Vancouver Magazine November 2015 by NextHome

THE MADE-IN-VANCOUVER

GIFT GUIDE

THE OTHER IMPENDING

ARTHQUAKE

MICHAEL BUBLÉ The Vancouverite Behind Seattle’s NHL Dream NAL MAGAZI IO NE AT

U MAGAZINE XD C RI

NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 // $4.99

38E SP

IEN AD AN

38T H

S ARD AW

MICHAEL BUBLÉ

on BABES, BURNABY and that INSTAGRAM INCIDENT…

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VOLUME 48

NOV

NUMBER 9

F E AT U R E S

Cover: Evaan Kheraj; styling Luisa Rino. Jeans by Banana Republic; leather jacket by Brunello Cucinelli; shirt by Dsquared2; boots by Harry Rosen This page: Clinton Hussey; styling Nicole Sjostedt. Kittens courtesy VOKRA

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 55 2015 Gift Guide

46 Michael Ain’t

Supporting the local economy has never been more stylish! Our carefully curated gift list is 100-percent Vancouver

Going Anywhere Despite having become one of music’s biggest international superstars, Michael Bublé remains deeply attached to the city where he was born and raised By Kerry Gold

Yes, these guys were made in Vancouver, too

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

NOVEMBER

***

“THAT’S WHERE YOU GET THE HOLLYWOOD SCARE-MOVIE SCENES. BUILDINGS ARE GETTING TORQUED LIKE THEY’RE IN A CONGA LINE”

—pg. 28

THE

36 TASTE MAKER

78 PERSONAL SHOPPER

14 FROM THE PUBLISHER

Embrace autumn with our tip-top selection of fashion and beauty ﬁnds. Plus, two mustvisit shop openings

Vancouver’s ambitious changes are bubbling to the surface

79 MODEL CITIZEN Event

season’s most anticipated retail launch, luxury autos, and dining for a noble cause

BRIEF DISH 20 VANCOUVER LIFE Enticing

Asian businesses to set up shop in Vancouver; a professor’s blog puts UBC on the defensive; the local origins of Greenpeace

PG.20

Following the success of Farmer’s Apprentice and Grapes & Soda, chef David Gunawan heads downtown with Royal Dinette

24 BLOCK WATCH

40 BRIEFLY NOTED

Houses are too expensive and condos are too small. A new initiative aims to help families stuck in the middle

The virtuous dishes at Chau Veggie Express are delicious enough to win over staunch carnivores

26 ON THE RECORD What

42 THE DECANTER

does a Vancouverborn, Californiabased property maven have to do with bringing the NHL to Seattle?

Thanks to these budget-priced bottles, you don’t have to be part of the one-percent to enjoy some stellar bubbly

28 URBAN FIX

The scariest aspect of our renewed earthquake hysteria: the reality may be far worse than we’ve been led to expect PG.36

32 THE ESSENTIALS

Whether music (from romantic folk-pop to raging post-punk), provocative theatre, or inspiring art, there’s plenty to do in the month ahead

44 MIX MASTER

What is grain whisky and why is it among the hottest trends in the spirits world?

GOODS PLUS

planner Soha Lavin explains why one colour dominates her style philosophy

90 SNAP CHATTER The

80 MY SPACE

Eric and Judy Cohen’s home is testament to their love of all things rare and antique 82 SWEAT EQUIT Y Archery

is one of the sports world’s most inclusive pursuits. Find out where you can take aim 84 FIELD TRIP

It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re willing to give it a go, heli-skiing offers unique thrills— and you won’t have to travel far from Vancouver

Va n m a g .co m See hundreds of winners from past Restaurant Awards, with chef videos and more

PG. 84

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

Royal Dinette: Andrew Querner. Model Citizen: Evaan Kheraj

THE

WHAT IF YOUR EARRINGS COULD SPEAK? THEY’D SAY YOU’RE A CREATIVE TYPE. A ROMANTIC REBEL. WE SAY, LET THEM DO ALL THE TALKING SO ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SMILE. SHARE THE #ARTOFYOU SHOWN: OPENWORK WINGS IN .925 STERLING SILVER WITH FLOATING 14K HEARTS

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SENIOR EDITOR

Michael White ART DIRECTOR

Paul Roelofs ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR

Naomi MacDougall TRAVEL & STYLE EDITOR

Amanda Ross ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR

Jenny Reed PRODUCER

Jennifer Elliott ONLINE ASSISTANT

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Mark Philps CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Frances Bula, Christina Burridge, Mario Canseco, Petti Fong, Kerry Gold, Michael Harris, DJ Kearney, Neal McLennan, Fiona Morrow, Malcolm Parry, Guy Saddy, Jim Sutherland, Timothy Taylor, Daniel Wood CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Clinton Hussey, Evaan Kheraj, Joe McKendry (contributor illustrations), Andrew Querner, Carlo Ricci, John Sinal, Martin Tessler, Milos Tosic, Luis Valdizon EDITORIAL INTERN

Ashley Sparrow ART INTERNS

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THIS

MONTH

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Big Picture

FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULDN’T DO THIS MONTH 1. Anything other than pursuing tenure. Pg. 21 2. Admire the views from Lions Gate. Pg. 26 3. Feel sorry for your vegetarian self. Pg. 40 4. Assume you can’t afford fancy bubbly. Pg. 42 5. Settle for a chairlift this winter. Pg. 84

IF YOU RE AD ONLY ONE STORY . . .

Don’t dare skip over Frances Bula’s terrifying must-read about how Canada’s priciest real estate is one day going to go down in value signiﬁcantly. And it has nothing to do with rising interest rates.

Engaged City

TOM GIERASIMCZUK tomg@vanmag.com

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

THE POWER

G C O M IN E H T U P IN B ER D E C EM IS S U E

This is the index of Vancouver’s most inﬂuential, powerful and most-discussed. These are the people whose phone calls you drop everything to take, spanning politics, entertainment, sports, technology and philanthropy. This year’s theme? “Whose city is it?” We can’t reveal No. 1 just yet, but we want to hear from you about our selections when we do.

Portrait: Evaan Kheraj; Styling: Luisa Rino; Outﬁt provided courtesy of Holt Renfrew

funny how these things work out. i’m writing this exactly one year after winning the lottery—in a professional sense—by getting the job of publisher of the best city magazine brand in the country. I say brand because Vancouver isn’t just a monthly magazine that drops on your doorstep or you snag while waiting for your flight at YVR. Over the past year, our editors, art directors and events staff have done so much to diversify and make accessible the ways in which we tell this city’s stories—and listen to you on the job we’re doing. Our events, for example, have tripled. Our four signature events have grown to include a speaker series, chef nights and retail pop-ups. We even created Vancouver’s first craft beer awards and celebrated at a sudsy ceremony to launch Craft Beer Week. Online, a fresh daily newsroom and more frequent newsletters endeavour to keep you sated between the print issues and up to date on the worthwhile pursuits in a city that overwhelms with bounteous choice. It’s all a means to an end of increased accessibility and local resonance. You’ll see more of us as a partner at local events— hosting a local boutique’s opening night one week, then curating a Museum of Vancouver exhibition the next. Of course all this rapid internal evolution requires external change as well, so get ready for a transformation of this very print magazine you’re holding starting with the March 2016 issue. If the feedback from a similar reinvention we undertook with our sister publication Western Living is any indication, you’ll appreciate our efforts. I hope you enjoy this issue. The unfiltered quotes from Michael Bublé alone are worth the read. And don’t dare skip over Frances Bula’s terrifying must-read about how Canada’s priciest real estate is one day going to go down in value significantly. And it has nothing to do with rising interest rates. Let me know what you think. VM

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H O M E. H E A R T. H O L I D A Y.

N O R D S T R O M PAC I F I C C E N T R E

VA NC O U V E R L IF E

BL OCK WAT CH

ON THE RECORD

URBAN FIX

THE ESSENTIALS

“I’ve never really said that in public because I don’t want to alarm people” PG. 28

THE The month in politics, real estate, business & culture

A New Home

Courtesy of the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia

it was a visceral, sickening last week of summer. Images of Alan Kurdi’s tiny body weaved with early election partisan blame games over Canada’s reluctance to act quickly on the Syrian refugee crisis. It forced Stephen Harper from his script and became a breakthrough election issue. Amid this current, Vancouverbased Immigrant Services Society of BC is setting the compassionate standard for refugees. Welcome House—currently a construction site near Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station—is planning to open in June as a 58,000-sq.-ft. service hub that will streamline transitional housing and targeted services under one roof. The $24.5-million facility will contain housing units (up to 138 beds), a health clinic, licensed child care, a family resource centre, and so much more. During a walk-through of the Gold LEED facility—designed by Henriquez Partners Architects and Terra Housing—visitors, many who arrived in Vancouver as refugees, welled up when they learned that more than half of the construction workers on-site had themselves arrived in Canada as refugees.

The Welcome House is scheduled to open this June at 2610 Victoria Drive

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

BRIEF

VA N C O U V E R L I F E

Tr e n d i n g S t o r i e s

Launched in February, the HQ Vancouver program, a collaboration of the Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC) and the federal and provincial governments, is intended to attract Asian corporate headquarters to a city gutted by a decade-long exodus of head offices. The goal: to coax at least a couple of Asian corporations to pull up stakes and relocate to the Lower Mainland for the long haul. According to HQ Vancouver BUSINESS president Yuen Pau Woo, Vancouver has natural advantages that should be easy to sell to Chinese businesses. “We are closer to Asia than any other major city in North America, which translates into shorter transit times to Asia for both freight and passenger traffic,” he says. “Vancouver is Canada’s HQ Vancouver is a new government busiest deep-water port and YVR program intended to pull in Asian has been voted ‘Best Airport in head offices to a city gutted by decades North America’ six years in a row. of corporate exodus We are also equidistant between Tokyo and London and operate in google “vancouver real a time zone that overlaps with the estate, Chinese money” and most European, Asian, and, of course, of the results trend, shall we say, North American workdays.” toward the alarmist. Meanwhile, The project’s $6.5-million budsouth of the border, presidential get includes about $1.2 million in candidate Donald Trump is busy contributions from the Business whipping up anti-Chinese business Council of B.C., $2 million from sentiment. Against that nativist the federal Western Development tide comes a determined mesfund, and $3.4 million from the sage from Vancouver business and province. A few million bucks may government. And that message is: not seem like much to attract com“Welcome. And please stay.” panies shifting billions of dollars a

Asian Investors Wanted

day, but Woo feels it’s just a matter of getting the word out to receptive ears. “Many of the potential head office investments we have identified are ones that build on an established presence in the province,” he says. “There are many Asian business people who have strong, personal connections in Vancouver that we can look to leverage,” says BCBC president and CEO Greg D’Avignon. “For example, no one had heard of Alibaba 10 years ago, despite the founder’s son apparently going to school in Vancouver. Now they are a household name, not just in Asia but globally.” Critics have suggested that Asian (read: Chinese) corporate headquarters would provide only lower-level jobs to locals. Wrong, says D’Avignon. “The introduction of new global talent creates new jobs, it doesn’t replace them,” he insists, citing the local apparel industry as evidence of a corporate snowball effect. “Lululemon, Arc’teryx, MEC and Aritzia, for example—combined, there are over a dozen global performance apparel firms here with over 7,000 employees and $3.5 billion in sales that are poised to grow in number and size,” D’Avignon says. “Clustering fuels the tech sectors in Silicon Valley or Seattle, or the financial services sectors in New York or Toronto. Well-paying jobs

E N V I R O -TA I N M E N T

GREENEST CITY The planet’s most (in)famous environmental organization launched in Vancouver almost 50 years ago. In honour of new documentary How to Change the World, we asked original member and author of Greenpeace Rex Weyler to pinpoint his key events. 20

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

1965

1968

The U.S. begins nuclear tests on Amchitka Island, off the coast of Alaska, concerning citizens, ecologists, and activists all over the world.

