Sun food critic Mia Stainsby serves up some ideas for those on your list who like to cook, eat, drink or entertain

Mia Stainsby
Sun

One thing everyone does is eat. And most adults, at one time or other, cook, drink and entertain.

So when you’re out there this month, dazed and confused, looking for Christmas presents to give to friends and family, think food. Here are some ideas to put under the tree.

JAMIE OLIVER

Okay, there’s no getting Jamie Oliver himself, but his seventh cookbook, Cook with Jamie: My Guide To Making You A Better Cook, $41.95, is available and less distracting than having him in your kitchen in the flesh. In an easy-breezy writing style, he shows you his way to cook delicious, healthy foods. “In this book, I’m going to treat you just as I would one of my students and give you some inspiration for good, rock-solid cooking,” he says, and does.

DELUXE DOG TREATS

Vancouver company K9 Biscuit Company customizes dog biscuits by putting your pampered pooch’s mug on the front of the foil pack with a personalized label (right). The treats are called My K9 Biscuits. For instance, one dog client named Maggie Thatcher will soon be getting her own line of bickies with the caption “Maggie Still Rules,” as scary as that sounds. The human-grade dog biscuits are peanut butter and honey. Five bags are $29.95, 10 bags are $49.95, including shipping. See www.k9biscuit.com.

VISTA D’ORO PRODUCTS

Perfect little hostess gifts. Among the gourmet choices of jams and condiments, Cranberry Ice Wine spread would go nicely with turkey or over warm camembert cheese; Turkish fig jam with walnut wine is a great match with Poplar Grove double-cream camembert; $6.75 to $8.50 depending on size. Available at Vista d’Oro Farm in Langley, Edible B.C. (Granville Island Public Market), Whole Foods, Les Amis du Fromage, some Lower Mainland wineries and wine shops. (www.vistadoro.com)

CHOCOLATE

I’m a goner for Zotter fair trade chocolate bars (left). They come in 90 arresting flavour combos, including celery truffle and port wine; sour cherries and port wine; organic beer; balsamic caramel; coffee plum and caramelized bacon; Jordanian dates with coffee, shiitake; white poppy with cinnamon and apricot spirit; scotch whisky; white nougat with walnuts and red wine; almond roses; pomegranite and cedar nuts. They’re $6.59 each; two for $13.99 or five for $30.99. Get ‘em at Monde Chocolate, 2391 Burrard St. While you’re there, check out the chocolate bars for making hot chocolate, in exotic flavours.

MEASURING DEVICES

Trudeau silicon Flipper measuring cups and spoons (right) are reversible, saving space and fumbling time. Here’s an example of how it works — reverse the one teaspoon, flip the silicon down and on the other side, you have a half-teaspoon; a one-cup holder flips into 1/2 cup on the other side. And so on. A spoon set is $11.99; the cup set is $19.99. For a retailer selling Trudeau kitchen utensils near you, call 1-800-TRUDEAU.

BREATHABLE WINE GLASSES

Through a yet-secret technology, these wine glasses eliminate the need to decant and aerate wines and other beverages. Eisch Glaskultur (www.eisch.de) says it goes through an oxygenization treatment which gives the glass this property. Rudi Herzog of Herzog stores, which carries them, says he feels an immediate improvement of the taste of wine and cognac. The glasses are available in red wine, burgundy, bordeaux, chardonnary, riesling, port, cognac and single-malt shapes. $27.50 each; 10 per cent less in boxes of 6. Available at Herzog, 535 Howe St. and Park Royal North.

BASKET CASES

Langley‘s gourmet food store, Well Seasoned, does up gift baskets (right) for the season, from $25 to $80 with themes like Buy B.C., Breakfast in Bed, Hostess with the Mostess, King of the Grill. Or, if you’d rather, customize your gift by going to the store and making your own basket. (Baskets on sale, too.) 20771 Langley By-Pass, 604-530-1518. www.wellseasoned.ca.

COOKBOOK

The Williams-Sonoma Tools and Techniques cookbook includes a good overview of classic and modern kitchen tools and equipment, explains some 300 cooking techniques, 50 basic recipes and variations, lots of how-to tips, 1,500 colour photos for easy learning. $49.95 At Williams-Sonoma, 2903 Granville St.

ARTISAN GOODS

The Wood Co-Op represents some 75 artisans who craft things for kitchen and dining room, from a compact toothpick holder all the way up to dining room sets. Consider the once-in-a-lifetime Ross Pilgrim marquetry rolling pin (right), made of various woods ($190), or the $80 Hawkins nut cracker (far right). Put your nut in a chamber, a hammer comes down a post, cracks the shell and the nut rolls out. And for someone who’s been very, very good, dining room sets, like one by Arnt Arntzen, made with wood and reclaimed metal, can run to $12,000. One table (above) has recycled fluted lampposts for legs. You’ll find the shop at 1592 Johnston St., on Granville Island.

