East Vancouver

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Location of East Vancouver neighbourhoods. Solid-coloured neighbourhoods are always considered part of East Vancouver, while dotted neighbourhoods are sometimes or partially considered part of East Vancouver.

East Vancouver (also "East Van" or the "East Side") is a region within the City of Vancouver, Canada. Geographically, East Vancouver is bordered to the north by Burrard Inlet, to the south by the Fraser River and to the east by the city of Burnaby. East Vancouver is divided from Vancouver's "West Side" (not to be confused with the "West End" of downtown Vancouver or West Vancouver ) by Ontario Street.

Historically, East Vancouver has been the first home for immigrants since the 1880s. It was also a more affordable area and traditionally the home for many lower-income workers and artists. While Vancouver's West Side is characterized by higher-value properties, less historical industrial development and less ethnic diversity, the East Side is best summarized by its diversity - in family income, land use, ethnicity and mother tongue. The rapid increase in housing prices and gentrification may be affecting diversity of the area.^[1]^[2]

[edit] History

Main article: History of Vancouver

The region was first settled by aboriginal peoples sometime around 500 B.C. While most aboriginal settlements were in what is now the West Side and downtown areas, one important settlement in what is now East Vancouver was located along the bank of the Fraser River .

In 1860, the False Creek Trail was built following an old aboriginal path to connect False Creek with New Westminster. The first permanent European settlement in the area arose in 1865 in what is now Strathcona, Vancouver's first neighbourhood. Even at that time, Strathcona was known simply as the "East End". In the 1880s, the first homes were built in what is now Mount Pleasant.^[3]

Construction of North Arm Road (now Fraser Street) began in 1872. This road was constructed to allow farmers to bring their produce to market from the north arm of the Fraser River. Later, in 1890, a railway linked South Vancouver and Mount Pleasant. Besides agriculture, canneries were a major employer for many residents in the 1880s and 1890s.

In 1886, the City of Vancouver was incorporated, and included much of East Vancouver. One exception was the city of South Vancouver, created in 1892, which was was an independent municipality until 1929. In 1888, the provincial government designated 65 hectares of land adjacent to modern Hastings Street as a park, now known as Hastings Park. Since 1907, the park has been home to the Pacific National Exhibition.

The transportation infrastructure expanded through the 1890s. In 1891, four public houses opened along Kingsway to service stagecoaches and carriages. Hourly tramcar service began operating along the old False Creek Trail between Vancouver and New Westminster.^[4] This is now paved and was renamed to Kingsway Avenue in 1913. By the 1920s, street car service was installed along the full length of what is now Main Street^[5]

Development of the area increased during this time. In 1893, a small cedar cottage was built near present day Kingsway and Knight streets. In 1900, the Cedar Cottage Brewery was built near this location and the surrounding area is still known as "Cedar Cottage." A municipal hall was built at East 41st Avenue and Fraser in 1911. Also in 1911, the Hastings Sawmill lands were sold to local working-class people. In the following year, John Oliver High School was built nearby. The Collingwood Free Library also opened in the neighbourhood. This library was built largely due to donations from a local resident, John Francis Bursill^[6], who wrote for local newspapers under the name "Felix Penne".

Electricity was first provided to South Vancouver in 1914. One of the first street lights in Vancouver was installed at East 48th Avenue and Nanaimo Street. After the First World War a building boom occurred in many areas of East Vancouver, resulting in most of the area being occupied by single-family housing by the 1940s.

A park was established at Trout Lake in 1926 when Mrs. Aldene Hamber purchased the land and donated it to the city to prevent it from being converted to a municipal dump. A condition of the donation was that the park be named after her father, John Hendry, and maintained by the city.

Additional notable events include:

1939 - King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visit Vancouver, traveled in a royal procession down Knight Street, and made an unplanned stop in Collingwood.
1947 - Many farmers were displaced in a large area of South Vancouver to make landavailable for returning World War II veterans and their families.
1950s - Citizens asked the City to clear vegetation from around Trout Lake to prevent skinny dipping.
1954 - Tram service ended due to increasing automobile ownership and bus service.
1955 - A Vancouver Province editorial implied that large areas of Strathcona and Chinatown should be demolished in favour of new growth.
1962 - Sidewalk paving was finally completed in East Vancouver, 30 years after wooden planked sidewalks were removed.
Late 1960s - Non-Partisan Association mayor "Tom Terrific" Campbell advocated a freeway that would destroy a large part of Chinatown. Campbell also advocated demolishing the historic Carnegie Centre and building a luxury hotel at the entrance of Stanley Park).
1967 - A US-based firm proposed a waterfront freeway, which would have required that 600 Strathcona houses be demolished and a 10-metre-high overpass be built over the centre of Chinatown. Wide-spread protest, including a crowd of 800 people who shouted down the proposals at city hall, led to the resignation of the chairman of the city's planning commission and the end of the proposal a year later.^[7]
1971 - Strict development regulations were passed to limit development in Chinatown and save the architectural heritage. This also preserved the community from proposed massive freeway projects.
1972 - Vancouver city mayor Thomas Campbell (NPA) was defeated by Art Phillips of (The Electors Action Movement). Phillips and TEAM campaigned on rehabilitating Gastown, whereas the NPA slate tended to strongly support the failed freeway project through East Vancouver.
1985 - The SkyTrain rapid transit system (current Expo Line) was built to connect downtown Vancouver to Surrey and included five stations in East Vancouver.
1986 - The City hosted a World's Fair (Expo 86) on the old rail yard properties at False Creek. Residential densification began to accelerate in this area.

