After many days of Winterly Wet-Coast Weather, meaning gloomy rainfall, we are finally we are rewarded with some clear skies. How different everything looks. All of a sudden the bike-ride becomes more than just getting from A to B. One tends to notice how lovely the neighborhood has become. Perfect time for some pictures!
Hometown Flair with some Extra Flair
The place I’m riding through is nothing particularly famous. It’s called Fernwood, a neighborhood of Victoria, BC where my friend Ryan lives, who owns the bike-shop I’m volunteering at. It’s fairly quiet, residential, and mostly overlooked by outsiders. Up until now I haven’t payed too much attention to it either. Today, however, I noticed something: people here have little library boxes in their front yards! I’ve seen these types of leave-a-book-take-a-book stations at bus-stops or outside community centers. But outside private homes? In Fernwood, precisely on Chamber st. and Stelly St. there are two almost on the same block! So I took a little excursion through the neighborhood to find some more. I did find them, and many other cool looking things.
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Painted Poles
The old telephone / electric poles are mostly painted, at least their bottom parts that people can see and reach. Some of these are just fancy colors, others are skillfully designed by talented artists. Some are graffiti-like, others stenciled art, still others were painted by people with less aptitude, though lots of dedication. Some are also obvious kids’ drawings, such as the one with the many fruits, by Jocelyn and Phil.
Wall Paintings Everywhere You Look
Fernwood has also its share of murals and cool graffiti. On the corner of Fernwood Rd. and Walnut St. there is an auto repair shop with a nice mural of an old-time service station. It features a lady in a hat, wearing the fashionable clothes of what seems to be the first decades of the 20th century, and cars from the 1930’s.
There is also an old gas-pump, selling a gallon for 15 cents. Behind the shop the garage door has this amazing graffiti painted on it. This may easily be my favorite non-descriptive wall painting I have seen lately.
"Downtown" Fernwood
On the corner of Fernwood Rd. and Gladstone Ave. is the picturesque Fernwood Square. On this lovely corner you can find the very European looking Fernwood Inn, across from which is a cozy café, the Fernwood Coffee Company.
Next door, and across the street are not one but TWO theaters! The Theatre Inconnu and the very spectacular looking Belfry Theatre, which at one point must have been a church. On the same square one can find hip tattoo parlors, stylish hair salons, tasty-looking pizzerias, mystical new-age stores, and of course more outdoor library boxes. These ones seem to be pretty well-stocked as well!
A Result of Gentrification
From what Ryan told me, and also his wife Cordelia, who grew up in this area, until recently this neighborhood used to be quite run-down and even a bit dangerous. The Fernwood Inn, which in Europe would most likely have a tradition of several centuries, was a laundromat just a couple of decades ago, and where the Fernwood Coffee Company is, there used to be a boarded-up corner with nothing behind it. Being not too far (though not to close either) from downtown Victoria, gentrification took its turn, and low-income slums became homes for middle-class hipster families. This can be seen on the entire style of the place. Houses have been lovingly renovated, just like Fernwood Square, but quirky artistic expression rules, as it is evident on the numerous painted facades.
Pretty Place to Live, Lovely for a Visit
Appropriately, the neighborhood has also lots of little garden-plots, not only hidden behind homes, but proudly displayed in front yards. Local, organic veggie shops dominate over supermarket-chains (though the Hillside Shopping Center is only five minutes by bike). There is also what seems to be a community garden, called the Spring Ridge Commons. Most interestingly, the Fernwood Community Center is also the venue for the weekly bike-polo events, about which I’m still hoping to write… soon! As for the neighborhood, I highly recommend a visit if you're in Victoria, preferably in sunny weather. It's almost walking distance from downtown, and most certainly biking distance.
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