WINE SPA

For wine lovers who have more wine than real estate, give them the gift of cellaring space at Vancouver Wine Vault. The cost is $3 a month per case. There, the precious cargo will be housed peacefully under the right conditions. Owner Rick Underwood (right, in his storage area) can help with evaluations and appraisals should they require for investment wines. Staff can pick up and drop off wines; customers have access to their inventory online. No need to be embarrassed about near-plonk.

“I’ve got some people who have home brew here,” says Underwood, “but most are fairly seasoned collectors.” They’re at 1008 Homer St., 604-805-4725, www.vancouverwinevault.ca

TEA TIME

The Happy Tzar, a hand-blown glass samovar (left), serves tea for up to 35. Why would anyone spend $1,950 for a teapot? This is the only existing glass samovar (usually, they’re metal) and designed by Mariage Frere, one of the most exclusive tea houses in the world. Available at The Urban Tea Merchant, Village at Park Royal.

WINE SMARTS

For those who know no bounds when it comes to wine knowledge, send them to university. The University of B.C.‘s Continuing Studies department (partnering with the UBC Wine Research Centre) offers a variety of courses for oenophiles, from understanding it, to tasting it, to matching with food, to understanding regions. There’s also a course for beer and spirit fans. Courses cost $375 to $495 at the UBC Point Grey and UBC Robson Square campuses. Call 604-822-0800 for more details.

FOR SMALL POURS

For tea for two or four, Roost makes a Branch teapot set (right) with handles that look like a branch, a more interesting alternative for someone who’s making do with a Brown Betty. The teapot costs $95 at The Cross Decor and Design in Yaletown, 1198 Homer St. The matching cream and sugar set is $85.

ESPRESSO MACHINE

The regal Williams-Sonoma has landed. One of the higher-end offerings, the Delonghi Gran Dama Espresso machine (left), makes short work of making coffee. It makes cappucinos, lattes and macchiatos at the touch of a button and has a self-cleaning system. The milk container detaches for cool storage. It has a 15-bar pressure pump system, built-in burr grinder (as opposed to blade, for more consistent grind) and cup-size and strength settings with digital display, all for $2,999 (gulp!). At Williams-Sonoma, 2903 Granville St.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Other

On October 30, 2007, the Government of Canada announced a reduction in the GST rate from 6% to 5%, effective January 1, 2008. This follows a reduction a year ago from 7% to 6%.

There are a number of transition rules for GST as it relates to real estate. We have attempted to simplify those rules below. For a full explanation, please visit the information bulletin published by the Federal Government, which can be found at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gi/notice226/README.html

Remember that GST only applies to the purchase of a new or substantially renovated property. If the property is a used residential property, there is no GST payable.

There are 3 different situations, depending when the Contract of Purchase and Sale (the “Contract”) was signed.

1. If the Contract is dated between Oct. 31, 2007 and December 31, 2007, and ownership and possession are transferred on or after January 1, 2008, GST is paid at 5%.

2. If the Contract is dated between May 3, 2006 and Oct. 31, 2007, and ownership and possession are transferred on or after January 1, 2008, GST is paid at 6%. The clients are eligible for a 2008 GST Transitional Rebate for the 1% GST, and this rebate is applied for after closing.

3. If the Contract is dated prior to May 3, 2006, and ownership and possession are transferred on or after January 1, 2008, GST is paid at 7%. The clients are eligible for GST Transitional Rebates to account for both the 2006 reduction and the 2008 reduction, and these rebates are applied for after closing.

GST Transitional Rebate

To claim the GST Transitional rebate for the 2008 GST rate reduction, the 2006 GST rate reduction, or both, the person purchasing a new or substantially renovated residential complex must send a completed application form together with a copy of the contract, the Statement of Adjustments and, if applicable, a copy of the GST new housing rebate or new residential rental property rebate to the CRA.

Form GST193, GST/HST Transitional Rebate Application for Purchasers of New Housing, can be used to claim the transitional rebate in respect of the 2006 GST/HST rate reduction. This application form will be revised to also include the transitional rebate for the 2008 GST rate reduction. The revised application form will be available on the CRA Web site or by calling 1-800-959-2221.

The GST/HST 2008 transitional rebate can only be claimed in 2008 after all of the conditions for claiming are met. For example, a person may only claim a transitional rebate after both ownership and possession of a new residential complex are transferred to the person. Generally, a transitional rebate application and the required documents must be sent to the CRA within two years after the day ownership of the residential complex is transferred to the person. Remember, the GST transitional rebate is not conditional on receiving a new housing rebate, nor is it subject to any maximum purchase or fair market value limitation.

