Urban Vancouver

11 days of moving

By babykarret on December 5, 2005 - 6:45pm

#11. Main Street

My mother and I had dinner at Honolulu Cafe a couple evenings ago, our favorite slightly-dingy, inexpensive Hong Kong-style restaurant. We were too late for afternoon tea, the daily "meal-and-drink for $7 or less" menu, and the owners were serving starter winter melon soup to make up for the fact that their windows make the place chilly. When my brother and his wife lived about two blocks away, there were evenings when we would see them come in and sit down at a booth, too tired from work to cook.

Going out to Main for dinner is an old tradition for us. We did that when it was my mother that didn't want to cook, and we used to go out to this Chinese restaurant (since sold to new owners) run by this sweet older lady who would give me Tootsie Rolls after the meal was done. We still like to go to Mui Garden sometimes too--they have really good curry and taro dessert, along with the requisite dinginess.

Main Street around 28th is, in my incredibly biased opinion (since I spent the ages of 5 - 11 there), one of the greatest places in the world to live. Two blocks from the Ontario bike route, a hop and skip from Queen Elizabeth Park with its awesome view, a swimming pool, an elementary school, a curling club and an even bigger skating rink nearby, The Grind, a branch of almost every major bank, an organic grocer, Montmartre, Hawker's Delight for cheap eats, and an independent video store. Most recent additions include a really cool toy and t-shirt store. They even closed the McDonald's, so no more weird fake chicken smell either. My dad is quite enamoured with Main Electronics, who sell tiny electronic components and parts at prices that rival Ap Liu Street in Hong Kong.

I've watched the neighbourhood grow in popularity since I moved, with the same mix of joy and disappointment that one gets when everyone else is doing something you did years ago. Here's hoping I'll get back there someday (and be able to afford it, damn real estate prices).