SpongeG
Feb 7, 2008, 4:23 AM
Short Trips: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside offers a tourist adventure
By JOHN LEE
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Flanked by tourist-friendly Gastown and Chinatown, the skid road neighborhood of Downtown Eastside has languished for decades in paint-peeled decline. But change is coming, signaled by noisy construction clamor and giant cranes towering over the area.
The final frontier of Vancouver's new condo boom, "the district that time forgot" is finally on the rise. Increasing numbers of new residents point toward gentrification, and adventurous tourists are returning to explore the streets of once-handsome brick buildings where the city began.
The first stop for many is the Vancouver Police Centennial Museum where, according to the chatty front-desker, annual visitor numbers have risen from 3,000 a couple of years ago to 18,000 in 2007. Occupying the spooky old coroner's building next to the current police headquarters, this fascinating little museum uses archive photos and artifacts to illuminate local crime-fighting history.
Highlights include a hair-raising display of confiscated weapons -- check out the homemade crossbows -- along with a mothballed autopsy room that's not for the faint-hearted. It includes a couple of stainless steel dissection tables, a gruesome cabinet of surgical tools and a wall of glass-encased tissue samples with a couple of bullet-wounded hearts.
The museum offers an eye-opening walking tour of the area from May to October, but it's generally safe to explore the Downtown Eastside streets on your own. In fact, you're more likely to be asked for money by panhandlers in the tourist-heavy downtown core just a short walk away.
Of course, street smarts are essential: tuck your wallet away and avoid the dodgy back alleys, where most of the neighborhood's nefarious activities take place.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080207/450Shorttrips07_3.jpg
The area has some of then city’s best heritage neon signs. (February 07, 2008)
Credit: John Lee/Special to the P-I
Spending the afternoon on foot, I glimpse much of the area's faded heritage. Painted advertisements from decades past peek from the sides of crumbling old hotels, while a handful of antique neon signs -- Save-on-Meats and Only Seafood Cafe are the best -- recall the area's once-bustling commercial heart. But the current swathe of redevelopment also means there's a clutch or emerging new businesses to visit.
Wanted is the kind of cool, artsy store often found in trendier Vancouver areas. Dedicated to recycling, artist-owner Susan Schroeder transforms old baseboard wood planks into cute collage blocks covered with butterfly prints. She also turns vintage wool blankets into bird-shaped coin purses and artful new cushions.
Occupying an old barbershop, the store has faced some challenges due to its location in this neighborhood, but the owners are committed to sticking around. "Being here has its ups and downs, but things have definitely changed. You see more tourists wandering around, which is good. I just hope the gentrification doesn't change everything too much," says co-owner Derek McCluskey.
Nearby Funhauser Decor -- around the corner on Pender Street -- wallows in jokey, kitsch-cool aesthetics. Stuffed with Tiki torches, clockwork sushi toys and 1950s reproduction radios, it's the kind of store that supplies alternative souvenirs for those who don't want to take home maple syrup cookies from their Vancouver trip.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080207/450shorttrips_07_7.jpg
Heritage architecture lines the streets of Downtown Eastside. (February 07, 2008)
Credit: John Lee/Special to the P-I
After buying some "nihilist chewing gum" -- it's in a black box and has no flavor -- I amble up the street for a snack at New Town Bakery. At this clamorous, edge-of-Chinatown joint, I peruse tempting sweet and savory treats before selecting a steamed pork bun for the road. With a doughnut texture and a barbecue meat filling, it's the ideal late-afternoon fuel-up.
I duck across Main Street into the heart of Chinatown for an hour or so, then weave back down Hastings toward the Gastown area just as the sun is waning. Undergoing their own successful renaissance in recent years, the streets radiating from Gastown's Maple Tree Square are lined with cool bars and galleries.
After being on my feet all afternoon, I head for a restaurant respite. Five years ago, the corner of Carrall Street and East Cordova would have been a decidedly dodgy dinner destination, but the edge-of-Gastown heritage buildings here are rapidly being reclaimed as drink and dine hotspots. Boneta is one of the best and I happily wind down for a couple of hours with duck and couscous followed by a pistachio ice-cream chaser.