The Federal Government has published the following tables to help illustrate the transitional rules for purchases of new or substantially renovated residential complexes from a builder.

Purchase and sale agreement entered into before May 3, 2006

Ownership transferred	Possession transferred	Rate of tax	2006 transitional rebate	2008 transitional rebate
Before July 1, 2006	Before July 1, 2006	7%	No	No
Before July 1, 2006	After June 30, 2006	7%	No	No
After June 30, 2006	Before July 1, 2006	7%	No	No
After June 30, 2006 and before January 1, 2008	After June 30, 2006 and before January 1, 2008	7%	Yes	No
After June 30, 2006 and before January 1, 2008	After December 31, 2007	7%	Yes	No
After December 31, 2007	After June 30, 2006 and before January 1, 2008	7%	Yes	No
After December 31, 2007	After December 31, 2007	7%	Yes	Yes

Purchase and sale agreement entered into after May 2, 2006 and before October 31, 2007

Ownership transferred	Possession transferred	Rate of tax	2006 transitional rebate	2008 transitional rebate
Before July 1, 2006	Before July 1, 2006	7%	No	No
Before July 1, 2006	After June 30, 2006	7%	No	No
After June 30, 2006	Before July 1, 2006	7%	No	No
After June 30, 2006 and before January 1, 2008	After June 30, 2006 and before January 1, 2008	6%	No	No
After June 30, 2006 and before January 1, 2008	After December 31, 2007	6%	No	No
After December 31, 2007	After June 30, 2006 and before January 1, 2008	6%	No	No
After December 31, 2007	After December 31, 2007	6%	No	Yes

Purchase and sale agreement entered into after October 30, 2007

Ownership transferred	Possession transferred	Rate of tax	2006 transitional rebate	2008 transitional rebate
Before January 1, 2008	Before January 1, 2008	6%	No	No
Before January 1, 2008	After December 31, 2007	6%	No	No
After December 31, 2007	Before January 1, 2008	6%	No	No
After December 31, 2007	After December 31, 2007	5%	No	No

 

Lora Grindlay
Province

An independent financial assessment is under way of a land swap between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Vancouver Port Authority to make way for a $75-million waterfront stadium.

Port authority spokeswoman Anne McMullin said it could take months to determine whether the land exchange proposed by the soccer team is of “comparable market value” and to determine whether land obtained by the authority can be used for shipping and navigation purposes. Both factors are required by federal legislation, she said.

The exchange involves Whitecaps-owned land over rail yards along Waterfront Road and vacant port land close to the Helijet terminal.

McMullin said any deal would have to be approved by Transport Canada.

The proposed stadium was on the table yesterday in a meeting between Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Lawrence Cannon in Ottawa.

‘Caps president Bob Lenarduzzi was encouraged that the stadium was a topic of discussion in Ottawa.

“It is frustrating that it has taken this long but we have another meeting with [the authority] this week and we hope to make some headway at that time.”

Discussions between the city and the Whitecaps regarding a new stadium began in January 2003.

Once a location and an agreement with the port authority is finalized, the team faces a rezoning and development process with the city that could take up to 18 months.

“Our desire, our hope is that it would take far less than that,” Lenarduzzi said.

Timing is important, Lenarduzzi said, if the ‘Caps have a hope of clinching a Major League Soccer expansion franchise.

“There are a number of cities that are in the mix right now, us being one of them, but without having a confirmation of our venue we wouldn’t be in the mix,” he said.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

Peter Mitham
Other

Comments in a study of off-site venues produced by Tourism Vancouver this past February were clear. The city’s lack of off-site venues was described variously as falling short of world-class status, “lacking in quantity, quality and diversity for groups over 250,” and, in the words of one veteran event planner with 14 years’ experience, “one of our greatest challenges in selling Vancouver.”

It seems Vancouver does not have what its competitors Montreal, Toronto, San Diego and Seattle have to offer, and meeting planners and tourism officials alike agree that the need for more venues is vital to Vancouver’s development as a destination for conventions.

“When conventions come to town, people don’t want to spend their entire week in one building, no matter how glorious it is. They want to get out of the building,” explains David Clark, president of BC Event Management Inc. in North Vancouver.

Clark has organized events for everyone from Canadian Auto Workers union members to Queen Elizabeth II cruisers, and he notes that there’s a general shortage of facilities. The shortage is even more acute at the upper end of the spectrum – say, for groups of 2,000 people or more.

Clark has organized banquets at BC Place Stadium in the past, but a stadium is not always appropriate.

