I don't disagree with you. Though I thought his post was reasonably balanced considering. I couldn't really find fault with his negatives, however it's a matter of finding enough positives to outweigh them. He is clearly struggling with this.

Yeah. We briefly lived in a new development in Burquitlam and while I knew I was unhappy there, I didn't realise how unhappy until we moved to where we are now, which is an older, established and much more lively area closer to DT. It has made all the difference. That's why I'm hoping Brizzle will move before he gives up on Van.

And I agree about the not moaning thing, though that's hard when you're depressed.

Know it well. That was were Clifford Olson lived (close to Austin). In fact he grabbed one of his victims at Lougheed Mall.

Sad part about Vancouver is that it seems there are more bad areas to live than good. I mean bad in the boring, uninspiring sense, rather than unsafe. There's nothing particularly wrong with them and some of the newer developments have very nice homes, but not my cup of tea at all.

For me it's a short list of possibles:

All of the west side of Van and a few bits on the east side.

West and North Van

The Heights and Capitol Hill, in North Burnaby

White Rock / crescent beach (beach living)

I think that's about it....

One thing I agree on with Brizzle is how the over priced re has really spoiled the place for a lot of people, myself included. Its only about 10 years ago, my ex and I almost bought a massive, beautiful home in kits for 400,000... i shudder to think how much it would be now, I'm thinking 1.2 million at least. Ah well, at least I have my health

What is you think that defines these areas over others?

no re regret allowed

hmm.

I don't know north van/west van well at all, but they're both older burbs.

northeast van has a lot of appeal for me (hastings/sunrise, commercial, fraser etc). Older neighbourhoods built at the time of the streetcar rather than the automobile. older houses/wider variety. tend to be more walkable to shops, schools.

Same with the heights/cap hill - built up during the late 1800's early 1900's when it was really a part of Vancouver and on the tramline. Character craftsman homes, walkable, parks etc. Settled first by the english, then italians/croatians, (still very italian) now an influx of all kinds.

Same for kits/west side. They're old enough that they've seen different waves of immigration to make them interesting (all the greek touches in kits) and to be have built on a pattern of walkability rather than Must Have Car.


So I guess my argument would be the older the city/burb, the more appealing/lively it is. Which explains why southeast (and south) van are so generic by comparion, as they were built much later, even though south van is not a 'suburb' per se.

Coquitlam, burquitlam, delta - these were the 'burbs when it was trendy to escape the city in the 60's and 70's and have your young family. (OH's parents and most of his friends did this - left KErrisdale, Capitol Hill, east van.) You had your car, there wasn't the traffic there is now, it was the dream back then, bizarre as it seems now. You drove to your Safeway and everything was modern but it was built around the car, which inevitably made it less lively but allegedly 'safer' because real life was so far away.

Anyway. Totally rambling now and just made that up, but that's why in my opinion. I don't think it's a coincidence that the areas where they've tried to replicate the ideas of the early 1900's have become sought after in the burbs - like Newport Village in Port Moody.

Ever seen the 99 through Delta in the morning? the traffic. yikes.

Oh, and another thing...they're all coastal with great views/sea breezes. :-) Another reason South Burnaby/South Van etc. aren't as sought after.

I really like White rock too, have no idea about it's history....but from being there, again, villagey, walkable, lively, BEACH, not featureless urban development sprawl punctuated with huge big box stores and bisected by highways. That's gotta help.

Good points...

1. I think we scared Brizzle away from his own thread

2. I could have summed my post up in "older, coastal".

har.

No, I just go AWOL for a few days sometimes. Thanks for some interesting posts. I do read the Straight/Tyee and agree that they are about the best on offer.

Agree with the suburbia thing. Trouble is that 'older/coastal' tend to be prohibitively expensive. Not so much if you're a single professional and renting, but a family who wants to buy are restricted by cost. Living in the 'Co' probably isn't helping much but the IL's are here (maybe that is a good reason to move!!). We did live in E.Van a while back and whilst the area around Commercial seems to have improved a little, back then there were too many unsavory types around and we got broken into as well.

