Vancouver's laid back west coast lifestyle suits gray whales just fine

It’s been a long time since a gray whale was spotted in Vancouver’s False Creek, and residents here are excited to say the least. Liz Charyna here at BOB saw the gentle giant twice while her dragon boat team was practicing yesterday evening, and whale watchers have lined up along Granville Island, on the Sea Wall in Yaletown and on the various bridges to catch a rare glimpse themselves.

There has been much speculation regarding the whale’s cavalier sauntering about in such a high traffic channel. Is this a sign that our waterways are considered healthier and safer by the species? Has this whale lost its mind? Is it a Trojan Whale? Is this going to end up being a playoffs PR stunt by the Green Men?  Well I think the answer is obvious.

Even a gray whale knows that East Van is the place to be!

This aerial view shows the circuit in which the whale paced about, wondering about mortgages and bank rates

Clearly this beautiful beast heard about Athletes Village winning LEED Platinum Certification, honoring it as the Greenest Neighbourhood in the World. Spending the majority of its time milling about between Granville Bridge and South East False Creek, where the impressive residential development is located, it was clear to me that this whale wants in on the action, and has set its sight on Vancouver’s blossoming Eastside. Yes the secret is out.

South East False Creek’s Athletes Village is  just minutes away from a vibrant Chinatown with exciting new restaurants like Bao Bei, The Keefer Bar, and Campognolo, great shops like Ming Wo,  Bamboo Village and Cathay Importers not to mention our world renowned Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden.

Athletes Village, the award winning LEED Platinum development in SE False Creek that this whale is clearly looking to buy in

Just a five minute walk from the development are the hipster havens of Mt. Pleasent and SOMA, packed with countless neighbourhood watering holes, fashion boutiques, and every amenity an urban whale could need. He or she would  also be close to the new Canada Line Skytrain Route, giving it a convenient and direct transit option to Vancouver’s international airport.

Somehow, between its yearly migration from Mexico to Alaska, this whale heard about how Vancouver’s Eastside has become an innovative hot bed for social enterprise, urban agriculture and art & culture. Music venues like the Rickshaw Theatre, Chapel Arts, The Biltmore, and the Firehall, guarantee this whale something interesting to check out every night of the week; it must be taking that into account looking to live so close to it. He or she probably knows that they are also more than welcome to become a member at the legendary Anza Club just up the hill from Athletes Village (ten bucks, seriously, that’s all it takes, but they might have to take out the pool table for he or she to fit in there).

Just a brief walk from Gastown and Granville Island, someone gave this whale a hot real estate tip that SE False Creek, Mt. Pleasant, the DTES and Strathcona have all become increasingly attractive areas to live, work and play. So it’s only natural that on a sunny afternoon he or she would peruse the area looking for the perfect spot, close to all these great places, right on/in the water.

Well…there goes the neighbourhood.

Many moons ago, when we were at our old offices Mina Jung came into our office about opening up her dream business, selling healthy Korean food as a lunch alternative. She planned on calling the business Next Sunday Kimbab because as a child she always looked forward to the Next Sunday. It took a while and the idea was refined, but Next Sunday Kimbab is now open and providing healthy Korean food delivered to your office for lunch or meetings.

A Next Sunday Kimbab retail location is still in the long term plans, but BOB staff were quite happy with the samples Mina brought over today. So consider Kimbab for your next meeting or staff lunch, you can learn more about Next Sunday Kimbab from their Facebook Page or their blog.

Some colleagues of BOB’s over at UGM recommended we pay a visit to the Velvet Matador at 508 Powell Street. It is a little off the beaten track, but not too far from Railtown or the residential areas of Strathcona. The Velvet Matador is a small cafe run by Hannah Walker. They serve specialty teas and coffees as well as sandwiches and other goodies. BOB staff was pretty pleased with the various drinks we’ve ordered there, so if you’re in Railtown or Eastvan, perhaps you should swing by.

They plan to have live music on some nights, their website is under construction, but they’re already in Google.

Photo: Steven Ballegeer

Two weeks ago we interviewed Boris Mann of Bootup Labs, a technology and software accelerator housing several innovative startups in Vancouver’s beautifully restored Flack Block. This week BOB would like to welcome another innovative company who have also relocated to the Flack Block, eaga Canada (yes it is not capitalized). eaga describes itself as:

a social enterprise and provider of green support services and solutions in the residential sector. The issues we address are; tackling climate change, promoting residential energy efficiency and delivering social inclusion for low income households.

One of the beautiful things about eaga’s business model is that they offer a valuable service to residents who are often unable to afford building upgrades that save them energy and money, and improve the health of interior and exterior environments. The company does this by sourcing and administering grant funds that offset any need for building owners or tenants to foot the bill:

The majority of programs managed on behalf of our clients require the distribution of public grant funding to a particular target group within a specific time period to a specific quality standard. Financial reconciliation is a critical requirement throughout each project, with fully transparent reporting at various stages to fully account for funding we manage, as well as to outline the outputs of the project. We have extensive experience managing the ‘public purse’ and all our systems, processes and financial accounting are fully open and auditable.

Vancouver has become a city not necessarily known for large corporate headquarters with massive management structures, but for innovative clusters of smaller and mid sized offices doing unique things. Though eaga is an international company with its main office in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, we’re happy to welcome eaga Canada to Vancouver’s historic inner-city and believe they’ll fit right in among the other innovative green companies here in the DTES!

See you at Greendrinks and the Green Inner-City Cluster eaga!

And welcome to the neighbourhood.

BOB staff have a new haunt.  More and more people are discovering it, but it is still mostly empty, most of the time.  The On the Edge Pub has opened at the corner of Columbia and Cordova, just on the edge of Gastown.  They put a lot of money into renovating the place, there are 85 seat, several TVs, they plan to have Wii tournaments and concerts too.

However the reason you should go there now is, they kept the prices super reasonable and the food is very, very good.  Apparently the thing to order after work is their take on Poutine, which includes ribs or at least the meat from BarBQ ribs.  They have daily specials, even a lunch card if you know who to ask.  (Your server or the owner).  On Friday they had pitchers of Granville Island Lagaer that were just a shade over a 11 dollars and four dollar Jamison whiskeys.  Today I had the fish and chips, but Lani’s burger with aditional cheese and bacon looked better.

Their neon sign was getting installed today so they’ll be easier to find, but if your looking for a place for a “working lunch” or beers after work in the hood, why not give the On the Edge pub a try.  Tell them BOB sent you.

Bob who?