50 AMERICANWAY
MAY 15 2007
is sortof theyoung, poshareaofVancouver,
and the Opus Hotel is a very swanky, very
trendy hotel that, actually, is similar to the
W chain of hotels, always verymodern and
minimalist in its interiordesign.Theservice
is impeccable. It doesn’t have the greatest
view. A lot of the hotels in Vancouver are
rightonthewaterandhave incredibleviews.
Thisone iskindof stuck in themiddleof the
city, but it’s a really cool hotel.When I was
working for the Ford Talent Agency, doing
commercials,therewasanauditionformod-
els towork for Abercrombie&Fitch. I had
this long, drawn-out conversationwithmy
agent, duringwhich they said they thought
I should go. I said Iwas not amodel, Iwas
an actress, and I was not tall enough to be
a model, and I was not skinny enough to
be amodel, and I shouldnot go. They said,
“No, you should go, because Abercrombie
& Fitch goes for a more athletic, normal-
lookingmodel. Theydon’t always go for the
six-foot rakes.” They convinced me, and I
went anddid it, and it was one of themost
mortifying things I’ve ever done. I’m not a
model. I’m very uncomfortable in front of
a camera, and having people just scopeme
out to see if I look good enoughwas a very
uncomfortable thing forme. But it was the
first time I had ever been to the OpusHo-
tel, and I remember thinking at the time,
If
I ever have enoughmoney to stay at a nice
hotel inVancouver, Iwould like to stayhere
.
Years later, when I was working for
Lost
, I
had to go back to Vancouver to do, ironi-
cally, a photo shoot. I requested that I get
to stay in theOpusHotel, and they putme
up there, in this beautiful,monstrous suite.
Itwas sort of anice callback tomypast life,
when I could only dream about affording a
hotel like that.
Where do you like to go for breakfast when
you’re out for the day in Vancouver?
For
breakfast, there is a tiny little café that is
tucked away in theKitsilanodistrict, which
isaveryyoungand trendypartofVancouver
andwhere a lot of students rent when they
are going to university; that’s the area that
I lived in. The café is called theNaamRes-
taurant, as inVietnam, and it is all-organic,
all-natural food. It’s really quiet and sort of
almost feels like a seedy environment, be-
cause it is so tucked away and so dark and
moody at night. In the morning, it really
feels like you couldbe tucked away in a café
somewhere in another town from another
life. I really love that little café forbreakfast.
What are some of Vancouver’s not-to-miss
attractions?
TheVancouverArtGallerywas
a place I loved to go. It’s really beautiful. I
was back up in Vancouver over the Valen-
tine’s Day weekend this year, and I went
back there again. They were showing one
ofmy very favorite Canadian artists, Emily
Carr. Shewas one of the founders of Cana-
dian art, and she was very instrumental in
moving art from the old school— imperial
images thatwereall very realisticallydrawn
and landscapes and families— to a slightly
more modern and abstract vision of the
world that incorporates truths thatwedon’t
always see. Shewas veryaffectedby theNa-
tive Americans she lived with in the wilds
of Canada. The outside of the museum is
relatively hidden. When you are walking
through the city, you can easily not realize
that you justwalkedpastamuseum. Inside,
it isverywarmandyetstarkandminimalist.
It is veryorganizedandverywell respected.
I think Canada is particularly fond of en-
couraging culture and art across the board.
Wehaveamulticulturalnationalday,where
in every city, every culture that lives there
will come out and celebrate, whether that
beChineseor IndianorNativeAmericanor
whatever that happens to be. Themuseum
ChestermanBeach, near Tofino,
Vancouver Island, BritishColumbia
