Commercial Drive

All photos taken on December 9, 2023.

Another Saturday morning, another Benji the Wonder Dog training session. This time, it was off to Moja Coffee on Commercial Dive. Below is a map showing our 10.9 km (6 3/4 mile) driving route there and back.

I popped into Moja Coffee with the lesson group and grabbed a flat white. Hey, wait a minute, This is Delicious!! I immediately picked up some beans to take home with us. Coffee break over and lessons under way, I disappeared from Benji’s view, so he could concentrate on learning. I walked a portion of the Commercial Drive strip and surrounding area to the tune of about 3.7 km (2 1/4 miles), approximately as shown on the map below. (By the by, I now order my coffee beans from Moja).

Commercial Drive is a Vancouver street that extends from Powell Street at its northern extremity, near the waterfront, south through the heart of the Grandview–Woodland neighbourhood to the Victoria Diversion near Trout Lake. The neighbourhood is so dominated by the businesses, cultural facilities, and residents along Commercial Drive, that the area is far better known as “The Drive” than by the civic boundaries.

The district is served by many different bus routes, as well as both the SkyTrain’s Expo Line and Millennium Line at Commercial–Broadway Station.

Commercial Drive is a mixed residential-commercial area with a high proportion of ethnic and vegetarian restaurants, businesses, and public housing. The area has low property prices, compared to the westside of Vancouver, yet has good city services and is a local transit hub. It has been the destination for generations of immigrants to Vancouver and has significant Italian, Asian, Latin America, East Indian, and African communities. As of the Canada 2001 Census, English is a minority language in Grandview-Woodland, though still the most common.

Commercial Drive has many local ethnic stores and community groups,  Edwardian-style heritage buildings, European-style cafes, bars and alternative shops and entertainment venues. As of late August 2007, there are 93 restaurants on Commercial Drive between Venables and Broadway, of which 19 are coffee bars.

It is home to an active street festival culture; notable annual events include the Vancouver Dyke March in August and the Parade of Lost Souls in October. It also plays host to Vancouver’s only queer spoken word and musician performance night, Unsweetened (and Outspoken).

(Source: Wikipedia)

The second slide shows Moja Coffee. I walked for a ways along the Drive, before heading into the residential areas…

• 

• 

• 

• 

…but, first, I popped back through the Brittania Community Centre to take some photos of the murals and street art there

• 

• 

• 

Crossing Margaret Mitchell Plaza, I spotted the dog training group, put my head down and kept on walking.

Café seating on the alley

Looking across Grandview Park to the homes on Charles Street

The Drive from Grandview Park

mural on Don Oso’s Restaurant

Commercial Drive at Charles Street

• 

• 

• 

Homes along Charles Street

• 

• 

• 

Back on the Drive

• 

• 

• 

entering Little Italy

The best Italian focaccia sandwich shop in Vancouver, with a large selection of cheeses and Italian deli items

• 

• 

• 

Home Hardware is the best ever little hardware store and during Christmas season…

…where else would you store your fresh Christmas trees?

So many ethnic restaurants and me, there before they open – sheesh

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Back at Napier Street

More fine homes on Napier Street

• 

• 

• 

Heading back to the car

• 

• 

• 

Mountain views at the end of the Drive

Brittania Community Centre public art

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Britannia šxʷqʷeləwən ct (One Heart One Mind in the language of the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh peoples) carving center

• 

• 

• 

Lesson over, we drove back home, just as the rain started.