Victory Square

They really need to do something about cleaning this park with all the drug addicts. It’s getting too much these days.

As name suggests, it’s packed with lots of historical significance. One of which, when this used to be the courthouse back in the early 1900s, this was where men signed up for World War I. That’s enough history on a Saturday morning lol.
But I have used the washrooms on the west side of the park, does go underground so not recommended at night, even with the security there. It’s not as bad as it sounds, nor is it sparkling clean but it does the job ;) Only 1-​way parking on this side if you’re turning right from Hastings.

Most of the time this place is pretty sketchy, but the rare times it isn’t it is nice.

This is the place to be on Nov.11, @ 11am. paying our respects to those that believed in freedom. This park can be enjoyable in the warmer days of spring summer & fall as a downtown park for lunch or smelling the air of fresh home grown.

Pseudo-​hippie, rock lovin’ teens laying on the dirty grass trying to look cool – cops asking them what is in their rucksacks but not searching them because they can’t. Hipsters trying not to look frightened, while in the midst of trying to acquire some street cred sitting on the bench with their $ 200 tees. Interesting and perplexed (presumably) homeless folk who will walk around you but will not bother you in the slightest – the ones who aren’t homeless bother you more oddly enough.
Pill bottles scattered on the lawn. I dare not check what they are for.
People staring, what is this young girl in the skirt aimlessly walking around for – I was actually in a conundrum trying to figure out the squabbles of life, and Victory Square is a good place to find solutions.
Newspapers blowing in the wind. Nostalgia. Like a scene out of a movie. In the background a man sits with his bike watching the world go by. In the foreground? A woman smokes a cigar.
This place is fascinatingly simple. You will see all walks of life, and ponder how they got to where they are now. The answer? You, my friend, have had a few more (luckier) breaks in life.
«Is It Nothing to You,» is scripted on the monument which triumphs over the park. Reflect on this.
Come, sit, and muse about your place in life. People will only bother you if you let them.

Weirdest location. Maybe back in the day people were found moving about this area and Vancouver was a much different place, this was a central area to put a war memorial park. It hasn’t been such a place in my lifetime and I can actually remember Woodward’s.
I like the fact they cleaned up the park, but it’s mainly skid row types who hang here. It’s been creepy ever since I was a kid. Only time it’s fine to go there is Nov. 11.
The park itself is cool with the WWI helmeted light standards and its layout on a slope is also nice. Problem is for a park that is supposed to honor the war dead wouldn’t it be better to have it somewhere where families could safely take their kids? Not that they can move the thing but it’s a shame it’s in such a crappy part of town.

On a sunny day this is a great place to be. You’ll see many napping in the grass with the sun warming their face, others who sit on the benches for hours reading or talking to the person next to them. It’s a welcoming park that gets a lot of use.
On a cloudier day, I see it more for what it is. A memorial. On Remembrance Day it’s a crowded, but good, place to be. I’m a big fan of parks within the city, and this one to be enjoyed.

Victory Square is not a place I pass easily. The cenotaph, its most recognizable feature, has an arresting inscription: Is It Nothing to You. With the knowledge that the square was dedicated as a monument to WW1 veterans, and is today the site of Vancouver’s biggest Remembrance Day ceremonies, I can never walk by, or sit in the park, without thinking about why it’s there in the first place.
And on a nice day, it is a pretty park to sit in and eat lunch or just hang out and people watch. It used to be kind of a dangerous spot with lots of dark corners, but a major renovation a few years ago really cleaned things up. Groups of guys still congregate over shopping carts and blankets and bicycles, but they’re mostly harmless, and often quite friendly.
Victory Square also has public washrooms, one of the few in the downtown core that aren’t in a mall or hotel. Vancouver just really lacks in public toilets — the only public toilets in the entire transit system are in the SeaBus terminals! Anyhoo, going to the loo in Victory Square’s subterranean toilets may seem like a dodgy idea, but they’re clean and supervised by attendants 24 hours a day. Not the kind who’ll hand you a towel, but the kind who keeps the peace.