Downtown Eastside

Neighourhood history and heritage

The Downtown Eastside (DTES) encompassed two distinct areas within its boundaries. The original civic centre, centered around Main and Hastings with City Hall, the City Market, the Carnegie Public Library and numerous theatres, while farther east it was home to much of the original industry of the new city including the Hastings Mill. Along the waterfront of Burrard Inlet was, as today, the port.

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  History

  With the construction of the new courthouse on Georgia Street in 1906 the focus for the downtown shifted west. The DTES was still the transportation hub for the city with the B.C. Electric interurban station at Hastings and Carrall, the North Shore Ferries at the foot of Columbia and the coastal steamship piers between Carrall and Main Street. All of this activity put thousands of people per day onto the streets of the DTES, they in turn supported a vibrant shopping district along Hastings Street.

  The numerous hotels that remain in the area were originally built for commercial travellers and tourists brought in by the coastal steamship fleets. Later they would become the permanent home to the many single men who had worked as loggers and miners. Along Powell Street the Japanese community settled close to the port and fish processing plants. At one time they made up the majority of the school population at the nearby Strathcona Elementary School. In 1942, Vancouver's residents of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed to the interior of B.C. following the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

  In 1958 street car service was discontinued and the interurban station was closed, the following year the North Shore ferries ceased operation. These two events took the thousands of people per day away from the streets and the area never fully recovered. The cycle of closures was completed when the Woodward's department store closed its doors in 1992 leading the area into further decline. By the early 1970s the Downtown Eastside was home to a disproportionate number of single, middle-aged men living on fixed incomes. The DTES experienced further change when a lack of public funding led to the de-institutionalization of thousands of psychiatric patients, many of whom found the Downtown Eastside an affordable and welcoming community.

  On the positive side, a number of new housing projects funded by the province and the city have substantially improved the rental housing situation, while the various initiatives of the Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) have done much to make life better for low income people.

  Did you know?

  • The 1907 Pantages Theatre near Main and Hastings is the oldest remaining Pantages Theatre in North America.
  • The upstairs of the Carnegie Library was the home to the Vancouver Museum until 1968.
  • Gore Street, the only street in the area to run at an angle to the regular grid system, was originally a logging skid road leading to the Hastings Sawmill on the waterfront.
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  Heritage

  Industry has made up a significant portion of the DTES and the eastern portion of the area has small scale industrial uses mixed in with the remaining homes and rooming houses along Alexander, Powell and Cordova Streets. These houses are some of the oldest in the city.
  There are some noteworthy industrial buildings such as the 1925 American Can Company building, one of the largest reinforced concrete factories built in the city. In 1988 it was renovated into offices and a large steel and glass elevator tower added to the outside.

  The Flying Angel Seaman's Club at the foot of Dunlevy is the former head office of the B.C. Mills Timber and Trading Company, informally known as the Hastings Mill. This large 1905 prefabricated building was built by the mill to promote its prefabricated building system produced by the mill from 1904 until 1911.

  On the west side of Oppenheimer Park is the 1913 New World Hotel at 396 Powell Street. Originally named the "Tamura Building" by its owner, a Japanese banker and importer, this brick building features extensive use of sheet metal ornamentation and granite block foundation stones. It was restored in 1991. Across the street and facing the park is the Marr Hotel which opened its doors in 1890 as the Stanley Hotel.

  See detailed information on the city's heritage and a complete list of heritage buildings.

  Additional information is available through the City of Vancouver Archives.

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  Japantown

  The Oppenheimer neighbourhood’s most notable early association is with the social, economic, and cultural activities of the Japanese-Canadian community from the 1890s to 1942.

  Through the 1890s, the area experienced rapid development and by the end of the decade, was distinctly working class. The extension of the street car line on Powell St also spurred commercial development.

  The growth in immigration from Japan helped fill labour needs for local industries. What began in 1883 as a single immigrant grew to several thousand by the turn of the century. 

  The area became distinctly Japanese and to its residents it was known as Nihonmachi (Nihon= Japan, machi = town), Japantown, or Little Tokyo with first generation immigrants known as Issei. 

  The number of Japanese workers at the Hastings Mill surpassed that of the Chinese under a system of immigration sponsorship.  

  Entrepreneurs served the needs of mill owners in the role of labour contractors, boarding house keepers, general store managers, and money lenders. They provided a steady flow of workers who were placed in boarding houses along Alexander, Powell, Cordova, Carrall, and Main Streets. 

  These entrepreneurs were based in the area according to a prefecture system associated with the south and west regions of Japan. These included Shiga, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima.

  Political and economic trends were a strong influence on the development of Powell St with the recession in the early 1890s and the Sino-Japanese War, and another minor recession coinciding with the Russo-Japanese war. The area retained its economic strength and by 1907 was on the upswing again. 

  In September 1907, a white supremacist rally organized by the American Knights of Labour led to the anti-Asian riots: its targets were the Chinese and Japanese neighbourhoods. Shortly after the riots, immigration from Japan was limited to 400 individuals per year. 

  Despite this setback, the community extended well beyond the original Powell St corridor to encompass a much larger area. The community was forced to become more self-sufficient, and Powell St became the economic, social, and cultural focus of Japanese-Canadians.

  The Vancouver Japanese Language School, on Alexander St, was established in 1906 to retain the community’s linguistic roots. The school acts as a centre of cultural and social activities and its expansion into other much needed programs is a testament to its deep roots in the community that it serves.