How would you describe Phoenix to someone who has never visited? (Coolidge: condos, hotels)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

DT Vancouver has the highest density of any city in Canada. It's busy on weekends, especially holidays.

There are just too many people living there to give it a dead vibe.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/down...res-statistics

Evidently, I didn't know where to look or I was in the wrong neighborhood or wrong time of year. I was there just after Christmas and stopped in to check it out after driving back from Whistler on a skiing trip. By the way, Whistler to Vancouver is a beautiful drive!

My perception was that I was wrapped around miles of mostly glass buildings and it was quiet. The restaurant that we visited was on the water (river?) and busy. As we walked several blocks, the car traffic was quiet and there weren't a lot of people walking. If I contrasted that to a weekend in Montreal, it could be cold and snowing and the town is still bustling with lively cafes, restaurants, and bars. Maybe Vancouver was quiet because it was after Christmas or I was several blocks away from where the action was.

I wasn't a fan of Vancouver's contemporary feel of building after building and skyscraper after skyscraper. Their nickname is the "City of Glass". There wasn't anything particularly interesting to my eye about seeing yet another block of glass-shaped tall buildings. YMMV.

Anyways, large international towns like Tokyo, Munich, Copenhagen, Mexico City, San Fransisco, Auckland, Paris, etc that I have visited have a bunch of life and energy on the weekends. Maybe it is because those listed towns have more tourism? I didn't feel that in Vancouver. Evidently, since you live there, you know where to look. Life is too short to go back and try the town again. But I will go back to Whistler!

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Evidently, I didn't know where to look or I was in the wrong neighborhood or wrong time of year. I was there just after Christmas and stopped in to check it out after driving back from Whistler on a skiing trip. By the way, Whistler to Vancouver is a beautiful drive!

My perception was that I was wrapped around miles of mostly glass buildings and it was quiet. The restaurant that we visited was on the water (river?) and busy. As we walked several blocks, the car traffic was quiet and there weren't a lot of people walking. If I contrasted that to a weekend in Montreal, it could be cold and snowing and the town is still bustling with lively cafes, restaurants, and bars. Maybe Vancouver was quiet because it was after Christmas or I was several blocks away from where the action was.

I wasn't a fan of Vancouver's contemporary feel of building after building and skyscraper after skyscraper. Their nickname is the ”City of Glass”. There wasn't anything particularly interesting to my eye about seeing yet another block of glass-shaped tall buildings. YMMV.

Anyways, large international towns like Tokyo, Munich, Copenhagen, Mexico City, San Fransisco, Auckland, Paris, etc that I have visited have a bunch of life and energy on the weekends. Maybe it is because those listed towns have more tourism? I didn't feel that in Vancouver. Evidently, since you live there, you know where to look. Life is too short to go back and try the town again. But I will go back to Whistler!

Yes it probably it was your timing. Early January can be quiet since everyone is exhausted from the holidays, and many have time off then. Or if you were here just after Canada let visitors back during the pandemic.

It sounds like you didn't really get a good look around ( the fact you didn't know if you were on a river or not shows that, hint...you weren't ) and you probably drove or walked down Georgia Street, which is a street of office buildings, which would be quiet after Christmas.

The name ” City of Glass ” actually has nothing to do with glass, the material. It was coined by Douglas Copeland and it comes from the colour ” glass ” which is a particular greenish colour that was used a lot in the 1990's tower construction.

Most of those residential high-rises in Coal Harbour and Yaletown have shops, cafes, restaurants etc at their base. This makes for a vibrant street scene, especially in Yaletown.





This is typical weekend crowd, shopping downtown.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJYlWvn6ta4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sumgc_Ly0OU

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

The name ” City of Glass ” actually has nothing to do with glass, the material. It was coined by Douglas Copeland and it comes from the colour ” glass ” which is a particular greenish colour that was used a lot in the 1990's tower construction.

Thanks for sharing. re: glass the material as coined by Douglas Copeland. Here is what I found.
"Each essay deals with a different aspect of the city, such as the glass condominium towers which dominate the Vancouver skyline and give the book its title."
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_o...(Coupland_book)

Forgetting the book, in Vancouver, there are a tremendous amount of contemporary glass buildings. Subjectively speaking, I'm not a fan of that look. YMMV.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Thanks for sharing. re: glass the material as coined by Douglas Copeland. Here is what I found.
"Each essay deals with a different aspect of the city, such as the glass condominium towers which dominate the Vancouver skyline and give the book its title."
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_o...(Coupland_book)

Forgetting the book, in Vancouver, there are a tremendous amount of contemporary glass buildings. Subjectively speaking, I'm not a fan of that look. YMMV.

