Under the Poodle, Part 1: Find your Esther…

A blog-post by public art-loving Stina Hansen, the VPSN’s newest Board member;
Photo by Rachel Topham, City of Vancouver Public Art Finder

Moving can be great for a whole bunch of reasons: a new home to fit your life into, and a new neighbourhood with a lot of things to discover in the process. This summer I moved to Mount Pleasant and found a ton of new public spaces to explore. Some of them I knew (the great parklet in front of Devil May Wear), but others I had never even talked through, let alone spent time in. I also discovered “Poodle Park” at Main and E 17th (underneath the somewhat infamous Main Street Poodle statue by Gisele Amantea). Despite the controversy surround this canine-themed public art installation (or maybe partially as a result of it?) this mini-park the is one of my favourite little spots in the neighbourhood.

I’m still trying to figure out how all the elements of the space come together, from the reclaimation of roadway that helped to create the park, to the Poodle perched on its pole, to the big red sculpture made of tubes (it took me way too long to come up with that description) … not to mention the somewhat battered patio furniture, the grassy “hill,” and the concrete benches. It’s a bit of a hodge-podge, but spending time there this summer helped me feel more at home in my new ‘hood.

I knew a fair bit about the neighbourhood before I moved in but it was nice to compare notes with my neighbours about the best coffee (many lamented the closing of Bean around the World) or where to get the cheapest avocados. But the best conversation by far was with Esther, a new friend who has lived in the neighbourhood for over 40 years and who I was fortunate enough to meet on her way home from bingo.

Ester and I first met under the Poodle and our first conversation was an inspiring one, chock-full of the older woman’s life-lessons – including the unironically delivered, and ever useful “when there’s something in front of you, just get a plow and plow right through it”. I ended up walking Esther home and she told me a novel full of colourful stories about my new neighbours and her friends, including some who had lived in the older houses on our street that are now being rebuilt. Esther is a living repository of neighbourhood change.

I’ve run into Esther a few times since then and it’s nice to stop and chat and check in and listen for more grains of wisdom (the latest: “aging is hard, but I’m tough”). Our conversations make me feel more connected to a neighbourhood that I’m still getting used to, and her take on life makes it feel more like a home.

There’s a good lesson here. If you’ve moved recently (or even if you haven’t), grab your gortex and an umbrella (rainy season is here after all) and spend some time in your neighbourhood public spaces. Push yourself to smile and say hello to a stranger. You never know who you might meet.