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.

You wouldn't believe all the free art, music, cultural and sporting events going on down there right now, particularly if you were British media.

I’m just going to come right out and say it. I was one of the many who originally opposed the bid, but now that the games are here I’ve made the most of it, in fact I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve had enough of the Olympics bashing from British media and self professed “anarchists“. It’s NOT raining constantly, plenty of local people I know have gone to events, there are free concerts and art showings everywhere in the city and in my opinion traffic has been better than usual! Yet the wailing and caterwauling continues about how the 2010 Olympics are a failure, a disaster, a calamity, maybe the worst games ever according to some in the British media. Of course, Britain is up next and their newsmakers seem eager to pave the way for a negative narrative that can continue on through 2012, or perhaps set the bar extremely low for themselves. By tearing our games to shreds London is either set up to look like a spectacular success by comparison or a continuation of the disasterous Olympics that I and everyone else in Vancouver seem to be enjoying. Those charming and ever so polite English. They would never be so petty and insecure would they? And don’t get me started on the “anarchists” smashing windows on Georgia street. I suppose they were hoping to revive some of the leftover glory from the battle in Seattle, or the 1994 Stanley Cup. Hey guys in black, if you want to know what a real anarchist is go here. Anarchism isn’t about smashing windows, it’s about smashing perceptions.

These games have been accessible to everyone in the city, including the financially and physically challenged. Celebrate 2010 is an initiative that has ensured that families, residents of Vancouver’s inner-city, members of the urban aboriginal community and youths have been able to attend events. It’s part of an overall Olympic equity program to distribute 100,000 tickets for $25 or less. Tickets distributed through Celebrate 2010 were given to families and individuals free of charge, in fact nearly 20,000 have been given away so far.

Myself, I prefer the pub. And trust me, the pubs in Vancouver have rarely been livelier.

Tens of thousands recently enjoyed concerts by Sam Roberts, Sloan, and Wilco. These three shows and about a hundred and fifty others going on during the Games were free. Instead of smashing windows on Georgia, any self respecting anarchist could have been enjoying an awesome concert for zero dollars and zero-zero cents.

The Cultural Olympiad has hundreds of cultural and artistic events scattered throughout the lower mainland, most of which are once again FREE.And the crazy-coolest one of all is here at the BOB Gallery on 163 E. Pender Street.

And let’s not forget the frenzy of social media driven independent journalism, the opening of W2 Culture and Media House, the social activism and energy in the air. Vancouver is an extremely interesting and fun place to be right now.

Maybe instead of berrating our city with vitriolic hyperbole some of these naysayers could go for a sunny walk on the seawall, have a glass of wine on a patio and then attend any number of these free events like I and my friends have been doing. It would be a shame for them to go through these entire games scowling through their own pessimistic tunnel vision.

Doesn't that look nice? A lot of people are having a great time down there right now, myself included. Actually I'm more on Main street to the right of the frame, but I get downtown fairly regularly.

Building Opportunities with Business is hosting an official Cultural Olympiad art installation.  The piece called Sheng High is by the artist Trimpin and we hired six local residents to act as gallery sitters.  In order for them to be a better resource I decided to create a list of answers to anticipated questions and request made by tourists visiting Chinatown and Vancouver for the first time.  I then decided to make it a blog post so that people could find the info online before coming to 163 East Pender if they are so incline.

Trimpin at BOB

• Where can I access the internet?
• The nearest cafe with free wireless is Waves on Main & Pender.  Several other cafes have free wireless.  BOB is making available bandwidth to guests so they can update Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, just ask the gallery sitter for the password.
• Where can I buy coffee?
• Again Waves is the closest specialty coffee shop.  There are many more in the neighborhood, with Smart Mouth on Water Street being a staff favourite.
• Where can I buy batteries?
• Dollar Giant right next door has cheap batteries of many sizes.
• Where can I buy memory cards and other electronic paraphernalia?
• London Drugs has an excellent audio visual department including a wide assortment of memory cards for your electronic devices.  They are located a few blocks away in Woodward’s.  They also have a one hour photo lab.
• Where should I go for Chinese food?
• Jade Dynasty is a staff favourite and almost next door to BOB.  In the evening staff also recommend Bao Bei and Foo’s Ho Ho’s.
• Where can I get Western food?
• Mitzi’s right next door above Dollar Giant serves Western food.  Gastown has many bars and restaurants and a staff favourite for lunch and breakfast is Deacon’s on Main and Alexander.  There is also a food court and several restaurants in the International Village shopping centre offering Western and Eastern food including fast food such as McDonald’s and Quizno’s.
• How do I get out of Chinatown?
• There is a bus stop right in front of BOB.  The following buses stop there: 4, 7, 19, and 22.  All of those head West back towards the business district and the shopping and entertainment district on Granville Street.  There are bus stops all around the intersection of Main & Hastings.  Useful buses include the 3, 8, and 10.  Cordova Street has a number of buses running East but you’re probably better off taking a Hastings bus or going up the hill to Broadway and catching the Express.  163 East Pender is within walking and biking distance of the Stadium/Chinatown Skytrain station.  It is approximately six blocks South West from here.  The Skytrain goes downtown and out to Burnaby.  You can transfer to the Canada line at Granville or Waterfront and head to Richmond that way.  Translink has a website you can use to plan trips.

Chinatown Gate

The artist is still installing his work on the main floor of 163 East Pender but if you want to get an idea of what it will look and sound like, as well as how the piece interacts with itself, the room, the viewer, try watching the following YouTube video.

Remember Trimpin: Sheng High will be open free to the public until the end of February as part of the Cultural Olympiad here in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown.

Building Opportunities with Business is proud to play host to an official Cultural Olympiad event featuring world renown artist Trimpin.

Trimpin (born Gerhard Trimpin 1951 in Istein, Germany, now part of Efringen-Kirchen) is a Seattle, Washington-based kinetic sculptor, sound artist, musician, and composer, most of whose pieces integrate both sculpture and music in some way, and many of which make use of computers to play these instruments.

The piece being display in our coworking/event space at 163 East Pender is called Sheng High.  Our space was chosen by the Cultural Olympiad staff and the artist himself due to being situatied in historic Chinatown and having the necessary high ceilings to allow the piece to be displayed and function.

The artist himself has journeyed North form his home in Seattle to personally install the work in our space.  He will be finished shortly with the exhibit open free to the general public from January 29 to February 28.  As part of the installation BOB negotiated the employment of six residents in a part time capacity as greeters and caretakers of the space.  Rumors of a private reception attended by the artist himself to take place this week are probably true.