A nondescript yellow building at East 7th off Main is divided into three mixed-use units — Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Studios, Make and Main Street Brewing. And inside, largely invisible to passersby, gathers a perfect cross section of Main Street.
So WE Vancouver writer Kelsey Klassen asked the building's occupants (Graeme Berglund, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Shawn Hunt, Andrew Oliver, Sarah Tesla, Nigel Pike and Cameron Forsyth) to sit down with us one sunny afternoon in March to discuss the growth and changes they've experienced in the area in a wide-ranging round table.
Here is the transcript of the conversation:
Klassen: Do you come into each other's spaces often?
Berglund: Not as much as I thought we would. Everyone is pretty heads down. Like, these guys [Make] work like crazy.
Paul: Just banter.
Berglund: Yeah, mainly on the sidewalk. They have events over here once in a while.
Klassen: I can't stop looking at the ceiling…
Berglund: It's amazing here. We're very, very lucky to be in this space.
Klassen: How long have you been in your studio?
Berglund: A year and eight months, I think.
Tesla: Since August… 2012. We all moved in within a few months of each other.
Klassen: What was this building before?
Berglund: My grandmother remembers coming here when she was five years old to get their family car repaired. It was an auto shop for the majority of it. You can still see remnants of the old traditional red, white and blue paint on the back there. The real blessing is that they didn't actually paint everything white, as they tend to do. They just, kind of, left the rustic feel.
Klassen: What were you doing earlier today?
Hunt: What was I doing… Staring at a blank canvas. Lawrence was staring at the computer. Graeme was actually working.
Klassen: I think staring is working...
Hunt: It is.
Berglund: We [he and Oliver] started building a sculpture today out of wet newspaper that's been soaking since November.
Klassen: Old WestEnders?
Berglund: Ha. Mainly Georgia Straights, to be honest.
Oliver: Some just a few hours.
Berglund: Right. The stuff that's been soaking for a long time just turns into pulp. You can almost bind it like clay and so it's a seven-foot-tall man that's got a full iron skeleton to support the weight of it. And he's essentially fishing through a hole in his chest. It's pretty deep.
Klassen: Where is it going?
Berglund: I don't know. I'm going to do a solo show this year so it might end up in that. I've got a bunch of different pieces in progress right now.
[Main Street Brewing joins the conversation]
Klassen: What is your connection to Main? Why did you choose to work here?
Tesla: I wanted to connected to a community, and having a business in downtown Vancouver felt like I would be distancing myself from that. I've been a resident of this neighbourhood for almost 10 years. I'd seen it evolve over time and it felt like this would be a great place to stay connected and grow the business. Also, I think, to offer the clients that we work with a completely different experience then they are used to.
Klassen: Has that been true?
Telsa: Definitely. I would say nine times out of 10 people show up and are really pleased by not having to deal the the stress and parking and hecticness of downtown and that vibe of money and business, blah blah blah. Here, it's a breath of fresh air. They're surrounded by a really eclectic community.
Klassen: So [Make] sees clients here, but completely opposite to that, [LPY] is just here to create. Why did you want to have your studio here?
Paul: My ancestors are from here. So I'm not really changing that much of what my ancestors have done. This is Salish territory.
Hunt: And, Yuxweluptun, you've been here…?
Paul: Seventeen years in the area.
Klassen: What kind of changes have you seen in that time?
Paul: Just more human beings, and more development. More bars. More beards.
Klassen: Beers or beards?
Everyone: [Laughs] Beards.
Paul: More hipsters.
Klassen: Are the hipsters and the beers and beards a good thing?
Paul: Sometimes it looks like Middle Earth. [everyone laughs]
Berglund: He's also the oldest hipster on Earth.
Tesla: Honestly, though, do you guys think that Main Street is the Hipster epicentre of Vancouver right now? I personally don't think so.
Pike: I don't think so either.
Berglund: I think five years ago it certainly was, but Strathcona-Chinatown… they're just getting kind of scattered and dispersed.
Klassen: Are they moving out because something else is moving in?
Berglund: Really wealthy white people. This is the third most expensive neighbourhood in Vancouver now, and lease rates have skyrocketed. A lot of those, what do you call them, renovictions? That's really displaced a lot of people. It's sent them into areas they can afford, and Main Street is no longer the place for that demographic anymore. So there's been a huge demographic shift just in the last two years alone. It's been pretty dramatic.
Klassen: You guys are the top of your game and not being displaced as fast as others. Why do you care about that happening?
