Author Archives: Akisha Chahal

Vancouver’s Beautiful Gaybourhood

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Davie Village, home of Vancouver’s first rainbow crosswalk. Around the world, Davie Village is known as a highly LGBTQ+-friendly area. Davie Street’s gay village began visibly thriving in the 1970s, but the neighbourhood’s history goes back decades. 

Vancouver: Davie Village 2019

Back in the 1940s, wealthy families moved out of the Davie Street area and into Shaughnessy and Kitsilano; the mansions they left behind in the Davie neighbourhood were turned into high-density housing. This new neighbourhood offered affordable living in a beautiful location, and the high-density housing provided anonymity. All of these factors attracted young gay men across Canada to Vancouver’s West End. 

At the time, LGBTQ+ folk lived in fear of being assaulted or murdered due to their self-expression. But living in a high-density neighbourhood allowed them to slip under the radar and create safe spaces for each other. 

The community began to flourish in the 70s and 80s after the decriminalization of private displays of homosexuality in 1969. As there was already a small gay community built in Davie Village, more and more LGBTQ+ individuals began flocking to the neighbourhood, wanting to live somewhere where they had a sense of community. And then grew the vibrant gay nightlife that still prospers today. It was also at this time that most of the iconic buildings and shops around Davie Village started to pop up, like Little Sister’s Bookstore. 

Davie Village was also the home of Vancouver’s first pride parade; parade-goers marched along one side of the street down from Alexandra Park to Beach Ave and Pacific Street, then Thurlow up to Nelson Park. Now, the Vancouver Pride Parade is one of the largest in Western Canada with roughly 150 entries yearly, and goes around the West End. 

Vancouver Pride Parade - Rainbow Ribbons

Today, Davie Village serves as the home base for many Vancouver LGBTQ+ organizations like Qmunity and the Vancouver Pride Society, plus so many queer-owned businesses.

Although LGBTQ+ folk have moved out of the neighbourhood and spread around the city, the vibrance of Davie Village (especially at night) has never worn away, and the neighbourhood will always be filled with queer history.

Elf on the Seawall

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Only ten days left till Vancouver’s annual Big Elf Run! The holiday-themed run is happening in Stanley Park on December 10th. 

The Elf Run takes you around Stanley Park, starting at Lumberman’s Arch. Walk or run through the beautiful trees in the park, and then end up alongside the gorgeous Vancouver Seawall, and loop back to the Arch.

Sign up for the 5k if you want to do the course once or the 10k or 15k if you want to run it twice or thrice. There’s also an option for a 1k walk earlier in the afternoon. And you can bring your dogs (on a leash) or a stroller if needed. 

You’ll be running alongside your friends, family, and hundreds of elves to get you in the Christmas spirit. All participants are encouraged to dress up to match the festivity.

Included in your registration fee are an elf name bib, an elf toque, a wooden ornament medal to commemorate the day, and a souvenir when you cross the finish line. The fastest elves win a Kintec gift voucher and a coaching voucher for Ready2Run. If running isn’t your forte, you could still win other prizes. The best costume (or elf-it) wins credit for Modo Car Share; there’s also a prize for the best pet costume and five door prizes you could win. 

Before you start the run, head to the elf-ie station for a festive photo and the chance to win a free entry to the Big Jungle Run in March. After you’ve crossed the finish line, it’s time to party, hang out, enjoy the DJ, or check out their vendor stands. 

For this year’s event, the Elf Run is teaming up with the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau and hosting a toy drive at the event, so consider bringing something to help out. 

Registration for the Elf Run is open until December 7th, but there are less than 100 spots left, so you better sign up fast if you’re interested! Pro tip: register with a group of at least four, and everyone gets 15% off their registration fee!

A Taste of an Alpine Christmas in Vancouver

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Vancouver’s favourite Christmas event is finally back! The beautiful Vancouver Christmas Market is the best way to immerse yourself in the holiday season. 

Rows and rows of cabin-looking stands and shops fill Jack Poole Plaza every November and December to deliver a lovely holiday shopping and eating experience for Vancouver.

