February 23rd - This tour repeats March 9th and March 23rd
East End Vancouver/Strathcona History Walk
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| CVA 790-0711 - 627, 621 Union Street |
Duration: 2.5 to 3 hours depending on the size of the group.
Cost: $20 per person
My East End Vancouver/Strathcona walking tour is by far the most popular of my History Walks. It is no wonder... The East End is Vancouver's oldest and most fascinating neighbourhood.
The humble East End was the first Vancouver home to thousands of people fresh off the boat or train arriving from all over the world. Street by street, block by block, the East End developed ethnic enclaves. This neighbourhood boasted the first Synagogue and first Jewish neighbourhood, Vancouver's first Little Italy, Japantown, and Vancouver's only Black identified neighbourhood, Hogan's Alley.
Some blocks were dominated by Scandinavians, others by Yugoslavs, Russians and Ukrainians. Over the years the East End became Chinatown's residential district, home to renowned authors Wayson Choy (The Jade Peony/Paper Shadows) and Paul Yee (Salt Water City/Ghost Train).
Home to three historic red light districts, an unsettling mix of non-British, mostly working class immigrants, three of Vancouver's four Depression era hobo camps, innumerable bootleg joints, even gangs, Vancouver's East End was often viewed by outsiders as an unsavoury, even dangerous place where "those people" lived.
But it was also home to Angelo Branca, who went on to become Supreme Court Justice for British Columbia, Canada's "Amelia Earhart" Tosca Trasolini, boxing legends Jimmy McLarnin and Phil Palmer, NDP Premier Dave Barrett, media personality, musician, filmmaker and actress Sook Yin Lee, CBC programmer, poet and author Bill Richardson, Canadian singing legend k. d. lang, and the Montreal Bakery where the "royal buns" were baked for the 1939 visit to Vancouver by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. And that is just scratching the surface!
Every one of Strathcona's houses has a story to tell. Want to time travel? Come for a History Walk through Vancouver's oldest and most fascinating neighbourhood, the East End.
Parking: There is plenty of free parking along Heatley Avenue, Hastings Street, and Keefer Street further South.
E-mail: historywalks@gmail.com to reserve a space on my regularly scheduled tours, or for more information on how to book a private History Walk.
March 2nd
West End History Walk
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| CVA Photo M-11-22 Bird's Eye View of the West End in 1912 |
Time: 10am
Duration: Approximately two and a half hours and
Finishes: At English Bay near Denman & Davie.
Cost: $20.00 per person
My interest in Vancouver neighbourhood history was born when I moved into my first apartment in the West End. Walking to and from my workplace downtown I would choose a slightly different route each time and I was fascinated by what I saw.
Back in the 1980s, the West End had many more of its original houses. Sadly, most but not all of the West End’s early buildings have been demolished, but you can still find some unexpected jewels hidden here and there among the high-rises and hidden behind storefronts.
This tour, which lasts usually just over two and a half hours, snakes its way through the West End from Robson Street to English Bay. On the way you will see the site of an unusual roof-top airplane crash, the location of the mansions of two of Vancouver’s mayors, the house in which the first English version of "O Canada" was written, the Gustav Roedde House and the beautifully restored houses of Barclay Heritage Square, the site of North America’s first Fire Hall designed for mechanical fire trucks, the location of X-Files’ Agent Dana Scully’s apartment, the apartment building where actor Errol Flynn died, Sugar magnate Benjamin Tingley Roger’s magnificent stone mansion Gabriola, the home of one of the British Empire’s most renowned sharpshooters, the location of English Bay’s first life guard Joe Fortes’ cabin, and much much more.
As with all of my history walks, I supplement what we are able to see today with peeks back into time using archival images to help recreate the lost Victorian and Edwardian streetscapes of the West End.
E-mail: historywalks@gmail.com to reserve a space on my regularly scheduled tours, or for more information on how to book a private History Walk.
March 9th - This tour repeats March 23rd
East End Vancouver/Strathcona History Walk
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| CVA 99-3470 Vancouver Detectives on a murder case |
Duration: 2.5 to 3 hours depending on the size of the group.
Cost: $20 per person
My East End Vancouver/Strathcona walking tour is by far the most popular of my History Walks. It is no wonder... The East End is Vancouver's oldest and most fascinating neighbourhood.
The humble East End was the first Vancouver home to thousands of people fresh off the boat or train arriving from all over the world. Street by street, block by block, the East End developed ethnic enclaves. This neighbourhood boasted the first Synagogue and first Jewish neighbourhood, Vancouver's first Little Italy, Japantown, and Vancouver's only Black identified neighbourhood, Hogan's Alley.
Some blocks were dominated by Scandinavians, others by Yugoslavs, Russians and Ukrainians. Over the years the East End became Chinatown's residential district, home to renowned authors Wayson Choy (The Jade Peony/Paper Shadows) and Paul Yee (Salt Water City/Ghost Train).
Home to three historic red light districts, an unsettling mix of non-British, mostly working class immigrants, three of Vancouver's four Depression era hobo camps, innumerable bootleg joints, even gangs, Vancouver's East End was often viewed by outsiders as an unsavoury, even dangerous place where "those people" lived.