Hunt: I'm probably one of the displacers. I just moved here like, a year and eight months ago.
Klassen: From where?
Hunt: Sunshine Coast.
Paul: Middle Earth.
Hunt: The Shire.
Pike: [laughs] It truly is the Shire, isn't it.
Hunt: So I'm one of those new people moving in.
Klassen: Do you think the "wealthy white people" moving in will be good for you?
Pike: It doesn't hurt our businesses obviously, being on the restaurant side of it. But again, you know, who's to say those people will stay in this neighbourhood to eat, drink, socialize, whatever? Vancouver isn't a big city, so people tend to go where their friends are. It's becoming, definitely, a unique environment to bring other people into. I think people [on Main] are proud of where they live.
Forsyth: What I like about Main Street is there is that community feel to it. You can walk down the street and run into people that you know. It's kind of like a Seinfeld episode sometimes.
Pike: It doesn't feel like Yaletown.
Berglund: I don't think that, with this demographic shift, it's taken away from the sense of community here.
Everyone: No.
Berglund: Everyone kind of lives within a few blocks of one another. I've met a lot of great people, some of these "wealthy white people", who are awesome individuals. And I would expect with this new influx of people that moved in there will be that sense of patina over the next couple of years. Of people really getting to know one another and building new relationships. Getting to know the shop owners.
Forsyth: And I think it's these "wealthy white people" might be former artists, in a sense. A lot of people in this neighbourhood have artistic backgrounds, whether its theatre, film, music, canvas.
Pike: They just happen to be in the right place at the right time.
Forsyth: Whether they've come from Kitsilano or Commercial Drive, this seems to be where a lot of people with a connection to their artistic sides are. You can still probably get a place over on commercial drive for much cheaper than you can on Main Street, but they go ,"You know what? It's time for me to upgrade a little bit. To the area where I feel comfortable with the roots, and the community and be part of what I think is a pretty cool thing."
Berglund: One interesting point that you were bringing up in the sense of crossing the threshold is, creative people that are living in the community now are those people that were kind of able to survive.
Tesla: Exactly.
Berglund: It's a strong testament to that. I mean, this amazing creative agency here [Make] …we've lost a lot of really amazingly talented artists and a lot of great spaces, but there's a new sense of affluence here and it's very much reflected in the arts community.
Berglund: You know, you've got the Flats. You've got all these top-tier galleries that have moved into the neighbourhood. Macaulay just down the street, which represents both Shawn and Lawrence. So it's kind of like those people that have dug deep, worked hard and survived that are still here.
Forsyth: Or coming back.
Tesla: We're not here in isolation. It just so happens that we're all kind of business owners. I think we're here for a reason and we're all relatively similar in age, we've grown at our own pace to get to the level we are at in the businesses. And we're all reciprocating back to our community and it's just, kind of, fostering the next cycle, who are maybe just fresh out of art school and of course you can't afford a lease on Main Street, but you can still have connections and outlets and things that are happening that we're helping to facilitate, I hope.
Klassen: Is there a need to live where you work? Are you all looking to buy places on Main Street?
Berglund: I think for me, I'm not going to be buying a home any time soon but would love to be in a position to do that. I think it's really, kind of, seeing what comes this way. I think we've seen the second wave of change on Main Street and I don't know when that third wave is going to hit, but they're doing all those massive tear downs and rebuilds on northern Main, towards 2nd. For right now, I appreciate feeling a sense of history. I met Sarah [Tesla] through events like, 10 years ago; I've been eating at Nigel [Pike's] restaurants for a decade; this guy [Paul] has been bugging me for seven, eight years now. [everyone laughs]
Klassen: How did you three meet?
Paul: I had a studio; he [Hunt] was in Middle Earth.
Hunt: I've lived in Vancouver a few different times and definitely liked this area best, but I moved here for Lawrence and partly for Graeme, too. I needed a studio and I needed to get out of the Shire.
Paul: I went to go see his studio and it was from here to the wall [gesturing to a very narrow margin]. He was trying to look back on a painting [mimes to everyone's amusement]… it was completely absurd. I had a place on 5th and I'd had a live/work studio, but bought into this complex here, which I call District 9 — it's like that sometimes. And then we had the option of leasing the space out here so, when I heard that they were starting to interview people to lease, I said, "Well, since I've bought into this place I should have first dibs on getting a space." So then I negotiate to have this space next door. And Graeme, he needed a space. Shawn, he needed a space. And I was just going to be working there anyway; it's quite a big space. And then going from a live/work space, which is completely different — isolated — to a place where I just walk to work… the "traffic" through the alleyway is pretty brutal on foot.
