Another Beacon Heights/East Hastings gem is Platform 7 in the 2300 block of East Hastings Street just a mere block away from the Roundel Cafe. Based upon a Victorian London train station, the business has clearly delineated where you can be/and where you cannot be during the Covid pandemic’s time of physical distancing with the required two meters. While you can enjoy the interior, it is the back exit of the cafe that provides the true hidden secret, absolutely perfect for conversations during Covid times.
There’s a plant oasis at the back of the cafe, enabling people to have coffee and talk outside safely on what would normally be a couple of parking spaces. Those vehicular spaces have been gravelled over, with lattice and benches providing a form of enclosure for some superb west coast plantings.
And there is the opportunity~imagine the creative reuse of other similar back lane spaces behind commercial streets, extending the use of retail space or providing places where people can physically distance and socialize. There are still two parking spaces attached to the cafe for deliveries and for patrons, but the creative adaptation of the rest of the parking into a hidden garden is genius.
What would need to happen to have this be a viable alternative for businesses everywhere?
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Images:SandyJames
