Live in West Point Grey
The old Municipality of Point Grey's northwest corner — three beaches, a 1913 mansion for a community centre, a three-block village at Sasamat, and a 90-acre Indigenous-led redevelopment about to change all of it.
West Point Grey sits on the headland Captain George Vancouver named in 1792 for his friend Captain George Grey — a year after Spanish surveyors had already called it Punta de Langara. Logging crews under Jeremiah Rogers worked the shoreline in the 1860s and 70s from a camp at "Jerry's Cove", the name that shortened into Jericho; the Corporation of Point Grey seceded from South Vancouver in 1908 and ran its own municipality for twenty-one years before amalgamating into Vancouver on 1 January 1929. About 13,065 people lived in the local area's 4.45 km² at the 2016 census, in a grid of houses running down to Jericho, Locarno and Spanish Banks and up against Pacific Spirit Regional Park at Blanca Street. The shopping is three blocks of West 10th Avenue around Sasamat and Trimble, the community centre is a Tudor Revival mansion called Aberthau, and UBC — the reason a good share of the traffic exists — is outside the city limits entirely. What comes next is the Jericho Lands: 90 acres owned by the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations with Canada Lands, planned for roughly 13,000 homes over the next quarter-century. This is what living here is actually like.
A former municipality at the end of the road, with three beaches and one shopping street
Bounded by English Bay to the north, Alma Street to the east toward Kitsilano, West 16th Avenue to the south, and Blanca Street to the west toward the University Endowment Lands, Pacific Spirit Regional Park and UBC.
The headland was named Point Grey by Captain George Vancouver in 1792 for his friend Captain George Grey — a year after Spanish surveyors had charted it as Punta de Langara, and long after it was ʔəlqsən in Halkomelem and Ts'ats'lhm in Squamish. Jeremiah Rogers logged the shore in the 1860s and 70s from "Jerry's Cove", which shortened into Jericho. The Corporation of Point Grey seceded from South Vancouver on 1 January 1908, ran its own municipality for twenty-one years, and amalgamated into Vancouver on 1 January 1929.
The boundaries. English Bay to the north, Alma Street east toward Kitsilano, West 16th Avenue south, and Blanca Street west against the University Endowment Lands. About 13,065 people lived in the local area's 4.45 km² at the 2016 census — one of the smaller and least dense populations on the West Side, with a 2016 median household income of $84,951 against the city's $65,423.
The main street. Everything commercial happens in about three blocks of West 10th Avenue around Sasamat and Trimble — the Village. It is a genuinely small strip that has struggled with vacancies and rents, and the Safeway site at 10th and Sasamat was approved for redevelopment in March 2025. The community centre is Aberthau, a Samuel Maclure Tudor Revival mansion finished in 1913, taken over by the City in 1974.
The green and blue edges. Jericho, Locarno and Spanish Banks run the whole north shoreline, with the Jericho Sailing Centre launching dinghies and kiteboards off the first of them; Pacific Spirit Regional Park — about 860 hectares and 55-plus km of trail — begins at Blanca. Between them sit the Jericho Lands: 90 acres owned by the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations with Canada Lands, endorsed by council in January 2024 for roughly 13,000 homes.
- No rapid transit, and none planned — the Broadway Subway stops at Arbutus, so SkyTrain means the 99 B-Line or the 4 and 14 down Broadway first; downtown is a 8 km drive across the whole West Side
- The Jericho Lands will add roughly 13,000 homes on 90 acres over 25 to 30 years — a generational construction site and a population change that will dwarf the existing 13,000 residents
- Retail is three blocks of West 10th and it is fragile: vacancies are visible, Fiesta Days ended after 2023, and the village Safeway site was approved for redevelopment in March 2025 — confirm what is actually trading
- The three beaches belong to the whole city; NW Marine Drive parking and traffic on hot weekends and fireworks nights is a real cost of living on the north slope
- UBC drives the bus corridors — September to April the 4th and 10th Avenue routes run full, and term-start traffic is a fixture
- Lord Byng Secondary is over-enrolled (about 1,497 students against a 1,200 capacity) and catchments change — confirm the current catchment for a specific address with the VSB school locator before you buy
How West Point Grey got here
- 1792Captain George Vancouver names the headland Point Grey for his friend Captain George Grey; Spanish surveyors had charted it a year earlier as Punta de Langara. The Halkomelem name for the point is ʔəlqsən, the Squamish name Ts'ats'lhm.
- 1860s–70sJeremiah "Jerry" Rogers runs a logging camp on the shoreline; "Jerry's Cove" — or "Jerry & Co." — is corrupted into Jericho, the name the beach still carries.
- 1908The Corporation of Point Grey begins operating on 1 January under provincial letters patent of December 1907, after residents tired of South Vancouver's penny-pinching on civic improvements and led a secession. Its municipal hall later becomes Kerrisdale Community Centre.
- 1913Aberthau is completed at 4397 West 2nd Avenue — a Tudor Revival mansion designed by Samuel Maclure for businessman James Rear, begun in 1909. Colonel Victor Spencer buys it in 1918 and gives it the Welsh name meaning "a place filled with light"; Queen Mary Elementary opens on Trimble Street the following year, in 1914.
