East Van - Our Town of All Faiths

Title: The Sacred Map of East Van
By Joseph Jukic

East Vancouver isn’t just a tangle of bike lanes and craft breweries—it’s a living mosaic of faith, each storefront a beacon for a different form of devotion. On one block alone, you can visit:

Roseanne’s Light & L’Chaim Synagogue, its menorah-shaped marquee glowing in rainbow hues, where the spirit of humor meets ancient Torah teachings.

The House of Gigi’s Peace, a sleek white mosque tucked between an eco-bakery and a record shop, where five daily calls to prayer are voiced over soft downtempo beats.

Saint Mel’s Speakeasy Church, a refurbished prohibition-era tavern now serving communion wafers alongside whiskey flights—Mel Gibson’s tribute to tradition with a cinematic twist.

The Tom Cruise Scientology Org, modest but radiant, its “E-Meter” sign pulsing like a heartbeat as parishioners line up for their auditing sessions.

I wander these streets each Sunday, greeting rabbis in vintage tees, Salaam-speakers in designer hijabs, guitar-strumming altar boys, and earnest auditors clutching their purity test sheets. It’s the only neighborhood I know where you can attend a gospel-yoga fusion class, then grab a latte next door at the Church of Holy Beans.

But beneath the bright facades, a question nags at me. I moved here chasing the promise that every person—every star—could find their sanctuary. And yet, I feel like a pilgrim who’s run out of prayers.

They say the stars must align for miracles. Well, my own constellation seems scrambled. No matter how many sanctuaries stand beneath these neon skies, I can’t shake the feeling that my own faith is adrift.

So here’s my confession: unless the heavens conspire to guide me back to purpose, I’m packing up and leaving this mosaic of miracles behind. East Van can keep its sacred map—I need to find my own.

“In the city of a thousand faiths, I’m still searching for the one that leads me home.”