Seen In Vancouver #306: Reflections Duel Outside Catalog Gallery Opening On Powell
July 26, 2011
Opening night of the Justin Wright & Dan Climan dual show at Gastown’s Catalog Gallery (56 Powell Street).
Cool Thing We Want #288: Myne Sienna Summer Dress At Chinatown’s Charlie & Lee
July 22, 2011
Sienna Dress by Myne | Charlie & Lee | 223 Union St. | Chinatown | $259
I’m lusting after this laid back and flirty summer dress by LA-based Myne at Chinatown’s little Charlie & Lee shop. Accessorise with a strong mint julep and you’re pretty much good to go.
EVERY COOL THING WE WANT
Post-Riot Therapy: 101 Greatest Things About Life In Vancouver
June 25, 2011
by Andrew Morrison | Ever since the post-game riot nearly two weeks ago and penning my admittedly angry, totally knee jerk reaction to it (amplified in fury 10-fold by my hockey team losing the Stanley Cup), I’ve wanted to be reminded of all the things that make Vancouver worth getting into such a tizzy over in the first place.
It’s not like I forgot, but it feels good to write them down.
I’m over the loss of Game 7 (total lie), but anger nevertheless lingers at the jackasses who posed for photos on burning cop cars, beat down innocents and otherwise abused the name and reputation of this city.
Still, it’s time to move on.
It was in that spirit that my wife and I sat down with a bottle of wine after the kids went to sleep the other night and began trading our favourite things to do, see, eat, drink and be a part of in Vancouver.
We left out most of the glossy brochure fluff – the healthy walks along the seawall, the abundance of yoga studios, the vibrant multi-culturalism and so on (all great things, sure) – and narrowed down what started as a massive list to just 101 things that we could agree on.
Naturally, what follows reflects our own interests, work and personal affections (notice the heavy food component), so it’s doubtful that you’ll hold dear the exact same things. To some, our list might seem bourgeois, blinkered or bullshit, and that’s fine. These are the best things that we get out of our city, and we feel no shame in the way we fashion our good times.
So without further et cetera…
Scout’s 101 Greatest Things About Life In Vancouver
1 | The Nine O’Clock Gun
We might as well start off with a bang! It’s 9 o’clock! So sayeth Stanley Park’s 9′oclock gun:
It’s been hit by lightning, plugged with rocks, short-circuited, silenced by work stoppages and even (briefly) stolen but Vancouver’s famed old Nine O’Clock Gun has—as faithfully as circumstances have allowed—boomed out the time of day from its home in Stanley Park for 107 years now.
What other city in Canada shoots off a canon to tell you with a resounding note of insistence that it’s time to go out and have some fun?
2 | Laneway Housing
For a long time, Vancouver home owners weren’t allowed laneway housing to help pay their mortgages through renters, house aging grandparents or cloister their wayward teens thereby increasing the city’s population density. That changed in the summer of 2009 when City Council approved 70,000 properties for laneway development, thanks in no small part to the lobbying (and awesomeness) of a couple of cool and conscientious little companies that are doing it right. Honour is due.
3 | Tuesday Nights At The VAG
The Vancouver Art Gallery is free (er, by donation) on Tuesday nights. Bring a twoonie and take advantage.
4 | Bike Lanes
Hooray for not getting hit by cars (as much) anymore!
5 | Sunday Soccer at McLean Park
A diverse group of people of every age and background show up at McLean Park in Strathcona every Sunday afternoon to play a legendary – if totally casual – game of footie without nets, refs, corners, throw-ins, rules or clocks. What if it rains or snows? Big deal. Game on. Come and play! (Don’t worry about the old Korean man looking terrified above. That’s just Kip. He’s a power forward, always lurking on the wing) Read more
DINER: Chris Stewart & Andrey Durbach Open Cool Little “Commissary” Food Store
June 25, 2011
Seasoned, acclaimed restaurateurs Chris Stewart and Andrey Durbach (interview), owners of La Buca, Pied-a-Terre and Cafeteria, have just opened Commissary, a rather cool-looking little shop selling “prepared foods to take home.”
It’s located at 4027 Macdonald St. – right beside La Buca. They’re selling stocks, terrines, patés, soups, sauces, stuffed pastas and basically any of the ingredients that they employ in the recipes articulated in each of their restaurant kitchens. In addition to these staples, they also table proteins (we picked up some sweet sockeye for dinner) and gastro-esoterics like truffle paste and Callebaut baking chocolate. Cuteness aside, it’s cunningly utilitarian in its functionality for both them and us, serving not just as a space and means to make and sell what they’re already doing for themselves, but also to allow us in on the action with their surplus. Clever.
ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS
“The Found And The Freed” Pop Up Shop Arrives At 206 Carrall
June 22, 2011
Like a cross between a kickass garage sale and a DIY museum exhibit, The Found and The Freed pop-up shop (brand new to Gastown) features beautiful antiques, artifacts and found objects. Check it out!