The situation to date: Most local meeting planners say they welcome the convention centre’s expansion because it increases the options in a market that’s especially short of meeting space in spring and fall, when venues such as BC Place enjoy steady bookings. By midsummer the expanded convention centre had landed 29 bookings above and beyond what the original convention centre could have accommodated, for a total of 54 conventions through 2011. Not bad, but observers say 80 to 90 future bookings are needed through 2015 for the centre to meet growing demands for its success. Rising construction costs – the latest figure is $883 million, well above initial estimates of $495 million – have only raised political and economic demands for the centre’s success. The upshot? We need more off-site venues.

“When conventions come to town, people don’t want to spend their entire week in one building, no matter how glorious it is. They want to get out” — David Clark

The loss of Storyeum in Gastown has only accentuated the shortage. Newer venues such as the Rocky Mountaineer rail station on the False Creek Flats and planned developments at Grouse Mountain, the Vancouver Aquarium, the UBC Museum of Anthropology and other attractions are relatively small compared to what’s needed.
Richard Yore, director of meeting and convention sales for Tourism Vancouver, admits that the city has lost business for lack of appropriate venues. There just aren’t enough of them, he says, “or we don’t have venues that are large enough, or [they] are too expensive.”

There is one glimmer of hope. The major sporting venues being built for the 2010 Olympics Winter Games promise to introduce much-needed event space to the market. “Vancouver is quite shy of venues for larger-scale programs, and the size of a number of these facilities will really assist us as we look to attract future business to Vancouver,” says Jonathan Buchwald, president of Vancouver planning firm Prime Strategies Inc. “The development of Olympic venues is really going to be beneficial for the event and conference industry.”

The most obvious example is the Richmond Oval, a 356,000-square-foot ice rink being built at a cost of $178 million. It will host speed-skating events during the Olympics and will be used for community-sports and fitness programming afterward. It is touted in city documents as a potential venue for major sporting events, exhibitions and conventions.

“It’s a nice, big clear-span building. That’s the one I really have on my radar screen,” Clark says, noting that it will be ideal for banquets feeding upwards of 2,500. “That’s exactly what we need. I don’t have a booking there yet, but I’m starting to put it in proposals to potential conventions.”

There’s also the Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre at UBC, which is undergoing a $47-million expansion to serve as a venue for ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in 2010. UBC hopes the 5,200-seat centre will attract trade shows, concerts and other events when it’s not being used for sporting events.

“It provides a venue for shows where they don’t have to black out half of GM Place because it’s too big,” says Joe Redmond, former VP for UBC Properties Trust, who continues to provide consulting services for the arena project.

Undercutting anticipation of the business opportunities to be had is a lack of certainty about the actual availability of the venues after the Olympics. While operators tout the value of the projects as community legacies, the marketing of those legacies is stymied because no one, it seems, is sure what portion of the facilities will be available post-2010.

“The decision of what they’re going to be using these venues for later on, in some cases, is up in the air, or it’s just in [the] development stage right now,” Yore says.
The Richmond Oval is a case in point.

“They’re talking about using it as a community centre,” Yore says. “[But] there’s a certain unknown quantity about what you can do in the Richmond Oval. What will the food and beverage catering facilities be?”

Many event organizers want to see facilities before they book activities… especially if the venues were designed to host activities other than conventions and cocktail parties

Definitive answers aren’t yet available, says Gerry De Cicco, the Richmond Oval’s sports business manager. He is drafting a strategy for the facility post-2010 and identifying potential users. A full-blown marketing campaign has yet to be rolled out.
De Cicco calls for patience. A number of special events will showcase the building when it opens next year. De Cicco says they will demonstrate the building’s potential, generating interest in using the facility as a venue. While interest among event planners is already strong, De Cicco has received no formal inquiries yet for its use for non-sporting events after 2010. The marketing plans for UBC’s Winter Sports Centre are in an equally embryonic stage. UBC Athletics will be responsible for taking bookings, but staff did not return a call for comment on marketing plans.

“I suspect at some point people will be made aware that this venue is available,” Redmond says, adding that he isn’t aware of any efforts to work with Tourism Vancouver to book events.

“I don’t think they’ve even thought of it at this point. It’s just too far away [from 2010],” he says.

A higher profile will be essential for venues to attract interest. Many event organizers want to see facilities before they book activities, Yore says, especially if the venues were designed to host activities other than conventions and cocktail parties. Meeting planners, he says, are hesitant to book in sporting venues.

“It’s also further down in the booking cycle,” he adds. “[Organizers] first decide on the city, book the convention centre, and then you later book the hotels and start looking at social venues as well.”

