Before You Go. At 49 degrees, 16 minutes North latitude, BC Place is further north than any U.S. major league sports venue. This will be late June, so the legendary Canadian cold will not be a problem. However, like the American Northwest cities of Seattle and Portland, it rains in Vancouver. A lot. The city has been nicknamed "Raincouver."
That won't make much of a difference, because, A, the Vancouver Sun is predicting mid-70s for Saturday afternoon, and high 50s for the evening, but no rain for the day; and, B, even if they were, the game will be played under a dome.
This is Canada, so you will need your passport. You will need to change your money. At this writing, C$1.00 = US 75 cents, and US$1.00 = C$1.32. And I advise you to call your bank and let them know that you will be in a foreign country, so they won't see credit or debit card purchases from a foreign country pop up and think your card has been stolen.
Also, remember that they use the metric system. A speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour means 62 miles an hour. And don't be fooled by the seemingly low gas prices: That's per liter, not per gallon, and, in spite of Canada being a major oil-producing nation, you'll actually be paying more for gas up there. So, in order to avoid both confusion and "sticker-shock," get your car filled up before you reach the border.
Vancouver is in the Pacific Time Zone, so they are 3 hours behind New York and New Jersey. Adjust your timepieces accordingly. And this is very important: If you need to go to the bathroom, don't ask anyone where the "bathroom" is. Ask for the "washroom."
Tickets. The Lions averaged 21,056 fans per home game last season, about 76 percent of capacity, and fewer than the Vancouver Whitecaps in the same building. Getting tickets may not be very hard.
These prices are in Canadian dollars, and they're considerably cheaper than in Montreal and Ottawa. Coaches Sidleine (midfield) seats are $83. Red Zone (corner) seats are $64. Touchdown Corner (closer to the end zone) seats are $43. Touchdown End Zone seats are $34. Upper End Zone seats are $26.
Getting There. It's 2,969 miles from Times Square in Manhattan to downtown Vancouver, and 2,957 miles from Red Bull Arena to BC Place. It's 31 miles from downtown Vancouver to the closest border crossing, the Peace Arch in Blaine, Washington. This is the longest roadtrip the Red Bulls have. If you can afford to fly, you should.
Air Canada has 11 flights between New York (or Newark) and Vancouver International Airport every day, but only a handful are nonstop, and you'll have to shell out around $1,400.
The other options aren't too good, because they're a lot longer. For example, here's your schedule if you take Amtrak and the connecting bus service:
Leave New York: 3:40 PM Wednesday
Arrive Chicago: 9:45 AM Thursday
Leave Chicago: 2:15 PM Thursday
Arrive Seattle: 10:25 AM Saturday
Leave Seattle: 1:45 PM Saturday
Arrive Vancouver: 5:15 PM Saturday
Kickoff: 7:00 PM Saturday
Game ends: Around 10:00 PM Saturday, and you'll need a hotel
Leave Vancouver: 6:30 AM Sunday
Arrive Seattle: 10:55 AM Sunday
Leave Seattle: 4:40 PM Sunday
Arrive Chicago: 3:55 PM Tuesday
Leave Chicago: 9:30 PM Tuesday
Arrive New York: 6:23 PM Wednesday
And that's a whopping $863 round-trip.
Is taking the bus any better? Not really: You'd have to leave Port Authority at 12:15 AM on Wednesday, changing buses twice, in Toronto and Winnipeg, and arrive in Vancouver at 8:10 AM on Saturday, nearly 11 hours before kickoff. It's $564 round-trip, although it can drop to as low as $424 with advanced-purchase.
The VIA station, Pacific Central Station, is at 1100 Station Street at National Avenue, while the Greyhound station is at 1150 Station Street, not quite next-door, but close. Main Street-Science World Station to Stadium-Chinatown Station in 6 minutes.
Could driving be any worse? Even if you get someone to go with you, and you take turns, one drives while the other one sleeps, and you pack 2 days' worth of food, and you use the side of the Interstate as a toilet, and you don't get pulled over for speeding, you'll still need over 2 full days to get there. One way.
But, if you really, really think driving is a better alternative... Get onto Interstate 80 West in New Jersey, and stay on that until it merges with Interstate 90 west of Cleveland, then stay on 90 through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, into Wisconsin, where it merges with Interstate 94. Although you could take I-90 almost all the way, I-94 is actually going to be faster. Stay on I-94 through Minnesota and North Dakota before re-merging with I-90 in Montana, taking it through Idaho and into Washington, getting off I-94 at Exit 2B to get on Interstate 5.
You'll take I-5 up to the border, past Exit 276. You'll present your passport, and you'll answer whatever questions the Customs agent has. Presuming you have everything in order and you don't do anything stupid to make him (or her) keep you out of Canada, I-5 becomes BC Highway 99, the Sea to Sky Highway. Once you cross the Lions Gate Bridge, you're in downtown Vancouver.
Not counting rest stops, you should be in New Jersey for an hour and a half, Pennsylvania for 5:15, Ohio for 4 hours, Indiana for 2:30, Illinois for 2 hours, Wisconsin for 3:15, Minnesota for 4:30, North Dakota for 6 hours, Montana for a whopping 13 hours (or 3 times the time it takes to get from New York to Boston), Idaho for 1:15, 8:45 in Washington, and half an hour in British Columbia. That's 52 and a half hours, so, with rest stops, you're talking 3 full days.
On October 14, 2016, President Obama finally ended the ban on bringing Cuban cigars into America. This also applies to rum, for which Cuba is also renowned. It is still considerably easier to buy these items in Canada than in America, but, now, you can bring them back over the border.
Once In the City. Originally named Gastown, in honor of its founder, mill baron John "Gassy Jack" Deighton, Vancouver was a product of the 1859 Western gold rush that also founded Denver. Europeans first settled in the area in 1862. Gassy Jack founded a tavern on July 1, 1867, Canada's Confederation Day (effectively, its independence from Britain, although it was still part of the Empire and remains part of the Commonwealth).
It was renamed for George Vancouver, an officer of Britain's Royal Navy, who explored and charted North America's Pacific Northwest in the early 1790s. Despite having a name that could be French (VAHN-koo-VAIR, instead of Van-KOO-ver as we say today), and the city being in a country with French as a 2nd official language, he was English through and through. The city of Vancouver, Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, is also named for him, as are places in Australia and New Zealand, which he also explored.
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Like New York, Vancouver is a city of islands. Unlike New York, for whom the Catskills count as "mountains," Vancouver has real mountains. On a clear day, it is one of the most beautiful cities in the Western Hemisphere. On ground level, however, it is as plagued by problems -- especially poverty, homelessness and crime -- as any city. At least it's cleaner than most American cities.
The city is home to a little over 630,000 people, including the largest percentage of Asian residents of any city in North America, about 41 percent (30 percent East Asian, 11 percent South Asian), to about 52 percent white, 2 percent Aboriginal (what we used to call "Indians"), 2 percent Middle Eastern, 1 percent black and 1 percent Hispanic.
