It might also be that for restaurants and retail the employees have been so completely priced out of living in the area that many of them have a 2+ hour commute with all the limitations that entails (quitting time determined by transit availability, etc.).

A major factor in this is that the transit services largely die off at 1am in Vancouver. So for any workers at stores or restaurants they simply can't afford to go home after a certain point. The late night bus service is not good enough, take for example the N19. It is full of all the bar kids at 1am. You don't want to take that bus unless you're drunk.

I think you're onto something with the Victorian "healthy living" bit. There is some hypocrisy as well: the way Vancouverites talk down about alcohol drinkers or tobacco smokers all the time but meanwhile promote the pot trade and never talk about the rampant heroin problem in that city.

Sounds like they're not too different from us Californians after all.

BART really doesn't run late enough (Caltrain to the South Bay as well) to support suburbanites coming into SF to drink at night.

Vancouver anecdote; bars are not night life. I visited for two weeks and discovered a local music festival (music waste), befriended random folks at parks (parks were everywhere, and people actually used them!). East Van seemed to have a lively night life on par with SF/LA, people hosting live bands in their loft, avant-garde burlesque theater, house parties etc. It sounded like there was a lively festival scene in BC too, and not just electronic, stuff like the Peppermill Festival http://www.peppermillrecords.com/. Quantity of cultural hubs in Van might not be as expansive as other major cities, but the quality certainly sprouts up. That city seems more suited for people who enjoy nature though.

Really sad to hear that Vancouver and San Francisco are plagued by real estate siphoning out all the potential of what those cities could be. Feudalism seems to be a trend everywhere though.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-14/millennial...

They have the parties at home in east van because it is impossible to get a permit and/or a suitable venue for most events. There are very few venues for hosting parties and virtually no practice areas for bands. I've been to a number of events that were held in death-trap condemned buildings. I've even been locked in one illegally because someone called an ambulance and they didn't want to "blow their cover" so nobody could enter or exit for 30min while my friend waited outside in a back alley. Much prefer other cities where I can just go to a normal bar and not deal with entrapment issues.

Vancouver parks close for the night, usually at dusk or 10pm

I think that reasonable (For the employees) grocery hours are more of a Canadian thing, rather then a skyrocketing cost-of-living one. Businesses in Victoria, Kamloops, etc close up around the same time.

Err, well, bars which hold a primary liquor license in Vancouver can operate until 2 AM. Many do, but after 1:00 AM a majority of the night life leaves and you're left with a couple of awesome regulars, someone passed out on a table who you have to help get home, and staff from other restaurants which close earlier.

All the great things that Vancouver has to offer happen in the day or afternoon. The only thing I'm sad about is the Jazz Cellar closing down. RIP Ross Taggart.

Where are you going? Seriously. Put a little effort in.