

Conceived to refresh cyclists, this lager/grapefruit blend is low in alcohol (2.5 percent), big in taste.

Best of Show runner-up!

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Pêche Mel Scaldis BELGIUM

Start with strong Belgian ale, add peach extracts for a hoppy, bready fruit cocktail that’s 8.5 percent

Vanilla Porter TORONTO

Christmas in a glass, this deeply infused vanilla porter is even better served nitro-charged and creamy

Hybrid here are easy-drinking, approachable ales with a lightly hoppy presentation and enough gentle malt flavours to satisfy repeat samplings.

Think blond kölsches, cream ales, and dry-hopped wheat ales. Minimal bitterness and a range of malts—from honey and caramel to a touch of toast— suggest clean-flavoured companions like spring rolls and grilled chicken.

★★★

★★

★

PARALLEL 49

BRIDGE BREWING

Jerkface 9000

Wunderbar Kolsch

MISSION SPRINGS BREWING

VANCOUVER

NORTH VANCOUVER

A hazy, musky American wheat ale goosed with lemon/stone fruit and strong hops

Lightly hoppy kölsch pours a hazy gold and carries light hops, finishing with a nice lemony tang

Bombshell Blonde Ale MISSION

A simple thirstquencher of a kö7 that’s crisp and sessionable, veering toward corn lager

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JURY DUTY  Evaluating beer is a serious business. The technique— swirling, nosing, mindfully tasting—is identical to that used in appraising wine, with one exception: no spittoons. This is because the taste buds most sensitive to bitterness are at the back of the throat, and bitterness is a key component of beer flavour. The experienced can assess a beer in only a few sips—just as well when faced with 40 or 50 samples in a day, as our 18 judges were.

meet the judges

Specialty the domain of mad scientists and extreme adventurers, specialty beers flaunt purity laws in pursuit of unbridled flavour. Sometimes unfiltered, they often bring unexpected malts to the party.

Colours run from pale hefeweizens and white IPAs to India dark lager; flavours, too, sprawl from sweet and citrusy to severely bitter. Of note this year: an accomplished revival of the Polish grätzer (smoked-oat) wheat beer and four gluten-free candidates.

★★★

★★

★

MOODY ALES

BRIDGE BREWING

The Great Grätzer

Black Rye IPA

LAKEFRONT BREWERY

PORT MOODY

NORTH VANCOUVER

No fence-sitters here. For those who love smoke and peat, this grätzer is perfect in style and technique

Mmm…feels like an iced americano in the mouth and tastes of burnt fruit and roasted espresso

70

New Grist WISCONSIN

The flavour is peach/apricot, spice, and citrus.

Drink on the patio with seafood but no bread (gluten-free!)

Ken Beattie is the executive director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild. He also owns Eureka Beer Guide, a beer education and beer event company Robert Belcham is executive chef and co-owner of Campagnolo and Campagnolo Roma, and releases annual collaborations with R&B Brewing Cameron Bogue is director of beverage operations at Earls Restaurants, where he has expanded a craft beer program across the country Chris Bonnallie oversees beer at Legacy Liquor Store after working for many years as a brewer— first in England, then with Eastside iconoclast Storm Brewing

Chester Carey became Canada’s first certified cicerone in 2009.

A cofounder of Re-Up BBQ, he teaches a number of beer courses at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts and oversees the selection at Brewery Creek Liquor Store Charmaine Draper is a product consultant with BC Liquor Stores and has worked in the industry for 16 years.

She holds the Certified Beer Server designation from the Cicerone Certification Program Neil Dumville is a long-time home brewer and former president of the East Van Brew-op, an unlicensed network of home-beer enthusiasts

Innes McCallum is the general manager of Bottle Jockey, a private liquor store near Brentwood Town Centre Chad McCarthy is a certified cicerone and National-level judge with the prestigious Beer Judge Certification Program Dan Olson is membership coordinator for the Vancouver branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale Society Tim Pawsey is a journalist who blogs about food and wine at Hiredbelly.com and is also a judge for this magazine’s wine and restaurant awards Jesse Sahlin is beverage director at Joey Restaurant Group and oversees

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beer purchases for Local Public Eatery; he’s studying for cicerone certification David Scholefield is a champion of authentic wines for Trialto Wine Group and Okanagan Crush Pad Jessica Sharpe is a certified cicerone and in-house educator for Steel Toad Brewpub. She worked previously with Toronto’s Bar Volo and Cask Days

in his Brewed Awakening column for the Province, where he is Sunday assistant editor A special thanks to Matt Anderson, a key figure in the local craft beer scene, formerly with CAMRA and now on the board of VanBrewers, for helping to coordinate the categories. And to Steel Toad Brewpub & Dining Hall for providing the venue, the cold storage, and clean glasses in their thousands

Stephen Smysnuik is editor of the Growler, a free handbook to the province’s craft-beer scene distributed four times a year, and beer columnist for the WestEnder Rebecca Whyman talks about beer and the craft beer industry every second Tuesday on CBC Radio’s On the Coast with host Stephen Quinn David Wolowidnyk is the bar manager of West restaurant and a frequent winner of awards, including this magazine’s Bartender of the Year Jan Zeschky blogs about B.C. craft beer

CURIOUS TO LEARN MORE? Mirella Amato’s 2014 Beerology is an authoritative guide to this complex world

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A Breed Apart

BY KERRY GOLD

Like women’s liberation and the gay-rights movement, childlessness has become a conscious choice for a generation intent on redefining the path to fulfillment

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aniel O’Connell is in love with his wife, which is why he says their house will never hear the pit-a-pat of little feet. The East Vancouver substitute teacher, now working on a master’s in education, has done extensive research on parenthood; he’s convinced children are the death of marriages. “I started looking at all the things that can happen when you have kids, and it was frightening,” he says.

