I went to a meeting in Gastown today. I love being in busy parts of the city during the day. It makes me happy. Also, all the stimulation makes my brain spin faster, which overall leads to more and better ideas. So, yay.
As I walked around I noticed things I love.
I love the alleyways of downtown Vancouver. Other cities (*cough* New York) don’t have alleyways in their downtown areas, and so the sidewalks are cluttered with garbage bags pretty much all the time. In Vancouver, with a few exceptions, we keep our trash, recycling, and loading docks in alleys that bisect city blocks. Of course, the alleys have sort of a whole subculture of their own. They aren’t unpopulated. They aren’t clean. They’re the very visible, very accessible, very central grimy underbelly of the city. I like that the grittiness of our city is right there, if you choose to look to the side as you walk the streets.
I love the Dominion Building. It’s orange, for god’s sake. It was the tallest building in Canada from 1910-1912.
I love the sections of town where old buildings are smooshed between newer buildings. Both of these buildings are old; I took the photo with my iPhone from the bus and couldn’t get a wider angle. But still. Such funny juxtapositions. They make me happy.
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