Just got back from a week long stay in Vancouver. House / neighborhood hunting went very well. Both my wife and I fell in love with North Vancouver, specifically the Lonsdale area. The closeness to small shops and restaurants really appealed to us and felt very familiar to some places we've lived here in California. So unless our realtor can show us other places like this one, we'll probably focus in on this neighborhood. Anyone know about the quality of elem. schools in this area? Anyone have any other feedback good or bad?

 

North Van is an excellent place to live.... I've got a whole bunch of old college friends that live there now.... Sorta expensive, but it beats E. Hastings thats for sure!!!!!
I'll e-mail Kyle and see what he thinks of the local schools that his children go to....

 

That's excellent, thanks for the help. Yeah it wasn't cheap but after looking at several other areas, this is the only one my wife and I felt very strongly about. Don't get me wrong all of the other areas we visited were very nice too, but Upper and Central Lonsdale just felt like home from the moment we got there.

 

Just got off the "horn" with Kyle.....
His children (7 and 11) attend NorthVan elementary.... He says its an ok school, put the kids there already smoke pot in 5th grade!!! So he's going to send them to private school next year....
Where in N. Van were you house shopping??? As you've seen... the higher up the hill you go, the more the property values go up...
Let me know when your established there, as Kyle (owns a G35C) would love to show you around.... A very good friend of mine, and a hell of a nice guy too
Regards,
Louis

 

We'll be looking to stay within walking distance to the Lonsdale shops, either in upper or central Lonsdale. And we did notice the price jump as you went up the street I appreciate the offer to meet up, might just take your buddy Kyle up on it. I'll be there again around the middle of the month and again at the end so I might have some time to check things out again. After that it will be Jan 15th. Hopefully the company has corporate housing in that area as living there before buying would be great. Thanks again.

 

Haha I said North Van was the place to look. Sometimes a little commute is more than worth it. My parents live in the Upper Lonsdale area (I used to live there too) and it is a very nice area. My little brother goes to Carisbrook elementary school (it's in the upper lonsdale area) and from what I hear it is a good school. Its true the farther up you go the nicer the area. I would say to only look at places above the highway and preferably north of the 29th and Lonsdale area.

ps I would also definately look into the Edgemont area if it fits into your price range.

 

Thanks for the info. Could you elaborate on where Edgemont is street wise? It didn't show up as a region in www.mls.ca Budget is somewhat of a concern since my wife is now a stay at home mom. It's tougher for sure but we wouldn't have it any other way. Kid benefits way too much by having her at home

 

North Van can be a hassle when you go to Burnaby, but if you have a car, then it's a very peaceful place. Good luck with everything. I'll be back in Vancouver in December, so if there's anything you need, let me know.

 

Yeah co-workers have been telling me about the bridge. But next time I'm up, prob mid month I'll give it a drive during peak hours. Without traffic it took me exactly 12 minutes to get to the office. Do you think it will be that much different in the mornings and early evenings during peak hours? If so how different do you think it will be? Lastly Nitrouz, who did your work in Vancouver? I'll be looking for a regular garage for daily maintainence and possible FI once I get the Z up there. Thanks in advance.

 

I worked at the Four Seasons Hotel downtown Vancouver.

I do all my own mods...except FI. I'm going with APS and it's going in the shop next week. There are A LOT of tuners in the greater vancouver area, but you have to have connections not to get ripped off. But Peter@APS suggested me a shop on Vancouver Island for my APS install as that shop will be the first authorized dealer for APS in western canada within a month. PM me if you want more info as I cant say anything right now cuz they are not authorized YET.

About the drive...if you take the lions gate bridge, it would be a pretty huge difference during traffic hours. I don't go over that bridge much, but when I do during traffic hours, it takes about 30 min. just to get OVER the bridge. As you know from N. Van to DT Vancouver via Lions Gate, it's 5 lanes into 2 during the mornings (there are 3 lanes on the bridge, and the middle is interchangeable according to rush hour morning or evening). That can get hectic. Going from DT to N. Van will be a hassle too in the evenings...4 lanes to 2. And if you go the opposite direction during rush hours, you will only get 1 lane to merge into. There are also always construction periodically in that area. A good way to go back to N. Van in the evenings is to go into Stanley park first, and there's an exit directly to lions gate in there. But most people know that now and there's also a lineup in the Park.

