THERE'S one place I visit every time I stop in Vancouver, and that's the Granville Island Market.
I love walking through the food halls looking at the tables of fresh produce, wandering the shops in the Net Loft where local artisans sell everything from bespoke jewellery to handmade notebooks, and sitting by False Creek enjoying a view of the Vancouver skyline while feasting on some little gourmet treat.
The locals are very proud of Granville Island - it's on every itinerary I get from Tourism Vancouver - and millions of dollars have been spent on gentrifying a patch of land that was anything but glamorous for a large chunk of the past century.
During The Great Depression one of the many "hobo jungles" that sprang up around Vancouver was set on Granville Island where "shakers" hid from the chilly winter temperatures in houses made from rubbish gathered around town.
They survived by selling the fish they caught in False Creek, and because they were basically self sufficient they were left alone.
The shanty town existed until 1949 when city officially finally issued eviction notices after a typhoid scare and a high-profile murder convinced the government something needed to be done about the place.
Gentrification began in the 1970s when Granville Island was turned into a "people-friendly place" with everything from parkland to exhibition space and now there is a marina, boutique hotel, a university and theatres in addition to the shopping and eating precinct.