RemyScalza.com: Independent Journalism

Pit Stop Turned Wine Country: British Columbia's Similkameen Valley

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For at least a decade or so, Canada’s Okanagan Valley in British Columbia has been on the radar of people who like to travel to beautiful places to sip wine and get a tan.  The New York Times even called the area Napa North.  It’s gotten to the point where you have to compete with tour buses for parking spots at some wineries.  But right next door to the Okanagan is another valley where crowds aren’t a big issue: the Similkameen.  Once home to gold and copper mines, the Similkameen has started the slow, gentle slide toward gentrification.  For the moment, some great wineries and restaurants have opened up, but it’s still got lots of character.  I checked out the valley for Western Living Magazine:

Sweet Valley High: Canada’s Similkameen comes into its own

Remy Scalza; Special to Western Living

Life in the Okanagan’s shadow isn’t always easy.  The Similkameen Country, an isolated and starkly beautiful river valley tucked between the Cascade Range and the Osoyoos desert, has long been little more than a pit stop for travellers bound for the lakes and vineyards of interior British Columbia – a place to gas up the car, stock up on peaches at dusty roadside fruit stands and then blast on through to better-known destinations.

But wineries have proliferated in the last decade, with top vintners attracted by the cheap land, spectacular setting and uniquely arid climate. With grapes has come the first generation of progressive restaurants and B&Bs, keen to highlight the valley’s deep green roots and wide-open spaces.

Fruit Reconsidered
“When I was a conventional grower, anywhere from nine to 15 pesticides would have been put on a pear like this,” says 61-year-old Bruce Harker, owner of Harker’s Organics (2238 Hwy 3, Cawston, 250-499-2751, harkersorganics.com). Like many of his neighbours in Cawston, the “Organic Capital of Canada,” Harker ditched the chemicals decades ago.

His 30-acre farm is a great stop for a gentle primer on organics and a basketful of pears, peaches and specialty produce like organic rhubarb. The Harkers started the on-site Rustic Roots Winery (rusticrootswinery.com) in 2008, turning a portion of the harvest into award-winning organic fruit wines. Try the signature Iced Orin dessert wine, billed as “apple pie in a glass.”

To read the full article, click here.

Paid to Tweet: Profile of a social media specialist

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We’ve all dreamed about it – A lucky few live the dream.  In Vancouver, an increasing number of companies are looking for full-time social media experts.  That’s right – People who get paid (well) to spend all day on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  Skeptical about the qualifications of these so-called experts?  I was.  So I tracked down a new hire at Nature’s Path Organics, one of the world’s largest organic cereal companies, and spent some time with her on the job. I wrote about about the experience for BC Business Magazine:

What It’s Like to Work in Social Media

Remy Scalza; Special to BC Business

In her second-floor cubicle in an office whose walls are painted pumpkin orange, 28-year-old Christabel Shaler is eating gluten-free cereal with almond milk and checking Facebook. A status update she posted a few hours earlier has already drawn 14 comments and 56 Likes from some 135,991 Facebook fans. She clicks the refresh button and a new comment shows up. “I’m so plugged in I have to make myself take breaks,” Shaler explains, whipping through open windows on her 21.5-inch iMac with a twitch of the mouse. “I’m constantly online checking.”

Facebook addiction is hardly a problem in her position. Shaler was recently hired to fill the new post of social media specialist at Nature’s Path Foods Inc. in Richmond, the giant in organic breakfast foods with more than 400 employees and $200 million in annual sales.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Signs of Life in Vancouver's Olympic Village

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Photo credit: Brian Howell

I’ve written about Olympic Village a few times in the past year, and it always fascinates me.  The whole neighborhood – something like 25 high-rises comprising eight city blocks – was built from scratch at a cost of more than a billion dollars to house athletes during the 2010 Olympics.  Then, when the games were over, the place sat vacant – or nearly so – for at least a year: a ghost town right on the edge of downtown Vancouver.  Well, things are finally starting to come around.  You can see people on the streets, lights on in the condo towers and even eager recruits lining up for pole dancing classes.  More on that in the article below, written for BC Business Magazine.

