Introduction to Downtown Eastside

The Downtown Eastside has attained certain recognition across the country; it is known as the poorest postal code in Canada. The problems with crime, homelessness, and substance abuse have been the subject matter of national discussion. With these problems aside, the Downtown Eastside is a community plentiful in history, architecture and diversity.

The Downtown Eastside is one of the oldest communities in Vancouver. The area is bordered by Burrard Inlet to the north, Clark Drive to the east, Hastings Street to the south, and Main Street to the west. The community has worked hard to keep its integrity and improve its character as a vital inner-city neighbourhood.

History & Heritage of Downtown Eastside

The Downtown Eastside (DTES) contains two distinct areas within its boundaries. This included the original Civic Centre, which was centred on Main and Hastings with City Hall, the City Market, the Carnigie Public Library and numerous theatres, while further east it was home to most of the original industry of the new city including Hastings Mill.

The construction of the new Courthouse on Georgia Street in 1906 caused the focal point of downtown to shift west. The DTES remained the transportation centre for the city. There was the B.C. Electric interurban station at Hastings and Carrall, the North Shore Ferries at the bottom of Columbia and the Coastal Steamship Piers between Carrall and Main Street. These activities lead to a large area of pedestrian traffic, which supported a lively shopping district along Hastings Street.

The numerous hotels, which remain in the area today, were originally constructed for commercial travelers and tourists brought in by the coastal steamship fleets. Later, these hotels became homes to single men who worked as loggers and miners. Along Powell Street, the Japanese community settled close to the port and fish processing plants. At one time, they made up the bulk of the school population at the nearby Strathcona Elementary School.

In 1942, Vancouver residents of Japanese ancestry were forced to move to the interior of B.C. after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. In 1958, Street Car service was discontinued and the interurban station was closed. The next year, the North Shore ferried stopped operating. These events took thousand of people out of the area; this area, today has not fully recovered. The series of closures was finished when the Woodward's department store closed it doors in 1992, which lead the area to further weakening.

By the early 1970's, the Downtown Eastside was home to an imbalanced number of single, middle-aged men living on fixed incomes. The DTES experienced further alteration when a lack of public funding led to the de-institutionalization of thousands of psychiatric patients who found the DTES an inexpensive and welcoming community.

On the positive side, a number of new housing projects funded by the Province and the City have considerably improved the rental-housing situation. The Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) has accomplished a great deal to improve the lives for low-income people.

The significant portion of the DTES is made up of industry, and the eastern portion has small scale industrial uses mixed in with remaining homes and rooming houses along Alexander, Powell and Cordova Streets. These houses are some of the oldest houses in the city. The 1925 American Can Company building is an industrial building that is one of the largest concrete factories built in the city. In 1988, it was modernized into offices with a large steel and glass elevator tower added to the outside.

The Flying Angel Seaman's Club built in 1905, at the bottom of Dunlevy, is the previous head office of the B.C. Mills Timber and Trading Company, known as the Hastings Mill. On the west side of Oppenheimer Park is the 1913 New World Hotel on Powell Street. Its brick building indicates the extensive use of sheet metal ornamentation and granite block foundation stones; it was restored in 1991. Across the street and facing the park is the Marr Hotel, which opened its doors as the Stanley Hotel in 1890.

Introduction to Strathcona

Strathcona is one of Vancouver's earliest neighbourhoods, which expanded from the shacks and small buildings that surrounded the Hastings Mill site.

It spreads out from Hastings Street to Great Northern Way and from Main Street to Clark Drive. There is a unique combination of people, history, land use and architecture in the community. It is a neighbourhood of houses, apartments and rooming houses. Residents can walk to the store, do tai chi in the parks or leisurely walk in the community garden.

Strathcona is a community that has overcome challenges and has managed to continue to exist and prosper despite continuous pressure for change. Today, the community features beautifully restored row houses, abundant flower gardens and welcoming front porches.

History & Heritage of Strathcona

Strathcona is commonly refer to as the "East End." This knick name originated from the East End School, which was at the corner of Powell and Jackson. By 1950s, Strathcona, Vancouver's first neighbourhood, centered around the Hastings Mill and expanded southward from Burrard Inlet and on. This neighourhood had been occupied by succession of immigrants that lived here before moving to other places in the city. Immigrants, such as the British, Irish, Russian, Croatian, Greeks, and Scandinavians, Japanese and Chinese, have found Strathcona as their initial place of home after entering Canada.

In the 1950s, city planners formally called the East End area, Strathcona, after a 1987 elementary school at Jackson and Keefer. At that same time, they planned a project that included redeveloping the public housing area, with blocks of identical apartments and townhouses, and an inner city freeway, which meant destroying Gastown and Chinatown. Opposed to the project, the Strathcona residence argued for the benefit of having an eclectic mix of housing styles. They proposed the preservation and restoration of these buildings. Unfortunately, 15 blocks were already destroyed before the project was stopped. In 1968, 5 million dollars were spent by the federal, provincial and municipal government to restore and repair homes, streets, sidewalks and create new parks.

The heritage of Strathcona is known for its large concentrations of 19th and early 20th century buildings in Vancouver. Architectural building designs were of small cottages, modest vernacular house and large Queen Anne homes with extravagant brackets and shingle work. The City of Vancouver Heritage considered the area within Pender Street and Prior Streets, Campbell Avenue and Jackson Avenue, and two blocks south of Prior Street as the heart of unique mix of architectural design.

Heritage buildings include Lord Strathcona School, the oldest standing school building in Vancouver, which was built it 1897 and the Seymour School No. 1, the oldest wooden school building in Vancouver, built in 1900 and much more.