Free time is first to go: he’d rather devote the hours of child care each day to other pursuits, like relaxing over coffee on the Drive. “I see other teachers burned out, at wits’ end. Not because of their job, but they have to go home at day’s end to two kids. It’s tough.”

Then there’s the cost. Daniel and Andrea O’Connell,

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Illustrations by dominic bugatto

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33 and 31 respectively, have been together for a decade and both have jobs that pay well. Yet they live with her parents—like many millennials getting help in unaffordable Vancouver. In their case, they are saving for a down payment on a property, likely in Calgary, where wages are higher and housing cheaper. Their financial situation is a major reason they’ve decided against having children—that, and the fact O’Connell feels that his job is contribution enough to enriching young lives.

Is there a correlation between Vancouver’s status as the world’s second most unaffordable city and the province’s position at the bottom for Canadian birth rates? Andy Yan, UBC adjunct professor and a planner at Bing Thom Architects, thinks so. “The economic

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YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO ENJOY THIS CITY B.C. may lead the country in low birth rates, but Vancouver isn’t the only city in North America to embrace this decision. A couple of years ago, the real-estate blog Estately.com came up with a list of the best U.S. cities for child-free living, based on low numbers of kids, great nightlife, and other factors. Topping the list were San Francisco, Seattle, D.C., New York City, and Portland. Something in the Cascadian waters?

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A BREED APART

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having kids. “They’re viewing parenthood as a decision, whereas in my generation they didn’t question it.”

That holds true around the globe. In Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands, one woman in five is waking up on her 45th birthday childless. In Italy, New Zealand, and Switzerland, it’s one in four. In Japan, one in three.

The rate of childlessness has doubled in the U.S. since the 1970s, to 20 percent.

Clearly, something major is going on, but as with the women’s movement and the gay-rights movement that followed, it’s taking society a while to catch up.

That’s why Karen Malone Wright, a Cleveland-based marketer and blogger, is holding the first conference for women who don’t have children. The NotMom Summit, to be held this fall in Cleveland, features speakers like Melanie Notkin, whose book The Otherhood kicked open the door on the subject of social infertility—the phenomenon of women giving up on ancouver is one of the top child-free cities. So says motherhood because they can’t find a partner.

Ellen Walker, a Bellingham-based clinical psycholoMalone Wright, 59 and married, started TheNot gist who wrote Complete Without Kids in 2011. “I Mom.com after attending a South by Southwest think young women are realizing you don’t have to be a seminar on how brands connect with women. “I was mother to have a really good life,” says Walker, 53, who one of the older folks in the room, and I said, ‘My was too busy with her career and life to think about complaint is that brands don’t even see me.’ ” When trade-offs that families need to make for the milliondollar-plus single-family home on the East Side may be that second or third child,” he says—especially when Canadians pay on average $670,000 to raise a child to age 18. (That figure includes lost income and investment opportunities, plus university tuition.)

The drop in birth rate isn’t simply a product of unaffordability, though. A cultural shift is underway: millennials and Gen Xers are deciding against the nuclear-family model. Their idea of happiness and fulfillment no longer depends on babies (or marriage).

“When I tell people it’s a choice,” says O’Connell, “they cock their head like a dog and say, ‘Really? But you’re supposed to have kids.’ We put kids into sex ed and talk about how to get a child. But nobody talks about what it’s like. I’m an educated guy. I think it’s important to do something for a reason.”

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“I started looking at all the things that can happen when you have kids, and it was frightening”

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A BREED APART

Most people without kids hear the slurs: they’re selfish, irresponsible, immature. They lack empathy. They have no respect for legacy

BABY BUST Families without kids are increasingly the norm in this country. According to Statistics Canada, we’ve been falling ever further from the replacement rate of 2.1 children per household since 1971. Fifty years ago, a fraction of homes contained only one person; the majority had fi ve people. That setup has reversed. Singletons have leapt from nine percent of all households to 27 percent, while Party of Fivers have dropped from 32 percent to a mere eight

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they do market to her, she says, it’s as an emptynester or the mom of a teenager. “I’m not a mom. And I’m not infertile and sad. I can’t find myself. I’m just not there. It pisses me off.”

Her story is typical. Malone Wright always planned to have kids. But as she became more educated and her career grew, her life filled with other options. “Maybe you were engaged to your high-school boyfriend,” she says. “I was. Then, by the time you’re out of college, he’s not meeting the new standard you’ve set for yourself.

You get a job and want to get married and have babies, but you want that one more promotion first, and you wake up one day and it’s too late. Last but not least, you realize, ‘I like my life the way it is. I can sustain myself. I can do this by myself, if I want to.’ ” TheNotMom.com averages 6,700 visitors a month from around the world, and it’s not alone. British writer Jody Day has amassed a substantial following with her Gateway Women online community and best-selling Rocking the Life Unexpected, for women who are “childless by circumstance.” Last year, comic Jen Kirkman (from Chelsea Lately) shared her funny account of child-free existence with I Can Barely Take Care of Myself: Tales From a Happy Life Without Kids.

Yet despite the rise in profile, most people without kids still hear the slurs: they’re selfish, irresponsible, immature. They lack empathy. They have no respect for legacy or the future of the species. Some people forget that you don’t need a kid to be nurturing: if you’re female, odds are high you’ll wind up putting a diaper on somebody one day, whether it’s a child or an elderly parent. (Because my brother and I are childless, we were the principal caregivers and health advocates for our father in his final years.) “I would venture to say that the 20 percent of the population who don’t have children are probably doing a lot more of the volunteer work, helping out friends who are sick and neighbours who need favours because they are elderly,” says Walker.

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o forgo having children is a decision made over and over again. Getting there can take decades.

