Coming soon to Gastown: a prohibition-style bar and club, complete with antique chandeliers and marble-topped bars, delicious cocktails, and a slew of "rum running" corridors and stairwells.

The Shop Hop is back for 2013, coming up this month, and featuring the best of what spring style has to offer!

From 5-9 Thursday, April 18th, our streets will be lined with balloons, and doors will be open into the evening.

Our non exclusive list of things you should put on your to-do list this week.

Congratulations to local Gastown business company Reliance Properties Ltd. -- now officially 2013's most innovative company!

We have a new series! Of all the neighbourhoods to have an archive of interesting old photographs from years ago and eras passed, may we toot our own (bike) horn for a moment here, and suggest that we might have the best of the best?

Check out some of this awesome Spring eye candy -- beautiful, crafted objects from Orling & Wu! We are loving these pops of colors in pinks, blues, and reds, and the stunning theme of botanica, flora, and fauna throughout!

First of all, we'd like to wish Brioche Urban Catering a very happy tenth birthday! 

John Crook fondly recalls his mother’s reaction to his dream of one day opening a restaurant and her never having to cook and clean again. “Sure John that will happen when pigs fly” was her witty comeback. Well now he can safely say, “Look Mom, the Pigs are flying again!”

The Spring Sessional Cask Festival is coming this May 4th, 1-6pm at The Portside Pub in Gastown!

Don't miss these moments in Gastown this weekend.

We are excited to share that the much loved Revolver Coffee is expanding next door this Spring/Summer. With the new space, which will be connected by a doorway, will come at least double the current amount of seats in Revolver. The service bar will remain on the original side, but more seating and standing room will be available to the bustling coffee shop.

We'd like to give a warm welcome to a cool independent business that has just moved its offices into Gastown at 55 Water Street. "We were looking to move into an area that was more creative. We were looking for change and community," says President and CEO Sandra Miles, "We have a lot of innovative projects we are working on and wanted a lift, and we wanted to be around a community that helps us focus that way."

For the 16th year, Georgia Straight readers have shared their secrets in our annual Golden Plate Awards. Below are the results of our 2013 readers' choice survey – conducted online earlier this year – with winners in 158 categories.