Template talk:Vancouver neighbourhoods

When is a neighbourhood not a neighbourhood?
Hmm. When it's hyphenated I suppose. e.g. Dunbar-Southlands, which is two very different neighbourhoods but lumped together here as an "official" city neighbourhood; didn't check for "Alma" but it should be there....hmmm Mosquito Flats the city's marketing department got rid of a long time ago. I'll have to look at the list a little closer; but I do have my reservations about following city neighbourhood boundaries, which are bureaucratic creations which, as in Dunbar-Southlands, tie together two very different districts; I wouldn't consider someone living south of 41st, or 45th anyway, as being part of "Dunbar"; more like Southwest Marine Drive; and Southlands is ONLY the flat area south of the golf courses. Is Musqueam listed, btw?Skookum1 06:56, 12 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree, but for simplicity's sake we should probably stick to the City of Vancouver's official neighbourhoods map. That's what I think anyway, as they define the boundaries very clearly. -→ Buchanan-Hermit ™ / ?!  07:10, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
 * What about dead neighbourhoods? I was surprised to read the article on Little Italy saying that it no longer existed. That got me to thinking about other neighbourhoods that have either disappeared through metamorphosis, migration, or destruction by "the man." I added Hogan's Alley to the list, and would love to know what the heck Mosquito Flats refers to. Japantown aint what it was before the war, but that's covered. So my question is: should these be categorized separately somehow, or just integrated into what's already here?Bobanny 04:03, 23 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Further to all this, and noting I created English Bay Neighbourhood and Stanley Park Neighbourhood, which are not formally-designated (thought the Stanley Park Neighbourhood USED to be), I'm uncertain that Robsonstrasse/Robson Street should be on here as a "neighbourhood", whereas Commercial Drive, which is I think in Grandview-Woodlands, is in "other locations" but is defiitely a neighbourhood in the cultural/community sense (if not in teh city's nomenclature). Likewise the Granville Entertainment District; neither it or Robson are neighbourhoods in the sense of saying "I live in ...." whereas "the Drive" definitely is such a place.  I'm for moving Robson and the GED down to "other locations"; either that or change hte title of the first section to read "Downtown areas" rather tahn "Downtown neighbourhoods".  "Downtown South" is a term that got tossed around quite a bit back in the '90s/'80s - did it never get "enshrined"?  It would be south of Robson to False Creek and east of Burrard to Homer; the GED is part of it, but nobody says "I live in the Granville Entertainment District".Skookum1 (talk) 19:48, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Mosquito Flats aka Malaria Flats is the southern part of what the city calls Kitsilano, south of maybe 10th up to King Ed or so, from the foot of the hill below Arbutus over to Alma/Dunbar....a vast, festering mosquito swamp, hence the malarial associations....I learned from a Kerrisdale old-guard establishment type....I think it's in Chuck Davis' book and also in P. MacDonald's "Historical Atlas of Vancouver"Skookum1 (talk) 19:51, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Is New Brighton/Hastings on here? Like Hogan's Alley it no longer exists, though at least its name(s) are preseved (New Brighton Park and Hastings Park - which was named not because of the street but because it was at Hastings, B.I., which was teh postal address for New Brighton.Skookum1 (talk) 19:52, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

South Main
I'd like to contest the inclusion of South Main as an area on the VancouverNeighbourhoods template. Speaking as someone who actually lives in the neighbourhood, I can tell you that no one refers to it with that name - it is only a marketing gimmick, and as such does not deserve recoginition in this template. The irony is, it's not even in the south of Main area, it's more like middle Main, but that's besides the point... it is a name recently created by entrepreneurs, and perhaps deserves an article (that is questionable) but definitely not official recognition. Themindset 05:00, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I share your cynicism, but don't think south main is particularly exceptional. Shaughnessy was entirely a creation of the CPR to make money, but its still a geographic entity, and even Commercial Drive is called that for a reason. That said, I'm not stuck on the issue. Perhaps we should probably work to some kind of consensus for categorizing neighbourhoods, since others on wikivan have commented on the issue for various areas. I don't think authentic versus inauthentic works though, since even dubious neighbourhoods have currency and need to be listed. Also note that the template has "main" neighbourhoods and "other areas" I believe because it was decided to defer to city hall for official recognition.Bobanny 06:55, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
 * True, authenticity of origin is not critical, but currency is. And, currently, SoMa or (South Main) is not used by residents of the area, and it's basically a neogistic geographic term. Perhaps if the name existed for 5+ years and was used by people in the area it should be listed - but I think for now it shouldn't. Themindset 16:53, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Koreatown, Vancouver??
I removed that and have my doubts about its validity at all; nobody except Korean promoters use that term, and if ever at all it's used to mean the North & Lougheed area, which is Coquitlam/Burnaby, or other areas in the 'burbs". How this article got written when Robsonstrasse doesn't have an article yet is a sign of the ethnic supplantation and "synthetic culture" in the city's history/culture/identity.  I can't see calling Koreatown a neighbourhood; it's a promotional concept.

