What a fantastic Autumn day. It’s days like this when being in Vancouver really makes sense. After discovering Zulu Records I returned with the family for another visit a wander along part of 4th Avenue followed by a stroll along Kitsilano Beach at English Bay.
4th is a real old fashioned high street with a multitude of small shops, restaurant and cafe’s. It so refreshing to take places like this in, it really makes me realise how ‘clone town’ a lot of places in the South East of the UK have become.
We stopped for a drink at a coffee shop, Jitters, with Lesley and the lads tucking in to delicious milshakes and hot chocolate. The place seemed to typify the area, a buzzing independent business, thriving in an environment that encourages diversity rather than bland brands. Keep it up Kits.
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We headed towards the beach and came across this ’47 Chrysler ‘termite special’. I’m not sure how well used the car is now, but it was certainly a reminder of what used to grace the roads of the North American continent. Mind you, some serious wood filler was needed in places.
It was one of those wonderfully warm autumn days. A group of guys were playing beach volleyball, people out walking and cycling, someone was sat of a log playing guitar, others just relaxing reading. There’s something deeply relaxing about the sound of the ocean as waves lapped against the shore. I could stand watching driftwood bob up and down for ages.
2018 update – here are 3 grainy, 2007 phone videos that I’ve found. Old school!
Here’s what Frommers say about the Kits area.
Back in the 1960s, Kitsilano was Canada’s Hippie Central, a Haight-Ashbury-like enclave of head shops, communes, and coffeehouses. In the early 1970s, Vancouver’s super-square mayor, Tom Campbell, went so far as to propose rounding up all the tie-dyed long-hairs and shipping them off to a detention center. As the years passed, the hippies’ waistlines and wallets got thicker, run-down communes and boarding houses were renovated or replaced with new apartments and condos, and the shops came to reflect Kitsilano’s new affluence, though still with a touch of counterculture.
All in all, a pretty idyllic afternoon which really recharged the batteries.