It Takes a Village: Signs of life in Vancouver’s newest neighborhood

Remy Scalza; Special to BC Business

On a recent Sunday afternoon, a free tasting of fortified wines has lured the thirsty and curious into Legacy Liquor Store, the cavernous new 8,600-square-foot private store in the heart of Olympic Village, now officially known as the Village on False Creek. Couples with monstrous strollers, the young and bearded of Mount Pleasant, and seniors in track suits and dark glasses crowd the granite-topped bar in back, sipping a mid-priced reserve from Jerez.

“I always think of this one as butter tarts in a glass,” says 31-year-old Legacy general manager Darryl Lamb, uncorking a bottle behind the bar. “With a little crème brûlée, flan, even Fig Newtons, it’s magic.” A line has formed, curling back through elaborate displays of craft beer and a maze of well-stocked wine racks. Between pours, Lamb explains that the healthy turnout today is hardly unusual: “The amount of walk-in traffic since we opened in November has been unbelievable. We’re already months and months ahead of our sales projections.”

In the throes of receivership, against a backdrop of lawsuits from jilted condo buyers and lingering controversies about concessions to developers and taxpayer-shouldered losses, the Olympic Village development and the surrounding Southeast False Creek neighbourhood (stretching from the Cambie Bridge to Main Street, and from False Creek to West Second Avenue) are quietly getting on with the business of business. Proximity to downtown, ample mass transit and an ambitious residential plan all seem to augur well for the area’s commercial future. “Developers are creating a lot of density and a lot of residential activity,” says Tsur Somerville, director of the Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate at UBC’s Sauder School of Business. “The fact that there are no readily accessible amenities there right now creates an excellent environment for retailers to go into.”

To read the full article, click here.

For Cheaper Medical Care, Try Tijuana

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In a place where you can’t drink the water, is it safe to go under the knife?  I was surprised to learn that growing numbers of people from Texas and California are heading down to notorious Tijuana, Mexico, for medical tourism.  Procedures range from cosmetic surgeries to more advanced stuff including gastric bypasses and even experimental treatments not approved in the U.S.   Obviously price is a big factor.  But is getting medical care in Tijuana – given the drug violence and long history of sleaze – a good idea?  I checked things out while on a trip to Mexico and wrote about the experience for The Washington Post.

For Cheaper Medical Care, Try Tijuana

Remy Scalza: Special to the Washington Post

Adrian doesn’t look like a pharmacist. He’s not wearing a white lab coat and hasn’t shaved in a few days. He pats the breast pocket of his shirt to show me the best spot to stash pills when crossing back over the border.

“They won’t check here, and if they do, just tell them you have a medical condition,” he explains.

Out in front of his little shop, under his neon pharmacy sign, a busty mannequin done up in a skimpy nurse’s uniform and holding a heart-shaped sign for Viagra beckons more customers off the street. No prescription? No problem.

Tijuana, Mexico, just across the border from San Diego, has long been a favored destination for Americans in the market for cheap and illicit meds, among other things. The city was a seedy refuge for Hollywood pleasure-seekers during Prohibition, and then came decades as a playground for hard-partying co-eds and service personnel too young to imbibe north of the border.

But times are changing. Discount pharmacies such as Adrian’s are slowly disappearing as Tijuana turns its attention to American medical tourists looking for more than painkillers and sex pills. Savvy comparison shoppers, they stream in from California and beyond for deep discounts on everything from cosmetic and weight-loss surgeries to hip replacements and stem-cell transplants. Some are uninsured in the United States. Others are hoping to save on the high cost of elective procedures back home.

And then there’s me, just here to do a little browsing.

To read the full article on the Washington Post website, click here.

New Healthy Street Food Rules in Vancouver

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Street food is a big part of any city’s culinary scene.  But until last summer, Vancouver’s street fare was limited to hotdogs, popcorn and chestnuts.  City officials recently lifted the ban, setting off a food cart renaissance.  But there’s one catch: New vendors are selected based on whether they offer healthy, fair-trade and organic options, among other criteria.  I blogged about the unusual requirements for In Transit, The New York Times’ travel blog.

New Street Food Rules in Vancouver Emphasize Health and Diversity

By Remy Scalza

In Vancouver, street food is an emerging mini-industry. But new vendors who want to sell hot dogs and cheese steak sandwiches may need to switch to healthier options. A controversial city council decision made last month requires vendors seeking licenses to conform to a range of new rules, which emphasize healthier fare; organic, local and fair-trade foods; and an increased diversity of options.