And so the discussion returns to the convention centre, and the promise the expansion holds of greater convention business for Vancouver. After all, the off-site venues aren’t needed if there’s no convention business, but then, there’s no convention business without exciting off-site venues; one can’t survive without the other.

It’s a point Yore says lost business has made painfully clear. While he doesn’t want to see more opportunities slip by, he knows Vancouver has to get its game face on.
“[Planners] have said we’ll wait till after 2010 when these venues are built, and then we’ll consider you again. Does that mean we’ll win it? Who knows.”

 

David Spaner
Province

The rise of the Pantages will be something to behold.

Step through its battered, boarded-up facade near Main and Hastings, and there are remnants of a “palace.” When the Pantages Theatre opened — 100 years ago come Jan. 6 — Hastings Street was the city’s lively main drag and the ornate new theatre its jewel.

Now it’s on the road to being restored to its former grandeur.

“It’s eminently restorable,” says Vancouver historian John Atkin. “It’s a building that was built extremely well.”

—

I first set foot in the Pantages back in the pre-VCR 1970s, when it was called the City Lights Theatre and screening then hard-to-find foreign films and Hollywood classics. It still had a grandeur, albeit a tattered one, and I remember looking at its opera boxes, high ceiling and plaster wall decorations, and wondering: What was this place?

Now I know the Pantages Theatre was a movie palace. In the first decades of the 20th century, the movies were new and theatre designers naturally assumed that one should put the same care into building a movie theatre that went into an opera house. In an age of small, multiplex screens, it may be difficult to imagine the magnificent movie palaces that were constructed in those years across North America. By the late 1920s, though, theatre owners realized an unadorned room could draw movie audiences just as well and the age of luxury was over.

Over the years, a couple of Vancouver‘s palaces were saved after long public battles (the Orpheum, the Stanley), and more were levelled, including the Strand, the Capital, and a second Pantages further west on Hastings. “The second Pantages made the Orpheum look like a hick-town theatre,” says Atkin. “It was really quite something.”

Tony Pantages lives in Strathcona, a few blocks from the grand theatre at 144 East Hastings that’s been linked to his family for a century. He’s also a filmmaker who’s spent considerable time researching a film he’d like to make about Alexander Pantages, his great-uncle, who built the theatre. “He builds a bunch of theatres, becomes incredibly wealthy,” says Pantages. “Vancouver was almost a testing ground for how the chain expanded.”

Alexander was a larger-than-life character — born in Greece, ran away from home at nine to work on ships, eventually wound up in San Francisco, where he bartended on Cannery Row. When word of the Klondike gold strike arrived, he headed north, where he had a relationship with legendary saloon madame Klondike Kate. Fortune in hand, they left the Klondike, then Alexander left Kate. She opened a vaudeville house in Vancouver; Alexander opened the first Pantages Theatre in Seattle.

Vancouver was a rougRating 2 ewn port town, barely out of the Wild West era, when the 1,200-seat Hastings Street Pantages opened, the second in Alexander’s chain that would grow to 72 ritzy theatres. “It must have been testy, ’cause Klondike Kate was still here with her theatre,” Pantages notes.

When the even more luxurious second Pantages Theatre opened down the street in 1917, the original Pantages at 144 East Hastings became the Royal. In succeeding decades it would be a burlesque house (State Theatre), first-run cinema (The Queen, Avon), revival house (City Lights) and Asian cinema (Sung Sing). In 1989, following a flood, it was shuttered. “That’s when their boiler blew up, flooded the basement,” says Atkin.

Mixing the movies, which were brand new, with travelling vaudevillians — comics, musical acts, magicians — was a winning combination for Pantages, and his movie/live theatres became a big part of the vaudeville circuit. “That’s why he made it,” says Tony. “He basically could see what was going to happen.” His two Vancouver theatres would bring to the city everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Babe Ruth to Laurel and Hardy.

When the Pantages opened on Jan. 6, 1908, The Province noted: “When the orchestra at Pantages‘ new vaudeville theatre sounded its first note last night, an audience that filled every seat in the splendid house vouchsafed its appreciation of the opening of the theatre with applause that only subsided with the raising of the curtain.”

True to Pantages‘ form, that first night, the “modern vaudeville” was combined with the “latest moving pictures.”

“The moving pictures,” said The Province, “are good subjects but very poorly presented. The management promises to improve them before tonight’s performance.”

I’m not so sure the movies have improved since then and vaudeville is dead, but the Pantages is still around, and about to make its presence felt. While the Pantages Theatre Arts Society, which has signed a long-term lease agreement with owner Marc Williams, is reluctant to speak publicly about the theatre’s revival until negotiations with the city are finalized, it is known that they have strong roots in the Downtown Eastside community.