Klassen: Was this building always intended for creative and commercial purposes?
Pike: No, I think originally it was all artist studios. When we first looked at it, it was supposed to be demarked as literally 10 artist studios.
Tesla: Yeah, there's a covenant on the building. Amacon, when they started building on the property, had to preserve this. And, of course, with the City, discussing or being forced to discuss a lot about artists losing spaces and how they need to afford to do their work, they put a covenant on this space. Lawrence and my space are actually zoned as creative spaces, which is why Make has such a strong mandate towards the arts. We facilitate that as much as possible along with the business side that we do. And of course Main Street Brewing has different zoning for their space, so there's this really nice balance.
Pike: [Amacon] managed to negotiate with the City for 50 per cent of the space to become "other".
Berglund: It was pretty contentious for a while there.
Pike: Yeah.
Berglund: A lot of people were upset.
Klassen: About losing half of the artist portion?
Berglund: Yeah. But, I mean, I look at what Nigel is doing and, to me, that's part of culture. I think this building ultimately gets a gold star for successfully implementing a policy of designating space. It's really unique what we've got going on here. You're almost there Nigel.
Pike: Yeah. [Laughs] Almost there. [They're hoping to open their doors in May of this year.] I think you've got to look at the creative arts — as a craft brewery, we're still creative. It's not necessarily pen and paper, but there is a creative element to it, you know?
Klassen: The Mayor's Arts Awards has a category for culinary arts.
Pike: Exactly.
Paul: It's nice to have a place to bring my clients.
Pike: Exactly!
Klassen: So is this building maybe a successful model that could be implemented in other neighbourhoods?
Paul: We don't have enough of them. I think there's been far too much loss of studio space for the artists in Vancouver. You have a high proportion of graduate students coming out of Emily Carr, as an example, and the city doesn't really accommodate that. It's a tight go sometimes for starting out. They teach you all the skills, as an artist, but they don't teach you life skills.
Oliver: I'm like an example of that. I'm just finished up at Emily Carr.
Klassen: Is it supposed to be easy though?
Oliver: Once you get out? It would be really nice, but everyone sitting here has put in that leg work, so for me, assisting Graeme… it's just really inspiring to be around people who hustle. And really persevere despite the [financial] increase in the neighbourhood. This space is a testament to the necessity of this model.
Tesla: It sort of feels like it's so uniquely Main Street, though. I'm trying to imagine it in Kits; I'm trying to imagine it Yaletown.
Hunt: It would be a totally different vibe.
Tesla: It's the people… this perfect storm of all of us that have known each other for 10 years and helped to build it up.
Hunt: As somebody that's new to this area, I can definitely see a sense of family amongst the people here. It seems like everybody knows each other, and I'm starting to get to know people. Like I said, I've lived in False Creek, I've lived in Kits. I was basically here to go to school and stuff, so I moved a lot. And never felt a sense of community in any of those other places. And spent longer, in those places, to, than I have here. These guys, being able to introduce me to people, and the community as well, it's an incredible feeling. I was in a totally isolated place, so coming to an area where there is that sense of community, and also an art community?? I've never been part of an art community before… I've always just sort of been an outsider. You know, guys putting lift kits in their pickup trucks… And then I moved here and there's other people that are like minded all in the same area.
Paul: Yep. There's Western Front, there's the Grunt.
Hunt: There's a lot of galleries within walking distance of this building.
Tesla: I would say that the statement of truth here is that we're all committed to this community being a creative community. So, regardless of our business… if it's craft brewing, you have art in your restaurants and you're connected to that community through the people that work in your restaurants. Make similarly has our own ways of having launch parties and showing artists. And then you guys [LPY] are making the art in the finest sense and giving back in your own way through the Cheaper Show and making sure that people are coming out and supporting you and learning about what's going on. It's this reverberating effect.
What kind of decisions has the City made that have been bang on, and which have missed the mark?
Berglund: Geez, do we have two hours?
Forsyth: This is a perfect example. The second anyone walks into any of our spaces, they look at the building itself as a piece of art first.
Pike: I know, it's awesome. I love that place.
Berglund: Everyone congregates a couple of times a day.
