Give Me SoMa

Until 20 years ago, Vancouver's Main Streetan artery running from Chinatown toward South Vancouvermarked the boundary between the city's smarter West Side and the rough-and-ready section known as East Van. How times have changed. Successive waves of artists, media types and other loft dwellers kicked off a gradual process of gentrification; the day young families started infiltrating its neighborhoods, East Van's journey to respectability was complete. One knock-on effect of this has been the tidying up of Main Street itself. Cafs and galleries have mushroomed there; so have boutiquesparticularly around 21st and Main. Now branded a "fashion district" by local style...