This is one of those times when Wiki is incorrect.

I have the book, and on pages 28 and 29 he has little blocks of colour, followed by text. The colours are the different colours that you see around Vancouver.

Each colour has a name. He starts with " cedar " and ends with the colour " glass ".

The comment by that colour states "Another Vancouver favourite, is the colour of glass - hence the title of this book-but that's a section on it's own. "

Of course he is aware of the double meaning.

The colour is sort of a sea foam. In one edition of his book, the colour on the cover is that of " glass ".

[john3232]

I visited Vancouver during the late 1960's. What I can still remember were the big trees which lined sidewalks and how deep green the vegetation was.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

Yes it probably it was your timing. Early January can be quiet since everyone is exhausted from the holidays, and many have time off then. Or if you were here just after Canada let visitors back during the pandemic.

Yes, this makes sense, it seems like every Canadian is in Arizona from January through March.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

DT Vancouver has no life during the weekends and holidays.

The same can be said about downtown Phoenix. This afternoon, I saw a movie at AZ Center, and it was pretty much a dead zone. Lots of businesses have vacated AZ Center, and hardly anybody was in the theater. I had the place pretty much to myself. However, the downtown area as a whole was fairly bustling, which typical for a weekday. Weekends & holidays are a different story.

[goolsbyjazz]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

The same can be said about downtown Phoenix. This afternoon, I saw a movie at AZ Center, and it was pretty much a dead zone. Lots of businesses have vacated AZ Center, and hardly anybody was in the theater. I had the place pretty much to myself. However, the downtown area as a whole was fairly bustling, which typical for a weekday. Weekends & holidays are a different story.

Prior to the pandemic, that particular theater was doing well. We visited once when things began opening up and it was totally different. The place looked run down, the staff was sparse, and it felt like a place on its last leg. It wouldn't surprise me if it closed soon.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

The same can be said about downtown Phoenix. This afternoon, I saw a movie at AZ Center, and it was pretty much a dead zone. Lots of businesses have vacated AZ Center, and hardly anybody was in the theater. I had the place pretty much to myself. However, the downtown area as a whole was fairly bustling, which typical for a weekday. Weekends & holidays are a different story.

Weekends are bustling near Roosevelt Row and now with all the new residents near Cityscape it's pretty popping there on all weekends too. AZ Center is in a pretty bad spot, perhaps the new residents eventually moving into the under construction Palm Tower will help but there's just no reason to go there anymore with all cool hangout spots having formed away from the AZC. Hope they can figure it out but other than some lunch spots and Hooters, is that still there? I'm not sure what reason anyone has to go.

We went downtown for a movie too but not to AZC, we went to one of these at the beautiful Orpheum theater. Love that venue of course and we did not have the place to ourselves, packed house. Hoping they do it again next summer.

https://dtphx.org/2022/06/21/new-orp...uster-lexicon/

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by locolife

Weekends are bustling near Roosevelt Row and now with all the new residents near Cityscape it's pretty popping there on all weekends too. AZ Center is in a pretty bad spot, perhaps the new residents eventually moving into the under construction Palm Tower will help but there's just no reason to go there anymore with all cool hangout spots having formed away from the AZC. Hope they can figure it out but other than some lunch spots and Hooters, is that still there? I'm not sure what reason anyone has to go.

We went downtown for a movie too but not to AZC, we went to one of these at the beautiful Orpheum theater. Love that venue of course and we did not have the place to ourselves, packed house. Hoping they do it again next summer.

https://dtphx.org/2022/06/21/new-orp...uster-lexicon/

I've been going to AZ Center periodically since it opened in 1990 (maybe once or twice a year). It's basically empty now, except for a few small shops & the AMC theaters. Hooters is no longer at that location. It's really a shame to see AZ Center in the shape that it's in currently because it was designed very well, and blends with the downtown streetscape. It's not a suburban styled shopping mall by any means. Unfortunately, I think it will probably go in the same direction that Park Central did in the 1990s/2000s. Hopefully, AZ Center will become something worthwhile. A Fremont Street type of makeover might be something to consider! It shouldn't be left vacant, or turned into something bland.

Roosevelt Row seems to be the happening spot, but it doesn't really impress me all that much ... at least, not yet. I will say that it's certainly a lot better than 15 years ago, but there are still some old single story structures mixed in there which are definitely showing their age, and could easily be razed for something higher end (instead of painting graffiti on the walls & calling them "murals"). The area around Roosevelt Row would be a good location for 60 story condos, and an iconic observation tower. I'd really be impressed if that would happen.