Author Susin Nielsen had no idea that Canadians had the option of living in a place as beautiful as Kitsilano until she and her husband visited the area in the early 1990s.
"We travelled out here from Ontario and we spent a few days in Vancouver. We will never forget walking around Kits Point and looking at the houses and thinking, 'People actually live here and make lives here in this paradise, and we can do that if we want to, too,'" she said during a recent phone interview.
At the time, Nielsen was enjoying a thriving career as a television writer (her credits included Degrassi High and Ready or Not), but the call of paradise was too strong to ignore.
Together with her academic husband, she cast aside her busy Toronto life in search of year-round paradise in Kitsilano.
Today, the author — who won the 2012 Governor General's Literary Award for The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen — still sees paradise in Kitsilano's borders.
"What I love about living here is that I have all of the beautiful nature at my fingertips — the beach and the endowment lands — and yet at the same time, I'm a hop, skip and a jump from West Broadway," said Nielsen, who co-created the critically acclaimed television series Robson Arms.
Her love of Kitsilano extends to her books. In Word Nerd (the award-winning young adult novel recently optioned by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Terri Tatchell), the events unfold in Kitsilano.
"I can see my characters wandering through the neighbourhood," said Nielsen.
Nielsen buys her produce from Young Brothers, dines at Zest ("I think their sushi chef is as good as Tojo") and La Quercia, peruses the titles at Kidsbooks, purchases her Macedonian feta cheese and olives from Parthenon, and runs and bikes on one true love Jericho Beach.
"And I'm at most a 10-minute drive from downtown", she said. "What could be better? I can't imagine ever leaving this neighbourhood."
