Greater Vancouver, BC Tourism Guide with hotels, events and attraction in the historic city of New Westminster.
Journey through Uptown
The growth of this neighbourhood started around the corner of 6th Street and 6th Avenue: a prominent corner even in early years when both were little more than rough roads. Shops and businesses followed 6th Street as it grew away from downtown and houses paralleled its expansion. The Woodward’s department store arrived in the early 1950s (now the location of Royal City Centre,) and the neighbourhood boomed with new stores, cafés and other business amenities.
Today, Uptown New Westminster is also known as the area tucked between two of the city’s largest green spaces: Queens Park and Moody Park. Historic homes fill the neighbourhoods in between making this area a favourite for local walkers and joggers.
These days Royal City Centre is the hub of the 6th & 6th neighbourhood. The mall is surrounded by many small businesses and restaurants including local favourites: Galloways Foods (702 Sixth Avenue) and Tamarind Hill Malaysian Cuisine (628 Sixth Avenue.) Historical treasures such as Cartwright Jewelers, Harry Minuk Shoes and the famous ‘jiffy wiffy’ Waffle House (636 Sixth Street) continue to call Uptown home. If you are a wine lover, you’ll find fellow wine aficionados further down the street at the Wine Factory (337 Sixth Street,) New Westminster's largest on premise winery, featuring Oak Barrel Aging and custom-labels on request.
Uptown is also home to neighbourhood hangouts such as Blenz Coffee, Starbucks, and Tim Horton’s, making this area a melting pot of the old and new.
This is nowhere more obvious than at the Orange Room Tapas (620 Sixth Street.) The combination café and lounge is consistently packed with regulars, young and old. It’s the perfect place to relax, sip your morning chai, enjoy a mid-day meal, or share a scrumptious weekend brunch among friends. From organic drip coffee, a chai latte to caramel macchiatos the Orange Room is a first choice alternative to local chain store java offerings.
On the next block, for something a little out-of-the-ordinary, visit Anny’s Dairy Bar (722 6th Street): a Montreal-inspired shop complete with smoked meat sandwiches and maple ice cream.
Just down the hill, toward the water, you will find a world of restaurants including Java Jazz Cafe & Bistro (412 Sixth Street,) Indian Star Restaurant and Sweets (420 Sixth Street) for mouth-watering Tandoori, The Old Bavaria Haus Restaurant (233 Sixth Street) for schnitzel of every kind, and La Rustica and La Spaghetteria (228, 232 Sixth Street) for an upscale dinner by candlelight.
New development has hidden away much of the city’s historic past but if you’d like to learn more about Uptown and the rest of the Royal City’s story visit the New Westminster Public Library, located in the Uptown neighbourhood at 716 Sixth Avenue.
