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Old Posted Jun 30, 2010, 11:03 PM
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Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland by Rail, Bus, Streetcar, and Foot: Part Two

a blog article and their take on the city here - a good read

Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland by Rail, Bus, Streetcar, and Foot: Part Two

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I had a conversation about Vancouver with a New Urbanist planner who scoffed at what he called its “fake urbanism.” He laughed at Vancouver’s high-rise residential towers, claiming such development could never yield honest to goodness neighborhoods. I asked residents what they thought, asked them to tell me about their neighborhoods. From all reports, as well as my own experience, I don’t see anything fake about Vancouver’s urbanism. And the neighborhoods there seem as honest as anywhere else. It isn’t a perfect city, of course, and many things can be improved. What I like about Vancouver, though, is that it seems fully aware of that fact. It constantly experiments, and the city as a whole seems engaged in a critical conversation of urbanism and environmental sustainability. If anything, it might be a little too self-critical.
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I enjoyed the hell out of my three days in Vancouver. I didn’t have a car and never had the slightest need for one. Shitty weather didn’t dampen the beauty of either the city or the stunning landscape. I never felt unsafe or unwelcome as a pedestrian. I met plenty of friendly, interesting folks, both locals and tourists, some of whom were born and raised in the Fraser Basin and some of whom hailed from the far corners of the globe. All in all, Vancouver was still a good lookin’ gal the morning after. Maybe she isn’t the sort of hot that makes you want to just get naked in the street, but she’d be easy to bring home to Mom.
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2010, 1:10 AM
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Originally Posted by SpongeG View Post
a blog article and their take on the city here - a good read

Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland by Rail, Bus, Streetcar, and Foot: Part Two
About the most honest and spot on article about vancouver that i think I've ever read.
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2010, 4:25 AM
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Interesting to compare the Vancouver article with the same author's article on Seattle, which is much less positive:

http://planologie.wordpress.com/2009...t-one-seattle/
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2010, 5:38 AM
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Interesting article, though truth be told I've done LA without a car, encompassing downtown, Hollywood and Anaheim, its not as hard as you would think.
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2010, 5:53 AM
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Interesting article, though truth be told I've done LA without a car, encompassing downtown, Hollywood and Anaheim, its not as hard as you would think.
You're brave. It's a long way from Anaheim to Hollywood. I wouldn't do LA without a car just because of the distance and time involved. As a student, it used to take me around 30 minutes on the I-10 to drive from Malibu to Chinatown or Downtown LA -- in the early morning before rush hour. Don't know how long it would take on public transit.

I'm surprised about Seattle. Is downtown that run-down?
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Old Posted Jul 1, 2010, 6:31 AM
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its not got the same kind of life at night as vancouver does - last time I stayed downtown it was at the W which is pretty much downtown blocks from westlake centre etc. and at night it was so quiet and lifeless, I had to walk all the way to capital hill to find anything open, i just wanted something to drink and not pay an arm and a leg at the bar or the mini fridge - there were no corner stores or anything open around 11 pm - the whole way to capital hill was pretty much devoid of life
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Old Posted Jul 4, 2010, 8:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Hourglass View Post
You're brave. It's a long way from Anaheim to Hollywood. I wouldn't do LA without a car just because of the distance and time involved. As a student, it used to take me around 30 minutes on the I-10 to drive from Malibu to Chinatown or Downtown LA -- in the early morning before rush hour. Don't know how long it would take on public transit.
Actually it wasn't that bad. Itinerary for those interested (staying in downtown LA)

Flyaway bus shuttle from LAX to Union Station
Metro to Pershing Square (walk to hotel)
Dash shuttle bus (25 cents!) back to Union Station
Amtrak to Anaheim
Anaheim Resort Transit System to Disneyland (same in reverse)

Getting to Hollywood: just took the Metro Red Line from Pershing Sq.
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