It's not nice. I worked on that block for months and am now just a block west of it (on the other side of Victory Square).
Definitely agreed with amazing food options.
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Vancouver-Age |OT| 125 Years
- Thread starter Firestorm
- Start date
Definitely agreed with amazing food options.
The woodwards block is definitely nice. The victory square block isn't "nice" but it's hip.
If he says Hastings and Abbot I'm going to assume he's going to be working on Hastings within a block of Abbot (either east or west). That entire area is significantly different block to block and you can feel it as it gets progressively better as you head towards the west.
Hastings and Abbot isn't a nice spot.
I do think it's fine to work at though. You'll have people yelling crazy shit outside but hey whatever. Not like it affects you.
Hastings and Abbot isn't a nice spot.
I do think it's fine to work at though. You'll have people yelling crazy shit outside but hey whatever. Not like it affects you.
But it is. The block before and after aren't but the specific block is quite nice. Almost every building between abbott and cambie on hastings is updated or is under construction with a new building upcoming.
TurtleSnatcher
Member
Holy crap. Scored a place. It's at the Jameson House. And it's with someone else (not the one yesterday). It was a better deal by a ton and the landlord is AWESOME. He's also related to Roberto Luongo which is kinda cool (same last name and all)
He loves dogs too! And the price... It's great. He had a listing up for only a few hours and I beat out SEVENTEEN other people! Didn't get the confirming phone call until 10:30 because he had to do SEVENTEEN total tours. Insane.
He loves dogs too! And the price... It's great. He had a listing up for only a few hours and I beat out SEVENTEEN other people! Didn't get the confirming phone call until 10:30 because he had to do SEVENTEEN total tours. Insane.
The Last Emperor
Member
Lol, baby
It was a joke cuz I'm from Surrey. I ain't getting jacked anywhere. Pretty connected up in the streets
Sher da puth, right ntgyk
lol Firestorm, you get that in any entertainment district. I've seen that living near Granville St too.
Congrats! Take pictures for me
Congrats! Take pictures for me
Liberty4all
Banned
My job involves working with the general public surrounding the office I'll be at (right across from that London Drugs Tabris posted) ... Assuming I get the transfer mind you. I'm also assuming a portion of my clients will be coming in from DTES.
I was just curious about the general location of the office as it's not located in DTES itself. The idea of working downtown is attractive as it will cut my commute in half from 1 hr to 33 min. Not to mention the shopping/lunch benefits of being in the core.
I was just curious about the general location of the office as it's not located in DTES itself. The idea of working downtown is attractive as it will cut my commute in half from 1 hr to 33 min. Not to mention the shopping/lunch benefits of being in the core.
Liberty4all
Banned
That area is perfectly fine. Like I said, generally speaking anything west of Carrall or Abbott is perfectly fine. Not as nice as yaletown or coal harbor, but definitely not DTES. Heck, the DTES itself isnt dangerous, it's just sketch.
Liberty4all
Banned
So I had Vancouver sushi for the first time last night. Place called Sushi UOmi in Burnaby on Hastings. Looked it up on Yelp for a place with good reviews.
When I got there it seemed like a run of the mill cheapie place ... 21 dollars for 33 pieces tray. .. . SO CHEAP. That would be easily 35 in Toronto.
But cost aside it tasted better than THE BEST sushi I've had in Toronto. Thick slices of fish, unbelievably fresh. Omg I'm going to be eating ALOT of sushi here in Vancouver ... Its the first thing I've found cheaper than back home. Ridiculously good prices and over the top quality. And if this is what the "cheap stuff" is like ... :O
When I got there it seemed like a run of the mill cheapie place ... 21 dollars for 33 pieces tray. .. . SO CHEAP. That would be easily 35 in Toronto.
