Vancouver

Archaeological records indicate that Aboriginal people were already living in the Vancouver area from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.[31][32] The city is located in the traditional and presently unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard) peoples of the Coast Salish group.[33][34][35] They had villages in various parts of present-day Vancouver, such as Stanley Park, False Creek, Kitsilano, Point Grey and near the mouth of the Fraser River.[32] The region where Vancouver is currently located was referred to in contemporary Halkomelem as Lhq’á:lets,[36][37] meaning "wide at the bottom/end".

Europeans became acquainted with the area of the future Vancouver when José María Narváez of Spain explored the coast of present-day Point Grey and parts of Burrard Inlet in 1791—although one author contends that Francis Drake may have visited the area in 1579.[38]

Draft map of villages and landmarks with their Indigenous names, Burrard Inlet and English Bay, by Vancouver archivist J. S. Matthews

The explorer and North West Company trader Simon Fraser and his crew became the first-known Europeans to set foot on the site of the present-day city. In 1808, they travelled from the east down the Fraser River, perhaps as far as Point Grey.[39]

View of Gastown from Carrall and Water Street in 1886. Gastown was a settlement that quickly became a centre for trade and commerce on Burrard Inlet.

The Fraser Gold Rush of 1858 brought over 25,000 men, mainly from California, to nearby New Westminster (founded February 14, 1859) on the Fraser River, on their way to the Fraser Canyon, bypassing what would become Vancouver.[40][41][42] Vancouver is among British Columbia's youngest cities;[43] the first European settlement in what is now Vancouver was not until 1862 at McCleery's Farm on the Fraser River, just east of the ancient village of Musqueam in what is now Marpole. A sawmill established at Moodyville (now the City of North Vancouver) in 1863, began the city's long relationship with logging. It was quickly followed by mills owned by Captain Edward Stamp on the south shore of the inlet. Stamp, who had begun logging in the Port Alberni area, first attempted to run a mill at Brockton Point, but difficult currents and reefs forced the relocation of the operation in 1867 to a point near the foot of Dunlevy Street. This mill, known as the Hastings Mill, became the nucleus around which Vancouver formed. The mill's central role in the city waned after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the 1880s. It nevertheless remained important to the local economy until it closed in the 1920s.[44] The settlement, which came to be called Gastown, grew quickly around the original makeshift tavern established by Gassy Jack in 1867 on the edge of the Hastings Mill property.[43][45]

In 1870, the colonial government surveyed the settlement and laid out a townsite, renamed "Granville" in honour of the then–British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Granville. This site, with its natural harbour, was selected in 1884[46] as the terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway, to the disappointment of Port Moody, New Westminster and Victoria, all of which had vied to be the railhead. A railway was among the inducements for British Columbia to join the Confederation in 1871 but the Pacific Scandal and arguments over the use of Chinese labour delayed construction until the 1880s.[47]

The first Vancouver City Council meeting following the Great Vancouver Fire in 1886

The City of Vancouver was incorporated on April 6, 1886, the same year that the first transcontinental train arrived. CPR president William Van Horne arrived in Port Moody to establish the CPR terminus recommended by Henry John Cambie, and gave the city its name in honour of George Vancouver.[43] The Great Vancouver Fire on June 13, 1886, razed the entire city. The Vancouver Fire Department was established that year and the city quickly rebuilt.[44] Vancouver's population grew from a settlement of 1,000 people in 1881 to over 20,000 by the turn of the century and 100,000 by 1911.[48]

Vancouver merchants outfitted prospectors bound for the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.[40] One of those merchants, Charles Woodward, had opened the first Woodward's store at Abbott and Cordova Streets in 1892 and, along with Spencer's and the Hudson's Bay department stores, formed the core of the city's retail sector for decades.[49]

The economy of early Vancouver was dominated by large companies such as the CPR, which fuelled economic activity and led to the rapid development of the new city;[50] in fact, the CPR was the main real estate owner and housing developer in the city. While some manufacturing did develop, including the establishment of the British Columbia Sugar Refinery by Benjamin Tingley Rogers in 1890,[51] natural resources became the basis for Vancouver's economy. The resource sector was initially based on logging and later on exports moving through the seaport, where commercial traffic constituted the largest economic sector in Vancouver by the 1930s.[52]

Plainclothes RCMP officers attack Relief Camp Workers' Union protesters in 1938. Several protests over unemployment occurred in the city during the Great Depression.

