Feb 24, 2014
Things that confuse me
Feb 22, 2014
Quote of the Week - Lao Tzu
The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
image © Stacy Reynaud
image © Stacy Reynaud
Feb 21, 2014
A Community Plan that Defeats its Purpose
mid-century home demolition West Vancouver BC image Stacy Reynaud
West Vancouver Home demolition image Stacy Reynaud
West Vancouver heritage demolition image Stacy Reynaud
West Vancouver West Coast Modern home demolition image Stacy Reynaud
West Vancouver mid-century home demolitions image Stacy Reynaud
In West Vancouver, there's this mentality that renters are an unruly, degenerate, dirty bunch who will settle for anything (as interpreted by the state of the rental portfolio and letters to the editor of the North Shore News). Those of that particular mindset aren't reading this blog, so telling them to get their heads out of their (gl)ass (house) won't matter. It also shouldn't give them the right to try and rent us a termite-infested crack house off the highway for $3000 a month (such as one on Palmerston & 14th we saw recently) or this black mould mid-century we looked at in 2012.
Just because we live in West Van doesn't mean we'll pay you more to rent your 'tear down' house you just bought until you can afford to put up your 'trophy house.' You know what we see when we're out there snooping around at architecture, kids (usually baby boomers) whose parents just died that are eager to sell off what they perceived as the tacky family home they grew up in. Don't just blame the buyers of these properties for the 'ugly' neighbourhoods transforming West Van; look at the sellers.
Generation X is just now hitting the peaks of our careers, and we are all looking for homes that we can rent and live in for many years. We can't afford down payments for overpriced homes - remember, we moved out of our parents' house when we graduated from high school, worked three jobs and put ourselves through university instead - because that's what you did. We'd love to rent your well-loved, well-kept, clean, tacky family home and make it our home, but we need to be more innovative to pay over $3000 a month for it - the bloody thing was probably paid off forty years ago. So West Van, if you want to keep, or try to attract, a younger demographic with extra money to spend in the community (not on renting a crappy house), get it together because we're getting fed up with this - and because we rent - we can just up and leave, whenever we want. You're losing your history and your future community all at the same time.
Check out the Facebook group I Grew Up in West Vancouver.
Are you interested in moving to West Van to rent but need to figure out what's happening here?
The first of two info sessions on West Vancouver housing is Monday, February 24th, from 4 to 8 pm at the West Van Community Centre.
See you there.
PS coach houses shouldn't cost $1.0 million or $4500 monthly to rent.
Images Stacy Reynaud
Feb 11, 2014
You Know This Pile of Dirt - Another West Vancouver Home Demolition
The Baker Residence
Architect Peter Faulkner Smith
Altamont West Vancouver BC
built 1958 - demolished 2014
image Stacy Reynaud
View my post and interior photos of the home from April 2013
image Stacy Reynaud blueprints from the estate of Faulkner Smith
The home was listed as a significant West Vancouver support building.
The West Vancouver Survey of Significant Architecture 1945-1975, (West Vancouver, BC, 1994), pg 88.
Architect - Peter Faulkner-Smith
Date - June 1, 1958
Location - Altamont, West Vancouver, BC
I'll post a photo of its replacement once it's built.
all images by Stacy Reynaud
Feb 4, 2014
The Internet Killed the Luxury Brand
You see, back in the olden days before the Internet, fashion bloggers, and phony street style street style blogs, one of the defining aspects of a luxury item was the exclusivity of the item itself. One never, well at least in Vancouver, saw an Hermes bag for example, in real life. I remember going to LA in the early 90s and being awe struck over actually seeing people - in real life - wearing the luxury pieces I'd seen only in magazines - well not so much in awe, but maybe blown away that someone actually spent that much money, after all, it was the grunge era, but you know what I mean. The price, back then, signified high quality - hence luxury. Exclusivity was one of the defining aspects of luxury brands that actually made them luxury. One rarely, if ever, saw the pieces except for on the pages of magazines.