Their plans include fully restoring the theatre, reducing the original seating capacity with the installation of comfortable new seats, providing free parking to theatregoers and offering free tickets to local residents. Hopefully, it will retain the legendary Pantages Theatre name.

If the negotiations are completed by January, as expected, the three resident companies will be the City Opera of Vancouver, the Vancouver Cantonese Opera and Vancouver Moving Theatre.

There is something to be said for a neighbourhood that developers consider “undesirable.” While the rest of Vancouver was being diced, sliced and redeveloped, this neighbourhood, which had evolved from the city’s hub to its skid row, drew no interest from developers with wrecking balls. So, the streets are lined with blocks of tattered-but-beautiful old buildings.

“You know what saved this one [the Pantages] — atrophy,” says Tony Pantages. “The fact that nobody cared about that block any more.”

It’s the oldest surviving vaudeville/movie house in Canada and the oldest surviving Pantages Theatre, period, retaining a semblance of its plaster decorations, balcony and opera boxes. “It’s all there, which means you can use it to create a proper restoration,” says Atkin.

“It’s the only theatre left on Hastings Street,” Atkin continues. “Hastings Street was equal to Granville Street right through until the 1930s, the 1940s. You had over 18,000 live-

theatre seats on Hastings Street. That was your entertainment centre.

“The neighbourhood itself is quite interesting, architecturally. And I think the theatre stands a chance of being something very successful in the neighbourhood.”

While the city has drawn up plans for 10,000 condos in the area and developers are poised to create a mix of storefronts and housing, residents are concerned. Most everyone who lives in the Downtown Eastside agrees improved housing is the first step toward addressing drugs and other problems.

“It’s an amazing sense of community,” says Pantages. “It’s the best neighbourhood I lived in in my life, and I’ve lived in West Vancouver, lived in Beverly Hills, lived in Soho.

“We restore the Pantages Theatre but we also build something for the people that need a hand.”

The Pantages family is more than a theatre. Tony’s grandfather, Peter, arrived in Vancouver from Greece to work at the Pantages. “Looking from Kits to West Van reminded him of Greece,” says Pantages. He stayed and founded the annual Polar Bear Swim at English Bay and the Peter Pan Cafe, a Granville Street mainstay for decades. He would have four children, including lawyer Tony Pantages, filmmaker Tony’s dad.

Pantages‘ film work includes music videos and commercials. He’s just returned from L.A., where he directed a Behind the Scenes TV documentary about the making of Tin Man, a new Wizard of Oz miniseries.

Pantages, born in 1963, had never been inside a Pantages theatre when, in the 1980s, he moved to Los Angeles to become a struggling actor. He often hung out at the Frolic Room bar, near the glitzy Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

“I never went there. Couldn’t afford it,” he says. “One night, it’s 10 o’clock and the bartender at the Frolic says, ‘You gotta go in there.’ So, I went up to the door, showed my passport, said my name’s Tony Pantages, my family built this theatre and I just want to come in and take a look . . . A security guard grabs me and throws me right out of the theatre . . . I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I’ve still never been in a Pantages Theatre.'”

Years later, he would see the Bolshoi Ballet at the Hollywood Pantages, and may soon see the Pantages in his hometown.

“Everything’s a cycle. I just worked on a new Wizard of Oz movie,” he says. “Who would have figured they would have an ornate palace in the middle of a frontier town? So, who would figure they would have an opera company and theatre company in the poorest postal code in North America?

“It’s the same thing. I think it’s brilliant. It’s an anchor. You have to have the arts to have a community.”

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

In most cases, it

MATTHEW HAASE
Sun

RVing has always gone hand- in- hand with snowmobiling and off- roading. Having the ability to search out new destinations is a welcome option for those looking for more variety in their terrain while still remaining comfortable.

Toy haulers have been around for years, but they are gaining ground on their garage- less brethren.

Normally, there has to be some compromise in order to make a useful garage in a fifth- wheel unit, and the Keystone Fuzion toy hauler is no exception, but Keystone has managed to skirt many of the typical compromises and create a fun, functional and attractive hauling machine.

Our test model, the Fuzion 362 came with two large slides; one moving the entire centre section out to the driver’s side, while the second expands the bedroom, sliding out the queensized bed, again, out the driver’s side.

The two higher models, the 373 and 393 offer a third slide on the passenger side that creates more room in the kitchen area and allows Keystone to include a peninsula countertop that doubles counter space, while offering a place to pull up bar stools.

The other major addition in the 393 model is a 14- foot garage, two- feet longer than both the 362 and 373 models. While the 12- foot garages can easily accommodate a pair of snowmobiles or ATVs along with plenty of tools, luggage and camping gear, if so inclined the 14- foot garage could actually swallow a small car.

