Kitsilano
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kitsilano (pronounced /kɪtsɪˈlæno/) is a neighbourhood on the west side of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Known colloquially as "Kits", this popular neighborhood is home to many young families and students as well as yoga studios, organic markets, cafes and Vancouver's Greektown. The primary type of residence is multi-unit housing. In recent years, this sought-after area has developed some of the highest housing prices, as well as the some of the highest accommodation rental rates, yet lowest availability in Vancouver.
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[edit] Location
Kitsilano is bordered to the north by two beaches, Kitsilano Beach and Jericho Beach on the shores of English Bay and extends south to 16th Avenue. It is bordered on the east by Burrard Street and on the west by Alma Street.
In addition to its residential areas and beaches, Kitsilano is home to two distinct commercial strips with shops, restaurants and other services. The first is along West 4th Avenue between Burrard and Balsam Streets, while the other, sometimes known as West Kitsilano, is located along West Broadway between Macdonald and Alma Streets.
As of 2006, Kitsilano is situated mostly within the Canadian federal electoral district of Vancouver Quadra (the easternmost part of Kitsilano lies within the electoral district of Vancouver Centre). Provincially, Kitsilano lies within the B.C. electoral districts of Vancouver-Point Grey and Vancouver-Fairview.
[edit] History
The name 'Kitsilano' is derived from 'Xats'alanexw', the name of a Sḵwxwú7mesh chief.[1] The area has been home to the Sḵwxwú7mesh (usually known in English as the Squamish) for thousands of years. There is still a small amount of Indian reserve land at the foot of the Burrard Street Bridge, called senakw (usually spelled Snauq historically) in the Sḵwxwú7mesh language, where Xats'alanexw, also known as August Jack Khatsahlano, lived.
The city's streetcar lines used to have a "loop" at Arbutus & Cornwall, which made "Greer's Beach", as the area first became known after the holdout settler who lived there, easy to get to from the new city, then still mostly contained on the downtown peninsula. With the opening of the Lulu Island Railway interurban line from Granville & Pacific to Richmond via Seventh Avenue and Arbutus Street to Kerrisdale in the 1890s, more of Kits was put within easy range of downtown and housing and commercial areas carved out of the forests and swamp. The lowland area beyond MacDonald, from 4th Avenue to King Edward, was known as Malaria Flats because of its swampy air. Like most of Vancouver, it had only a few decades before been covered in dense West Coast forest.
The area was an inexpensive neighbourhood to live in the 1960s and attracted many from the counterculture from across Canada and the United States and was known as one of the two hotbeds of the hippie culture in the city, the other being Gastown. However, the area became gentrified by 'yuppies' in subsequent decades. Close proximity to downtown Vancouver, walking distance to parks, beaches and popular Granville Island has made the neighborhood a very desirable community to live. One of the main concert venues in the city in the days of the counterculture was the Hard Rock Cafe, near 4th and Maple, later rebuilt into a modern shopping complex containing a new Soft Rock Cafe, the location of which is now a gym, Kitsilano Workout.
One remaining artifact of the 1960s is the Naam Cafe at 4th and Macdonald, providing vegetarian, vegan, and natural foods. The area is also known for having the first of certain kinds of restaurants, such as the California-style Topanga Cafe. Three of the first neighbourhood pub licenses in Vancouver are still located on 4th Avenue - Bimini's at Maple (Currently closed due to fire, Oct. 01st 2007), Darby D. Dawes at MacDonald, and Jerry's Cove - the original name of Jericho - near Alma.
Greenpeace was founded in Kitsilano, with its first office opening there in 1975. The first offices of the Green Party of British Columbia were originally located in the home of longtime party leader Adriane Carr and her husband Paul George on Trafalgar Street, near 6th, in early 1983, before being moved by the summer of that year to offices near Broadway and Cypress, which also became the first offices of the Green Party of Canada.
[edit] Events
Kitsilano is home to a number of Vancouver's annual festivals and events:
- Each June, "Greek Days" is an annual street festival celebrating Greek culture and food in Greektown along several blocks of Broadway Street.
- The Vancouver Folk Music Festival is held at Jericho Beach Park each summer.
- Vanier Park at Kitsilano Beach is home to the annual Vancouver Children's Festival and "Bard on the Beach", the outdoor Shakespeare festival.
[edit] Famous Residents
Along with the Commercial Drive area on the East Side of Vancouver, Kitsilano is one of the main centers of artistic production in Vancouver (and Canada). Well known artists and writers who have lived in Kitsilano include the following:
- Robin Blaser, poet
- William Gibson, cyberpunk novelist
- Trevor Linden, Canadian hockey player
- Joshua Jackson, actor
- Jack Shadbolt, artist
- Jeff Wall, artist
- Jason Priestly, actor (Beverly Hills 90210)
- Spirit of the West, folk music group.
- Mark Vonnegut, the son of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., lived on Stephens Street during his sojourn in Kitsilano, as chronicled in his autobiorgraphical The Eden Express, about his sufferings from schizophrenia. The address 777 Stephens used in the book does not exist and is only fictional, as Stephens begins in the 1500 block.
- Philip K. Dick, science fiction writer, lived in a basement suite on 11th Avenue near Bayswater during his time in Vancouver.
The short story "Cortes Island" by Alice Munro, published in The New Yorker, takes place partly at the Kitsilano Branch of the Vancouver Public Library.
[edit] The Kitsilano Showboat
The Kitsilano Showboat has been operating since 1935.[2] The showboat is essentially an open-air amphitheatre with the ocean and mountains as a backdrop. All summer long, the showboat hosts free performances from local bands, dance groups, and other performers. Its main goal is to entertain residents and tourists, showcasing amateur talent. It is located on the south side of the Kitsilano pool along Cornwall Avenue. Weather permitting, shows typically start at 7:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays.
Beatrice Leinbach, or Captain Bea, has been playing an active role in maintaining the showboat since the mid 1940s. As of 2006, she is the president of the non-profit Kitsilano Showboat Society.
[edit] Macdonald Street Heritage Houses
Busy Macdonald Street and some quiet, leafy adjoining streets still have some beautiful 1910s-1920s craftsman houses that cannot be found anywhere else in Vancouver. According to Exploring Vancouver, an excellent architectural guide to the city, "Kitsilano developed as a less expensive suburban alternative to the West End. Endless rows of developer-built houses lined the grid of streets, their gabled roofs picturesque and not boring. Many (...) resemble West End houses of preceding years, but have the wider proportions, broad verandahs, and wood brackets popularized by the newer and trendier California bungalow."1
[edit] See also
- August Jack Khatsahlano
- Kitsilano Beach
- Vanier Park
- Senakw
- H. R. MacMillan Space Centre
- Vancouver Maritime Museum
- List of beaches
- List of Vancouver neighbourhoods
[edit] External links
- Kitsilano Chamber of Commerce
- Kitsilano Community Profile
- 4th Avenue Business Association
- Kitsilano.ca
- MacFourth.com
[edit] References
- ^ Origins of Kitsilano
- ^ Vancouver Courier article on the Kitsilano Showboat
1 Exploring Vancouver by Harold Kalman, Ron Phillips and Robin Ward, UBC Press 1993
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