I am that rare unicorn known as a Vancouver native.
After spending quite some time living and teaching abroad, with many things that could have kept me from returning, I have accepted that my hometown is where I am supposed to stay. I keep coming back, and I'm now going to set up camp permanently.
Several things keep me here, and they are all unique elements of Vancouver that I miss desperately when I'm away from home. To many, this place is no more than a very beautiful, punishingly0expensive city on the Eest Coast, but there are little idiosyncrasies to living here that keep me in place.
Access to incredible, locally-grown fruits and vegetables.
Local heirloom tomatoes.
Countless cities and countries are known for their regional cuisine, and while Vancouver may not be famous for its poutine or its deep-dish pizza, we are unequivocally celebrated for our wonderful, homegrown produce.
The summertime will overwhelm anyone here who steps into a supermarket or produce store, with their colourful, fragrant, abundant displays of seasonal fruit and vegetables. While more exclusive to British Columbia as a whole than Vancouver specifically, access to our provincial bounty finds its way to the city with labels proudly declaring them "Locally Grown." BC Hothouses are also well-known for supplying shops here with beautiful cucumbers, various types of tomatoes, and colourful bell peppers. Every item just looks (and tastes) so fantastic, that you want to buy ten of everything in hopes you'll be able to make miracles with them before they wither away in your refrigerator crisper.
You can also visit Farmer's Markets throughout the city from spring to autumn, where you can browse the stalls that are run by outwardly proud food purveyors and crop-growers, knowing that whether you pick up a few exquisite zucchini or a bunch of vibrant beets, they had been yanked from the ground in the very early hours of that same day.
If you can't make it to Japan, you'll get the second-best sushi here.
We Vancouverites are wild about sushi, and it's no surprise why: we have the best sushi outside of Japan.
Our coastal waters provide some incredible sources of seafood, and the quality of the sushi is therefore almost addictive. Halibut, salmon, even tuna are now caught off the waters of Vancouver Island, and almost nothing beats a beautiful prawn nigiri.
In my own neighbourhood, I literally have four sushi restaurants within a block and a half of my apartment: all of them are great, all of them have regular customers, and none of them get tiresome. Besides, with McDonald's prices having risen 100% in the last ten years, wouldn't you rather spend ten or fifteen bucks on some high-quality Japanese fare instead? You also don't have to eat raw fish if you don't want to; there are plenty of cooked and/or vegetarian items on the menus here.
We have four distinct, beautiful seasons.
Nadya Bondoreff, snow woman.
While there is no question that our summers — like virtually everywhere else — have become much more intense in recent years, Vancouver still has four very clear-cut, enjoyable seasons.
As someone who once lived for a year and a half in perpetually-hot Central America, I can state that, as a Vancouverite, you actually do end up missing our legendary downpours. The spring is luscious and warm, the summers are scorching, the fall is crisp and cool, and our winters have now officially included snow for a few years now. Of course, this doesn't mean Vancouver is equipped to deal with even a single snowflake, making for somewhat-amusing citywide mayhem, but it's really nice to experience four distinct seasons as they are meant to be, and all of them are enjoyable in their own way.
We have some of the best beaches in the country.
Sunset Beach, Vancouver.
It seems fairly obvious since Vancouver is situated right by the ocean, but we do have spectacular beaches that rival some of the country's best.
If you're situated downtown, you are just a few minutes' walk from either Sunset Beach, or the more well-known English Bay, which is just around the corner (personally, I prefer Sunset, as it is far less crowded no matter what time of day it is). If you feel like getting out of the downtown area, you can head over to the west side to hit up the very busy Kitsilano Beach, or even head to the most western tip of UBC to the stunning, clothing-optional Wreck Beach. I will honestly say that almost everybody there opts out of clothes.
No matter which beach you choose, you will find excellent company and a respite from the relentless summer warmth.
Commercial Drive is one of the best neighbourhoods in the city.
If you venture out of the downtown area either by bus or Skytrain, you'll get to Commercial Drive — locally just known as The Drive — within about ten minutes. A long, colourful stretch of fun that runs from roughly Hastings to Broadway, you can spend an entire day walking around here and never get bored. Ever.
This area has roots in its rich Italian heritage (Vancouver's Little Italy, essentially) and there is evidence of this with the myriad Italian cafes, grocery stores, bakeries, and restaurants. In fact, every year there is a massive Italian Day celebration on The Drive, its streets utterly packed with families, locals, visitors, food stalls, bands, and ongoing merriment.
However, The Drive also is home to independent bookstores, vegetarian cafes, upscale eateries, terrific produce markets, and a diversity of characters that make this one of the most exciting, community-centric places in Vancouver.
Public transit here is extremely effective.
Locals here like to complain quite a bit about Translink (that's our transportation company), but we just like to complain about a whole lot, in general. It's a local hobby. As a transit user myself, I can confidently state that if you need to use it and you're in the Metro Vancouver area, it's actually a terrific way to get around.
We have an ongoing fleet of buses that can take you nearly anywhere you want to go, even in the night hours. Skytrain is a smooth, efficient light-rail mode of transportation that zips you to most major destination points, they arrive roughly every four minutes or so to the platform, and their lines are continually expanding.
The Seabus is a glorious, scenic little 13-minute ferry ride to and from the North Shore that never gets old. Having lived in various parts of the world and used their public transit systems (sometimes to great exasperation), I appreciate Translink and how very decently it's run.
Now, if you need to go to one of the more outlying areas of the Lower Mainland, such as Abbotsford or Cloverdale, you're going to most likely need a car. If you live in the city though, there's no reason you shouldn't be using public transit to get around. And it's pretty cheap!
