{"id":7231,"date":"2012-03-12T08:55:09","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T15:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingvancouver.ca\/?p=7231"},"modified":"2013-01-21T07:19:22","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T15:19:22","slug":"price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/","title":{"rendered":"Price Points: An absence of something iconic"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a Thursday evening and we’ll all on the 236, heading to one of the great places in the Lower Mainland: Grouse Mountain.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

No surprise: the bus is packed with snowboarders, most having transferred from the SeaBus at Lonsdale Quay.\u00a0 They’re a multilingual crew, mixed in with the tourists and commuters from\u00a0‘over town,’ not many over\u00a030, heading for the snow-covered slopes some can see from their apartments.<\/p>\n

The 236 is one of those ‘You know you’re in Vancouver’<\/em> kind of places:\u00a0public transit from tidewater to mountain top in twenty-eight minutes.\u00a0\u00a0I suppose\u00a0there\u00a0are kids from Korea to Cologne who have fond memories of taking the 236 at the end of the day, exhausted, elated and maybe in love.\u00a0 If there’s an iconic image in their heads, along with the lights of the city from the slopes above, it’s of\u00a0a bus\u00a0named Grouse.<\/p>\n

But, oddly, not the place at the top of the mountain –\u00a0 and by that I mean the lodge.<\/p>\n

Quick: what comes to mind when you think of the Grouse Mountain lodge? – the place with the\u00a0ski shop,\u00a0the restaurants, the washrooms, the theatres, the place where you assemble to meet your friends, whether from the ski slopes or the Grind, to take the gondola back down.\u00a0 Probably nothing.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0try image searching for ‘Vancouver Grouse Mountain Lodge’\u00a0 or “The Peak of Vancouver.”\u00a0 Here’s what you get:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Sorry, the image in the\u00a0upper left doesn’t count: it’s from Whitefish, Montana.\u00a0 There are a few shots\u00a0of the interior of\u00a0the main building – but nothing particularly memorable.\u00a0 Which unfortunately\u00a0is the best description of what should be an architectural icon,\u00a0a truly memorable place, given its location.\u00a0 (Map here<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n

There are great mountain lodges in the Pacific Northwest – several built during the Depression, notably Timberline near Portland.\u00a0 And of course there are the great chateau hotels of Canada and so many at Whistler they all seem to merge.<\/p>\n

But where there should be one overlooking one of the most beautiful settings in the world: blah.<\/p>\n

Rather, the icon of Grouse is not a building, not\u00a0even the new wind turbine, but\u00a0this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A form of transportation –\u00a0in turn connected to the 236, connected to the SeaBus, connected to Waterfront Station, connected to the SkyTrain.<\/p>\n

When it comes to doing icons, that’s what we’re good at: the way of getting to places, not so much\u00a0the places themselves.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a Thursday evening and we’ll all on the 236, heading to one of the great places in the Lower Mainland: Grouse Mountain. . No surprise: the bus is packed with snowboarders, most having transferred from the SeaBus at Lonsdale Quay.\u00a0 They’re a multilingual crew, mixed in with the tourists and commuters from\u00a0‘over town,’ notContinue reading “Price Points: An absence of something iconic”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11232],"tags":[792,7532,535,7534,228,2789,224,299,245,214,1919,7533],"class_list":["post-7231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-canada","tag-cologne","tag-grouse-mountain","tag-grouse-mountain-lodge","tag-korea","tag-montana","tag-portland","tag-price-points","tag-transportation","tag-vancouver-2","tag-waterfront-station","tag-whitefish"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPrice Points: An absence of something iconic - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Price Points: An absence of something iconic - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It’s a Thursday evening and we’ll all on the 236, heading to one of the great places in the Lower Mainland: Grouse Mountain. . No surprise: the bus is packed with snowboarders, most having transferred from the SeaBus at Lonsdale Quay.\u00a0 They’re a multilingual crew, mixed in with the tourists and commuters from\u00a0‘over town,’ notContinue reading "Price Points: An absence of something iconic"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-12T15:55:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T15:19:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/The-236.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gordon Price\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gordon Price\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/\",\"name\":\"Price Points: An absence of something iconic - Spacing Vancouver\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/The-236.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-12T15:55:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T15:19:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/2ccd924eaf8e2cb7e72ac13004526550\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/The-236.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/The-236.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Price Points: An absence of something iconic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Vancouver\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/2ccd924eaf8e2cb7e72ac13004526550\",\"name\":\"Gordon Price\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b36df5afca7a760172ea9cbe8e7222ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b36df5afca7a760172ea9cbe8e7222ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gordon Price\"},\"description\":\"Gordon Price is the Director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University. He sat for six terms as City Councillor in Vancouver, BC and also served on the Boards of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (Metro) and TransLink. He publishes an electronic magazine and blog on urban issues, with a focus on Vancouver, called \\\"Price Tags\\\" - www.pricetags.ca as well as www.pricetags.wordpress.com He has written several extensive essays on Vancouver and transportation issues - The Deceptive City, Local Politician's Guide to Urban Transportation \u2013 and in 2003, he received the Plan Canada Award for Article of the Year - \\\"Land Use and Transportation: The View from '56\\\" - from the Canadian Institute of Planners.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.pricetags.wordpress.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/gordonprice\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Price Points: An absence of something iconic - Spacing Vancouver","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Price Points: An absence of something iconic - Spacing Vancouver","og_description":"It’s a Thursday evening and we’ll all on the 236, heading to one of the great places in the Lower Mainland: Grouse Mountain. . No surprise: the bus is packed with snowboarders, most having transferred from the SeaBus at Lonsdale Quay.\u00a0 They’re a multilingual crew, mixed in with the tourists and commuters from\u00a0‘over town,’ notContinue reading \"Price Points: An absence of something iconic\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Vancouver","article_published_time":"2012-03-12T15:55:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T15:19:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/The-236.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Gordon Price","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gordon Price","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/","name":"Price Points: An absence of something iconic - Spacing Vancouver","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/The-236.jpg","datePublished":"2012-03-12T15:55:09+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T15:19:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/2ccd924eaf8e2cb7e72ac13004526550"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/The-236.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/The-236.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/03\/12\/price-points-an-absense-of-something-iconic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Price Points: An absence of something iconic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/","name":"Spacing Vancouver","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/2ccd924eaf8e2cb7e72ac13004526550","name":"Gordon Price","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b36df5afca7a760172ea9cbe8e7222ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b36df5afca7a760172ea9cbe8e7222ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gordon Price"},"description":"Gordon Price is the Director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University. He sat for six terms as City Councillor in Vancouver, BC and also served on the Boards of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (Metro) and TransLink. He publishes an electronic magazine and blog on urban issues, with a focus on Vancouver, called \"Price Tags\" - www.pricetags.ca as well as www.pricetags.wordpress.com He has written several extensive essays on Vancouver and transportation issues - The Deceptive City, Local Politician's Guide to Urban Transportation \u2013 and in 2003, he received the Plan Canada Award for Article of the Year - \"Land Use and Transportation: The View from '56\" - from the Canadian Institute of Planners.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.pricetags.wordpress.com"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/gordonprice\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7231"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17001,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231\/revisions\/17001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}