Sorry for the long read, but I hope this helps.

Also if you need more advice or info on shops for tuning, depends on what you wanna be doing, let me know. Each shop has their specialty, and I've been in this scene in vancouver for 8 years now...longer than most shops lol...

 

Cool thanks. But my commute will take me across the 2nd Narrows. Any feedback on this bridge during peak hours? And yes please do PM me the shop where you are getting the APS installed. I think I heard about them but don't know their name. Also any other shops for general street and light track prep would be good to know about. Mainly maintenance and light track prepping. Might make the Z more of a track car as opposed to a street car that sees the track 6 times a year soon. BTW if you track your car you will love this area. Personally I'm 20 minutes away from Infineon and will be there on Monday and 1.5 hours away from Thunderhill - a great track with lots of runoff. And to the south there's Laguna Seca. Damn I'm going to miss this area but I'm also looking forward to Mission Raceway!

 

yea we always head to mission, but it's nothing compared to leguna seca...I cant wait!!

2nd Narrows is also pretty congested...not that much better than lions gate. I've been on 2nd narrows like only twice, but never during peak hours. But whenever I listen to the radio for accidents, there's often accidents on 2nd narrows. So it's a high accident prone area. Be very careful.

I'll PM you with some shops to go to right now.

 

PM sent.

 

I've lived in North Van all my life and specifically in and around the Edgemount Village area. I presently live way up the hill at the base of the old Grouse Mountain chairlift road. When you consider schools it is always wize to consider the high school that the elemnetry schools feed into. Handsworth is very good, Carson Graham would be 2nd. I take it that you will be working for EA in Discovery Park near BCIT. One of my sons is presently doing his Chem Eng co-op in Lake City Business park and drives the 2nd Narrows Bridge everyday with out too much hassle. The nice thing about North Van is you have access to downtown via bridges or Sea Bus (good way to go see the Canucks) good shopping areas like Edgemount, Lonsdale and Park Royal plus all the outdoor stuff anyone could ask for like mountain biking, hiking, skiing etc. We also have a good number for shops for just about any make of car. My vote... buy in NV

 

Hi nitrouz,

Can u recommend me a body shop for painting a Nismo fiberglass bumper??

I dun wanna get rip off!!

 

+1 - I'll probably be doing some body work once I'm up there

 

2nd narrow isn't too bad at all compare to lions gate
I drive across 2nd narrow everyday to work even thought it's a little detour compare to lions gate because of traffic..
lions gate it often takes an hour to cross bridge when busy where it would take less than 15 min w/o traffic
however, 2nd narrow, i almost never have to go below 60km/h except in the morning at around 8 am

 

Thanks for the info. I'm up here for the week so I'll definitely give the 2nd Narrows a try in the morning. Though my work hours are pretty flexible so I should be able to work around things.

 

Theres a number of bodyshops on the North Shore, try Ritchie Collision. http://www.ritchiecollision.com/

BTW, I agree with "pistonbroke" my vote is for the North Shore too (cuz I've lived here for 20 yrs. Like others have said, close to skiing.(3 local mountains to chose from and closer to Whistler and other recreational activities, no bridges to cross. And close to the Sea-to-Sky highway (road up to Whistler). One of the best roads for car and motorcycle enthusiasts in Canada IMHO with great scenary and twisties. Hopefully when you drive it, theres no accident or construction going on

cheers,

 

Thanks. It's pretty much a done deal as my wife and I have agreed to focus our search in North Van. No avoiding the bridge for me though as my office is in Burnaby But the area is just too great to let that stand in the way. I did get a chance to head up to Grousse (spelling?) Mountain last time I was there and I couldn't believe how close it was. The family is going to love it here, I can see it already. Thanks again for all your help and once the rainy season ends we should all hit up Mission Raceway