Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
VANCOUVER'S OLDEST STREET
Just a few weeks after renaming itself Vancouver in 1886 (no one liked the origin-
al name 'Granville,' nor the insalubrious 'Gastown' slang name that preceded it),
the fledgling city of around 1000 homes burnt almost to the ground in just
minutes in what was termed the Great Fire. But the locals weren't about to jump
on the next boat out of town. Within days, plans were drawn up for a new city. And
this time, brick and stone would be favored over wood.
The first buildings to be erected radiated from Maple Tree Sq, in particular
along Carrall St. This thoroughfare (which is also one of the shortest streets in
Vancouver) still exists today and it links the historic center of Gastown to Chin-
atown. Take a stroll south along Carrall from Maple Tree Sq and you'll spot some
grand buildings from the early days of the city. Perhaps due to an abundance of
caution, they are also some of the sturdiest structures around and will likely sur-
vive for many years to come, whether or not there's another fire.
If you'd visited 30 years ago, however, you would have seen many of these
buildings seemingly on their last legs. This part of Vancouver hadn't attracted any
new development or investment for years and Carrall St's old, paint-peeled tav-
erns, hotels and storefronts were spiraling into skid-row degradation. Two things
changed the inevitable: historians and heritage fans banded together to draw at-
tention to the area's important role in the founding years of the city, a campaign
that finally culminated in a national historic site designation in 2010; and gentri-
fication took hold. With few neighborhoods left to enhance, the developers finally
came back. While gentrification has many detractors here - particularly resid-
ents who have called this area home for years and don't want to be pushed out by
rising housing costs - an undeniable positive is that it has preserved and protec-
ted Gastown's historic buildings for decades to come. The brick and stone land-
marks that once lined Carrall have, for the most part, been sympathetically re-
stored and renovated, giving the entire area a new lease on life beyond its herit-
age designation.
Gastown
RAINIER PROVISIONS
WEST COAST
$
(
www.rainierprovisions.com
;
2 W Cordova St; mains $8-12;
11am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-8pm Sat &
Sun;
4)
Revitalizing a former Gastown hotel building, this great-value cafe-bistro is a
