Big Gay Road Trip: Davie Street

Daytime brought us some new views of Vancouver that didn’t involve a man girating around under a stream of water (thank goodness!), and of course we devoted an afternoon to wandering around Davie St., the center of Vancouver’s “gay village” (that’s what they call the gay neighborhoods in Canada. We think it is cute and reminds us of Smurf Village for some reason).

We started with breakfast at the Elbow Room Cafe, where everyone flocks not only for their pan-fried cinnabon buns, but also to be insulted by the waitstaff. When we were looking at the ketchup bottle to see if it contained corn sweetener, the waitress smirked at us and said, “It’s ketchup honey. What, you don’t have one of those back at your trailer? You’ve only ever seen those squeezy bottles?” Later she playfully berated a foreign woman for not getting her own coffee, which is one of the house rules. We posted them all after the jump if you’re curious.

Next stop was the legendary Little Sister’s bookstore, which was embroiled in a legal battle with the Canadian government a few years back over importation of “obscene” materials. Most of the smut they sell is imported from the U.S., and Canadian customs was confiscating some of it! We won’t ask what they did with it if they don’t tell. Little Sister’s has an ample selection of fiction, self-help, and art books, and also a nice rack of vintage porn mags, but we were most excited about finally getting to flip through this book. We haven’t laughed so hard in recent memory.

We had another nice shopping moment when we discovered this rack at a vintage store on Davie Street:

After a little research, we discovered that yes, the hanky code is still alive and well in at least one Vancouver gay bar. Most of the bars and clubs are also located in the neighborhood, so you can have a very homosexual day and night and only walk a few blocks. See a couple more photos of the Elbow Room after the jump.


Mean is the name of the game at the Elbow Room, but it’s all in good fun, sort of.

Porn stars and Malcolm Jamal Warner all love the Elbow Room.

Elbow Room Cafe [Official Site]
Little Sister’s Bookstore [Official Site]

Visit the Vancouver city guide provided by GayCities.com , the sponsor of Queerty’s Big Gay Road Trip: Northern Edition.