Downtown celebrations at the end of World War II

The dominance of the economy by big business was accompanied by an often militant labour movement. The first major sympathy strike was in 1903 when railway employees struck against the CPR for union recognition. Labour leader Frank Rogers was killed by CPR police while picketing at the docks, becoming the movement's first martyr in British Columbia.[53]^: 39–41 The rise of industrial tensions throughout the province led to Canada's first general strike in 1918, at the Cumberland coal mines on Vancouver Island.[53]^: 71–74 Following a lull in the 1920s, the strike wave peaked in 1935 when unemployed men flooded the city to protest conditions in the relief camps run by the military in remote areas throughout the province.[54][55] After two tense months of daily and disruptive protesting, the relief camp strikers decided to take their grievances to the federal government and embarked on the On-to-Ottawa Trek,[55] but their protest was put down by force. The workers were arrested near Mission and interned in work camps for the duration of the Depression.[56]

Other social movements, such as the first-wave feminist, moral reform, and temperance movements were also instrumental in Vancouver's development. Mary Ellen Smith, a Vancouver suffragist and prohibitionist, became the first woman elected to a provincial legislature in Canada in 1918.[57]^: 172 Alcohol prohibition began in the First World War and lasted until 1921, when the provincial government established control over alcohol sales, a practice still in place today.[57]^{: 187–188} Canada's first drug law came about following an inquiry conducted by the federal minister of Labour and future prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. King was sent to investigate damages claims resulting from a riot when the Asiatic Exclusion League led a rampage through Chinatown and Japantown. Two of the claimants were opium manufacturers, and after further investigation, King found that white women were reportedly frequenting opium dens as well as Chinese men. A federal law banning the manufacture, sale, and importation of opium for non-medicinal purposes was soon passed based on these revelations.[58] These riots, and the formation of the Asiatic Exclusion League, also act as signs of a growing fear and mistrust towards the Japanese living in Vancouver and throughout BC. These fears were exacerbated by the attack on Pearl Harbor leading to the eventual internment or deportation of all Japanese-Canadians living in the city and the province.[59] After the war, these Japanese-Canadian men and women were not allowed to return to cities like Vancouver causing areas, like the aforementioned Japantown, to cease to be ethnically Japanese areas as the communities never revived.[60]

Amalgamation with Point Grey and South Vancouver gave the city its final boundaries not long before it became the third-largest metropolis in the country. As of January 1, 1929, the population of the enlarged Vancouver was 228,193.[61]

The vegetation in the Vancouver area was originally temperate rainforest, consisting of conifers with scattered pockets of maple and alder and large areas of swampland (even in upland areas, due to poor drainage).[67] The conifers were a typical coastal British Columbia mix of Douglas fir, western red cedar and western hemlock.[68] The area is thought to have had the largest trees of these species on the British Columbia Coast. Only in Elliott Bay, Seattle, did the size of trees rival those of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The largest trees in Vancouver's old-growth forest were in the Gastown area, where the first logging occurred and on the southern slopes of False Creek and English Bay, especially around Jericho Beach. The forest in Stanley Park was logged between the 1860s and 1880s and evidence of old-fashioned logging techniques such as springboard notches can still be seen there.[69]

Many plants and trees growing throughout Vancouver and the Lower Mainland were imported from other parts of the continent and from points across the Pacific. Examples include the monkey puzzle tree, the Japanese maple and various flowering exotics, such as magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons. Some species imported from harsher climates in Eastern Canada or Europe have grown to immense sizes. The native Douglas maple can also attain a tremendous size. Many of the city's streets are lined with flowering varieties of Japanese cherry trees donated from the 1930s onward by the government of Japan. These flower for several weeks in early spring each year, an occasion celebrated by the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. Other streets are lined with flowering chestnut, horse chestnut and other decorative shade trees.[70]

