Continuing on the tour, now at the 800-block Granville:
A few more weeks, and Granville will be up and running. But you’ll never see it like this again – before the lamp standards, trolley poles and trees go in. Remember, it used to look like this:
And now it looks more like the time when Herzog captured it, in the 1950s. I often wonder why people say that Vancouver has lost its past, having demolished so much, when in truth so much has stayed the same. Like the Commodore: 
My memory of this fabulous dance hall and music venue was the Empress’s Balls of the late 1970s. So yes, the music changes, but the sprung dance floor goes on to the beat of another generation.
Like this guy on the right. 
I think he captures the style of the moment – white shirt, vest, black jeans, with a rugged and stylish courier backpack, artfully slung over his back with accompanying helmet, as he texts into his 3G phone.
Will he and his friends make Granville Mall the place to be, to achieve what two generations of planners haven’t yet been able to pull off? Will a tamed Entertainment District and Allan Jacob’s modifed design for our Great White Way transform this complicated avenue?
Don’t know yet. Because no matter what the changes to the street itself, one things stays the same: the awful bridge at the southern end, an eight-lane overpass that cuts off the street from the water and takes away any reason to walk down that way.
So many attempts have failed to bring back Granville, for so many reasons. A mall that isn’t one thing or another, the undergrounding of Pacific Centre, the blank wall of the Urinal, unrealistic expectations and fractured property ownership, the reputation and social conditions. But we’ve added another 20,000 or so people on either side. One way or the other, Granville will reinvent itself. And this time, we may be surprised.
I feel the Granville St redesign is only the begining, when they remove the loops and build out the newly laid out South end and manage to proceed with the Hub project at the North end, connecting Granville with the Water on both ends and giving reason to walk to either end. Then we will truely see what Granville is destined to be.
Also, don’t forgot the upcoming Granville Loops Plan which will lead the way for the evebtual replacement of the highway-like loops for a proper, straight, urban street pattern and pedestrian access to False Creek.
There’s a block of Granville St closed to cars right now, but open to pedestrians. I want to pull out a lawn chair and hang out there all day long because I know very soon I’ll lose that space to the cars again. Right now it’s a lovely respite from the noise of constant traffic…. I wish we could keep it!
I think they shouldn’t put the trees up on Granville. It’s the only street in Vancouver that shouldn’t have them. When I first turned onto Granville street from Robson, after they cut down the trees, I felt like I had walked right into Herzog’s Vancouver of the 1950’s. Those big neon signs all the way down the street, the old buildings nearly untouched since they were photographed by Hertzog, it’s like a piece of heritage untouched by gentrification and Yaleification. With the trees the signs are hidden, the buildings are hidden, the heritage is hidden. So I vote for not hiding Vancouver’s history behind trees, keep the trees down on Granville street.
You articulated my thoughts exactly, Eric.
The flowering cherries in the 900 block were nice, but only for a few weeks per year, and the trees farther north grew way too tall imo…. Let’s leave the trees for West Broadway, and return Granville to its mid 20th century neon splendour.
Dave 2 (who would like to wander through a Leonard Frank photo of Granville in the 30s…where’s that holodeck?)
Ugh, trolley lines. I can’t wait till they blight the Granville mall once again. I really like intersections like Robson where they look like squid ink spaghetti criss-crossing every which way. Can’t we just retire the darned thing? Of course Translink keeps buying them.
And that parking concept – the sidewalks will seem really friendly when the cars are crammed up on them between the bollards. The renderings looked pretty in the concept drawings, but the reality will be disappointing.
It’s hard to believe. There must be no trees. The two highway ramps at the south end MUST be removed to allow further condo towers. It’s urban mercantalism cleverly camouflaged as a desire for a more “human” city. Orwell would have been impressed with this kind of thing.