oh, excellent. The local goth night is Sanctuary, which runs on Sunday nights. If you're going this Saturday, there's Sin City at Richards on Richards.
The local SFBG/Boston Phoenix equivalent is The Georgia Straight. Browse through that for music, club, movie and museum listings. The restaurants guide isn't bad either.
Speaking of food -- if you want to shop for fresh stuff to snack on in your hotel, or just pick up some unpasteurized cheese contraband to smuggle into the states, you can and should check out Granville Market on Granville Island. Kind of similar to the Ferry Terminal Market but less chi-chi. Granville Island in general is a pretty neat place to spend an afternoon. It's an old artificial island/warehouse dock that's been converted into an arts space with a few small independent theatres, galleries and workshops.
Restaurant-wise, the city's ethnic strengths have been Chinese (the best that you'll find outside of Hong Kong or Shanghai) and a lot of other Pacific Rim cultures (Vietnamese, Burmese, etc.) as well as PacNorthwest (1001 things to do with salmon and Oriental/Western fusion). Best Chinese in the city is still, imho, Sun Sui Wah. Go to Vij's if you like Indian. The Naam does good vegetarian that isn't all "fake meat". If you want to aim for comfort food -- The White Spot is a local chain similar to Denny's and I used to gorge myself on their burger baskets (cooked to order hamburgers with baskets of fried zucchini or fried cheese, etc.). Sophie's Cosmic Cafe on Fourth Ave. also used to do an excellent brunch but lately seems to have gone a little downhill. if you want to splurge on the expense report, Bishop's is a pretty good restaurant doing the Pacific Northwest thing.
you'll notice, btw, that I'm recommending a lot of places within the vicinity of Fourth Ave. The strip used to be my old hunting grounds when I was a kid growing up, and it's still a pretty awesome neighborhood. It's got a rotating cast of funky clothing boutiques. Zulu Records is the best music store in the city, but you probably won't find anything that you can get Amoeba. Still a good place to get concert tickets if any catch your fancy and/or pickup a copy of the Discorder, which is the UBC radio station's alt-weekly -- kind of like the Weekly Dig to the Georgia Straight's Phoenix. Across the street from Zulu is Videomatica, which is, imho, the best video store in the city. Worth dropping by there if you're looking for European or Asian videos that haven't drawn the attention of an American distributor.
Another interesting neighborhood for shopping or people watching is Yaletown, which is kind of like a smaller scale SoMa. Similar legacy of old warehouses gentrified by boutiques, architecture firms and loft condos.
What to avoid? Gastown == tourist trap. Imagine the Freedom Trail but five times tackier. Robson is Newbury St. or Union Square with a little less class. The East End of Vancouver is where most of the junkies and homeless hang out, but they're Canadian junkies so they're mostly tame ;)
Culturally, the local art museum is modest. Stanley Park can be fun to explore if you feel like strolling in a massive expanse of woods or taking in the harbor view from the seawall. There's also an Aquarium in the park that's not a bad visit. The Museum of Anthropology at UBC actually has some pretty awesome exhibits about First Nations people. The rest, however, I can sort of take or leave.
oh, excellent. The local goth night is Sanctuary, which runs on Sunday nights. If you're going this Saturday, there's Sin City at Richards on Richards.
The local SFBG/Boston Phoenix equivalent is The Georgia Straight. Browse through that for music, club, movie and museum listings. The restaurants guide isn't bad either.
Speaking of food -- if you want to shop for fresh stuff to snack on in your hotel, or just pick up some unpasteurized cheese contraband to smuggle into the states, you can and should check out Granville Market on Granville Island. Kind of similar to the Ferry Terminal Market but less chi-chi. Granville Island in general is a pretty neat place to spend an afternoon. It's an old artificial island/warehouse dock that's been converted into an arts space with a few small independent theatres, galleries and workshops.
Restaurant-wise, the city's ethnic strengths have been Chinese (the best that you'll find outside of Hong Kong or Shanghai) and a lot of other Pacific Rim cultures (Vietnamese, Burmese, etc.) as well as PacNorthwest (1001 things to do with salmon and Oriental/Western fusion). Best Chinese in the city is still, imho, Sun Sui Wah. Go to Vij's if you like Indian. The Naam does good vegetarian that isn't all "fake meat". If you want to aim for comfort food -- The White Spot is a local chain similar to Denny's and I used to gorge myself on their burger baskets (cooked to order hamburgers with baskets of fried zucchini or fried cheese, etc.). Sophie's Cosmic Cafe on Fourth Ave. also used to do an excellent brunch but lately seems to have gone a little downhill. if you want to splurge on the expense report, Bishop's is a pretty good restaurant doing the Pacific Northwest thing.
you'll notice, btw, that I'm recommending a lot of places within the vicinity of Fourth Ave. The strip used to be my old hunting grounds when I was a kid growing up, and it's still a pretty awesome neighborhood. It's got a rotating cast of funky clothing boutiques. Zulu Records is the best music store in the city, but you probably won't find anything that you can get Amoeba. Still a good place to get concert tickets if any catch your fancy and/or pickup a copy of the Discorder, which is the UBC radio station's alt-weekly -- kind of like the Weekly Dig to the Georgia Straight's Phoenix. Across the street from Zulu is Videomatica, which is, imho, the best video store in the city. Worth dropping by there if you're looking for European or Asian videos that haven't drawn the attention of an American distributor.
Another interesting neighborhood for shopping or people watching is Yaletown, which is kind of like a smaller scale SoMa. Similar legacy of old warehouses gentrified by boutiques, architecture firms and loft condos.
What to avoid? Gastown == tourist trap. Imagine the Freedom Trail but five times tackier. Robson is Newbury St. or Union Square with a little less class. The East End of Vancouver is where most of the junkies and homeless hang out, but they're Canadian junkies so they're mostly tame ;)
Culturally, the local art museum is modest. Stanley Park can be fun to explore if you feel like strolling in a massive expanse of woods or taking in the harbor view from the seawall. There's also an Aquarium in the park that's not a bad visit. The Museum of Anthropology at UBC actually has some pretty awesome exhibits about First Nations people. The rest, however, I can sort of take or leave.
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