The shopping vendors are great, but the main event of the market is all the delicious food options. You can choose from 30 different food vendors offering a variety of foods, including some German favourites. Grab a delicious bratwurst from Bratwurst Haus or a schnitzel from Das Schnitzel Haus. If you don’t feel like eating meat, stop by Das Kartoffelhaus for a kartoffelpuffer (a german potato pancake) or a crispy spiralled hurricane potato.

If you have a sweet tooth, check out I Love Chocolate for a glass of chocolate-covered fruit topped with whipped cream and powdered sugar. Or run over to Gingerbread Haus for freshly baked cookies that capture the Christmas spirit. 

My favourite was Soup Haus; their vegetable soup is like a warm and comforting hug in a bowl. Plus, they had samples of mushroom and wild rice soup. If none of those tickled your fancy, don’t fret; they have tons of more options. 

When you’re done indulging in mouthwatering treats, grab something to sip while you shop. The classic option is to go to the Christmas Pyramid and get a cup of hot-spiced mulled wine, which comes in an adorable collectable mug.

If you’re not in the mood for something boozy, you can find German apple spritzers, hot chocolate and coffee stands, and tons of places to get German ciders and beers. 

After you grab a drink, head towards the front of the market again to start shopping. The market has a total of over 90 vendors and quite a bit of diversity in the selection. You are sure to find something for almost everyone on your Christmas list. 

Stock up on socks, grab some new jewelry pieces or get some new candles. And, of course, since it’s the German Christmas Market, they have tons of European souvenirs and gifts. You can get a beer stein, or German Christmas ornaments. Out of all the shopping vendors, I loved HUSS Incense the most. They sell incense burners that look like little ovens and incense cones in a bunch of different scents. 

Before you leave, make sure you hop on the carousel for a fun (and free) little ride looking around the Christmas wonderland. 

The Vancouver Christmas Market is open from now till Christmas Eve, so grab a friend and head down sometime during winter break.

Vancouver’s Bustling Drag Scene

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Davie village is known as the home of Vancouver’s LGBTQ+ community, filled with gay-friendly bars and clubs. The most iconic probably being The Junction, also known as the home of The Bratpack. 

If you know anything about Canadian, or more specifically Vancouver’s, drag culture then you’ve heard of The Bratpack. The Bratpack is a drag trio consisting of Canada’s Drage Race season 2 contestants Kendall Gender, Gia Metric, and Synthia Kiss. But these queens have been working together long before Canada’s Drag Race was even a thing. 

The Bratpack started as a weekly, scripted, reality-like show, with five lively queens performing together: Jane Smokr, Valynne Vile, Shanda Leer, ThanksJem, Gia Metic & Kendall Gender. These queens put on a drama-filled show nearly every week, for years. Over the years, some queens left the group and new queens joined but The Bratpack always delivered an entertaining night, no matter what. 

Although The Bratpack is arguably the most well known drag group in Vancouver, they most certainly were not the first. 

The Orpheum Theatre was the first stage in Vancouver for drag queens, all the way back in 20s and 30s. The first famous drag queen to grace the stage was Julian Eltinge, but back then drag was known as cross-dressing, and it wasn’t yet synonymous with the LGBTQ community. 

As the years went on, cross-dressing became seen more and more as characteristics of being gay, which was not decriminalized in Canada until 1969. Cross-dressing became taboo in society as people feared persecution. However, it did not just go away. Instead, an underground version of cross-dressing began rising in the LGBTQ community, known as drag. Performers were no longer allowed to grace the stages of larger venues and so they began performing secret shows at gay bars. 

Through protests and time, homosexuality and drag were decriminalized and accepted by Canadian society. Now, everyone and their mothers watch RuPaul’s Drag Race and root for their favourite queens. And Vancouver is home to some of Canada’s biggest drag queens, who still keep the community thriving. 

Chef Tojo: The Man Who Changed Vancouver’s Culinary Scene

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Vancouver is a city full of food options; no matter what you’re craving, we got it! But, if there’s one cuisine Vancouver is known for, it’s sushi. The Metro Vancouver area has over 600 sushi restaurants, with the most famous probably being Tojo’s. 

