It’s been almost five years since WesternCancer wrote his excellent Vancouver data sheet, and a number of places have closed, so I want to update you all with some new data on Vancouver.
Closed – Barcelona, AuBar, Ceilis.
I went in October 2016, for a three-day weekend Thu/Fri/Sat, primarily to night game.
Food venues:
Uncle Fatih’s Pizza. Recommended. Off Granville St. From NYC I had low expectations, but it was decent pizza. Very different take on pizza. Went here in the early afternoon on a Thursday, and a cute girl, maybe Indian or Filipina, came in after me by herself to order and sit down. After I finished my slice, I approached and asked her what some good bars and clubs are in Vancouver. We chatted a bit, but she told me she had a boyfriend.
Antojitos y Cantina. Recommended. Was pretty decent Mexican for Vancouver, a city short on Mexican people and culture. I finished my meal here and I saw a cute girl sitting near the exit to the restaurant, by herself at a table restaurant. She was looking intently at a binder with papers in it. I said to her, “Excuse me. You seem very focused. Are you writing the next great Canadian novel?” She smiled. She was memorizing lines. She was an actress shooting some teen-film being shot in Vancouver. Gorgeous little Latina girl, 23 years old, up from Los Angeles. Good conversation, even sat down at her table, talked to her for about 20 minutes, got her number, and made plans to see her the following night (Friday).
Apollonia Greek Restaurant. I liked this spot, south of Granville Island in a quiet residential area. Only go if you happen to find yourself in that area. I chatted up the waitress. After I saw her looking dreamily while waiting for customers to come in, I called her over and said, “Hey let me ask you a personal question…do you like working here? (smile) It looks like you were daydreaming over there.” She was a 19-year old girl from Greece. Very cute features. We chatted a bit, and she kept coming back to me to talk more in between orders for other customers. When I offered to her that she come out with me later that night, she said, “we’ll see.” She was a shy girl.
Bars/Clubs:
Lamplighter. Recommended. Fairly quiet on a rainy Thursday. I'd still recommend stopping by here for a drink. Nice bar. Presumably in summer it’s a lot busier on a Thursday. Think of it as a dressed-up sports bar. Different scene Friday/Saturday it turns into a “bar-club”, where they remove a bunch of tables and it’s a younger crowd with music and set up space for dancing. I did come back here Friday. Here, I made out with a cute blonde girl from Alberta. Became my go-to place in Gastown.
Red Room. Not recommended. Went here for Latin night on Friday night. Massive line around 10:30pm. Decided to come back around 1 am and there was a much shorter line. Paid I think $15 CAN cover, went in, but was disappointed by girls here. I think I approached two or three girls here. Mostly dudes, low quality girls, and really tight social circles. What you might expect in an American club.
The Pint. Recommended. Gents I don’t want to over hype this place, but I have not seen this much talent in one bar anywhere before. Not in Stockholm, nor in NYC. Young big-titted Canadian girls, Blondes, brunettes, Asian girls, Indian girls. The ratio here was 1:1. There very well may have been more girls in the bar than guys. Where I live, it’s extremely rare to see an 8 or 9 in night game. Here, they were everywhere. I opened a two-set of gorgeous, tall, beautiful faces, Canadian 8s. “Excuse me, you guys look friendly. So I wanted to introduce myself. Am I right?” They smiled and said they were friendly, and then one pointed to her friend who was a 9+ and joked that she was a total bitch. I talked to these two girls for a few minutes. These were young girls, maybe 19 or 20 years old who came up to Vancouver from a wealthy suburb near the American border called White Rock. (The drinking age in Vancouver is 19). Also, it must be that guys in Canada don't approach. I lost count of how many beautiful girls I saw at The Pint on Saturday getting no attention from men.
I don’t know why more bars aren’t like this in the States. On Friday and Saturday they take out some tables and have a small dance floor and DJ upstairs, then a full dance floor and basement downstairs. It seems like a no-brainer business idea, to have a popular bar turn into a “bar-club” with a DJ on Friday and Saturday.
Other venues:
Guilt & Co. Recommended. Walked around Gastown on Thursday after Lamplighter to figure out what I might do next. Live music. Really liked this place. They have a cool basement vibe, what I imagine a Montreal music club would look like. A pay-what-you-want cover at the door. Here, I saw a couple of hot, white Canadian girls here with dates or boyfriends. At the bar here, I met an Australian woman who'd come alone, in her 30s, a blonde with a nice body. After conversing for a few minutes, she offered to buy me a drink…(Last time a girl bought me a drink ten months ago, I ended up in her hotel room and fucked her.) So this was a good sign. We flirted, went outside and made out, then went back in the bar. She wanted to go to her hotel, and I thought it was on. Once we started walking in that direction, she changed her mind. I was persistent, told her I’ll just walk her back to her place that’s all. She wasn’t having it, despite my persistence. I went back to my place.
The next day, I met Laner at a cocktail bar. We chatted for a bit about work, women, game, and purpose. Laner is an interesting guy, with a unique story – and hands down the best dressed man in Vancouver. Wish I had more time to talk and learn from him about game, but a friend of his joined us and the conversation shifted to Vancouver, politics, and skiing—interesting as well. The three of us went to another cocktail bar and the bouncer outside and I had a chat, while Laner and his friend had a smoke. The bouncer, who knew Laner casually, said to me, “Man, I’ll tell you, I ain’t never seen anyone dress like him.” Hung out with Laner and his friend for a bit longer, but they knew I was there to meet girls, so had to let them know I was bouncing.
