Granville Island Guidebook

Ann Turner is Financial and Budget Manager at the University of British
Columbia Library.

Granville Island is a unique Vancouver experience. Since its redevelopment from an industrial slum in the 1970s, it has become one of the city’s better-known tourist attractions, as well as a favourite haunt of the local residents. Much of its charm derives from the haphazard arrangement of streets and the unexpected juxtaposition of well over 100 shops and services. This is delightful for casual browsing but less than convenient for serious shopping in the area. The Granville Island Guidebook was created to let potential customers know what is available there, and to help them find it. A street-map of the Island conveniently occupies the centrefold, with an inset of the Lower Mainland showing access roads. An early chapter gives detailed directions for approaching the Island by car, bus, or boat. Other chapters are devoted to the more than 40 shops of the public market, and a directory of the restaurants, theatres, boating enterprises, recreational activities, and public conveniences that jostle for space on the narrow streets. The thumbnail sketches include addresses and telephone numbers, plus hours of opening and price ranges for the restaurants. Tourists and native Vancouverites alike will find this compact, informative guide a handy addition to pocket or purse.