Lisa Brideau walks down Granville Street, and reflects:
As part of my route to/from work every day (via the Canada Line), I get to walk down Granville Street. You should pop over soon – they’ve had the blocks between Georgia and Smithe closed to traffic for quite some time now (while most construction is finished).
It’s a beautiful pedestrian oasis – a great preview of what Granville St COULD be, if we kept it closed to cars.
I can so easily imagine cafes spilling out, benches on the sidewalks, etc. Even the block with Sears and its dead frontage could be a great space for vendors to set up, creating much-needed vending space. So many possibilities.
I’m enjoying having two blocks to stroll down without the deafening blood-pressure-raising sound of traffic. One day it will go away, I know, but maybe it will return again?
I was walking down Granville last Saturday evening and it also ocurred to me what a wasted opportunity the Sears frontage is.
It is like a relic to an unfulfilled vision for the city, holding on to its very last breath before the inevitable upgrade/refurbishment. The people of Vancouver deserve something better to look at when using Granville either for commuting or pleasure.
In fact, I doubt this would happen but why not knock down the entire building a make the block into a public square. The one thing I find missing in Vancouver is a grand public space right in the heart of the city. Something like Federation Square in Melbourne would really make a big statement.
The dead space in front of Sears would be an incredible spot for a line of food carts. Portland has an extremely popular row of food carts in their downtown. Initially they feared it would steal business from restaurants, but what they found is people were far more likely to stay in downtown over lunch hour and after work since they had a choice of eating options at all price ranges. Throw some benches in and it would become a fantastic spot. Here is the portland food cart website for reference : http://foodcartsportland.com/
doesn’t have to just be food carts: what about a farmers market space where you could nip down on your lunch break and buy veggies for dinner, or having other vendors spot? That could be done for next to nothing.
I don’t recall the Granville Mall ever being very loud from the traffic. Among the buses that ran down the street, only one, the 50, was not a trolley bus.
I think having cafe’s, restaurants, bars, with patio’s/sidewalk seating that stay open on nice summer nights past 11, etc along Granville would be a great idea. I don’t know whose idea it was to have almost exclusively retail north of Smithe, especially the Sears, but it’s a terrible one since it forces everyone who isn’t just passing through inside and chokes off all life along the street.
For a pedestrian mall to work there needs to be a lot of foot traffic and it needs to be a “happening” place. So that could also mean street entertainment, and by that I don’t mean bums with funny signs.
I think a lot of the problems with Granville are exacerbated by the stupid municipal policies on the “entertainment” district south of Smithe. It’s terrible because nearly all of the late night clubs in Metro Vancouver are concentrated into that area. But if the city where to address that, by allowing more dispersal of these late night clubs to other parts of the city, and increasing the quantity of patio/sidewalk-oriented restaurants, cafe’s and bars they’d really improve the quality of Granville. I think they really ought to take a look at Rue Prince Arthur in Montreal to get an idea of how to properly “build” a pedestrian mall.
Random comments:
Agreed that the trolleys on Granville were not noisy. Perhaps its the physical presence of a rather tall bus that isn’t liked – but you’re in an urban environment. There are so many places so close to downtown (i.e. seawall) where you can find tranquillity. A city street devoid of hussle and bussle (from a variety of sources) is a city street that isn’t successful. From comments I’ve heard, people seem to like the street more without its trees (harking back to the days when Hertzog took his pics) than with the trees (but the trees will be back – it’s to be seen how long before a number die or are machete’d).
The Art Gallery lawn (currently in rough shape due to overuse) and Robson Square provide ample assembly areas on the next block beside Sears. There has also been a redevelopment rumoured with the construction of an office tower on the site (in the middle of the block away from the Granville view cone and away from Howe away from the Robson Square precinct height limit). I think that much of the blank Granville wall of Sears also hides emergency exits and staircases. Back when it was Eaton’s (the orginal, not the Sears version) there was a plan to open up the Robson frontage with boutique stores, but that plan died – that’s why the horizontal former display windows are no longer display windows (the rooms behind them were removed in anticipation of the renovation, but when plans were cancelled, they became non-functional (the blacked out display windows really detract from the look of the building)). The Sears version renovation could also have been done in a much more modernist-sympathetic manner (rather than the suburban big-boxification that occurred at the corners).
