Oakridge, Vancouver

Oakridge is a neighbourhood in the City of Vancouver with a multicultural residential and commercial area. It had a population of 11,795 in 2001, 50 percent of which claimed Chinese as their mother tongue.

Oakridge is generally considered as a rectangular section of Vancouver that is bordered by the major thoroughfare Granville Street on the west and the busy multicultural route of Main Street on the east. West 41st Avenue marks the north border, with West 57th Avenue as the southern edge of the neighbourhood. Oak Street and Cambie Street, both among Vancouver's busiest roads, also run north-south through Oakridge, making for plenty of traffic during morning and evening rush hours. In total, Oakridge encompasses 401 hectares.

The Oakridge area was one of the last parts of Vancouver to be left in its natural state, with the exception of a golf course built near West 49th and Cambie in 1926 and some institutional construction including hospitals and boarding schools prior to World War II.

It was after the war that development began to expand into the wooded areas of Oakridge. The city's Jewish community moved south along Oak Street in the post-war years (the Jewish Community Centre was built at the intersection of West 41st and Oak), and the Canadian Pacific Railway opened its lands in the area to development that erupted in the 1950s. Much of the area was built with single-family homes, and the Oakridge Centre shopping mall, constructed in 1959 at West 41st and Cambie, provided a centrepoint for the residential boom.

Because of its later development, Oakridge is perhaps the least historic part of Vancouver. It was dominated by bungalow homes constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, however in the last 10 years many of these smaller houses have been torn down, and have been replaced by larger multi-level residences.

As a relatively young community, Oakridge is constantly evolving and growing in terms of its features and makeup. The Oakridge Centre mall - Vancouver's first shopping centre - is perhaps the largest draw bringing people into the neighbourhood. Langara College, which delivers a number of educational services to more than 23,000 students, is also located in Oakridge on West 49th east of Cambie.

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