Click here to see the full post on The New York Times website, as well as a video I shot of one of the food trucks.

Olympic Village in Vancouver is Reborn

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Most city neighborhoods evolve organically over time, the slow accretion of buildings, shops, traditions and quirks.  Not Vancouver’s Olympic Village.  The ready-made ‘hood spanning eight city blocks was built practically overnight to house thousands of athletes for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.  After the competitors went home, it was transformed into the city’s newest residential district.   Though Olympic Village was slow to fill up, and remains a source of controversy in Vancouver, the neighborhood is beginning to come into its own.  I wrote about Vancouver’s newest destination in a recent article for The New York Times.

An Olympic Village in Vancouver is Reborn

By Remy Scalza; Special to The New York Times

DURING the Olympic Games in Vancouver last February, about 3,000 athletes and officials spent their downtime holed up in the Olympic Village. Filling eight city blocks, with 25 residential high-rises and mixed-use buildings, the $1.1 billion pop-up neighborhood was built on a desolate stretch of industrial land along the city’s waterfront. After the athletes left, the sprawling complex — nearly 1,100 units in total — was reinvented as Vancouver’s newest residential district. That transformation has, in turn, accelerated the emergence of the area around the complex as a destination unto itself.

Click here to read the full article on The New York Times website.

Learning to Build an Igloo in Vancouver

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Vancouver, which is just across the border from Seattle, is hardly what most people think of Canada – It rarely snows in the city and during the summer beaches are packed.  But during winter, the mountains outside Vancouver get walloped with something like 30 feet of snow.  I spent a day last winter on one of those mountains learning to build that most cliched of all Canadian shelters – the igloo.  It was like making a snow fort as a kid but a lot more work.  I wrote about the experience for The Washington Post.

Learning to Build an Igloo in the Mountains outside Vancouver

Remy Scalza; Special to the Washington Post

Chilled from a day in the snow, stiff from hours of shoveling, we worm down the tunnel of the igloo one after the other. The wind’s howl mutes to a low hum. The day’s gray light goes black. I follow the pair of boots in front of me, crawling through cold, clammy air toward the glimmer of light ahead.

The boots belong to Michael Harding, igloo evangelist. An outdoor guide with baby-blue eyes and snow-white hair, Harding has raised untold hundreds of igloos in this corner of western Canada. “They’re warmer than tents. They’re soundproof. They’re practically cozy,” he’d explained that morning, as we climbed into the backcountry of the mountains outside Vancouver in his late-model Nissan Pathfinder. A friend and I have joined him and another guide for a one-day crash course in igloo basics. Not that I’m planning an assault on K2 anytime soon. But even for armchair adventurers, there’s just something about an igloo.

Our proving ground today is a plateau high atop Cypress Mountain, whose 4,700-foot peaks rise dizzyingly just beyond the city limits. Perhaps best known as the host to some 2010 Olympic ski events, Cypress is stubbornly wild. More than 30 feet of snow falls here in an average winter, and the endless, craggy backcountry provides a popular training ground for hard-core hikers gearing up for expeditions to Washington state’s Mount Baker, Alaska’s Mount McKinley and other high peaks of the North American West. Never mind the tots in ski boots in the parking lot and the legions of Lululemon-wearing hikers: Cypress still feels extreme.

To read the rest of the article on the Washington Post website, click here.

Flickr Inventor Talks about Online Gaming Project

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Photo: Stewart Butterfield


One little-known quirk about Vancouver is that it’s home to a small but thriving tech scene.  In fact, I was surprised to discover that the guy who invented Flickr, Stewart Butterfield, lives right across the street from me.  Unlike Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg, Stewart sold out years ago, netting a measly $35 million for Flickr.  But he’s hard at work on his latest project, an Internet-based game called Glitch.  I interviewed him for Vancouver’s leading business magazine, BC Business.

Stewart Butterfield, Philosopher Game King

By Remy Scalza

Stewart Butterfield takes play very seriously. Born in tiny Lund, B.C., and currently a resident of Yaletown, the former Cambridge philosophy student is best known for co-founding the photo-sharing website Flickr, which sold to Yahoo Inc. for an estimated $35 million in 2005. Now, pursuing a calling closer to his philosophical roots, the 37-year-old Butterfield is preparing to launch an Internet-based game called Glitch, which he believes will shake up online gaming much as Flickr did photo sharing.