But cost aside it tasted better than THE BEST sushi I've had in Toronto. Thick slices of fish, unbelievably fresh. Omg I'm going to be eating ALOT of sushi here in Vancouver ... Its the first thing I've found cheaper than back home. Ridiculously good prices and over the top quality. And if this is what the "cheap stuff" is like ... :O
This is our good, more expensive sushi place I hear referred to a lot: http://www.tojos.com/
My favourite bang for buck place is Samurai Sushi :3
Sushi Garden is within walking distance of where you live if you want cheap sashimi. They have some of my favourite Alaska rolls too. I've only ever been to the Metrotown one though.
My favourite bang for buck place is Samurai Sushi :3
Sushi Garden is within walking distance of where you live if you want cheap sashimi. They have some of my favourite Alaska rolls too. I've only ever been to the Metrotown one though.
J
Jotamide
Unconfirmed Member
Sushi California on Broadway is your god and savior. Cheap AND good.
Liberty4all
Banned
Ill definitely check them out. I've noticed Vancouver has alot of sushi places just like Toronto. Back home though most of the sushi places are crap. The one I went to last night had actual Japanese sushi chefs ... Back home that's unusual most of the sushi places are Chinese or Korean owned and operated.
Liberty4all
Banned
I'm digging the sushi scene here, by far the best cheapish high quality food I've had so far.
On another topic, condo rents in downtown Vancouver.
Here is what 1550 gets you in Toronto (with a parking spot I rented out for 130), 590 sq ft. My place back home:
Last 2 are balcony views.
For something similar what will I pay here?
Edit: Been looking around a bit and I have the feeling I'm in for bad news :*(
On another topic, condo rents in downtown Vancouver.
Here is what 1550 gets you in Toronto (with a parking spot I rented out for 130), 590 sq ft. My place back home:
Last 2 are balcony views.
For something similar what will I pay here?
Edit: Been looking around a bit and I have the feeling I'm in for bad news :*(
TurtleSnatcher
Member
1550 will get you a place in Downtown. It will be West End or like far North Downtown by Stanley Park area. Otherwise, you are going to have to settle for outside the Downtown area.
Yaletown tends to start at 1800 for the cheapest smallest places and moves up into 3000 with the water views going for 5000 for larger places. Coal Harbour tends to start around 2000 and moves to 6000-9000 for the penthouse amazing views.
Good luck! I just went through that whole process. Found a place in Coal Harbour but its 2 bedroom and 900 sq ft.
Flying in today after being out of town and back in TX for the weekend. Flying my dog back with me! EXCITING! (except we have to travel for 14 hours because it's tough getting into Vancouver from Dallas with a dog UGH)
how so? there's a direct flight from Dallas to Vancouver...
Flying from Vancouver to the US is difficult as most direct flights are expensive in comparison to 1 stops. For example, it's double price to fly direct to DFW then to fly to LAX then to DFW. It's usually much cheaper to fly to the big hub cities. It also depends on which airlines you are flying (he probably had to pick a specific airline or specific aircraft that would allow him to take his dog) and what their hub city is.
For example, it's usually cheaper to fly to LAX then to SFO to get to SF. Even cheaper flying to Seattle or Portland then to SF. Direct flights to SF are usually much more expensive. All of course depending on season.
Vancouver is an expensive city to fly from. International companies I have worked for have always hated my expense reports lol
Oh, and the worst thing about flying to specific cities from Vancouver - Air Canada Rouge. Worst airline ever created. Their planes always overheat so it's always an uncomfortable flight. I'm over 6 feet so my knees are against the seat if the person in front reclines unless I get an economy premium seat (they don't have business class) and their economy premium is the same as economy except they put pillows in the middle seat so no one sits there.
Flying to Asia though is nice from Vancouver. We're just not good at flying to the US. And Europe you usually need to fly to Toronto or Montreal for the cheaper flights. There's direct flights but they are more expensive.
For example, it's usually cheaper to fly to LAX then to SFO to get to SF. Even cheaper flying to Seattle or Portland then to SF. Direct flights to SF are usually much more expensive. All of course depending on season.