Places on my list that I didn’t hit, but you might:
Library Square. Presumably Friday is college night. The bar is in a strange spot somewhat on the edge of Downtown but not quite at Gastown. Didn’t go in, can’t speak for it.
Blarney Stone. Gastown. Thought about going here Saturday, walked by and talked to the bouncer for a bit, but ended up at The Pint instead. I think it’d be similar style, college girls there, although maybe less overall girls than The Pint.
Other pointers:
- Cash only. Most bar-clubs on Friday and Saturday have a cash-only cover of $10-15 CAN. Bring cash. Once inside, they’ll take cards for drinks. Everywhere else cards work.
- A few clubs and bar-clubs here have a “BarWatch” program where they take your ID, scan it, and take a photo of you with a camera. It’s a program that’s supposed to keep criminals out of the clubs (no surprise criminals just go to other clubs). Found it strange at first as an American, but quickly got used to it.
- I don’t think it matters too much to dress up or not here as a guy. However you normally style yourself, stick to that.
Neighborhoods:
I
liked Yaletown best. It’s a nice, wealthier area of Vancouver. Lots of cute girls walking around here in the late afternoon. Lots of married moms with kids, but younger girls walk around here as well. I street approached a 20-year old Russian girl around 4 pm on a Friday afternoon. It’s also here where I stood outside a Starbucks on Thursday trying to get WiFi reception that a hipster girl and her friend approached me to ask if I knew where a street was, which I didn't. She went on to tell me, "You're really cute. Okay. Bye." I never get approached in the States.
For
night game, I went to Gastown all three nights and never got bored. There are a good number of bars and bar-clubs here, all within walking distance.
If I had more energy at night after Gastown I’d probably try to hit some
late-night clubs on Granville Street, some stay open until 3 am. But I didn’t. On the weekends it’s overrun by a rough and tumble crowd of out-of-towners from Surrey, the second largest city in BC. Granville Street feels a bit like Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles or Times Square in NYC. But not exactly like that either. I’m sure some spots here are good, but in general, I'd recommend daygame here over the nightclubs. I didn’t take the time to explore this area's nightlife, other than to grab food at a few places.
East Hastings. As you move East of Gastown, has to be North America’s most drug-infested neighborhood. I’ve never seen a place like this anywhere in the world. Dozens of crackheads living on the street, block after block after block. Walk there once and you’ll never walk there again. It was a pretty unique experience.
Granville Island. I went to check this out on Friday early afternoon, after a late morning start. A small island with two things: an art college and a tourist market/artisan shops. I thought to do some day approaches here, but yuck. Talent was non-existent.
Overall impression:
Impressed. If it wasn’t extremely expensive to live there.
What I’d do differently:
- Get better at night game. Improve how to attract/tease a girl once she shows me some interest.
Stats:
Probably made 40 – 50 approaches over three days, day and night game, mostly night game. Make outs on all three nights. No bangs. Two of the make outs were short, one long make-out Saturday night with a Brazilian girl who was visiting Vancouver, first in the bar then on the street, but she wouldn’t come back to my place.
My suggestions:
- A wingman could help. Keep friends of those younger girls at bay. This is true generally anywhere in the world, but for some reason it felt like a wing here would be better.
- As a solo player, you’re going to find it difficult. Lots of girls in groups.
- I liked the “bar-clubs” here on Friday/Saturday. They aren’t pretentions like clubs. Not hard to escalate like a bar. I’m not sure why there aren’t more places like this in the U.S.
- Wish I could find time to move here for a month or two in April or May, and daygame.
- I was worried that October might not be a good month to go, because it’s rainy and a bit cooler, but I was wrong. There are plenty of girls out at the bars.
- Someone I met in Vancouver put it best—most of Canada is freezing cold and it snows all the time…so even though Vancouver is 50 degrees and misting rain in the winter, for Canadians, it feels like Los Angeles.
- My understanding is one night stands aren’t common. I’m not surprised the closest I got were solo travelers visiting Vancouver from abroad on two separate nights, and not the locals.
Other intel:
- Tons of FOB East Asian girls. I’m not a fan of East Asian girls, but there are a lot here. They move in huge groups, like groups of 20.
- Saw a bunch of Indian-looking guys (maybe Pakistani) do well making out with white chicks at the bar-clubs. Hardly saw any black guys here, but again from what’s been said before, Vancouver is good for brothers.
- Like most night game in Vancouver, including those stunners I met at The Pint, most girls will excuse themselves from talking to you after about 60 seconds. That’s okay. You only need one girl who won’t.
Anyway, I’d recommend it. Good ratios. Cute girls. Girls who dress well and wear makeup. Like LA or NYC. They’re also relatively friendly and approachable. But, very difficult to lay. I’d call it slightly easier than Stockholm, but that’s not saying much.
I’ve never been great at night game. Because it was only three days, I didn’t have much time to daygame, and the timeline was compressed so I mostly stuck to nightgame, but did a few day approaches.
A month in the city I’d recommend, but maybe you can get lucky with a weekend trip. Good luck gents.