Berglund: But you also want to fight for people like Michelle from Antisocial. I want her to be here seven, eight years from now. Because that's a staple of this neighbourhood. It's been pretty tough to see some of those classic places go like Monsoon.
Pike: My first experience of Vancouver was Monsoon. And, actually, that — Monsoon — made me fall in love with Main Street.
Tesla: And Soma.
Pike: Soma and Monsoon. Just placed to hang out.
Tesla: Pre-Gene.
What's your projection for the next 10 years?
Berglund: I feel pretty uneasy about it, to be honest. This whole city is a developers game. And it's Mother Nature's fault. This is one of the most beautiful places you could possibly live in on the planet. Plain and simple, rent's going up and nothing is really going to stop that. What does the future population look like for Vancouver? It's probably going to be a lot of really wealthy people. That's certainly not my background, or who I've been hanging with for the last 20 years of my life. I've spent a lot of time with artists from lower to middle class families. In the face of such extreme affluence… you take a look at New York, for example, and it's hard to find those pockets of artists living in Manhattan now. People are getting chased out of Brooklyn. And now Queens is starting to look 'nice' to developers.
Paul: This is all comprehensive land claims. Salish. You come from looking at Musqueam, Capilano, Squamish, it's all Salish territory. So in terms of settling land claims I don't if we'll ever see it. I think people have to be reminded that if we're going to share the land, share the land. It's all part of what this colonial dream is.
Telsa: I think nothing lasts forever. I think what we've got is pretty special and we're all going to do our best over the foreseeable future to continue to grow it as best we can. But there's always a changing of the guard and they're going to have their own idea of what this neighbourhood could be or should be. What we've got right now will never exist again, as far as I'm concerned. I'm just going to enjoy it for the time being.
Berglund: I think the only thing you can do is exactly what you're saying. Be active. Go to the restaurant. Go to the art show.
Paul: Idle no more. [chuckles]
Berglund: Businesses that are struggling right now need support.
Forsyth: You talk about Michelle and right away it's by name. My thought about 10 years from now… I think it's pretty cool that we're the people that are going to shape the neighbourhood. And so from that perspective I feel good about the next 10 years. I understand there's a whole bunch of other things that are going to come in, but we're just a very small focus group of Main Street. I know a lot of people who feel the exact same way as what we just talking about.
Pike: We're going to add density to this neighbourhood. It's coming; we know it's coming. Unfortunately the density helps the businesses. Because it puts feet on the ground. It's a vicious triangle and you don't want it to grow too big, but for all the independent stores and stuff, they have to have people on the street. I think we now have, like, 100 staff that all rely on these businesses. They all live in the neighbourhood. They shop in the neighbourhood. So everything is integral. It's a little ecosystem.
Klassen: And what's coming up in the near future for everyone?
Tesla: I feel like our team here is really invested in our community outreach. So we're hosting the Sad Magazine launch and over the next coming months we're going to have a bunch of different types of art shows. Collaborations with different non-profit organizations. So just ensuring that we're getting the word out there that people can come and get involved and be exposed to some really great work and talk to people.
Oliver: I have to say pay attention to the people at Emily Carr — the Emily Carr grad show coming up. Checking out the people that are emerging.
Forsyth: We're really focused on just getting open. It's been a long time coming. We originally had signs on the door saying we'd be open in Spring 2013. [laughs] We're excited about the way that the beer scene is emerging in the city. There's tons of new breweries opening. We're really close to having the actual brewhouse ready. We're hoping in the next two weeks to start actually making beer in there.
Paul: We can volunteer our services.
Forsyth: We don't need help drinking, we need help cleaning. [laughs]
Hunt: I think I'm most excited, and I think I can speak for these guys too, about my solo show? Which is.. I'm just kidding [everyone laughs] I'm really excited about the Flats and the gallery scene down there. The fact that Emily Carr is moving there. The influx of other artists. I'm excited that I moved to this area only to find that all the art scene is here and more moving here. The gallery that reps me is on 2nd, I live on 5th and the studio is on 7th and Gene is on 8th.
Berglund: Pretty similar for me. Solo show this year. Releasing my first album in 10 years. And taking off to Croatia for the summer. So that's it for me. And then Shawn's big solo show...
Hunt: Yeah, my solo show. May 27. [laughs]
Paul: I'll just keep making art. Watching the world , keeping an eye on it. You gotta watch the 1%. Give them an inch, they'll take a whole mountain and put a pipeline through it. So... I'm looking forward to my solo show.