Then I'm back on the now-darkened streets. It's more intimidating being here at night, but nobody bothers me on a stroll along the main thoroughfares. I head to one of Vancouver's most successful independent theaters. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Firehall Arts Centre occupies an atmospheric old fire station building.
After sipping a beer in the theater's tiny, brick-lined bar -- amid an artsy, middle-age crowd that's probably more at home on Granville Island -- I find my seat in the compact studio space and catch an entertaining play called "Banana Boys." Like the Downtown Eastside itself, it mixes social messages with a side dish of quirky characters.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080207/450shorttrips07_9.jpg
Kitsch-cool stores are emerging here. (February 07, 2008)
Credit: John Lee/Special to the P-I
I end my day at a nearby bar. The Downtown Eastside is full of dives best avoided by most visitors, but Pat's Pub is a cut above the ramshackle rest. Picking up a brewpub lager at the bar, I weave toward a table at the back of the L-shaped room, a crowd of friendly 20-somethings around me belying the area's tough reputation.
As a hopping ska band takes to the small corner stage, I sip my beer and silently toast to an eye-opening day out in Vancouver's "other" neighborhood.
IF YOU GO
Vancouver Police Centennial Museum -- 240 E. Cordova St.; 604-665-3346; vancouverpolicemuseum.ca
Wanted -- 436 Columbia St; 604-633-0178; wantedshop.ca
Funhauser Decor -- 35 E. Pender St.; 604-681-8224; funhauser.com
New Town Bakery -- 158 E. Pender St.; 604-681-1828
Boneta -- 1 W. Cordova St.; 604-684-1844; boneta.ca
Firehall Arts Centre -- 280 E. Cordova St.; 604-689-0926; firehallartscentre.ca
Pat's Pub -- 403 E. Hastings St.; 604-255-4301; patspub.ca
John Lee is author of the new Vancouver guidebook from Lonely Planet. He can be reached at johnlee@telus.net.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/350076_shorttrips07.html
By JOHN LEE
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Flanked by tourist-friendly Gastown and Chinatown, the skid road neighborhood of Downtown Eastside has languished for decades in paint-peeled decline. But change is coming, signaled by noisy construction clamor and giant cranes towering over the area.
The final frontier of Vancouver's new condo boom, "the district that time forgot" is finally on the rise. Increasing numbers of new residents point toward gentrification, and adventurous tourists are returning to explore the streets of once-handsome brick buildings where the city began.
The first stop for many is the Vancouver Police Centennial Museum where, according to the chatty front-desker, annual visitor numbers have risen from 3,000 a couple of years ago to 18,000 in 2007. Occupying the spooky old coroner's building next to the current police headquarters, this fascinating little museum uses archive photos and artifacts to illuminate local crime-fighting history.
Highlights include a hair-raising display of confiscated weapons -- check out the homemade crossbows -- along with a mothballed autopsy room that's not for the faint-hearted. It includes a couple of stainless steel dissection tables, a gruesome cabinet of surgical tools and a wall of glass-encased tissue samples with a couple of bullet-wounded hearts.
The museum offers an eye-opening walking tour of the area from May to October, but it's generally safe to explore the Downtown Eastside streets on your own. In fact, you're more likely to be asked for money by panhandlers in the tourist-heavy downtown core just a short walk away.
Of course, street smarts are essential: tuck your wallet away and avoid the dodgy back alleys, where most of the neighborhood's nefarious activities take place.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080207/450Shorttrips07_3.jpg
The area has some of then city’s best heritage neon signs. (February 07, 2008)
Credit: John Lee/Special to the P-I
Spending the afternoon on foot, I glimpse much of the area's faded heritage. Painted advertisements from decades past peek from the sides of crumbling old hotels, while a handful of antique neon signs -- Save-on-Meats and Only Seafood Cafe are the best -- recall the area's once-bustling commercial heart. But the current swathe of redevelopment also means there's a clutch or emerging new businesses to visit.
