• Arbutus

Arbutus is a neighbourhood located between 41st avenue intersecting with King Edward and MacDonald roads in the city of Vancouver. Arbutus is comprised of upper middle class homes, many of which were built in the early 1900's. Many early 20th century residents in this western section of Vancouver chose to live in Arbutus due to the creation of the British Columbia electric railway. These types of trolleys made getting to and from schools, work and shopping easier than horseback. Many business owners, teachers, artisans and blue collar workers initially lived in Arbutus. Today, most residents are more affluent and work white collar professions.

Arbutus is a popular place to live due to its proximity to downtown, Jericho Beach and the University of British Columbia. Residents enjoy spectacular views of the North Shore Mountains. Arbutus has three outstanding schools for elementary and secondary students. The real estate prices have risen substantially due to the fact that the neighbourhood has actively restored many older homes and limited building of newer homes. Population has risen over the past thirty years with most residents are younger than fifty.

• Downtown

Vancouver, also known as Rain City by people who don't know how to enjoy a coastal rainforest, was first settled by Californian prospectors brought by tales of gold in the Fraser Canyon. Most prospectors didn't strike it rich, however, and many chose to settle down and invest in more stable careers. The areas main industry slowly turned from gold mining to lumbering. This profitable trade continued until 1884 when the Canadian Pacific Railway chose Vancouver to be the end point of the Canadian trans-continental railroad. Vancouver quickly boomed into a bustling port town whose primary industry was shipping and trading. Since then, Vancouver has continued to grow and attract world-wide attention, becoming the melting pot of Canada with more than half of residents being first or second generation Canadians.In present times, Vancouver sees the same level of development as most ports around the world. Large skyscrapers dominate the skyline and dock and warehouses dot the waterfront. One of the most lucrative businesses in modern day Vancouver is the film industry, producing such prominent films that it has earned the nickname Hollywood North. Being one of the largest and most diverse cities in North America, Vancouver has something to offer for everyone.

My Canada Payday's first payday loan office was located in the downtown area before moving to Surrey.

• Fairview

Fairview is a neighborhood in northern Vancouver, British Columbia, fairly close to the affluent Shaugnessy area. Fairview gets its name from the two beautiful views originally present, of the old center of Vancouver and the North Shore Mountains. The neighborhood is located on the Burrard Inlet, which provides access to the waterways. Following the path of many of Vancouver's neighborhoods, Fairview was first settled in the mid-1800s when the heavily forested area was first cleared. Then, in the 1900s, the British Columbia Electric Railway, which provided service around the region, constructed a loop that connected Fairway to downtown Vancouver. This produced explosive growth in the neighbourhood, encouraging large residential and commercial expansion that continues to this day.

Fairview is home to Granville Island, a peninsula converted from industrial purposes to a popular shopping district. It is a popular destination for tourism and entertainment-seekers from the region. There is a large farmer's market, theaters, hotels, an extensive marina with ferry service around the area, and a wide variety of street performances.

• Fraserview

Fraserview is a multi cultural neighborhood of Vancouver with a large mix of Indian and Canadian people. This place is located on the Southern Slope of Vancouver that leads to the Fraser River. Fraserview is located between Knight street bridge and Killarney. Fraserview has a number of parks for the community members such as Bobolink park, Fraserview park, Gordon park, Humm park, Nanaimo park. Most of these parks have play ground facilities in its premises. There is also a dog park called Tecumseh park in Fraserview. Fraserview golf course is one of the popular golf courses available in the Vancouver neighborhood.

Fraserview public library conducts a number of adult programs and children's programs. The library has a huge collection of fiction and non-fiction books in English, Vietnamese, Punjabi and Hindi. The yearly South Hill festival in the month of May attracts a significant number of visitors from different parts of British Columbia. One of the 20 Vancouver Fire halls, Fire Hall 17 is located in Fraserview. Fire Hall conducts community tours and tours for school children to have a look at the equipments and facilities available in Fire Hall.

• Grandview

Grandview is a neighborhood in northeastern Vancouver, British Columbia. This area was located along the Canadian Pacific Railway and served as a way-station for prospectors and gold miners. Expansion of inter-city train service in the 1890s sparked the development of Grandview as a residential and commercial area over the following decades.