Andrea Tam, 36, realized her biological clock wasn’t ticking because she didn’t even have one. In her 20s, she assumed she’d have kids one day. Then her friends started happily, eagerly having kids, and she found herself waiting for the same desire. And waiting. “It would be a lot easier if I had that want, but I don’t,” says Tam, who’s single and works in digital

advertising. Easier, because she’d conform to expectations, particularly those of friends with kids.

It doesn’t help that through the eyes of media, womanhood is so often synonymous with motherhood. Says Tam: “Motherhood is this whole new world that proves you’re officially, properly grown-up and validated as a human being.” She’s well-versed in the world outside that world. “You get the snarky comments like, ‘Oh, you just powered through six episodes of House of Cards? I don’t have that luxury because I have two kids.’ ” This sort of resentment toward the single and/or childless has spawned a backlash of books that aim to take ownership of the putdowns. American Meghan Daum released her collection of childfree-focused essays, Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed, in March, around the same time that equally acclaimed writer Kate Bolick published her ode to single life, Spinster. As these titles suggest, people get defensive when their life choices are questioned. But judgments aside, everyone agrees that it comes down to choosing happiness over convention.

As O’Connell puts it: “Most people think it’s very selfish, but I don’t look at it that way. I love my wife so much and we have such a great relationship—I would hate to risk that.” Tam sees people five years younger than her, like her sister, who aren’t having kids, either.

“People are making choices that work for them versus the traditional sense of what they should be doing.”

Winyee Leung, 36, is an operations manager at a software company; she just purchased her first condo.

Once she reached her 30s, the reality of having children couldn’t compare to the life she was living. “You are programmed at a very early age that the formula to happiness is you get a job, you get married, you have babies. And I did buy into that paradigm for a long time.” But there was just so much of the world to see.

“This is the first time in history, really, when there is a contingent that doesn’t want to procreate and continue its lineage. My parents are cool with it, because they’re not very traditional Chinese parents. I’m grateful.” She does have the occasional pang of guilt, she concedes. They won’t have the glory of showing off pictures of grandchildren. But her resolve is buoyed by the fact that so many in her network of friends are nonparents. They talk about their decision often, comparing their lives to those of friends who’ve had kids. It only solidifies their choice to join the Notmoms, or the Otherhood, or whatever you choose to call this cohort.

“My life is pretty dope. I’d like to keep it that way.” VM

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HOP

’HOODS de to Vancouver’s Your gui n st eighbourhood hoppie fty brewerie s and s t ha t the cra c i t r y u ’ s o n t e n w buzz e s r ep r e

MOVE OVER

PORTLAND & SEATTLE

Vancouver is the new king of craft brewing. It took a while (like a few decades) but the buzz around good, locally brewed nectar has never been more intense. As exciting new pubs and breweries open almost monthly, we present the hot spots to drink in the boom, just in time for this month’s Craft Beer Week.

POWELL STREET CRAFT BREWERY

FOUNDED 2012 TASTING ROOM Yes GROWLER FILLS Yes BEST-SELLING BEER Ode to Citra Pale Ale and Old Jalopy Pale Ale VANCOUVER The area historically known as Brewery Creek started brewing in the city more than a century ago

FOUNDED 2014 TASTING ROOM Yes GROWLER FILLS Yes BEST-SELLING BEER ESB

1 BIG ROCK URBAN 1.

A pioneer in the craft beer industry with over 30 years’ experience, Big Rock Urban stays true to its deliberately different roots. The new Mount Pleasant location features a 150-seat restaurant, tasting room, growler fills and tours.

310 West 4th Avenue | 604.708.8311 bigrockurban.com

3 LIONS PUB 3.

Our English-style pub offers 28 draught beers, featuring a huge selection of local craft breweries and a fine selection of imported classics.

With rich wood décor, traditional British fare, and friendly staff, the Lions Pub is a favourite hangout for Vancouver locals.

888 West Cordova Street 604.488.8602 | lionspub.ca

FOUNDED 2015 TASTING ROOM Yes GROWLER FILLS Yes BEST-SELLING BEER Hollow Tree Pacific Northwest Red Ale

2 BOMBER BREWING 2.

It’s been over a year since Bomber Brewing arrived on the Vancouver craft beer scene. With four flagship brews and year-round seasonal releases, their initial goal has not waivered: make accessible, authentic beer for craft beer initiates and connoisseurs alike.

1488 Adanac Street | 604.428.7457 bomberbrewing.com

FOUNDED 1996 TASTING ROOM No GROWLER FILLS No BEST-SELLING BEER Red Truck and Guinness

4 POWELL STREET CRAFT BREWERY 4.

Powell Street Craft Brewery is a microbrewery owned and operated by Nicole and David, a husband-and-wife team focused on creating high-quality craft beers for everyone to enjoy.

Come visit the tasting room located at 1357 Powell Street and taste their award winning beers for yourself.

Cheers!

1357 Powell Street | 604.558.2537 powellbeer.com

5 STEEL TOAD BREWING COMPANY 5.

The newly restored Opsal Steel building now proudly houses the Steel Toad Brewing Company, with a full kitchen serving modern gatstropub and bistro fare, an in-house small batch brewery producing expertly crafted beers, a full bar featuring an extensive whiskey selection, regular live entertainment and sports viewing.

97 E 2nd Avenue | 604.709.8623 steeltoad.ca

FOUNDED 2014 TASTING ROOM Yes GROWLER FILLS No BEST-SELLING BEER West Coast IPA & Saison Sauvignon

6 STRANGE FELLOWS BREWING 6.

Located in the heart of East Vancouver at 1345 Clark Drive, Strange Fellows is a craft brewery with an attached tasting room where West Coast craftsmanship is inspired by traditions of the Old World and the unique. The beers go beyond the ordinary and celebrate that which is strange.

