DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

When we visited Vancouver a few weeks ago, we stayed with a friend who lives one block off of Commercial Drive — a street that contains more culture in any three-block span than any three Midwestern states. I didn’t take any photos, so you’ll have to make do with a thousand words… these are the types of restaurants I jotted down on the back of a business card as we drove past:

Carribean/Jamaican, Greek, Greek & pizza, pita, Mexican, taverna, Italian, deli, Java Express, chocolates, cappucino, gelato, cakes, tandoori, sushi, Salvadoran/Mexican, vegetarian/vegan, donair, taco, bagel, vegetarian Indian, tapas, juice bar.

That’s not a complete index… I couldn’t write fast enough. Literally every storefront represented a different type of cuisine.

Our host called this strip “The Drive,” capitals evident, in a tone of reverence. Within 24 hours I felt the same. We ate Asian/fusion, gelato, Brazilian, and multi-ethnic vegan sandwiches within the span of five meals (and three blocks).

The Drive has its own website: thedrive.net. Although the design is dated, the site’s content provides a model for the way shopping-district websites ought to be: indexed via map (for spatial navigators) and category… with panoramic photos and still photos.

The Drive is anchored at the north end by Womyns Ware, a lesbian sex shop. It appeared as we drove by that the store’s outside walls feature larger-than-life-size murals of enormous naked women (sorry, womyn) dancing with arm-sized “dills.” I am not part of the store’s customer demographic, but I appreciated its very public existence: alternative-lifestyle stores suggest a high degree of local tolerance. Like San Francisco, Vancouver seems to have no closets. Commercial Drive felt a bit like Haight Street, with better food and fewer shoe shops.