Davie Village (also known as Davie District or simply Davie Street) is a
neighbourhood in the West End of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
It is the home of the city's gay subculture, and, as such, is often
considered a gay village, or gaybourhood. Davie Village is centred
on Davie Street and roughly includes the area between Burrard and
Jervis streets. Davie Street—and, by extension, the Village—is named in
honour of A.E.B. Davie, eighth Premier of British Columbia from 1887 to
1889; A.E.B's brother Theodore was also Premier, from 1892 to 1895.
Along
Davie Street are a variety of shops, restaurants, services, and hotels
catering to a variety of customers, in addition to private residences.
The business with the most notoriety is Little Sister's Book and Art
Emporium ("Little Sister's"), a gay and lesbian bookstore, because of
its ongoing legal battles with Canada Customs that have received
extensive national media coverage. Many businesses and residents along
Davie Street and in the West End generally also fly rainbow flags as a
symbol of gay pride, and many of the covered bus stop benches and
garbage cans along Davie Street are painted bright pink.
The
Village hosts a variety of events during the year, including the Davie
Street Pride Festival which runs in conjunction with Vancouver's annual
Gay Pride Parade, during which sections of the street are closed to
motor traffic.
Davie Day is also held each year in early
September, to celebrate local businesses and the community itself. This
Day is designed to build awareness and promote the surrounding
businesses, and is focused around Jervis to Burrard Street.
The
Davie Street Business Association coined the name "Davie Village" in
1999 and also commissioned banners from local artist Joe Average, which
fly from lampposts in the district. The two-sided banners depict a
rainbow flag on one side and a sun design by Average on the other.
Davie
Village is also home to the offices of Xtra! West, a biweekly LGBT
newspaper, Qmunity (formerly the Gay and Lesbian Centre) which provides a
variety of services for the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender residents, and the Vancouver Pride Society, which puts on
the annual Pride Parade and Festival.
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
In Davie Village in Downtown Vancouver. Summer of 2018.
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