- 1920An air station opens at Jericho Beach; in 1924 it becomes the first Royal Canadian Air Force station in British Columbia, flying boats out of the bay until it closes in 1947. Aberthau serves as the officers' mess during the Second World War.
- 1929Point Grey and South Vancouver amalgamate with the City of Vancouver on 1 January, creating the city boundaries still in use. The University Endowment Lands and the UBC campus to the west stay outside the city.
- 1974The City converts Aberthau into the West Point Grey Community Centre; the Vancouver Folk Music Festival settles at Jericho Beach Park in 1979, after one year in Stanley Park, and has run there most Julys since.
- 2024Vancouver council unanimously endorses the ʔəy̓alməxʷ/Iy̓álmexw / Jericho Lands Policy Statement in January — roughly 13,000 homes, 30% below-market, about 3,000 jobs and 12 hectares of parks on the 90-acre site the MST Nations and Canada Lands acquired in 2014 and 2016. The Official Development Plan follows in April 2025, phased over 25 to 30 years.
Three beaches and 860 hectares of forest, both inside a walk
Jericho Beach carries the park, the pond and the Jericho Sailing Centre, the user-funded non-profit that launches dinghies, kayaks, windsurfers and kiteboards; Locarno is a designated quiet beach with no amplified sound; Spanish Banks runs west under the bluff and drains hundreds of metres out at summer low tide. Behind the grid, Pacific Spirit Regional Park — roughly 860 hectares handed to Metro Vancouver in 1989, with more than 55 km of trails — starts at Blanca Street. The Vancouver Folk Music Festival has been held at Jericho most Julys since 1979.
The resident's angle: the beaches are a city-wide destination, so July and August weekends bring the traffic and the parking patrols with them. The compensation is the other nine months, when the foreshore path from Jericho to Spanish Banks and the forest trails behind the neighbourhood are effectively local. The festival has had funding scares — check the current year's status before planning around it.
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the centre of the local area to each destination and rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. West Point Grey's own list is short and close — three beaches, four schools, a library and one shopping street inside a walk — while almost everything else, including SkyTrain, a full hospital and any large shopping centre, means driving east across the West Side.
Every gym within reach
Indoor fitness is the honest weak spot. Aberthau is a heritage mansion with a gymnasium and programme rooms rather than a weight room, so residents lean on the Park Board centres in Kitsilano and Dunbar, on UBC Recreation memberships, or on the foreshore path and the Pacific Spirit trails, which are the best free tier in the city.
- Not a drop-in weight room: check the current programme guide before assuming a fitness floor
- Kitsilano and Dunbar community centres are the nearest Park Board weight rooms, both about 4 km east or south
- UBC Recreation and the UBC Aquatic Centre sell community memberships — the usual winter lap-swimming answer here
- The free tier is genuinely good: flat foreshore running from Jericho to Spanish Banks, and 55-plus km of forest trail from Blanca Street
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| West Point Grey Community Centre (Aberthau) open | The Park Board anchor at 4397 West 2nd — gymnasium, arts and fitness programming and a preschool inside a 1913 heritage mansion. It is not a weight-room facility; check the current programme guide rather than assuming a drop-in gym. | 3–4 min |
| Kitsilano Community Centre fitness centre open | The nearest Park Board weight room and ice rink, at 2690 Larch in Kitsilano — cardio floor, racks, sauna and whirlpool at civic rates. | 6–10 min |
| Dunbar Community Centre fitness centre open | The other Park Board option, south on Dunbar Street, with a fitness centre and gymnasium — confirm current hours before you build a routine around it. | 6–10 min |
| UBC Recreation open | The campus gyms and the UBC Aquatic Centre sell community memberships, which is how a lot of West Point Grey households cover winter lap swimming and serious lifting. | 7–10 min |
| Jericho–Spanish Banks foreshore path & Pacific Spirit trails open | The free tier, and the best of it: a flat foreshore run from Jericho past Locarno to Spanish Banks, plus 55-plus km of forest trail starting at Blanca Street. | 3–4 min |
There is no public pool inside the local area. Winter swimming means the UBC Aquatic Centre or crossing into Kitsilano — check current schedules and membership rates before you plan around either.