Vancouver is one of Canada's warmest cities in the winter. Vancouver's climate is temperate by Canadian standards and is classified as oceanic or marine west coast, (Köppen climate classification Cfb) that borders on a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb). While during summer months the inland temperatures are significantly higher, Vancouver has the coolest summer average high of all major Canadian metropolitan areas. The summer months are typically dry, with an average of only one in five days during July and August receiving precipitation. In contrast, the majority of days from November through March record some type of precipitation.[71]

Vancouver is also one of the wettest Canadian cities. However, precipitation varies throughout the metropolitan area. Annual precipitation as measured at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond averages 1,189 mm (46.8 in), compared with 1,588 mm (62.5 in) in the downtown area and 2,044 mm (80.5 in) in North Vancouver.[72][73] The daily maximum averages 22 °C (72 °F) in July and August, with highs rarely reaching 30 °C (86 °F).[74]

The highest temperature ever recorded at the airport was 34.4 °C (93.9 °F) set on July 30, 2009,[75] and the highest temperature ever recorded within the city of Vancouver was 35.0 °C (95.0 °F) occurring first on July 31, 1965,[76] again on August 8, 1981,[77] and also on May 29, 1983.[78] The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was −17.8 °C (0.0 °F) on January 14, 1950[79] and again on December 29, 1968.[80]

On average, snow falls on nine days per year, with three days receiving 5 cm (2.0 in) or more. Average yearly snowfall is 38.1 cm (15.0 in) but typically does not remain on the ground for long.[74]

Winters in Greater Vancouver are the fourth-mildest of Canadian cities after nearby Victoria, Nanaimo and Duncan, all on Vancouver Island.[81] Vancouver's growing season averages 237 days, from March 18 until November 10.[74] Vancouver's 1981–2010 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone ranges from 8A to 9A depending on elevation and proximity to water.[82]

Aerial view of Downtown Vancouver. Urban development in Vancouver is characterized by a large residential population living in the city centre with mixed-use developments.

As of 2021, Vancouver is the most densely populated city in Canada.[7] Urban planning in Vancouver is characterized by high-rise residential and mixed-use development in urban centres, as an alternative to sprawl.[99] As part of the larger Metro Vancouver region, it is influenced by the policy direction of livability as illustrated in Metro Vancouver's Regional Growth Strategy.

Vancouver has been ranked one of the most livable cities in the world for more than a decade. As of 2019, Vancouver has been ranked as having the third-highest quality of living of any city on Earth.[12] In contrast, according to Forbes, Vancouver had the fourth-most expensive real estate market in the world in 2019.[100] Vancouver has also been ranked among Canada's most expensive cities to live in. Sales in February 2016 were 56.3 percent higher than the 10-year average for the month.[101][102][103] Forbes also ranked Vancouver as the tenth-cleanest city in the world in 2007.[104]

Vancouver's characteristic approach to urban planning originated in the late 1950s, when city planners began to encourage the building of high-rise residential towers in Vancouver's West End,[105] subject to strict requirements for setbacks and open space to protect sight lines and preserve green space. The success of these dense but livable neighbourhoods led to the redevelopment of urban industrial sites, such as North False Creek and Coal Harbour, beginning in the mid-1980s. The result is a compact urban core that has gained international recognition for its "high amenity and 'livable' development".[106] In 2006, the city launched a planning initiative entitled EcoDensity, with the stated goal of exploring ways in which "density, design, and land use can contribute to environmental sustainability, affordability, and livability".[107]

Vancouver skyline from Stanley Park

Robson Square is a civic centre and public square designed by local architect Arthur Erickson.

Waterfront station, Vancouver

The Vancouver Art Gallery is housed downtown in the neoclassical former courthouse built in 1906. The courthouse building was designed by Francis Rattenbury, who also designed the British Columbia Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel in Victoria, and the lavishly decorated second Hotel Vancouver.[108] The 556-room Hotel Vancouver, opened in 1939 and the third by that name, is across the street with its copper roof. The Gothic-style Christ Church Cathedral, across from the hotel, opened in 1894 and was declared a heritage building in 1976.

There are several modern buildings in the downtown area, including the Harbour Centre, the Vancouver Law Courts and surrounding plaza known as Robson Square (designed by Arthur Erickson) and the Vancouver Library Square (designed by Moshe Safdie and DA Architects), reminiscent of the Colosseum in Rome, and the recently completed Woodward's building Redevelopment (designed by Henriquez Partners Architects).