The city would seem to be inclusive, but it does have a troubled past. There were anti-Chinese riots in January 1886, following the layoff of hundreds of workers on the Canadian Pacific Railroad the preceding November. And there were anti-Asian riots on the Pacific Coast in 1907, including in Vancouver from September 7 to 9. It is not known how many people were killed, either time.
Vancouver is Canada's 8th-largest city, behind Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton, Toronto's neighbor Mississauga and Winnipeg. (Neighboring Surrey is 12th, with 470,000, and nearby Burnaby and Richmond are in the top 25.) But with 2.4 million people, "Greater Vancouver" is Canada's 3rd-largest metropolitan area, behind Toronto and Montreal.
Main Street south of Vancouver Harbour, and Lonsdale Avenue north of it, divide city addresses into east and west. There is no divider into north and south, although north of the Harbour are the separate cities of North Vancouver and West Vancouver. Burnaby, New Westminster and Coquitlam are to the east, Surrey to the southeast, Richmond to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Vancouver has no highway "beltway."
TransLink runs the B-Line bus service, the SkyTrain rapid rail service, the West Coast Express commuter rail, and the SeaBus ferry service. A 1 Zone fare is $2.75, 2 Zone $4.00, and 3 Zone $5.50. After 6:30 PM on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays, discount fares apply, and buying a $2.75 1 Zone ticket will allow you to travel through all zones. And remember, that's C$2.75, making it about US$2.09, making Vancouver's SkyTrain and buses cheaper than New York's Subway and buses. A DayPass costs $9.75.
It opened in 1983 -- in fact, today, June 19, is the anniversary -- as the home of the CFL's B.C. Lions and the original version of the Vancouver Whitecaps of the North American Soccer League, for whom the current team was named. It was hoped that it could bring in a Major League Baseball team. That's never happened. But it did stand as the centerpiece of the 1986 World's Fair (Expo 86), and the main stadium for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
It originally had the same kind of air-supported white fabric dome that covered the Metrodome in Minneapolis and the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, but its renovation after the Olympics replaced it with a cable-supported retractable roof that looks a lot better, and is opened for all soccer games.
The field is artificial, and is aligned northeast-to-southwest, but, for practical purposes, the northeast end is considered the north end, and the southwest end is considered the south end. Capacity is 54,313 for CFL games and MLS Cup matches, but limited to 22,120 for regular-season Whitecaps matches.
BC Place has hosted the Grey Cup, the championship game of the Canadian Football League, how many times, Ed Rooney? "Nine times!" Most recently in 2014. This includes 1994 and 2011, when the Lions won it on home turf. They've also won it with BC Place as their home field in 1985, 2000 and 2006, and in 1964 when they were playing at Empire Stadium, for a total of 6 Grey Cups.
BC Place also hosted the 2011 Vanier Cup, the National Championship of Canadian college football, won by Hamilton's McMaster University over Quebec City's Université Laval.
On March 2, 2014, the Canucks hosted the Ottawa Senators at BC Place as part of the NHL's Heritage Classic series, albeit this was the 1st time an "outdoor"game was held at an indoor stadium. The Senators won, 4-2.
It hosted Soccer Bowl '83, in which the Tulsa Roughnecks beat the Toronto Blizzard 2-0, the locals having no love for that particular Canadian sports team. It hosted the 2015 Women's World Cup Final, in which the U.S. beat Japan 5-2.
Food. Vancouver is Canada's premier western port. Which means, like San Francisco and Seattle, it is a great food city. BC Place reflects this.
Starting from behind the north goal, and working around: Dawson's Dogs (hot dogs) are behind Sections 201, 215, 226, 233, 241 and 248; Lionsgate Grill (burgers) at 206, 215, 228, 242 and 253; Breyer's ice cream at 211 and 215; Lemonheaven lemonade at 211, 224 and 239; The Poutinerie (serving poutine, that foul concoction of fries, gravy and cheese curd) at 212 and 239; Gastown Grill (burgers) at 218 and 237; Montreal smoked meat (deli sandwiches) at 218; Vij's (Indian food) at 221 and 245; Commercial Drive Pizza at 222; Cafe Fresh (salads) at 238; Steveston's Fish & Chips at 244; and Asian Steamed Buns at 250. (If your buns are steamed, that's a good sign that you've had too much to eat.)
Team History Displays. The Lions have won the CFL's Western Division, thus reaching the Grey Cup Final, 10 times. They've won the Grey Cup 6 times: 1964, 1985, 1994, 2000, 2006 and 2011.
The Lions have 11 retired numbers, but with no display for them in the fan-viewable areas of the stadium: 5, 1980s and '90s kicker Lui Passaglia; 15, 1960s running back Willie "The Wisp" Fleming; 22, 1960s quarterback Joe Kapp (who also quarterbacked the Minnesota Vikings into Super Bowl IV and coached the University of California to "The Play" in 1982); 30, 1970s receiver Jim Young, known for his number as "Dirty Thirty"; 38, 1950s and '60s running back Byron "By" Bailey; 52, 1970s and '80s center Al Wilson; 60, 1990s running back Jamie Taras; 64, 2000s and 2010s center Angus Reid; 75, 1950s and '60s linebacker Norm Fieldgate; 81, 2000s receiver Geroy Simon; and 97, 2000s defensive end Brent Johnson.
In 2003, the fans elected a 50th Anniversary Dream Team:
* From the 1964 Grey Cup: Running backs Willie Fleming and By Bailey, guard Tom Hinton, defensive tackle Mike Cacic, linebackers Tom Brown and Norm Fieldgate, safety Bill Munsey.
* From the 1970s: Tight end Harry Holt, receiver Jim Young, cornerback Joe Fourqurean and kick returner Leon Bright.
* From the 1985 Grey Cup: Head coach Don Matthews, receiver Mervyn Fernandez, center Al Wilson, offensive tackle John Blain, defensive tackle Rick Klassen, defensive ends James "Quick" Parker and Nick Hebeler, linebacker Glen Jackson, defensive back Larry Crawford, kicker Lui Passaglia.
* From between 1985 and 1994: Passaglia, quarterback Doug Flutie, offensive tackle Jim Mills and defensive back Andre Francis.
* From the 1994 Grey Cup: Passaglia, running back Sean Millington, slotback (a position that doesn't exist in U.S. football) Darren Flutie (Doug's brother), guard Jamie Taras.
* From the 2000 Grey Cup: Passaglia, and cornerback Eric Carter, still active at the time of the poll.
The BC Lions Wall of Fame is located at Level 2 Inner Concourse, between Sections 10 and 11. In addition to the inaugural team of 1954, and the Grey Cup winners of 1985 and 1994, they've elected:
* From the 1950s, but not lasting until the 1964 Grey Cup: Team founders Annis Stukus and Victor Spencer.
