Stargate Pilgrimage to Vancouver! - No Fruit Loops Please — LiveJournal I've had breakfast already tauri_flezzi



Stargate Pilgrimage to Vancouver! This trip was truly the culmination of my Stargate fangirlage which has now spanned half of my life! In addition it was my first time to North America, which just made the entire trip more exciting!!



I've laid out this post so that if anyone stumbles across it wanting to do a similar Vancouver Stargate filming locations tour of their own, they can (and I highly recommend they do!).



First of all I used



I pleaded my case on gateworld.net's forums and found the wonderful Liz who very luckily lives in Vancouver who was happy to drive me around some stargate sights.. I was saved!



Day 1

After landing at 1pm I immediately raced out the airport and headed directly to my hotel in downtown near the Chinatown-Stadium Station. I checked in, ditched my luggage, washed my face and headed straight out- no time to waste!

Using my trusty printed-off map I headed to a couple of locations near my hotel!





Location #1 Vancouver Art Gallery 750 Hornby Rd: Secrets 2x09 and Foothold 3x14 and The XFiles Apocrypha 3x16

With a month off in between jobs and some spare money to spend, I booked myself 3 days in Vancouver and 3 days at the penultimate Stargate Creation Con in Chicago 16-18 August 2013.which has now spanned half of my life! In addition it was my first time to North America, which just made the entire trip more exciting!!I've laid out this post so that if anyone stumbles across it wanting to do a similar Vancouver Stargate filming locations tour of their own, they can (and I highly recommend they do!).First of all I used RDA's website and moviemaps to figure out where the locations were. Sadly, both only show SG-1 locations, but since that is my favourite season, no problem for me. I printed off a general map of Vancouver (both downtown zoomed in and a larger map) and painstakingly wrote down all the locations I was interested in on the maps and then tried to figure out a route. I had three days, but I quickly realised I would need a car to get to some locations that I wanted to go to, and it was too much work to figure out bus routes.I pleaded my case on gateworld.net's forums and found the wonderful Liz who very luckily lives in Vancouver who was happy to drive me around some stargate sights.. I was saved!After landing at 1pm I immediately raced out the airport and headed directly to my hotel in downtown near the Chinatown-Stadium Station. I checked in, ditched my luggage, washed my face and headed straight out- no time to waste!Using my trusty printed-off map I headed to a couple of locations near my hotel!Location #1 Vancouver Art Gallery 750 Hornby Rd: Secrets 2x09 and Foothold 3x14





"Maybourne you are an idiot every day of the week!"









And the Lone Gunmen ice skating in the XFiles in Apocrypha

Locations #2 Vancouver Law Courts 800 Hornby Rd: Foothold 3x14













Location #3 Grouse Mountain The XFiles Ascension 2x06

Sorry, I know it's not a Stargate filming location but this is from an iconic XFiles episode (the one where Scully gets abducted on Skyland Mountain).







Up 'Skyland Mountain'



The group of Japanese, Mexican and Koreans I ended up joining to hike up 1000m. Totally unplanned hence unsuitable clothes and drink supplies but pretty unforgettable!

Plus we weren't abducted :P



Mulder hanging off the side of the cable car







Day 2

I was pretty tired and I'd badly scaped my knee from falling down climbing Grouse Mountain yesterday, but that wasn't going to dampen what was to come today!

I met Liz at Gilmore Station, which is conveniently near many filming locations including Bridge Studios!



Location #4 Bridge Studios 2400 Boundary Road, Burnaby: Wormhole X-Treme 5x12 and of course all studio-shot scenes







Yaaay! Where the magic happened!



As I understand it some of the set is still up because the set of Destiny from SGU was used in the filming of something recently as I recall Gary Jones mentioning at the con.



Location #5 Accent Inn 3777 enning Drive: 48 Hours 5x14 , Smoke & Mirrors 6x14, Affinity 8x07, Memento Mori 10x08

This hotel is literally across the road from the studio, hence it's appeared in a few episodes





Kinsey's press conference in Smoke & Mirrors





Maybourne: "If you need me, I'm checked into the Accent Inn under the name Cassidy. "





Location #6 Lynn Canyon MacGyver The Invisible Killer 4x15

Okay, so again not a Stargate filming location but it had a very Stargate-like British Columbian forest



How's he going to MacGyver himself out of this!?





