Vancouver doesn't actually exist. I don't think there's a city of comparable size anywhere in the US whose downtown is less relevant to anything; I doubt that more than 5% of Vancouver residents even know where "downtown" is. Far fewer than that have ever been there.

The action is in the strip malls and big box stores and endless soulless, faceless, walled-off subdivisions. "Interesting" in Vancouver means "hey, there's a new Chipotle out on 192nd, do you wanna go check it out?". Seriously: in Vancouver Chipotle is as cool as it gets.

Even the remnants of old-school small-town white culture like the classic Steakburger on 99 in Hazel Dell are gone, demolished, soon to be redeveloped as more big-box stores and fast-food restaurant hell.

Look at the state of this: the Steakburger site is being redeveloped under "a county-issued edict aimed at making Highway 99 less dominated by developments that cater to the automobile [...] new county rules [that] call for a reduction of bland, box-shaped buildings and fewer asphalt deserts, with more green spaces that are pedestrian and bicycle friendly" which has led them to plan for...wait for it...a McDonalds, a drive-thru coffee kiosk, and a Fred Meyer fueling station.

http://www.columbian.com/news/2014/feb/1…

WTF.

It is literally a wasteland, a desert more denuded than the Gobi or the Simpson or the Negev. No wonder there's so many churches there.

Lest you get too smug, be aware that this is the real Washington State. These are the people who run your state legislature. And while you may think that Capitol Hill is almost too hip with its bars and restaurants, be aware also that Seattle itself is now mostly dominated by these same big box stores and chain fast-food places. Seen the new Hobby Lobby going in up on Aurora where the K-Mart was? This is your future America.

If I lived there, I'd be stoned out of my gourd 24/7 too.

@1
That pot store looks fine and very urban "storefronty".
Odd you would complain about it.

Did you take Sound Transit to Vancouver ?

@fnarf...you sound uptight...smoke some Pot...

@1 u think the traffic in from Portland will prompt some urbanist revision?