1345 Clark Drive | 604.215.0092 strangefellowsbrewing.com

Created by the Vancouver advertising department in partnership with our local brewery partners.

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SPONSORED REPORT

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8 BIG RIVER BREWING COMPANY 8.

Situated on the banks of the Fraser River, this is one of B.C.’s original craft breweries. Brewmaster Bill Herdman is creating outstanding craft beer that captures the spirit of our rich heritage. Crisp, clear, strong and bold, Bill’s range of beers will please even the most discerning craft beer enthusiasts.

14200 Entertainment Boulevard 604.271.2739

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RICHMOND A quiet corner ofFront theSt local brew map is joining the buzz, with more craft labrewers Rd nd ut eyeing the scenic Fraser banksJ to set up shop in the coming year

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FOUNDED 2012 TASTING ROOM Yes GROWLER FILLS Yes BEST-SELLING BEER North Shore Pale Ale and Wunderbar Kolsch

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7 BRIDGE BREWING COMPANY 7.

Since it opened in 2012, beer lovers in B.C. have discovered Bridge’s great tasting, award-winning craft beer.

Bridge has recently expanded to a larger brewery still located on the North Shore. Come visit the brewery tasting room, or enjoy Bridge beer at your favourite restaurant or liquor store.

1448 Charlotte Road | 604.770.2739 bridgebrewing.com

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9.9 HOYNE BREWING COMPANY Since opening its doors in December 2011, Hoyne Brewing Company strives to brew the finest craft beer with uncompromising quality and consistency batch after batch. The brewery enjoys making beer that is interesting, flavourful, and enjoyable at every level. Available on Vancouver Island, in Vancouver and outlying areas. Check out their website to find their beer and growler station.

2740 Bridge Street | 250.590.5758 hoynebrewing.ca

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NORTH VANCOUVER The birthplace of modern craft brewing in the province (Horseshoe Bay Brewery, 1982) is quickly approaching craft brewery numbers in the double digits

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Summer

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There’s something about summer that makes us want to get behind the wheel and away for the weekend. With these great sights, good eats and cozy hotels awaiting in Seattle, Tulalip, Bellingham and Lynnwood, your next Washington road trip will be the stuff summer memories are made of. +

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PLAY Have you always wanted to be a first-person player in your favourite video game? Since you can’t hop through your TV screen, hop across the border to check out the Indie Game Revolution at Seattle’s EMP Museum. The industry’s on independent influencers—from coders to critics—share their stories as 20 virtual worlds bring your dreams to life.

EAT Don’t worry if West Coast rain has chased you indoors for a full day; EMP’s on-site pop kitchen + bar adds an array of locally sourced foods and seasonal micro-brews to the museum’s list of worthwhile exhibits. Even if the sun is shining it’s worth staying inside to try out these local plates. SEE Next stop: Naboo—or at least the Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen: Star Wars and the Power of Costume gallery, where you can browse the six-part series’ most iconic costumes and get amped for the final trilogy coming this winter. If you still haven’t gotten your sci-fi fill, we suggest a final stop at Infinite Worlds of Science Fiction: EMP’s large-scale collage of artefacts from all your favourite extra-terrestrial sagas.

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STAY You may have imagined your next summer getaway involving hours on the open roads, but Washington’s Tulalip Resort Casino offers a far more thrilling fast lane just an hour’s drive from the border, so why go any further? Their Summer Fun accommodation package makes that question harder, and your decision even easier. Kick start your weekend— and Happy Hour—with a complimentary glass of manager’s wine, beer, or any non-alcoholic beverage at the Destination Lounge or Draft Sports Bar & Grill while you learn more about what the weekend has in store.

For starters: full access to the Oasis swimming pool and casino floor, plus a $25 gas card and $25 dining credit for each registered adult guest. And you haven’t even started winning yet… PLAY Speaking of which, with slots, table games, poker and bingo, your weekend itinerary is filling up fast. You’d best get right to gaming, especially since Tulalip has the best cash-back of any Seattle casino, paying out over $5 million in jackpots every month. SEE The Tulalip Amphitheatre brags about not having a bad seat in the house, and based on their summer concert lineup we’d say not a bad show either. The fun starts July 3 as Boz Scaggs & Aaron Neville ring in Independence Day weekend, and continues all season with a little something for everyone, including: • Hank Williams, Jr.: July 8 • Boyz II Men & Brian McKnight: August 6 • The Band Perry: August 15 • Huey Lewis and the News: August 28 • Sammy Hagar and The Circle: September 3 EAT With so many great options, it’s tough to know where to start. We suggest some local Pacific Northwest flavours at Blackfish. In the morning, cure your caffeine craving (and whatever else might need a remedy) at Killer Coffee. An afternoon snack break calls for a takeaway sandwich from The Carvery before you settle in for an evening of fine dining with the upscale menu at Tulalip Bay. That leaves the toughest call of the weekend: a final meal at either Journeys East, Cedar Café or Eagles Buffet before heading home. We’ll put our money on you extending your stay to try all three.

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Lynnwood/Seattle North Just 15 miles north of Seattle and moments from beaches, mountains and wine tasting.

Home to the region’s upscale retail center Alderwood and historic Heritage Park. 1000+ hotel rooms priced 40% below Downtown.

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SEE Start your long weekend early with Shakespeare in the Park at Lynnwood’s newly renovated Lynndale Amphitheater. These free doses of outdoor culture that run Wednesday and Thursday evenings through July will leave you with one question: to return home on Monday, or not to return home on Monday?

BUY Stew it over until the weekend and check out a free tasting at the Root Beer Store. The first Saturday of the month is your chance to try their 100+ brands.