* From the 1964 Grey Cup: Kapp, Fleming, Bailey, Hinton, Cacic, Brown, Fieldgate, Munsey, quarterback Dick Fouts (no relation to Dan), receiver Pat Claridge, receiver Sonny Homer, tight end Jim Carphin, offensive tackle Lonnie Dennis, defensive back Neal Beaumont, head coach Dave Skrien and general manager Herb Capozzi (later owner of the NHL's Canucks).
* From the 1970s: Young, quarterback Joe Paopao, tight end Lynn "Lefty" Hendrickson, linebacker Ray Nettles and head coach Vic Rapp (but not Holt, Fourqurean and Bright).
* From the 1985 Grey Cup: Wilson, Blain, Parker, Jackson, Passaglia, quarterback Roy Dewalt, running back John Henry White and linebacker Tyrone Crews (but not Klassen, Hebeler or Crawford).
* From between 1985 and 1994: Passaglia, Mills and defensive end Mack Moore (but not Doug Flutie or Francis).
* From the 1994 Grey Cup: Passaglia (but not Darren Flutie, Millington or Taras).
* From the 2000 Grey Cup: Passaglia (but not including Carter).
* Spanning the eras: Team presidents Paul Higgins, Don Mackenzie, Allan McEachern and Ron Jones, executive Jack Farley, team doctor Ken Appleby, trainer Roy Cavallin (also a star lacrosse player), equipment manager Creighton O'Malley and publicist Bill Clancy.
Members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame from the Lions include:
* From the 1950s, but not lasting until the 1964 Grey Cup: Stukus, Spencer, Harry Spring and Bob Ackles.
* From the 1964 Grey Cup: Kapp, Fleming, Bailey, Hinton, Brown, Fieldgate, and offensive tackle Bill Frank.
* From the 1970s: Young, Nettles, and head coach Eagle Keys -- apparently, that was his entire real name.
* From the 1985 Grey Cup: Wilson, Parker, Passaglia and Matthews.
* From between 1985 and 1994: Passaglia and Mills.
* From the 1994 Grey Cup: Passaglia, quarterback Danny McManus and defensive back Less Browne.
* From the 2000 Grey Cup: Passaglia, quarterback Damon Allen and owner David Braley.
* From the 2006 Grey Cup: Braley, head coach and general manager Wally Buono, administrator Bob O'Billovich, quarterback Dave Dickenson and slotback Geroy Simon.
* From the 2011 Grey Cup: So far, just Braley, Buono and Simon.
In 2006, TSN (The Sports Network, Canada's version of ESPN) named the Top 50 CFL Players. Fron the Lions, they named both Fluties (Doug at 1 and Darren at 50), Damon Allen (14), James Parker (21), Less Browne (23), Lui Passaglia (30), Mervyn Fernandez (42) and Bill Frank (49).
Two Heisman Trophy-winner quarterbacks have played for the Lions. In addition to Flutie, the 1984 winner at Boston College, with the Lions in 1990 and 1991, Andre Ware, the 1989 winner at the University of Houston, played for them in 1996.
Stuff. There are 4 retail locations situated within Level 2 of the concourse inside the stadium. However, as they are inside the stadium, they are only open on gamedays.
There aren't many books about the team. John Wirtanen wrote Thrown to the Lions: The B.C. Lions In Empire Stadium (1954-1982). There's a DVD, CFL Traditions: BC Lions, but it only goes up to 2003.
During the Game. You're a visitor, and you're not rooting for the Lions' putative rivals: The Alberta teams, the Calgary Stampeders and the Edmonton Eskimos; the capital's team, the Ottawa Redblacks; or the team in the biggest city, the media center (or centre), the Toronto Argonauts. They won't give you a hard time.
Michelle Schultz, a Canadian country singer, is the regular singer of "O, Canada" for the Lions. She has also sung for the Canucks and for pro lacrosse's Vancouver Stealth. Their mascot is Leo the Lion.
After the Game. Canadians generally don't believe in fighting with opposing fans, they have a healthy attitude toward guns (they don't need them to feel safe), and they certainly have nothing (or next to nothing) against visitors to their city. Don't go out of your way to antagonize anyone, and you'll be fine.
The stadium is in downtown Vancouver, so there will be places to go after the game. I don't know of any place that is a known hangout for visiting or expatriate New Yorkers. The International Village Mall is 2 blocks north of the arena, at Abbott Street and Keefer Place. However, since the game starts at 7:00 Pacific Time, and should end at around 9:00, the mall will soon be closing.
Doolin's Irish Pub, at 654 Nelson Street, is the official pub partner of the Vancouver Southsiders, a Whitecaps supporters group. Since this won't be a Whitecaps matchday, a visit shouldn't be a problem. Around the corner from Doolin's, at 932 Granville Street, is another partnered place, The Roxy.
If your visit to Vancouver (for a Whitecaps game, a Canucks game, a Lions game, or anything else) is during the European soccer season (which is now in the off-season, but will start up again in mid-August), your best bet is probably the Library Square Public House, 300 W. Georgia Street, 4 blocks west of the stadium.
Sidelights. Vancouver has been a big sports city since Canada's dawn, and these are some of the other places you should see, to get a feel for it:
* Rogers Arena: Across Georgia Street from BC Place, the official address is 800 Griffiths Way. It was named for Frank Griffiths, the media mogul who owned the team from 1974 until his death in 1994 and funded the Arena. The actual streets around it are Expo Blvd. to the west and north (separate by the elevated Dunsmuir Viaduct), Abbott Street to the east and Georgia Street to the south. Like BC Place, the Arena can be reached by SkyTrain at Stadium-Chinatown station.
It was named General Motors Place from its 1995 opening until 2010, when it was temporarily renamed Canada Hockey Place, since Olympic rules forbid corporate names on venues. (Yes, I know: Hypocritical IOC is hypocritical.) Like the Rogers Centre in Toronto and the soon-to-open Rogers Place in Edmonton, it's named for Canadian network Rogers Sportsnet.
The NBA's expansion Vancouver Grizzlies played there from 1995 to 2001, but never caught on, and moved to Memphis. As the NBA's only remaining Canadian team, the Toronto Raptors play a preseason game there every year. The Arena is Vancouver's main concert venue, as was the Canucks' previous home, the Pacific Coliseum. Neither Elvis Presley nor the Beatles ever performed in Vancouver.
With the Grizzlies and the Seattle SuperSonics both gone, the closest NBA team to Vancouver is the Portland Trail Blazers, 314 miles away. But according to an article in the May 12, 2014 New York Times, the most popular NBA team in Vancouver is easily the Los Angeles Lakers, well ahead of runners-up the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls.
