Just a few blocks from Davie Village you'll find Yaletown, where
Vancouver's fine-arts-and-fashion elite have converted dozens of early
20th-century warehouses into chic restaurants, galleries, and shops
(including the stellar gourmet food market, Urban Fare, an excellent
place to pick up picnic supplies). This hip district is also home to the
city's coolest hotel, the Opus, which also happens to be one of North
America's most gay-friendly addresses. This swank yet unpretentious
property with 96 rooms and suites is a favorite haunt of visiting
celebrities, who appreciate the super-efficient staff, boldly designed
rooms, and cool lobby lounge. Don't miss the hotel's sensibly chic
restaurant, Elixir, a postmodern vision of a Parisian bistro noted for
its brunches (try the duck hash with poached eggs and sourdough bread)
and superb contemporary cuisine, including a knockout pan-roasted
halibut with wild mushrooms and truffle-marjoram sauce.
Another cool Yaletown address for sophisticated chow and memorable
people-watching is Blue Water Cafe, whose specialties include a sampler
of four ceviches with salmon, halibut, tuna, and scallops, and a
wonderful entree of local sablefish caramelized with soy and sake. A
block away, slick Glowbal Grill & Satay Bar can be forgiven for its
slightly pretentious and gimmicky ambience, because this plays turns out
delicious food, including tequila lamb satay with lime-mint glaze, and
spaghetti with truffles and Kobe meatballs. From Yaletown, you can catch
a water taxi to Granville Island, once the shipping and processing
center for the city's logging industry, and now yet another successful
urban renovation with a mammoth public market and many galleries and
artists' studios.
It's a 15-minute drive east of the city center to Commercial Drive, a
neighborhood that's been reborn in the past decade as the city's lesbian
hub. Here you'll find several woman-owned shops, including Womyn's Ware,
the definite source for women's sex toys, lube, and fetish wear. Most
afternoons and evenings, you'll see cute dykes passing time at the
neighborhood's several shabby-chic coffeehouses. This is also a great
area for affordable, healthful cuisine. Excellent options include
globally inspired Stella's Tap & Tapas Bar and Havana, a great source
for delicious Latin-infused fare.
Finally, if you're looking for some outside fun on a sunny day, make the
20-minute drive to West Vancouver to Wreck Beach, which is right by the
campus of the University of British Columbia. Not especially sandy or
accessible (you must hike down a steep 100-foot trail), it's the city's
only more-or-less sanctioned nude beach (at least the illegality of
letting it all hang out is overlooked by authorities). The south end of
Wreck Beach (to get there follow the signs for trail number 6) is
predominantly gay, and depending on your vantage point, the views from
this secluded swath of sand can be amazing, whether you're admiring
nature - or naturists.
Andrew Collins is the
author of Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA and as well as numerous other
guidebooks.
The Hunk
