Ryan Sold It

Formerly one of Vancouver's roughest neighbourhoods, South Main - or SoMa, as the hippest locals call this area around Main Street and Broadway - has become a funky hangout for Vancouverites who like to take in a Bohemian art gallery after their weekend brunch at a streetside cafe.

Regarded as a bold and adventurous place to move in the 1980s, SoMa's gradual gentrification has seen the price of the average artist loft skyrocket in recent years. Less-salubrious businesses are gradually falling away, to be replaced by the revitalizing emergence of artist-run galleries, quirky coffee shops, one-of-a-kind bars and a wide range of ethnic eateries.

With the migration of young, creative professionals bolstering the area's population, City planners are working to introduce a new library, community centre and parkland developments to the region's 'newest old neighbourhood.'

Strathcona is one of this city's earliest neighbourhoods. It grew out of the collection of shacks and small buildings that surrounded the Hastings Mill site.

Stretching from Hastings Street to Great Northern Way and from Main Street to Clark Drive, Strathcona is a unique mix of people, history, land use and architecture. It is a neighbourhood of houses, apartment buildings and rooming houses where neighbours walk to the corner store, do tai chi in the parks or stroll in the community garden.

Strathcona is a community that has managed to survive, and thrive, despite constant pressure for change. Today it features beautifully restored row houses, overflowing flower gardens, and welcoming front porches.