Grandview-Woodland

Grandview-Woodland is an ethnically diverse area full of eclectic charm and character. One of Grandview-Woodland’s most popular attractions is Commercial Drive, known as The Drive by locals, which is a mix of old-world charm meets modern hipness, and one of the city’s organic-food hubs. Grandview-Woodland is in the northeastern section of the city, east of the historic neighbourhoods, Chinatown and Strathcona, and west of the Pacific National Exhibition fairgrounds, at Hastings Park. The Grandview-Woodland area extends south to Trout Lake, a beautiful urban lake and park.

Commercial Drive is perhaps the single most popular part of Grandview–Woodland. 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. Known locally as “The Drive”, visitors find everything from trendy coffee shops to hangouts for many ethnicities (celebrations during the FIFA World Cup can bring out soccer fans of many nationalities, for example) to sex toys to hemp shops. Little Italy focuses on the Drive, though many of its residents have moved to other neighbourhoods over the years.

Neighbourhood history and heritage
Grandview might have remained a wilderness of stumps (it was logged off in the 1880s) if not for the Vancouver-New Westminster interurban railway which opened in September 1891; the same year the area’s first house was built. It had hourly runs from Carrall and Hastings Streets along Park Drive (Commercial Drive). Construction of 2nd and 3rd Avenues, between Clark and Woodland, by chain gangs from the Powell Street jail in the late 1890s opened the area for development. Arrival of the city water system along Commercial Drive in 1904 allowed for more expansion.