“There aren’t any other big-budget, high-production-value, massively multiplayer games out there that aren’t about killing other people,” Butterfield says of Glitch, due to be released early this year. “Hopefully, people will just come and play.”

Click here to read the full article on the BC Business website.

Tijuana Reconsidered

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Tijuana is one of those places that very few people have been to, everybody’s heard of and pretty much no one wants to go to.  I took a trip to the sleazy Mexican border town par-excellence mainly out of curiosity.  Could it really be that bad?  Would the streets be thronged with college kids getting drunk on cheap margaritas and high on discount prescription meds?  What about all the drug violence that the State Department has been warning us about – the daylight shootouts by rival gangs, the kidnappings?  Well, it turns out that Tijuana is suffering mainly from a serious image problem.  It’s not exactly picturesque, but it’s hardly any more dangerous than your average U.S. city.  And despite being pushed up against the U.S. border, there’s a homegrown culture that’s distinctly Mexican. I wrote about the experience for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Good, the bad and the edgy

December 12, 2010
A lookout on the Tijuana coastline.


A lookout on the Tijuana coastline. Photo: David Peevers/Lonely Planet

Boutique wineries by day, tequila blowouts by night. Remy Scalza finds anything-goes Tijuana has shrugged off its battle scars and made changes.

THE special tonight in La Querencia, a minimalist bistro near the banks of the Rio Tijuana, is wild quail served in bitter-sweet chocolate sauce. Around me in the dining room couples cluster at brushed stainless-steel tables, chatting in Spanish above a trance-music soundtrack and moving steadily through bottles of wine from the nearby Guadalupe Valley. The energy in the room and the optimism are a distant cry from the mood during the worst of la violencia – the drug-fuelled mayhem that had middle-class Tijuanense fleeing north of the border just two years ago.

Since those dark days, Tijuana, Mexico, which lies just across the US border from San Diego, has done an abrupt – if largely unnoticed – about-face. A new, hard-nosed chief of police has worked to rein in the drug cartels and residents have turned their energies inward, cultivating a sophisticated bar and restaurant scene and reinvigorating the arts and culture circuit. Tijuana, for all its challenges, is in the midst of a mini-renaissance.

To read the rest of the article on the Sydney Morning Herald website, click here.  

Western Promises: Young and Saudi in North America

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Photo: Greg Geipel for Vancouver Magazine



Vancouver has long been a popular destination for international students, in particular ESL students from Japan and Korea who come across the Pacific to study English.  Recently, however, I began noticing a new constituency:  Arabic speaking students from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  After asking some questions, I discovered that there are tens of thousands of Saudi students studying in Canada (even more in the U.S.) as part of an ambitious scholarship program intended to show young Saudis a glimpse of Western life.  I spent a few days hanging out with a group of guys from Riyadh during Ramadan, and I wrote about the experience for Vancouver Magazine.

Western Promises

Young Saudis have an all expenses-paid ticket to study in Vancouver, and they’re getting more than just a university education.

By published Nov 30, 2010

By Saudi Arabian standards, Trad Bahabri, a 21-year-old from the capital city of Riyadh, may be a good driver. By Vancouver standards, however, he is not. One afternoon during Eid, the holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Bahabri is driving north on Knight trying to get to Richmond. This is the wrong direction. He eyes oncoming traffic, slams on the brakes, and makes an abrupt U-turn in his Chrysler 300, a hulking new sedan with an imposing metal grille. “Saudis like American cars,” he explains. “We don’t have to worry about the gas.”

By the time we finally crest the Knight Street Bridge, other drivers have begun to stare. It’s not just his driving skills that are attracting attention. To mark the holiday, Bahabri is in traditional Saudi dress: a flowing white robe known as a thobe, which he stayed up late ironing, and a brilliant red and white-checked head scarf, or shemagh. The shemagh spills over the headrest and flaps around when the window is rolled down.

Bahabri stops in an industrial part of Richmond near Ikea and parks behind a drab cinderblock building with a sign strung above the doorway: Saudi Students Society of British Columbia. Later in the day there will be a feast to commemorate the end of Ramadan. A small crowd of men—some in thobes and shemaghs, and just as many in jeans and hoodies—is already gathering out front.

Click here to read the full article on the Vancouver Magazine website.

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