Environmental group SPEC forms in Vancouver with eventual Greenpeace pillars Bob Hunter, Terry Simmons, and Irving Stowe as members.

Greenpeace: Rex Weyler

THE

UBC: Michael Elkan

Right: UBC’s Sauder School of Business; far right: author James Tansey

in the accounting, financial, legal, and engineering sectors, as well as technology, will be created or drawn to potential clients with the emergence of new head office clusters.” If the theories about Chinese money inflating the local market are true, might there be an irony in the possibility that HQ Vancouver cracks under our high real estate prices? “If there is any irony, it is that the vilification of Chinese immigrants with expensive homes is a discouragement for them to sink deeper roots into the community,” Woo says. “A large percentage of our head office leads are coming from recently arrived immigrants from China who want to do more in B.C. than simply own a large house and enjoy the lifestyle. These individuals are in many respects our best sources of new business investment in the province, including head office investment.” “I believe it’s a Canadian tendency to be conservative and not aggressively seek opportunity or change,” D’Avignon says. “However, the world doesn’t stand still; if we are to have a prosperous economy and maintain the quality of life for ourselves and our kids that we have come to enjoy in Canada, we need to embrace this global change and take advantage of it for our mutual benefit.” —Steve Burgess

OPINION

WHERE THE ABCS OF UBC’S THE HEAD ACADEMIC FREEDOM FIASCO OFFICES A blog by a tenured professor has the university in ARE lockdown over accusations of silencing and strong-arming. It’s all an unfortunate misunderstanding by ja mes ta nsey The largest number of head offices per 100,000 population

Calgary (17.7)

£ Sayre’s law states: “Academic

the donation that funded Berdahl’s

politics is the most vicious and bitter

position, called her to discuss the

form of politics because the stakes are

issue. She was asked to meet with the

so low.” Since Dr. Arvind Gupta stepped

department head and with the dean’s

down from the position of president at

ofﬁce. In a second blog post, Berdahl

UBC two months ago, the ongoing and

wrote about these meetings, arguing

very public debate about his departure

that she was being intimidated and

and whether a faculty member’s aca-

that her academic freedom was being

demic freedom was threatened must

threatened. The faculty association

be puzzling to the rest of the world.

weighed in to defend her. The conﬂict

The faculty member citing breach Toronto (12.6)

Winnipeg (11.9)

Edmonton and Montréal (both 10.4)

Vancouver (10.2)

—Annual Head Offi ce Survey, 2012 (Stats Canada)

sloshed into the public domain and has

of academic freedom? Dr. Jennifer

since absorbed hundreds of column

Berdahl, the Sauder School of Busi-

inches. UBC has now appointed a

ness’s Montalbano Professor of

retired Supreme Court judge to under-

Leadership Studies for gender and

take an independent review of the

diversity. The creation of this faculty

whole affair.

position was a very important com-

To understand why this hallowed

mitment by the school. After Gupta

concept of academic freedom is impor-

resigned, Berdahl speculated on her

tant, you also have to understand two

blog about a conspiracy of white men

other aspects of the university system:

to exclude minorities and women from

tenure and the culture of informed

senior roles at the university. Her blog

skepticism. Tenure is something that

post argues that Gupta may have lost

professors have to earn on merit by

the masculinity contest among senior

getting a PhD, competing in a crowded

leaders at UBC. By her own admission,

market for a faculty position, and then

this observation is not based on any of

enduring an extended hazing ritual for

the data that would normally underpin

the better part of a decade, culminat-

an academic study.

ing in a review of all their academic

The board chair, who also made

Continued on pg. 22

OCT. 1969

1970

OCT. 1970

SEPT. 1971

MAY 1972

A protest against the Milrow nuclear test is held at the U.S.-Canada border. SPEC protesters hold banners declaring “Don’t Make a Wave” while blocking the highway.

Bob Hunter and Ben Metcalfe become the voice of the movement as prominent journalists in Vancouver. Their work would inﬂuence Vancouver Sun readers and listeners of the CBC.

A bare-bones concert held at Paciﬁc Coliseum sells out quickly to raise funds for the organization, drawing musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs, and James Taylor.

Bob Hunter and his team set out to Amchitka Island to stop the nuclear testing. They never make it, but the effort makes international headlines and the testing is halted.

The Greenpeace Foundation is ofﬁcially registered by the Provincial Societies Ofﬁce. Within a few years, it stops nuclear testing in Alaska and halts the grey seal slaughter.

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

THE

BRIEF

VA N C O U V E R L I F E

Tr e n d i n g S t o r i e s

Continued from pg. 21

publications, their teaching, and their

BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBOURHOOD IN A WONDERFUL COMMUNITY.

commitment to service. Publications are reviewed by multiple colleagues, who evaluate the pieces and do any-

4250 Chelsea Crescent Forest Hills North Vancouver $3,388,000

thing they can to poke holes in them. It is not an easy path. Tenure is a lonely and competitive mountain to climb. Researchers are protected by the norms of academic freedom throughout the process, but tenure underwrites that with a permanent position. The culture of informed skepticism recognizes that knowledge and ideas thrive and evolve in an environment of debate. No assumptions can be taken for granted, everything can be questioned, and any proof can be

Stunning and unique; architecturally built west coast contemporary on one of Forest Hills’ most desirable streets. One-of-a-kind design offers an abundance of features you will not ﬁnd in any other home.

challenged by new theories and data. It is this culture that makes universities such vibrant centres of innovation and engines of change.

Living/dining & kitchen with high-vaulted ceilings & modern post & beam details, clear cedar feature ceiling, solid maple strip parquet flooring & pella wood & iron cladded windows framing city & water views, plus three level dumb waiter. Kitchen outfitted with triple dishwashers, double ovens, entertainment and family-sized center island and oversized walk-in pantry. Large master with dual walk-in closets & sumptuous five-piece ensuite offers a private oasis.

So where does this leave academic freedom? Firstly, the offending blog is not an academic product. Berdahl begins by admitting she has no inside knowledge of what occurred. The writ-

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ing has not been through peer review

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both theory and evidence to support

Other features include solar heated hot tub, level backyard, in-ground irrigation, 4 zone forced air with heat exchanger and tank-less hot water system.

people in the university criticized her.

Call Lance to view this special, unsurpassed home.

and is really just an opinion piece. When I say that the other key element of university culture is informed skepticism, that means you are supposed to have your arguments. Secondly, the biggest consequence of Berdahl’s blog was that a number of She has the protection of tenure, and that means that she can’t and shouldn’t be ﬁred and she can’t and shouldn’t be forced to remove the blog. But the spectacle resulting from

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these blogs damages the credibility of the university with the public, with donors, and with politicians. Those are much higher stakes.

James Tansey is an associate professor at the Sauder School of Business.

Lance Phillips Personal Real Estate Corporation 22

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

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THE

BRIEF

B L O C K WAT C H

Real Estate

STREET LEVEL

Higher, Bigger, Cheaper As the affordability of single-family detached homes escapes the grasp of most young, middleclass families in Vancouver, a City-sanctioned plan to build bigger condos gets tested by kerry gold

considering that the bulk of middle-class Canadian families can’t afford a detached house in Vancouver (North, West, East, or South), could the multi-bedroom condo become the alternative? In response to the city’s housing affordability crisis, City staff have come up with a plan to help

motivate developers to build condo units bigger than the standardissue, cost-effective 500-sq.-ft. or so studios and one-bedrooms. The City is proposing that new rezonings for condo buildings, both strata and rental, contain a minimum 25 percent two-bedroom units and 10 percent threebedroom. The City has hired a

THE FAMILY HOME GETS VERTICAL Vancouver goes New York and drops the stigma against raising a family with the help of elevators. These developers are happier for it.

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

THE DUKE

WALTER’S PLACE

Of 55,000 rentals in Vancouver, only 500 are three-bedroom, according to city data. Edgar Development is attracting young families with a rental project that includes an inner “green yard”, a designated children’s play area, dog run, and barbecues. Completion is scheduled for 2017. LOCATION Broadway/Kingsway UNITS 201 units TENURE Rental

A three-bedroom unit at this upcoming complex is a little more than 1,000-sq. -ft. and will cost around $639,000. The building is on a quiet cul-de-sac in Lynn Valley, near shops, a new library, and a civic plaza. Completion is slated for 2017. LOCATION 1335 Draycott Road, North Vancouver UNITS 35 TENURE Market condo

Top: Getty Images; The Duke: photo courtesy of Edgar Development; Walter’s Place: Milori Homes

T O W E R WAT C H

MI•CRO DWELL•ING Noun I. A SELF CONTAINED RESIDENTIAL UNIT WHICH IS NO LESS THAN 23.2 M2 (250 SQ FEET) AND NO MORE THAN 29.7 M2 (320 SQ FEET).

Santa Fe: Aquilini Development and Construction Inc.

consultant to analyze the financial implications of the proposed requirement, and once that report is in, the findings will go before council. The City is also looking at offering incentives, such as allowing micro suites in rental buildings to balance rent profit loss that developers would suffer by increasing three-bedroom condos versus higher-margin studios. Under the new policy, strata and rental buildings are supposed to contain 25 percent two-bedroom units, suitable for families. This new requirement hasn’t yet triggered a new build-big trend, but some developers are warming up to the idea. The lukewarm uptake is likely the result of a realization that bigger condos are not exactly a cure-all for one of the world’s leastaffordable cities. A 1,200-sq.-ft. condo that costs upwards of a million bucks is hardly the panacea.

WHAT ARE YOUR MUST-HAVES WHEN BUYING A CONDO?*

AN ENSUITE BATHROOM Must-have 47% Nice-to-have 42% Not important 10% Not sure 1%

A SECOND BEDROOM Must-have 72% Nice-to-have 25% Not important 2% Not sure 1%

A THIRD BEDROOM Must-have 27% Nice-to-have 50% Not important 22% Not sure 1%

“Two or three bedrooms help, but not with the affordability question,” says John Andrew, real estate professor at Queen’s University. He adds that success for people no longer means a house in the suburbs. Canadians are open to the idea of renting for life, or raising families in apartments, like in London, New York, and Paris. “A lot of people are beginning to come around. They see that it’s not the end of the world if I’m a renter for either a good chunk of my life or my entire life. And you can now see ads marketing condos to families. You didn’t see that a year ago.” But because of cost, most young families will buy a two-bedroom (possibly older) unit over premiumpriced new three-bedrooms. They’ll compromise on size with a 750- or 800-sq.-ft. apartment to stay central. Commuting means expense and less time with the

family. “It’s a very, very signiﬁcant cost, both ﬁnancially and psychologically.” Rize Alliance developer Will Lin is building three-bedrooms in his upcoming Gold House in Burnaby, at between 1,000- and 1,300sq.-ft., starting at $700,000. Presales launched in October. “The three-bedroom model commands a bigger selling price,” he concedes. “But compared to detached homes, [condos] are still very cost-effective, so everything is relative.” So far, however, those three-bedrooms are being snapped up by downsizers, not their kids. “People are seeing good value in selling their single detached home and spending one-quarter of the sale price on a three-bedroom, just in case their kids come back.” VM * Results are based on online interviews that Insights West conducted for Vancouver magazine with a representative sample of 501 residents of Metro Vancouver between September 14 and 17. The margin of error is 4.4%.

