New Westminster, BC is smack in the middle of the Metro-Vancouver area. That makes for one rather important disadvantage; namely, half the region crosses through our city on any given work day. That also means that a lot of people have been in New West but many have never actually visited. As they rush through the tiny municipality, either on a SkyTrain or on a major highway route, they may not be aware of things that lurk just a few blocks from their paths.
We live downtown, but if I walk two blocks up Fourth Street and cross Royal Avenue, I can enter a tree-lined sanctuary of cute, heritage homes. I frequently walk the area from City Hall to the top of the hill and from Sixth over to Queen's Park. I like the exercise but enjoy looking at the houses. The nice neighbourhoods in the area are all but unknown except to residents.
View this area on Google Maps and drop into Street View
Whenever I'm out, I frequently have my camera around my neck. Years ago, I was going to make a collection of photographs of some of the dwellings I pass. There seems to be such an amazing variety of shapes and sizes. My plan began when I first got a digital camera in 2002 but has been neglected. On a walk yesterday, however, I did take two more. If you'd like to see a slideshow with around 35 photographs from many different years, simply click this image of Fifth Street.