* Pacific National Exhibition. This was the home of Vancouver sports from the 1950s to the 1990s. The building here that is best known to Americans, because of their NHL viewing, is the Pacific Coliseum. Opening in 1968, it was the last home of the Western Hockey League's Canucks (1968-70), the 1st home of the NHL Canucks (1970-95), and the home of the World Hockey Association's Vancouver Blazers (1973-75).
Because of its interior appearance, and Vancouver's status as a place where filming movies gives studios tax breaks, it stood in for Madison Square Garden for the filming of Miracle, about the 1980 U.S. hockey team. The real-life Soviet team made an appearance there in 1972, as it hosted Game 4 of the Summit Series. It was also the venue for figure skating and short-track speed skating for the 2010 Winter Olympics. It is currently home to the Vancouver Giants, a minor-league hockey team.
The PNE grounds are also home to the Vancouver Forum, a 1931-built arena that was home to the minor-league Canucks from 1938 to 1968. It has remained a concert hall, although in 2007, fans at a Smashing Pumpkins concert took the band's name too literally, and a fan died in the mosh pit.
Back when the Commonwealth Games were still known as the Empire Games, Vancouver hosted them in 1954, and the 32,729-seat Empire Stadium was built at the PNE. The BC Lions played there until 1982, moving into BC Place the next summer. The Empire also hosted the city's North American Soccer League teams, the Royals (1967-68) and the original version of the Whitecaps (1974-83).
In 1970, it became Canada's 1st stadium with artificial turf. It was demolished in 1993, and a temporary stadium was put on the site in 2011, to house the new Whitecaps while BC Place was being renovated with a new roof. This new site was quickly demolished.
The Hastings Racecourse, a thoroughbred horse venue, and Playland Amusement Park are also on the grounds. 100 N. Renfrew Street at Miller Drive, on the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition. Number 4 bus.
* Swangard Stadium. Vancouver Sun sportswriter Erwin Swangard wanted a stadium for the suburb of Burnaby. William Andrew Cecil Bennett -- a.k.a. Cecil, CeCe, W.A.C. or "Wacky," the longest-serving Premier (think "Governor") of the Province of British Columbia, made it happen, and dedicated the 5,288-seat facility in 1969, naming it for Swangard.
The stadium has a stands on only one side. It hosts local football -- both the 12-man, 3-downs, 110-yard field, 25-yard end zone Canadian variation on American football, and soccer -- and track & field competitions. This includes being the home field of Simon Fraser University.
From 1987 to 2010, it was home to the team that became today's Whitecaps, known as the Vancouver 86ers until 2000. Much of the current Whitecap fan culture began there, before their 2011 promotion to MLS. 3883 Imperial Street in Burnaby. Bus 996 or 999.
The Canadian Premier League, an attempt at a top-flight soccer league for the country, was founded in mid-2017, with the hopes of beginning play in Spring 2018. There is now a plan for a stadium in nearby Surrey, but that team probably won't take many fans away from the Whitecaps.
UPDATE: The league moved its starting date back to Spring 2019. Pacific FC will play at Westhills Stadium in Langford, which will be expanded to 8,000 seats. 1089 Langford Parkway, 9 miles west of downtown Victoria (Bus 50), and 76 miles southwest of downtown Vancouver.
* Thunderbird Stadium. Opened in 1967, this is the home field for the University of British Columbia. Founded as the Western Canada extension of Montreal's McGill University, UBC's main campus is at the western edge of Vancouver Island, about 6 1/2 miles west of downtown. They and the aforementioned Simon Fraser University (SFU) are local arch-rivals.
It only seats 3,411 people, but "festival seating" can raise it by 5,000. The playing surface is named for Vancouver businessman and former UBC football star David Sidoo, who financed improvements to the stadium. It is also home to the Whitecaps' developmental squad, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2.
UBC has won the Vanier Cup in 1982, 1986, 1997 and 2015. Their hockey team, however, has won no major trophies. 6288 Stadium Road. Bus 14.
* Denman Arena site. Built by the Patrick brothers in 1911, this 10,500-seat arena was the largest in Canada at the time. The Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Vancouver Millionaires played here until 1926, winning the 1915 Stanley Cup. When the PCHA folded, the Vancouver Lions of the Northwest Hockey League took over in 1928, and played here until 1936. It was also home to a women's hockey team, the Vancouver Amazons.
That was when, mere hours after hosting a fight by former Heavyweight Champion Max Baer, the arena, brick-faced and supposedly fireproof, fell victim to a nearby fire. Sounds suspicious. Devonian Harbour Park is now on the site. 561 Denman Street at Georgia Street. Bus 240 from downtown.
Vancouver is Canada's 8th-largest city, behind Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton, Toronto's neighbor Mississauga and Winnipeg. (Neighboring Surrey is 12th, with 470,000, and nearby Burnaby and Richmond are in the top 25.) But with 2.4 million people, "Greater Vancouver" is Canada's 3rd-largest metropolitan area, behind Toronto and Montreal.
TransLink runs the B-Line bus service, the SkyTrain rapid rail service, the West Coast Express commuter rail, and the SeaBus ferry service. A 1 Zone fare is $2.75, 2 Zone $4.00, and 3 Zone $5.50. After 6:30 PM on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays, discount fares apply, and buying a $2.75 1 Zone ticket will allow you to travel through all zones. And remember, that's C$2.75, making it about US$2.09, making Vancouver's SkyTrain and buses cheaper than New York's Subway and buses. A DayPass costs $9.75.
Passing by the Harbour Centre tower
The drinking age in British Columbia is 19. Postal Codes in the Province, appropriately enough, begin with the letter V. The Area Codes are 604 and 250, with 236 and 778 as overlays.
Going In. The official address of BC Place -- that is the official name, not "British Columbia Place" -- is 777 Pacific Blvd. It is downtown, across Georgia Street from Rogers Arena, home of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. Stadium-Chinatown station on SkyTrain. If you drive in, there's lots of parking near the stadium, but the price varies wildly.
It opened in 1983 -- in fact, today, June 19, is the anniversary -- as the home of the CFL's B.C. Lions and the original version of the Vancouver Whitecaps of the North American Soccer League, for whom the current team was named. It was hoped that it could bring in a Major League Baseball team. That's never happened. But it did stand as the centerpiece of the 1986 World's Fair (Expo 86), and the main stadium for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Before the renovation
It originally had the same kind of air-supported white fabric dome that covered the Metrodome in Minneapolis and the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, but its renovation after the Olympics replaced it with a cable-supported retractable roof that looks a lot better, and is opened for all soccer games.
Roof closed
Roof open
BC Place has hosted the Grey Cup, the championship game of the Canadian Football League, how many times, Ed Rooney? "Nine times!" Most recently in 2014. This includes 1994 and 2011, when the Lions won it on home turf. They've also won it with BC Place as their home field in 1985, 2000 and 2006, and in 1964 when they were playing at Empire Stadium, for a total of 6 Grey Cups.