Commercial Drive is the focus of the neighborhood. This roadway has developed over the past century as a culturally diverse shopping area. There are a variety of ethnic restaurants and businesses. Many historic buildings from the early 1900s remain on the Drive, an echo of the success of its early years. The area is a business improvement area, wherein businesses contribute additional funds to keep the area clean and make street improvements, beyond the normal municipal services.

Grandview is lower class neighborhood, with average incomes below the Vancouver norm. It is ethnically diverse, a product of its low cost housing and proximity to downtown Vancouver. Italian immigration in the 1930s produced a Little Italy portion of the neighborhood which lasted for nearly 50 years. Over time, other immigration and assimilation of the Italian population has reduced this influence in the area.

• Hastings

In the year 1869, one of the neighbourhood settlements in Vancouver was named Hastings town site in honour of the visiting Admiral G. Hastings. The Hastings Park continued to be a popular destination for Holiday makers with the mushrooming of Hotels and the presence of racetracks. Hastings has the unique distinction of getting the first road facility, first wharf, first hotel and the first museum in the Vancouver neighbourhood. Hastings Townsite merged with the city of Vancouver in the year 1911.

The Brighton Park is one of the beautiful parks located in Hastings sunrise and attracts visitors from different parts of Vancouver. Hastings is also the venue for the yearly community hockey event held between two popular local teams. The event is being held every year at the Sunrise Square parking lot and includes a number of events such as street hockey, cultural shows, live performances and carnival games. This event attracts thousands of visitors every year from different parts of British Columbia.

• Kerrisdale

Kerrisdale is a neighbourhood on the southern edge of Vancouver, British Columbia. This neighbourhood was primarily settled in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Like many Vancouver neighbourhoods, it saw significant growth due to the introduction of the British Columbia Electric Railway which connected the outlying towns and villages to the downtown Vancouver core. It was adopted as a neighbourhood into Vancouver proper in 1929.

Kerrisdale is a relatively wealthy neighbourhood. It is home to the Southlands, an affluent region that includes the exclusive Southlands Riding Club. This Club and the desirability of land for large home construction make this region popular with wealthy home-buyers. Like most neighbourhoods in Vancouver, the older homes in the area are primarily single level bungalows or ranch style homes. In the 1980s, a significant swell of rich immigrants from Hong Kong arrived and replaced these smaller homes with larger, modern multi-story homes. This has led to an eclectic mix of architecture in the Kerrisdale neighbourhood.

• Killarney

Killarney is a neighborhood located in the southeastern corner of Vancouver, British Columbia. This is one of Vancouver's newest neighborhoods. Until the post-World War II period, this area was still covered by the original forests that dominated the region. Some farms had existed in Killarney as well as a small population along the riverfront prior to this time, but no major development had occurred. Then, due to growing population in Vancouver, there was pressure to build more homes in this sparsely populated area.

Killarney is principally a single family home neighborhood, with some multi-family homes and high-rises along the Fraser River. It is notable for its expansive green areas of open grass and trees, an echo of its history as the last Vancouver neighborhood to be settled. The most development occurred along the river. This heated up in the 1990s when the Fraserlands (named for the river they line) were built up with high-rises and townhomes. High-rises continue to be constructed here to this day as the population continues to grow.

• Kitsilano

Kitsilano is a neighbourhood in northwestern Vancouver, British Columbia. Its name is derived from August Jack Xats'alanexw (or Khatsahlano), a chief of the Squamish people. He worked with Vancouver settlers and helped to record his people's oral traditions in the early 1900s. The Squamish moved to the area in the 1800s to work for the settlers in the lumber mills, and a small Squamish contingent remains in Kitsilano to this day.

Initially a middle class and inexpensive neighbourhood, Kitsilano has changed over the years. The 1960s counterculture revolution was heavily adopted in Kitsilano, leading it to be a major hippie haven for the rest of the decade. Greenpeace found its start here around 1969. Over time, however, the prime location between the beaches of northern Vancouver and the downtown area lead to gentrification.

Kitsilano has many outdoor attractions. The Kitsilano Beach is one of the most popular in Vancouver. It has the longest outdoor pool in Canada, the salt-water Kitsilano Pool. Vanier Park is located here and contains the Vancouver Museum, the Maritime Museum, and the Space Centre.