Stanley Park Neighbourhood
I moved the Stanley Park link to the downtown peninsula section, where it should have been from the start; but IIRC even in the city's own reckoning the Stanley Park Neigbhourhood (Denman to Lost Lagoon/Ceperly Park) is a bona fide neighbourhood; "Robson" is how most people who live alongside or adjacent to Robstonstrasse would described their neighbourhood - maybe - but given Davie Village it's not like that's the only neighbouhood in the West End; Denman is its own neighbourhood also, but I suppose could ber included in a Stanley Park Neighbourhood article.....Victory Square I moved to the main downtown peninsula area - the isthmus is Carrall Street, which also happens to be the E-W 000 block; even in city reckonings the DTE starts at Cambie, not Homer or Richards; I lived in the 300 Block West Hastings and we never considered it DTE, nor do DTE'ers; and the merchants in that area would be mortified to be put into the DTE; so moved accordingly.Skookum1 (talk) 13:47, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

New format
I was the person who set up the new format. I am sorry if I stepped on your toes. If you do not like it you have my support to reformat it. The reason I set it up like this, is that the old list was mixing all kinds of locations, ie neighborhoods, streets, locations, parks, together. This is frustrating for me, as I live here, but also made it really difficult to know where things are. I hope my changes were an improvement.

I tried to make the downtown and downtown eastside neighborhoods correspond to the city' own list. I put Victory Square in the downtown eastside only because the city's map: http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/commsvcs/planning/dtes/neighbourhoods.htm or http://z.about.com/d/gocanada/1/0/P/5/-/-/downtown_Eastside_Van.gif does this. I have no personal stake in it, but I suppose that wikipedia should follow the city's list.
 * I don't see why the government version of sociocultural reality should prevail; it's political/POV and it's clearly "westside" by being the 100-400 Block of West Hatings/Pender. I daresay the shops on hte 300 block of either, which are part of hte  neighbourhood, consider themselves such; yes, the "strip" starts on the yonder side of Cambie (likely a cite for that somewhere, in fact, it's so "marked" within the city's walkingscape) but the VFS and Domioion Building are defeinitely not part of the DTE.Skookum1 (talk) 04:54, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree that koreatown is not a neighborhood, I just didn't want to remove any items from the list until the new format was accepted. Stanley park also makes sense to put in the downtown peninsula, although I have doubts that neighborhood is the correct term.


 * See? In an older-era listing of city neighbourhoods, there was a Stnaley Park Neighbourhood, capital-N, and used in housing ads as such; "west of Denman", though not including Denman itself somehow.  Some areas have been rebranded, oldere names ahve vanished or been shoved aside in some cases, as hvve neighbourhods/communiteis; I won't go on, but "Stanley Park Neighbourhood" is probably even quite googleable in that form.  I put Stanley Park there just because of the name, not because it should go to that article; yes, it's part ofg the West End but so, ultimately, is Coal Harbour; or what was Coal Harbour before it got extended west to burrard.  Som e areas were just known by their intersection names, like 16th & Heather, long the core of what fraoncophone community/commerical life there was other than Maillardville.  Never an official neighbourhood; but still there.Skookum1 (talk) 04:54, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

I didn't know how to list other locations and streets, that are sub sections of the neighborhoods.

Anyway. University endowment lands are not in the city of vancouver, but since most people don't know that it might make sense to leave it there.

209.121.155.196 (talk) 01:56, 14 July 2008 (UTC)


 * That I definitely agree with, partly because there's nowhere else to template it; I suggest the addition of the various Skwxwu7mesh/Musqueam villages - or large former/important ones - Musqueam, Mahlie, Senakw, Xway-xway, another out at Jericho the correct name of which I can't remember just now. Commercial neighbourhoods - Business Improvement Areas or BIAs, might be a worthwhile list/set of articles; not as spam but "because they're tehre".  As a placename it has no validity except to Kkorean promoters; I'm thinking it should be deleted a a place that doesn't exist except as a promotioanal/real estate agenda.....Skookum1 (talk) 04:54, 14 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I have no problem to leave victory square in 'downtown'. I agree with you about the other things too. Anyway, if someone slicks on University Endowment Lands, they'll find out that it's unincorporated if they read the article so it's fine. Probably there should be a new category for the native communities if they will be added. However, should communities that no longer exist be in the list, or in another category maybe? I don't know. I guess that the Category:Neighbourhoods_in_Vancouver should be remade to be consistent with this list now.209.121.155.196 (talk) 20:32, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Downtown Vancouver/ Financial District
Looking at other major canadian cities, it seems like the template invoves some sort of "financial district/downtown" amalgamation.....why don't we have one? anyways, i will add downtown vancouver to the template, so feel free to discuss this with me. thanks. Kasperone (talk) 04:54, 25 February 2009 (UTC)