BC Place also hosted the 2011 Vanier Cup, the National Championship of Canadian college football, won by Hamilton's McMaster University over Quebec City's Université Laval.
On March 2, 2014, the Canucks hosted the Ottawa Senators at BC Place as part of the NHL's Heritage Classic series, albeit this was the 1st time an "outdoor"game was held at an indoor stadium. The Senators won, 4-2.
It hosted Soccer Bowl '83, in which the Tulsa Roughnecks beat the Toronto Blizzard 2-0, the locals having no love for that particular Canadian sports team. It hosted the 2015 Women's World Cup Final, in which the U.S. beat Japan 5-2.
Soccer setup
In 2018, the Canadian Premier League, Canada's attempt at a "top flight" soccer league, will begin play. It is possible that the Caps' farm team, Whitecaps FC 2, may join it, although it's not clear whether they would play at BC Place.
UPDATE: Pacific FC began play with the League in 2019, playing at Starlight Stadium in suburban Langford.
FURTHER UPDATE: Pacific FC won the CPL title in 2021.
YET ANOTHER UPDATE: BC Place has been selected as a venue for the 2026 World Cup.
BC Place remains the Province's premier concert venue. The Three Tenors -- Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and José Carreras -- sang there on December 31, 1996.
Starting from behind the north goal, and working around: Dawson's Dogs (hot dogs) are behind Sections 201, 215, 226, 233, 241 and 248; Lionsgate Grill (burgers) at 206, 215, 228, 242 and 253; Breyer's ice cream at 211 and 215; Lemonheaven lemonade at 211, 224 and 239; The Poutinerie (serving poutine, that foul concoction of fries, gravy and cheese curd) at 212 and 239; Gastown Grill (burgers) at 218 and 237; Montreal smoked meat (deli sandwiches) at 218; Vij's (Indian food) at 221 and 245; Commercial Drive Pizza at 222; Cafe Fresh (salads) at 238; Steveston's Fish & Chips at 244; and Asian Steamed Buns at 250. (If your buns are steamed, that's a good sign that you've had too much to eat.)
Team History Displays. The Lions have won the CFL's Western Division, thus reaching the Grey Cup Final, 10 times. They've won the Grey Cup 6 times: 1964, 1985, 1994, 2000, 2006 and 2011.
The most recent banner celebrated by an aging punk rocker
who became a construction worker.
The Lions have 11 retired numbers, but with no display for them in the fan-viewable areas of the stadium: 5, 1980s and '90s kicker Lui Passaglia; 15, 1960s running back Willie "The Wisp" Fleming; 22, 1960s quarterback Joe Kapp (who also quarterbacked the Minnesota Vikings into Super Bowl IV and coached the University of California to "The Play" in 1982); 30, 1970s receiver Jim Young, known for his number as "Dirty Thirty"; 38, 1950s and '60s running back Byron "By" Bailey; 52, 1970s and '80s center Al Wilson; 60, 1990s running back Jamie Taras; 64, 2000s and 2010s center Angus Reid; 75, 1950s and '60s linebacker Norm Fieldgate; 81, 2000s receiver Geroy Simon; and 97, 2000s defensive end Brent Johnson.
Willie "The Wisp" Fleming
In 2003, the fans elected a 50th Anniversary Dream Team:
* From the 1964 Grey Cup: Running backs Willie Fleming and By Bailey, guard Tom Hinton, defensive tackle Mike Cacic, linebackers Tom Brown and Norm Fieldgate, safety Bill Munsey.
By Bailey, Joe Kapp and coach Dave Skrien
* From the 1970s: Tight end Harry Holt, receiver Jim Young, cornerback Joe Fourqurean and kick returner Leon Bright.
* From the 1985 Grey Cup: Head coach Don Matthews, receiver Mervyn Fernandez, center Al Wilson, offensive tackle John Blain, defensive tackle Rick Klassen, defensive ends James "Quick" Parker and Nick Hebeler, linebacker Glen Jackson, defensive back Larry Crawford, kicker Lui Passaglia.
* From between 1985 and 1994: Passaglia, quarterback Doug Flutie, offensive tackle Jim Mills and defensive back Andre Francis.
* From the 1994 Grey Cup: Passaglia, running back Sean Millington, slotback (a position that doesn't exist in U.S. football) Darren Flutie (Doug's brother), guard Jamie Taras.
* From the 2000 Grey Cup: Passaglia, and cornerback Eric Carter, still active at the time of the poll.
Lui Passaglia
The BC Lions Wall of Fame is located at Level 2 Inner Concourse, between Sections 10 and 11. In addition to the inaugural team of 1954, and the Grey Cup winners of 1985 and 1994, they've elected:
* From the 1950s, but not lasting until the 1964 Grey Cup: Team founders Annis Stukus and Victor Spencer.
* From the 1964 Grey Cup: Kapp, Fleming, Bailey, Hinton, Cacic, Brown, Fieldgate, Munsey, quarterback Dick Fouts (no relation to Dan), receiver Pat Claridge, receiver Sonny Homer, tight end Jim Carphin, offensive tackle Lonnie Dennis, defensive back Neal Beaumont, head coach Dave Skrien and general manager Herb Capozzi (later owner of the NHL's Canucks).
* From the 1970s: Young, quarterback Joe Paopao, tight end Lynn "Lefty" Hendrickson, linebacker Ray Nettles and head coach Vic Rapp (but not Holt, Fourqurean and Bright).
* From the 1985 Grey Cup: Wilson, Blain, Parker, Jackson, Passaglia, quarterback Roy Dewalt, running back John Henry White and linebacker Tyrone Crews (but not Klassen, Hebeler or Crawford).
* From between 1985 and 1994: Passaglia, Mills and defensive end Mack Moore (but not Doug Flutie or Francis).
* From the 1994 Grey Cup: Passaglia (but not Darren Flutie, Millington or Taras).
* From the 2000 Grey Cup: Passaglia (but not including Carter).
* Spanning the eras: Team presidents Paul Higgins, Don Mackenzie, Allan McEachern and Ron Jones, executive Jack Farley, team doctor Ken Appleby, trainer Roy Cavallin (also a star lacrosse player), equipment manager Creighton O'Malley and publicist Bill Clancy.
Members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame from the Lions include:
* From the 1950s, but not lasting until the 1964 Grey Cup: Stukus, Spencer, Harry Spring and Bob Ackles.
* From the 1964 Grey Cup: Kapp, Fleming, Bailey, Hinton, Brown, Fieldgate, and offensive tackle Bill Frank.
* From the 1970s: Young, Nettles, and head coach Eagle Keys -- apparently, that was his entire real name.
* From the 1985 Grey Cup: Wilson, Parker, Passaglia and Matthews.
* From between 1985 and 1994: Passaglia and Mills.
* From the 1994 Grey Cup: Passaglia, quarterback Danny McManus and defensive back Less Browne.