The original BC Hydro headquarters building (designed by Ron Thom and Ned Pratt) at Nelson and Burrard Streets is a modernist high-rise, now converted into the Electra condominia.[109] Also notable is the "concrete waffle" of the MacMillan Bloedel building on the north-east corner of the Georgia and Thurlow intersection.

Completed in 2008, Living Shangri-La is the tallest building in Vancouver.

A prominent addition to the city's landscape is the giant tent-frame Canada Place (designed by Zeidler Roberts Partnership Partnership, MCMP & DA Architects), the former Canada Pavilion from the 1986 World Exposition, which includes part of the Convention Centre, the Pan-Pacific Hotel, and a cruise ship terminal. Two modern buildings that define the southern skyline away from the downtown area are City Hall and the Centennial Pavilion of Vancouver General Hospital, both designed by Townley and Matheson in 1936 and 1958, respectively.[110][111]^{: 160–161}

A collection of Edwardian buildings in the city's old downtown core were, in their day, the tallest commercial buildings in the British Empire. These were, in succession, the Carter-Cotton Building (former home of The Vancouver Province newspaper), the Dominion Building (1907) and the Sun Tower (1911), the former two at Cambie and Hastings Streets and the latter at Beatty and Pender Streets.

The Sun Tower's cupola was finally exceeded as the Empire's tallest commercial building by the elaborate Art Deco Marine Building in the 1920s.[111]^{: 22, 24, 78} The Marine Building is known for its elaborate ceramic tile facings and brass-gilt doors and elevators, which make it a favourite location for movie shoots.[112] Topping the list of tallest buildings in Vancouver is Living Shangri-La at 201 m (659 ft)[113] and 62 storeys. The second-tallest building in Vancouver is the Trump International Hotel and Tower at 188 m (617 ft), followed by the Private Residences at Hotel Georgia, at 156 m (512 ft). The fourth-tallest is One Wall Centre at 150 m (490 ft)[114] and 48 storeys, followed closely by the Shaw Tower at 149 m (489 ft).[114]

Vancouver has been called a "city of neighbourhoods". Each neighbourhood in Vancouver has a distinct character and ethnic mix.[116] People of English, Scottish, and Irish origins were historically the largest ethnic groups in the city,[117] and elements of British society and culture are still visible in some areas, particularly South Granville and Kerrisdale. Germans are the next-largest European ethnic group in Vancouver and were a leading force in the city's society and economy until the rise of anti-German sentiment with the outbreak of World War I in 1914.[15] Today the Chinese are the largest visible ethnic group in Vancouver; the city has a diverse Chinese-speaking community with speakers of several dialects, notably Cantonese and Mandarin.[44][118] Neighbourhoods with distinct ethnic commercial areas include Chinatown, Punjabi Market, Little Italy, Greektown, and (formerly) Japantown.

Since the 1980s, immigration increased substantially, making the city more ethnically and linguistically diverse; 49 percent of Vancouver's residents do not speak English as their first language.[8] Almost 30 percent of the city's inhabitants are of Chinese heritage.[119] In the 1980s, an influx of immigrants from Hong Kong in anticipation of the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China, combined with an increase in immigrants from mainland China and previous immigrants from Taiwan, established in Vancouver one of the highest concentrations of ethnic Chinese residents in North America.[120] This arrival of Asian immigrants continued a tradition of immigration from around the world that had established Vancouver as the second-most popular destination for immigrants in Canada after Toronto.[121] Other significant Asian ethnic groups in Vancouver include South Asians (6.0%), Filipinos (5.9%), Japanese (1.7%), Korean (1.5%), West Asians (1.4%), as well as sizeable communities of Vietnamese, Indonesians, and Cambodians.[9] Despite increases in Latin American immigration to Vancouver in the 1980s and 1990s, recent immigration has been comparatively low, and African immigration has been similarly stagnant (3.6% and 3.3% of total immigrant population, respectively).[122] The black population of Vancouver is small in comparison to other Canadian major cities, making up 0.9 percent of the city. Hogan's Alley, a small area adjacent to Chinatown, just off Main Street at Prior, was once home to a significant black community. The neighbourhood of Strathcona was the core of the city's Jewish community.[123][124] In 1981, less than 7 percent of the population belonged to a visible minority group.[125] By 2016, this proportion had grown to 52 percent.[9]