Japanese chef Hidekazu Tojo’s culinary career started in 1968 as an apprentice at a ryotei restaurant in Osaka, and just a few years later, he became a sushi chef. However, Tojo felt that the strict traditions of Japanese culture restricted his full culinary potential. 

In the early 1970s, Chef Tojo moved out to Vancouver and began working as a chef at a restaurant called Maneki, opened by the same man who owns the Vancouver Japanese grocery chain Fujiya. At the time, Vancouver only had four Japanese restaurants. 

Chef Tojo says that when he first moved to Vancouver, Westerners weren’t too fond of traditional sushi with raw fish and seaweed paper. To win over their hearts, Tojo created less-traditional rolls. He hid the seaweed paper under the rice instead of wrapped around the roll and used ingredients like avocado. This led to the creation of the immensely popular California Roll. 

California rolls aren’t the full extent of Chef Tojo’s creations; Tojo is also the man behind the BC Roll, the Rainbow Roll, and the Spider Roll, along with countless other dishes and culinary techniques. 

In the late 1980s, Chef Tojo opened his famous restaurant: Tojo’s. Tojo’s serves Japanese-inspired cuisine with a Pacific North-West twist. 

The menu at Tojo’s is delicious, with something for everyone. But if you want to experience Tojo’s the way Chef Tojo implied, order omakase. Translated from Japanese, it means “I leave it up to you.” Chef Tojo will pick the menu for you based on the best local ingredients in season. 

Chef Tojo has won many awards and honours, even being named one of the top 10 sushi chefs in the world by The Wallstreet Journal. In 2016, Chef Tojo was honoured by the Japanese government as one of thirteen Goodwill Ambassadors for Japanese Cuisine, an extremely prestigious title.  

You can still find Chef Tojo creating culinary masterpieces at his restaurant over 30 years after it opened. He’s even working on a vegan menu to keep up with Vancouver’s growing vegan culture. And he has no plans for retirement anytime soon.

The unique, fascinating sport of goalball

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Imagine being blindfolded and having to catch a ball, relying only on the sound of a bell in the ball to guess where it is. 

Goalball is a sport for blind or partially blind athletes. Players, in teams of 3, try to score goals with a basketball that has a bell inside of it. The bell helps them detect where the ball is. Players throw or roll the ball into a wide net. A goalball match is split into two 12-minute halves with a three-minute half-time. Players wear blackout eye masks so everyone sees the same amount of nothing. 

Goalball

                                            kevandotorg / Flickr

Goalball was created over 75 years ago by two European occupational therapists to rehabilitate visually impaired veterans after World War II. 

In the 1950s and 60s, the game evolved from support for rehabilitation to a competitive game and grew to international success. 

Goalball became a Paralympic sport in the 1976 Toronto Summer Games. It was the first Paralympic sport that was designed just for disabled people. 

The first Goalball World Championship game was held in 1978 in Austria, the home country of one of the creators. 

Today, 81 nations compete in the World Goalball Association. 

During a goalball competition, spectators must stay completely silent so players can hear the ball. They can’t clap, cheer, or talk and must turn their phones off. The crowd is reminded to stay silent throughout the game. 

There are three positions: centre, right-wing, and left-wing. Usually, players have a position they prefer but they can change it up anytime during the match. Players don’t have to announce when they’re switching positions so many use this to trick their opponents. 

IMG_4640

                                              fearless_fred / Flickr

Canadians are pretty good at goalball. The Canadian Women’s Paralympic team won back-to-back gold medals in 2000 and 2004 plus a silver in 1984 (the first year there was a women’s Paralympic tournament). The Men’s team won a silver medal in 1996. 

Canada also regularly competes at the World Goalball Championship, represented by a men’s team and a women’s team. The Canadian women’s team won bronze in 1984, the first year there was a women’s tournament and silver in 2002. 

The 2022 World Goalball Championship is set to commence on June 5th in Hangzhou, China. 

50 years of Burnaby Village Museum

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Stroll through 1920s Burnaby this summer at Burnaby Village Museum. 

