I got together with my 2 high school friends, Jen and Aaron, for a jaunt down to White Rock beach today. It was a beautiful day out for a walk so we followed the path along the promenade to East beach, and when the promenade ended, we continued East walking along the railroad tracks to the Semiahmoo Indian reservation and beyond. Taking the bend along the crescent, Peach Arch border crossing came into view shortly after. At the marker marking the International Boundary between the USA and Canada, we cut across the stand-still US-bound traffic and took in the beauty of Peace Arch Provincial Park and basked in the rays of the late afternoon sun.
The Peace Arch Provincial Park is an interesting and unique park in that the 9 hectares of the north end is managed by the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, while the 20 hectares to the south is managed by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. During the Vietnam war, thousands of Americans fled the US and came to Canada to avoid being drafted. Between 1967 - 1974, Canada harboured more than 30,000 of them, many of whom entered through this border crossing to start a new life and settle in Vancouver.
It was time to once again, explore our own city and discover some of the newer, as well as to rediscover some of the older, public art installations scattered all over or beautiful city of Vancouver. Armed with only a brochure of new installations and a fold out map inside, Jen and I took the bus into town and began with Public Service/Private Steps, 2002, a collection of five cubes just outside a building gliding up and down a steel structure in direct correlation to the movement of the elevators inside the building.
Our tour continued towards the art deco Marine Building, 1930, built during the difficult times of the great depression, then to Working Landscape, 1998, a collection of three circular platforms with a tree and a bench on top moving ever so slightly, the same area where Georgia Lass got hit by a flying toilet seat in the short lived television series called Dead Like Me. Right across from here was a new chocolatier called Mink to where we stopped to warm our chilly hands up with a cup of hot chocolate before moving along to Canada Place.
Through Gastown to False Creek and Yaletown, we took our city in with wide eyes. We stopped by a cafe called Bojangles right off the False Creek marina where I had a bowl of Boston clam chowder and gave my tired legs a rest.
We had only covered slightly less than half of the city on foot and missed out on several other installations, buildings, and monuments in the brochure, but when our weary legs regain its strength, we'll set off on foot once again at the crack of dawn and see the rest of this world-class city we call home.
Click here to download your copy of the Downtown Shoreline Public Art Walk brochure + map in PDF.