• Marpole

Marpole is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Vancouver, British Columbia. The area received its name from Richard Marpole, who was the head of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the early 1900's. With the advent of the railroad, the neighbourhood became a central transit point for building materials, such as lumber, timber and shingles. Marpole was predominantly blue collar tradesmen in the early 20th century. This transformed into more white collar workers and residents by the late 1900's.

Today, Marpole has over twenty thousand residents. It is still a major transportation hub for the public through Canadian Rail Transit as well as buses. Marpole frequently suffers from traffic jams and delays in transportation due to the fact that many Vancouver residents need to pass through this area on the way to the more suburban neighborhoods.

Marpole has a very diverse business district which supports a variety of retailers. The neighborhood's tax base supports six outstanding elementary schools. Marpole also has revitalized many of the area's older homes which keeps real estate prices stable. Marpole is consistently ranked as one of Vancouver's best areas to live.

• Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant can be considered to be as one of the earliest suburbs of Vancouver with the rapid growth of brewery industry in the late 19th century. The creek that flowed through this region resulted in the mushrooming of breweries in Mount Pleasant. It is actually located to the South East of Vancouver downtown. It is well connected to downtown Vancouver through transportation networks like Canada Line and the Sky train. South Main or SoMa is one of the major areas located within Mount Pleasant geography. This region refers to the main street and the streets that intersect the main street.

Main Street is the commercial center of Mount Pleasant and has a number of bars, restaurants, cafes and pubs lined on both sides of the main street. Mount Pleasant has nine parks located in its neighborhood including the largest, China Creek North Park Most of these parks come with a jogging trail and playgrounds and courts for different sporting activities like Tennis, Basketball, Soccer and Baseball. The region has three elementary schools in the form of Florence Nightingale Elementary school, Mount Pleasant Elementary school and Simon Fraser Elementary school.

• Oakridge

Oakridge is a neighborhood in south-central Vancouver, British Columbia. This neighborhood is one of the newest in the city. It was left as primarily forest land until the booming population and commercial growth of Vancouver following World War II. The influx of immigrants to Canada in general and this city in particular drove development in Oakridge. Two major groups of immigrants came to Oakridge: Jews fleeing Europe after the war, and Chinese coming to America for opportunities throughout the latter half of the 1900s.

Oakridge is in a transitional phase currently. It started in the 1960s as a primarily residential neighborhood of single story, single-family homes. As the region has become more prosperous and closer to the expanding center of Vancouver over time, pressure has built to replace these smaller homes with larger, multi-level houses. Also, the Chinese immigration into Vancouver has continued to increase over time, and Oakridge has slowly become a neighborhood where more than half the residents identify Mandarin or Cantonese as their primary language.

• Point Grey

Point Grey is a neighbourhood on the northwestern corner of Vancouver, British Columbia. Located at the mouth of the Burrard Inlet that forms the city's northern border, Point Grey is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Vancouver. It was named by Captain George Vancouver for his friend Captain George Grey, a fellow Royal navy officer.

The neighbourhood has flourished due to its location on the major waterway servicing Vancouver. Due to that geography, its proximity to downtown Vancouver, and the presence of the nearby University of British Columbia, Point Grey has been a thriving and wealthy neighbourhood for much of its history. There are many old families of Vancouver that remain in the area from its founding and many of the homes date from before World War II. The real estate of parts of the neighbourhood is some of the most expensive in North America. Average household income in Point Grey is more than twice the Vancouver average. The population is largely English-speaking and non-immigrant, and is a mix of young upper-middle class professionals and older moneyed families.

• Renfrew-Collingwood

Renfrew-Collingwood near Vancouver East was once surrounded by a thick forest and one of the earliest neighbourhood towns of Vancouver. Collingwood and Renfrew were two individual districts that grew together at the same time and became a commercial power house in East Vancouver. Renfrew-Collingwood region started to develop in 1920s with the launch of the railway tram lines in the 1890s. The region witnessed tremendous commercial growth in the subsequent decades with the help of a growing infrastructure in the form of two rapid transit lines, Expo Rail Line and Millennium Lines.

Though the region had undergone commercial makeover, there are still some points that are of historical significance. The region surrounding Still Creek is being preserved as a Renfrew Ravine Park. Another heritage site that has stood the test of time is the Carleton Elementary School. The region also has its unique set of specialty stores that attract shoppers from different parts of British Columbia. The Purdy's Chocolate factory and the Avalon Dairy are big names in the region and attract shoppers from far and wide. The region is also known for its strong educational infrastructure in the form of 6 elementary public schools and 2 public high schools.

