Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
KITSILANO: WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Kitsilano was named after
Chief Khatsahlano
, leader of the First Nations village
of Sun'ahk, which occupied the area now designated as Vanier Park. In 1901 the
local government displaced the entire community, sending some families to the
Capilano Indian Reserve on the North Shore and others to Squamish. The first
Kits streetcar service in 1905 triggered an explosion of housing development, but
by the 1960s many of these homes had been converted for university students,
sparking the 'beatnik ghetto' that soon defined Kits. Fueled by pungent BC bud,
counterculture political movements mushroomed - including a little group of an-
tinuclear protesters that a few years later became Greenpeace. But Khatsahlano
has not been completely forgotten: every July, the neighborhood's biggest com-
munity festival is a day-long street party with 50 live bands. The area's most pop-
ular (and well-attended) event, it's called the
Khatsahlano! Music + Art Festival
. For details see
www.khatsahlano.com
.
BISHOP'S
WEST COAST
$$$
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
(
604-738-2025;
www.bishopsonline.com
;
2183 W 4th Ave; mains $32-44;
5:30-11pm;
4)
A pioneer of West Coast cuisine long before 'locavore' was a word, legendary chef-
owner John Bishop is still at the top of his game in this small, art-lined charmer. Served
in an elegant white-tableclothed room, the seasonally changing menu can include
stuffed rabbit loin, steamed smoked sablefish and succulent veggies that taste like
they've just been plucked from the ground.
The service here is pitch-perfect, so stay a little longer and indulge in dessert: if
you're lucky, it'll be sweet fried fig empanada with brown sugar ice cream. And look
out for the man himself: he'll almost certainly drop by your table to say hi.
