A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If We Had More Safe Indoor Spaces for Skateboarding

Its vaulted ceilings may have once carried the tenors and altos of Catholic choirboys, but nowadays the acoustics of the abandoned St. Liborius Church have been repurposed to carry the screeches and echoes characteristic of a DIY Skatepark. We think Vancouver would be cooler if we had an all-inclusive indoor community skatepark of our own...

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had a Massive Floating Housing Project at the Port

Imagine a colourful, mixed-used, housing complex like Amsterdam's Silodam floating at the foot of Victoria Drive.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Floating Camp Sites in False Creek

Imagine Belgium's Vlot Kamp - essentially eight floating campsites accessed from the shore by canoe - next to Olympic Village.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had a Cocktail Bar Hidden in a Skytrain Station

This 15-seat speakeasy-style bar is located behind a nondescript door in New York City's 28th Street subway station.

VANCOUVER WOULD BE COOLER IF // It Hired Mexican Wrestlers to Enforce Our Mask Rules

Watch lucha libre wrestlers in Mexico City's Central de Abasto market have fun encouraging people to protect themselves and others.

VANCOUVER WOULD BE COOLER IF // It Stopped Serving Its Worst Restaurant Customers

It should really go without saying that people who disrespect hospitality workers should be denied the privilege of dining out.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Followed Berlin’s Lead on Marketing the Wearing of Masks

If our approach to encouraging mask use has been too gentle we might consider shocking people with a campaign like this.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Gave $500 Restaurant Cards to Its Unemployed

Hawaii is giving out gift cards worth $500 to over 100,000 unemployed residents in a bid to save two birds with one stone.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its Pizza Delivery Drivers Told Us Everything Was Going to Be OK

60-year old Vinnie's Pizzeria in Brooklyn must know that times are particularly stressful right now...

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Tokyo’s Incredible Lost and Found System

Your options for tracking down your lost items in Vancouver are very limited, but what if we had a different approach?

Vancouver Would Be Cooler if It Followed Florence’s Black Death Tradition of Wine Windows

Florentines had a cool architectural trick to keep socially distant while shopping for wine during times of plague...

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Followed Barcelona’s Lead and Seized Empty Homes

The Catalonian city has notified landlords that they will fill their empty apartments with tenants if they don't do it themselves.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Some Garage Bars In Its Neighbourhood Laneways

The idea of the "Garage Bar" as a place to have an unlicensed sip with your friends and neighbours just feels right...

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If… It Had Kinetic Art Installations Shaped by the Wind

Thousands of tiles are moved by the wind, so that when it blows they flap in concert to reveal gusts and air currents in real time. 

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If…It Had a Food Delivery App That Wasn’t Exploitive

To food delivery apps, this virus hasn't been a crisis. It's been an opportunity. Local restaurants are already considering alternatives.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If…Helicopters Kept Crowds Off Beaches During Pandemics

Police in Italy and Brazil are employing helicopters to clear beaches that have been closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If…It Followed New York’s Lead and Allowed Take-Out Alcohol

To support its breweries, distilleries, wineries and restaurants, the city should allow people to order booze with their take-out.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If More of Its Restaurants Had Lazy Susans

Why does a city that celebrates share plates and "family-style" dining have so few of these clever devices?

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Whistler’s Pangea Pod Hotel

After a recent stay at the new hotel in Whistler, we're scratching our heads as to why Vancouver doesn't have something similar yet.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Didn’t Occasionally Scare the Living Daylights Out of Us

They could have used any old alarm to warn of fire or accident, but instead they chose the one that terrifies everyone everywhere.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its Restaurant Workers Had a Fully Licensed Member’s Clubhouse

If the annual fees were on a scale of accessibility so a dishwasher didn't have to pay as much as a server, this might work...

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its Mountains Had More Deciduous Trees…

A pair of thrill-seeking skiers turn Autumn in the Cantal forest of Southern France into their downhill playground.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its Sunniest Blind Walls Had Scaffolded Gardens

The GreenBelly Project is a concept that would see boring, windowless urban walls producing all kinds of deliciousness.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its People Could Explore a Gigantic Model of It

This massive architectural model of New York City got us thinking how cool it would be to see Vancouver similarly represented.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its Demolished Buildings Were First Saved in Miniature

Our historical architecture isn't so valued that it can avoid the wrecking balls of development. But what if it could be saved in another way?

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If it Had a Museum of Rocks That Look Like Faces

The museum is the only one of its kind, dedicated entirely to rocks that look like human faces. Surely we should have one of our own!