Meanwhile, make your way to the Savory Spice Shop at Alderwood Mall, where samples and small quantities help keep your experimenting cost-friendly.

15-04-30 5:57 PM

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The Butler Did It residential density’s all well and good—right up until the moment you’re face to face with that microloft’s closet or shiny new condo’s pint-sized locker. Barring a monastic approach to living, what’s to be done with November’s rain boots, January’s ski suit, and that pile of last season’s chunky sweaters?

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SWEATER WARS After a trip to Hong Kong, where valet storage is the norm, Patrick McLaren and Jeff Cheng launched Vancouver’s DBox Storage Solutions in February. Dboxstorage.com

J U N E 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

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The iconic circa-1972 Trefoil logo lives on in Topshop’s new seven-piece Adidas Originals capsule collection (from $58).

A simple monochromatic palette with hints of red lends street style to heritage classics.

Thebay.com/topshop

A Chanel staple gets reimagined in these Tweed Collection sunglasses (price on request), with the classic woven pattern re-created by injecting pigments into acetate plates that are then laminated, cut, and sculpted into shape. Chanel Boutique, 737 Dunsmuir St., 604-6820522. Chanel.ca With June seeing double the precipitation days of July, Pajar’s Wave rainboots ($140) are right in step. Pajar.com

Helly Hansen’s W Lyness coat ($170) offers a modern waterproof-and-windproof take on the classic fisherman’s jacket. Mountain Equipment Co-op, 130 W. Broadway, 872-7858. Mec.ca

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THIS TRIO OF MINI VEGAN SHAMPOO, CONDITIONER, AND HAIR ELIXIR BY MARULAGOLD USES ALL-NATURAL PLANT OILS AND AROMAS

($16, marulagold.com)

Gastown’s Truvelle, a handcrafted, made-to-order modern bridal house, teamed designer Gaby Bayona with local Olivia Headpieces to create the Maker Collaboration’s Allee headband ($375), a perfectly pretty accessory for brides or this spring’s gardenparty set. By appointment.

607-55 Water St., 604-6221151. Truvelle.com Nine West’s new Around the Clock clutch ($85) works the boardroom and the cocktail circuit in one fell (fringed) swoop. 650 W. 41st Ave., 604-261-4222. Ninewest.ca Hipsters rejoice: low-tech cool goes ultra upscale with the Urania, an acoustic amplifier ($259)—in hand-blown grey glass by 200-year-old Danish design firm Holmegaard—that perfectly cradles your iPhone sans electricity or batteries.

Provide, 529 Beatty St., 604-632-0095. Providehome.com

August Uncommon Tea aims high with its flavour-centric approach to tea: the spring/summer 2015 collection (from $36) includes A Field in Innsbruck, evoking a fragrant walk through an alpine wilderness; and Midnight in the Garden, a white tea harvested only under a full moon in China.

Litchfield, 38 Water St., 604-4285880. Litchfieldtheshop.com

THROW IN THE TOWEL Having created wallpaper for Anthropologie, bedding for Land of Nod, and stationery for Trader Joe’s, Banquet Atelier & Workshop launches a locally produced textile line with pieces like the Hot Lips and Grey Palmistry Hands linen tea towels ($24). Walrus, 3408 Cambie St., 604-874-9770.

Shop.walrushome.com

TruMarine’s collagen powder ($79.95), locally produced from fish scales, stimulates bone, joint, and skin cell regeneration with natural peptides—no needle required. Kiss and Makeup, 1760 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, 604-922-6292.

Kissandmakeupstore.com

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THE

GOODS

MODEL CITIZEN

Personal St yle

DESMOND CHEN THAI HOUSE RESTAUR ANT S

somehow, in addition to working as director of five Thai House eateries, partnering in a local modelling agency, and playing in two hockey leagues, Desmond Chen still has time to produce a reality web series. When he’s not running around the restaurant (where he’s been plying the family trade since the age of 13) or his other ventures, he takes a casual day, “sporting a pair of sweatpants layered up with a blazer and Nike Flyknits.”

Beautyblender’s bling.ring kit ($36) features a pretty, sparkly ring that serves as a drying stand for its cult-fave egg-shaped makeup sponge.

Sephora, 701 W. Georgia St., 778-331-3942. Sephora.ca

What’s the most beautiful piece in your closet? The most treasured piece would have to be my Dolce & Gabbana tailored black suit with subtle hints of metallic thread.

Name one item in your closet you couldn’t throw away. My Alexander Wang leather jacket.

Favourite brand and style of jeans?

DSquared2 distressed Cool Guy jeans.

Favourite piece of clothing? A navy blue Catch the full interview with Chen at Vanmag.com

cotton sports coat with elastane that can be dressed up with slacks or casually with jeans, cargos, or even sweats.

What’s on your nightstand? An alarm

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clock and a Chinese Zodiac ornament for good feng shui.

Favourite shave cream and razor?

I don’t grow much facial hair; I use an electric razor. VM

Evaan Kheraj

Cultivated by a tiny, organic cooperative on Corsica, the rare cedrat fruit is harvested for L’Occitane’s new fragrance ($56) and skin-care collection (from $20).

Woody citrus extract boosts the energy reserves of skin cells. 1000 Robson St., 604-681-4408.

Loccitane.ca

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JOIE DE VIVRE OPENINGS OPENINGS

Charals 101 Robson St., Charals.com  After 28 years, Charals opens its second location, serving up luxury leather goods, accessories, and—penmanship being the new luxury—exclusive writing instruments. Inside the new shop sits western North America’s first Graf von Faber-Castell’s Writing Boutique, where rare pieces like the Pen of the Year 2015 (inspired by the New Palace of Potsdam, Germany) are on offer.