GOLD HOUSE

ONE BURRARD PLACE

SANTA FE

Presales for Rize Alliance’s Gold House began in early October. The project includes three bedrooms up to 1,113-sq. -ft. in size. Prices start around $700,000. “It’s not an entrylevel purchase,” says developer Will Lin. LOCATION Metrotown UNITS 302 TENURE Market condo

Reliance Properties has teamed up with the Jim Pattison Group for this family-friendly 60-storey tower condo project. In keeping with the City’s plan, over 35 percent will be two bedrooms or more. Units start around $700,000. LOCATION Pattison’s Downtown Toyota site at Burrard and Drake UNITS 394 TENURE Market condo

Developer Aquilini is leading the new supply of rental housing. This heritage conversion with a mid-rise tower is in response to city incentives, and so 25 percent of the units are two-bedrooms—all located in the three-storey portion of the building. LOCATION 2975 Oak Street UNITS 50 TENURE Rental

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THE SEATTLE METROPOLITANS WERE THE FIRST U.S. HOCKEY TEAM TO WIN THE STANLEY CUP IN 1917

£ P E T T I F O N G

Newsmakers

Vancouver Boy, Seattle NHL Team

VC Building a facility in a city that needs an entertainment venue, that can accommodate sports and live entertainment for the amount of people asking for and deserving of it. Seattle is probably the No. 1 CEO of a $2.6-billion property empire, Vancouver-born music city on the West Coast, and it doesn’t have a venue to play ﬁrstVictor Coleman wants to bring an NHL team back to Seattle class acts. No one has stepped up to say we need this. PETTI FONG Why did you leave PF Is there going to be a problem Vancouver to go to school in with having an NHL team in the California? Canucks’ backyard? VICTOR COLEMAN I went to Magee VC It’s a welcoming aspect there. Secondary School and lived on the There is a vast marketplace and it’s west side my entire life, in two dif- a big positive. The instant rivalry ferent houses close to each other. between a Vancouver team and a My father made business trips Seattle team will be fantastic. PF Why haven’t you invested in down to California on a regular basis. My high school tag line was: Vancouver before, as you have in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or “Will eventually own or operate Seattle? restaurants or bars in California.” That’s what it said under my Magee VC It’s a marketplace that is aligned with the kind of stuff we have. It’s high school picture.

MY INTEREST IN HOCKEY IS REAL-ESTATE DRIVEN: BUILDING A FIRST-CLASS FACILITY IN A CITY THAT IS IN NEED OF ONE

ALL BUSINESS While he initially planned to own a bar in California, Coleman overachieved quickly. The 53-year-old is CEO of Hudson Paciﬁc Properties Inc., which owns more than 17 million square feet of property

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

PF When did you realize hockey was a potential business for you and started looking at bringing an NHL team to Seattle? VC I’ve never considered hockey as a business, but rather a passion. Hudson is my business. The interest level in bringing hockey to Seattle exists because there is a void and a demand. But my interest in hockey is real-estate driven: building a ﬁrst-class facility in a city that is in desperate need of one. PF What’s the biggest obstacle to getting an NHL team to Seattle?

one of the few other markets we will look at, and we are looking to make a play there. In the late 2000s, we were looking closely at valuations there and we chose to buy in the Bay Area and in L.A. in a much more depressed marketplace instead. In the last decade and a half, Vancouver hasn’t really had many lows—it’s been going strong since pre-Olympics. You see a tremendous amount of foreign capital being invested there on an individual basis. And now with dollar volatility, these are opportune times for guys like us to invest. VM

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Shallow, Grave As shocking as it may sound, the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake isn’t even Vancouver’s largest seismic threat. Local emergency crews are now preparing for something even more catastrophic just below the surface illustr ation by patric sa ndri

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unless you took a summer vacation from social media (or even traditional media), you probably spent a few conversations discussing the New Yorker story on the impending demise of the West Coast courtesy of The Big One, the coming 9-point-somethingmagnitude megathrust Cascadia

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subduction zone earthquake geologically identical to the one that devastated Japan in 2011. Our Kraken will rise from deep under the ocean, 75 kilometres west of Vancouver Island, where the oceanic Juan de Fuca plate wedges under—or subducts—eastward, bending and stressing the North

American plate, on which Vancouver (and Victoria, Seattle, Portland, and millions of residents) sit, buckling it up and east. When our plate can’t take any more bending, it will snap back westward, producing one of the planet’s most powerful quakes ever recorded— much stronger in magnitude than anything the mere San Andreas fault is capable of. The last earthquake like this in B.C. was in 1700. It wiped out First Nations villages on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Washington state, and Oregon and generated a tsunami that hit Japan the next day. The modern version in Vancouver will feel like a giant camel ride—up, down, up, down—as a series of enormous seismic waves moves through the ground. That’s how John Clague, a Simon Fraser University earth sciences professor and one of B.C.’s pre-eminent earthquake specialists, envisions it. “It’s not what most people think of as an earthquake,” says Clague, sitting on bedrock at his mountain office high above Burrard Inlet. “It’s a rolling type of ground motion.” No chasms will open in the earth. Buildings won’t split apart. Instead, Vancouver’s towers will begin to oscillate as though they are masts on boats at sea. Some may smash into each other. Anything that is long—a bridge, a road, a pier—will be especially stressed as the wave moves along its length, with one part rising while another part lowers. All the land in the Lower Mainland that is essentially mud or gravel (post-glacial ﬁll, in scientiﬁc terms) will start to quiver, to liquefy. That won’t be just in Richmond, as many people think. All of Delta, except for the bits on bluffs in the north and in Tsawwassen, will experience the same,

TIME AND ENERGY OF A SUBDUCTION-GENERATED WAVE

Toﬁno 20 minutes from shaking start

as will the land that edges Vancouver’s False Creek and the mud ﬂats along the shores of UBC, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, and Port Coquitlam. The Cascadia subduction zone earthquake scenario described in blood-curdling detail by the New Yorker (“Everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast”) prompted public panic when it overlaid nature’s blind destruction on today’s metropolitan grid: coastal communities obliterated by tsunamis, cities without power for weeks or months, and 40,000 dead or injured. Geologists and emergency-management personnel took to Reddit to try to calm people down soon after the story was published. That Cascadia quake is also the earthquake scenario that the Insurance Bureau of Canada chose two years ago to assess what the impact would be in B.C. The bureau’s language was somewhat more restrained than that of the New Yorker’s, but its conclusion in the 344-page report was not. Although the report is dotted with what seem like reassuring phrases—many low-rise buildings will experience “light” or “moderate” damage; “most of the major roadways in and around Vancouver may experience only slight damage”—the total picture is catastrophic, as it describes in minute detail what would happen to various buildings, roads, and bridges when the earthquake hits on a sunny afternoon in July. About $60 billion in damage, mostly from the shaking, but also from ﬁres, water damage from the low-grade tsunami, liquefaction, and landslides. The report, which is narrowly focused on property damage, didn’t try to estimate deaths, but presumably there

Boundary Bay 2 hours, 10 minutes

Victoria 1 hour, 15 minutes

Burrard Inlet 2 hours, 30 minutes

THE BRIGHT SIDE: NO TSUNAMI Whether it’s a subduction quake or a shallow temblor, the Lower Mainland will face calamity like never before. One threat we don’t have to worry about? Tsunamis. While the people living in the communities scattered along Vancouver Island’s west coast will have only 20 minutes to get to higher ground in the event of a subduction quake (now there’s a Toﬁno tourism niche: the non-waterfront resort), people elsewhere will have considerably more warning, along with a smaller wave—if any at all. By the time it arrives in Vancouver, it will barely be higher than a high tide. Scientists have not found any evidence that a tsunami of any size has hit the shores here going back at least 4,000 years.

“I’VE NEVER REALLY SAID THAT IN PUBLIC BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO ALARM PEOPLE” — JOHN CLAGUE, SIMON FRASER UNIVERSIT Y EARTH SCIENCES PROFESSOR

would be many. So the Cascadia Big One is bad. But it’s not the most catastrophic earthquake that will hit this city. In a plan made public in late July, Emergency Management B.C. (EMBC), using modelling from the National Resources Council, based its disaster scenario not on the megathrust Cascadia possibility, but on something much closer: a shallow crustal 7.3-magnitude earthquake somewhere under the Strait of Georgia. That one, unlike like the Cascadia quake, will produce earth ripples coming from multiple directions, the full complement of different kinds of seismic wave forms. It will hit the city, says Clague, more like a bucking bull that is humping and twisting at the same time. Since the epicentre will be much closer to the city and also closer to the surface, there will be both high amplitude and high ground acceleration. Or, put another way: “That’s where you get the Hollywood scare-movie scenes. Buildings are getting torqued like they’re in a conga line. Roads will crack. The ground may open up, just like in the movies.” Clague’s biggest worry about the city? “Those West End high-rises. I’ve never really said that in public because I don’t want to alarm people.” But they, along with many in Gastown, are among the city’s oldest tall buildings, most built before

B.C. started changing its building code to consider seismic protection in the 1970s. This is how EMBC paints the picture, which is set on a rainy afternoon in January: “For many, the earthquake is heard before it is felt. The low, rumbling sound is similar to that of a freight train, immediately followed by 10 to 20 seconds of violent shaking that knocks people located closest to the epicentre from their feet. Taller buildings sway with the highintensity shaking. Buildings on softer soils lose support through liquefaction. Landslides and rockfalls are generated in many areas, cutting off transportation routes. Several fires start throughout the impact area from damaged electrical power and gas lines. Some buildings collapse, many shift and crack, and others are destroyed by fire. Many of those who try to run outside suffer extreme injury or death from falling and flying objects and thousands are trapped or injured. Dust, smoke, and sirens fill the air.” Deaths? Estimated at 10,000. Those two scenarios are part of an ever-increasing focus in B.C. on planning for an earthquake in almost block-by-block detail. Spurred by a series of disasters around the Pacific Ring of Fire, where Vancouver has a seat at the table; by B.C. auditor-general

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reports (1997 and 2014) warning that the province doesn’t have a coherent plan for an earthquake; by public anxiety over century-old brick schools; and by individual researchers or local politicians, the region is very gradually upping its game. The Massey Tunnel and all of the bridges except the Pattullo have been upgraded. In fact, disaster scenarios estimate they’ll stand, although the roads leading to them, often built on that liquefying fill, may not. Government buildings are being assessed and retrofitted or emptied. The east wing of Vancouver’s city hall, which was cleared out last year, is the most vivid example of that. St. Paul’s Hospital, which holds the unenviable position of Hospital Most Likely to Collapse During an Earthquake, is going to move to a new building by 2022. Delta just decided to move its emergencyresponse centre from city hall after coming to the realization, as Mayor Lois Jackson says, that it “may be in jeopardy,” to a control room planned for the Boundary Bay Airport. Schools are slowly —excruciatingly slowly—being upgraded or replaced. The District of North Vancouver became the first of the region’s 21 municipalities to do a buildingby-building assessment, producing a map and study in April showing exactly what would crumble and what would stand. (The District also used the 7.3-magnitude Strait of Georgia quake as its worst-case scenario.) Some things to ponder, for those working, living, or commuting through the district: the land around the north end of the Lions Gate Bridge and just to the east might move laterally as much as two feet during an earthquake. That area, plus the area around the Seymour River and Ironworkers

