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

Get Your Eating Pants Ready! Italian Day is Coming

1000 Cool Things About Vancouver is a pretty self-explanatory Scout column that gives equal weight to the common attributes and obscure intangibles that make our city well worth living in. Getting to a thousand is a pretty ambitious goal, but we believe in our city and we’re already well under way.

Italian Day on Commercial Drive is one of the best events on Vancouver’s summer calendar. Launched in 2010 and usually taking place on the second Sunday in June, the car-free street party celebrates the neighbourhood’s Italian heritage through food, drink, cultural activities and all manner of good times besides. It brings together over 150 organisations, merchants and vendors to feed, entertain and otherwise work the sidewalks for the 14 blocks of The Drive we recognise as “Little Italy”. The spectacular one day festa is attended by over 300,000 people, and it’s always a good idea to be one of them!

The Floating Respite Within Easy Swimming Reach of Kits Beach

Kits Beach would be a shoe-in for our 1,000 Cool Things About Vancouver project if it wasn't so damn obvious. This makes more sense.

All That Colourful Art on the Walls at ‘The Magnet’ Is Not What It Seems…

Downtown's beer-forward restaurant is a trove of quirky details from bar to bathroom. Here's a cool thing to look out for...

This Mt. Pleasant Restaurant Honours Its Veteran Staff Members in a Really Cool Way

Wallflower Diner recognizes and celebrates its long-serving crew members by affixing their names to the long edge of the wooden bar.

The One Delicious Day of the Year We Actually Looking Forward to Meat Sweats

The annual Brewery and the Beast festival of meat and beer easily cracks our 1,000 Cool Things About Vancouver list.