Gastown has changed so many times in my life. When I was a teenager, I loved it for all the strange little hippie shops where I could buy scraps of fake fur, beads, and the weird jewelry that I imagined at the time made me look cooler than Joni Mitchell.
In my 20s, it was the place we went to sit in dark, noisy bars, occasionally screaming a few incomprehensible things at each other during the evening over the music.
In later years, I avoided it religiously, unless I felt a deep need for a T-shirt that said “Vancouver, B.C.” on it. Only Inform, the city’s outpost of modern furniture, could entice me down.
This Christmas season, it turned into my go-to neighbourhood. I bought shirts and tuques and jackets for the style guys in my life at hipper-than-thou men’s stores like Inventory and Roden Grey. I got cheap blankets at Nood, the emporium of low-cost modernism, and trolled through Nood’s upscale neighbours, Parliament and Orling and Wu.
And when I needed a break, I stopped for lunch at Peckinpah’s, the latest in the empire of restaurants down there run by a collection of young men who have turned Gastown into an interesting-food station of the cross for Vancouver, including The Diamond, Cobre, Monstr Sushi, etc.
That’s all possible because, back in 1967 or so, another group of then-young men decided that Gastown wasn’t just some rundown Skid Road that had no further use, even though it was the historic birthplace of the city. Those guys started buying buildings and scrapping with the city to invest in the area again.
I talked to one of them, Bob Saunders, yesterday as he is preparing to retire this week, and packing up his memorabilia of the area as he goes. After I’d filed my story, I also ended up talking to Robert Fung, the developer who has picked up the torch from that earlier group.
He now owns the set of buildings that Bob and company first bought back in 1968 — a set of buildings that has now been transformed into the home for the places I shopped and ate, along with condos at the Garage and Cordage.
It was thanks to those guys, says Robert, that there were buildings left for him to start restoring when he came along in the 1990s.
Of course, the question is: What does the future bring? When the original newcomers moved into Gastown, they talked about enjoying the area in spite of its large population of drunks and panhandlers. In fact, they said the mix was what made the area interesting.
The first wave of developers also created a lot of low-cost studios and apartments for local artists and whoever wanted to live down there — something that hasn’t happened in quite a while.
So what will Gastown be in another 40 years?
14 responses so far ↓
1 Jake // Jan 6, 2011 at 6:25 pm
The revitalization of Woodward’s represented the tipping point that gave the most recent wave of Gastown devotees the confidence to invest there, but it took decades. Innumerable Gastown businesses struggled and/or failed; countless residents that championed the neighbourhood have long since departed (after running out of patience waiting for things to get better and learning the hard way that Gastown was not a very good place to invest in residential real estate); and many developers’ financial expectations were dashed.
Consider it gentrification at a glacial rate due to the long shadow cast by the DTES.
What will Gastown be in another 40 years? The more interesting question to me is where is the next Gastown? East Hastings? False Creek Flats? Main Street?
2 Big Yellow Taxi // Jan 6, 2011 at 8:13 pm
Frances you were, are and always will be cooler than Joni Mitchell. But the singing? Don’t quit your day job.
3 Frances Bula // Jan 6, 2011 at 8:31 pm
@ Big Yellow Taxi. No kidding. I was convinced to participate in a karaoke event at our summer street party and I think I scared the children.
4 Joe Just Joe // Jan 6, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Glad to see Robert Fung get some praise, he’s done wonders already and I can’t wait to see what he still has left to do.
Sean Heather also deserves much praise and I’m glad he is mentioned in the globe piece, he’s been good to the area and in return the area has been good to him.
Another person that should get praised is Mark Brand, the man behind Boneta, Monstr Sushi and the hopefully the soon to be reopened Save-On Meats.
there are still going to be some bumps in the road, but I think the worst is behind Gastown. If the city can ever get the streetcar line built Chinatown will be next in it’s revival.