A very nice plus for those taking long road trips, or even weekend race- car drivers looking for an affordable travel solution instead of buying a full size rig.

The garage comes set up and ready to roll with the only thing you need to add being machines and fuel.

The standard package includes full stainless steel checker- plate flooring, overhead cabinets, cleaning station, exhaust vents, a rear wall screen enclosure, 1,200– lb. recessed d- rings for tying down your machines and a 110L fuel station with a 12- volt pump so there’s no fumbling with gerry cans in the trailer.

One of the big compromises with toy haulers has been no access to the garage from inside. The Fuzion offers sliding patio d o o r s t h at wi l l s e a l i n a ny unwanted smells from the garage, but allows quick access without having to go around and enter through the side door.

While the garage itself is tough and rugged, the trailer side is comfortable and accommodating. Above the hitch is the bedroom with a full- sized queen bed featuring a pillow- top mattress thanks to the generous slide. The washroom and shower are both comfortable and spacious, with the nice addition of a skylight above the shower for extra light. Full- length mirrors at the front of the trailer slide open to reveal a large closet next to a dresser large enough to hold clothes for several weeks without a wash.

Down the steps into the living area and right at the entrance to the trailer you will find the brain of the trailer. The control panel houses all of the switches and controls to get this Fuzion into action, including the slides, outdoor security lights, generator controls, fuel gauge and levels as well as the Fuzion’s surprising audio and video system. A DVD player hooked into the 26- inch LCD display sits just above the Pioneer CD/ MP3 deck that feeds four interior or two exterior speakers, as well as a 12- inch powered Rockford Fosgate subwoofer placed proudly on display in the bottom of the panel.

One potential issue is that the subwoofer did not have any sort of protective grille covering the speaker. Being right at the hightraffic area of the entrance it’s likely only a matter of time until the expensive speaker is damaged by an errant foot or piece of camping equipment coming in or out of the trailer.

Solid wood cabinetry with secure locking mechanisms runs throughout the Fuzion, most notably in the fully- loaded kitchen. A three- burner stove, 22inch oven, microwave and large refrigerator are surrounded by storage. While the two higher models come with the aforementioned peninsula, the 362 is no slouch in the counter- space department either, with plenty of space for two people to move about.

Sleeping accommodations appear all over the Fuzion. A step ladder takes you up to a twin bed above the entrance to the garage. Twin bunk beds drop down from the ceiling inside the garage at the flip of a switch.

A full- size couch and loveseat sit side by side facing the kitchen and the couch includes a hide- abed as well.

There’s enough space for six people, or up to 10 if folks double up in the twins.

Outside the Fuzion continues the attractive treatments with a smoothed nose to help airflow and graphic elements across the entire body leading to six stylish aluminum wheels. Power leveling legs drop from the front end to lift the weight off the fifthwheel hitch when unhooking on site while a pair of floodlights help light the front end when working at night.

Keystone has managed to provide many of the wants when it comes to building a toy hauler without neglecting the needs for a successful RV. The compromises for adding the garage space are noticeable, but living space inside the trailer is still quite comfortable for a smaller group.

 

New provincial guidelines will become law at the end of March, giving retailers some time to adjust

Fiona Anderson
Sun

New rules about where British Columbians can smoke and how cigarettes may be sold will now come into effect at the end of March to give retailers time to adjust.

The regulations announced Tuesday put in place legislation originally passed last March. It bans smoking in all indoor public spaces and workplaces as well as within three metres of doorways or open windows. Vendors will also be prohibited from displaying tobacco products in places accessible by those under 19 and advertisements on countertops, hanging from ceilings or on outdoor signs will no longer be allowed.

“We are working to reduce tobacco use across our province and ensuring that British Columbians are protected from the deadly effects of second-hand smoke,” Health Minister George Abbott said in a news release. “Stricter regulations about public and workplace smoking are part of our strategy to reduce the impact of tobacco on our health system and prevent chronic diseases associated with tobacco use.”

Currently about 15 per cent of British Columbians smoke, “and we’re going to try to drive that rate down even more,” Abbott said. Some day tobacco could even be banned, he said.

In September, new legislation banned tobacco use in schools and on school grounds. Next October, all health authorities will also be required to be smoke-free.

The rules were originally expected to come in force early in 2008, but six weeks of consultation in July convinced the government to give retailers and the hospitality interest a small reprieve.

“The retail sector and the hospitality sector were pretty much universal in saying it would be very difficult for them to make the changes that are going to be required by the regulations during their busiest retail season, which is around Christmas,” Abbott said. “So they asked for a modest delay.”