Vancouver is an expensive city to fly from. International companies I have worked for have always hated my expense reports lol
Oh, and the worst thing about flying to specific cities from Vancouver - Air Canada Rouge. Worst airline ever created. Their planes always overheat so it's always an uncomfortable flight. I'm over 6 feet so my knees are against the seat if the person in front reclines unless I get an economy premium seat (they don't have business class) and their economy premium is the same as economy except they put pillows in the middle seat so no one sits there.
Flying to Asia though is nice from Vancouver. We're just not good at flying to the US. And Europe you usually need to fly to Toronto or Montreal for the cheaper flights. There's direct flights but they are more expensive.
Yeah but the direct flight you were talking about is double the price of that. Direct flights are expensive in Vancouver except to Asia or US hub cities.
Flights to Canadian cities are cheap of course.
Flights are cheap from Vancouver/Canada to basically anywhere in the world when compared to their US counterparts. e.g. ex-Canada is basically cheaper to anywhere in the world than ex-Seattle, whether it's business or economy class. Same goes for Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, etc.
Unless you count YVR-LHR-Europe not as a "direct" flight, though it's about as direct as it gets.
If you fly KLM or Air France, you also get to fly to Paris or Amsterdam direct for very reasonable prices.
Literally the ONLY destinations where ex-Canada is more expensive than ex-USA is TO Canadian cities - so you're wrong there too.
Liberty4all
Banned
What sites did you use to find a place Turtle? It isn't urgent for me yet, but if my position was to flip from contract to permanent and my spouse decided to move out here I want to be ready to start looking .... I'm semi trying to keep an eye on prices right now.
How small sq ft wise is the smallest places?
Re: Flights, for flights to Toronto is it cheaper to go down to Seattle and go out from there? In Toronto a lot of people fly out of buffalo ... To the point there is coach service direct to Buffalo's airport from Toronto.
Even going to Vancouver it would have been slightly cheaper if id flown out of Buffalo (with connecting flights) than direct from YYZ.
Yeah, to around the world possibly, but to the US - no.
I think that has more to do with Air Canada then anything else. I know the YVR taxes are quite high compared to most US airports, but Air Canada operates most of their low-cost non-Rouge flights out of Pearson.
I have flown to most major US cities and I usually either needed to fly to O'Hare (United) or Pearson (Air Canada) to connect to the rest of US because the direct flights from YVR are too expensive.
I think that has more to do with Air Canada then anything else. I know the YVR taxes are quite high compared to most US airports, but Air Canada operates most of their low-cost non-Rouge flights out of Pearson.
I have flown to most major US cities and I usually either needed to fly to O'Hare (United) or Pearson (Air Canada) to connect to the rest of US because the direct flights from YVR are too expensive.
Turtle's prices he posted are a bit inflated. You can get cheaper if you're looking for a similar place to yours downtown (550 square feet 1 bedroom). I have a feeling Turtle was looking at a lot of furnished apartment prices instead of unfurnished.
I always used craigslist personally for finding my apartments when I was renting.
Here's an example that looks very similar to your last place:
http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/apa/5261333680.html - $1680.
beat
Member
After Westjet deserted the SF-Vancouver route, the only direct flights are Air Canada or United. I hate both.
United is nice as their business class is so cheap to upgrade to.
Say for example, you have a $350 flight from VAN to SFO from United. It would normally cost $800 for a business class seat, but you just pick flights that aren't full and you can get business class upgrades day of for $100 each. So you can fly business for $550. You just gotta remember to check in at exactly 24hrs before your flight not to miss them.
West jet doesn't do business class so I don't like them.
beat
Member
Us proles fly coach.
TurtleSnatcher
Member
I wasn't looking at furnished. The one you posted is a good deal.
I believe that's in the Max? Not sure on building condition, I hear it's not great but regardless a good deal in Yaletown. I looked over two weeks and struggled to find anything below 1800.
United is very meh. I will say their last day upgrade is nice. I did that for my flight today. Houston to YVR for $159. Since its international you also get United club access for free.
