Its been said that Kitsilano got the moniker Kitsafornia from its beach and seaside proximity, because of its preponderance of Craftsman-style houses and California bungalows, and because of the areas 1960s counter-culture days when the rest of Vancouver hadnt figured out the area had fabulous real estate and houses were cheap.
But if you ask anyone who came of age in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the name Kitsafornia references Kitsilanos many board shops. Snow, surf or skate(board), if youre looking to put a plank beneath your feet, this neighbourhood is your utopia.
Walk east of Burrard Street along West Fourth Avenue and you cant miss them: Comor, Pacific Boarder, Billabong, Showcase, Quiksilver, Boardroom (plus its clearance outlet) and Sitka, which was among the most recent to join the Kits boardroom barrage though it did bend the rules by setting up shop just west of Burrard at Cypress. (Conspicuously absent to long-standing Vancouverites is WestBeach, one of Kits original board shops; it closed its doors last spring.)
Looking for something specific in the name of snowboarding? Youll find it in Kits. Every big brand name and the best independent ones in the snowboard business get or have gotten front-line retail real estate on this strip, from Burton and Roxy to StepChild and Endeavour.
Snowboarding is, in a word, fun. Any learner who has spent an afternoon on Grouse Mountain sitting on their ass may tell you differently, but once you figure out how to link your turns, a mountain playground or in Vancouvers case, three mountain playgrounds will open up before you. Its good exercise, super social and a fantastic way to get above the rain clouds and into the fresh air all winter long.
But things have changed a lot in the snowboarding world in the last few years, not the least of which has been that skiing has become cool again. A decade ago snowboards were dominating the newest in on-mountain fun: the park. The park is the place you find pipes, rails, jibs, jumps and other fun obstacles or launch pads that earn riders either big air or big injury. Regardless, its big fun, and it was little surprise skiers wanted to play, too. So they started making skis fatter and shorter requisite changes that enabled skiers to get (back) into the game.
The shift got a lot of people back on skis, and even more people talking: if skis can now do everything snowboards can, and skis make traversing (crossing flat areas) and hiking (just like it sounds) so much easier, what will be the future of snowboarding?
Some may say grim, and while last weeks press release from snowboard conglomerate Burton announcing it will exit out of its program snowboard brands Forum, Foursquare and Special Blend after this season is hardly a death knell for the sport, its hardly good news.
But, if you were among the swarms on West 4th for the annual Thanksgiving sale a few weeks ago, snapping up snowboards and snowboard gear (See KATE'S PICKS), youd argue its not going anywhere soon. And with the local mountains and Whistler Blackcomb all gunning for an early start to the season, you might as well as they say go along for the ride.