Reminded me of Death Knell and SGA's Missing



Nope, no Unas in here



Location #7 Sam's House 1025 Grand Boulevard: Ascension 5x03









"You like me, I can tell, you like me a lot."





Location #8 Centennial Way, Burnaby: Upgrades 4x03

Damn this is a seriously good episode! Sadly the old Malley's restaurant had a fire and has been refurbished since, though the basic structure is still recognisable.











A "juicy, rare steak" (but only one, not three!) and a "diet soda", as Sam ordered.





Pretending to run up the hill at an 'Upgraded' speed







Location #9 Simon Fraser University, Burnaby: Pretense 3x15 and Between Two Fires 5x09

This was within walking distance of the Upgrades location after walking along a wooded trail. There was a big bbq party going on so sadly it wasn't as deserted and photogenic as I'd have liked, but these things can't be helped!













I said goodbye to the wonderful Liz and her helpful car, and continued my day walking around downtown.



Location #10 Vancouver Central Library 350 W Georgia St.: The Road Not Taken 10x13, Alternate Fringe Division

The Road Not Taken is one of my favourite episodes as it explores what may happen if the Stargate Program went public, but unfortunately the room in which Rodney's office was located was busy with a book club so I couldn't go inside :(

Worth posting for the outside photo of the Alternate Fringe Division though. They were also filming a Nikon camera commercial here and it was interesting to see the behind-the-scenes of choreographing a rainy day shoot with the giant water tanker.















Conference room up on the top floor



Filming a Nikon commercial outside the library



Location #11 Plaza of Nations, 750 Pacific Blvd: Bane 2x10, 2010 4x16

The Plaza of Nations has since become a casino, and I didn't have my passport on me to get in, but I hear the inside would have been barely recognisable as the site of the Stargate in 2010 anyway.



BPQ-3Q1













Next up- a trio of Danny apartments!



Location #12 Daniel's Apartment 1152 Mainland St: Holiday 2x17









A short walk away from the previous location brings you to another of Daniel's Apartments



Location #13 Daniel's Apartment Corner of Mainland St and Helmcken St: Fire and Water 1x13









And yet another of Daniel's apartments located in downtown..



Location #14 550 Beatty Ave: The Light 4x18

This seems to be a bit of an unpopular episode among fans but I love this one so I'm glad I could find a location for it.









Day 3

Despite the rain, this was my last day and my last chance to see the remaining locations.. and there was one particular one I was determined to find come rain or storm!



Before heading to the cycle shop I hopped on to the SkyTrain to King Edward Station by 9.30am.



Location #15 Queen Elizabeth Park: P7J-989 The Gamekeeper 2x04

Everywhere was pretty damp and I got pretty muddy walking around but it was nice seeing and smelling the flowers and finally coming upon the iconic 'Gamekeeper's' dome in the centre!













"This is real this time, isn't it?"



Location #16 Hospital 4500 Heather St: Legacy 3x04, Crystal Skull 3x21 and maybe SGA's The Real World 3x06







"There is noone at my side, Daniel Jackson" "Yes, there is" "There is noone at my side, Daniel Jackson" "Yes, there is"





Nearby to the previous two locations is Van Dusen Botanic Gardens, the location for the planet P3X-289 in Revisions 7x05, but at $10 entry and at the expense of potentially spending up to an hour in there looking around and finding the filming site, I decided it was worth skipping.



I doubled back and took the train back downtown to Yaletown Station, where I rented a bicycle from 'Reckless bicycle shop' (that name later became appropriate when I almost hit a taxi and scraped my already scraped knee even more :( I was reckless indeed) . Anyway, the bike which cost me about $35 for the 5 hours I rented it which was pretty reasonable!

Vancouver is extremely cycle-friendly with plenty of cycle lanes and even a doodah to hook your bike onto buses if you don't have the stamina!



My route for today was to cycle down to Granville Island south of downtown, backtrack up along the sea and up through Stanley Park, across the bridge and on to North Vancouver- about 15km one way!



Location #17 Observatory, 1100 Chestnut Street: 1969 2x21







Relevent peace sign. Far out!