THE MAGICAL EVENING RETURNS THIS AUGUST...

VANCOUVER MAGAZINE

Ecco 1006 Robson St., Eccocanada.com  The Ecco you may remember is likely better appreciated by your grandmother, since comfort and style generally don’t make bedfellows.

But the circa-1963 Danish brand’s been all about reinventing itself of late. Witness its newest Robson outpost, kitted out in stainless steel and pale slate stone, where it offers up its latest line of simple yet luxe leather Scandinavian shoes.

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Handsome Swiss bureaux Melbourne Shinkansen cutting-edge ANA. Vibrant boulevard Asia-Pacific A380 essential St Moritz Tsutaya joy charming lovely.

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J U N E 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

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CHAMBAR

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sponsored report

Independent

Living

Crofton Manor: A Retirement Community For Independent Seniors

R

etirement living does not need to compromise your independence. At Crofton Manor by Revera, residents enjoy a rich quality of life enhanced with the freedom to choose new experiences and social opportunities.

Situated on six acres of lush green space in the Kerrisdale community, Crofton Manor counts on their more than 45 years of experience to provide worry-free retirement living that prioritizes the independence of their residents. With 187 suites, 100 of which are designated for independent living, seniors will find a community that adapts to their unique preferences.

“At Crofton Manor we are offering seniors choice. There are numerous choices to make every single day,” says Shawn Ouellette, Crofton Manor’s executive director. Residents can keep their vehicle and drive as they wish, or take advantage of the complimentary luxury car service. They can tend to a vegetable garden in front of their suite or let Crofton’s staff take care of it for them. All independent living suites have a

kitchenette where residents can prepare their own food, or they can simply join friends in the dining room for a gourmet, nutritionally sound meal Crofton Manor knows that downsizing into retirement living is a big change, and they make the transition as smooth as possible. Potential residents often tour the facility several times, sampling the food, enjoying the live entertainment, and discussing any concerns with a designated consultant. They can even stay in a suite for a short trial period before they commit long-term, and family members are welcome to stay in the available guest suites to help new residents settle into their space.

A rich social life is one of the most cherished benefits of this retirement community. “This is their new family. They can share all of these stories with their peers and experience new things,” says Ouellette. “A lot of residents say that they should have done this years ago.” Instead of taking away a senior’s independence, Crofton Manor offers the chance to create new memories, make new friends, and gain a new lease on life.

Created by the Vancouver advertising department in partnership with Revera Retirement Living.

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Complimentary lunch Complimentary dinner

Choice – it’s what living at a Revera retirement community is all about.

That’s why, Revera – Crofton Manor would like to invite you and a guest of your choice for a complimentary lunch or dinner and tour. Take this opportunity to learn more about our daily live entertainment, variety of recreation programs, our complimentary car service and speak with residents about what it’s like to live at Crofton Manor. See why they tell us they “should have done this years ago.”

Crofton Manor 2803 West 41st Ave Vancouver

604-263-0921 reveraliving.com Working together to overcome ageism.

Visit AgeIsMore.com

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THE

GOODS

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THIS DUAL-GRIP HEADBAND IN ICY BLUE/GREY WICKS SWEAT AND KEEPS HAIR IN PLACE, OFF THE FACE

S W E AT E Q U I T Y

Workout Plans

($10, gaiam.com)

On the Ball Striker Christine Sinclair prepares for the big show At this month’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, all hopes are pinned on Burnaby native Christine Sinclair, 31, to lead our national soccer team to victory. A powerhouse striker and 14-year veteran of Team Canada, she has the ability to consistently drive the ball into the back of the net. (She holds a six-goal record from the 2012 Olympics.) Her clockwork regularity sets her apart from all other female players—and has cemented her role as a dangerous asset on any pitch.

It’s a pitch she rarely leaves.

Although her day job—playing for Portland Thorns FC in the new USA National Women’s soccer league— is in post-season, she still trains on-field five to six times a week and spends four or five days a week at the gym. “This is our off-season!” she says. With the women’s national team ranking eighth in the world, “There’s no better place to play soccer than Canada!”—Ginger Jefferies

WHERE TO GO

Check out your local recreation centre; classes ($10 to $66) can be coed or women-only, and are offered at all levels. Vancouver.ca

BRING FRIENDS

Urban Rec teams (from $100 for eight weeks) are a great way to meet up. Games are indoors, with four or fi ve players per team. Urbanrec.ca

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BRING A DEFIBRILLATOR

Vancouver is home to several competitive leagues for both men and women, ranging from Premier to Division 3.

Regular season runs September to March. Consult the Vancouver Men & Women’s Metro Soccer League (from $40 for 25 weeks) to inquire about joining a roster. Mwsl.com, Bcsoccer.net, Vmslsoccer.com

THE BURN

600 CALORIES/HR*

* by someone weighing 155 pounds

Amanda Skuse

BRING GRANDMA

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Stefan Sagmeister: The Happy Show is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, curated by Claudia Gould. Stefan Sagmeister: The Happy Show has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Additional support provided by The Chodorow Exhibition Initiative Fund; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; The Dietrich Foundation, Inc.; The Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art; friends and members of ICA; and the University of Pennsylvania.

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THE

GOODS

FIELD TRIP

Nex t Destinations

A Pilgrimage of Legendary Proportions History is fixed in tall glasses of amber (ale) in the Bavarian birthplace of beer

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FIELD NOTES Fly direct with Luft hansa; nonstops from Vancouver run mid-May through mid-October.

Lufthansa.com The München Palace is a familyrun boutique hotel (74 rooms, from €200) with obsessive service and a nice location just across the river from old town and the gallery district.

Muenchenpalace.de To comprehend a millennium of brewing history, visit the charmingly offbeat Beer and Oktoberfest Museum housed in a downtown townhome built in 1340.

