Leaving New York was not easy. Its only been two weeks since I have been back in Vancouver and I already miss it so much, the hot nights, the smell of fried chicken,1$ beers, the G, coconut water, 324 Lafayette, Strand, Trader Joe’s, the endless diy venues and everything else that goes with it…. But with this being said… I am equally, if not more, happy to be back in Vancouver.
I left Vancouver thinking I would never live in this rainy city again, only to realize half way through my time in New York that I was incredibly homesick for Vancouver, that this is where I want to be, that this is home, a place to call my own
However, not everyone in Vancouver is as fortunate as me. I was blessed to be able to come back to Vancouver (a city that boasts an average vacancy rate of -0.5%, topped with highest rental rates in Canada) and move back in to my old apartment on Main St. knowing that my building is not going to be torn down anytime soon to build a new condo or Olympic facility.
Last week I spent a day shooting a music video for Makeout Videotape in what was one of the only subsidized housing complexes in all of Vancouver. Located on Main and 33rd, sits Little Mountain Housing, an entire city block that was once dedicated for low-income families, it is also the oldest public housing in Vancouver. These apartments even spawned the famous Canadian hip-hop group “Rascalz”. There are 224 units altogether; this meant that when residence received their eviction notice for last summer, 200 families were going to be left with out a home, in a city that is already lacking subsidized housing. The city promised to relocate residence while they ‘redeveloped’ Little Mountain site. Meanwhile many families were forced out of Vancouver and into the suburbs away from their jobs while they demolish the housing and to make temporary PARKING LOT for the Olympics.
I can spend all day discussing this topic but I think at this point I should just like the surreal-ness of the photos say the rest.(i also added a few photos from the music video shoot too)

This is a photo i stole from the little mountain website of what it once looked like.

This is what it looks like now. (behing this court yard there are about 3 other squares full of houses too)



Brennan is a babe.

Makeout Videotape performing to the camera.

The graffiti the covers the buildings is very politcally powerful I wish i had more photos of it.
andrea and leah.