Bridge, is projected to see 20 percent or more of its buildings completely destroyed and a death and casualty rate of between five and 10 percent of the population there. That “microzonation,” done through a special collaboration between the District, which provided the millions of bits of data, the National Research Council, and the American Federal Emergency Management Agency, is the kind of overview the whole region should have, say people like Clague and others. In the meantime, while scientists are refining the picture of exactly what an earthquake disaster will look like, the people who will be responsible for pulling bodies out of the rubble, transporting the injured to hospital, putting out fires, and trying to make the city functional again are refining theirs. at a giant, nondescript barn of a building smack in the middle of Surrey (on high, stable land), there’s a room lined with television screens and banks of computers at seven different stations. Between the two sets of screens, the halfdozen men working here track every bus, SkyTrain car, service vehicle, and social-media spike. This is the control centre for TransLink, which, on this particular day, is still recovering from and pondering the lessons learned during Vancouver’s summer windstorm. It’s where the people monitoring the screens had to reroute buses and deal with power outages and trees on the track. It turns out that this centre, along with other transit hubs throughout the region, along with the good ol’ buses, will be key components during an earthquake. When either of the catastrophic quakes hit, all the SkyTrain lines

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NOT JUST DITCHMOND… The threat of severe earthquake damage is closer than you think

1 WEST END Threat: high structures built before seismic codes at risk of collapse

2 SHORE AREAS AROUND UBC Threats: possibility of a tsunami and mud ﬂ ats soil liquefaction

3 THE NORTH ENDS OF LIONS GATE AND IRON-WORKERS Threat: unstable inﬁll soil and mud ﬂ ats, resulting in liquefaction and ground (and bridge) movement as much as two feet

4 FALSE CREEK Threat: unstable inﬁll soil and mud ﬂ ats, resulting in liquefaction and severe ground movement

will be shut down immediately until structural engineers can check them. The same will happen with all bridges and tunnels. The power will likely be out in as many places as the windstorm hit this August. There will be ﬁres and collapsed buildings everywhere. And, since large centres typically have only two days’ fuel supply, all vehicles that don’t have access to their own source will be unusable. Since the region’s transit centres have their own generators, emergency food supplies, radio phones, and access to fuel that others won’t have during a disaster, they will remain functional even if power, gas stations, and stores are knocked out everywhere else. They also can be the place where emergency crews set up shop, since they have lots of precious empty land around them, usually used for storing buses. As for the buses, they’ll turn into the region’s lifelines. “They can be used for emergency crews, for evacuations, for social services,” says John Oakley, the man in charge of emergency preparation for TransLink. “They’re a shelter. And they can be turned into mobile ﬁrst-aid units.” But as ready as everyone is getting, the region is still a long way from Japan-level preparedness. So people like Oakley have one last wish for how the earthquake scenario will unfold. It’s not about whether it’s the Cascadia earthquake or the Strait of Georgia earthquake, whether it’s in January or July. “My personal worst scenario is that it happens in the middle of the day, when children are in school and everyone is at work. If it happens in the middle of the night, half our problems are solved. We almost have two operations we plan for.” VM

THE ART OF STAINLESS STEEL Find a retailer at LeCreuset.ca or discover more at a Le Creuset Boutique Chinook Centre, Calgary | Sherway Gardens, Etobicoke | Bayview Village, Toronto Sussex Drive, Ottawa | Carrefour Laval, Laval | Place Ste-Foy, Quebec City

Cookware | Bakeware | Tableware | Accessories

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£ F ION A MORRO W

S t u f f You Should D o

ROCK

ALL IN THE FAMILY

T H E AT R E

Wunderkind composer Nico Muhly explores a taboo subject DARK SISTERS, NOV. 26 TO DEC. 12, PLAYHOUSE THEATRE

GRUMPY OLD MAN The one-time enfant terrible of punk refuses to go quietly PUBLIC IMAGE LTD, NOV. 22, VOGUE THEATRE

£ Surely no one expected John Lydon to age gracefully. The Public Image Ltd (PiL) front man has steadfastly resisted conforming to expectations, even when the determination to do whatever he feels like has taken him close to self-parody. (Notoriously, in 2009 he bought his way out of all his music contracts with money

From Screen to Stage One of this century’s few movie musicals ﬁnds a second life in the footlights ONCE, NOV. 17 TO 22. QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE

the stage version of ONCE , the 2006 sleeper-hit movie, has won several plaudits in its own right, including the 2012 Tony for Best Musical. Taking the essence of a gentle, intimate ﬁlm, it ﬁlls out the Dublin backgrounds, themes, and ancillary characters to create a broader canvas. What hasn’t changed is the musicianship at the story’s core: the score is played live on stage, with many of the musicians also having character roles. But fans of the movie’s pure and simple love story between “Guy” and “Girl” shouldn’t fear: though the plot has expanded, the emotional heart stays true. The Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington admitted to attending the London production reluctantly, but he became a convert, concluding that Once “wins you over with its simplicity, charm and air of sweet melancholy.” Vancouver.broadway.com

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It may be an American opera, but Dark Sisters could hardly feel more local. The community of Bountiful, B.C., and its leader, Winston Blackmore, lurk in the background of every scene of Nico Muhly’s study of a polygamous family thrown into crisis as the children are taken into state care and the patriarch makes for the desert to seek guidance from God. Amiel Gladstone directs, with soprano Melanie Krueger playing Eliza, the wife whose revelations to a TV crew precipitate a crisis within the family. And look for Tom Goerz as the self-styled “Prophet.” Vancouveropera.ca

made from appearing on TV reality shows and ads for a popular British butter.) But if most pop music is the definition of smoke and mirrors, Lydon remains—warts and all—painfully honest. Talking to LA Weekly about PiL’s latest album, What the World Needs Now, Lydon said, “With this album, we couldn’t give a tuppence-fuck for anybody’s expectations ... And we had the greatest fun time doing it, which is an absolute achievement.” In his prior incarnation as Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten, Lydon was described by rock historian Greil Marcus as “perhaps the only truly terrifying singer rock ’n’ roll has ever known.” And it’s that mix of fury and braggadocio—the itch you can’t quite scratch—that keeps Lydon firmly in the game. Ticketfly.com

Once: Joan Marcus; DarkSisters: Illustration by Edel Rodriguez, Photo by Kelly & Massa Photography/Courtesy Opera Philadelphia; PiL: Paul Heartﬁeld

OPERA

A DETAIL FROM A MIXED-MEDIA PIECE BY TAIWANESE ARTIST LI JIUN-YANG, PICTURED BELOW

FICTION

CLUED IN A best-selling author takes to the stage ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH, NOV. 7, VOGUE THEATRE

£ One of Scotland’s most proliﬁc—and successful—storytellers, Alexander McCall Smith has charmed millions of readers worldwide with his best-selling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, each book featuring Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s only female private detective. Expect a fascinating and erudite evening—luckily, with no shortage of humour. He told the New York Times: “There is a role for books that say to people that life is potentially amusing and that there are possibilities of goodness and kindness… That kindness needn’t

ART

ISLAND LIFE An exhibit reveals a small nation’s outsized creative expression (IN)VISIBLE: THE SPIRITUAL WORLD OF TAIWAN THROUGH CONTEMPORARY ART, NOV. 20 TO APR. 3, UBC MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY

£ A country with as turbulent a history of occupation, settlement, and immigration as Taiwan can’t help but be diverse. But factor out the Chinese, the Japanese, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and other incomers, and Taiwan’s indigenous culture remains exceptionally rich. This true melting pot of culture, religion, and perspective has engendered a deep seam of artistic expression that is explored in this exhibit. Moa.ubc.ca

be dull, that it can also be elevating and moving.” Ticketﬂy.com

T H E AT R E

Equality Control A play drawn from international headlines asks audiences to look deep into themselves Alexander McCall Smith:Chris Watt; Nirbhaya: William Burdett-Coutts

NIRBHAYA, NOV. 3 TO 14, YORK THEATRE

award-winning actor Poorna Jagannathan talks about how she came to be the producer of Nirbhaya, a play directed by Yaël Farber in response to the brutal rape and death of a woman on a bus in Delhi in 2012. A TIPPING POINT

“It’s so hard to hypothesize about why Jyoti Singh Pandey’s rape and death was a tipping point for India, for the world, and for me. But I can tell you that the morning

after, when we woke up as a nation to the brutal news, we felt broken and outraged.” SILENCE IS COMPLICIT

“Like many women, I’ve experienced my share of sexual violence and chose to stay silent about most of it. But when that young woman stepped on that bus, things changed for me. I realized the silence that I had kept—and that we keep as a society—makes us deeply complicit in manifesting this sort of violence.

What happened on that bus wasn’t an anomaly; it was the culmination of something that happens to women every day: we get touched, groped, molested, abused.” PERSONAL TRAGEDY

“Yaël Farber and I were friends on Facebook, and I could see she was devastated by news of the rape—it felt personal to her. I asked her to come to India to create a work that would harness the silence being ripped apart by women

speaking up; a work that would enable me to break my own silence. “Nirbhaya is deeply political. It’s not a confessional, and it’s certainly not therapy. It sets out to challenge the apathy and ignorance that exists about rape... The audience becomes accountable to their own story and their truth. Even people who don’t have a story of sexual violence are changed. Sexual violence may not touch us all, but it affects us all.” Yorktheatre.ca

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

Lewis Hamilton F1 World Champ

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TA S T E M A K ER

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MIX MASTER

“The signatures of these wines are a toasty, nutty aroma, complex ﬂavours evocative of brioche, and millions of creamy bubbles” PG. 42

THE Hot restaurants, food trends, wines & chefs

Aging Gracefully

Luis Valdizon

joe fortes seafood & Chop House is the sort of restaurant for which one becomes nostalgic while it still exists. It isn’t going anywhere—not any time soon, at least—but it is indisputably among the last of a dying breed. If Coast, its comparably palatial neighbour, is the dining equivalent of modern-day Las Vegas—a raucous sensory overload throbbing with the restless energy of an EDM dance ﬂoor—Joe Fortes is the Sin City of the Rat Pack era: a piano player, a maître d’ who knows your name, oysters and wine and polite conversation. General manager Scott Garrett references founder and legendary Vancouver restaurateur Bud Kanke, who opened the three-level room in 1985: “He created a culture of where—and we still say this today—it’s ‘ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.’” Kanke sold the business upon retirement in 2012, but its charms remain unchanged. Joe Fortes celebrates its 30th birthday this month. JOE FORTES SEAFOOD & CHOP HOUSE 777 Thurlow St. Joefortes.ca

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Recently Reviewed

be compromising his autonomy. The room, which shares space with Donnelly’s Blackbird Public House & Oyster Bar, reinforces Chef David Gunawan maintains the this impression. According to its element of surprise at Royal Dinette website, Royal Dinette is meant by timothy taylor to evoke “the laidback, informal photos by a ndrew querner atmosphere of a bygone diner.” But that would be a diner as only a high-budget restaurant designer royal dinette, the newest could imagine it. I like the open venture from chef and restaurateur kitchen, with all its culinary David Gunawan (Farmer’s Appren- geekery on display: blowtorches tice, Grapes & Soda), had people and Rational ovens, ranks of talking long before it opened its squeeze bottles and plastic tubs. doors. In partnering with the Don- But with its green leather bar nelly Group—owner of more than chairs, black and white marble, a dozen local bars, pubs, and eater- gilded pillars, and stag’s-head coat ies—some questioned whether the hooks, no nighthawk is ever going visionary, independent-minded, to order a blue-plate special and a locavore-focused Gunawan might cup of joe in this place.