Location #18 Catherine's House 1350 Walnut Street: 1969 2x21







My mode of transport here wasn't quite as groovy as SG-1's

Location #19 Seaforth Armory 1650 Burrard Street: 1969 2x21, Smoke & Mirrors 6x14







Currently under construction



Wow, 3 locations from 1969 within minutes from each other? Hurray! Who doesn't like that episode!? :D



Location #20 False Creek Fisherman's Wharf 1505 West 1st Avenue

This is just behind the armory in the previous location









Location #21 Maybourne & Teal'c's House 1491 Beach Ave and park area: Chain Reaction 4x15, Affinity 8x07, SGA Rising 1x01

















Just, you know, practising some lok'nel





The 'avacado avenue' :P



Location #22 Stanley Park: Ark of Truth and quite possibly various other episodes.

Stanley Park is a vast forest just a stone's throw away from downtown Vancouver. Liz confirmed they filmed Ark of Truth but it's so generic it could be the location for almost any planet in the Stargate universe :P

Bear with me a bit while I geek out here :D





Kree! Kal kek m'al shol'va! Die, traitor!







Location #23 Sulphur Pits North Vancouver (can be viewed from Lionsgate Bridge) : Cold Lazarus 1x07

Side note: Liz, who showed me around yesterday, informed me that another set of sulphur pits may have been the location as opposed to this, so not 100% sure.









Location #24 Sol's Diner 1490 Pemberton Ave, North Vancouver: 10x08 Memento Mori











I didn't eat here firstly because it was only 3'o clock and I was still satisfied from my obligatory Subway lunch, and because I was saving myself for another diner coming up soon..



Okay, this is it! This is the location I'd been saving until near last.. the climax of my tour and famously hard to find...



Location #25 Jack's Cabin, 2720 Pemberton Ave, North Vancouver: The Curse 4x13 Threads 8x18 Moebius 8x20 Uninvited 10x05



I know a lot of fans will want to find this location, and it seems easy enough since you'll notice it's on the same Avenue as Sol's Diner, but din't be deceived! A bunch of cliffs cut Pemberton Avenue into 4 stretches and you'll need to go around the long way to go uphill. The route I took only works for a bicycle, or alternatively you can park your car when you reach the Trans-Canadian Highway and walk across the footbridge and the rest of the way. I'm really glad Liz had given me a heads up that it wouldn't be as easy as it looks on a map, so I'd saved the map onto my phone (which had no internet connection in the US).



Drive/cycle along Marine Drive until you reach the aptly name McKay Avenue (not to be confused with nearby McKay Road, pictured below)..



Follow the avenue uphill until it curves into West 22nd and turn right back onto Pemberton Ave. The avenue will stop abruptly as the Trans-Canadian Highway cuts across it, so park your car and walk across the footbridge and uphill a little more until you finally reach the cabin at the very end! You can actually sneak around the back after crossing the stream over two small bridges to get a full view of the pond at the back!









"This is great, I can't believe we didn't do this before."





Well, as I didn't catch anything, I can confirm that there are no fish in Jack's pond :P



So it had started to rain again, it was chilly and my leg was bleeding, so not being able to face the 9km ride back to the bike shop I cleverly took a bike-friendly bus back to downtown a 6km ride. Best $2 I could have spent! Also, I liked the name of the petrol station next to the bus stop when I got off :)





Location #26 Mary's Hamburger & Diner, 1202 Davie Street, Downtown: Holiday 2x17

By now I was hungry and ready for my final location (no!!), the diner in the episode Holiday where Fred and Machello have lunch. In the episode they order a burger, fries, an ice cream sundae and a milkshake, but that was a bit much for me and it was too cold by now for a sundae so I went for the burger and fries, forgetting about the size of America portions! Needless to say I couldn't finish..









They filmed here about 13 years ago, so it's been renovated since, but the waitress there remembers the day they filmed here and happily geeked out with me:)

Finally after handing back my bicycle I walked to Chinatown around 5 o'clock hoping to find where they filmed an iconic bit in the XFiles episode All things, 7x17 , but it was raining hard and there were lot of scary homeless people and I was grumpy, tired and sore, so I gave up and fell fast asleep kel'no'reemed back in my hotel.



And that's that! I headed out very early the next morning to the airport to head to the con in Chicago, but that's for another post.



