Hastings-Sunrise Preservation Committee seeks residential opinions on "East Village" branding

by Carlito Pablo on May 11, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Comments
The East Village Vancouver

You may have an opinion about the naming of a stretch of Hastings Street in Vancouver as East Village.

Cool? Lame?

Whatever it is, you want to head down to Kamloops and Hastings streets on Sunday (May 13).

Aviva Savelson and Allison Jones are setting up a table on the northwest corner there starting about 11 a.m. to get people’s views on the move by the Hastings North Business Improvement Association to brand the retail and industrial area that runs along Hastings Street from Commercial Drive to Renfrew Street as East Village.

Savelson and Jones are members of a group that calls itself the Hastings-Sunrise Preservation Committee. So far, the committee has gathered about 350 personal and online responses.

“The trend is that most people, a majority of people, prefer Hastings-Sunrise as a name,” Savelson told the Straight in a phone interview today (May 11).

The business district is in the neighbourhoods of Hastings-Sunrise and Grandview-Woodland. North Hastings BIA executive director Patricia Barnes maintained that the name doesn’t extend to residential areas.

“We’ve done our branding strategy for the commercial district, and it’s the commercial district that’s going to be marketed as the East Village,” Barnes told the Straight by phone on May 9,“and nobody’s changed the Hastings North BIA name, nobody’s changed the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood name, and nobody’s changed the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood name.”

If you can’t see Savelson and Jones this Sunday, you can always fill out an online survey at the group’s website.

Comments (9) Add New Comment
Bone
May 12, 2012 at 10:32 am
I live in Hastings-Sunrise, right near Nanaimo and Hastings.

I think "Hastings-Sunrise" is pretty lame. It's too long and lacks aesthetic appeal. Why not just "Sunrise" if you must?

"East Village", on the other hand, whilst not without it's charm, will strike most people as a ripoff of New York. Whether it is or not, the perception is all that matters.

Frankly I'd rather have a new name for the area altogether.
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Andrew
May 12, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Or maybe a new "old" name? During the initial period of European settlement in the area (starting in, say, 1890 or so) much of the area in question - north of Hastings and west of Nanaimo, Kamloops, etc. - was called Cedar Cove. The name shows up on old maps of the area... and was a reference to quality of the cedar trees that were to be found there.
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yesdothis
May 13, 2012 at 9:55 am
They should flood the streets and call it Venicouver. That would be cool.

btw, when did branding become so real to people?
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bdubblut
May 13, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Oh jeepers.
Is this gonna be some sort of 'white' enclave?*

*See my comment on the other story about how human beings like to enclave each other.
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xander crain
May 14, 2012 at 3:09 pm
About the BIA extend the sidewalks and make their "beloved Hastings Street" into a one lane road each way with street parking.

That will bring the shoppers rather than clearing them out at 3 pm for rush hour parking.

Also puncturing the tires of all the SUVs from the West Side would clean it up a lot.

The big damage was made by London Drugs, and that Godzilla is going to become (windowless) bigger, much bigger.

The Forst building on the south side could have been redevloped better.
And the city should take the empty Rogers Video store and add it to the Hastings Library covenant and lands and make it a real sized cultural centre on top the the Slocan hill.
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Aaron
May 14, 2012 at 4:54 pm
This attempt by the Business Improvement Association to cool-ify Hasting Sunrise by re-branding it as East Village only backfires because it takes what was already an increasingly coveted neighbourhood and turns it into a pale, desperate imitation of New York. The new name betrays Vancouver as a city with no sense of itself or intrinsic identity. I bought a house in the neighbourhood last year because I loved the neighbourhood as it was, with its history and working-class roots, and I loved the little-known culture of restaurants and stores. I've watched the neighbourhood grow rapidly even just in the short time since I moved here as more and more people discover its charm. But I fear now that my property values are going to plummet because the Business Improvement Association has made this sad attempt to force an image transformation. Anybody with a sense of "cool" knows that to try is "un-cool". The Business Improvement Association is trying too hard, and frankly I'm embarrassed now to live in the neighbourhood. I'm honestly considering moving to Toronto.
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R U Kiddingme
May 15, 2012 at 8:29 am
For a second, I thought the lede was about renaming the stench along this part of Hastings. Boy it was ripe the other day, all the way up Clark almost to 16th.
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Ian G62
May 15, 2012 at 10:15 am
Apparently the banners are already up with "East Village" on them, so what is the point of any public consultation if the deal is already done ?
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HellSlayerAndy
May 16, 2012 at 10:47 am
Renaming neighbourhoods is good for the locals.

With a little math, you can figure out precisely what point the hick moved here and thus avoid them.

"They got some great little shops in the East Village!"
"You moved HERE from a village, cow dip. Fawk U"
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