Kelowna Streets

There are people behind the names of many Kelowna streets who are an important part of the city’s history and growth as a community. Thanks to the Kelowna Public Archives, plaques and displays at key intersections throughout Kelowna help to explain the origins of Bernard Avenue and Gordon Drive. The Kelowna Branch of the Okanagan Historical Society publishes a book entitled Kelowna Street Names, Their Origins: A Brief History that is a great reference for understanding the history behind Spall Road, Pandosy Street and other Kelowna street names. These same streets provide Kelowna visitors with great access to hotels, restaurants, wineries, golf courses, real estate, shopping and other attractions.

Abbott Street

Harry Abbott was a civil engineer who served as a general superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the late 19th Century. The CPR built a railway linking Canada from coast to coast and it included the Kettle Valley Steam Railway section running through the Okanagan Valley. Named after Harry, Abbott Street runs parallel to the Lake Okanagan shoreline; it begins in the Kelowna North real estate neighbourhood at Bernard Avenue where hotels and restaurants offer beautiful views of the lake and City Park. Abbott crosses Harvey Avenue near one of Kelowna’s great engineering feats, the Okanagan Lake Bridge, and cuts through the heart of Kelowna’s Heritage District in the Kelowna South real estate neighbourhood. Beach access-points, parkettes and paved trails make this white collar, professional urban area a popular place for swimmers, roller-bladers, walkers and joggers. Abbott Street ends at Gyro Beach where Pandosy Street turns into Lakeshore Road and winds towards golf courses and wineries in the Lower Mission real estate neighbourhood.

Benvoulin Road

Had it not been for events in the late 19th Century, downtown Kelowna’s boutique shoppers might instead be flocking to ‘downtown Benvoulin’. The townsite first established near Benvoulin Road was abandoned in favour of an area closer to Lake Okanagan: Kelowna was born. The Father Pandosy Mission site, home to the Okanagan’s first white settlement, is located on Benvoulin Road close the where it intersects with KLO Road. Benvoulin begins at Highway 97 in the Springfield Spall real estate neighbourhood and continues south through the Southeast Kelowna real estate neighbourhood. There are no hotels or restaurants on Benvoulin, but it does cut straight through Kelowna’s fertile Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) land; it is on ALR land that orchards and wineries grow pears, strawberries, grapes, and other fruits for which the Okanagan is well known. Benvoulin Road also provides the best route to access Kelowna’s great hiking and biking trails up in the Myra Canyon Trestles.

Bernard Avenue

In the late 19th Century, Bernard Lequime built a general store to meet Kelowna’s growing demand for groceries, dry goods, footwear, kitchen accessories and other products. At one point, Bernard Lequime owned much of the land that is today referred to as downtown Kelowna. Today his general store is long gone, but the building that housed it remains standing at 229 Bernard Avenue across from Lake Okanagan and City Park. Named after Lequime, Bernard Avenue is located in the Kelowna North real estate neighbourhood. There may not be golf courses or wineries on Bernard Avenue, but there sure is some wonderful boutique shopping. When in downtown Kelowna, shoppers can stay at a hotel and stop to eat at one of several great restaurants, pubs and fast food outlets. The Legend of Ogopogo lives on in a statue at City Park which is located at the foot of Bernard Avenue.

Casa Loma Road

Casa Loma Community is a lakeside, residential enclave that includes Casa Rio and Casa Grande drives as well as Casa Loma Road. After driving over the Okanagan Lake Bridge there are two options: wind right and head south to Penticton or turn left on Campbell Road which ends at Casa Loma Road in the Lakeview Heights real estate neighbourhood. The Casa Loma Community has an exclusive feel to it: hemmed in by Lake Okanagan on one side and Kalamoir Regional Park on the other. Casa Loma Road reaches a dead end at one of Kelowna’s best-kept hotel and resort secrets tucked beside the Lake Okanagan shoreline. As secluded as the Casa Loma Community is, residents and visitors are only a short drive from downtown Kelowna and its great shopping, restaurants, golf, attractions, and wineries.

Cook Road

William Franklin Cook, a steam engineer and electrician by trade, and his wife moved to the Okanagan only a few years before Kelowna incorporated as a city in 1905. Named after Cook and his wife, the intersection of Cook Road and Lakeshore Road in the Lower Mission real estate neighbourhood is today the place to find lakeside romance at two of Kelowna’s finest resorts. Resort visitors have an excellent view of the Westside and can see one of Kelowna’s greatest engineering accomplishments, the Okanagan Lake Bridge, in the distance. The route from downtown Kelowna on Pandosy Street to Lakeshore Road passes by wonderful boutique shopping, several hotels and a number of pubs, coffee shops and restaurants. South of where Cook meets Lakeshore Road are wineries that offer excellent wine-tasting tours to visitors.

Dilworth Drive

Dilworth Drive in Kelowna winds up, and up, Dilworth Mountain, a rugged area of territory owned by John Dilworth and his family in the early 20th Century. The Dilworth’s sold their land and moved to Victoria, BC when John Dilworth received a judicial appointment. Each resident who lives on Dilworth Mountain, in the Dilworth real estate neighbourhood, lives as though he or she is perched high in a tree-top with a bird’s eye view of both Kelowna and Lake Okanagan. From below, the top of Dilworth Mountain is dotted with large and modern homes that cling to cliff-edges, hanging on with jagged fence lines that navigate the crooked landscape. There is a hotel or two close to where Dilworth meets Harvey Avenue; this busy intersection also provides great access to Kelowna’s best shopping, restaurants, attractions and golf courses.

