“For Vancouverites who have dreamt of living in the Big Apple’s East Village, Hastings may now be the next best thing. The commercial district formerly known as Hastings-Sunrise is adopting the same moniker as the historically hip New York neighbourhood.
The trendy new name is just one aspect of an evolving rebranding campaign spearheaded by the Hastings North business improvement association .” …
“Working with brand consultants Signals Design Group* over the last eight months, the HNBIA began its rebranding process by conducting interviews and a survey with its membership—400 business owners and 200 commercial property owners—and residents in the area. The final East Village name was selected from a shortlist of 10 names.
“The East Village just kind of fit us.” says Patricia Barnes, Executive Director of the HNBIA. “We’re in the east, and it’s sort of a village-like area. We’re a neighbourhood commercial district, we have a lot of services and stores and staples that respond to our neighbourhood’s needs. We have a very loyal customer base in our neighbourhood and very friendly, very warm personal service.”
- from ‘HASTINGS-SUNRISE TO ADOPT THE NAME “THE EAST VILLAGE”, by Alexandra Samur, openfile, 19 Mar 2012 [hat-tip Aldus Huxtable]
VANHATTAN redux. -ed.
East Village in Vancouver, why not? The section of Main Street south of Broadway is already known as SoMa.
Urbanists will know that San Francisco has a SoMa neighbourhood, it means South of Market Street.
SoMa also seems to conjure similarities to New York’s SoHo neighbourhood.
Description of Vancouver’s SoMa neighbourhood on Tourism Vancouver website is describing a text book case of postindustrial gentrification:
“One of the city’s down-at-heel neighbourhoods until recent years, the revitalized “SoMa” area is Vancouver’s newest hipster hotspot. Despite its still-grungy appearance, it’s lined with Bohemian coffee bars, veggie-friendly eateries, one-of-a-kind boutiques and bold artist-run galleries frequented by the art-student-turned-film-producer set.”
The hipsters have moved in. And the 200 families who lived in the now-demolished Little Mountain Housing Project were forced out of the area by the provincial government in 2007-2009.
Vancouver Sun article on SoMa: http://www.vancouversun.com/SoMa+Main+Street+commercial+heart/5174149/story.html
The Name SoMa makes no sense because Main Street is a North-South Street. SoHo is South of Houston, which goes East-West, therefore it’s a logical name.
SoMa in the Vancouver context is much like the real estate equivalent of the narcotic drug in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World…
“postindustrial gentrification”
That’s interesting and the economy described. This client based hospitality market, and the mention below of creative services, are dependent on a completely different sector generating production, this is the trickle down from benefit from other industries. The entrepreneurship is positive. I can’t imagine what their break even must be. The offerings you describe are consumption elements, yet wealth and discretionary income to purchase these services is produced elsewhere. The boutiques are peripheral employers. I’m curious if these ‘styled’ of communities are self sustainable. I optimistically hope they are because it would narrow dependance on debt financed consumption. Does it replicate the Commercial Drive model?–prone to ups and downs and fashion experiments.
By the way, I should have pointed out this part of Main Street has been recently renamed SoMa. Original Vancouverites would refer to the area as Mount Pleasant and then further south would be Riley Park-Little Mountain. I guess those names aren’t cool enough for the hipsters.
They should have called it SoBr for all those in recovery.
Now that’s witty.
In terms of real estate, Vancouver’s still in massive denial. In fact it’s downright angry when anyone confronts it about it. In a city with so many addicts, current and former, it is rather ironic.
nobody that lives here actually calls it Soma. that is purely a real estate term. and the name of a wonderful former coffee shop. everyone calls it Main St or Mt Pleasant.
Soma + RE, how appropiate, life imitating art. Maybe it explains everything … Soma in the water ? After all Vancouver RE is a new paradigm, paradise (quoting McLaren ?), a Brave New World.
Some quotes from this linky:
Soma
“… And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering….”
“…they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there’s soma…”
“… the soma tablets within reach of her hand – there she remained; and yet wasn’t there at all, was all the time away, infinitely far away, on holiday; on holiday in some other world, where the music of the radio was a labyrinth of sonorous colours, a sliding, palpitating labyrinth, that led (by what beautifully inevitable windings) to a bright centre of absolute conviction …”
He he he. Shouldn’t NYC be renaming its parts after the BPOE?
When the BrandMerchants are ‘moving in’… while landlords are liquidating their residential portfolios and ‘moving out’… you know it’s over. [Note to ED: possibly feature worthy]
[BillGable on GreaterFool]
..”This is Vancouver today. When a Surgeon and his physio wife can’t afford to live here…who can?
I rent a wonderful joint from my landlord, who lives in Kyoto Japan. He gave us a five year lease, and is happy we are in the unit. Half my building is empty. Speculators all from Asia, can’t rent, because the Condo council chopped rentals, arbitrarily.
This is Vancouver. Walk down any street and look at the retail space with For Lease signs. Traffic has dropped off so badly, that you can get over the Lion’s Gate in minutes. A few years ago, it was a death march.
I sold all my RE, including an apartment building 2 years ago.”…
http://tinyurl.com/74nqhwt
How do you spell epitome? Vancouver should do itself a favour and do its own thing.
I have a great suggestion for a name: MAIN STREET
Its called putting lipstick on a pig
True that
Who says there are no good jobs in Vancouver? This place is a heaven for brand consultants, copywriters, marketers, PR specialists, press secretaries, account executives, etc.
Give it a few more years and these god’s workers will give every single area in Vancouver a cool image and name that will be the envy of the world.
I prefer to call it the ghetto, but you say tomaetoe, I say tomaatoe.
On behalf of all of us that live in the neighbourhood, yes please continue to refer to it that way and tell all of your like-minded friends.
I will.
(especially when realtors start giving shitty areas like yours cutesy names to justify the absurd housing prices there. why do you think Vreaa posted this.)
Renting in the neghbourhood, saving money for a down payment. Just when we thought we’d discovered a neighbourhood close to downtown that we could ever actually afford to buy a house in. Argh.
Keep saving your money, AC. You are going to get a once in a lifetime chance to buy into Vancouver at the bottom of its price cycle. The wait could easily be 5 or 6 years but do not be disheartened if that is your goal. Just try not to make the mistake of jumping in too soon.
2, maybe 3 years until we’ve had enough of basement living. Then we either jump in or go somewhere we could afford to raise a family.
don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Yes, Let’s change all of our neighbourhoods’ names to something more marketable; East Village, New Manhattan, SoMa, Little Saigon. Heck, why not change the name of Vancouver, too.
Such renamings have been happening for years all over the world. Why is this even noteworthy?
I’m surprised the usual folk on this blog aren’t arguing that our fake East Village is on par with the original East Village. Like our other “world class” landmarks: Lions Gate Bridge, Rogers Arena, Wall Centre, etc…
Strawman. I don’t recall anybody ever claiming that Rogers Arena was a world class landmark.