Blo | Blow Dry Bar

Since its transformation from outmoded warehouse district into playground for the wealthy (and their little dogs), Yaletown has endured constant dispute about its boundaries. If you inhabit a live/work space above the Mini dealership on Hamilton Street, say, you’re liable to believe that Yaletown proper is only the few blocks of brick sidewalk marked “Yaletown” on the map below. And indeed, there’s a sizable difference in income between those residents and their North False Creek neighbours. True-blood Yaletown is home to only 1,000 happy souls, though the last census uncovered 4,700 jobs in the same area. Most folks who claim to be Yaletowners actually live some distance from the neighbourhood’s heart, which we can peg as the front door of Blo salon. The towers and waterfront that stretch beyond are mono-cultures, though, and use Yaletown proper as their shopping and dining trough. We predict the broader neighbourhood will usurp the Yaletown title by 2012. This new mega-Yaletown might also include the swath of undeveloped land east of B.C. Place—though not before those now-barren acres serve as Concord Place, a fairground for Olympic pavilions.

Pat Richardson and Ian Bullock, Vancouver Magazine, December 2009

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