Hopefully Japantown will see some rejuvenation within my lifetime, Railtown is already looking pretty appealing today.
5 Bill McCreery // Jan 6, 2011 at 10:16 pm
Good article Frances. You also mentioned Larry, Howard, Ian and the Alhambra. Boy, does that bring back memories. The Alhambra was not just occupied by hippies, it was infested. It served as a field hospital during the Gastown riots.
And, not insignificantly, the Gastown riots were caused because Mayor Tom Terrific Campbell didn’t like hippies. That riot, along with the Georgia Viaducts protest march and a few other similar events at the time were part of a turning point in Vancouver history. Not just Gastown but, Vancouver are better for it. So yes, we, the many, do owe a debt of gratitude to the few.
One sad observation is that the Gastown rubbies I knew back then were down and out loggers and miners, most but not all with a drinking problem, and many had lost an arm or a leg. They were essentially nice people, down on their luck. What we have today really is a human tragedy of far greater proportions primarily driven by the illegal drug industry.
6 Roger Kemble // Jan 7, 2011 at 6:43 am
Good show Bob.
http://members.shaw.ca/rogerkemble/5.dtes/gastown/gastown.html
I remember when Larry renovated the low building, 1970+/-, on the Water Street corner facing Gassy Jack: the beginning.
It was lawyer and mystery author, cum MLA, Bill Deverell’s law office for a while.
Gastown has matured into a heritage Vancouver neighbourhood: much more than a tourist attraction.
When will you develop the rail yards: top notch view property now replete with shunting box cars that keep the neighourhood awake.
7 Roger Kemble // Jan 7, 2011 at 7:28 am
PS . . . who, for hell’s sake, brutalised Blood ally?
8 Roger Kemble // Jan 7, 2011 at 7:33 am
PPS . . . Goaler’s Muse . . . or whatever it’s called now?
9 Andrea Cordonier // Jan 7, 2011 at 7:52 am
I am a Vancouver ex-pat living in Ottawa and I finally had a chance to do a decent walking tour of downtown when I was back home in November. The redevelopment of the Woodward’s building was at the top of my ‘must sees’, along with a number of other areas that had been re-shaped over the past ten years.
With my youngest in tow I (regrettably) didn’t get to explore Gastown in the detail I would have liked, but was impressed by the area’s evolution. I am keen to hear about how the Woodward’s redevelopment as a social experiment/exercise continues to unfold over time or whether it can be considered an instant success.
I agree with @Bill McCreery about the nature of the dispossessed in the area: the obvious and devastating illegal drug use makes the behaviours of some street people in the area less benign, more unpredictable and sometimes downright terrifying. Imagine my state of mind, then, when I temporarily misplaced on of my children in Oppenheimer Park at the Powell Street Festival a few years ago! But these behaviours reflect a growing society-wide problem; I’ve seen this in small towns as well as the Downtown East Side.
Thanks, Frances, for your fascinating blog. It almost makes politics in Ottawa seem, well, kind of normal
10 Vance Campbell // Jan 7, 2011 at 11:00 am
Francis, glad you seized the opportunity to give Gastown a second look. You’re seeing the same things which piqued my interest four years ago when I became involved in a business at the far end of Gastown at Powell and Columbia. Great neighborhood, with exceptional history, colorful inhabitants, new and exciting proprietorships and businesses. Vancouver’s newest and hippest promise.
11 Sharon // Jan 7, 2011 at 2:29 pm
I would like to tip my hat to the Gastown Business Improvement Society who has stuck by its neighbourhood through thick and thin. There have been times when the horizon looked pretty bleak and even now, the push and pull of various interests with some politics can send things spiraling out of control.
I have lived in Vancouver all my life and I am so pleased to witness the renaissance of this wonderful community.
To everyone who has believed and fought hard for their vision – thank you. Don’t lose sight of the prize.