Under the provincial regulations, smoking on patios will still be allowed. However, municipalities could choose to impose stricter rules.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Features include viewing decks, new island

Cheryl Rossi
Van. Courier

While the partial closure of First Avenue to motorists Dec. 3 is bad news for drivers, it’s great news for pedestrians and cyclists who will travel uninterrupted along the seawall for the first time in 18 months.

“We’re not finished the seawall, but we’ve taken it far enough that we can reopen it to the public,” said Jody Andrews, deputy city manager and project manager for Southeast False Creek and the Olympic Village. “We’d now like the public to be able to use that right up until the start of the Games in 2010 and they’ll be able to not only watch us finish the seawall over the coming three months, but then actually over the coming 23 months be able to watch us finish the Olympic Village, as well, from the waterfront.”

Pedestrians and cyclists will cruise along on separated paths that can carry them all the way around Stanley Park and over to Kits and Jericho beach to UBC and the Endowment Lands.

The city has completely rehabilitated the shoreline east of Cambie Bridge to Science World. “The old shoreline was in really rough shape. It was a lot of concrete and asphalt and rebar,” Andrews said.

Heading west from Science World one-third of the shoreline has been replaced with sloped rip-rap–boulders and rocks that have been specially fit together at low tide. “Those spaces in between the rocks are really important in the intertidal marine habitat,” Andrews said. “They create all sorts of very healthy spaces for plants and marine life to grow and flourish… It brings back a lot of vibrancy to the ecosystem.”

Decks with viewing abutments have also been added to this area. The centre of the refurbished area is more urban with massive granite steps leading into the sea. A new pedestrian bridge will be brought in by water at high tide and set in place over an inlet roughly between Columbia and Manitoba before the end of the year.

“The bridge has only one pier support in the centre which means that kayaks, canoes, paddleboats can paddle into the inlet, dock the boats at the granite steps and then just walk right into the development,” Andrews said. “So you can imagine if you’re out for a kayak one day you can paddle into the Southeast False Creek inlet, beach your boat at the granite and walk up and get a coffee, have a little break and then go right back out on the water again.”

Closer to Cambie Bridge, a new intertidal channel and island have been built to reintroduce a marine habitat. The island is shaped like an iceberg with a small top and a large base to provide ample intertidal space between low and high tide. “False Creek used to be almost all intertidal marsh. At low tide, it was all muck and sands and grasses that were exposed and at high tide, it looked like just another part of the ocean,” Andrews said.

Sometime after Dec. 3, the public will be able to reach the island via a spit of cobblestones. “That small thin connection will flood at high tides… It was designed in a way that it doesn’t flood very often, but it does once in a while so it is a bit of a sense of adventure and discovery to go out there,” Andrews said. At low, low tide, the island will appear connected to the mainland.

The city is working on a weir bridge where the wetlands it’s developing to harvest and treat rainwater will flow out, so pedestrians may not be able to access the island right away. The city may also wait until all of the native vegetation including evergreens, Oregon grape and salal shrubs have taken root to open the island to the public. Dead trees were also planted to provide perches for birds to nest.

“A lot of the [flora] we don’t see at all in False Creek and so it is kind of interesting to go down that list and see what we are reintroducing here that used to be here naturally a hundred or plus years ago,” Andrews said.

The section of the seawall between Science World and Cambie Bridge is about 90 per cent complete. Final finishing and landscaping will be done once the grading of the adjacent construction concludes in 2008.

Andrews expects a grand reopening of the seawall in February.

© Vancouver Courier 2007

 

Don Harrison
Province

B.C.’s new birth certificate will not only be larger, bulkier and “Superman- proof,” it’s also supposed to make life a lot harder for identity crooks.

Available as of Jan. 2, the large-format certificate will have 20 new features to foil bad guys seeking to profit by posing as somebody else.

The certificate will not supercede existing documents for British Columbians, Health Minister George Abbott and Solicitor-General John Les said yesterday. But the pair did recommend that people consider getting the new certificate as a way to help prevent identity theft.

The price of the 14-centimetre by 18-cm document will be $27, the current price for a birth certificate.

Abbott, whose ministry oversees B.C.’s Department of Vital Statistics, said current B.C. birth certificates “deploy 1950s-era security features. This new birth certificate will be one of the most high-tech, durable documents in the world.”

Made of strong plastic — “I’ve been trying all morning to rip it apart [without success],” Abbott joked — the security features will include irregular marks which, when held up to the light, form a maple leaf and two transparent windows, one with a window-shifting property and another with three floating maple leaves.

Les added that stolen wallets containing the old, small-format birth certificates are a significant contributor to identity theft.

He couldn’t give any figures on how many birth certificates are actually lost or stolen in B.C. each year.

© The Vancouver Province 2007