Ellis Street

In the late 19th Century, Thomas Ellis owned about 20,000 acres of what is now Penticton. Today, the four museums on Ellis Street are a great place to visit and learn about Kelowna’s history. The BC Wine Museum is located on Ellis, and one of Kelowna’s original wineries is just one street over on Richter Street. Ellis crosses Bernard Avenue in the Kelowna North real estate neighbourhood, providing great access to boutique shopping, a United Nations of restaurants and one of Kelowna’s oldest standing hotels. There is no golf course on Ellis Street, but there is one outdoor attraction that should not be missed: go north from Bernard Avenue and hike in 580 acres of wonderful nature on trails in Knox Mountain Park.

Gordon Drive

Kelowna has many Gordons to thank for its development as a community; Daniel K. Gordon, who settled in Kelowna in 1912, helped get Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) built and served as mayor of Kelowna in 1932. Gordon Drive is a major road running south from Harvey Avenue through the Kelowna South real estate neighbourhood, past the Mission Creek Indian Reserve and into the Lower Mission real estate neighbourhood. Staying in a hotel near Gordon Drive and Harvey Avenue provides great access to golf courses in east Kelowna, and either Gordon Drive or Lakeshore Road are great routes to several of Kelowna’s finest wineries. The Towne Centre Mall on Bernard Avenue sits on the site of what was formerly a grocery store owned by another Gordon, Bob.

Harvey Avenue

Harvey Avenue, originally named Eli Avenue after Bernard Lequime’s father, is impossible to miss when visiting Kelowna and other regions of the Okanagan Valley. Harvey, which turns into the Okanagan Highway 97, crosses the Okanagan Lake Bridge leading to West Kelowna and Penticton and can be driven eastwards to Vernon. Almost all of the best shopping in Kelowna, including Orchard Park Shopping Centre, is located directly on this busy six-lane artery that cuts straight through the heart of Kelowna. Harvey Avenue/Highway 97 also runs directly through, or borders, over half of Kelowna’s real estate neighbourhoods. Its almost certain that every visitor will travel once on Harvey Avenue when in Kelowna, whether it be from his or her hotel room, to the golf course, on the way to a winery, or to visit one of Kelowna’s many attractions.

Pandosy Street

In 1859, Father Charles Pandosy established the Father Pandosy Mission on Benvoulin Road; he baptized, married, taught and healed the sick until his death in 1891. It is also said that Father Pandosy traveled bareheaded and barefoot in the Okanagan region’s hot Summer weather. Pandosy Street, named after the Father, cuts through the Kelowna South Real Estate real estate neighbourhood; it’s fitting that Pandosy leads to one of Kelowna’s finest Lake Okanagan beaches, Gyro Beach. Today, beachgoers can hide from the hot Sun by hitting the great boutique shopping in Pandosy Village. Tired sun worshippers may also find hotels near the beach and lots of restaurants, pubs and fast food outlets to eat at. Pandosy Street turns into Lakeshore Road that, if followed, leads to golf courses and wineries in the Lower Mission real estate neighbourhood.

Parkinson Way

It’s partly thanks to Dick Parkinson, mayor of Kelowna from 1958-1970, that Kelowna has the parks, playing fields and recreation facilities that it does. Parkinson, who served as an alderman for nine years before becoming mayor, moved to Kelowna in 1906 after selling apples on the prairies as a young man. Parkinson Way is located close to the very busy Harvey and Spall avenues intersection that forms a border between the Kelowna North and Dilworth real estate neighbourhoods. The Parkinson Recreation Centre on Parkinson Way is a public facility that includes an indoor pool, soccer and baseball fields and physical fitness training rooms with full equipment. There are several hotels near Parkinson Way as well as great access to restaurants, shopping, attractions, wineries and golfing.

Spall Road

Spall Road was once a dirt lane cutting through cow pasture on land farmed by James Spall and his son until 1970. Spall, who arrived in Kelowna from England in 1904, was a strong advocate for farmers through his involvement in several organizations. Now paved, the road named after Spall is a major artery leading north from busy Harvey Avenue to the Glenmore real estate neighbourhood and North Glenmore real estate neighbourhood. People, not cattle, gather at what was once just farmer’s field to go shopping for deals at the Spall Plaza and other stores. There is certainly no shortage of restaurants and coffee shops in the Spall Road and Harvey Avenue area at which shoppers may rest their feet. Bustling Spall Road is also a lifeline for members of Kelowna’s oldest golf course who are hurrying to play a round of golf before the Sun goes down.

Westside Road

A long time ago, Mother Nature must have personally carved this wonderful road through nature that begins in the Westside real estate neighbourhood. The ‘real world’ is a distant memory when driving past log booms and Bear Creek Provincial Park on a narrow, scenic, mountainside road overlooking Lake Okanagan. This pathway through nature continues to hiking, camping and wildlife viewing at another provincial park near Fintry. Don’t look for shopping malls or hotels out here, but there are a few resorts if the road is followed all the way from Kelowna to Vernon. There is only one good reason to turn around and head back towards Kelowna on Westside Road: that’s where great golf courses, wineries and many attractions are located.