Drive Denizen: Ruth Kozak

Veteran Driver Ruth Kozak has lived here with her family since 1947. She works as a writer for http://thevancouverguide.planeteye.com/ and has done several stories on our neighbourhood. She is also writes travel articles and historical fiction.
She teaches the writing craft to people of all ages. Her travel exploits can be found at http://travelthroughhistory.blogspot.com/

Live on the Drive: Clayton Bowersock

Denizen of the Day: Pietro Aiello

Pietro has lived near Commercial Drive for 56 years. He has had dozens of children and grandchildren born and raised just a few blocks away from the Continental Coffee shop where we met him.

Denizen of the Day: Kevin Noble

Kevin Noble, owner of A Small World Gallery and Gift Shop, taking in the morning sun with smoke and Coffee in hand. Drop in and visit the store at 2120 Commercial Drive or visit them online at http://www.asmallworldonline.com/home.php?cat=255

To see more Commercial Drive Denizens just click the "denizen" tag at the bottom of this post.

Denizen of the Day

Name: Carly
Occupation: Hostess at the Libra Room
The "always friendly" face at the door, enjoying herself on a rare night off.

Denizen of the Day: Watermelon

Watermelon isn't only a fruit related to the herb family of plants; She's also a comedienne, baker, entrepreneur, model, tango dancer, health nut, activist...and acquitted three times on drug charges. Many moons ago, she woke up dehydrated on a nude beach and conceived the idea to sell fruit to other sunbathers in the buff. Her watermelon was such a smash success that she decided to branch out and bake up some "gingersnap crackle and pot" cookies for sale. It didn't take long for the authorities to catch up with her, and one day on the famous (and nude) Wreck Beach, the men in blue arrested her amidst crying children and rioting nudists. Turns out her cookies not only contained a secret ingredient, but also a little loophole, leading the judges to concede reasonable doubt about her guilt. She has said her pot cookies taste good, but victory tastes sweeter. She's graced the cover of High Times Magazine and hosted Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup. She believes the prohibition of marijuana is the epitome of a million social injustices. If you follow the link below, she will tell you why (Includes a nice documentary done on her for "Passengers".

http://www.orato.com/lifestyles/2007/04/05/watermelon-039-s-bust

For more Commercial Drive Denizens, go here...

Denizen of the Day: Mike Carr

Mike Carr is a widely respected academic, a visionary community activist and a concerned citizen. Mike Carr (seen here with Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May) is a Sessional Instructor at SFU and an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s School of Community & Regional Planning (SCARP).over the past 8 years Mike has taught a wide range of courses in several departments at SFU, including First Nations Studies, Urban Studies, Geography, Sociology/Anthropology and the Department of Humanities. Carr has also taught Urban Geography and the Geography of Colonial British Columbia at UBC and Bioregional Mapping at SCARP, UBC.

Carr is also a long time community activist. Currently he is a Director of the Grandview Woodlands Area Council in East Van. For over 30 years Mike has worked with many different groups in civil society, including; the Aurora Institute (which he helped found), the Native Education Society, the Eco-City Network, the Barefoot Cartographers, the Labour Environmental Alliance, the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, SPEC, the Wilderness Committee, the Peoples Food Commission, Vancouver Cooperative Radio, the first Vancouver Walk for Peace in 1982 and many more.

A leading bioregional author and planner, Mike is now standing for election with the Green Party to challenge the status quo parties and to engage the electorate on our ecological and social crisis.

For more information check out his website, www.vaneastgreens.org or call 604-689-9200 or email vaneast@greenparty.ca.

Denizen of the Day

Name: Queen
Occupation: On a mission from God
Queen believes that God has told her to take up the cause of children who are used and abused. If something isn't done to rescue and protect them a major earthquake will take the lives of many, many people.
This was taken today at about 1pm on the Northbound Victoria bus.
Click the picture for a larger version.

For more denizens, click the label "denizen" below.

Denizen of the Day: Clayton Bowersock

Singer. Songwriter. Busker.
A true original. Clayton Bowersock

Denizen of the Day: Jay Hamburger

We caught the Artistic Director of Commercial Drive's notorious Theatre In the Raw in a rare reflective moment.

Those who know the vibrant, passionate theatre maker, also know you don't often see him sitting still for long.
With their first ever Fringe production over, the little theatre company that could is setting it's sights on even bigger, better things next year.
Keep following Commercial Drive - Live! for all the latest updates.
By the way, people may not realize that Jay was a contributer to the words and music in the original Godspell when he was at Carnegie Mellon University.