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had This Art Project That Gave Out Free Hot Dogs

Austrian artist Erwin Wurm transformed an old VW bus into a bizarre, oddly obese food truck of sorts, and we want it for our sea wall.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If it Had a Weird Village of Spherical Homes

Made of concrete strengthened with fibreglass and originally subsidized by the Dutch government, these futuristic homes from 1984 are awesome.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had a Massive Carpet Modelled On Its Streetscape

A South African furniture design company has made a 3m x 2m 'New York City Carpet' and we're a little covetous of it.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had This Shop Stocked With Wines by Women Winemakers

This female-forward, animal-friendly Silver Lake wine shop would be perfectly suited to Main Street.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Tiny Islands for Hanging Out On in False Creek

With good weather approaching, we saw this 215 sqft island designed for Copenhagen's harbour and got covetous about it.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler if Our Anarchists Filled Our Pot Holes (Like They Do in Portland)

Portland anarchists decided to radically intercede where their city had failed them, taking direct action to the streets, literally.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had a Japanese-Style ‘Capsule’ Hotel & Sauna

This capsule hotel and sauna facility in Tokyo would be nice fit for Vancouver, which could use more diversity of accommodations.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If This Brilliant Little Shop Opened on Robson Street

It ticks three Vancouver boxes. 1.) It has good branding. 2.) It's an Instagrammable one-hit wonder. 3.) People line up for it.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Chancho Never Ran Out of Its Delicious Carnitas

A direct appeal to the owners of Chancho to expand their hours so they stop running out of food during the dinner rush.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had More Public Bake Ovens

Toronto has more than a dozen public bake ovens but Vancouver has just the one. What do we have to do to get more?

Vancouver Would Be Cooler if it Had a Mario Kart Cosplay Service Similar to Tokyo’s

All one needs is some courage and a Japanese/International driver's license...

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Each Neighbourhood Had Its Own Manhole Art

There are over 19,000 different manhole cover designs in Japan. They even make manhole trading cards! While Vancouver does have some artfully embellished manholes we nevertheless believe it would be very interesting to have their designs determined by the individual neighbourhoods in which they are found.

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If A Japanese Misting Arch Came To Stanley Park

Imagining Australian artist James Tapscott literally "cool" installation much closer to home...

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Gigantic Moon Illuminating Blood Alley

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had ‘Rage Rooms’ For Venting Stress & Angst

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Watery Black Hole On W. Georgia Street

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Mirrored Espresso Bar In Stanley Park

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Playground High Up In A Forest Canopy

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Shelters That Came With Their Own Rain

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If False Creek Had Paris’ Sweet New Water Taxis

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Peace & Quiet Ratings For Public Spaces

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Restaurant Staff Were Celebrated On Menus

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had One Or Two Pay-To-Play Coffee Hangouts

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A ‘Bike Hotel’ For Secure Bicycle Storage

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Cocktail Bar Outfitted With Hammocks

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Many More Brightly Coloured Crosswalks

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its Dead Restaurants Would Deliciously Haunt Us

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had An Observation Shelter At Prospect Point

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Terraformed Grass Armchairs In Its Parks

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Sun Observatory Out At Spanish Banks

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Sunbeds Built Into Its Stairway Hangouts

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Slides For Quick Travel Down High Rises

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its Mid-Rise Residential Buildings Were Beautiful

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had This Viewing Tower At Main & Kingsway

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Live-Aboard UFOs Floating In False Creek

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Enforced Its Own Laws Against Airbnb Rentals

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Bus Stop Shelters Like The Former USSR

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Someone Selling Churro Ice Cream Bowls

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Roller Coaster Going Down Grouse Mtn

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had An Infinite Promenade Off Of Third Beach

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Was Zoned To Allow For Neighbourhood Pubs

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Church Bells Could Play Bowie’s Space Oddity

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had These Contraptions Cleaning False Creek

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Was Cold Enough For A Gigantic Ice Carousel

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A ‘Shake Shack’ Location Of Its Very Own

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Skatepark Tucked Inside A Dry Church

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Le Marche St. George Could Keep Operating As Is

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Machines Dispensing Free Short Stories

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If A Surf Park Was Built Underneath The Viaducts

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If A Library This Beautfiul Opened On Kits Beach

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If A Swedish Beer Garden Opened On False Creek

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If A Fleet Of Bicycling Barkeeps Delivered Drinks

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If A Local Distiller Made “Fernet British Columbia”

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Quality Pizzeria Floating In False Creek

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Lot More Fun That Was Rain-Activated

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Fast, Amenity-Rich Express Bus Option

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Restaurant Staffed By People Over 50

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If One Of Its Icons Was At The Bottom Of A Pint

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had This Outstanding Book Vending Machine

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If One Of Its 663 High-Rises Had A Sweet Bar

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Our Laneways Had Lots Of Tiny Restaurants

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Kindergarten As Beautiful As This

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If YVR Airport Invited Skateboarders To Ride

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had The Greatest Bookstore In The World

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If We Thought Earls Was Opening In Gastown

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If Its Parks Had Concessions Of Consequence

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Fleet Of These Citroen Martini Bars

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had A Pop-Up Beer Garden Like Argentina

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If False Creek Had PDX’s “Bollywood Theatre”

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Its Fair Share Of Bushy “Graffitrees”

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If If It Had More “Horseshoe” Lunch Counters

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had Viewing Platform With A Spiral Slide

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If It Had More Rooftop Bars In Its Neighbourhoods

Vancouver Would Be Cooler If We Could Watch The World Cup Like Berlin