But it was also home to Angelo Branca, who went on to become Supreme Court Justice for British Columbia, Canada's "Amelia Earhart" Tosca Trasolini, boxing legends Jimmy McLarnin and Phil Palmer, NDP Premier Dave Barrett, media personality, musician, filmmaker and actress Sook Yin Lee, CBC programmer, poet and author Bill Richardson, Canadian singing legend k. d. lang, and the Montreal Bakery where the "royal buns" were baked for the 1939 visit to Vancouver by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. And that is just scratching the surface!
Every one of Strathcona's houses has a story to tell. Want to time travel? Come for a History Walk through Vancouver's oldest and most fascinating neighbourhood, the East End.
Parking: There is plenty of free parking along Heatley Avenue, Hastings Street, and Keefer Street further South.
E-mail: historywalks@gmail.com to reserve a space on my regularly scheduled tours, or for more information on how to book a private History Walk.
March 16th
Mount Pleasant History Walk
Departs: 10am from SW corner of Yukon and 12th Avenue and ends at 7th Avenue and Main Street.
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| Van Sc P47 - Looking North from City Hall in 1938 |
Duration: More or less 2.5 hours depending on the size of the group.
Cost: $20 per person
Come travel back in time on a History Walk through Mount Pleasant, Vancouver’s first Suburb.
Beginning at the crest of the hill beside Vancouver’s iconic City Hall, this history walk crisscrosses Mount Pleasant travelling back in time from the Edwardian Era back to the late 1880s when this area was being developed as Vancouver’s first commuter suburb.
Mount Pleasant is an astonishing mix of Edwardian stately homes, Victorian cottages, elegant brick-faced apartments, historic breweries and churches, This fast changing neighbourhood is also home to Vancouver’s “Most Beautiful Block” on the 100 block of West 10th.
Parking: There is plenty of free parking along the streets south of 12th Avenue.
E-mail: historywalks@gmail.com to reserve a space on my regularly scheduled tours, or for more information on how to book a private History Walk.
March 23rd
East End Vancouver/Strathcona History Walk
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| CVA 786-47.25 - 418 & 478 Union St in 1978 |
Duration: 2.5 to 3 hours depending on the size of the group.
Cost: $20 per person
My East End Vancouver/Strathcona walking tour is by far the most popular of my History Walks. It is no wonder... The East End is Vancouver's oldest and most fascinating neighbourhood.
The humble East End was the first Vancouver home to thousands of people fresh off the boat or train arriving from all over the world. Street by street, block by block, the East End developed ethnic enclaves. This neighbourhood boasted the first Synagogue and first Jewish neighbourhood, Vancouver's first Little Italy, Japantown, and Vancouver's only Black identified neighbourhood, Hogan's Alley.
Some blocks were dominated by Scandinavians, others by Yugoslavs, Russians and Ukrainians. Over the years the East End became Chinatown's residential district, home to renowned authors Wayson Choy (The Jade Peony/Paper Shadows) and Paul Yee (Salt Water City/Ghost Train).
Home to three historic red light districts, an unsettling mix of non-British, mostly working class immigrants, three of Vancouver's four Depression era hobo camps, innumerable bootleg joints, even gangs, Vancouver's East End was often viewed by outsiders as an unsavoury, even dangerous place where "those people" lived.
But it was also home to Angelo Branca, who went on to become Supreme Court Justice for British Columbia, Canada's "Amelia Earhart" Tosca Trasolini, boxing legends Jimmy McLarnin and Phil Palmer, NDP Premier Dave Barrett, media personality, musician, filmmaker and actress Sook Yin Lee, CBC programmer, poet and author Bill Richardson, Canadian singing legend k. d. lang, and the Montreal Bakery where the "royal buns" were baked for the 1939 visit to Vancouver by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. And that is just scratching the surface!
Every one of Strathcona's houses has a story to tell. Want to time travel? Come for a History Walk through Vancouver's oldest and most fascinating neighbourhood, the East End.
Parking: There is plenty of free parking along Heatley Avenue, Hastings Street, and Keefer Street further South.
E-mail: historywalks@gmail.com to reserve a space on my regularly scheduled tours, or for more information on how to book a private History Walk.
PRIVATE TOURS / I TOUR PRIVATI / プライベートツアー
PRIVATE HISTORY WALKS for groups of 5 or more people, or a minimum cost of $100 for smaller groups, are available on Sunday mornings and afternoons on February 24th, March 3rd, March 10th, March 17th and March 24th. These tours are available in English, Japanese and Italian. For more information or to book your private tour, please contact me at: historywalks@gmail.com.
I TOUR PRIVATI per gruppi di 5 o più persone, o un costo minimo di $ 100 per gruppi più piccoli, sono disponibili la domenica 24 febbraio, 3 marzo, 10 marzo, 17 marzo e 24 marzo. Questi tour sono disponibili in inglese, giapponese e italiano. Per maggiori informazioni o per prenotare il tuo tour privato per favore mandami una e-mail a historywalks@gmail.com.
日本語でのプライベートツアーが2月24日、3月3日、3月10日、3月17日、3月24日の日曜日に手配することが可能です。プライベットツアーを手配する為には5人以上のグループが必要です。5人未満の場合には最低$100のグループ料金を払う必要になります。詳しくは historywalks@gmail.com へどうぞ。
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