BOB was happy to be invited to the official lighting ceremony of the new Chinatown Neon sign which hangs off the city owned parkade at the corner of Keefer and Columbia. Present were the mayor, the three Chinese city councilors (George Chow, Kerry Jang, and Raymond Louie), numerous Chinatown business leaders (Jordan Eng, Albert Fok, etc.), and various friends of Chinatown. Also present was every media outlet in town, so many that all the mics had trouble all fitting on the podium.

Several BOB staffers attended and I snapped a few pictures which I uploaded to Flickr, they’ve already been ‘borrowed‘ and appear elsewhere online.

Coverage Elsewhere

• City of Vancouver info page
• Local historian John Atkin

Based in Vancouver B.C., Building Opportunities with Business (BOB) is a non-profit organization that is championing an inclusive revitalization process for the inner-city that values existing businesses and residents. BOB is a connector, a resource and a facilitator working to: strengthen the inner-city’s community capacity; identify and build on untapped business opportunities; improve employment opportunities and retention; and increase investment in Vancouver’s inner-city.

On the main floor of 163 East Pender in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown, we have a large room which is available for rent for meetings and events, it is also available as coworking space Monday to Friday from 9 until late. In addition to desks, chairs, tables, couches, we installed several lockable lighted display cabinets. This floor is retail grade, on Pender right across the street from Vancity. As a service to local residents and businesses, we are displaying wares, art, product, crafts, business cards, and marketing material free in these display cases. As you can see their are several empty shelves. Each shelf is over one cubic foot and can hold about 5kg of stuff.

We need your stuff to display. You can display whatever you want, for as long as you want, any sales or leads you may generate you are free to pursue to the fullness of your ability. BOB charges zero dollars for this and many other services. Space is available first come, first served, write coworking@bobics.org or contact a staff member.

One of many events Building Opportunities with Business has been asked to promote is the upcoming Paul Wong exhibit at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden on March 13th from 5-10pm. The cost is $10 dollars at the door or in advance.

What is Five Elements?

The 5 elements: earth, air, fire, water, and metal, and the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell are inspirations for making use of this spectacular 15th century compound of gardens, courtyards, waterways and architectural features in the heart of Chinatown. The contemporary, classical, pictorial and moving images, old and new school, are digitally meshed in this final experience.

For more info visit the Paul Wong Projects website, or read this review (with video), or visit the Garden’s website itself. BOB is always happy to promote events taking place in the inner-city especially for our partners over at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

Stay tuned for more events taking place in the inner-city in March.

Everyone has been there, generally in the last dozen days or so. You get off the train, you go to the game, you go to Canada Hockey Place, maybe a live site, but how many of these millions have gone to Chinatown? You know the other half of the station’s name?

Stadium Chinatown Skytrain Station

The station isn’t actually in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown, it is actually West of the Millennium Gate which marks the entrance pretty graphically to Chinatown. The Tinseltown complex and the condos around the Skytrain station are in an area of town the marketer’s have dubbed “Crosstown”. Crosstown has no historical significance. No local, no Vancouverite, says “Come on lets go to Crosstown!”

Chinatown with the exception of during the Chinese New Year’s parade is a lot less crowded than the area around False Creek. It is great for a stroll, or getting a bite of Dim Sum, or during the Olympics to take in one of many Art Installations and cultural expos going on.

Spirit of Place is now open in the Chinese Cultural Centre and the square at the entrance to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park. I wrote earlier how visiting the park or the garden might make nice break from the crowds. I also created a Do-It-Yourself Art Walk which starts in Chinatown at basically the bus stop at Main & Pender. It could easily includ Spirit of Place which is just across from Pender from the Bright Light installation.

If art and culture is not your thing and you really just want to watch hockey, Fortune Sound Club has set up a big 14ft screen and is showing the Canada VS Russia game free tonight. After that you could go for Dim Sum at Bao Bei, than maybe drinks at the Keefer Lounge before returning back to Fortune Sound Club to check out the Traveling Disco Party.

Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain Station has it’s own Wikipedia page and Translink has blogged about the changes to expect during the Olympics.

Thanks to Mike Chu for the first photo used in this posting.

One thing I’ve previously mentioned in blog postings, that is a popular thing to do in the neighbourhood is go on guided walking tours of Vancouver’s historic inner-city. Monday evening I bumped into John Atkin who is both a resident and authority on local history. He is working with the folks at Bright Light and leading tours of the neighbourhood on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from their exhibit on 39 East Pender. The cost of these tours is ten dollars.

John isn’t the only one who regularly does walking tours of the neighbourhood. Chris Mathieson and the folks over at the Vancouver Police Museum are running their “Sins of the City” walking tour twice daily during the games.

You don’t need a guide to explore the streets of Vancouver, but you do get additional insights and historical perspective. I created a bit of a Do-It-Yourself Art Walk to some of the installations in the neighbourhood.

Kris Krug and others at True North Media House or W2 has been taking people around the neighbourhood, even the Lonely Planet was here and enjoyed their visit.

Here are some more opinions on things to see and do in the DTES from art installations to community gardens.