Stanley Park, located at the tip of the peninsula that is the core of Vancouver, had originally been set aside for a fort, to protect Canada's main Pacific port of Vancouver from a possible US invasion in the 19th Century. (After all, both the US and the UK were vying for the control of Vancouver, before it became part of a new Canada.) The land became the park that it is today, when the US invasion threat dissipated; today, the main US invasion here is in the form of tourism.
Stanley Park is named after Lord Stanley, Canada's first Governor-General; National Hockey League's Stanley Cup is also named after it. (Sadly the Vancouver Canucks have never been able to win the Stanley Cup - 2012 saw the Canucks get cut down by none other than my Los Angeles's own Kings, who went on to win it.)
The Seawall is always a nice place for a walk, a jog, or a ride on a bicycle. Of course, the views of Lions Gate Bridge, which is often considered to be the little sister of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, are awesome, as are the views of North Vancouver hillside mansions that were built fairly recently for the wealthy Asian immigrants.