They were filming a movie here - across the street in an alley - a couple of weeks ago. Lots of vans, booms, lighting, people gathered, actors, extras, pedestrians just watching.
It went on a couple of days.
And - the last couple of weeks they've been window dressing the building next to the Cambie - "The Tongue and Tail", making it into a fictional butcher shop. They've put decals on the windows, cleaned up and retiled the inside, brought in coolers, fridges, painted the butcher's signage on the building next to the alley - finally, now, they've filled the window with choice cuts of plastic molded to resemble meat - sides of beef, sausages, chickens, etc.
Every night, after work, there's security guarding the site - a "Teamsters" car parked out front, a security guard (or 2) on foot...
They've put more money into the "appearances" and the fiction of a butcher shop than most real butchers would put into a real butcher shop.
This is hilarious. And when the movie - or scene - is done shooting the building again will be vacant, junkies will shoot up in the doorway, use it as a toilet - but - for the moment - I'm living in a fictional gentrification of Gastown, an substantially upscaled neighborhood that will pass as a friendly neighborhood (or maybe not? I don't know what they're filming...) butcher - is this for a fleeting scene? Given the money spent on renovations I would expect a substantial portion of filming to be done here - maybe a new Canadian sitcom?
Wait and see...
**Update: Outside for a cigarette, street blocked off, booms and crew in place - looks like filming starts today. And I have to work a double and will miss it. Damn!!