But yeah overall United is meh. YVR struggles with flight costs for me. I need to go to Dallas often and the only nonstop is through American Airlines and that is the ONLY flight they take out of YVR. Two per day and it's $800 round trip coach at the cheapest. It's a bummer especially since AA is the largest airline in the world with the most flights but can only manage 2 in YVR. :-/
American isn't great but for a nonstop convenience for me, I wish it existed.
Liberty4all
Banned
Cool thanks. I guess I should clarify that I'm usually looking for places that have 5 appliances not 3. Dishwasher, and ensuite washer/dryer are critical. I do not ever want to have to deal with coin laundry ever again in my life.
Where did you look? As most of the prices for the type of apartment he's looking for in Yaletown are going for $1600-1700.
Uhm, where did you get that? From the listing:
-Quality kitchen includes dishwasher, fridge, gas range, microwave, garburator, and granite countertops, and in-suite washer/dryer
You won't see a non in-suite situation unless you look towards older buildings in the West End. Almost everything in Yaletown, Coal Harbour, Downtown, and Crosstown will be in-suite.
TurtleSnatcher
Member
Craigslist is where I looked but honestly I struggled. Not many listings over the past three weeks. Either way, I scored on that other unit at Jameson House so I'm okay.
I went to craigslist, set bedrooms to 1, price to 1400 to 1700, put keyword as Yaletown and tons of results.
Maybe your issue was clicking on "dogs ok" which is what kept your results so poor. Most people won't list in that category and will often says pets no, and you have to negotiate to have pets via things like references.
Here's a really nice unit (minus the lack of view for me personally) for $1700 @ Maddox (new building) - http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/apa/5249094743.html
TurtleSnatcher
Member
Yep. It was mainly the dogs only thing. My results would go from 400 in Downtown to maybe 25. It's so bad. Vancouver and their anti dogs.
Nothing to do with anti-dogs.
Most of the landlords you find own a couple properties at most as investment, usually just one. They aren't building rental companies usually. They list things like no pets to minimize their risk as their margins are so low between mortgage + strata vs rent.
They have no reason to allow pets and you have to apply for the ones that say no pets and negotiate / convince them that you are a responsible tenant and owner for them to change that stance.
Every place I have ever rented in the past said no pets in the description and I negotiated for my pet.
TurtleSnatcher
Member
I tried this but after the 10th straight "The ad says no pets" even when I offered more money, I just gave up.
Liberty4all
Banned
Cool, no I realized your listing has what I'll need. I'd just heard though a lot of the 1400 - 1500 units downtown are older non ensuite units with coin laundry. Thanks for the Craig's list advice, I'm seeing some decently priced units using the map feature, mostly in the 1600 - 1700 range. It seems you have to pay 1800 + to really get into the "sick views"/larger sq. ft range
I won't be able to move into the core for awhile, not until/if my spouse moves to Vancouver with me. I'm only paying $850 right now in a homestay situation until I see if my 6 mth term converts into a permanent position. I actually dislike the situation I'm in right now but it didn't make sense to lease an unfurnished place when I might be leaving 5 months from now. Still paying partially for the condo in Toronto as well so I'm kind of stretched on what I can do.
An internal perm position did open up downtown which I applied for so if I get that I'll have to re evaluate my living situation at that point. Really the big thing is if my spouse comes out here I want to be able to intelligently tell her what our options are.
She is a Registered Nurse ... Are the downtown hospitals all congregated in one main area?
I'm pretty sure we can always use more RN in the Metro Vancouver region. She should have no problem getting a job here
We are the retirement capital of Canada after all ! Hopefully it all goes well for you and maybe you can move your family here so you can really settle down here in BC. Doesn't have to be Vancouver city, of course. We got plenty of other lovely suburbs all around in Metro Vancouver to do a variety of things in !
Liberty4all
Banned
Thanks. Is it easy to rent out parking spots downtown? I rent mine in Toronto for $130 a month which helps ease the rental costs of my condo.