Night clubs were moved from Downtown South away from residents, but I don’t see why they can’t be noved into the CBD. However, the clubs that have tried seem to fail. i.e. the site at Oceanic Plaza (can’t recall the name (Ocean Club?), there awas a shooting there) and the site in the former Hard Rock Cafe location on Hastings (Luce, 686, Pop Opera).
“In fact, I doubt this would happen but why not knock down the entire building a make the block into a public square. The one thing I find missing in Vancouver is a grand public space right in the heart of the city.”
Chris, if you look back through some of the recent “Where’s the Square” competition entries there were a number of schemes that did exactly as you suggest – to do away with the building and construct a plaza. Could be a great space, especially one that draws from the revitalized pedestrian energy of Granville Street…
No trees on Granville from Robson to the Bridge? I love it. Wow, it looks great! Every other street has trees, can we please have one street (Granville) without trees?
PS. I was a tree planter for 5 years.
Hi real_urbanist. Thanks for the heads up re: “Where’s the Square” competition. Will look it up. I have visions of open-air ice skating in winter and produce markets and free concerts in summer. That would be awesome I think and no doubt a boon for inner-city businesses as well.
I would love Granville to be pedestrian only, and I really don’t understand any reason why it isn’t. When there’s an event the city seems to think the pedestrian mall is a great idea; on Friday and Saturday nights Granville is shut down to traffic and the entire street comes alive. In the summer there were a couple of weekends when the entire street was closed to cars for concerts and displays. Granville street works so well as pedestrians only for events but I think the spirit of it would be viable year round. And what would we lose? Who commutes down Granville? let alone actually finds a parking spot.
I also think Water St. should be turned in to a pedestrian mall (though mind you I am biased, i don’t own a car)
I don’t agree with Christian Dahlberg at all. I think the replanting trees would be a very major plus for this or any other street. The old pictures of Granville with traffic and neon and wires and poles, but no foliage, look nostalgic alright. However, I don’t think they are an appropriate model for a new more pedestrian oriented streetscape.
Where are the trees? Looks really bleak to me. I imagine because it’s built on slab, they can’t plant anything?
It will be ped only during the Olympics from Davie to Hastings. Hopefully, the city will decide to keep it car-free after the Olympics. It would be very dishonest to invite the world, show them this great pedestrian street and then when they return on their next trip, imagine their disappointment when it is clogged with cars.
Does nobody else on this thread care where the Granville Mall buses go, or how fast they operate, or how the city is experienced by the many people who ride them? These are some of inner-city Vancouver’s most important lines. Closing a street can be great if you have a serious plan for how to accommodate the buses elsewhere with the same speed, reliability, and amenity. If not, you’re “externalizing your negative impacts,” just like the freeway-builders do..
I agree that Granville south of Smithe would be more broadly attractive if it was not a concentration of clubs and resto lounges. Was in Taipei recently. Their night market straddles areas with and without vehicular traffic — a very vibrant area because of the diversity of businesses that are there, including mobile vendors. I’ve seen a similar thing in Europe.
As for food carts in front of Sears, how many hot dog vendors could be supported in such a stretch? Japadog, Indodog, Mexidog? Oh, right, there could be chestnuts and popcorn too.
Hmm, when I said to disperse the clubs, I didn’t mean only to other areas of Downtown. I also meant other neighbourhoods, like along Main Street, Commercial, West 4th, West Broadway, West 10th…. well maybe the little old rich ladies wouldn’t like the last one, but there are students who live in the area who would probably like places other than The Pit Pub right on campus.