Gastown, the Steam Clock & Vancouver's Historic Neighbourhood
Gastown (the historic neighbourhood in the northeast corner of downtown Vancouver — the oldest surviving neighbourhood in Vancouver and the site of the original settlement of 'Gastown' (the informal settlement that grew up around the saloon of John 'Gassy Jack' Deighton in 1867)) is the hub of Vancouver's craft beer scene, artisan boutiques, and cobblestone dining, and home to the Gastown Steam Clock — the most photographed object in Vancouver.
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Gastown Steam Clock & Water Street
The Gastown Steam Clock (the steam-powered clock at the corner of Water Street and Cambie Street — built 1977 by Raymond Saunders, powered by the city's underground steam heating network, the clock that plays the Westminster Chimes melody in steam whistles every quarter hour — the most photographed object in Vancouver): the Gastown history (the neighbourhood established by 'Gassy Jack' Deighton in 1867, the first settler outside the military reserves of Fort Langley in the Lower Mainland, the man who built a saloon at the site of a sawmill on Burrard Inlet — the saloon that became the nucleus of the first settlement of what would become Vancouver): the Water Street character (the cobblestone street lined with 1880s-1900s converted brick warehouse buildings housing boutiques, galleries, and restaurants, with the characteristic wet cobblestones reflecting the streetlights on the rainy evenings of the Vancouver autumn and winter).
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Gastown Craft Beer Scene
Vancouver's craft beer revolution (the city that has emerged since 2010 as one of the premier craft beer cities in North America, with over 50 craft breweries in Greater Vancouver): the Gastown breweries (the concentration of craft breweries in the Gastown and adjacent Railtown and East Vancouver neighbourhoods — including Steamworks Brewing (375 Water Street — the brew pub in the heart of Gastown, in the converted warehouse building on the Burrard Inlet waterfront, the brewery whose underground tanks are visible through the glass floor of the pub): the 'Yeast Van' craft beer scene (the concentration of craft breweries in East Vancouver (the 'Yeast Van' — the pun on 'East Van' that is the nickname for the East Vancouver craft beer district), including Strange Fellows Brewing, Parallel 49 Brewing, and Postmark Brewing).
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Vancouver's Robson Street & Downtown Shopping
Robson Street (the primary shopping street of downtown Vancouver — the 6-block stretch from Burrard Street to Jervis Street lined with international fashion brands (Zara, H&M, Lululemon (the Vancouver-born athletic apparel brand founded in 1998 by Chip Wilson, the brand that pioneered the global 'athleisure' clothing market and whose flagship store on Robson Street is one of the most visited retail destinations in Vancouver)), Japanese fashion retailers, Korean cosmetics shops, and the bubble tea cafés and restaurants that serve the tourist-heavy downtown hotel district): the Pacific Centre Mall (700 W Georgia Street — the enclosed shopping mall beneath the downtown core, connecting Holt Renfrew (the Canadian luxury department store), Nordstrom, and H&M in the underground concourse that links the Pacific Centre to the Sears-anchored mall on the other side of Granville Street and the Vancouver City Centre SkyTrain station).
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Vancouver SkyTrain & Urban Transit
Vancouver's SkyTrain system (the automated rapid transit system that connects Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Surrey, Richmond, and other municipalities in the Metro Vancouver region — the most automated urban rail transit system in the world (no drivers, fully automated since opening in 1985)): the three SkyTrain lines (the Expo Line (the original 1985 line, running from Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver east through Burnaby, New Westminster, and Surrey to King George Station — the line built for Expo 86, the 1986 World's Fair that put Vancouver on the international map), the Millennium Line (the 2002 addition, branching from the Expo Line at Commercial-Broadway Station to serve East Vancouver and Burnaby), and the Canada Line (the 2009 addition, running from Waterfront Station south through Yaletown and Olympic Village to Richmond and the Vancouver International Airport)): the Canada Line (the most used of the three SkyTrain lines, connecting downtown Vancouver to the Vancouver International Airport (YVR — the airport on Sea Island in Richmond, consistently rated the best airport in North America by Skytrax) in approximately 25 minutes from Waterfront Station — the airport link that is the model for urban airport connections worldwide).
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Vancouver Film & TV Industry
Vancouver as 'Hollywood North' (the nickname for Vancouver and British Columbia as the third-largest film and television production centre in North America (after Los Angeles and New York) — the industry that generates approximately $3.5 billion CAD per year in production spending in BC): the reasons for Vancouver's film industry success (the combination of the weak Canadian dollar relative to the USD (making Canadian production costs significantly lower than US costs), the exceptional BC film tax credits (some of the most generous film production tax credits in North America), the variety of filming locations available within a small geographic area (the urban downtown skyline, the industrial waterfront, the old-growth forest of North Vancouver, the alpine landscapes of the North Shore Mountains, the suburban neighbourhoods of Burnaby and Surrey, and the small-town main streets of the Fraser Valley — all within 1 hour of downtown Vancouver), and the mature film industry infrastructure (the over 30 film studios in Metro Vancouver, including Bridge Studios (Burnaby), Mammoth Studios (Burnaby), and the major soundstage complexes of the Vancouver Film Studios (1400 Berry Street, Vancouver)): the major productions filmed in Vancouver (the X-Files (1993-2002), Smallville (2001-2011), Once Upon a Time (2011-2018), Supernatural (2005-2020), The Flash (2014-2023), and the many Marvel Cinematic Universe films (including Deadpool, Deadpool 2, and The Incredible Hulk) that have used BC locations).
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Lynn Canyon & North Shore Outdoor Adventure
Lynn Canyon Park (3663 Park Road, North Vancouver — the municipal park in the District of North Vancouver, 20 minutes by car from downtown Vancouver): the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge (the free suspension bridge across the Lynn Canyon — the 50-metre (164-foot) long suspension bridge over the Lynn Creek gorge, at a height of approximately 50 metres (164 feet) above the canyon floor — the free alternative to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, set in the old-growth Douglas fir and western red cedar forest of the Lynn Canyon Park): the Lynn Canyon swimming holes (the series of swimming holes and waterfalls along the Lynn Creek in the canyon — the 30-Foot Pool, the Twin Falls — the most popular summer swimming destinations in North Vancouver, the swimming holes accessible by the 1-kilometre trail from the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre): the North Shore outdoor culture (the 'North Shore' — the municipalities of the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and the District of West Vancouver, the three municipalities immediately north of the First Narrows that together constitute the outdoor recreation heartland of Metro Vancouver — the municipalities where the highest proportion of outdoor athletes (mountain bikers, trail runners, ski mountaineers, and climbers) of any municipalities in Canada live).