Liberty4all
Banned
I'm pretty sure we can always use more RN in the Metro Vancouver region. She should have no problem getting a job here
Thanks Net. I'm really finding that in my industry (Employment Case Management) there are a lot more opportunities here. Like Ontario, services here are subcontracted out to non profits by the province. Salaries are similar but there is one MAJOR difference. It seems that folks in my industry here get municipal pensions with employer match. In Ontario we get nothing ... Not even RRSPS. Furthermore these municipal pensions carry over from agency to agency via reciprocal agreements. This is HUGE ... Which is making me reconsider ever going back home.
The main problem is that my wife has seniority at the unionized downtown Toronto hospital she works at. I'm also not sure if her pension through HOOP is transferable. And all of that aside its hard for me to ask her to move her life from a great job (that pays significantly more than mine), her family and so forth. But I was dying back home, couldn't find work doing what I'm trained for. I looked for 7 months with no luck. Desperate I applied nationally and had 4 calls within 48 hours from Vancouver and Alberta, a job offer in Vancouver within the week.
The whole situation kind of sucks.
. . It's way better for me here I can't go back to the dismal employment situation at home ... But at the same time it's not tenable long term if my spouse won't follow me out here. I don't really blame her, at home I was constantly in short term contract situations. I'm hoping that if I get a stable perm position here it will be a game changer ... And it's looking like a perm position really won't be that hard to get here. It's so different from at home where I faced massive competition for too few jobs in my field.Edit: I should also add as a Employment Case Manager I do lots of labour market research. It's not just my industry .... It feels like there are way more opportunities in EVERY field here in Vancouver, compared to Toronto. Maybe it's due to less competition for jobs, or just an overall worker shortage. That shortage is in BOTH untrained as well as educated workers.
At the extreme end (low paying hourly work), companies are desperate here for workers. There is literally not enough people for the work required. This trend is going to increase going up to say the 50k salary range. I was thinking about it and I think the reason for this is because of the ridiculous cost of living prices for anyone that owns a home ... And the impossibility for most people here of ever owning a single family home to raise a family in.
This is also driving a labour shortage at the high end middle class (50k yr) positions, while the overall high cost of living (even when renting) is driving the labour shortage in low paying jobs.
The good news is that this will force salaries up. It's inevitable I think. Already I see that trades and labour (warehouse/drivers/etc) pay more than Toronto, extreme shortages in those areas here. And I see shortages in food services. Even low end office work (admin) has more open positions than Toronto, although the shortages aren't as bad as trades, labour, food services. Probaly because the majority of clients I see both new immigrants and Canadian ALL want office jobs. That's different from Toronto too where more new immigrants tend to be ok with factory positions.
The key with OK paying office jobs here I think is to specialize is something via college or certifications. There simply isn't enough people to fill the demand in almost all sectors. As long as one is ok with renting, there are fantastic opportunities in Vancouver no matter what you want to do. The issue right now us finding a job that pays enough to have a decent standard of living.
Important info: "no pets allowed" is NOT legally binding in a lot of provinces - except BC. If you get lucky, that law will change at some point.
Also, for flights along the west coast, check out Alaska Airlines. They have a very extensive network ex-SEA and fly from Vancouver direct to LAX, too (well, so does American Airlines ofc). But either drive or fly to Seattle SeaTac and you can get pretty much anywhere on the west coast and a lot of places on the East coast direct, as Seattle is Alaska's main hub. And they're definitely better than Rouge...
Vancouverites have one of the best global flight pricing spots, where ex-Seattle is cheap to Canada and the US, and ex-Vancouver is cheap to the rest of the world.
I think the only place where we get shafted price-wise is Australia, but so does everyone else...
Also, for flights along the west coast, check out Alaska Airlines. They have a very extensive network ex-SEA and fly from Vancouver direct to LAX, too (well, so does American Airlines ofc). But either drive or fly to Seattle SeaTac and you can get pretty much anywhere on the west coast and a lot of places on the East coast direct, as Seattle is Alaska's main hub. And they're definitely better than Rouge...