• Riley Park

Riley Park is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is also known as Little Mountain, a name that originated with a quarry that was central to economic life in the neighbourhood. Now this quarry space is occupied by Queen Elizabeth Park. This park is a central feature of Riley Park and one of the most popular in all of Vancouver. The quarry has been replaced by beautiful gardens, and there is a restaurant and outdoor activities. The park is a tourist destination, especially in the summer months, although it does have its share of normal resident oriented business such as payday lenders, grocery stores and shopping malls.

Riley Park is heavily involved in the world of sports. The Vancouver Canadians minor league baseball team (a Class A-Short affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) play in the Nat Bailey Stadium in Riley Park. Also, the first little league in Canada, Little Mountain Baseball, started in Riley Park. Finally, during the 2010 Winter Olympics, a new facility was built for the competition in Riley Park.

• Shaughnessy

Shaughnessy is a neighborhood near the center of Vancouver, British Columbia. As with all areas of Vancouver, we offer payday loans here. Its name comes from Baron Thomas Shaughnessy, a former president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the major railway in all of southern Canada. In the early 1900s, Railway created the neighborhood in its capacity as a real estate developer. The neighborhood was positioned from the start as exclusive and high-status, with severe regulations as to who could build homes there.

This policy was successful of exclusivity was highly successful. Shaughnessy is a very wealthy neighborhood, with family incomes more than double the Vancouver averages. This puts the neighborhood in the top 1% of Canadian neighborhoods, and sixth overall in terms of income, but this doesn't mean that nobody takes out payday loans in the area. Wealthy people need payday loans as much as the other people. Shaughnessy has no public schools. Most of the homes in the neighborhood were built before World War II. A town by-law was put in place that limits residents abilities to sub-divide property, preventing the creation of new homes and keeping down the population.

• Sunrise

Sunrise is a neighbourhood in the northeastern corner of Vancouver, British Columbia. It is one of Vancouver's older neighbourhoods, established along with its neighbor, Hastings, in the 1860s. Located on the edge of Vancouver, Sunrise is able to maintain a large number of parks and gardens. Notably, the Pacific National Exhibition, a 17-day summer fair which attracts over 800,000 visitors annually, is held in Sunrise at the Hastings Park. The Park is also home to numerous exhibition spaces, coliseums, and an amusement park named Playland.

The Sunrise neighbourhood is home to a large immigrant population, mostly Italian, and has been mostly working class for much of its history. Being on the outskirts of Vancouver and thus relatively inexpensive, while still having open spaces and the beautiful scenery of the Burrard Inlet and mountains to the north, Sunrise is becoming a popular starting location for young professionals seeking their first homes. Similarly, a large influx of Chinese immigrants has taken advantage of the area's low cost and desirable property in recent years.

• Sunset

The neighbourhood of Sunset is located in southeast Vancouver near Killarney and has the reputation of being one of the most culturally diverse communities in Vancouver, Canada where we operate. It is mostly made up of working class families and young professionals looking for single family homes and low rise apartments that cost less. Sunset also has its share of small retail shops. The residents are mostly Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipino, but south Sunset has come to be known as "Little India", and is the Indo-Canadian hub in Vancouver. One of the biggest attractions to the neighbourhood is the Punjabi Market. This commercial district has also become an ethnic enclave. This has brought about the construction of the first India Gate in North America located at Main Street and 59thAvenue. If you're in town in April, be sure to help the local Sikh Temple celebrate the birth of the Sikh religion, also known as Vaisakhe.

• West End

The West End is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is located next to downtown Vancouver, on the same peninsula. The area remained somewhat undeveloped until the Canadian Pacific Railway reached Vancouver in the 1880s. Then, the prime location of the West End near downtown made it popular with affluent families. Some of the richest railroad families built mansions here. Over time, the growth of the city and need for more housing caused a decline in status for the West End, as the rich moved elsewhere and middle class residents moved in.

Today, the West End is a middle class residential neighbourhood with a wide variety of inhabitants. It is home to a large gay community in Davie Village. It is also home to many immigrants and is seen as a landing pad for new arrivals. The average household size is much smaller than the Vancouver average. Most residents (over 80%) live in apartment buildings.

