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| Restmore Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in the 1920s - C-02424 RBC Museum & Archives |
This new East End Itinerary was developed recently as a photographer's Walking Tour of Strathcona. This route is a History Walk through what I call the Working/Wild Side of Vancouver’s East End.
The fascinating immigrant history and architectural charm of residential Strathcona, Vancouver’s old East End, have come to be appreciated by many through a diversity of tours escorted by civic historian John Atkin, the BC Jewish Museum & Archives, the Architectural Institute of BC, and the Vancouver Police Museum.
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| CVA 677-921 - Corner store 478 Union in 1972 |
On this tour I focus on the lesser known, but equally interesting and photogenic, southern and eastern peripheries of Strathcona, Kiwassa,
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| Vancouver's East End in the 1890s. The bottom of the map is North and the top is South |
and the old False Creek Flats. Highlights of the tour include a walk by the old Restmore Manufacturing Buildings, known today as the Artist Studios of 1000 Parker, the Cottonwood and Strathcona Community Gardens (once the sites of Vancouver’s city dump and home during the Great Depression of a sizeable hobo village),
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| CVA Photo Re N8.2 Three unemployed men in the hobo jungles at the City Dump, September 1931 |
the birthplace of Venice Bakery, Malkin Avenue and Prior Street, the birthplace of character actor John Qualin,
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| John Qualin from the Grapes of Wrath |
and a walk down Union Street to see the home of Michael Bublé's maternal grandparents, the home of boxing legend Jimmy McLarnin, the Union Market (which started as a Chinese laundry and was once a bootlegging joint), the birthplace of BC Premier Dave Barrett, Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, the apartments were music legend k.d. lang lived, the site of a short-lived pre-World War I era brothel, the site of the railway blockade by the Militant Mothers of Raymur, and the historic Admiral Seymour School.
Departs: 10am from the corner of Raymur Avenue and Malkin (near the Cottonwood community Gardens) and ends in front of 1000 Parker Street
Duration: Roughly 2.5 hours
Cost: $25
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| CVA 1376-238 - Admiral Seymour School class early 1900s |
To reserve a space on one of my regularly scheduled tours (see tour schedule), or to book a private tour, or to ask any questions about my history walks, please contact me at historywalks@gmail.com.