Vancouverites have one of the best global flight pricing spots, where ex-Seattle is cheap to Canada and the US, and ex-Vancouver is cheap to the rest of the world.
I think the only place where we get shafted price-wise is Australia, but so does everyone else...
Anything is better then Rouge, but I've been stuck in Portland twice due to Alaska Airlines and both times they put me up in a La Quinta (ugh) in the middle of fucking nowhere as far as I could tell, so I'll never fly them.
At least with United or the other main airlines, you go through major hubs, so if you have flight delays, you're not stuck in the city until the next day and can instead just get the next flight unless the entire airport is on lockdown due to some freaky blizzard.
Disagree 100%. Outside of flying to Asia, it's more expensive to fly from Vancouver then most other similar cities. Toronto is much cheaper and has quicker flight paths. LAX and SFO are much cheaper to fly out of to the rest of the world.
EDIT - This coming from someone that has flown to 17 different US states, and 8 different countries from Vancouver.
At least with United or the other main airlines, you go through major hubs, so if you have flight delays, you're not stuck in the city until the next day and can instead just get the next flight unless the entire airport is on lockdown due to some freaky blizzard.
Disagree 100%. Outside of flying to Asia, it's more expensive to fly from Vancouver then most other similar cities. Toronto is much cheaper and has quicker flight paths. LAX and SFO are much cheaper to fly out of to the rest of the world.
EDIT - This coming from someone that has flown to 17 different US states, and 8 different countries from Vancouver.
Also, there's a lot more hospitals than just Two - Royal Columbian and Burnaby Hospital are very easy to reach from Downtown and especially Brentwood.
There's also another one in Vancouver southeast of Vancouver General whose name I forgot. And then there's the Vancoucer Women&Children's hospital that's also very big.
EDIT: LOL i also got stuck in Portland once. For EIGHT HOURS. When their electronic system went down. But PDX isnt such a terrible airport, small and quaint.
YYZ is not much cheaper to Europe, given the distance difference. In terms of price per mile, Vancouver has it often beat.
And you're just wrong about SFO and LAX, outside of select few destinations. Again I'm talking about price per distance. And that comes from someone who doesnt have to show off how much he's traveled for credibility.
There's also another one in Vancouver southeast of Vancouver General whose name I forgot. And then there's the Vancoucer Women&Children's hospital that's also very big.
EDIT: LOL i also got stuck in Portland once. For EIGHT HOURS. When their electronic system went down. But PDX isnt such a terrible airport, small and quaint.
YYZ is not much cheaper to Europe, given the distance difference. In terms of price per mile, Vancouver has it often beat.
And you're just wrong about SFO and LAX, outside of select few destinations. Again I'm talking about price per distance. And that comes from someone who doesnt have to show off how much he's traveled for credibility.
You always gotta get in a personal attack in any debate. It's childish Smiley.
But back to the debate. You are too focused on Europe and not enough on the US where most travel from Vancouver goes to.
Let's say I want to fly to BOS and NY direct. Two major destinations for business, both similar distances, both a month out for a week return in the middle of the week.
BOS from SFO - $439
BOS from Vancouver (this is impossible so we're going with a 8hr 1 stop) - $455
NY from SFO - $359
NY from Vancouver - $576
There is a severe lack of cheap direct flight options out of Vancouver. You always have to fly out of some other hub.
You used Dubai as an example. You can't fly that direct out of Vancouver currently.
EDIT - You can't fly direct to Johannesburg either. (actually looks like you can't get direct from anywhere on the west coast of North America to that city. Maybe on weekends or something?)
EDIT 2 - Oh, and the prices get even worse when you want to fly decent airlines like Air Canada, Virgin America, Cathaway Pacific, etc vs the budget airlines.
EDIT - You can't fly direct to Johannesburg either. (actually looks like you can't get direct from anywhere on the west coast of North America to that city. Maybe on weekends or something?)
EDIT 2 - Oh, and the prices get even worse when you want to fly decent airlines like Air Canada, Virgin America, Cathaway Pacific, etc vs the budget airlines.