EAST END/STRATHCONA HISTORY WALK, SATURDAY AUGUST 29th
Departs: 696 East Hastings (at Heatley) at 10am. Duration 2-2.5 hours
Content: 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 or for more information.
This tour repeats Saturday September 12 and September 19.
See TripAdvisor Reviews. History Walks in Vancouver have received an Award of Excellence from TripAdvisor. Currently ranked 29 of 124 Tours and Activities in Vancouver, it is the top rated "one man show" of all these tours and activities.