Things to do in the DTES

Besides protest and indulge your vices…

Our fair city has been the butt of jokes and the subject of harsh criticism over the Olympics, traffic, the weather, national pride, but perhaps most of all about the Downtown Eastside.  There have been numerous efforts to improve the situation, combat negative stereotypes, and just plain let people know that not everyone in the DTES is a mentally ill, drug using, prostitute.

Wes and I have been doing a lot of blogging lately, Megaphone, and Frances Bula are among the others to speak out.  This has kept me from doing much here but contributing photos, so today I’m doing a rundown on all the things going on in the DTES to encourage locals and tourists to visit and see for themselves.

Vancouver’s gritty Downtown Eastside is home to Canada’s greatest concentration of galleries and artist studios.  This past weekend, the first ever Artwalk took place.  Many of the popup galleries and installations are still available and generally are free to the public.  Building Opportunities with Business is hosting a Cultural Olympiad installation by the world famous artist Trimpin which is open seven days a week and is completely free.  Less than two blocks away at 39 East Pender is another free Cultural Olympiad installation.

The W2 Community Arts Centre’s Perel Gallery is open daily showing non-mainstream local and international artists.  Their entire building is a Cultural Olympiad installation called “Fire with Fire” which you have to take in from across the street at night.  That’s right to see the art you have to come to Hastings and Abbot at night, danger Will Robinson, danger.

Not really, the Blue Dragon, yet another Cultural Olympiad show is playing at SFU across the street from W2, it is definitely not free but it is a pretty amazing show, by another world famous artist, in the brand new Milton and Fei Wong Experimental Theatre.

The DTES is location of many walking tours, Sins of the City is being run twice daily by the Vancouver Police Museum.  If you want to know where Vancouver’s most infamous opium dens and brothels used to be located, this is the walking tour for you.  There are a variety of others around architecture or culinary tourism.  The city even has maps if you want to create your own.

If all the walking and art is making you hungry or thirst, the Downtown Eastside has no shortage of cafes, eateries, and drinking holes.  You can find everything from big and glossy to tiny and gritty, from the just opened, to the establishment that has been open for decades.  Chinatown of course has some world class Chinese food and Water and Carrall Street are home to many a reveler during the Olympics.  And before heading home, you could hit up the Fortune Sound Club which is providing fresh beats on their world class sound system right from the heart of Chinatown.

Tags: Blue Dragon, chinatown, Cultural Olympiad, DTES, olympics, W2