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the street: Victoria's Lower Johnson Fresh flavours and new looks in Old Town W hile the Empress and Parliament Buildings dominate Victoria's turn-of-the-19th-century look, the candy-coloured Old Town strip at Johnson Street's harbour end shows the early colonial city wasn't all about earl grey and crumpets. Fringing an elderly Chinatown, this is where northbound Gold Rushers geared up, then returned to celebrate or commiserate in hotels and saloons over cockfights and roulette wheels. And though its gold-backed shine eventually faded, Johnson's 1880s façades endured, with history-huggers agitating for preservation in the 1970s. Market Square and the LoJo moniker followed, and a new rush was triggered: independent stores and eateries studding a jellybean stretch of heritage buildings, now Victoria's hippest hangout. –John Lee . 12 W E S T W O R L D p12-13_TheStreet.indd 12 >> [ NOVEMBER Out-of-Hand Craft Fair DECEMBER Festival of Trees FEBRUARY Victoria Tea Festival The Go Spots SHOPS The LoJo shop hop starts at antler-accented Rebel Rebel, for co-ed hipster duds from Whyszeck to Cheap Monday (rebelrebel.biz). • A short stroll away: Salts' topselling wrap-hoodies from its B.C.made eco-friendly line (salts clothing.com). • Nearby, Saltspring Soapworks' kaleidoscopic bath treats, including aromatic wildrhubarb bars (saltspringsoapworks. com). • Pick up bathtub reads at Snowden's Book Store, where towers of used paperbacks poke through the ceiling (619 Johnson). EATS With its funkily mismatched 1970s furnishings, Lady Marmalade is the perfect, chatty breakfast haunt; salmon eggs Benny recommended (ladymarmalade.ca). Lunch-wise: Market Square's WINTER 2011 ] hole-in-the-wall Ayo Eat, for hawker-style Indonesian grub such as nasi goreng ayam (ayoeat. com). • Continue the Asian theme at vegetarian fave Lotus Pond (617 Johnson) or grab a homestyle Polish fix at adjoining Skinnytato (615 Johnson). For romance, the candlelit courtyard ambiance of northern Italy: Il Terrazzo, tucked along Waddington Alley (ilterrazzo.com). DRINKS Surfing Victoria's tea renaissance — kick-started by nearby Silk Road tea company (silkroadtea.com) — white-walled Davids Tea stocks 135-plus loose-leaf varieties and must-have cuppa-making paraphernalia. Perch windowside with a malty Nepal black or toastedwalnut green tea (davidstea.com). • For java alternatives, cozy up at Willie's, B.C.'s oldest bakery (built in 1887); giant muffin or generously iced carrot-cake slice recommended, with two suites upstairs for LoJo sleepovers (willies bakery.com). • Conclude local wanderings a block over on Pandora at Swans Brewpub, serving nightly live music and taste-bud-stroking own-made tipples; go for fortifying Pumpkin Ale (swanshotel.com). WILD CARD Solstice Café — on the Pandora exterior of Market Square — is Victoria's hangout of choice for coffee-loving bohemians. The artdraped exposed-brick walls, homebaked treats (fab apple-cinnamon buns, for starters), regular live music and twice-monthly spokenword nights provide plenty of inspiration, particularly for those clambering on-stage to perform self-penned Coleridgesque epics (solsticecafe.ca). Our Brit columnist takes a Silk Road tea lesson: www.bcaa.com/tea Y Victoria Member-travel specials at www.bcaa.com/victoria John Lee 10/25/11 11:44:18 AM

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