Two catchment elementaries, a French Immersion anchor and an over-enrolled Byng
Queen Mary Elementary on Trimble — a 1914 Collegiate Gothic building given a $20.3-million seismic upgrade and new wing in 2017 — and Queen Elizabeth Elementary on West 16th split the public elementary catchments. École Jules Quesnel is one of only three single-track French Immersion elementaries in the district, running immersion since 1978. Lord Byng Secondary, the catchment high school since 1925, takes the older grades and runs the Byng Arts Mini School — at about 1,497 students against a 1,200 capacity, it is over its nominal size.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Queen Mary Elementary | VSB | Catchment K–7 at 2000 Trimble Street. The 1914 Collegiate Gothic building by Twizell & Twizell was seismically upgraded with a new wing in a $20.3-million project completed in 2017, for about 364 students. |
| Queen Elizabeth Elementary | VSB | The other catchment elementary in the local area, on West 16th; its annex runs dual-track French Immersion in the early grades, feeding Jules Quesnel at Grade 4. |
| École Jules Quesnel | VSB | One of only three single-track French Immersion elementaries in the district, K–7, running immersion since 1978. Entry is by the VSB's immersion application, not by address. |
| Lord Byng Secondary School | VSB | The catchment secondary since 1925 at 3939 West 16th Avenue, with the Byng Arts Mini School. Around 1,497 students in 2025–26 against a nominal capacity of 1,200 — it is over-enrolled. |
| West Point Grey Academy | Independent | Co-ed JK–12 founded in 1996 at 4125 West 8th Avenue, about 940 students, with a pool, fitness centre and arts wing on site. BC part-funds independent schools; fees still apply. |
| Our Lady of Perpetual Help | Independent | Catholic elementary inside the neighbourhood — the local parish option, with fees and parish-membership considerations. |
BC part-funds independent schools like West Point Grey Academy (JK–12, founded 1996, about 940 students) and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, so fees are lower than full-cost private but real. French Immersion entry is by district application, not address, and catchments change — confirm the current catchment for a specific address with the VSB school locator before you buy.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The Polar Bear Swim runs at English Bay on New Year's Day, a short drive east; Jericho and Locarno stay empty for storm walks
- Rain most days — Pacific Spirit's trails turn to mud and the foreshore path becomes the dry-shoe option
- Big winter low tides expose the Spanish Banks flats in daylight for a few weeks
- Quietest stretch in the village; several West 10th businesses cut winter hours
- Cherry-plum breaks pink on the sheltered side streets by the end of the month
- Still rain season — southeasterly storms pile driftwood along Jericho
- Indoor programming peaks at Aberthau: arts studios, preschool, rentals
- Sailing dinghies start returning to the Jericho compound on the first dry weekends
- Cherry blossom season begins city-wide; the Point Grey street grid is planted heavily enough to be worth walking
- Spring break camps run at the community centre and West Point Grey Academy
- Rain tapers through the month but October-to-March conditions can hold to the end of it
- Jericho Beach Park's pond and trails come back into use as the ground dries
- Blossoms peak in the first half of the month
- Vancouver Sun Run training groups take over the foreshore path before the late-April race downtown
- Vaisakhi parades run in South Vancouver — a city-wide April fixture, not a local one
- UBC's winter term ends, and the West 10th and West 4th bus crush eases noticeably
- Lifeguards return to Jericho, Locarno and Spanish Banks for the season
- Sailing, windsurfing and kiteboarding season gets going at the Jericho Sailing Centre
- The first hot weekend fills the Spanish Banks parking lots by late morning
- Long evenings — sunset over the bay pushes past 9pm by month's end
- Fiesta Days, the West 10th street carnival held every June from 1984, ran for the last time in 2023 — do not plan around it returning
- School winds down at Queen Mary, Jules Quesnel and Lord Byng
- Locarno's no-amplified-sound rule starts to matter as the crowds build
- Longest days of the year; the tide flats at Spanish Banks are walkable well into the evening
- The Vancouver Folk Music Festival has been held at Jericho Beach Park most years since 1979, usually mid-July — the festival has had funding scares, so check the current year before planning around it
- Celebration of Light fireworks over English Bay start late in the month; Jericho and Locarno get the distant, uncrowded view
- Hottest, driest weeks — beach parking on NW Marine Drive fills early and stays full
- Sailing lessons and youth camps run all month out of the Jericho compound
- Celebration of Light finishes in the first week; the beach roads gridlock on show nights
- Busiest beach weeks of the year — the three beaches are a city-wide destination, not a local one
- PNE opens across town at Hastings Park for its late-August run
- Lowest daytime tides of the summer expose the sand flats hundreds of metres out
- UBC term starts and the 4th Avenue and 10th Avenue bus corridors go back to standing-room
- School returns at Queen Mary, Jules Quesnel and Lord Byng
- Lifeguards come off the beaches mid-month; the water is warmest of the year and unsupervised
- Best local month for weather-to-crowd ratio on the foreshore path
- Rain season begins in earnest and runs through to March
- Leaf-fall in Pacific Spirit and along the Point Grey street trees
- First southeasterly storms make Jericho a spectator sport
- Village foot traffic drops off sharply once the beach season ends
- The greyest month — sunset before 4:30pm and rain most days
- Remembrance Day observances; Aberthau served as the RCAF officers' mess during the Second World War
- Storm-watching and empty sand at all three beaches
- Pacific Spirit's trails are usable but muddy — the gravel routes hold up best
- Holiday lights and a village-scale Christmas on the West 10th blocks
- Rain with the occasional sea-level snow day that rarely survives 48 hours — the hill down to the beaches is the one to watch
- UBC empties for the break and the bus corridors clear
- Short, wet days; the foreshore path stays walkable year-round, which is the honest winter perk
8 photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–8 of 8 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near West Point Grey, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Vancouver library.