• Strathcona

Strathcona is one of the most diverse and oldest sections of Vancouver. Interestingly, the predominant language spoken here is Chinese. This stems from the fact that Chinese workers were brought to Vancouver in the 1880's to work establishing railroads connecting Vancouver to the rest of Canada. Today, this neighborhood contains many nationalities and is one of the most integrated areas in Vancouver.

The history of Strathcona has mirrored the growth of Vancouver. The area originally started as a lumber and milling operation in the 1860's. Citizens who moved there were always considered working class. They were laborers who brought their varied ethnic backgrounds to form a tight knit community. People from Eastern and Western Europe, other parts of Canada and the United States and China made up a predominant mix of Strathcona in the early 1900's.

Today many residents are urban professionals who work in a variety of white collar jobs. The area has been designated as the oldest neighborhood within Vancouver and many buildings have been preserved to honor the history of Strathcona over the past 150 years. Many Chinese downtown district buildings have been renovated which has added significantly to property values in the area.

• Downtown Eastside

This highly contentious neighborhood in the city of Vancouver is one of the poorest in all of Canada, typically listed in the bottom five by income. Families make only $36,000 on average, just over half the Canadian average. Downtown Eastside is home to poverty, drug use (especially heavy heroin dependency), high HIV numbers, and violence. The first safe injection site and needle exchange in North America started here. It is typically pointed to as an example of urban decay, with many buildings falling into disuse in the 1990s and 2000s.

Downtown Eastside has a large homeless population. Its residents suffer from HIV or mental illness at alarming rates. Only 7% of its residents are children, compared to a 24% Canadian national average. Most residents are adults living alone.

In very recent times, some effort has been made to reclaim parts of the neighborhood for gentrification. The low prices make the real estate very attractive to developers looking to take over this depressed area. Tensions between residents and developers will continue to grow as this process occurs in the near future.

• Chinatown

Chinatown is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia. This neighbourhood is the largest Chinatown in Canada, and one of the largest in all of North America. It is a National Historic Site and a popular tourist destination. One popular site is the Sam Kee Building, the narrowest commercial building in the world. When most of the lot that the Sam Kee company owned was reclaimed by the city to widen the street, creative architects designed a 4'11" deep storefront with a slightly larger second story.

In recent years, as new generations of the large Cantonese contingent of Chinatown have grown up and moved away, the area has declined as a residential Chinese neighbourhood. While its history remains, newer Chinese immigrants have chosen different neighbourhoods in which to start their life in Vancouver. This decline is slowly being combated by encouraging new small businesses to take hold and with a neighbourhood-wide revitalization plan. This plan encourages more night life and better restaurants as well as some modernization efforts in order to better Chinatown for the future.

• Gastown

Gastown is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia where we offer loans, and is also one of the designated Business Improvement Areas. It formed the original downtown of the city of Vancouver, and was the name of the city itself for the 20 year period between 1867 and 1886. The city was renamed upon completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, but Gastown has remained as a neighbourhood for almost 150 years. Shortly after the re-naming, the Great Vancouver Fire swept through the area after a brush fire was started to clear land for construction. This destroyed all but a few structures in the new city, but it also offered a chance to rebuild and expand.

Gastown fell into disrepair over the years but was revitalized during the post-World War II period of growth in Vancouver. An effort was made to preserve its history and character as the former center of Vancouver, and that has largely been successful. It is now a National Historic Site. One particularly famous piece of Gastown heritage is not even particularly old. The Gastown Steam Clock was constructed in 1977. This steam-powered clock is a famous tourist attraction and was crafted in a Victorian-era style, and is a popular tourist attraction even though it does not in fact run on steam and is in fact run on electricity.

• Yaletown

Yaletown is a neighborhood in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is named for the community of residents of that moved to the area once the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the town of Yale, which is 150 miles to the east of Vancouver. Due to the presence of the railroad and its working class population, Yaletown was heavily industrialized, with a number of factories and warehouses constructed in the area. Over time, and especially in the post-World War II period, industry declined and the neighborhood fell into decline.

In 1986, the Expo 86 was held in and around Yaletown. Over 22 million people from around the world attended this World's Fair. It transformed the structure of the neighborhood in its wake. Disused warehouses and factory buildings were bought up and demolished. A huge shift was made to residential buildings with a focus on modernization. The population exploded following this effort. This shift is seen as a major success in urban renewal.