Bier-und-oktoberfestmuseum.de

and child in the state. Much is for export, of course, but not all. As I learn while exploring the holy birthplace of modern malt, hops, yeast, and water, beer is as central to Bavarian life as milk is to ours.

Like all things holy, especially when enshrined in ancient documents written in spiky Germanic script, innovation is discouraged.

Unlike in Vancouver, which is awash in experimentation, everyone I talk to in Munich rolls their eyes at the notion of “craft” beer.

The more I sample (and I sample a lot), the more I’m beginning to think there may be some method to their madness.

To find out how much wiggle room the Reinheitsgebot allows, I meet Martin Zuber, a respected local brewer with 28 years’ experience who convinced his employer, Paulaner (a brewery established by friars in 1634), to open a microbrand named Brauerei im Eiswerk

(44 Ohlmüllerstrasse. Brauereiim-eiswerk.de) in the city’s up-andcoming Au district.

Standing amidst beakers and siphons, Zuber explains that thanks to globalization there is some modest curiosity among the city’s young people to sample new styles of beer.

Yet, it’s a marginal demand compared to the traditionals, which are supported by the twin behemoths of Germany’s export market and its domestic thirst. (Standard weekly procedure if you live in Munich: buy a few cases of 20 half-litre bottles of different styles from the supermarket, drink them from late morning through lunch—absolutely, people drink beer at their desks with lunch—and into the night.) As much as I love a hoppy Northwest Coast-style IPA, it’s hard to argue with the simple, classic appeal of Zuber’s Josephs Spezial, a malty, slightly smoky brown ale brewed in honour of Joseph Pschorr, one

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Food: Sanfamedia.com; lockers: Scott Moore; Hofbräuhaus: Bayreuth2009

“beer is nutrition.”

That’s Walter König, managing director of the Bayerischer Brauerbund, the association of Bavarian brewers upholding purity laws that have dictated the ingredients and methods of German beer-making since 1516. As the Académie Française locks down the French language, the Reinheitsgebot—the world’s oldest food regulation—holds the course for beer, officially considered a food here. Serious business, and König, who’s in Munich this afternoon meeting with hops producers, takes the job duly seriously—even if the boardroom table is littered with glasses and bottles, and the room’s mini-fridge is looking a little depleted. Of the 1,300 or so breweries in Germany, half hail from Bavaria, and his trusted members produce 20 million hectolitres a year—that’s 160 litres of beer for every man, woman,

Jason Paris

by john burns

***

Bavarian pride runs high, which means locals— even hipsters—rock traditional lederhosen and dirndls without irony. Running into the thousands, handembroidered over deerskin or silk, the best are once-in-a-lifetime investment pieces (Lodenfrey.com)

GARDEN VARIET Y

Like much of downtown, the Chinese Tower (built 1790) was destroyed during Allied bombing and rebuilt in the 1950s. The second largest beer garden in town, it accommodates 7,500 BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

The Bavarian eyeopener: weisswurst (veal and pork sausage) served with pretzels and helles beer. Meat is sucked out of the casings; only the uninitiated use a knife and fork MISCHIEF MANAGED

Regulars take no chances with family steins; personal lockers keep 424 mugs safe (owners must wash their own) at Hofbräuhaus

Food: Sanfamedia.com; lockers: Scott Moore; Hofbräuhaus: Bayreuth2009

LEVEL UP

Reserve up to two bottles of Brauerei im Eiswerk’s Bourbon Bock (€24.90 for 750ml) to pick up per visit

of the city’s founding brewmasters. We drink our way through his whole small artisanal list—a creamy, fruity Comet Ale; a bright and citric Mandarin Weizenbock— while he shows me the technology (a 135-year-old river-driven turbine can still connect to the stream outside) and explains distribution: the savvy can reserve bottles online to pick up every second week, when a tour and an evening of tastings

might get thrown in for free.

Aside from Paulaner, the city has five other breweries—by law, only they can supply Oktoberfest, the World Cup-meets-South by Southwest of the drinking calendar, with over six million visitors annually. (If you like Mardi Graslevel mayhem, come then; otherwise, the city is open the other 11 months too.) Everyone has their favourite of the Munich Six, in part

because almost all restaurants in the city are contracted to one of them; look for the small sign usually hanging by the entryway or, in some cases, to the establishment’s name. The massive (2,200 seats) Hofbräuhaus am Platzl (9 Platzl.

Hofbraeuhaus.de), for instance— opened in 1592 in conjunction with the Hofbräu brewery—serves the traditional styles of helles (“light”), dunkel (“dark”), and weiss (“white,”

FROM THE ASHES

Opened by royal decree, Hofbräuhaus, too, was flattened in the war and its 900-seat upstairs festival hall entirely rebuilt

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The

GOODS

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field trip

Nex t Destinations

Hofbräuhaus am Platzl is just one stop on Hitler’s Munich, a brisk three-hour walking tour with excellent English commentary, run daily. The same company also offers a history-of-beer walking tour that hits the same hall, among several well-lubricated stops (Munichwalktours.de)

big gulp

Paulaner is one of six breweries licensed to fuel Oktoberfest, running this year Sept. 19 to Oct. 4. In 2014, 6.4 million visitors drank 6.3 million litres of beer flights of fancy

Located in the Haus der Kunst gallery, the Goldene Bar marches to a different beat: the Hopped Boulevardier adds Simcoe IPA and galaxy hops to the bourbon original

How many cherries in an authentic Black Forest cake?

Brush up on other German traditions and culture with a true/false quiz at Germany.travel

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aka wheat) beers alongside regional staples like pretzels, sausage salad, and the Brotzeit platter of cheeses (including weirdly delicious obatzda, a camembert spread), meats, onion rings, and bread.