* From the 2000 Grey Cup: Passaglia, quarterback Damon Allen and owner David Braley.
* From the 2006 Grey Cup: Braley, head coach and general manager Wally Buono, administrator Bob O'Billovich, quarterback Dave Dickenson and slotback Geroy Simon.
* From the 2011 Grey Cup: So far, just Braley, Buono and Simon.
Geroy Simon
In 2006, TSN (The Sports Network, Canada's version of ESPN) named the Top 50 CFL Players. Fron the Lions, they named both Fluties (Doug at 1 and Darren at 50), Damon Allen (14), James Parker (21), Less Browne (23), Lui Passaglia (30), Mervyn Fernandez (42) and Bill Frank (49).
Two Heisman Trophy-winner quarterbacks have played for the Lions. In addition to Flutie, the 1984 winner at Boston College, with the Lions in 1990 and 1991, Andre Ware, the 1989 winner at the University of Houston, played for them in 1996.
Stuff. There are 4 retail locations situated within Level 2 of the concourse inside the stadium. However, as they are inside the stadium, they are only open on gamedays.
There aren't many books about the team. John Wirtanen wrote Thrown to the Lions: The B.C. Lions In Empire Stadium (1954-1982). There's a DVD, CFL Traditions: BC Lions, but it only goes up to 2003.
Current Lions quarterback Jonathon Jennings.
Note the helmet design now resembles that
of the USFL's Michigan Panthers.
During the Game. You're a visitor, and you're not rooting for the Lions' putative rivals: The Alberta teams, the Calgary Stampeders and the Edmonton Eskimos; the capital's team, the Ottawa Redblacks; or the team in the biggest city, the media center (or centre), the Toronto Argonauts. They won't give you a hard time.
Michelle Schultz, singing the National Anthem
for the Vancouver Stealth
Michelle Schultz, a Canadian country singer, is the regular singer of "O, Canada" for the Lions. She has also sung for the Canucks and for pro lacrosse's Vancouver Stealth. Their mascot is Leo the Lion.
The King of the Jungle needs a Queen, right?
The stadium is in downtown Vancouver, so there will be places to go after the game. I don't know of any place that is a known hangout for visiting or expatriate New Yorkers. The International Village Mall is 2 blocks north of the arena, at Abbott Street and Keefer Place. However, since the game starts at 7:00 Pacific Time, and should end at around 9:00, the mall will soon be closing.
Doolin's Irish Pub, at 654 Nelson Street, is the official pub partner of the Vancouver Southsiders, a Whitecaps supporters group. Since this won't be a Whitecaps matchday, a visit shouldn't be a problem. Around the corner from Doolin's, at 932 Granville Street, is another partnered place, The Roxy.
If your visit to Vancouver (for a Whitecaps game, a Canucks game, a Lions game, or anything else) is during the European soccer season (which is now in the off-season, but will start up again in mid-August), your best bet is probably the Library Square Public House, 300 W. Georgia Street, 4 blocks west of the stadium.
Sidelights. Vancouver has been a big sports city since Canada's dawn, and these are some of the other places you should see, to get a feel for it:
* Rogers Arena: Across Georgia Street from BC Place, the official address is 800 Griffiths Way. It was named for Frank Griffiths, the media mogul who owned the team from 1974 until his death in 1994 and funded the Arena. The actual streets around it are Expo Blvd. to the west and north (separate by the elevated Dunsmuir Viaduct), Abbott Street to the east and Georgia Street to the south. Like BC Place, the Arena can be reached by SkyTrain at Stadium-Chinatown station.
The NBA's expansion Vancouver Grizzlies played there from 1995 to 2001, but never caught on, and moved to Memphis. As the NBA's only remaining Canadian team, the Toronto Raptors play a preseason game there every year. The Arena is Vancouver's main concert venue, as was the Canucks' previous home, the Pacific Coliseum. Neither Elvis Presley nor the Beatles ever performed in Vancouver.
With the Grizzlies and the Seattle SuperSonics both gone, the closest NBA team to Vancouver is the Portland Trail Blazers, 314 miles away. But according to an article in the May 12, 2014 New York Times, the most popular NBA team in Vancouver is easily the Los Angeles Lakers, well ahead of runners-up the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls.
* Pacific National Exhibition. This was the home of Vancouver sports from the 1950s to the 1990s. The building here that is best known to Americans, because of their NHL viewing, is the Pacific Coliseum. Opening in 1968, it was the last home of the Western Hockey League's Canucks (1968-70), the 1st home of the NHL Canucks (1970-95), and the home of the World Hockey Association's Vancouver Blazers (1973-75).
The PNE grounds are also home to the Vancouver Forum, a 1931-built arena that was home to the minor-league Canucks from 1938 to 1968. It has remained a concert hall, although in 2007, fans at a Smashing Pumpkins concert took the band's name too literally, and a fan died in the mosh pit.
The Hastings Racecourse, a thoroughbred horse venue, and Playland Amusement Park are also on the grounds. 100 N. Renfrew Street at Miller Drive, on the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition. Number 4 bus.
* Swangard Stadium. Vancouver Sun sportswriter Erwin Swangard wanted a stadium for the suburb of Burnaby. William Andrew Cecil Bennett -- a.k.a. Cecil, CeCe, W.A.C. or "Wacky," the longest-serving Premier (think "Governor") of the Province of British Columbia, made it happen, and dedicated the 5,288-seat facility in 1969, naming it for Swangard.
From 1987 to 2010, it was home to the team that became today's Whitecaps, known as the Vancouver 86ers until 2000. Much of the current Whitecap fan culture began there, before their 2011 promotion to MLS. 3883 Imperial Street in Burnaby. Bus 996 or 999.
The Canadian Premier League, an attempt at a top-flight soccer league for the country, was founded in mid-2017, with the hopes of beginning play in Spring 2018. There is now a plan for a stadium in nearby Surrey, but that team probably won't take many fans away from the Whitecaps.
UPDATE: The league moved its starting date back to Spring 2019. Pacific FC will play at Westhills Stadium in Langford, which will be expanded to 8,000 seats. 1089 Langford Parkway, 9 miles west of downtown Victoria (Bus 50), and 76 miles southwest of downtown Vancouver.
* Thunderbird Stadium. Opened in 1967, this is the home field for the University of British Columbia. Founded as the Western Canada extension of Montreal's McGill University, UBC's main campus is at the western edge of Vancouver Island, about 6 1/2 miles west of downtown. They and the aforementioned Simon Fraser University (SFU) are local arch-rivals.
UBC has won the Vanier Cup in 1982, 1986, 1997 and 2015. Their hockey team, however, has won no major trophies. 6288 Stadium Road. Bus 14.
