Vancouver rising: how Canada's third largest city has changed

West coast wonder: Vancouver

10 April 2012

The bold black print in my tour guide was adamant: the cost of staying at one of the city's swankiest hotels, The Hotel Vancouver, worked out at just three Canadian dollars a night.

Well, it was true back in 1909.

I've visited Vancouver — currently co-hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics along with Whistler, a couple of hours' drive north — a dozen-odd times and never fail to be seduced by this beautiful if ever more cosmopolitan west coast city, sandwiched between the Pacific and the mountains.

On my most recent trip, I chanced upon a century-old Baedeker's guide to "The Dominion of Canada" in a local bookstore. Turning to the section on Vancouver, I wondered how the guide would measure up now and decided to put it to the test.

The introduction makes for curious reading today. Back then, when Canada was known as the empire's First Dominion, Bank of England notes were "generally accepted in the larger towns and cities", my guide observed.

Oh, for the good old days.

What's more, incredible as it may sound in a day and age when security checks are routine, "travellers visiting Canada for a limited amount of time" could "bring in guns, and fishing tackle (for hunting) on payment of duty, returnable on departure".

As for Vancouver itself, "the traveller (should) begin his sight-seeing tour by ascending the tower of the Hotel Vancouver which commands a splendid view," advised my Baedeker's guide.

"At our feet lies the city of Vancouver enclosed by Burrard Inlet, English Bay and False Creek," it continued. "Across Burrard Inlet lie ... the white houses of the Indian Mission, backed by the wooded and snow-capped peaks of the Cascade Mountains."

As it happens, the original hotel has since been replaced by a newer, taller Hotel Vancouver which dates back to the Thirties.

But when I took a lift to the top floor, and looked out of the window, my eyes were met by a forest of gleaming glass skyscrapers, among them the new pencil-thin 62-storey Shangri-La hotel and condominium tower — the city's tallest building.

There again, in 1909 the city was just 25 years old, and had a population of around 50,000. A century on it has a population of around three million. That said, I could still glimpse Burrard Inlet and the mountains beyond even if the original Indian mission has long since disappeared.

That's not all that has changed. A century ago "the chief business thoroughfare (was) Hastings Street ... with its Dominion Assay Office and Bank of British North America", advised the guide. Now the action has shifted a dozen or so blocks west to Robson Street — with its trendy restaurants, boutiques and sushi bars, not to mention twin Starbucks on opposite street corners — and the streets around.

My guide went on to declare that "the chief attraction of Vancouver to the tourist is the beautiful Stanley Park, which with commendable promptitude has been laid out on the wooded
peninsula to the west of the city."

And a century on, the 1,000-acre "green lung", with its sea wall (which is great for walking, cycling or roller-blading) remains one of the city's crown jewels.

The same goes for two other must-sees my guide flagged up all those years ago. Firstly, English Bay, with its sandy beach and stunning sea views, in the heart of the West End.

And secondly, Grouse Mountain — adjacent to Cypress Mountain, which is playing host to the Olympics' freestyle skiing and snowboard events — with "its fantastic views of the city". Back in the 1900s "one (could) ascend in three and a half to four hours", according to my guide.

Thankfully, a cable car ride makes the trip to the top considerably easier and faster today, although if you're a glutton for punishment you could always attempt a yomp up the Grouse Grind (a steep mountain trail which is open in the summer).

The final attraction worth seeing, stated my guidebook, was Capilano Suspension Bridge, a narrow, swaying walkway high above a canyon on the north shore which is still worth visiting if you don't suffer from vertigo.

Of course, the city has changed a lot over the decades. And the past few years have seen an Olympic Games-fuelled construction boom.

A century on, though, for all the changes that have taken place in this west coast city named after the British naval officer Captain George Vancouver, there is still a whiff of the wilderness about it — and the mountains and sea are never far from view.

It's just got bigger, better and more cosmopolitan ... the only downside perhaps being that you can't stay in the "Hotel Van" (as it's known locally) for three bucks like you could all those years ago.

DETAILS: VANCOUVER

THE FLIGHT
Air Canada flies from Heathrow to Vancouver, return fares from £622, www.aircanada.ca
THE HOTELS
Hotel Vancouver has doubles from £274 room only, www.fairmont.com
Shangri-La Vancouver has doubles from £235 B&B, www.shangri-la.com
THE RESTAURANT
Coast is famous for its seafood and its celebrity clientele.
www.coastrestaurant.ca
www.BritishColumbia.travel

Vancouver rising: how Canada's third largest city has changed

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