It’s loud with guests and oompah music, it can be hard to flag down a server, you do not want to sit at a reserved table (Germans appreciate compliance to signs), and the beer, though only five percent alcohol here as everywhere, comes by the litre. But it’s a mandatory introduction to the city’s drinking culture and a surprisingly authentic one: what might in other cities be a tourist trap is here a super-sized local. Four hundred regulars even pay an annual fee of €200 for a key to a personal stein locker.

Die Goldene Bar (1 Prinz­ regentenstrasse. Goldenebar.de) is one of the few bars in the city not tied to a brewery. Here, in

an overscale room with gold-leaf murals, a 1920s chandelier, and attendant hipster staff, you can order a Drunk Sailor IPA or Munich Summer ale from iconoclast Crew Republic. Founders Timm Schnigula and Mario Hanel were inspired by the American and Australian craft scenes to start their own brewery in 2011; they may be Bavaria’s only craft brewers, and though nobody I met rated their beers that highly (I found them refreshingly diverse after a week of helles, but also sweet and a bit wonky in their balance), everyone is keeping an eye on their quixotic progress. I make the pilgrimage out to their impressive new suburban facilities, and Schnigula (a former management consultant without formal brewing training) is frank in saying their dream is someday to occupy an actual niche. “We’re not even there yet.” It’s a problem, he admits, that his competitors

brew such excellent product.

Munich is about more than beer, of course. Intensely walkable, its compact downtown is bounded to the south by the Isar River, which describes an arc of cobblestone streets, intriguing courtyards, and public gardens. To the northeast, I find the city’s largest green space, the enchanting Englischer Garten (Muenchen.de), 417 hectares of managed forest and fields just off the downtown core and well suited to walking off some of my late pursuits. There are paths throughout, the kitschy Chinese Tower beer garden if you’re still thirsty, and— why not?—wetsuited surfers riding the continent’s smallest break: a 12-metre-wide standing wave they cut across in endless figure-8s. In warm months, if it’s your inclination, three sections of the park are clothing-optional. Beer guts are graciously overlooked. VM

Clockwise from left: Peter Baker; Alescha Birkenholz; Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung

urban oasis

Previously a hunting estate, the 417-hectare Englischer Garten has something for everyone: meadows, 78 kilometres of paths, over 100 bridges, nude sunbathing, restaurants, and (natürlich) beer gardens

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THANK YOU 19TH ANNUAL CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY

PRESENTED BY

Canadian Cancer Society BC and Yukon Division CEO Barbara Kaminsky and Dafodil Ball Gala Committee Chairs Carly Monahan & Jennifer Traub would like to extend a sincere heartfelt thank you to our dedicated and generous sponsors, donors, volunteers and guests.

Your support of the Dafodil Ball helps the Canadian Cancer Society fund the most promising childhood cancer research, sustain support programs for children and adults living with cancer and lead prevention programs dedicated to stopping cancer before it starts.

LEADERS

VISIONARIES

CHAMPIONS

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FRIENDS Happy Water | Image Group Inc. | Novex Delivery Solutions Ron Sombilon Gallery | Unico Print Media | Upright Décor

GALA COMMITTEE CHAIRS

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Carly Monahan | Jennifer Traub

Sandra Birnie | Meghan Brown | Jessica Burchill | Julie Cooper Susan Cressey | Stacey Doran | Katherine Evans | Michael Gray | Lori Hill Fiona Keller | Megan Lammam | Christine Mella | Lane Middleton D’Eathe Joshua Ngo | Tifany Pederson | Maria Radic | Alex Sawchyn

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BACK

PAGE

S N A P C H AT T E R

 M A L COLM PA RRY

A b o u t To w n

“Once in a while, ask yourself: ‘Am I aware of addictions to wealth, power, and security?’ ”

—Deepak Chopra at a Lift the Children benefit

Kristy Brinkley, Janelle Washington

PHIL ANTHROP Y

Dianne Watts, Deepak Chopra

Jill Lyall, Christie King

LIFT THE CHILDREN GALA Apr. 23 Former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts and others heard Deepak Chopra speak at an event in which Lift the Children Dalai Lama Humanitarian Award recipient John Volken raised funds for the organization’s international charitable efforts, including 72 orphanages in Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, and Uganda

SPORTS

ORANGE HELMET AWARDS Apr. 15 With the BC Lions, which he bought in 1997, due to have new owners next year, David Braley joined present and past team members, coaching staff, executives, supporters, and fans at an event recognizing the accomplishments of and generating funds for amateur football in B.C.

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Ashleigh McIvor, Jay DeMerit

Lui Passaglia, Travis Lulay Mia, Marilyn Diligenti-Smith

H E A LT H

Dennis Skulsky, David Braley

Wally Buono, Moray Keith

Sara Burke, Stevi Ellis, Emily Marshall, Marc Riese

LOVE HER GALA Apr. 22 Ovarian Cancer Canada was happy to see oncologist Dianne Miller honoured while a fashion show by Marilyn DiligentiSmith and Virginia Grau and a set by comic Jessica Holmes helped raise a reported $200,000 for research and treatment

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OP

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A R A R E CO L L E C T I O N O F WAT E R F R O N T H O M E S A limited collection of townhome and apartment residences is coming soon to the North Vancouver waterfront, alongside magniďŹ cent Cates Park and near charming Deep Cove.

F O R P R I O R I T Y R E G I S T R AT I O N CALL 604.871.4126 OR VISIT POLYHOMES.COM

T H I S I S C U R R E N T LY N O T A N O F F E R I N G F O R S A L E . A N Y S U C H O F F E R I N G M AY O N LY B E M A D E B Y W AY O F A D I S C L O S U R E S TAT E M E N T. E . & O . E .

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