My Great Great Grandmother Was A Norwegian Gyspy

Yesterday was just a regular Sunday morning for me, and as usual I was 'watching' football and googling Dan Mangan when I came across http://www.blogger.com/www.vancouverisawesome.com. In an interview they asked Dan 'In what neighbourhoods of Vancouver have you lived during your lifetime and what did you like the most about each of them?'.Dan has lived in four neighbourhoods. I thought this would be fun for me to do until I started to do it and realized I've lived in 19 different neighbourhoods in my life!!!


I really struggled with whether to continue writing in the fear that I would expose myself as being mentally unstable/a nomadic maniac/a terrible roommate. But then I realized, anyone who already likes me, probably knows most of these things are true already. As for people who don't like me, well...god bless and click here.

For the Coles Notes version of my answer, I've created a list that lumps similar locations together. And for the sake of currency I will only include places I have lived since the greatest day of my life when I moved out of my parent's house at 18 years old (more on the irony of this later).


1. The Presidio, San Francisco 2001


Not a Vancouver neighbourhood but still relevant. The best thing about this hood was its proximity to Crissy Field (above) and the corner store on Chestnut Street that never ID'd me for beer and carried my art school approved edgy American Spirits.

2. St. Urbain & Prince Arthur, Montreal 2002-2004

A lovely apartment that boasted an actual hole in the floor, homeless people in the lobby, and a leaking roof that could quench the thirst of the Sahara Desert. I loved how cheap the rent was so I could afford dinners at Sofia and Buonanotte (hot in 2003) and dye my hair blond and pink (swear to god).

2. 5th and Collingwood - 2004

I lived here with 2 frat guys. Needless to say it ended badly, but I loved how quickly homeless people collected our vast supply of empties and eating at Aphrodite Cafe for delicious organic coffee and really good Mushroom Quiche (sounds gross but it's really good if you're willing to wait an hour for it).

3. Seymour and Robson - 2005

I found the opposite of a frat guy and moved in with her. We went to Caprice every night and hung out in Yaletown every day. Keep in mind it was still totally acceptable to wear tight black flared pants and I still had a belly button piercing.

4. Seymour and Nelson - 2006-2007

The 2.0 version of my last place, I moved into a loft just a block away that was literally right behind the Roxy. I quickly found out the back door of the Roxy lead right to my apartment, and would make exits accordingly. Also the convenience store downstairs was called 'Foodness'.

5. UBC - 2007


This is where I fell in love with commuting, taking the bus, and riding on the back of motorcycles (something I explored further while hitchhiking in Costa Rica last summer).

6. Kerrisdale - 2007

Note: There is nothing good about living in Kerrisdale. It is the place where uptight people literally go to die. Plus there are lots of coyotes (natural predator of my chihuahua), it's close to Marpole, and metal thieves steal copper wire from the railroad tracks.

7. 3rd and Larch - 2008-2009

The only problem with Kits is that there are too many people running by you in Lululemon while you smoke and drink on your front porch. Otherwise it's really great...and Market Meats will sell you the best rack of lamb you've ever had if you're willing to pay about $70 for it (which I will be in about a year). This house had a wood burning fireplace, rain showers and my 2 bff's. I'll end my nomadic tale here... xoxo