12 Graham Vaughan // Jan 7, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I’ve lived/worked in the DTES for just over a decade. The day I knew things were going to change, was the day Chill Winston opened. It and Six Acres (formerly called Moonshine) were the first restaurants to take a gamble on Gastown in the recent renewal. With all due respect to Mark Brand et al., I think Chill Winston deserves more credit than it gets. Its major — and very risky at the time — investment in this neighbourhood gave subsequent restauranteurs (like Mr. Brand) the confidence they needed to do the same. They very humbly sit by and watch others in the neighbourhood take the credit, so I thought I’d give them some.
Having said that, the restaurant scene that has built-up in Gastown is extraordinary! And every one of these youngsters deserves a ton of credit! So many unique concepts driven by real passion and mom-n’-pop sensibilities packed into such a small imminently walkable area make for an unparalleled dining destination. When I purchased my home here, never did I dream that all this would be right outside my door.
13 Tiktaalik // Jan 10, 2011 at 1:12 pm
In my opinion Gastown is the most vibrant and interesting neighbourhood in Vancouver. Its success is clearly due to its stellar collection of independent stores and restaurants and talented entrepreneurs. With that in mind I find it so disappointing that Vancouver has seemingly not recognized the importance of small retail entrepreneurship and did not make any place for it when designing the Olympic Village. The OV is actually a bit Gastownish in appearance, with smaller scale buildings and small one way roads, but unlike Gastown there is no real place for retail at all. On the square where there should be restaurants with patios spilling out (ie Chill Winston) there are two big box stores. It has been a huge missed opportunity and I hope Vancouver attempts to rectify this mistake as they approve more developments in the South East False Creek area.
Now that folks have realized what a fantastic success Gastown has become it will be interesting to see how Gastown develops. One possibility would be that it follows the path of Soho in New York and becomes home to small retail spaces for luxury niche brands. Considering how many great mens street wear stores there already are one could imagine a mens brand opening a pop up shop for a season. I think we’re already seeing higher retail rent prices make significant changes to the area. Many smaller stores will likely move out of the area. Mandula has already moved to Main and 3rd and Woo Vintage moved to Mid Main. Roden Gray however has stayed and moved to larger premises. It’s hard to ignore that the many recently renovated buildings on E Hastings are still empty, so perhaps building owners are being a bit ambitious and are asking for rents that are still too high for the area.
14 Gordon Ross // Jan 11, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Gastown is still a contested space – one foot in the pseudo historical red bricks that line Water St and plastic totem poles and t-shirt shops targeted firmly at the cruise-ship crowd, one foot in the new world of high-end fashion and food and furniture that you mentioned in your article Frances. No-where in Gastown is the tension most felt than Carrall St, which from north to south runs a mere 5 blocks or so and traverses 5 entirely distinct Vancouvers: Gastown, DTES/Hastings St, Chinatown, the Viaduct zone, the Stadium parking-lot zone, and ending at False Creek looking towards the Olympic Village. The past, present, and future of Vancouver all tied up in a few hundred meters of street, characterizing some of our proudest and most difficult moments as a City.
And outside of the retail experience of the street-level Gastown, you have many office spaces housing a predominantly high-tech crowd in certain buildings – we made the journey from 15 years at 353 Water down to 12 Water in one of Robert’s new/old buildings, The Garage this July, keeping our roots in this neighbourhood intact. It was hard to find office space in Gastown, but we did manage and we’re pleased to still be here. Pixar is across the street, other digital/web shops like Engine Digital and Communicopia to name a few have also been in the neighbourhood for a decade or more.
It’s a rough and tumble mix sometimes and the tensions have yet to be resolved — I hope in some ways they never are, as that what makes this neighbourhood so great.
Credit too is to be given to the GBIS – which along with commercial forces and City planning has had an impact on what the neighbourhood has become. Leanore Sali over at Gastown.org has long stood behind the merits of the heart of the City.
Now if we could only get that bike race to come back…
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