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Thanks for reading!! Locations #2 Vancouver Law Courts 800 Hornby Rd: Foothold 3x14Location #3 Grouse MountainUp 'Skyland Mountain'The group of Japanese, Mexican and Koreans I ended up joining to hike up 1000m. Totally unplanned hence unsuitable clothes and drink supplies but pretty unforgettable!Plus we weren't abducted :PI was pretty tired and I'd badly scaped my knee from falling down climbing Grouse Mountain yesterday, but that wasn't going to dampen what was to come today!I met Liz at Gilmore Station, which is conveniently near many filming locations includingLocation #4 Bridge Studios 2400 Boundary Road, Burnaby: Wormhole X-Treme 5x12 and of course all studio-shot scenesYaaay! Where the magic happened!As I understand it some of the set is still up because the set of Destiny from SGU was used in the filming of something recently as I recall Gary Jones mentioning at the con.Location #5 Accent Inn 3777 enning Drive: 48 Hours 5x14 , Smoke & Mirrors 6x14, Affinity 8x07, Memento Mori 10x08This hotel is literally across the road from the studio, hence it's appeared in a few episodesKinsey's press conference in Smoke & MirrorsLocation #6 Lynn CanyonHow's he going to MacGyver himself out of this!?Reminded me of Death Knell and SGA's MissingNope, no Unas in hereLocation #7 Sam's House 1025 Grand Boulevard: Ascension 5x03"You like me, I can tell, you like me a lot."Location #8 Centennial Way, Burnaby: Upgrades 4x03Damn this is a seriously good episode! Sadly the old Malley's restaurant had a fire and has been refurbished since, though the basic structure is still recognisable.A "juicy, rare steak" (but only one, not three!) and a "diet soda", as Sam ordered.Pretending to run up the hill at an 'Upgraded' speedLocation #9 Simon Fraser University, Burnaby: Pretense 3x15 and Between Two Fires 5x09This was within walking distance of the Upgrades location after walking along a wooded trail. There was a big bbq party going on so sadly it wasn't as deserted and photogenic as I'd have liked, but these things can't be helped!I said goodbye to the wonderful Liz and her helpful car, and continued my day walking around downtown.Location #10 Vancouver Central Library 350 W Georgia St.: The Road Not Taken 10x13,The Road Not Taken is one of my favourite episodes as it explores what may happen if the Stargate Program went public, but unfortunately the room in which Rodney's office was located was busy with a book club so I couldn't go inside :(Worth posting for the outside photo of the Alternate Fringe Division though. They were also filming a Nikon camera commercial here and it was interesting to see the behind-the-scenes of choreographing a rainy day shoot with the giant water tanker.Conference room up on the top floorFilming a Nikon commercial outside the library Location #11 Plaza of Nations, 750 Pacific Blvd: Bane 2x10, 2010 4x16The Plaza of Nations has since become, and I didn't have my passport on me to get in, but I hear the inside would have been barely recognisable as the site of the Stargate in 2010 anyway. BPQ-3Q1Next up-Location #12 Daniel's Apartment 1152 Mainland St: Holiday 2x17A short walk away from the previous location brings you to another of Daniel's ApartmentsLocation #13 Daniel's Apartment Corner of Mainland St and Helmcken St: Fire and Water 1x13And yet another of Daniel's apartments located in downtown..Location #14 550 Beatty Ave: The Light 4x18This seems to be a bit of an unpopular episode among fans but I love this one so I'm glad I could find a location for it.Despite the rain, this was my last day and my last chance to see the remaining locations.. and there was one particular one I was determined to find come rain or storm!Before heading to the cycle shop I hopped on to the SkyTrain to King Edward Station by 9.30am.Location #15 Queen Elizabeth Park: P7J-989 The Gamekeeper 2x04Everywhere was pretty damp and I got pretty muddy walking around but it was nice seeing and smelling the flowers and finally coming upon the iconic 'Gamekeeper's' dome in the centre!"This is real this time, isn't it?"Location #16 Hospital 4500 Heather St: Legacy 3x04, Crystal Skull 3x21 and maybe SGA's The Real World 3x06Nearby to the previous two locations is Van Dusen Botanic Gardens, the location for the planet P3X-289 in Revisions 7x05, but at $10 entry and at the expense of potentially spending up to an hour in there looking around and finding the filming site, I decided it was worth skipping.I doubled back and took the train back downtown to Yaletown Station, where I rented a bicycle from 'Reckless bicycle shop'. Anyway, the bike which cost me about $35 for the 5 hours I rented it which was pretty reasonable!with plenty of cycle lanes and even a doodah to