* Denman Arena site. Built by the Patrick brothers in 1911, this 10,500-seat arena was the largest in Canada at the time. The Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Vancouver Millionaires played here until 1926, winning the 1915 Stanley Cup. When the PCHA folded, the Vancouver Lions of the Northwest Hockey League took over in 1928, and played here until 1936. It was also home to a women's hockey team, the Vancouver Amazons.
* Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. Home to Vancouver baseball since 1951, and originally known as Capilano Stadium, in 1978 it was renamed for Bailey, a local restaurateur and civic booster. Scotiabank bought naming rights in 2010. It seats only 6,013, so it's small even by Triple-A standards. But it has the old-time look, complete with support poles holding up an overhanging roof.
The stadium was built by Emil Sick, who also built the ballpark of the Pacific Coast League's Seattle Rainiers, which would later be home to the ill-fated Seattle Pilots of the American League. The Vancouver Mounties would play PCL ball there from 1956 to 1969, and would finish as they began, as a Seattle farm club.
The city would be without professional baseball until 1978, when the Vancouver Canadians joined the PCL. They won Pennants in 1985, 1989 and 1999. But in 2000, right after winning the Pennant, they were moved to Sacramento, and were replaced by a new Canadians team, in the Northwest League, a short-season Class A league like the New York-Penn League that includes the Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones.
By 2011, they were the only affiliated minor-league baseball team in Canada (all the others are now in independent leagues), and became, perhaps appropriately, a farm club of the country's only remaining major league team, the Toronto Blue Jays. They won Pennants in 2011, 2012 and 2013. In 2015, they had a pitcher named Tyler Burden -- not Tyler Durden. 4601 Ontario Street at 30th Avenue, in Queen Elizabeth Park. Number 3 bus.
The closest MLB team to Vancouver is the Seattle Mariners, 144 miles away. In spite of this, national pride is still the determining factor: According to a Vancouver Sun poll on April 2, 2015 -- before the Jays made the Playoffs for the 1st time in 22 years -- the Jays are easily the area's favorite baseball team, with a 56 percent share of the market, to the Mariners' 13.
If Vancouver were to pursue teams in the sports they do not currently have at the major league level, they would rank 28th in population in MLB, ahead of only Kansas City, Cincinnati and Milwaukee; and 24th in the NBA.
* Museum of Vancouver and Vancouver Maritime Museum. Montreal has Pointe-à-Callière, Toronto has Fort York, and Vancouver has the MOV and the VMM. The MOV is the largest civic museum in Canada, and shares facilities with the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. And while it was founded as a Gold Rush town and a railroad terminus, the VMM shows that there's no escaping that Vancouver is a port city. 1100 Chestnut Street at McNicoll Avenue, in Vanier Park. Number 2 bus.
By 2011, they were the only affiliated minor-league baseball team in Canada (all the others are now in independent leagues), and became, perhaps appropriately, a farm club of the country's only remaining major league team, the Toronto Blue Jays. They won Pennants in 2011, 2012 and 2013. In 2015, they had a pitcher named Tyler Burden -- not Tyler Durden. 4601 Ontario Street at 30th Avenue, in Queen Elizabeth Park. Number 3 bus.
The closest MLB team to Vancouver is the Seattle Mariners, 144 miles away. In spite of this, national pride is still the determining factor: According to a Vancouver Sun poll on April 2, 2015 -- before the Jays made the Playoffs for the 1st time in 22 years -- the Jays are easily the area's favorite baseball team, with a 56 percent share of the market, to the Mariners' 13.
If Vancouver were to pursue teams in the sports they do not currently have at the major league level, they would rank 28th in population in MLB, ahead of only Kansas City, Cincinnati and Milwaukee; and 24th in the NBA.
* Museum of Vancouver and Vancouver Maritime Museum. Montreal has Pointe-à-Callière, Toronto has Fort York, and Vancouver has the MOV and the VMM. The MOV is the largest civic museum in Canada, and shares facilities with the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. And while it was founded as a Gold Rush town and a railroad terminus, the VMM shows that there's no escaping that Vancouver is a port city. 1100 Chestnut Street at McNicoll Avenue, in Vanier Park. Number 2 bus.
* Science World at TELUS World of Science. This is the glass sphere seen in so many photos of Vancouver. 1455 Quebec Street at Terminal Avenue. Main Street-Science World station on SkyTrain.
There's also the Forbidden Vancouver Tour, which takes visitors to naughty sites in Gastown, and places that sent booze to America during Prohibition (and took in Americans looking for a drink, as the border is 31 miles from downtown Vancouver, further than Windsor but closer than Montreal or Toronto). Cathedral Square, Dunsmuir and Richards Streets. Granville station on SkyTrain.
The only one of Canada's 23 Prime Ministers to have come from British Columbia is Vancouver native Kim Campbell, the 1st female head of government in North American history -- unless you want to go back to, and count, Queen Anne in the early 18th Century, before either the U.S. or Canada gained independence from Britain. Campbell served for just 4 months in 1993, after the resignation of Brian Mulroney and before the ensuing election, for which he let her take the fall. She is still alive, so there is no historic site in her honor.
* Victoria. The capital of the Province of British Columbia, and the home of the 1925 Victoria Cougars, the last team from outside the NHL to win the Stanley Cup, and the last B.C. team to win it, is 72 miles southwest of Vancouver, 106 miles northwest of Seattle, and 25 miles from the closest border crossing, the ferry from Port Angeles, Washington. From both Vancouver and Seattle, it can be reached without a car, but, in each case, you'd need to take a bus and a ferry, since, like Vancouver, it's on an island.
It's not a very big city, home to around 80,000 people, which is why it's never had an NHL team. But, like Edmonton over Calgary, it is Victoria, not Vancouver, that is the Provincial capital. It is the hometown of basketball star Steve Nash (grew up there after immigrating with his family from South Africa) and singer Nelly Furtado (who, in her song "Promiscuous," asked collaborator Timbaland, "Is your game MVP like Steve Nash?").
If you're just that much of a hockey history fan, and want to see where this legendary team played -- Game 2 of the 1925 Finals against the Montreal Canadiens was played at Denman in Vancouver, but Games 1, 3 and 4 were played in Victoria -- the Patrick Arena, also built by the Patrick brothers in 1911 (and, suspiciously, also destroyed by fire, in 1929), was at what's now 2100 Cadboro Bay Road, at the corner of Epworth Street, about 2 miles east of downtown.
A replacement, the Victoria Memorial Arena, a.k.a. The Barn on Blanshard, was built in 1949, hosted 2 new teams called the Victoria Cougars, and a Victoria Maple Leafs in between and (I swear, I'm not making this up) the Victoria Salsa afterward.
This time, it was legally demolished, because it was cheaper to build a new arena on the site from scratch than to maintain the old one. The new one is named the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, seats 7,000, and hosts the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL (whose official name is now just those letters, "ECHL," because it would be stupid to call yourself the East Coast Hockey League and have a team on the West Coast of Canada). 1925 Blanshard Street, corner of Caledonia Street downtown.
