It was a perfect day for our final walk of 2024, and sixteen Loopers gathered just outside the Olympic Village Skytrain station at Cambie and West 2nd Ave at 10:30 am. Dave was the leader of this month’s walk, and the route he’d selected took us clockwise around False Creek.

We began with a short climb up a treed berm which runs along the north side of 6th Ave, to a viewpoint-of-sorts overlooking False Creek, where the Laurel Street Landbridge crosses 6th Ave, connecting the Fairview Slopes (whose “neighbourhood vibe,” according to this post from a real-estate company, is “quiet and residential, charming”) to the Charleson Dog Park.

NB: It has become customary to lard these posts with as much educational material as possible—and I hate to disappoint those who look forward to such digressions—so I’ll note here that (Factoid 1:) the Laurel Street Landbridge crosses the route of the old South Shore Line freight railway, which was operated by the B.C. Electric Railway during the 1920s and 1930s; you can see its route on this 1920s streetcar map. According to a post on Reddit (Factoid 2:)

During the 2000s the Downtown Historic Railway ran old streetcars from Science World to Granville Island in the summertime, but construction of the Olympic Village destroyed the tracks east of Cambie Street. The City spent $8,000,000 upgrading the tracks west of Cambie Street for a demonstration streetcar that ran during the 2010 Olympics, but the tracks haven’t been used since 2011, when the City refused to fund the Downtown Historic Railway’s $50,000 budget.

(Incidentally, many of the Factoids which are scattered throughout this blog post will be on the final test—and remember that these test results are what help us to determine whether or not you’ll be promoted next year from Basic Looper to Looper Pro, so it is definitely worth your while to pay close attention. Yes, admittedly, Looper Pro membership dues are slightly higher than those of Basic Looper, but there are—or will be—some excellent perks, details of which are still to be determined.)

We continued our clockwise walk along the False Creek seawall, passing beneath the Cambie Bridge, the Granville Bridge (resisting the temptations of Granville Island, including Lee’s Donuts, which has been “serving handmade, quality, classic donuts since 1979”) and the Burrard Bridge, where we contemplated the mysterious stones and plaques which constitute the Cultural Harmony Grove.

Later, crossing over the Burrard Bridge on its west side, we contemplated the excesses of the Sen̓áḵw development, which will see (Factoids 3 through 5:) 11 new residential towers “ranging from 12 to 58 stories in height” constructed on either side of the bridge’s south end, adding more than 6000 new rental units (“at least 1,200 of the units will be affordable”) to an already densely-populated area (note: these less-than-charitable opinions are those of the author only, and do not necessarily reflect those of other Loopers).

After crossing Burrard Bridge we descended to the seawall once again, to continue our clockwise circuit. Our timing was the slightest bit off, since we just missed (by a mere 15 minutes) the noon performance of (Factoid 6:) the fabulous spinning chandelier sculpture which hangs beneath Granville Bridge. Soon thereafter Looper Fred spotted a circle of stones in George Wainborn Park, and, since the stones were vacant, we stood atop them—since this is the sort of thing that Loopers do. We reached Science World at the head of False Creek just after 1:00, and marvelled at its spherical immensity before carrying on.

The Coffee Crowd opted to take their beverages and treats at Terra Breads, in Olympic Village Square, watched over by Myfanwy Macleod’s fabulous giant house sparrows (which are described—Factoid 7—in great detail here), while the Non-Caffeinated Crowd continued on to Stamp’s Landing for their Afters, at Mahoney’s.

This posting will close with a final selection of educational factoids: (Factoid 8:) Stamp’s Landing takes its name from Captain Edward Stamp, who, during the Crimean War, “was captain of the steam transport Emeu, and succeeded in bringing her undamaged through the great storm off Balaklava in November of [1854], in which 18 ships were lost and 12 others dismasted.” Later, (Factoid 9:) Stamp established the Hastings Mill on Burrard Inlet in 1865, “the first commercial operation around which [grew] the settlement that would become Vancouver”; and finally (Factoid 10:) among the treats available at Terra Breads is their “how can you resist it, and yet we did” Chocolate Hazelnut Cruffin, which I believe was named after General Hazelnut (or was it General Cruffin?), who did not distinguish himself in the Crimean War, but was content to be remembered for the pastry which now bears his name.

And that’s it for another year of Looping! Thanks to Dave for leading this month’s walk, and to all those who contributed photos to this posting (you know who you are: Jon, Fred, Sandy, Julie, Adrienne, Angela R and myself). Thanks to Jon and to Angela R for their fabulous blog postings throughout the year (and additional thanks to Angela R for her care and tending of the blog itself). A special thanks to all of those who led our walks this year: Jon, in January; Carol, in February; Gordon, in March; Dave, in April; Annie and Jan, in May; Diane and Fred, in June; Jean and Michael, in July; Jon, in August; Gordon, in September; Angela R, in October; and Dave, in November. Which is a perfect opportunity for me to remind people that there are still opportunities to lead one of our walks in 2025; see here for the 2025 schedule and sign-up sheet. See everyone in January!

NB: The Looper Factoid Test forms, and the eventual test results, will be sent to you by Canada Post; so please don’t hold your breath.

And as a special Christmas treat, feast your eyes upon this idealized AI-generated version of our Looper selves (yes, WordPress has jumped on the AI bandwagon too), in which (first of all) we are noticeably younger than we think we are, and (second of all) the Loopers appear to have attracted an impressively diversified membership. It is slightly worrying, however, that the house sparrow looks aggressive and threatening—perhaps he’s become deranged by the sight of our “bad plastic surgery” smiles.

The AI prompt was “a group of 16 urban walkers standing beside the giant sparrow sculpture in Vancouver’s Olympic Village Park.” Which proves that, despite its many marvels, AI does have limitations, since it apparently can’t count as high as 16.