The museum is opening for the 2022 season on Saturday, May 7th, and will stay open until September 5th, Tuesday to Sunday The best part: admission to the museum is free! 

This year, the museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary with new exhibits, entertainment, and activities. 

So many fun things to do at the Burnaby Village Museum, starting with a scavenger hunt. Pick up a free clue sheet when you enter and complete a fun-filled hunt for a chance to win a giveaway!

Burnaby Village Museum

worldofjan / Flickr

The museum is home to recreated and restored buildings and artifacts. You can walk through a 1920s church, past a 20th-century train and station, or watch a silent movie in the movie theatre.

The museum even features a home from the 1920s in its original location, a relocated school that served 20 students, and a replica of Burnaby’s Royal Bank. 

Burnaby Village Museum is also home to BC’s oldest surviving steam locomotive which was used to build part of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s

After walking through the village, head to the Ice Cream Parlour Cafe for lunch, coffee, or dessert, whatever your heart desires. Or, pack a picnic to enjoy outside.

But before you leave, take a ride on the over 100-year-old, restored carousel. Each horse on the carousel was hand-carved and painted in 1912 and you can ride on one of the beautiful horses for less than $3. 

Burnaby Village Museum

tjflex / Flickr

You can also pick up an adventure guide for $6 and complete activities, crafts, and puzzles. The guide also comes with a carousel ride and activities to do after your visit. 

For less than $20, you can get the Village Adventure Pack which includes an adventure guide, two carousel rides, a large ice cream cone, plus a canvas bag with a magnet and a reusable water bottle to take home. 

Visitors can also design their own keepsake memory book of their trip to the museum at the end. 

Last chance to enjoy the beautiful tulip festival

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This weekend is your last chance to stop by Vancouver’s largest and favourite tulip festival. 

The 2022 Chilliwack Tulip Festival is set to close for the season after this weekend; your last day to pop in is Sunday, May 1st. 

The Tulip Festival is the perfect goodbye to winter and hello to spring and summer weather. The acres of vibrant colours and the smell of flowers will put you in a magical, spring-tide trance. 

Walkthrough 26 acres of flowers and see tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils. The festival features 10 varieties of hyacinths and 16 varieties of peony-like daffodils and the star of the show: over 8.5 million tulips in more than 30 different varieties. 

The Tulip Festival replicates a Dutch countryside within the Fraser Valley, even going to the extent of adding in windmills and old Dutch bikes to enhance the photo opportunities and transport you further into the Netherlands. 

If you’re an early bird, you can enter the festival as early as 6 am this weekend before the big crowds roll in. Take some adorable sun-rise photos and then head home for a nap before continuing the rest of your day. Early mornings not your thing? Don’t worry, they’re not mine either. The latest entry into the festival is 6 pm and you’re permitted onto the field until 7:30. 

Visitors are suggested to wear Vancouver-weather appropriate clothes: rainboots, jackets, layers, and maybe bring an umbrella. Looking at the weather this weekend, I do recommend dressing rain-appropriate. The field is outdoors so it does get kind of messy when it rains. The festival does have covered areas in case you want to get out of the rain. Pets are also welcomed at the festival, as long as they are on a leash. 

After walking through the field and admiring the beautiful flowers, stop by The Farm Shop and try some yummy Dutch foods like Dutch Stroop Waffles. Grab some tulip-themed souvenirs, or even fresh-cut or potted tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths. If you’re still hungry after visiting the shop, check out one of the three food trucks there this weekend: Shawarma Time, Dutchlicious, and Barking Irons Roastery. 

The Tulips of the Valley Festival started in 2006 on an Indigenous reserve in Agassiz and has now relocated to Chilliwack and expanded its land. 

During its first decade in Agassiz, the Tulip Festival worked with the Seabird Island Band to honour Indigenous culture. The Festival sold bannock and had Indigenous dancers, drummers, and artisans. The festival went from bringing in hundreds of local visitors to thousands of people from across Canada, some even come visit from across the world. 