Prior to the Hong Kong diaspora of the 1990s, the largest non-British ethnic groups in the city were Irish and German, followed by Scandinavian, Italian, Ukrainian and Chinese. From the mid-1950s until the 1980s, many Portuguese immigrants came to Vancouver and the city had the third-largest Portuguese population in Canada in 2001.[126] Eastern Europeans, including Russians, Czechs, Poles, Romanians and Hungarians began immigrating after the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe after World War II.[15] Greek immigration increased in the late 1960s and early '70s, with most settling in the Kitsilano area. Vancouver also has a significant aboriginal community of about 11,000 people.[127]

Vancouver has a large LGBT community,[128] with a recognized gay male enclave focused in the West End neighbourhood of the downtown core, particularly along Davie Street, officially designated as Davie Village,[129] though the gay community is omnipresent throughout West End and Yaletown areas. Vancouver is host to one of the country's largest annual pride parades.[130]

Homelessness is a significant and persistent issue in Vancouver. A 2019 count found that at least 2,223 people in the city were experiencing homelessness, the highest number recorded since counts began in 2005. Of those surveyed, 28 percent reported having no physical shelter. Indigenous people accounted for 39 percent of all respondents. Three-fifths of respondents reported at least two health concerns, and 67 percent reported an addiction to at least one substance.[137]

Vancouver Metropolitan Area in 2018

Along with 20 other municipalities, one electoral area and one treaty First Nation,[160] Vancouver is a member municipality of Metro Vancouver, the regional government whose seat is in Burnaby. While each member of Metro Vancouver has its own separate local governing body, Metro Vancouver oversees common services and planning functions within the area such as providing drinking water; operating sewage and solid waste handling; maintaining regional parks; overseeing air quality, greenhouse gases and ecological health; and providing a strategy for regional growth and land use.

In the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Vancouver is represented by 11 members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). As of June 2022, there are two seats held by the BC Liberal Party,[161] and nine by the BC New Democratic Party.

In the House of Commons of Canada, Vancouver is represented by six members of Parliament. In the 2021 federal election, the Liberals retained three seats (Vancouver Quadra, Vancouver Centre, and Vancouver South) and gained one (Vancouver Granville), while the NDP held on to the two seats (Vancouver East and Vancouver Kingsway) they held at dissolution. The Conservatives were shut out of the city's ridings. Two current Cabinet ministers hail from the city – Vancouver South MP Harjit Sajjan is Minister of International Development, and Vancouver Quadra MP Joyce Murray is Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Mounted officers of the Vancouver Police Department in Stanley Park

Vancouver operates the Vancouver Police Department, with 1,327 sworn members and an operating budget of $316.5 million in 2018.[162][163] Over 19 percent of the city's budget was spent on police protection in 2018.[163]

The Vancouver Police Department's operational divisions include a bicycle squad, a marine squad, and a dog squad. It also has a mounted squad, used primarily to patrol Stanley Park, as well as for crowd control.[164] The police work in conjunction with civilian and volunteer-run Community Police Centres.[165] In 2006, the police department established its own counterterrorism unit. In 2005, a new transit police force, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service (now the Metro Vancouver Transit Police), was established with full police powers.

Before the legalization of marijuana, Vancouver police generally did not arrest people for possessing small amounts of marijuana.[166] In 2000 the Vancouver Police Department established a specialized drug squad, "Growbusters", to carry out an aggressive campaign against the city's estimated 4,000 hydroponic marijuana growing operations (or grow-ops) in residential areas.[167] As with other law enforcement campaigns targeting marijuana this initiative has been sharply criticized.[168]

Hypodermic needles scattered amidst trash on Station Street near Pacific Central Station

