Vancouver, British Columbia - October 1999
By
Travis Koch
Last month I predicted that September would begin to suck, weatherize. Fortunately, I was totally wrong. It was a bit nippy, but the sun shone most of the time so I'm not complaining.
October to November puts Vancouver in limbo for a while. The rains begin, but it's still too early to head up to Whistler to ski. We'll manage, after all there's a long weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving, October 11th) and Halloween on the 31st!
Events in October
To be totally honest, October is gonna be a really slow month, but here's what I've managed to come up with. The Vancouver Film Festival will be fun, It's on 'til October 10th.
If you're into books, there's a writer's (reader's) festival from October 20th to 24th on Granville Island. There's the Chemical Brother's October 6th and Lenny Kravitz is in town on October 16th.
** Ticketmaster's got a little schedule of events here, and there's always the Georgia Straight for the latest info.
The Outdoors
Beginning now, cool nights will probably mean snow at higher elevations. Don't let that stop you from heading into the mountains, but do prepare for it.
Good Book Stores
Sometimes you need a good book for the flight home, or because it's October and the weather sucks. Here's some specialty book stores in the lower mainland. Search the online yellow pages for specifics.
Wanderlust is one that specializes in books and maps for travelers. Not only can you pick up books on far away places, you can talk to people there about where you want to go, there's a good chance they just got back (1929 West Fourth Ave. Email: wanderlust@uniserve.com).
Granville Book Co. This is located right on Granville Mall, my personal favorite for selection.
Chapter's is a large chain, with locations all over the place. They're all HUGE, and have a Starbucks inside, and let you sit around reading the magazines and drink coffee on big, overstuffed chairs.
Along West 10th Ave in Vancouver, there is a cluster of three specialty book shops. White Dwarf Books at 4368, for sci fi, Dead Write at 4374 for mystery, and Michael Thomson Bookseller at 4376 is an antique book dealer.
A Skytrain ride away, in New Westminster there's Booktown. (668 Columbia Street, New Westminster). It's the largest used book store in the lower mainland.
People Watching Opportunities
Still the best place for this, and other things, is Granville Mall, most of the downtown bit of Granville Street. A friend once described Granville mall after midnight as 'ground zero for weirdness', you don't have to wait 'til midnight some days. You will get pan-handled a lot here, but it's quite safe.
The intersection of Robson and Thurlow has two Starbucks and a Blenz coffee shop. That alone makes it worth a look, but you can have a seat outside or near a window and watch all the tourists trying to figure out which way Stanley Park is.
Between Georgia Street and Robson Street at Hornby or Howe is the Vancouver Art Gallery. Grab lunch and have a seat on the steps on either side of the building. (Assuming there isn't a movie shoot blocking access to one or the other.)
Arts/Music Scene
The live music scene in Vancouver oscillates between awesome and really crappie, but there's usually something going on. The place to look is The Georgia Straight. This comes out every Thursday and lists all the theater, concerts, movies and whatever else is happening in Vancouver in the coming week.
Questions?
If you want more information about this area you can email the author or check out our North America Insiders page.
