Scene Veteran Mistakes Public Street for Personal Safe Space
- SAF
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
He’s wearing the shirt first.
That’s important.
A black tee, stretched at the neck, featuring a logo from a party that hasn’t mattered since Obama’s first term. The font is distressed in that way that says “we were underground once” but now mostly communicates “this was free with drink tickets.”
He is walking through Gastown.
Correction: he is passing through Gastown — briskly, nervously, with AirPods in but no music playing, because situational awareness is very important when you’re afraid of women who own nothing.
Halfway down the block, a homeless girl clocks the shirt immediately.
She doesn’t hesitate.
“Nice shirt, twat.”
She laughs. Her friend laughs. The street keeps moving.
This is not violence.
This is not danger.
This is not even new.
But to him, it is an incident.
He stops walking. Not to engage — God no — but to open Facebook Live. Because when something truly terrifying happens, the first instinct of the modern man is to inform the algorithm.
The camera flips on. Front-facing. Shaky. Breath slightly elevated.
“Yo, so… I don’t usually do this, but I just had a really sketchy interaction down here…”
Down here.
Always down here.
He angles the phone to make sure the brick buildings are visible. The puddles. The graffiti. The aesthetic danger. Gastown must perform properly for the livestream.
He explains that he “supports the scene” and has “been throwing parties in this city for years.” This feels relevant to him, though no one asked.
He explains that a homeless girl “verbally attacked” him. He does not repeat what she said, because saying twat out loud might make it real — and also because it would be very funny, which is not the tone he’s going for.
“I just don’t feel safe,” he says, standing in broad daylight, untouched, uninterrupted, still holding his phone.
He mentions that Vancouver “has changed.”
He does not mention who it changed for.
The comments start rolling in.
“Sorry this happened to you bro”
“This city is going downhill”
“You should carry protection”
“Thank you for speaking your truth”
No one asks why a man who books warehouse parties thinks Gastown should be quiet, polite, and grateful.
No one asks why being mocked by someone with no housing feels like oppression.
No one asks why his shirt was bad enough to inspire community feedback.
The live ends. He posts the clip. He goes home. He sleeps fine.
The girl remains homeless.
The shirt remains stupid.
Gastown remains exactly what it has always been: loud, uneven, uncomfortable, and very bad at validating fragile egos.
But somewhere in the city, an outdated DJ / promoter feels seen.
And that, apparently, was the real emergency.
Here are a few items to rock in Gastown that will definitely get you yelled at
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