As of 2018, Vancouver had the ninth-highest crime rate, dropping 5 spots since 2005, among Canada's 35 census metropolitan areas.[169] However, as with other Canadian cities, the overall crime rate has been falling "dramatically".[170] The rate of firearm related violence dropped from 45.3 per 100,000 in 2006, the highest of any major metropolitan region in Canada at that time, to 16.2 in 2017.[171][172] A series of gang-related incidents in early 2009 escalated into what police have dubbed a gang war. Vancouver plays host to special events such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, the Clinton-Yeltsin Summit, or the Symphony of Fire fireworks show that require significant policing. The 1994 Stanley Cup riot overwhelmed police and injured as many as 200 people.[173] A second riot took place following the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.[174]

To reduce the public health risk from discarded hypodermic needles which are commonly found on the streets of downtown and the adjacent Downtown Eastside, the city runs a continuous collection effort, recovering approximately 1000 needles per day from public spaces.[175][176] According to Vancouver Coastal Health, the regional health authority and a distributor of clean needles to intravenous drug users, there has never been a documented case of disease transmission from an accidental needlestick.[177]

Jericho Beach in Vancouver is the location of the headquarters of 39 Canadian Brigade Group of the Canadian Army.[178] Local primary reserve units include The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own), based at the Seaforth Armoury and the Beatty Street Drill Hall, respectively, and the 15th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery.[179] The Naval Reserve Unit HMCS Discovery is based on Deadman's Island in Stanley Park.[180] RCAF Station Jericho Beach, the first air base in Western Canada, was taken over by the Canadian Army in 1947 when sea planes were replaced by long-range aircraft. Most of the base facilities were transferred to the City of Vancouver in 1969 and the area renamed "Jericho Park".[181]

Prominent theatre companies in Vancouver include the Arts Club Theatre Company on Granville Island, and Bard on the Beach. Smaller companies include Touchstone Theatre, and Studio 58. The Cultch, The Firehall Arts Centre, United Players, Pacific and Metro Theatres, all run continuous theatre seasons. Theatre Under the Stars produces shows in the summer at Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park. Annual festivals that are held in Vancouver include the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in January and the Vancouver Fringe Festival in September.

The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company operated for fifty years, ending in March 2012.[195]

The Scotiabank Dance Centre, a converted bank building on the corner of Davie and Granville, functions as a gathering place and performance venue for Vancouver-based dancers and choreographers. Dances for a Small Stage is a semi-annual dance festival.

The Vancouver International Film Festival, which runs for two weeks each September, shows over 350 films and is one of the larger film festivals in North America. The VIFF Centre venue, the Vancity Theatre, runs independent non-commercial films throughout the rest of the year, as do the Pacific Cinémathèque, and the Rio theatres.

Vancouver has become a major film location,[196] known as Hollywood North, as it has stood in for several U.S. cities. However, it has started to appear as itself in several feature films. Among films set in the city and its surroundings are the 1994 US thriller Intersection, starring Richard Gere and Sharon Stone; the 2007 Canadian ghost thriller They Wait, starring Terry Chen and Jaime King; and the acclaimed Canadian 'mockumentary' Hard Core Logo, and was named the second-best Canadian film of the last 15 years, in a 2001 poll of 200 industry voters, performed by Playback. Genie Award-winning filmmaker Mina Shum has filmed and set several of her internationally released features in Vancouver, including the Sundance-screened Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity (2002).

Many past and current TV shows have been filmed and set in Vancouver. The first Canadian prime time national series to be produced out of Vancouver was Cold Squad[197][198] and its storyline was also physically set in the city. Other series set in or around the city of Vancouver include Continuum, Da Vinci's Inquest, Danger Bay, Edgemont, Godiva's, Intelligence, Motive, Northwood, Primeval: New World, Robson Arms, The Romeo Section, Shattered, The Switch, and These Arms of Mine.

Television shows produced[199] (but not set) in Vancouver (that have been produced by American and Canadian studios alike) include 21 Jump Street, The 100, The 4400, Airwolf, Almost Human, Arrow, Backstrom, Caprica, Cedar Cove, Chesapeake Shores, The Commish, Dark Angel, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Flash, The Good Doctor, Haters Back Off, Hellcats, Intelligence, iZombie, The Killing, The L Word, Life Unexpected, The Man in the High Castle, Once Upon a Time, Psych, Reaper, Riverdale, Rogue, Smallville, Stargate SG-1, Supergirl, Supernatural, The Tomorrow People, The Magicians, Tru Calling, Van Helsing, Witches of East End, and The X-Files.

