Coffee with Mom and Pop

I live in a False Creek South housing co-op less than 5 minutes from the Granville Market. But when I want to engage in that complex Vancouver ritual, "Coffee", I turn my back on GI and head a few blocks up the hill to the Wicked Cafe at 7th Avenue at Hemlock.

I graduated from Emily Carr last year, and since my own exchange in France in 2005, I've been sharing my place with successive art students from all over the world. I have been enjoying gazing at my city in a new way by peeking through their lenses. One of them found Wicked a couple of years ago, and since then all of us have come to use that as our "third place".

Though centrally located, Wicked is just enough off the beaten path that -- thankfully -- it hasn't drawn the attention of the tourists. But to someone drifting by, it is clear how their motto "putting the neighbourhood back in neighbourhood" has evolved. With warm weather, the patrons have ignored the sound of traffic and claimed the south-facing corner as an ad hoc plaza. When I was there last week, a second row of tables had sprouted between the sidewalk and the curb, and people were playing a board game.