SunRay is one of the 3 major builders in Builders of the Pacific Coast.. I stopped off at his homestead in N/W Washington yesterday on my way home. He has replaced the white tarp roof that covered his shop with this new log structure. All the poles are from his land, as is the cedar panelling (which is shiplapped — and laid up in the same order in which it came off the tree).
I’m heading south in a few minutes. I stayed about 3 extra days in Vancouver, it’s such a wonderful city. Here are a few discoveries:
• Kintaro Ramen. Japanese soup kitchen on the 700 block of Denman. The place was packed. Great soup on a cold day.
• The 1100 block of Davie is full of little restaurants, a lot like the upper West Side in NYC. I had good Vietnamese soup at Pho Central. I was sitting at a table in the window and a guy came in from the street and said, “I saw you on TV Monday…” The Dish is another cool little restaurant. There’s a Greek restaurant that had a line out in the street.
• Daryl’s Native Arts and Coffee, 945 Davie, has a few really nice First Nations art pieces, good coffee, and the below wooden figure out front with a sign saying “The cigar store Indian ‘Elijah’ has been replaced by this cigar store white man, General Custer. It’s payback time.”
Spirit Wrestler Gallery
Above: Raven and whale bentwood box by Douglas Zilkle at https://www.spiritwrestler.com/
I wandered in to this gallery in Gastown on Sunday and was stunned. I was surrounded by objects of great beauty. This gallery carries museum-quality artwork created by (alive) native people, of 3 cultures: the First Nations of the Pacific Northwest Coast, the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic and the Maori of Aotearoa (New Zealand). I bought a jade crossover pendant made by a young man (Tamaora Walker) of the Te Arawa tribe (one of seven Maori groups of indigenous peoples), and I think I’ll wear it the rest of my life. For me, a place like this, with their focus, is better than museums which tend to overwhelm me.
I had a long conversation with Nigel Reading, one of the owners. When I left, I told him that being around these beautiful objects “…made my heart sing,” like, I said, you know,.the ’60s song “Wild Thing.” He said, “Yeah, wasn’t that the Troggs..?”
I’ve been telling all the Canadians I know to check this gallery out. It’s at 47 Water Street in Gastown.
A great live version:
Lloyd House was the numero uno builder in Builders of the Pacific Coast. Fortuitously I ran in to him 5 minutes after I got to Hornby Island. We went over to see the van he’s converting into a gypsy wagon and sat around the stove (made out of a propane tank) on this cold morning, catching up with each others’ lives. The cover for the circular opening in the stove is a stainless steel saucepan cover, and on the walls around the stove, he’s glued stainless steel sheets to plywood.
Monday night I went to the Top of the Harbour Centre Tower in downtown Vancouver. It has a revolving restaurant with spectacular views of the city and harbor.
Godfrey and I took the ferry out to Salt Spring Island for my slide show there last week (at the Duck Creek Gallery). We had some time to kill, so we used my GPS to track down a guy building a yurt in the woods. On the way there, we got to the this spot looking down on the bay, and the mist blew in and out.
Floor in the Umberto Al Porto Italian Restaurant in the Gastown area of Vancouver (where I had a great meal last night). The building, called The Hudson House was built in 1895.
Vancouver, by the way, is a fabulous town. It’s practically surrounded by water, there’s a range of mountains just to the north. Many of the high-rises are well designed; they seem to sparkle. It’s got that San Francisco “I am beautiful” vibe that gladdens the hearts of both natives and visitors. People are great. Being here is a perfect way to end this trip. I did a TV appearance this morning with Fanny Kiefer on her “Studio Four” morning TV show, and that was my last official act on this 3-week tour. Boy am I relieved.
Detail of bench by Godfrey Stephens at the Duck Creek gallery on Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada. I am not sure of the gallery’s website, but if you are interested in Godfrey’s prolific work, go to https://www.godfreystephens.com/