Keep ’Em Guessing

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Which doesn’t matter much, in part because of the killer team Gunawan has assembled: managers Chen-Wei Lee (formerly of Bao Bei, Chambar, Wildebeest) and Jonathan Therrien (Café Medina, Chambar), bar manager Wendy McGuinness (Chambar), and head chef Jack Chen (Bishop’s, Farmer’s Apprentice, L’Abattoir). That’s the SEAL Team Six of the Vancouver resto scene right there. And for the most part, what they delivered to the table when I visited (the offerings change frequently) was impressive in its innovation and technical exactitude. The appetizers set a striking precedent. Smoked Castelvetrano olives napped with anchovy and lemon (a justiﬁably famous ﬁ xture

ROYAL DINETTE IS CHEF DAVID GUNAWAN’S THIRD RESTAURANT, FOLLOWING FARMER’S APPRENTICE (VANCOUVER RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR AT OUR 25TH ANNUAL RESTAURANT AWARDS IN 2014) AND GRAPES & SODA

THE

TICKET ROYAL DINETTE 905 Dunsmuir St., 604-974-8077 HOURS Lunch 11:30am-2pm (Mon.-Fri.); dinner 4:30pm–late. Closed Sundays PRICES Dinner entrées are typically under $30. (Vegetarian options cost considerably less.) A tasting menu is $65; at lunch, $25–$35 NOTES Wendy McGuinness brings the same playful ingenuity to the cocktail list here as she did at Chambar. Try the assertive, bourbonbased Kentucky Waltz

WE ATE IN A KIND OF CURIOUS SILENCE, AWARE OF A CREATIVE IMAGINATION AT PLAY

Clockwise from opposite page: preserves from the kitchen; a dish composed of burrata, roasted heirloom grapes, gooseberries, walnuts, and watercress; chef David Gunawan; the dining room; a dish composed of peaches, summer squash, pistachios, and Thai basil; a dessert of bay leaf-infused dark chocolate ganache with beetroot sorbet, heirloom grapes, and buckwheat sablé

of the menu at Farmer’s Apprentice) were a welcome offering here. Beef tartare was excellent, bedded on a light-green purée of sorrel and brown butter, and sprinkled with shavings of cured egg yolk plus smoked and dried beef-heart jerky. It might not make sense on paper, but it did on the palate. Similarly, mains were a procession of revelation. Summer squash and peach are a strange pairing. Pistachio and Thai basil even more so. Colatura anchovy sauce is a ﬂat-out weird accompaniment. But Chen put all of those things together on a single plate and it tasted great. We felt the same apprehension about capellini with duck conﬁt, sauced with eggplant purée and miso butter. We ate it in

a kind of curious silence, aware of a creative imagination at play in surprising and effective ways. Not every combination nailed it, as is bound to be the case with this sort of cooking. A dish billed as Paciﬁc Halibut, Grilled Octopus, Brassica, Smoked Pork, and Seaweed Broth (every dish is referenced on the menu simply as a list of its components) ate more or less as it read. Everything on the plate appeared to have been fastidiously assembled, but we came away thinking the dish might have been prepared by four cooks contributing their respective elements from different kitchens. Caramelized octopus, moist halibut, porky broth—great parts not quite equalling a coherent sum.

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A gathering place serving locally sourced & traditionally crafted food & drinks Dinner – Lunch – Brunch 60 West Cordova St. Vancouver | 604-559-8999 info@tuccraftkitchen.com | tuccraftkitchen.com

Gwaii Haanas: Land Sea People

Photo © Jags Brown

October 28, 2015 to March 27, 2016

Gwaii Haanas: Land Sea People is an exhibition of contemporary art by Northwest Coast artists celebrating connections between the land, sea and people of Gwaii Haanas.

639 Hornby Street Vancouver, BC V6C 2G3 of Northwest Coast Art

604.682.3455 | billreidgallery.ca

HAIDA NATION

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

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Another dish—Tamworth & Berkshire Pork, Grilled Treviso, Sweet Onion—left a similar impression. Nice flavours, its spicy tomatillos playing well with the onion. But the pork itself (ovenroasted, we were told) was distinctly chewy, seemingly having been smoked before roasting. And it wasn’t clear that the elements needed each other. Was it really a “dish,” a comprehensible whole, or a one-off coalescence of ideas you won’t necessarily think about, much less crave again, in future? Desserts closed the show in the same vein: fine flavours in unexpected combinations. Dark chocolate sorbet was served with poached pear, fresh cheese, sorrel, and pecan. Summer berries came with goat’s-milk jam and sorbet, lime curd, cubeb pepper sablé, and shiso. A lot of what Royal Dinette is about can be understood by considering this last creation. It’s typical of the menu, punctuated with off hand references to items your average dining enthusiast wouldn’t know: bagna cauda, colatura, Treviso, brassicas. A cubeb pepper is an Indonesian tailed peppercorn, used here to impart an almost imperceptible flavouring to a cookie crumble that tops the dessert. It tasted great, but was not so essential that I would have remembered it without taking notes. And that, in the end, may be the big takeaway from the Royal Dinette experience. This is food from the school of High Eclecticism—a kind of anti-diner aesthetic where every visit is about the element of surprise, not the comfortingly familiar. And while menus built this way—upon everchanging, improvisational plates— are sure to have sensory impact in the moment, they don’t necessarily linger long in the memory. VM

50 YEARS. 50 CHEFS. Culinary Event of the Year

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Tuesday, November 17, 2015 Rocky Mountaineer Station 1755 Cottrell St., Vancouver

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Chau Veggie Express 5052 Victoria Dr., 604-568-9508

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beef, pork, and ďŹ sh sauce, you might think vegetarian and vegan iterations would fall short on taste. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deďŹ nitely not the case at Chau Veggie Express, where Maria Hyunh and her mother, Chau, have created a slate of locally sourced, plant-based soups and noodle bowls paying delicious homage to their culinary heritage. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve even crafted a vegan lemon version of nuoc

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mam (ďŹ sh sauce) that wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave your palate wanting. The well-organized menu clearly highlights vegetarian, vegan, glutenfree, and allium-free options for diners on restricted diets, and dishes have playful monikers reďŹ&#x201A;ecting Mariaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adventures in Southeast Asia. Bai Sao Beach Chips are hand-cut taro slices that pique the palateâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;especially with the accompanying dip of organic tofu spiced with garlic and paprika. Diving for Pearls soup features a delicately light lychee and date broth, while the Rickety Rickshaw bowl is a noodletastic feast that includes crispy kale spring rolls. Save room for Andrew be powerless to resist the allure of his caramelized-banana cheesecake with coconut sauce and a gluten-free walnut crust. VM

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

Luis Valdizon

Hanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s swoon-worthy dessertsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll

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Featuring live and silent auction, live entertainment by SideOne & more! Purchase your tickets online at www.65rosesgala.com or call 604.436.1158

Max and Leona Pinsky Isaac and Judy Thau

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Wines Discovered

Bubbles on a Budget

FURTHER FIZZ LANGA REAL DE ARAGON CAVA

Dry with subtle pear and apple ﬂavours, this bottlefermented Spanish bubbly blends native macabeo with 30 percent chardonnay. The vines are well established and organically farmed, giving voice to a mineral note. Gently yeasty and lemony-tart

($23.49)

($13.29)

Sparkling wine needn’t be a costly indulgence. These bargain bottles deliver an aristocratic experience at a pauper’s price seven percent of all wine made worldwide is sparkling. That may not sound like much, but it’s a 40 percent increase from a decade ago. Clearly, more and more of us are falling for the fizz. There are two ways of keeping bubbles in the bottle. The most labour- and quality-intensive process is called the Traditional Method (used for Champagne, French crémants, Spanish cava, and top-quality New World fizz), where the wine undergoes a lengthy second fermentation in the actual bottle you purchase. The signatures of these wines are a toasty, nutty aroma, complex flavours evocative of brioche, and millions of creamy bubbles. They cost a little more because of the extra time and effort to make them. Wines like Prosecco and Moscato d’Asti are more cost-effectively made in tightly sealed, temperature-controlled tanks to trap the bubbles and preserve freshness, thus keeping the focus on primary floral aromas and fruit purity. Contrary to popular perception, bubbles aren’t just for special occasions or a rare splurge. A frisky glass can perk you up after a long workday, and it’s the perfect complement to a lazy Sunday’s breakfast in bed. Sparkling wines also make brilliant food partners. These four charmers from France, Spain, and B.C. offer colossal value for their sticker price. VM

CIPES BRUT

Cipes makes killer bubbly in the Okanagan, like this pure and zesty brut. Bottlefermented just like Champagne, you’ll love its ripe apple, pear, and roastednut ﬂavours, as well as its pillowy bubbles and perfectly balanced ﬁnish

CHAMPAGNE TAITTINGER BRUT RÉSERVE

($59.99) Sixty dollars might not seem like a bargain, but given the quality here, it really is. Aged twice as long as most non-vintage wines, it brings notes of brioche, creamy mousse, and persistent, tiny bubbles

2015 WINE AWARDS FINALIST

BAILLY L APIERRE CRÉMANT DE BOURGOGNE RÉSERVE ($22.79) £ Made in Burgundy, this serious and sophisticated sparkler features citrus and apple flavours, toasty complexity, and a crisp, dry finish. Fresh and lively with ebullient bubbles, it’s been a winner in the Sparkling category of our annual wine awards again and again. Astonishing value

BEST

CELLAR

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£ The ocean-focused menu at Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar (845 Burrard St., 604-642-2900) demands great bubbles, and wine director Lisa Haley’s list has a whopping 50 different offerings—one for every budget. Haley is an avowed sparklingwine fanatic, and will help you choose the right glass or bottle to accompany oysters or Boulevard’s famed seafood towers.

Lisa Haley: KK Law

THE

WITH GREAT POWER, COMES GREAT CONVERSATION BE A PART OF IT!

The next Vancouver magazine + Brian Jessel BMW M Power Speaker Series takes place on Monday, November 2 This is the last salon of the calendar year, so don’t miss our discussion of…

“Only in Vancouver”

How this city inspires the planet’s big thinkers to think bigger and not settle.

Don’t miss the city’s most exclusive speaker series. Vancouver magazine and Brian Jessel BMW have brought you select Power 50 honourees to the stage with thought-provoking topics and networking opportunities at the luxurious Brian Jessel BMW dealership. This is the last salon of the year. Don’t miss it. Monday, November 2, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. | Brian Jessel BMW | 2311 Boundary Road, Vancouver

Recap The September 14 Event The fourth instalment of the M Power Series featured Michael Audain, Polygon Homes Chair and Audain Art Museum founder and Anthony von Mandl, proprietor of Mission Hill Family Estate, discussing the formative role of culture in place-making and destination branding. More than 130 guests enjoyed wine from Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, beer from Stanley Park Brewery and food from ;Y\Ɋ LZ -PUL -VVKZ.