hook your bike onto buses if you don't have the stamina!My route for today was to cycle down to Granville Island south of downtown, backtrack up along the sea and up through Stanley Park, across the bridge and on to North Vancouver- about 15km one way!Location #17 Observatory, 1100 Chestnut Street: 1969 2x21Relevent peace sign. Far out!Location #18 Catherine's House 1350 Walnut Street: 1969 2x21My mode of transport here wasn't quite asas SG-1's Location #19 Seaforth Armory 1650 Burrard Street: 1969 2x21, Smoke & Mirrors 6x14Currently under constructionWow, 3 locations from 1969 within minutes from each other? Hurray! Who doesn't like that episode!? :DLocation #20 False Creek Fisherman's Wharf 1505 West 1st AvenueThis is just behind the armory in the previous locationLocation #21 Maybourne & Teal'c's House 1491 Beach Ave and park area: Chain Reaction 4x15, Affinity 8x07, SGA Rising 1x01Just, you know, practising some lok'nelThe 'avacado avenue' :PLocation #22 Stanley Park: Ark of Truth and quite possibly various other episodes.Stanley Park is a vast forest just a stone's throw away from downtown Vancouver. Liz confirmed they filmed Ark of Truth but it's so generic it could be the location for almost any planet in the Stargate universe :P Bear with me a bit while Ihere :D! Die, traitor!Location #23 Sulphur Pits North Vancouver (can be viewed from Lionsgate Bridge) : Cold Lazarus 1x07Side note: Liz, who showed me around yesterday, informed me that another set of sulphur pits may have been the location as opposed to this, so not 100% sure.Location #24 Sol's Diner 1490 Pemberton Ave, North Vancouver: 10x08 Memento MoriI didn't eat here firstly because it was only 3'o clock and I was still satisfied from my obligatory Subway lunch, and because I was saving myself for another diner coming up soon..This is the location I'd been saving until near last..and famously hard to find...Location #25, 2720 Pemberton Ave, North Vancouver: The Curse 4x13 Threads 8x18 Moebius 8x20 Uninvited 10x05I know a lot of fans will want to find this location, and it seems easy enough since you'll notice it's on the same Avenue as Sol's Diner, but din't be deceived! A bunch of cliffs cut Pemberton Avenue into 4 stretches and you'll need to go around the long way to go uphill. The route I took only works for a bicycle, or alternatively you can park your car when you reach the Trans-Canadian Highway and walk across the footbridge and the rest of the way. I'm really glad Liz had given me a heads up that it wouldn't be as easy as it looks on a map, so I'd saved the map onto my phone (which had no internet connection in the US).Drive/cycle along Marine Drive until you reach the aptly name McKay Avenue (not to be confused with nearby McKay Road, pictured below)..Follow the avenue uphill until it curves into West 22nd and turn right back onto Pemberton Ave. The avenue will stop abruptly as the Trans-Canadian Highway cuts across it, so park your car and walk across the footbridge and uphill a little more until you finally reach the cabin at the very end! You can actually sneak around the back after crossing the stream over two small bridges to get a full view of the pond at the back!"This is great, I can't believe we didn't do this before."Well, as I didn't catch anything, I can confirm that there are no fish in Jack's pond :PSo it had started to rain again, it was chilly and my leg was bleeding, so not being able to face the 9km ride back to the bike shop I cleverly took a bike-friendly bus back to downtown a 6km ride. Best $2 I could have spent! Also, I liked the name of the petrol station next to the bus stop when I got off :)Location #26 Mary's Hamburger & Diner, 1202 Davie Street, Downtown: Holiday 2x17By now I was hungry and ready for my(no!!), the diner in the episode Holiday where Fred and Machello have lunch. In the episode they order a burger, fries, an ice cream sundae and a milkshake, but that was a bit much for me and it was too cold by now for a sundae so I went for the burger and fries, forgetting about the size of America portions! Needless to say I couldn't finish..They filmed here about 13 years ago, so it's been renovated since, but the waitress there remembers the day they filmed here and happily geeked out with me:) Finally after handing back my bicycle I walked to Chinatown around 5 o'clock hoping to find where they filmed an iconic bit in the, but it was raining hard and there were lot of scary homeless people and I was grumpy, tired and sore, so I gave up andkel'no'reemed back in my hotel.And that's that! I headed out very early the next morning to the airport to head to the con in Chicago, but that's for another post. Tags: convention, filming locations, sg-1, stargate, vancouver

Current Location: Vancouver

