My City: Betti Forde

Name: Betti Forde aka Maren Hancock.
Occupation: DJ, MC & Vocalist in StinkMitt, freshly appointed Graduate Student at York

Biggest turn on: BC Bud
Biggest turn off: Gordon Campbell
City: Vancouver
How long have you lived there?: 11 years, all on the same street (Pacific St.) in the West End, which I call the Rear End. Here is the view of Sunset Beach at 7am from my friend G-Luve’s apartment, one block away from mine.
Why do you call it home?: Up until last year it didn’t snow and you could ride your bike 24/7. Not so much now though, thanks to global warming. It snowed over ten times last year which is used to be totally unheard of.

Best spot…if you’re ballin:
For a meal AND For a date:
Go to Tuscany on Bowen Island. Its not even that expensive per se, but you have to hop a 35 minute water taxi ride from Granville Island to Bowen, which is super fun and only costs $25 round-trip, they depart from both Granville Island & Bowen all day up to about 10pm so its perfect for day-tripping. Check out http:www.giwt.ca for sailing schedules.
Here is my boyfriend Tristram on the water taxi. You can even take your dogs (everyone takes theirs dogs on dates, right?) and walk right off the ferry and up to the restaurant. Here is my dog Carter chilling in the taxi.
Tuscany is an Mediterrian/Italian joint in this really cool old house with seating indoors and out. Everything was super fresh and they grew all their own herbs. I know for a fact because they sat me right next to the herbs. They sure read me right!

We had a delicious salad with seared scallops and really good pizza baked in their wood-fired oven and pasta and bottle of good wine and it was about $100 before tip. I had a lot of wine. Excellent food and service and no black clad model-type hostesses with attitude! They had no problem with us hitching our dogs on the lawn. Look how happy my date is!
Bowen Island is super cute. Even its residents are totally beautiful in a natural way. It brought me closer than ever to my dog. We could never be too close!

To shop: I suspect all the Ballin’ places are in West Vancouver. We’re not allowed there. West Vancouver has their own police force, their own bus service, their own secret handshake…we call them the Others. Otherwise, Scarlet on Granville is a dope lingerie shop that carries Betsey Johnson and lots of other dope brands and they have big sizes if you got big knockers.

Best spot…if you’re broke:
For a meal: You have to go to Sunset Beach Concession. They have delicious burgers for about $5.50, and they are delicious.

Here is a succulent Veggie Burger. They also have fresh wild salmon, chicken or beef and they come on a whole wheat bun, made to order with whatever fixins’ you want including heaps of fried onions & super fresh lettuce and tomato. Note the generous serving of fried onions on the chicken version. I’ve been eating these for 11 years and the same nice older lady has been serving them up with a smile for just as long. I don’t know her name but long ago I nicknamed her Marcy of the Marcyburgers and I love her. I think Marcyburgers at Sunset Beach are what I’ll miss the most about Vancouver. Sniff.

To shop: Richmond Night Market

For a date: Stanley Park. Kind of a no-brainer but it’s good to remind yourself  of what an amazing place it is. It’s bigger than Central Park in NYC and has a miniature railway you can ride on, amazing Totem Poles, tons of hiking trials, a lake, a lagoon,
pitch n’ put course, 1000 year old trees, mad history and tons of romantic views.

Best spot for a hangover breakfast: The Elbow Room. The food’s awesome and cheap and all the queens yell at you while
they’re serving you, its meant to be funny and it actually totally is.

Best live venue: The Railway Club. You can still hit their patio with a drink AND a smoke. The sound is pretty good, drinks are cheap and many legends have graced their tiny stage.

Best late night joint: Characters on Davie @ Thurlowe. They stay open til about 6am, the food is the same price as at Denny’s but way way better, and if you’re still “thirsty” after the club you can pay $5 for a “small cranberry juice” or $10 for a “large”.

Best kept secret: The cute little harbour ferry’s that you can take to go between Yaletown, the Westend, Kitsalano, Granville
Island, Main Street & False Creek. You can take your bikes and/or your dog too and its only $3 one-way, $5 r/t.

Best spot to dance your ass off: The Lotus Hotel which houses the Lotus Sound Lounge, Honey Lounge & Lick (the latter being our lil ol’ lesbian bar!). Find it on Facebook.

Tourist Trap to avoid? THE OLYMPICS

You’d have to live here to know?: How downhill it’s gone since the 90s. Its  becoming too expensive for artists and creative (read: broke) types to live here so we are losing them all rapidly…

What NOT to miss?: The Seawall that runs basically from Gastown, east to Coal Harbour, winds around Stanley Park and then goes past English Bay and Sunset Beach to Yaletown, Plaza of Nations, Science World at Main St. and then west all the way past Granville Island and Kitsalano and then almost all the way to Spanish Banks at the University of B.C., with only a few interuptions. Drop acid and spend the whole day from sun-up to sunset walking it, you’ll get to the farthest western tip just in time to see the sun set from Wreck Beach.