Michael Audain and Anthony von Mandl discuss the power of art, culture and culinary tourism as economic drivers.

Guests get the chance to ask the experts during the Q+A session.

9LNPZ[LY UV^ [V IL [OL Ä YZ[ [V KPZJV]LY V\Y Ä UHS [^V ZWLHRLYZ VM VanMag.com/MPower | Seating is limited.

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Spirit Guide

Cereal Killers Grain whiskies offer a unique (and premium) tasting experience for devotees of the dram

when diageo, the world’s largest spirits company, hired David Beckham last year to star in a commercial directed by Guy Ritchie to help launch its new whisky, Haig Club, it was big news. But what really got the whisky nerds’ tongues wagging wasn’t Becks in a green velour blazer; it was the fact that the spirit he was shilling would be made with grain, not malt. A little background. Traditionally, the Scotch industry has been broken into two arms. The first consists of the rarefied and pricey single malts (think Glenfiddich) that are made in a traditional pot

still from 100-percent barley. The second is given to mass-consumption blended whiskies (think Bell’s) made from the above-mentioned single malts as well as from grain whisky (which is mass-produced from other grains, usually wheat these days) in a modern, efficient column still. Historically, in blends, malt has given ﬂavour while grain provides little more than boozy ﬁller. But then, at the beginning of this century, along came John Glaser, an American working for Johnnie Walker in London. Glaser came to the realization that there was a niche to be exploited in

marketing rare, complex blended and grain whiskies with the same HEDONISM reverence heretofore used by ($105) the single-malt industry. One of The whisky that his first successes was a pricey started it all. Like a smoked crème 100-percent grain whisky called brûlée, it was the Hedonism. Others have followed first to show that suit—Nikka from Japan; the malts don’t have Famous Grouse brand’s Snow a monopoly on Grouse—but Diageo hopping complexity on board truly caps the grain mini-revolution. SCOTCH MALT WHISK Y The typical flavours of grain SOCIET Y G3.6 whisky are subtler and sweeter Although sold out than malts, with an emphasis on locally, you can toffee, butterscotch, and toast sample this at Fets notes—all of which make for an Whisky Kitchen (1230 Commercial easy and interesting substitute Dr., 604-255-7771). for bourbon in almost any classic Thirty-three years cocktail. VM THE BOT TLES

old, it’s a leathery, woody testament to grain whisky’s ageability NIKK A COFFEY GRAIN ($84)

Very clean and quite sweet. (Like marmalade on toast, perhaps?) “Coffey” refers to the still, not the brewed beans

The Kurofune THE DRINK

From Randy Gaudreau, Shebeen Whisk(e)y House, 210 Carrall St., 604-688-9779

1½ oz Nikka Coffey Grain whisky ¼ oz Amaro Averna

2 dashes Angostura bitters Randy Gaudreau, Shebeen Whisk(ey) House

£ Stir with cracked ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Finish with a twist of lemon

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

David Strongman

¼ oz sweet vermouth

PRESCOTT 7060 Prescott Street Vancouver West, Southlands $8,998,000

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HARVEY KARDOS c: 604.328.3499 t: 604.925.2911 e: harvey@harveykardos.com For more pictures and details visit harveykardos.com

Royal LePage Sussex 2397 Marine Drive West Vancouver

MICH Michael wears a Indochino custommade vest; Canali shirt at Holt Renfrew; DSquared jeans and boots at Harry Rosen. The watch is Michaelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own Rolex.

|| cover story ||

If you grew up here, chances are you crossed paths with Michael Bublé, Burnaby’s loud and proud international recording artist. And if you just moved here, you’ll likely see him soon enough, because …

HAEL ain’t going anywhere

by kerry gold || photogr aphs by eva a n kher a j || st yling by luisa rino photogr a phed on location at the wa rehouse studio in ju ne 2015

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

michael bublé is the local boy who happens to be an international celebrity. Chances are, you or someone you know has spotted him at a grocery store in West Vancouver, near his West Van house; or at the Vancouver Aquarium with his kid; or while eating at White Spot. Or maybe you dated him or went to school with him. He counts local hockey players, firefighters, and cops among his friends. The Burnaby-born boy is one of the world’s bestselling artists, routinely making Forbes magazine’s list of World’s Highest-Paid Musicians. His last tour grossed more than $200 million, with 1.8 million tickets sold in 39 countries. He’s the winner of a whopping 13 Junos and four Grammys. His 2011 holiday album, Christmas, has become a classic of its kind—a perennial bestseller that peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200. And although he just came off a massive world tour, he’s back at it again, writing more songs and working with some heavyweight names he can’t yet reveal. I started writing about Bublé nearly 20 years ago, when I worked at the Vancouver Sun. I was a cub entertainment writer and he was an eager young singer. We’d occasionally chat on the phone while he was struggling in Los Angeles, living in some cheap rental apartment with a mattress on the floor, and playing celebrities’ birthday parties. He’d gig anywhere in those days—boat cruises, bar mitzvahs, corporate gigs (including a long-ago Vancouver magazine Christmas bash), thanks to a work ethic he undoubtedly picked up from his father, who used to be a commercial fisherman. (Bublé spent a lot of summers toiling on his dad’s boat, catching salmon with a tough crew of salty dogs, slathering Vaseline on his calloused hands every night.) We’ve kept in touch over the years, and I helped him write his bestselling

memoir, Onstage, Offstage. Sitting down with him omrecently for an interview, he seemed the most comisma fortable in his skin that I’ve ever seen. His charisma has always loomed large, but there used to be a tening for sion, as if he were literally on the verge of bursting orner his life to get started. Having just turned the corner non 40, he’s got the relaxed air of a man who’s conquered some imaginary mountain and is in the enviable position of only having to enjoy the view. ay in A hefty part of that contentment is on display oo calligraphy across the inside of his wrist: a tattoo nd that says “Noah,” for his two-year-old son. He and nwife Luisana Lopilato, the 28-year-old Argentinian actress and model, also have another baby due early next year. When Bublé’s not at home, he’s on the reate road, and when he’s on the road, he tries to recreate home, which was always the plan. Years ago, hee went w they backstage to visit the Barenaked Ladies and saw ed that had a jungle gym set up for their kids. He’s copied set-up, and now that several of his bandmates also have children, it’s more like a daycare backstagee than ndpa a scene out of Almost Famous. His beloved grandpa ut these Mitch still travels with him on the road, too, but s. days he’s in the company of two full-time nurses. Mitch was his earliest inﬂuence—the one who got him interested in the Great American Songbook as a kid.

“Life gets better. Even when you’re a huge dork, you can still be famous”

DSquared velvet blazer, pants, shirt, and bow tie all at Harry Rosen.

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

“Some of our biggest ﬁghts were getting caught up in the same girl and ruthlessly trying to cut the other guy out,” recalls his best friend. “And when he knew he was a singer, he’d sing in lineups to girls at the clubs. They’d swoon. And we would roll our eyes.”

Indochino custommade vest, Canali shirt at Holt Renfrew; DSquared jeans and boots at Harry Rosen. The watch is Michael’s own Rolex.

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

They’d play old vinyl records in his grandpa’s living room, listening to guys like Frank Sinatra or Vaughn Monroe. Bublé would make tapes of his grandpa’s recordings and listen to them while working on the boat. While his high school friends were discovering Pink Floyd, he was listening to the oldies station CISL 650. Perhaps because he was a unique kid, he’s giving his own son a wide berth. He doesn’t even mind that his boy is already showing signs of wanting to play soccer over dad’s beloved hockey. (Bublé is co-owner of the Vancouver Giants.) “Whatever he wants—if he wants to be a gay ballet dancer, I’m cool with that,” he says. “I’m so in love. There’s no way to put into words how he makes me feel, about myself or about him. I’m more scared of death than I was before; I’m way more aware of my mortality. Way happier, way more fulfilled. I think I just found out there was a new level of love I didn’t even know existed.” A member of a tight-knit extended Italian family, including sisters Crystal (an actress) and Brandee (a children’s book author), Bublé has plans to continue to grow his own family unit. He wants four kids, and he wants to raise them between Vancouver and Buenos Aires, where he and Lopilato have a second home and she has family. “We’ll probably try to do six or seven months here, then go and home-school or set up schooling in Buenos Aires, because it’s so important for her to be home—her heart is there. And I understand that,” he says. “I’m a Burnaby kid, and Canada is such a big part of me, of who I am. This is my happy place.” He’s enough of a Burnaby boy that he owns a chunk of real estate there, near his best friend, Carsten Love. He and Love have known each other since they were three years old, growing up in North Burnaby’s Government Road with a mess of other kids playing street hockey in the early ’80s. They’ve maintained a close bond despite the years when they’d fight over girls while hanging out at places like the Roxy. “Some of our biggest fights were getting caught up in the same girl and ruthlessly trying to cut the other guy out,” recalls Love. “And when he knew he was a singer, he’d sing in lineups to girls at the clubs. They’d swoon. And we would roll our eyes.” Bublé isn’t sure what he’s going to do with the Burnaby property, which is currently under development and rumoured to be a personal compound housing everything from guest suites to a hockey rink. As an investor, he owns a lot of real estate around the Lower Mainland. He’s inherited his dad Lewis’s careful approach to money, and it helps that Love is a real estate agent. But Bublé is invested in the region emotionally, too. “A long time ago, I think Mike lost that wonder of living in different parts of the world,” says

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

Love. “He doesn’t care whether he’s in a hotel room or a palace. He just recently bought his first nice car. It’s about being near the people he loves. That’s why he’s in the Lower Mainland.” Bublé is such a dyed-in-the wool local that he even attended his Cariboo Hill high school reunion a few years ago. The target of bullies, he didn’t have it easy at school. “Mike might have been more of a target,” recalls Love. “There were a lot of tough kids, and he’s got a short fuse—like me, too—and you pick the wrong fight, and all of sudden you’re in trouble. I know it’s had an influence on who he’s become, and maybe his desire to conquer the world. It’s the feeling of being made small, and that ‘I’ll show you’ kind of thing. It’s the extra gas in his tank to keep him going.” Bublé likes to tell kids who are suffering through school that, ultimately, it’s an irrelevant blip in the grand scheme of life. “It’s just really nice to be able to tell somebody that it’s not going to be forever, that high school is not the real world,” he says. “Life gets better. Even when you’re a huge dork, you can still be famous.”

