I moved to Vancouver in August 1986 to take a job at Expo 86. I was 21 years old and paid $4 an hour to work in a souvenir store. This was actually 35 cents above minimum wage. I felt like I was living the high life. I quit a week later after being moved to a shift that ended at midnight (I was young and temperamental) but after thinking about heading back to the island I ultimately decided to stay.
Thirty years later and I’m still here (I’m in New Westminster as I write this, so technically outside of Vancouver proper but still in the ephemeral area known as the Lower Mainland). A few things have changed. Prices, for example. Observe!
- 1986: one zone transit fare is $1.15
- 2016: one zone transit fare is $2.75
- 1986: one-zone monthly pass is $46
- 2016: one-zone monthly pass is $91
The rent for my first bachelor apartment in downtown Vancouver was $330 per month. This seems like make-believe now, the kind of thing you tell kids and they laugh and say, “LOL, you and your crazy stories, Gramps!”
Today I walked along Robson Street for the first time in quite awhile. Some things haven’t changed–the London Drugs that was there in 1986 is still there now. Earls is still above it. The dueling Starbucks at Robson and Thurlow have been reduced to a single store–but not to worry, several others have sprung up along the strip to compensate.
The original Vancouver Public Library at Robson and Burrard has changed hands a few times, starting as a Virgin Megastore then changing to an HMV before music as physical media finally and truly died. It is now a giant Victoria’s Secret store. Where once people sought knowledge and enlightenment they now seek lacy lingerie.
An old building on Thurlow that once housed a McDonald’s has been replaced by an edifice featuring Versace. This pretty much sums up downtown now. Tony, expensive. Dull.
And crowded, as there are only three shopping days left before Christmas.
I headed over to Nelson Street to see if the old Beverly apartment building, one of the first places I lived in (circa 1987-88) was still standing–and it is! I am actually a little surprised because with real estate downtown being mega-super-insanely expensive, I would have thought this dumpy little walk-up–that my drunk landlord tried to burn to the ground one night–would be long gone.
It even looks better now than it did back then. In 1988 it was painted a much darker brown and looked like a big square poo. This is definitely a step up. Rent is probably $1500 a month now.
By this time I was starting to get cold because it’s winter and winter is like that, so I headed to the warm climes of Pacific Centre mall. My brief, incomplete tour of downtown surprisingly didn’t leave me feeling nostalgic, probably due to a combination of the crowds, cold and so many shops and other places having been replaced. The streets are there, the layout is the same but it feels like a lot of what made the area what it was in 1988 is gone now. Maybe I’ll feel different if I go back in the summer. I’ll put that on my 2017 to-do list, assuming Trump doesn’t nuke the world first.