The tallest building in Vancouver, and in the Province of British Columbia, is an apartment tower called Living Shangri-La, 659 feet tall. 1128 West Georgia Street at Thurlow Street. Burrard station on SkyTrain.
Nearby, at 355 Burrard Street, is the Marine Building, which stood in for the Daily Planet Building on Smallville, the recent re-imagining of the Superman story. Due to Canada's tax breaks for film studios, Vancouver has become the country's Hollywood. Other TV shows filmed there include Airwolf, MacGyver, 21 Jump Street, The Commish, The X-Files, the Stargate series, Dark Angel, Seven Days, Highlander, The L Word, The 4400, Eureka, Fringe, Psych, Arrow and Once Upon a Time.
Movies filmed in Vancouver include First Blood (the 1st Rambo film), The Accused, Legends of the Fall, Intersection, Jumanji, the Air Bud films, the Blade films, the Scary Movie films, the Final Destination films, the previous round of Fantastic Four films, the Night at the Museum films, the Percy Jackson films, Timecop, Titanic, Van Wilder, Juno, 2012, Hot Tub Time Machine, Watchmen, the execrable Twilight films, and the Superman reboots Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. (Those did not use the Marine Building to stand in for the Daily Planet.)
*
Vancouver is Western Canada's leading city, and a West Coast gem fully able to stand alongside Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. And it has a strong sports heritage, including the BC Lions. It's well worth a visit by a professional football fan, even if it's 3 downs, 110 yards, 25-yards-deep end zones, and 12 men on the field.
There's also the Forbidden Vancouver Tour, which takes visitors to naughty sites in Gastown, and places that sent booze to America during Prohibition (and took in Americans looking for a drink, as the border is 31 miles from downtown Vancouver, further than Windsor but closer than Montreal or Toronto). Cathedral Square, Dunsmuir and Richards Streets. Granville station on SkyTrain.
The only one of Canada's 23 Prime Ministers to have come from British Columbia is Vancouver native Kim Campbell, the 1st female head of government in North American history -- unless you want to go back to, and count, Queen Anne in the early 18th Century, before either the U.S. or Canada gained independence from Britain. Campbell served for just 4 months in 1993, after the resignation of Brian Mulroney and before the ensuing election, for which he let her take the fall. She is still alive, so there is no historic site in her honor.
* Victoria. The capital of the Province of British Columbia, and the home of the 1925 Victoria Cougars, the last team from outside the NHL to win the Stanley Cup, and the last B.C. team to win it, is 72 miles southwest of Vancouver, 106 miles northwest of Seattle, and 25 miles from the closest border crossing, the ferry from Port Angeles, Washington. From both Vancouver and Seattle, it can be reached without a car, but, in each case, you'd need to take a bus and a ferry, since, like Vancouver, it's on an island.
The British Columbia Parliament Building in Vancouver
It's not a very big city, home to around 80,000 people, which is why it's never had an NHL team. But, like Edmonton over Calgary, it is Victoria, not Vancouver, that is the Provincial capital. It is the hometown of basketball star Steve Nash (grew up there after immigrating with his family from South Africa) and singer Nelly Furtado (who, in her song "Promiscuous," asked collaborator Timbaland, "Is your game MVP like Steve Nash?").
If you're just that much of a hockey history fan, and want to see where this legendary team played -- Game 2 of the 1925 Finals against the Montreal Canadiens was played at Denman in Vancouver, but Games 1, 3 and 4 were played in Victoria -- the Patrick Arena, also built by the Patrick brothers in 1911 (and, suspiciously, also destroyed by fire, in 1929), was at what's now 2100 Cadboro Bay Road, at the corner of Epworth Street, about 2 miles east of downtown.
This time, it was legally demolished, because it was cheaper to build a new arena on the site from scratch than to maintain the old one. The new one is named the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, seats 7,000, and hosts the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL (whose official name is now just those letters, "ECHL," because it would be stupid to call yourself the East Coast Hockey League and have a team on the West Coast of Canada). 1925 Blanshard Street, corner of Caledonia Street downtown.
The Barn on Blanshard, and its replacement on the same site
The tallest building in Vancouver, and in the Province of British Columbia, is an apartment tower called Living Shangri-La, 659 feet tall. 1128 West Georgia Street at Thurlow Street. Burrard station on SkyTrain.
Nearby, at 355 Burrard Street, is the Marine Building, which stood in for the Daily Planet Building on Smallville, the recent re-imagining of the Superman story. Due to Canada's tax breaks for film studios, Vancouver has become the country's Hollywood. Other TV shows filmed there include Airwolf, MacGyver, 21 Jump Street, The Commish, The X-Files, the Stargate series, Dark Angel, Seven Days, Highlander, The L Word, The 4400, Eureka, Fringe, Psych, Arrow and Once Upon a Time.
Movies filmed in Vancouver include First Blood (the 1st Rambo film), The Accused, Legends of the Fall, Intersection, Jumanji, the Air Bud films, the Blade films, the Scary Movie films, the Final Destination films, the previous round of Fantastic Four films, the Night at the Museum films, the Percy Jackson films, Timecop, Titanic, Van Wilder, Juno, 2012, Hot Tub Time Machine, Watchmen, the execrable Twilight films, and the Superman reboots Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. (Those did not use the Marine Building to stand in for the Daily Planet.)
*
Vancouver is Western Canada's leading city, and a West Coast gem fully able to stand alongside Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. And it has a strong sports heritage, including the BC Lions. It's well worth a visit by a professional football fan, even if it's 3 downs, 110 yards, 25-yards-deep end zones, and 12 men on the field.
Mike I just discovered your Blog after doing an Internet search for Harry Holt after hearing some discussion this morning about Torry Holt on the NFL Network. I’m amazed and flabbergasted by the width and the depth of your blog. I found a reference to Harry Holt on your “How to go to a BC Lions game.”. I lived in Vancouver for 20 years, but could not write as knowledgeably about the City as you have. I was a big fan of the Lions, Canucks and Whitecaps and attended many games in the Empire Stadium, BC Place, Swangard Stadium and the Pacific Colliseum. Ironically I never got to Rogers Arena as I moved to Toronto to work for Ted Rogers as President of his Cell Phone Company. Martin Keown of Arsenal fame is my cousin and I talk to him frequently, both being born in Oxford England, though I’m a Spurs fan. Sorry. My claim to Sports fame is that while I was in Toronto the Blue Jays won two World Series. I then moved to Silicon Valley and Giants won two also. And in 2013 we moved to Houston in 2013 and guess what the Astros did. You are true sporting Renaissance Man and I hope this message reaches you. I couldn’t find an email for you on the blog. You can reach me on mmullagh@gmail.com or text me on 408 921 6663. PS I sp3nt three summers in Queens as a college student working at JFK so loved your last sentence in your blog description.
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