Commercial Drive/Grandview
The Grandview neighbourhood (most often referred to as Commercial Drive - the most popular street within this area)runs from the south shore of busy Burrard Inlet south to Broadway, one of the city's major east-west roads. The western border of the neighbourhood is Clark Drive, the eastern Nanaimo Street. It is a busy area for transportation, with Hastings Street and First Avenue both cutting through the neighbourhood, while Victoria Drive and Commercial Drive both run north-south through the area. It is a mature neighbourhood in Vancouver that is a vibrant mixture of commercial, industrial, single-family and multi-family residential with a rich ethnic history and features. Much of the neighbourhood is built on the rise that stretches east-west through the eastern portion of Vancouver, making for views across the city proper and the inlet.
HIGHLIGHTS
Known locally as The Drive, Commercial Drive is the undeniable draw of this neighbourhood, with a mix of residential-commercial area with a high proportion of ethnic and vegetarian restaurants, businesses, and public housing. A street packed with small shops, it has been a key part of the commercial landscape in Vancouver for nearly a century for its ethnic diversity and the uniqueness of shops that populate it. Commercial Drive has a large number of local ethnic stores and community groups, Edwardian-style heritage buildings, European-style cafes, bars, and alternative shops and entertainment venues. It has been the destination for generations of immigrants to Vancouver and has significant Asian, European, Latin-American, East Indian, and African communities. As of the Canada 2001 census, English is a minority language in Grandview Woodlands, though still the most common. The area has low property prices compared to the westside of Vancouver, yet has good city services and is a local transit hub.