Wanted is the kind of cool, artsy store often found in trendier Vancouver areas. Dedicated to recycling, artist-owner Susan Schroeder transforms old baseboard wood planks into cute collage blocks covered with butterfly prints. She also turns vintage wool blankets into bird-shaped coin purses and artful new cushions.
Occupying an old barbershop, the store has faced some challenges due to its location in this neighborhood, but the owners are committed to sticking around. "Being here has its ups and downs, but things have definitely changed. You see more tourists wandering around, which is good. I just hope the gentrification doesn't change everything too much," says co-owner Derek McCluskey.
Nearby Funhauser Decor -- around the corner on Pender Street -- wallows in jokey, kitsch-cool aesthetics. Stuffed with Tiki torches, clockwork sushi toys and 1950s reproduction radios, it's the kind of store that supplies alternative souvenirs for those who don't want to take home maple syrup cookies from their Vancouver trip.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080207/450shorttrips_07_7.jpg
Heritage architecture lines the streets of Downtown Eastside. (February 07, 2008)
Credit: John Lee/Special to the P-I
After buying some "nihilist chewing gum" -- it's in a black box and has no flavor -- I amble up the street for a snack at New Town Bakery. At this clamorous, edge-of-Chinatown joint, I peruse tempting sweet and savory treats before selecting a steamed pork bun for the road. With a doughnut texture and a barbecue meat filling, it's the ideal late-afternoon fuel-up.
I duck across Main Street into the heart of Chinatown for an hour or so, then weave back down Hastings toward the Gastown area just as the sun is waning. Undergoing their own successful renaissance in recent years, the streets radiating from Gastown's Maple Tree Square are lined with cool bars and galleries.
After being on my feet all afternoon, I head for a restaurant respite. Five years ago, the corner of Carrall Street and East Cordova would have been a decidedly dodgy dinner destination, but the edge-of-Gastown heritage buildings here are rapidly being reclaimed as drink and dine hotspots. Boneta is one of the best and I happily wind down for a couple of hours with duck and couscous followed by a pistachio ice-cream chaser.
Then I'm back on the now-darkened streets. It's more intimidating being here at night, but nobody bothers me on a stroll along the main thoroughfares. I head to one of Vancouver's most successful independent theaters. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Firehall Arts Centre occupies an atmospheric old fire station building.
After sipping a beer in the theater's tiny, brick-lined bar -- amid an artsy, middle-age crowd that's probably more at home on Granville Island -- I find my seat in the compact studio space and catch an entertaining play called "Banana Boys." Like the Downtown Eastside itself, it mixes social messages with a side dish of quirky characters.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080207/450shorttrips07_9.jpg
Kitsch-cool stores are emerging here. (February 07, 2008)
Credit: John Lee/Special to the P-I
I end my day at a nearby bar. The Downtown Eastside is full of dives best avoided by most visitors, but Pat's Pub is a cut above the ramshackle rest. Picking up a brewpub lager at the bar, I weave toward a table at the back of the L-shaped room, a crowd of friendly 20-somethings around me belying the area's tough reputation.
As a hopping ska band takes to the small corner stage, I sip my beer and silently toast to an eye-opening day out in Vancouver's "other" neighborhood.
IF YOU GO
Vancouver Police Centennial Museum -- 240 E. Cordova St.; 604-665-3346; vancouverpolicemuseum.ca
Wanted -- 436 Columbia St; 604-633-0178; wantedshop.ca
Funhauser Decor -- 35 E. Pender St.; 604-681-8224; funhauser.com
New Town Bakery -- 158 E. Pender St.; 604-681-1828
Boneta -- 1 W. Cordova St.; 604-684-1844; boneta.ca
Firehall Arts Centre -- 280 E. Cordova St.; 604-689-0926; firehallartscentre.ca
Pat's Pub -- 403 E. Hastings St.; 604-255-4301; patspub.ca
John Lee is author of the new Vancouver guidebook from Lonely Planet. He can be reached at johnlee@telus.net.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/350076_shorttrips07.html