A small Fairview book club, matched by taste.

Fairview's library is one of the less obvious in the system. The Firehall branch sits on the second floor on West 10th Avenue, just east of Granville Street, reached by a street-level elevator and lit by large windows. It is small and calm, with plenty of seating, and it lies on the 10th Avenue bike route.

South Granville, the neighbourhood's shopping street, climbs from Broadway toward 16th Avenue with galleries, design shops and cafés. The Broadway corridor below it is being rebuilt around the Broadway Subway, which will add a South Granville station, while Broadway–City Hall on the Canada Line already serves Fairview's eastern side.

Downhill, Fairview reaches the south shore of False Creek, a patchwork of co-ops, townhouses and marinas along the seawall, with Charleson Park and the small hillside Choklit Park for quiet afternoons. At the western end, Granville Island has Upstart & Crow, a not-for-profit literary arts studio and bookstore on Railspur Alley that favours independent and small presses, and the False Creek Community Centre on Cartwright Street. The little Aquabus and False Creek Ferries boats connect the island to Yaletown and the West End.