Continue east to the intersection with Carrall St., where W. Hastings becomes E. Hastings. Don’t linger at Pigeon Park, a grubby corner where the area’s sketchiest residents hangout day and night. Instead cross Carrall and head to the right-hand side of E. Hastings to check out the colorful seahorse-shaped neon sign of Only Seafoods Café, a legendary fish restaurant that was closed in 2009. Its sign, so far, remains intact. Keep the pace fairly swift here and stroll briskly uphill. For another snack option, drop into the Radio Station Café, on the left-hand corner of E. Hastings and Columbia, named for Co-op Radio, the volunteer community station upstairs that’s been a neighborhood fixture since the 1970s. Enjoy your java and a muffin while you peruse the goings on outside the windows—you’ll likely see industrious locals dragging giant sacks of cans and bottles to the nearby recycling center.
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The café is a sign that businesses are beginning to return and thrive in this area. In fact, nip south along Columbia St. for half a block and you’ll find one that may indicate a bright commercial future. Occupying an old barbershop, Wanted—Lost Found Canadian is the kind of cool, artsy store often found in much trendier Vancouver neighborhoods. Dedicated to recycling, artist-owner Susan Schroeder transforms baseboard wood planks into cute collage blocks covered with butterfly prints, and vintage wool blankets into bird-shaped coin purses and artful new cushions. She’s always happy to chat about the challenges of the area and why she thinks things are slowly improving.
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Returning to E. Hastings, turn right and within a few steps you’ll come to the site of the old Pantages Theatre. Built in 1907 at the height of Vancouver’s love affair with vaudeville, it had later incarnations as City Nights movie house and Sung Sing Theatre. Plans are afoot to give it yet another life. Across the street, you’ll spot the handsome, if worn, signage of the Balmoral Hotel. Originally an upscale inn, it’s not recommended as accommodation now, but its renovated ballroom has been colonized by Vancouver hipsters and cool up-and-coming indie bands.
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Continuing uphill, you’ll soon come to the Main St. intersection and, on your right, one of Vancouver’s handsomest heritage buildings. The entrance often obscured by a regular coterie of dodgy characters, the old Carnegie Library now acts as the area’s main community center. This is not a corner where you’ll want to stay for long, but do look for the splendid stained glass window of Shakespeare, Spenser, and Milton, a reminder of the days when this grand sandstone edifice, built in 1903 with funds given by U.S. industrialist Andrew Carnegie, was the city’s first public library and also the site of the original Vancouver Museum.
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Since you’re not lingering here, turn left along Main St. and head north to the large police station building. Cross to the other side of Main, then make a right on E. Cordova St. The police officers wandering around here will likely make you feel a little easier about that expensive camera nestled in your backpack, but that’s not the reason for coming here.
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Continue walking east on E. Cordova and, on your right, you’ll soon come to arguably the city’s best off-the-beaten-path attraction. Occupying a spooky former coroner’s building, the Vancouver Police Centennial Museum uses archival photos and eye-opening artifacts to illuminate the city’s crime-fighting history. Head up to the second floor galleries and you’ll come face-to-face with confiscated homemade weapons, counterfeit currency and a mothballed autopsy room that’s not for the faint-hearted. It includes stainless steel dissection tables, surgical tools, and a wall of glass-encased tissue samples including brain slivers and bullet-wounded hearts. The museum also offers an excellent summer walking tour that delves deeper into the area’s murky crime history.
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After the museum, keep going east on E. Cordova and check out the preserved old firehall at the intersection with Gore Ave. Built in 1906, this handsome red-doored, brick edifice was the city’s leading fire station for decades, quelling blazes across the region. In 1975, the firemen moved out and the Firehall Arts Center was born, becoming one of Vancouver’s most enduring and successful venues for avant-garde theatre and dance productions. Its season starts in the fall and its clientele are usually among Vancouver’s most artsy: you can rub shoulders with them in the brick-lined lobby bar.
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Stay for a show or turn right and head south for one block to E. Hastings. Turn left onto E. Hastings and stroll for one block, crossing over Dunlevy Ave. Consider a brewpub beer at Pat’s Pub in the Patricia Hotel here. You can toast your day in the city’s grungiest neighborhood before hopping back on the number 10 bus outside. You’ll be back in the heart of Vancouver’s more salubrious downtown district within a few minutes.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Cannabis Culture Headquarters 307 W. Hastings St., 604-682-1172
Dominion Building 207 W. Hastings St.
Victory Square cnr of W. Hastings St. and Cambie St.
Save-On-Meats 43 W. Hastings St., 604-683-7761
Pigeon Park cnr of W. Hastings St. and Carrall St.
Radio Station Café 101 E. Hastings St., 604-684-8494
Wanted—Lost Found Canadian 436 Columbia St., 604-633-0178
Pantages Theatre 152 E. Hastings St.
Carnegie Centre 401 Main St.
Vancouver Police Centennial Museum 240 E. Cordova St., 604-665-3346
Firehall Arts Centre 280 E. Cordova St., 604-689-0926
Pat’s Pub 403 E. Hastings St., 604-255-4301
Downtown Eastside wall painting
ROUTE SUMMARY
1.
Start on W. Hastings St., just before the intersection with Cambie St.
2.
Cross on W. Hastings St. to Victory Square.
3.
Cross east on Cambie St. and continue east along W. Hastings St.
4.
Continue east along W. Hastings St. and cross to the other side at the intersection with Carrall St.
5.
Continue east along E. Hastings St. and turn right onto Columbia St.
6.
Return to E. Hastings St. and turn right, continuing east to the intersection with Main St.
