I'm not talking about safe in Coal Harbour, or Yaletown... I'm talking about East Hastings. DTES . "Cracktown", if we want to get politically incorrect...
And trust me, many of us young folk have tested the theory that we can roam freely in these "danger zones". Try google-mapping the following locations:
- The Savoy Pub
- Funky Winkerbeans
- The Astoria
- The Waldorf
- The Patricia Hotel
- 917 Main, most notoriously known as "The Cobalt" (RIP)
^ Not only has the DTES been taken under the party kid's wing, we have made it "kitschy", as it hosts some of the city's most popular nights. Walk on down to Funky Winkerbeans on a Friday night (you got it, just past the adult clothing store and Save On Meats), and I guarantee it will be brimming with carefully dressed, eclectic people, mashed up with some of the city's most rough-around the edges citizens.
This is where I'm going to start getting "hated on":
It has become part of Hipster Culture to bask in the glory of deeming these "dive bars" as our own. I choose the term "our", loosely. I choose to go to these places, as do many of my friends. I believe we should all peacefully coexist - but, is that what we're doing?
Hipster Culture thrives on irony. Take a look in your neighborhood American Apparel - there you will see, that the "mom bum" is no longer something a young girl takes as an insult. People WANT that mom bum, and pay good money for it. Camel Toe? Same thing.
The roundabout thing I'm trying to get to here, is... Are we losing respect for this very special part of our city? If "ironic" is cool, does that mean that we are hanging out in some dangerous areas, just to be awesome? Do we all gather in these places, and think it's hilarious we're in the same bar as lonely, middle-aged alcoholics and drug addicts? The DTES is deemed the "poorest postal code in the country" - a community in its own, that an addict, in particular, can call home. There are not many places in the world you can walk down the street and see people shooting up in such masses, but also see so many safe-houses and touchpoints for people to reach out for help.
I think it is time that we take a look at ourselves, and question the morality of our choices. In an age that we all choose to be different, maybe it's time we dig deeper and question WHY we do the things we do. Ask yourself, do I respect the people around me? Do we want to make this community a better place, OR, are we perverse in the sense that we're subconsciously "making fun", and raiding, this part of the city?
I've been mulling over this since last night, after getting mugged walking to a bar on Pender and Abbott. Heels on, all fancied up, I fearlessly strutted down the street... Until I felt a pull, then a yank, then the pavement, as I was dragged down the street by a man trying to steal my purse.
I wouldn't let go, and eventually, this man ran into the night, towards Hastings. I felt hurt and betrayed by this man, as I felt like I had been defending people in his situation fiercely ever since I moved to Vancouver.
But then, I remembered: I was in HIS neighborhood, and naively taking for granted that my friends and I were in a much better situation than he was. My fearlessness was ignorance. This part of the city is not entirely safe, and homeless people have to survive, somehow. I felt tremendous guilt, as I thought of all the well-dressed kids running rampant in the streets, stomping all over the DTES like it was a playground. I thought of all the people in bar line-ups scrunching their nose, when a "neighborhood resident" would come and ask for change.
It's time we question the price we're paying for novelty. Are we losing touch with humanity?
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