If you didn’t get a chance to see the tulips this season and can’t make it out this weekend, be sure to clear one day this summer to see the Chilliwack Sunflower Festival.

Immersive space experience now open in Delta

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You can now blast off into the galaxy without ever leaving Delta. Inside Tswwassen Mills is a portal to outer spacespac. Brought to us by the same company behind the Da Vinci experience, Stargazer: An Immersive Experience will take you through a journey to uncover the mysteries of the universe. 

Stargazer is an immersive, multi-sensory experience that will help you discover the immensity and complexity of the universe. Learn about space and technology through virtual reality and immersive videos, hands-on elements and activities, and stunning graphics and models. 

The Stargazer experience was created by Fever and Sensea Immersive, in partnership with H.R Macmillan Space Centre in Vancouver. 

The selling point of Stargazer for me is the 270-degree wall and floor projected video that will transport you to deep space. You can also experience being in outer space with the Apollo 11 Quest virtual reality game. Strap on the VR goggles and pretend like you’re walking in space with astronauts. 

Walk through the experience and find scale replicas of rockets, space stations, and satellites along with a detailed timeline of the “space race” between the Soviet Union and the United States. 

Included in these replicas is a scale re-creation of the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module, the spacecraft that landed humans on the moon. 

An interactive, hands-on Space to Spoon exhibit is also part of the fun. Learn how space technology benefits both Canadian farmers and sustainable agriculture. 

Stargazer is an educational experience for kids and grown-ups alike, wrapped in fun and entertainment. It’s sure to deliver a lively and interesting adventure through the cosmos. 

Guests can download a free audio guide on their phones using a QR code but must bring headphones to listen to the guide. Don’t worry if you forget your headphones, there will be a limited quantity to purchase on-site. And if they run out of headphones, at least one store in the mall ought to have a pair for purchase. 

The experience all in all should take about an hour, is open to visitors of all ages, and is wheelchair friendly! Stargazer is open for all of summer 2022!

Diversity is the core value of Vancouver’s DOXA Film Festival

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Diversity is, implausibly, one of the most important values an organization should hold. 

Today, so many companies and organizations say they value diversity but how many truly do the work to instill diversity across the board? 

Vancouver’s annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival is one organization I believe does diversity the “right way”. Vancouver’s annual DOXA Film Festival features documentaries from around the world. 

DOXA believes it is crucial to highlight the adversities Black and Indigenous peoples face in our world today; systemic racism, police brutality, and the conditions of white supremacy that still govern our institutions and ways of being in the world. 

“As the impact of COVID continues to be felt, economic uncertainty and increased social isolation has, in many ways, forced people to pay attention to the system injustices around us in more detail. It’s also given us perspective on the importance of having systems in place to support the more vulnerable, distribute resources deliberately, and think collectively/beyond just ourselves.”    – DOXA Resources & Actions 

One of DOXA’s core principles is to engage with a diversity of curators, filmmakers, academics, and activists to illuminate the intersections of social, economic, and environmental injustice.

DOXA as well encourages all viewers (especially those in a place of racial or economic privilege) to interrogate themselves and learn to feel uncomfortable. 

This year, out of the nearly 80 documentaries being shown at the festival, almost a fifth are about the stories of Black and Indigenous people. Another 5 follow the theme of justice reform internationally. Each documentary varies in run-time, from short films to feature documentaries. 

DOXA Film Festival 2022 will be the world-premier of Beyond Extinction: Sinixt Resurgence, a feature-length documentary about the strenuous battle the Sinixt Nation has gone through to be recognized as living people after being declared extinct by the Canadian government. 

Also being shown at the festival is Dear Jackie, a cinematic letter addressed to the iconic baseball player, Jackie Robinson, who broke barriers for black communities across North America. The documentary is an ode to the people of Montreal’s historically black neighbourhood, Little Burgundy, and paints a picture of the racism and inequality in Quebec.

These films are just a couple of wonderful documentaries with themes of diversity you can watch at the DOXA Film Festival this year. 

If you aren’t able to view the documentaries in person, almost every film shown at the 2022 DOXA Film Festival will be available online during the festival.