I just think that if the wages/job opportunities were better and the cost of living wasn't was astronomical (think back 7-10yrs), I'd be a lot easier on the place. Because of the expense of living here, I find most the time that I can't justify staying here when I compare what I like and what I don't like.

Cheers.

There has been a border crossing here since the 49th parallel was adopted as the border out west in 1846. You can still trace the original road, now called the Semiahmoo Trail, through back streets and footpaths. The site of the original customs house is now a gas station.

There have been farms in the area since pioneering times and one is preserved on the banks of the Nicomekl River.

White Rock started to develop when the railway came in 1908. A new station and customs post was established on what is not the beach front. As there was now a direct rail link with Vancouver and New West people started to buy up land and build summer cottages. Very few of these cottages remain, and the one that do have been updated, but the tiny lots they were on are still there and cause nightmares for the city.

There were two mills in the teens and twenties but these closed in the depression. However, there was an influx from the prairies in the 30's as people tried to escape the dust bowl that was the central plain. Those that could afford it went to Vancouver. Many that couldn't afford Vancouver prices came to White Rock.

White Rock was then a distant and neglected part of Surrey so didn't benefit from the planning that went on in North Surrey. A combination of cottage lots, poor immigrants with no cars, and planning neglect led to the higgledy piggledy development of the hillside that gives the place much of its charm today

Just about sums it up really. Having been wiped out financially in a divorce, i no longer reap any of the benefits of having moved here 17 years ago. It is a very different place now. I had more buying power in my late twenties, earning far less than I do now.

If there's one thing that were to cause me to leave it would be the cost of living, or more precisely, the re costs, which are, as you rightly note, prohibitive. Crap tv etc, is just not on my radar and while i miss the pub sometimes, I don't miss how it tended to be the centre of the universe in the UK, and i don't drink much (have found some decent pubs in north van though - lots of brits over here)I am fortunate in that I make a good living and can make do with a smaller place, having no kids, so I'm able to choose between a bigger place further out or smaller closer in... i chose the latter.

Here ya go mr brizzle, you should get a chuckle out of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH3IIzpwEhk

My what a brave post - how to ruffle a few turkey feather's eh? Anyway, just wanted to say BOB ON! My husband (Canadian) and I totally agree with you. He said he was the unhappest he has ever been in Vancouver. He spent two years in London and then had to go back 'home' and was beyond lonely. He remembers lots of miserable Kraft dinners and other people driving flash arse cars. He never felt like that in in London...although he did live with 5 trainee nurses!

Cheers, 'tis pretty funny

Thanks, what's life without a bit of debate and controversy !!

You forgot Steveston Steveston was founded even before Vancouver existed. It has its own history and character, distinctly apart from Vancouver's or the rest of the Lower Mainland's. It's also mostly walkable with plenty of parks and waterfront. Of course, it's been within the past 8 years or so that gentrification has finally caught up, and now Steveston's full of...

... well, we won't go there.

Ah yes, I had an ex gf from there and appear to have blocked it out.

It sounds like you need to get out of Vancouver! Doesnt take long to leave a lot of the Vancouver issues behind.
I lived in Victoria BC for a year last year and would I rather live there over London, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Hull, Nottingham, Birmingham,...... Of course. I agree with some points mentioned but. In the UK right now there is massive unemployment, High Immigration and costs/taxes are high. Oh and gas for cars right now in the UK you can pay over 2 dollars. You want to buy Levis in the UK ok sir £80 Please ($130)
A bus from my house in the Uk to town return is Over £5 In Victoria I could go a long way on $2.20 and ride back on a transfer.

I agree there is little history compared to London. Problems with people on the street. Why not walk through Brixton, Hackney, Lambeth, Fulham at night and see the difference. Oh and grimy dirty pavements graffiti everywhere.
I could go on. The negatives on living on the westcoast of BC are not in my opinion outweighed by the positive.