Science World is an interactive science centre. The building was originally constructed for Expo 86.

Libraries in Vancouver include the Vancouver Public Library with its main branch at Library Square, designed by Moshe Safdie. The central branch contains 1.5 million volumes. Altogether there are twenty-two branches containing 2.25 million volumes.[200] The Vancouver Tool Library is Canada's original tool lending library.

The Vancouver Art Gallery has a permanent collection of nearly 10,000 items and is the home of a significant number of works by Emily Carr.[201] However, little or none of the permanent collection is ever on view. Downtown is also home to the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), which showcases temporary exhibitions by up-and-coming Vancouver artists. The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery with a small collection of contemporary works is part of the University of British Columbia.

In the Kitsilano district are the Vancouver Maritime Museum, the H. R. MacMillan Space Centre, and the Vancouver Museum, the largest civic museum in Canada. The Museum of Anthropology at UBC is a leading museum of Pacific Northwest Coast First Nations culture. A more interactive museum is Science World at the head of False Creek. The city also features a diverse collection of Public Art.

Inukshuk at English Bay. The inuksuk sculpture is one of several pieces of public art on display in Vancouver.

The Vancouver School of conceptual[202] photography (often referred to as photoconceptualism)[203] is a term applied to a grouping of artists from Vancouver who achieved international recognition starting in the 1980s.[202] No formal "school" exists and the grouping remains both informal and often controversial[204] even among the artists themselves, who often resist the term.[204] Artists associated with the term include Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace, Ken Lum, Roy Arden,[203] Stan Douglas and Rodney Graham.[205]

Vancouver has a history of Aboriginal art. Examples of this can be seen at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.[206]

Musical contributions from Vancouver include performers of classical, folk and popular music. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is the professional orchestra based in the city. The Vancouver Opera is a major opera company in the city, and City Opera of Vancouver is the city's professional chamber opera company. The city is home to a number of Canadian composers including Rodney Sharman, Jeffrey Ryan, and Jocelyn Morlock.

The Granville Entertainment District downtown can attract large crowds to the street's many bars and nightclubs.

The city produced a number of notable punk rock bands, including D.O.A. Other early Vancouver punk bands included the Subhumans, the Young Canadians, the Pointed Sticks, and U-J3RK5.[207] When alternative rock became popular in the 1990s, several Vancouver groups rose to prominence, including 54-40, Odds, Moist, the Matthew Good Band, Sons of Freedom and Econoline Crush. Recent successful Vancouver bands include Gob, Marianas Trench, Theory of a Deadman and Stabilo. Today, Vancouver is home to a number of popular independent bands such as The New Pornographers, Japandroids, Destroyer, In Medias Res, Tegan and Sara, and independent labels including Nettwerk and Mint. Vancouver also produced influential metal band Strapping Young Lad and pioneering electro-industrial bands Skinny Puppy, Numb and Front Line Assembly; the latter's Bill Leeb is better known for founding ambient pop super-group Delerium. Other popular musical artists who made their mark from Vancouver include Carly Rae Jepsen, Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Heart, Prism, Trooper, Chilliwack, Payolas, Moev, Images in Vogue, Michael Bublé, Stef Lang and Spirit of the West.[208]

Larger musical performances are usually held at venues such as Rogers Arena, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, BC Place Stadium or the Pacific Coliseum, while smaller acts are held at places such as the Commodore Ballroom, the Orpheum Theatre and the Vogue Theatre. The Vancouver Folk Music Festival and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival showcase music in their respective genres from around the world. Vancouver's Hong Kong Chinese population has produced several Cantopop stars across the Hong Kong entertainment industry. Similarly, various Indo-Canadian artists and actors have a profile in Bollywood or other aspects of India's entertainment industry.

Vancouver has a vibrant nightlife scene, whether it be food and dining, or bars and nightclubs. The Granville Entertainment District has the city's highest concentration of bars and nightclubs with closing times of 3 am, in addition to various after-hours clubs open until late morning on weekends. The street can attract large crowds on weekends and is closed to traffic on such nights. Gastown is also a popular area for nightlife with many upscale restaurants and nightclubs, as well as the Davie Village which is centre to the city's LGBT community.