Very quickly you notice the neighborhood din. The cars, buses, bikes, dogs, children, people chattering, coffee cups clinking as the locals sit in the outdoor cafes, cajoling loudly with each other. Just a block away are quiet tree lined streets, with beautifully painted houses. Don’t look for any high-rises here, because you won’t find them.

The people are as diverse as the entertainment, cuisine and shops. It’s the kind of place, that the shopkeeper knows you by name. You can usually hear the elderly men outside on “The Drive” arguing about soccer teams or the price of eggplant. They all live together in harmony, no matter what their ethnicity. You can savor the aroma that permeates and waffles through the air. Keep strolling along and you can relish in everything from poutine to paella to chicken curry, there is something for everyone’s palate.

This is where I live and the hood I call home, and there isn’t a place that I would rather be, on Commercial Drive in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,