VANCOUVER - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 52

1912, the Chinese consortium that owned the lot decided to proceed with its planned build-
ing, but simply made it narrower than first conceived. The result is a building 1.8 meters
(approximately six feet) wide, noted in the Guinness Book of Records as the “narrowest
building in the world.”
FALSE CREEK
False Creek, the narrow tidal inlet that almost cuts downtown off from the rest of the city,
has undergone enormous changes over the last four decades and is now a bona fide tourist
attraction. In the 1920s the waterway and surrounding land were Vancouver's main indus-
trial area, home to railway yards, sawmills, processing plants, wharves, and warehouses,
but by the 1970s had been all but abandoned and were in desperate need of a facelift. The
head of False Creek was transformed for Expo '86 with the construction of the Plaza of Na-
tions (which held the Expo's BC Pavilion) and the Expo headquarters, now Science World.
The Expo spurred further changes, including a waterfront path that made it possible to walk
or cycle between downtown and Granville Island. In the ensuing years, much of the land
was rezoned, allowing for the construction of modern inner-city apartment complexes. The
first of these was built along the south shore, in suburban Fairview. The most recent major
construction phase was the lead-up to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, when the Athletes'
Village was built on the southeast corner of False Creek (the village has since been conver-
ted to 1,000 units of residential housing). The precinct is home to a public plaza, gardens,
and artificially constructed Habitat Island, which has been planted with native species.
BC Place Stadium
As host of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the
55,000-seat BC Place Stadium (777 Pacific Blvd., 604/669-2300) was seen by an audi-
ence of billions. Today, it comes alive for home games of the BC Lions, one of the Cana-
dian Football League teams, and is the venue for major trade shows, concerts, and other big
events.
Science World
The impressive, 17-story-high, geodesic-shaped silver dome (it's best known locally as “the
golf ball”) stands above the waters of False Creek on the southeast side of city center. Built
as the Expo Preview Centre for Expo '86, it later housed restaurants, shops, and the world's
largest Omnimax theater for a time. Today the Vancouver landmark is home to Science
World (1455 Quebec St., 604/443-7440, 10am-6pm daily, adult $23, senior or student $19,
child $15), a museum providing exhibitions that “introduce the world of science to the