The Found and the Freed | 206 Carrall St. | Gastown | Until July 16
The Hotly Anticipated “Save On Meats” Opens Today In Gastown
June 22, 2011
Michelle took these shots at the first “friends and family” dinner service at the highly anticipated Save On Meats last night (since forever referred to colloquially as “Save On”).
The venerated, salt-of-the-earth restaurant at 43 West Hastings has taken over a year to resurrect itself under new stewardship, this after 50 years spent serving honest, prepped-in-house diner fare to every stripe of Vancouverite.
Scout broke the news of its coming with Mark Brand at the helm over a year ago and took many shots during the construction phase. Because of the building’s history and our memories of the original Save On, we’ve been especially keen. We’re thrilled to the wait come to an end. Brand – who has the lease for 20 years – assures me it’ll open to the public in 12 hours from now – that’s at noon, Wednesday, June 22nd – come “hell or high water.”
A lot of people had a hand in this project and worked very hard on it (Nico, Guy, Rodney, Jason et al, take a bow). I imagine it will be fixed as an unforgettable experience for all who dedicated their and sweat time to it. From the look of these shots, their hard toil has paid off. The photos reveal their superb job at improving on a Vancouver legend without diminishing its working class spirit and feel. And the prices on the draft menu are pretty sweet, too (nevermind the spelling, it’s just a draft). We’ll leave it at that and the imagery, without captions. The rest is to your imaginations as we fully expect that you’d like to check it out for yourselves.
We’re hardly impartial on this one. Welcome back, Save On. We hope you kill it.
ALL ANTICIPATED RESTAURANTS
Awesome Thing We Ate #838: Honest Diner Feast At Hastings’ Imminent Save On Meats
June 21, 2011
Save On Meats | 43 West Hastings | Opening Imminent | More tonight
ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS
Scout List: Our Eclectic Agenda For Discerning Vancouverites…
June 9, 2011
The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit.
The Scout List is our carefully considered, first rate agenda of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours… Read more
Sizing Up Gastown’s Cool New “Community Thrift & Vintage”
June 8, 2011
by Michelle Sproule | Owned by The Portland Hotel Society, a Vancouver organization aimed at providing housing, advocacy and support to people in the Downtown Eastside, brand new Community Thrift & Vintage isn’t just Gastown’s freshest storefront, it’s also a social enterprise that runs as a not-for-profit business that accepts donations of gently-used clothing and redirects all profits to charities in Vancouver (bonus: it employs residents of the DTES in a graduated job training program).
But this is not your average not-for-profit shop. There aren’t gnarly stains, mothballs and mountains of crap to sift through. From its “no polyester” policy and its emphasis on natural fibres to the obvious knack the staff have for zeroing in on great pieces, this joint could easily occupy a heart-of-Main Street address and gouge dollars from those who frequent cool-kid stops like Front & Co. This place definitely has that specialty, carefully curated feel, minus the glam, glitter and holy shit, really? mark-ups. In other words, they aren’t surcharging for cool.
Shop manager Jenni Nelson and some of her core staff (like local fashion sage Katie Piasta) throw in their expertise at no extra charge. Equal parts stylists, seamstresses and thrifters of the first order, these girls know what they are doing and are happy to advise on what works and what doesn’t. On my visit this afternoon (they opened this morning), I walked out with a beautiful French cotton summer top (see below, $10), a simple navy blouse ($10) and a vintage, sand-coloured linen dress ($24). I’m not sure that I would have picked the dress off the rack if left to my own devices, but Katie sized up the items I was carting off to the changing room and pulled it out for me. It fit perfectly.
The interior is all reclaimed wood and exposed brick walls with vintage mirrors and the occasional retro schoolhouse chair thrown in for good measure. Jenni and her husband Jeff Lee (both of the band Hard Drugs) renovated the space on their own, salvaging most of the material in the long neglected space. Have a look at the before/after piece on their blog. Woah. Nice work!
Here are some more shots from today…
You have to check this place out. The prices are in line with what you would find at a typical no-frills thrift shop, and boys…don’t fret. There’s plenty for you to score, too.
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On Your Radar #326: Pecha Kucha Special On “West Coast Modernism” At The Vogue
June 3, 2011
The next Pecha Kucha night is coming down the pipe and should be on your radar. It’s a good idea to snag tickets early for this one, because this time around, each presenter will tie their words and images to the theme of West Coast Modernism in architecture. As per usual, each person will show 20 images for 20 seconds and speak over them (going too long at their peril). This gives them 6 minutes and 40 seconds before the lights dim and the next presenter is announced, keeping it concise and episodic with the interest level always topped up. The line-up looks amazing and includes different strokes from architects and designers to community leaders and artists. Bonus: filmmakers Michael Bernard and Gavin Froome will be there! They collaborated to produce this amazing film on Coast Modern architectural style from Los Angeles to Vancouver; from 1922 up to the present (trailer above). Scout is a proud sponsor, so we’ll see you there.
Pecha Kucha Night volume 17 | Thursday, June 23 | 7pm | Vogue Theatre (918 Granville) | $15