Now, because of the Internet, we see these luxury brands everywhere. How many times have you seen that bloody Givenchy sweatshirt with the rottweiler on it or the green Kenzo one with the tiger? Do you think a sweatshirt is luxury? I do, only if it's my thirty year old Oregon Ducks one I borrowed from my buddy in 1986 (and my husband wants to burn).
Today's silly nouveau riche, and their sixteen year old Lamborghini driving children, have turned what were once luxury brands into nothing more than mass marketed, mass consumed, cheaply produced crap. In the music industry the term is, It's not the band it's their fans. For Gucci, the term was Victoria Beckham. For the Le Corbusier estate it was people in general.
To quell this disaster marketers have had to coin a new term - ultra luxury. The term luxury, like the term hang in there - has become meaningless.
So, my colleague and I, at the end of our conversation, could not come to an agreement on how low the Prada side part should go, but we did, without debate, agree that Karl Lagerfeld should retire.
stacy reynaud
Jan 27, 2014
Seriously - they're paving paradise and putting up a parking lot
They're into destroying beautiful things in West Vancouver. If it's not homes or old-growth forests, it's something else. This ludicrous, corporate PR jargon notice from the District of West Vancouver popped up on our front door last week. The District of West Vancouver is actually chopping down a forest (see photos below) to put up a parking lot (they also closed down a tennis court and turned it into a parking lot). I'd like to mention that an arborist is actually employed full time by the district - they are an employee of the district and are paid by the district. Bets that the arborist the District consulted was actually an employee of the District?
Can the public call in an independent arborist to assess these trees? I, for one, would like to hear another opinion.
Say goodbye to your roost, Mr. Resident Bald Eagle - I'm sure I won't be the only one who'll miss watching you torment the crows and seagulls of the neighbourhood.
The flags in the above photo are at half mast to honour Tim Jones of the North Shore Search and Rescue who passed away last weekend.
The flags in the above photo are at half mast to honour Tim Jones of the North Shore Search and Rescue who passed away last weekend.
This tree is the very tall beauty in the top right of the first photo. It's a daily stop for the bald eagles making their way down to John Lawson Park.
I'll be very sad to see it go and replaced with a parking lot.
It's probably at least 100 years old.
This photo was taken from our deck.
The trees that will be chopped down are the tall beautiful ones at the north side of the building.
So, the next time I post a photo of the municipal hall building, all those mature, beautiful trees will be gone.
Shame.
Nothing like encouraging alternative options to vehicles. Good job guys, well thought out.
Jan 3, 2014
Dec 31, 2013
25 Cocktail Party Must Haves
25 things to have on hand:
- hand size snacks such as - popcorn, cheese, pickles, crackers, wasabi peas, Cheezies, or other nibbles - nuts with a vintage nutcracker are always a hit, make sure you have a bowl for the shells
- ice, ice and more ice
- cocktail napkins and regular napkins
- coasters
- vintage serving bowls
- tea lights, candles, lighter
- ice bucket or two
- soda, tonic, juice (cranberry, orange, tomato), pop, cold flat or carbonated water
- cocktail straws, cocktail picks
- garnish - lemon, lime and good cocktail cherries (check what your drink recipes call for)
- extra toilet paper
- whiskey, bourbon, rye, rum, vodka, gin, dry and sweet vermouth, cognac, two bottles of both white and red wine, beer, bubbly
- clean cloth to quickly wipe up spills
- plenty of clean hand towels in the washroom
- bottle opener and corkscrew
- a game - personally I can't stand games but some people love them at parties
- burgundy glasses, beer glasses, martini glasses, rock glasses, champagne flutes
- list of cocktail recipes - check the drink section of my blog, or Art in the Age and MasonShaker have some of my current favourites
- clean house slippers if you insist your guests take their shoes off
- organized front closet with empty hangers (no wire hangers)
- bitters, simple syrup (easy to make - boil two parts sugar, one part water or 1:1 shaken until sugar dissolves)
- an empty garbage under the sink
- cocktail shaker
- phone number for a cab or designated driver service - the host should pay or prearrange
- appropriate music
image from the collection of Stacy Reynaud
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