The ThunderBlogs

“If you want hear the cutting-edge of electronica music, you have to be here tonight,” said John Harris, a 36 year-old resident of Whistler, pointing to a ticket in his hand.  Harris waited in line at Highlife Records and Music, a music store on Commercial Drive, one of the hippest districts of Vancouver.

By “here,” Harris did not mean Commercial Drive.  Harris meant a multi-purpose art space called W2, located in the Downtown Eastside, across the street from the new Woodward’s Building.  Mixed-usage is the philosophy behind the development of this part of town, and for better or for worse, the effects are being seen.

To take a walk in and around The Woodward’s Building reveals a wellness centre, a ritzy market called Nester’s, a soon to open Hiro’s Sushi, Simon Fraser University Woodward campus, a JJ Bean coffee shop, a London Drugs, a trendy drinking hole called The Charles Bar, new townhouses and apartments that sell for $400,000 and more, 250 social housing rooms and single occupancy units.  And all of this used to be one of toughest and poorest areas of the city.

“Oh yeah, it has changed a lot.  I wasn’t for it at first, but I’m all for it now,” said Keith Durocher, 36, who just recently opened Penny Black Tattoo Parlor and has lived in the area for ten years.  “With the development, new affluence is bringing new foot traffic in and business.”

And W2 encapsulate this progression.  It is a 8800 square foot “community arts space” with a cafe and “community media centre” used for various purposes.  Officially, “W2 works with residents of Downtown Eastside as a Print and Digital Publishing Centre, engages with youth support programs and collaborates with Woodward’s SFU’s campus, the Kootenay School of Writing and other artists, designers, musicians and DJs.”

Williams Sheppard, a local resident of over ten years and a recently employed Woodward’s security guard, often sees people line up outside of W2.  He also said he likes the development that he sees.  “Sure, it is good.  It gives entrepreneurs the chance to spice their spirits and start something.  People need it.  They got residences now, not stuffed-up hotels.  People feel safer.”

On a Saturday night and a half-an-hour walk from Commercial drive, people lined up for the event at W2 which Harris spoke of.  Inside, a massive hangar-like lounge with sofas, digital graffiti artists, and bartenders were the first to greet you.  Further in, though, revealed other sectioned-off rooms used for art exhibitions, such as the “human-powered party train,” and works by Downtown Eastside artists like Justin Sekiguchi, a Japanese-Canadian outreach worker and programming staff of Oppenheimer Park.  A DJ in a mock gas mask mixed records, and created dance floor beats on his Apple computer in yet another room.

With the arrival of spaces like W2, things are only going to get better, according to Sheppard.  “You see that store over there?” he said.  “It’s gone now, but it’ll be leased here in a matter of no time.  Just you wait.”