I respect women.” rld knows who Michael Bublé “Until the whole world really is, there will be a ton of people who just don’t m a stand-up comic who sings. get it,” he continues. “I’m ays straddle a line. Especially With humour, you always lish sense of humour, you are with my Canadian English riously. Is it over the line? Is it always balancing precariously. ot into trouble. I will continue crass? Is it rude? I’ve got to get into trouble, for sure, because I cannot and I ike me. And I’m not a mean will not ﬁlter myself. I like guy. I would never, everr take away someone’s dignity.” As well, people can’t complain too loudly because Bublé is often the most brutal target of his own en contemplating the 40-year humour. Lately, he’s been rkings of the fragile male ego. mark and the inner workings No matter how famous or rich one might be, the insecurity of growing older is universal. And so he riffs logue. openly on his inner dialogue. “I seriously feel like I’m 16 years old. I was on that TV show the other day and I was sitting next to Heidi ng to his recent gig as guest Klum,” he says, referring judge on America’s Got Talent, for which he sat next to the supermodel. “I can’tt remember how we got into it, bublé considers himself a stand-up comedian but she’s talking about her new boyfriend or someld are you?’ I said, ‘39.’ She said, as much as a singer, and he’s always had the sort of thing. She said, ‘How old comic edge that can make a strait-laced audience ner- ‘You’re much too old forr me.’ I said, ‘Whaaat?’ It really vous. For example, he likes to advise attendees to get hurt me. out of their seats and dance. And if the person behind “And you know whatt hurts even more? Is when I andwich or whatever, and these you should complain? “Tell them to go fuck off,” he go to Subway to get a sandwich ar-old girls are sitting there, says to audiences all over the world. Some particularly really cute 18- or 19-year-old prudish attendees have even walked out of concerts. and they see me, and I know they know it’s me. And But unlike other celebrities who don’t want to risk because I still want to be cool, I still want to be loved, u?’ And then they look at me offending the conservative Bible Belt at one end or the I’ll say, ‘Hi, how are you?’ ey didn’t used to look at me like politically correct at the other, Bublé hasn’t gone soft like I’m their uncle. They ent vibe. Now I’m a safe, old… in response to mainstream success. that. There was a different A few months ago, his humour ran afoul of the you know what I mean?? Sexual tension is gone. They masses where it always does: on social media. He don’t want any of this. And that hurts me in a weird gh I’m married, you still want posted a pic, taken by his wife, on Instagram while way, because even though in Florida. It shows him posing in front of a girl who to be a sexy man. You want that 19-year-old girl to is facing away from him, standing at a counter. Her go, ‘Oh, he’s so young.’ Not, ‘Hey, can you boot for us, shorts reveal an ample amount of butt. Bublé’s expres- Uncle Mike?’” sion is a naughty question mark. The Twittersphere But, I offer, with agee you could become a silver fox. fused. Like George Clooney, I erupted with accusations that it was sexist and a For a moment, he’s confused. violation against an unwitting girl. Bublé eventually explain. released a statement that stopped short of apologiz“Oh, I thought you were asking if I want to be gay ing. It was one of the few times in his career where like Anderson Cooper. And honestly? I don’t know he’d crossed the line, even though he’s aware how yet,” he deadpans. “I’m telling you right now, there supremely touchy a social-media mob can be. “It’s are few men I ﬁnd very attractive, but that Trevor hing about that guy. I don’t look funny with the Instagram thing, because there was Linden—there’s something e. There’s sexual tension there a very conscious decision being made on my part,” at him like he’s my uncle. he considers. “If I could go back, I wouldn’t have when I talk to him.” eefully, knowing that, for some posted it because of the offence that some people took He pauses, a little gleefully, ce again crossed the line. to it. At the same time, I didn’t apologize because people, he may have once ff a million people again. You I still don’t feel I did something wrong or hurtful—I “I have just pissed off never intended it to be that way. I love women. see? I can’t stop myself. And I will not stop myself!” VM

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

Bubléography Sept. 9, 1975 Michael Bublé is born in North Burnaby. 1986 At 11, Bublé decides he wants to be an actor and starts auditioning for community theatre. He discovers Harry Connick Jr. and decides he wants to be a singer instead. 1989 Bublé discovers that singing has a seductive power over women when he sings for a girl in a mall. She becomes his first girlfriend. 1991 Michael spends his summers working on his dad’s salmon fishing boat as a teenager, also singing at gigs arranged by his grandpa, Mitch. 1995 Bublé wins the PNE Youth Talent Search at age 20 and travels to the International Youth Talent Search in Memphis, Tennessee. He loses, but signs with his first manager. 1996 He starts playing at BaBalu supper club on Granville St. 1997 He does musical theatre, starring in Red Rock Diner and Forever Swing. 2000 Bublé plays the wedding of Caroline Mulroney, Brian Mulroney’s daughter, and meets producer David Foster, who offers to mentor him. 2002 Bublé signs his first record deal with Foster’s 143 Records, part of Warner. Bruce Allen signs on as his manager. 2003 His self-titled first album is released and sells 2 million copies. 2005 He releases his second album, It’s Time. He writes his first single, “Home,” which is a hit. He wins his first Grammy. 2007 His third album, Call Me Irresponsible lands him a Grammy for his song “Everything.” Bublé is a major star, songwriter, and touring performer. 2009 By the time he releases his fourth album, Crazy Love, he is dating Argentinian actress Luisana Lopilato, who would become his wife. She stars in the video for his hit “Haven’t Met You Yet.”

Paul Smith blazer and pants at Holt Renfrew; Dsquared shirt at Harry Rosen, Indochino bow tie and pocket square. The watch is Michael’s own Rolex.

2011 Bublé and Lopilato marry in a lavish ceremony in Argentina, followed by a lavish reception in Vancouver in May. He releases his Christmas album. 2013 He releases his ﬁfth studio album, To Be Loved, which debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. He and wife Luisana have a son, Noah.

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OUR FIRST-EVER MADE-IN-VANCOUVER

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

2015

This year, we decided that locals know better than some random catalogue as to what you need under your tree. Herewith, a list for who’s naughty and nice

When Kitsilano resident Jesse Nightingale had trouble ﬁnding a unique bed for her BCSPCA-adopted pup, Beaumont, she put her background in fashion design and textile art to good use. Handsome Mountain pet beds ($145) feature screen-printed designs inspired by West Coast culture. Discover Dogs, #27-701 Kingsway, 778-228-7458, Hand some-mountain.com

|| by the va nmag editors || photogr aph by clinton hussey || st yling by nicole sjöstedt

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

Made-inVancouver

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

FOR

Her

Avoid the shop-till-youdrop cycle this holiday. From pyjamas to skin cream to perfect hostess gifts, a roundup of local gifts that now make holiday shopping festive and fun

Mona Sultan’s Flare for Fringe bandanas ($155) feature digitally printed designs on 100-percent-silk twill with a hand-sewn fringe edge that adds contemporary interpretation to a classic style. Goodge Place, 1523 W. Eighth Ave., 604-714-1133; Goodgeplace. com, Monasultan.com

Reassembly botanical fragrance oils ($45), like Mosscape (oak moss, Japanese peppermint) and Lupa (lavender, nutmeg), are small-batch, longwearing fragrances all made from aged botanicals absorbed into an organic coconut oil base. Walrus Home, 3408 Cambie St., 604-874-9770; Walrus home.com, Reassembly.ca

VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 O 15

You could be forgiven for mistaking Vancouver’s Fable Naturals organic skin care line for your grocery staples with its olive oil, shea butter, green tea, and lemon ingredients. The vegan Chamomile + Shea moisturizer ($24/60 ml) includes radish root and apricot oil. 2541 Main St., 604-709-9034, Fablenaturals.com

Bandanas: Clinton Hussey

£ For nearly 70 years, the Dayton factory store in Vancouver has been handcrafting boots using traditional, labourintensive methods (over 230 steps for one pair!). The Aurora boot ($479) is a square-toed pull-on inspired by the ’60s but made for today. 2250 E. Hastings St., 604-253-6671, Daytonboots.com

A collaboration between Claudia Alan eyewear and a local fashion maven, the C4 Eyewear x Susie Wall capsule collection features sunglasses and edgy reading glasses, such as the Rockit grey tortoise frames ($125), with partial proceeds going to Vancouver-based charity Cause We Care (helping single mothers in need). Claudiaalan.com.

Mona Sultan Founder, owner, and designer

Deck the halls with creative craft cocktails made from Long Table’s copper pot-distilled Långbord Akvavit ($41). Made at their microdistillery on Hornby Street, this spirit was created using a traditional Scandinavian recipe that yields festive ﬂavours of licorice and Seville orange. 1451 Hornby St., 604-266-0177, Longtabledistillery.com

What’s on your Christmas list this year? A ﬂotation session at Metta Rest Spa, a Phillip Lim small Ryder satchel in black, and Wary Meyers soaps in my stocking. The gift you’re most excited to give this year? The funky Christmas ornaments by Goodwill found at Goodge Place. My mother-in-law has been collecting ornaments for a long time; she’s going to love them! I also just discovered Chai caramels from Rangoli, which I’ll stuff into stockings! I go through phases, and lately I’ve been loving Dr. Vranjes diff users: the bottle is beautiful, so it can be displayed anywhere in the home, and their scents are so different from anything else on the market. Ginger lime is my favourite. Your other favourite local brand? Claudia Schulz hats.

Inspired by the ocean, the Ula necklace ($900) by the irrepressibly talented Negar Katami of Mount Pleasantbased Katami Designs features an organic seashell charm hand-cast in 18-karat gold and adorned with a diamond. 138 E. Broadway, 604-559-3872, Katami designs.com

What would you give the city of Vancouver? Dogs to be allowed on patios.

Canadian sleepwear brand The Sleep Shirt and Vancouver’s Rebecca Rawlinson of the Rebecca Bree boutique join forces for the holidays with the Bonne Nuit nightwear set ($325). The pink-and-cream-striped cotton nightshirt and lounge pants will have you dreaming of sugar plums in no time. 3680 W. Fourth Ave., 604-714-0085; Rebeccabree.com, Thesleepshirt.com

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

Made-inVancouver

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

FOR

Him

It’s the holidays, but that doesn’t mean tacky Christmas sweaters are suddenly permissable. It’s all about thoughtful gifts that go beyond the usual suspects (tie, socks, liquor…actually, we’ve got booze, but you get the idea)

Gordon Glanz, founder and distiller at the small-batch distillery Odd Society in East Vancouver’s port district, has developed bittersweet vermouth ($24/375 ml) from an old Italian recipe. A combination of B.C.-fortiﬁed wine, 25 botanicals, and Arbutus bark from Mayne Island gives this spirit West Coast character. 1725 Powell St., 604-559-6745, Oddsocietyspirits.com

Hailing from Gastown’s FortKnight Barbers, Beard Balm ($25) has the power to transform bristly-faced rogues into modern gentlemen with its all-natural ingredients that soften and condition unruly whiskers. 46 Alexander St., 604-620-7930, Fortknightonline.com

Made by hand with saddle-grade Belgian leather and stitched sinew, the Drifter bag ($400) by Dustin Bentall (son of creative father Barney Bentall) and Spencer Baker will develop patina over time. 1133 Keefer St., 604-353-4344, Bbgunleather.com

Created by a brother-sister duo, Granted’s chunky-knit wool sweaters (Three Tone Block in grey scale, $385) mix traditional hand-knitting technique with modern and quirky graphics that often evoke Cascadia (bears, moose), but also farther aﬁeld (hula girls, hibiscus). Hill’s of Kerrisdale, 2125 W. 41st Ave., 604-266-9177, Hillsofkerrisdale.com Grantedclothing.

