3. The Garden in the Village

East Hastings @ Kamploops & Penticton

In recent years, a lot of business areas in the city have been engaging in rebranding efforts. If you happen to walk or drive across a block where the sidewalks are flanked by little colourful flags with quirky logos flying high and gleaming in the sun, you have arrived in a BIA (Business Improvement District). Some of these, like the West End or Chinatown, are old brands that are simply being updated. Others, like South Granville, are new identities bestowed on a neighbourhood so changed it really does need a new designation. Yet others, like the Punjabi Market on Main Street, is trying to fight against irrelevance as its original constituents have migrated to more suburban pastures and the promised renewal (such as the much, much delayed building of the India Gate) has not yet materialized. One of the more controversial, yet also apparently rather successful, rebranding is the "East Village," a renamed section in the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood. Inhabitants who are proud of being a Hastings Street resident scoff at the removal of the street name from the area's brand, while others smirk at the faux New York reference, as if (they say) this area is in any way like its more well-known Manhattan namesake. What for me most sums up the spirit of this area is the vast vacant lot between Kamloops and Penticton that has been turned into the "Hastings North Temporary Community Garden." It is "temporary" because the garden is made up of mobile garden beds and can be relocated instantly if the lease of the lot is not renewed or if the neighbourhood changes and no longer seems desirable for the garden. From Hastings Street you can't really see the garden as it is fenced off by a large wooden wall, decorated with flowery doodles, a hand-painted website address scrawled across, and little holes through which you can peer through, and discover an urban oasis tugged just inches away. A lot of people have said that unless you reduce the traffic on Hastings, the "East Village" would never really feel like a village where you can linger and enjoy. I feel that this not-so-secret garden really represents the potential of the "village." It's flourishing with communal spirit, lively colours, and spaces of leisure, but it's fenced off and protected from the car-controlled streets, toying with our attention and ready to intrigue ... but also to disappear overnight if needs be.