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Exploring the restaurants that bring Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods to life.
Sophie’s Cosmic Café owner Jim Dikeakos remembers the late-1980s when a guy named Chip Wilson opened a second snowboard clothing store one block west of the café at the corner of Arbutus and West 4th Avenue.
“He was getting this second shop started, and we were just getting started,” said Dikeakos, sitting in a booth with original artwork, old lunch boxes, and memorabilia adorning the surrounding walls.
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“Our staff and his staff would swap milkshakes and food for Westbeach snowboard T-shirts. It was a different time.”
Times have indeed changed, with Wilson now among the wealthiest people in Canada, and West 4th between Burrard and Yew a retail centre for high-end athleisure brands such as Lululemon, Patagonia, Reigning Champ, Icebreaker, Gravity Pope, and Kit and Ace.
“I still see Chip walking down West 4th at times,” said Dikeakos. “We look at each other and smile.”
Wilson remains connected to the Kitsilano neighbourhood where he launched the global brand Lululemon after selling Westbeach in 1997. His private company owns six properties on the 2100-block of West 4th alone, as well as the soon-to-be developed Safeway site one block west.
He has installed a retro neon artwork called Kits Corner on another property he owns at West 4th and Yew and is involved in the re-launch of Westbeach on the 2100-block of West 4th.
Dikeakos was born in Vancouver and raised in Kitsilano and remembers the late 1960s when West 4th Avenue was a shadow site of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury counter-culture scene.
“It was a hippie area back then and you can still feel that today, although a lot of the mom-and-pop restaurants and stores have been taken over by more corporate stores. It has become one of the most expensive streets in the city to lease,” he said.
In 1988, Dikeakos, his brother Christos and his sister-in-law Sophie, bought what was then called the Arbutus Restaurant, a low-end breakfast joint.
Early on, while still operating as the Arbutus Restaurant, the trio pulled down part of a facade on the building that uncovered an old sign for the Cosmic Circus, a 1970s hangout that sold pipes and smoking paraphernalia, tie-dye shirts and Mod clothes.
“Everyone was calling the restaurant Sophies, so we just combined the two, covered the word circus with café, and that’s where Sophie’s Cosmic Café came from,” Dikeakos said.
The draw of West 4th is highlighted on a cool, sunny day in early March, where hundreds of people, including many children, walk up and down the avenue — drawn to its proximity to the beach, shopping, and the dozens of food outlets that line the four blocks between Burrard and Vine.
The variety of dining on offer is wide, old and new.
Simpatico, at 2222 West 4th, has been in business for longer than Sophie’s and has the same Greek heritage. The area has a noted Greek connection with many immigrants from that country arriving in Vancouver and settling in Kitsilano in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.
Jackson’s Resto-Butcher, at 2214 West 4th, however, takes the cake for longevity. It opened as a butcher at that site in 1911 and is still owned by the Jackson family. In 2020, they applied for a 50-seat restaurant licence and now operate the butcher shop from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m., and the restaurant from 11 a.m. until late.
There are 76 restaurants in Vancouver recognized by the 2025 Michelin Guide. Among those on West 4th are Delara Persian cuisine (2272), Fable Kitchen (1944) and Maenam (1938).
An interesting venue to visit is Turf, which was opened by sisters Deanne and Delaney Schweitzer, who were early Lululemon executives. It is a fitness studio, coffee bar, shop and kitchen at 2041 West 4th with a great outdoor seating area.
The Vancouver creation Rain Or Shine Ice Cream has opened on West 4th (1926) and is usually busy, appearing to be a great choice for a third location. Tutto Belle Il Gelato at 2151 West 4th is also a good spot to cool down.
Among the other dining options are seven restaurants with Asian flair, a French restaurant and the long-standing Las Margaritas Mexican restaurant at 1999 West 4th.
Take a trip to West 4th Avenue to look and see, or eat, or shop. Then walk down to the water to end a great day.
Eat Streets: What to know about this stretch of West 4th Avenue
Number of restaurants and food options: 38
What are the options for parking?
There is paid parking all along West 4th with time restrictions. Most of the parking on the streets around West 4th are reserved for residents. There are pay parking lots at 2148 West 4th and 2020 Arbutus St. There is free parking underneath Whole Foods at the corner of West 4th and Vine if you buy something from the store.
What are Metro Vancouver’s Eat Streets?
This article is part one of a series highlighting Metro Vancouver’s must-visit Eat Streets. With the goal of celebrating — and maybe even introducing you to — stretches of community around the region that have a notable concentration of local food businesses. Know of a great Eat Street in your community? Let us know where. Email us at artslife@vancouversun.com.
Read about more of Metro Vancouver’s Eat Streets:
• Eat Streets: A United Nations of cuisine on Vancouver’s Victoria Drive
• Eat Streets: Langley City’s one-way a hub of local food
• Eat Streets: Delta and Surrey unite over food on this stretch of Scott Road
• Eat Streets: Comfort food served Hong Kong-style at Richmond’s Empire Centre
• Eat Streets: There’s now a world of flavours on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive
• Eat Streets: North Vancouver’s Lower Lonsdale reinvented as a foodie destination
Bookmark THIS PAGE to read the latest instalment every Wednesday.
Then and now: Vancouver’s 4th Avenue in pictures