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Made with an ultra-soft blend of Canadian-knit eco fabrics like organic cotton and bamboo, Two Birds Apparel’s Summit V organic T-shirt ($40) takes inspiration from nature while giving back to it: one percent of all sales are donated to the David Suzuki Foundation. Twobirdsapparel.com

£ Help support the man in your life with MyPakage’s The Weekday boxer ($25). This colourful line of underwear features a patented three-dimensional internal pouch that keeps him cradled and comfortable. 8th and Main, 2403 Main St., 604-559-5927; 8Main.org, Mypakage.com

Boxers: Clinton Hussey

Add a touch of sweetness to your cocktails, cooking, and desserts with Cahoots coldsteeped syrups. The stripped-down, versatile classic simple syrup ($16), made from raw cane sugar and crisp, clean water, promises to become a staple on your bar cart. Walrus Home, 3408 Cambie St., 604-8749770; Walrushome.com, Cahootsmade.com

£ Considering standard petroleum-based foam surfboards end up in the landﬁll in as little as two years, you’ll appreciate Sliver Paddleboards' handmade hollow wood boards that last a lifetime. Have local craftsman Clayton Sansbury fashion you a TEN board ($2,875) or build your own with kits starting at $275. Sliverpaddleboards.com

Spencer Baker & Dustin Bentall Founders, owners, artisans, b.b gun leather What’s on your Christmas list this year? SPENCER Ken Diamond moccasins, Ryan Adams's 1989 on vinyl, and a French-style shoe hammer that’s no less than a hundred years old. DUSTIN Ken Diamond moccasins and a 1962 Gibson J-50 acoustic guitar. What’s the gift you’re most excited to give this year? SPENCER A b.b gun Tri-Fold wallet for my lovely girlfriend, a custom b.b gun tote bag for my mom, a lump of coal for my turd of a brother. We’re not egocentric at b.b gun, but we love to give gifts that are from the heart and hand-made by us. Your go-to gift to others? My signature gift is a pack of smokes and a cheap bottle of whisky for the host. DUSTIN I often write a song for at least one gift each year. Last year it was a guitar and a song that came with it for my girlfriend’s sister. SPENCER

What would you give the city of Vancouver? SPENCER As musicians who reside here, we’ d love a new music venue. Also, for continued Vancouverite support of b.b gun—we are so appreciative of the kindness, generosity, and appreciation of our work. DUSTIN Another summer like this last one. I love that sunshine.

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

Made-inVancouver

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

FOR

The Kids

After all the presents are opened and the sugar high comes down, you’re usually left with a bunch of broken toys. Not so this year, with a roundup of sweet, sustainable gifts for wee ones that go beyond the usual plastic and paper

Founded by twin sisters Eleanor Lee and Angel Kho, Loulou Lollipop’s hand-made, eco-friendly silicone teething jewellery looks good enough to eat (and for mom to wear). The Bubble silicone paciﬁer clip ($15) is government-approved, BPA-free, and no-PVC-safe for baby, with food-grade silicone beads and a breakaway clasp. Etsy.com

After her partner was diagnosed with ALS, Patricia Abbott was determined to eliminate toxins from their home. When their son Raine was born, so was Zoolu Organics, a line dedicated to creating artfully designed, eco-friendly baby clothes like the deer onesie ($24)—all free of PVCs. Bird on a Wire, 2535 Main St., 604-315-1188; Birdonawirecreations.com, Zooluorganics.com

Baby clothes: Clinton Hussey

Bespoke shoemakers Jules Vagelatos and Josh Blodans of Love Jules Leather Shoe Company handcraft their leather wares in Chinatown, where their Lil’ Hightop boat shoes ($75) are made from supple, garment-weight cowhide and ﬁnished with a proprietary elastic closure that keeps these kicks from falling off. By appointment, 1907 Triumph St., 778-995-2520, Lovejulesleather.com

From the stylish sister duo at Vonbon comes the Hello harem leggings ($39), a staple unisex piece in soft bamboo and organic cotton with an adjustable waistband that’s designed to grow with your little one. West Coast Kids, 4428 Main St., 604-558-1182; Westcoastkids.ca, Vonbon.ca

Add a touch of whimsy and playfulness to your little one’s space with Mitani’s bunting flag garland ($42)—each of the eight flags is reversible and hand-made in Vancouver out of 100-percent certified organic cotton. Vancouver Special, 3612 Main St., 604568-3673; Vanspecial.com, Mitanidesigns.com

For the wee surfer comes the S is for Surﬁng book ($22), written by surf instructor Carly Seibel and illustrated by Edward Juan. This locally printed ABC picture book about surﬁng culture in Canada is a colourful introduction for future beach bums. Collage Collage, 621 Kingsway, 604569-1929; Collagecollage.ca, Forestandwaves.com

Josh Blodans Co-founder and co-owner, Love Jules

What’s on your Christmas list this year? A new iPhone—we [business and life partner Julia Vagelatos] share one phone right now and it’s insanely confusing. No one ever knows who they’re texting. There’s not a lot of separation when you live and work with your partner, but a one-phone household? Come on, guys. What’s the gift you’re most excited to give this year? Really? You’re asking me to give away a Christmas surprise? I live for Christmas surprises. Next question. Do you have a signature gift you always give? Family tends to expect shoes for Christmas, 'cause you know... we make shoes. However, our brothers and sisters are starting to have little ones, so we’ll likely—spoiler alert!—gift many pairs of lil’ shoes this year, which is a far better situation for us. Your other favourite local brand? Studio 126 in Chinatown—they handcraft the most awesome custom furniture. What would you give the city of Vancouver? An apple cidery—Jules is celiac, a dirty-taco truck (nothing fancy—just the goods), and affordable housing. Not necessarily in that order.

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

Made-inVancouver

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

FOR

The Pets

Pets are just as much a part of the family as anyone. Maybe even more so (we’re talking to you, druncle). Here, a takeaway of Vancouver’s best local treats for the one who loves you best £ A marriage of excellent form and function, this chic cat basket ($135) by Cherry Felt is 100-percent-wool felt and hand-made right here in the city. Kittenapproved. Etsy.com

Forks Design’s Nip-in-the-Butt catnip toy ($9) is a tribute to founder/ designer Susie Yang’s late cat Nemo. Made by hand, each brightly coloured felt toy is triple-stitched (no toxic glue) and ﬁlled with local catnip from Maple Ridge. 2forksdesign.com

Manufactured in Vancouver, Johnwear’s eco-friendly doggie long johns ($59) are a canine version of the company’s classic red long johns, complete with a (nonfunctioning) square hatchback. Johnwear.ca

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Doggie underwear and cat bed: Clinton Hussey

£ The Granville Island Pet Treatery is so Vancouver with their use of ingredients such as dandelion, yucca root, and seaweed mixed with flavours like meaty bacon and wild sockeye salmon. One percent of profits from the treat boxes ($20) goes to the BCSPCA, meaning Mr. Barky Von Schnauzer can give a little back to the canine community, too. Woofles and Meowz, 1496 Cartwright St., 604-689-3647, wooflesandmeowz.com

Jesse Nightingale

It’s a Furry, Wonderful Life The perfect Christmas morning used to present itself in a ribbon-topped box with high-pitched meows escaping plaintively from the air holes. But what seemed like a good idea in the calm of pre-December 25th becomes a rather terrible one when the chaos of the holiday hits high stride. The element of surprise isn’t always the best plan, especially since pet return

policies generally aren’t as liberal as Nordstrom’s. When you commit to a pet, it’s best to do it when the tree has long been packed away. However, the holidays are the perfect time to make a difference, so with that in mind, it’s always an excellent idea to take on a pet if there’s room in your heart and your house. We'll make it easy for you. Last year, there were 1,936 hurt,

abandoned, or surrendered cats and kittens saved by the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association (VOKRA). While you can’t give a cute kitty for Christmas, you can give a gift certiﬁcate to rescue one from VOKRA. Or, in the name of good will, sign up to volunteer at VOKRA’s rescue centre, or apply to become a foster parent at Vokra.ca. Honestly, how can you resist?

Founder, owner, and designer, Handsome Mountain (see dog beds, p.55) What’s on your Christmas list this year? New leather-working tools! I’ d especially love a couple of nice hammers. And a trip to Toﬁno, so I can unwind and enjoy the coziness of a cabin by the water, a couple of hot chocolates and warm teas, start a new book, and hopefully get to have a campﬁre. The gift you’re most excited to give this year? A handmade quilt for my grandmother that I've been working on for a couple of years now.

Chris and Penelope were bottle-fed around the clock by one of VOKRA’s volunteers after their mother fell victim to a coyote

Your other favourite local brand? Scout & Catalogue because I’m a textile designer and truly admire her love for dyeing fabric and developing her leather-dyeing techniques. What would you give the city of Vancouver? I wish for this city to become a bit friendlier when doing your daily grind activities... like simply saying ‘hi’ to passersby. Have more outdoor interactive events that help clean up either our neighbourhoods or beaches of litter and waste. Have all of our fellow furry friends at adoption centres get adopted! And mostly I just wish that everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season, and, of course, furry friend kisses.

N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E

Made-inVancouver

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

FOR

The Home

Escape the poinsettia-printed platters this season. Handwoven blankets, modern wall art, and candles scented with essential oils all create charm that can be enjoyed year-round

£ Produced in-house and by hand in small runs, these prints by husband-and-wife team Katie and Paul Morris recall the urban and natural environments around them. To wit: the Sun and Rain screen print ($150) with geometric expression of the mountains, trees, and rain clouds of our fair city. Ktandpaul.com

Designed by Eric Pfeiffer, the STACT wine rack ($130) squares transform your collection of bottles into a modular design that expands and adapts to ﬁt your wall space. 1-877-969-2716, Getstact.com

£ Made by Gallant and Jones, 100-percentcotton Fireside blankets ($49) are inspired by the charm of seaside summers in Britain, but are perfect for keeping cozy during the region’s cold, wet winters. 604-420-1350, Gallantandjones.com

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The brainchild of four local computer engineers, Bryght cuts out the middleman by allowing customers to buy directly from them (the manufacturers). The natural colour variations and creases of the mid-century-inspired Sven Charme chair ($1,449) give it a charming quality. 520 Alexander St., 1-888-7463455, Bryght.com

Fouad Farraj & Sonia Chhinji Founders and owners, Woodlot What’s on your Christmas list this year? FOUAD A puppy. SONIA An Issey Miyake bag. The gift you’re most excited to give this year? FOUAD A home-cooked meal to my family. SONIA A custom photo book to a really good friend.

What started as gifts for friends and family turned into a brisk business for avid cyclists Fouad Farraj and Sonia Chhinji of Woodlot. Their candles ($32) are hand-made using clean-burning, petroleumfree coconut wax blended with essential oils, all created in their bright and airy Mount Pleasant studio. A’ hoy Goods, 4391 Gallant Ave., North Vancouver, 604-770-3110; Ahoygoods. com, Shopwoodlot.com

Your signature gift go-to? SONIA Before starting Woodlot, I always gave friends and family homemade candles and soap bars, so this year I’ll rely on Old Joy gift boxes because they are simply the best, and full of amazing Canadian-made brands. Your other favourite local brand? FOUAD Vitruvi. SONIA Wings + Horns. What would you give the city of Vancouver? FOUAD I would really like to see the Downtown Eastside cleaned up. SONIA Affordable housing.

£ From her studio in Chinatown, Maggie Boyd puts hands to work by creating delicate, delightfully quirky stoneware. Her Tumbler Family mugs ($34) each have a one-of-a-kind face drawn by Boyd at her creative discretion (to order). Charlie & Lee, 223 Union St., 604-558-3030; Charlieandlee.com, Maggieboydceramics.com N O V E M B E R 2 O 15 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E