Here’s a shot of the corner of Main and Keefer showing the Hotel Mayo. The corner building dates from the 1890s and its neighbour is probably of the same era. This Vancouver Archives photo (CVA 447-308) shows both buildings before they were pretty much demolished and rebuilt as one structure using the original bricks which… Continue reading Hotel Mayo, Keefer and Main
In the background of this photograph of the Glasgow Hotel from the Vancouver Archives (#HOT-P84) taken in1891, is one of the only views of the houses that once lined Pender. Until 1906 this was also part of the city’s restricted district, the polite term for the red light district.
It takes a while but we are seeing a new attitude to signage in Chinatown. Since writing the Chinatown Lighting Strategy a few years ago, new signs are slowly making an appearance. Signs like the new New Town Bakery sign will help draw people back to the neighbourhood and improve the night time appearance. Plus… Continue reading Some New Neon in Chinatown
As part of the research into the development of Chinatown along Pender Street I’ve been looking at False Creek and its changing shorelines. this quick sketch shows the original and early 1900s shorelines before fill pushed the shoreline out to its present location. When the Great Northern Railway set up its station in 1910 at… Continue reading False Creek in Chinatown
My first visit to the Chinese Theatre in Chinatown, Vancouver, was in the winter of 1898. Precisely how we got to it I cannot tell. We turned off Hastings Street and went south on Carrall Street. Then, at some point, we turned into an alley between old wooden buildings. There were no lights. It was… Continue reading A Visit to the Theatre in 1898
“By the 1890s there were more than a thousand people living in Shanghai Alley, a block-long dirt laneway bustling with activity. Restaurants, laundries and stores operated at street level while small apartments were located in the tenements and rooming houses above. One block to the west there was a second short laneway, called Canton Alley.… Continue reading Poking Around Shanghai Alley
After co-writing the application for the designation it was great to be at the Dr Sun Yat Sen Garden for the announcement by Peter Kent of the granting of the National Historic Site status to Chinatown.
January 27, 1897 British Colonist – “The usual permission to Chinese to celebrate their New Year has been refused by council owing no doubt to the anti Chinese wave which is sweeping over Vancouver.” At least some things do change. Update: Maybe not. The Quebec legislature voted to ban Sikhs from the building if they… Continue reading Miscellaneous Research Notes
Great Beginnings (3) Originally uploaded by SqueakyMarmot Not just any neon sign, but something almost 50 feet tall hung from the Chinatown parkade at the corner of Quebec and Keefer. The official lighting of the sign takes place on Monday March 15, 2010 at 6:00pm. It’s gratifying to see my chicken scratches on paper show… Continue reading Chinatown gets a new neon sign
I get a lot of e-mails asking about underground Vancouver and specifically Chinatown. Tunnel myths are found in almost every Chinatown in North America and their origin would seem to coincide with the rising tide of anti-Asian feeling in the late 19th century. In the popular press three common vices always ascribed to the Chinese… Continue reading There are no Tunnels in Chinatown
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 