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1. Okay, Vancouver! It’s time to put on comfortable walking shoes. We’re off on a trip to Union Street in Strathcona. Our meet-up point is the Stadium/Chinatown SkyTrain station. If you’re early, do some prep using Harold Kalman and Robin Ward’s Exploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide.
2. Crossing the Dunsmuir viaduct is a reminder of a plan to push a freeway into downtown Vancouver. It affords us enviable views of the North Shore mountains, the cranes in the harbour, Martin Creed’s neon installation, Andy Livingstone Park and a window overlooking the changing face of the Downtown Eastside.
3. Once across the viaduct we will be at the intersection of Main and Union Street. Note the Jimi Hendrix shrine, which serves as a reminder of the black community’s Hogan’s Alley. The shrine also sits on the site of Vie’s Chicken & Steak House restaurant where Jimi’s grandmother Nora worked. For some of Jimi’s Vancouver reminiscences, try Starting at Zero: His Own Story.
4. Look down the alley to the left as we pass the shrine. Sharp-eyed viewers will recognize the run-down building on the right from a Fred Herzog photograph. For more images, try Fred Herzog’s Photographs.
5. In the next block we see trendy new retail spaces sitting side-by side with more traditional Chinatown businesses and the Hogan’s Alley Café. We also find a cheeky reminder in Semi-Public Park of Strathcona’s struggle to retain its heritage character. Ken Lum has installed his version of that peculiar Vancouver architectural style known as the Vancouver Special. If you would like to learn more about this style, read Charles Demer’s Vancouver Special.
6. In the next block we see more signs of redevelopment. The MacLean Park housing complex is a marked contrast to the single family houses found on the south side. MacLean Park was once considered a blueprint for Strathcona redevelopment by socially progressive city planners. You can read more about the proposal in Rhodri Windsor Liscombe’s The New Spirit: Modern Architecture in Vancouver 1938-1963.
7. Have you noticed that Union Street is relatively flat, yet the alleyways that run parallel are quite hilly? How come? Many of the streets in Strathcona were leveled to facilitate streetcar lines. This created some interesting anomalies. Steep stairs and buildings with foundations well below street level with walkways leading to their front doors are common. You can read about this development in John Atkin’s Strathcona: Vancouver’s First Neighbourhood.
8. The corner groceries along Union Street reflect the vibrant immigrant communities that made Strathcona their home. Tosi’s Italian Food Import Co., Benny’s Market and the Union Market all have roots dating back to the early 1900s. Read about the Italian community in Raymond Culos’ Vancouver’s Shoeshine Boys: Shining Social History; the Portuguese community in Jean Barman’s The Remarkable Adventures of Portuguese Joe Silvey; and other immigrant communities in Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter’s Opening Doors in Vancouver’s East End Strathcona.
9. Let’s stop at my secret picnic spot -- the pocket park at Hawks and Georgia streets where we can contemplate Anthony Yurkovich’s “At Home on Keefer Street”, memorial and a tree planted as part of Mexican artist Pedro Reyes’ Palas por Pistolas project. If your family has roots in Vancouver, why not check out VPL’s online City Directories database. You’ll be surprised at what you can find.
10. Since we’re in the neighbourhood, it’s only fitting that we end our walking tour at 827 Georgia St., the former home of Ross and Zenora “Nora” Hendrix, the grandparents of Jimi Hendrix. Ross and Nora moved here in 1911.
11. Thank you for taking part in today’s tour. Follow THIS LINK to see a list of related booksfrom the library's collection and, remember, VPL has a fine digitized collection of historical photos you can VISIT ONLINE.
Union Street, 1972
Photo: Curt Lang (Leonard Frank Society of Documentary Photographers Project)
