Search for Metro Vancouver's best neighbourhood: Vancouver Finals
After weeks of voting, it's the West End vs. Mt. Pleasant for the right to represent Vancouver in the Final 4
The histories of the West End and Mt. Pleasant are both long and winding — but the road to winning the Vancouver quadrant of the Search for Metro Vancouver's Best Neighbourhood can only end with one on top.
The West End's heritage homes and mansions are remnants of the time when it was the first neighbourhood for Vancouver's wealthiest residents. But following the Second World War, a construction boom of rental apartments covered the area, giving it the densely populated and diverse culture it retains today.
"It seems like wherever you are, you're no more than a couple of hundred meters from [Stanley Park], or beaches and waterfront, or delicious food. You just have everything," said Rebecca Bolwitt, Miss 604 blogger and West End resident for 15 years.
"From March until July, I didn't pass Burrard Street. I have everything I need in this one little area."
Mt. Pleasant started as one of Vancouver's first neighbourhoods geared toward the middle and working class, with streetcars and breweries giving it a distinct feel in the early 20th century.
The streetcars are long gone, but the breweries have returned — part of a gradual gentrification of the area this century.
"The neighbourhood has so many options," said Adriana Basantes, an owner of Sal Y Limon, one of many popular restaurants established around the Fraser/Kingsway area in the last decade.
"People have always been happy to have us here … you feel like you're part of a community."
Starting with 48 neighbourhoods, the West End and Mt. Pleasant are the two finalists in the Vancouver quadrant of our competition. The winner will face the South of the Fraser Champion in the semifinals next Monday.
Both are beloved neighbourhoods. But only one can move on.
Tale of the tape
West End:
- Median age: 38.1.
- Average household size: 1.5 (lowest in Vancouver).
- Renter households: 80 per cent
- Median household income: $51,000
- Visible minorities as a percentage of neighbourhood population: 29 per cent
- Road to the Elite Eight: First Round Bye, Defeated Davie Village 68-32 per cent, South False Creek 62-38 per cent, Arbutus 76-24 per cent and North Kits 52-48 per cent.
Mt. Pleasant:
- Median age: 35.2 (youngest in Vancouver).
- Average household size: 1.8.
- Renter households: 61 per cent
- Median household income: $66,000
- Visible minorities as a percentage of neighbourhood population: 32 per cent
- Road to the Elite Eight: First Round Bye, Defeated Riley Park 77-23 per cent, Strathcona 72-28 per cent, Grandview-Woodland 62-38 per cent and Olympic Village 72-28 per cent.
*Numbers courtesy of City of Vancouver's community profiles, gathered from 2016 Census data.