At last:
And not quite. The Woodward’s complex is not yet complete, but that hardly mattered last Friday. Hundreds turned out to see the lighting of the W, the celebration of Stan Douglas’s photo-art, Abbott and Cordova; the launch of a new book, Body Heat, documenting the development; the opening of Trevor Boddy’s exhibition on Vancouverism; and a salon with the principals who made it all possible.
It’s a unique story. From the loss of one of Downtown’s anchors as a family-0wned department store, to its resurrection as a mixed-use residential complex, soon to be home to SFU’s School of Contemporary Arts, it’s also a story of contemporary politics. If there’s one person, though, who deserves disproportionate credit, it’s this guy:
Jim Green, seen here smiling, pulled off one of the great political finesses in Vancouver’s history. It’s hard to conceive of Woodward’s happening without his determination and ability to bring enough wildly divergent interests together to make it happen.
More tomorrow.