Skytrain on the Millennium Line in East Vancouver.

1986 to 1993 - The Non-Partisan Association returned to Vancouver City Hall, with former realtor and businessman Gordon Campbell as mayor. The NPA worked more closely with developers, passing a series of pro-development by-laws. Many seniors and poor renters are evicted from properties throughout the city, including Gastown^[8].
1994 - The lease expired on the Pacific National Exhibition grounds at Hastings Park. Extensions were granted by Vancouver City Council. The final year for the Exhibition was to be 1997, 100 years after it started operating in Hastings Park.
2002 - The Millennium Line of SkyTrain opened, providing new rapid transit service through East Vancouver.
2004 - The provincial government transferred authority for the PNE to the City of Vancouver. A consultation process was initiated to determine a new future for the PNE in Hastings Park.

[edit] Neighbourhoods, demographics and languages

The 2001 census identified almost 550,000 in the city of Vancouver (Greater Vancouver has about 2.25 million residents).

Street and houses in East Vancouver (with North Shore Mountains in background)

The City of Vancouver identifies seven communities entirely in the East Vancouver area (east of Ontario Street), which include Kensington-Cedar Cottage, Hastings-Sunrise, Killarney, Renfrew-Collingwood, Strathcona and Victoria-Fraserview. The 2001 census identified 220,490 people living in these communities (approximately 40% of the City's population).

Two communities straddle both East Vancouver and the West Side - Mount Pleasant and Riley Park-Little Mountain).

Two communities are part of East Vancouver but often referred to separately because of their unique place in the City's fabric: the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown.

In addition to East Vancouver, the City of Vancouver is made up of the West End, Downtown, Downtown Eastside, and West Side.

While the overall mother tongue^[9] in the City of Vancouver is 49% English^[10] and 26% Chinese^[11] (2001), areas of East Vancouver represent a more diverse ethnic population (e.g. residents of Victoria-Fraserview identified their mother tongue as 27% English and 49% Chinese). Note that all other mother tongues (e.g., Punjabi) were identified by fewer than 3% each of the City's population^[12].

[edit] Community identity

Perry St just north of Kingsway

East Vancouver has a strong geographic and community identity. This identity is about a diverse community living together within a dynamic (and sometimes gritty) urban neighbourhood. This diverse identity is strengthened by many active ethnic communities, a vibrant artistic presence, a politically engaged youth population, and vocal sexual-orientation and gender-identity groups.

This community identity is reinforced politically by newspapers such as the Republic of East Vancouver newspaper and frequent political and social activism - such as the Commercial Drive Car Free Festival and protests^[13].

This identity is reinforced artistically by events at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, a community poetry anthology ("East of Main"), the Eastside Culture Crawl, and "the Drift", an annual event where local artists present their work centered around Main Street.

While many East Vancouver residents are proud of the diversity in their community, some perceive a long prejudice against East Side neighbourhoods. These concerns include the protests against the 1960s effort to push a freeway through (and over) parts of the East Side, to a perception that municipal spending and planning favours^[14] other areas of the city (especially the West Side), to recent debates, such as expansion of the Port of Vancouver operation in East Vancouver and the expansion of the Port Mann bridge and predicted increased traffic through the East Side. Mayor Sam Sullivan's plans for increased population in Vancouver with "ecodensity" includes coach houses and densification plans via zoning changes mainly for the East Side, with few plans to change zoning or densify the West Side.

[edit] Ethnic communities in East Vancouver

Annual Dickens Community Multicultural festival in East Vancouver

East Vancouver has long been the first community for new waves of immigrants to the region, many of which eventually relocate to other areas of the Greater Vancouver region. This pattern has led to the mosaic of multi-ethnic neighbourhoods that defines East Vancouver today (e.g. Commercial Drive). This also makes modern East Vancouver a diverse and dynamic area for residents, tourists and politics.

Immigrant waves that passed through East Vancouver include English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, Italians, German, Eastern European, Chinese, South East Asian, South Asian.

[edit] European

Early European settlers in East Vancouver were largely Irish, British, Scottish and Welsh. Today, evidence of these early settlers from Britain and Ireland is found in places such as the Cambian Hall (built 1929) for the first Welsh Society in Vancouver (est. 1908). Modern British/Irish communities are still active in East Vancouver today, notably at the WISE Hall ("WISE" is an acronym for Welsh-Irish-Scottish-English) and the Vancouver Irish Céili Society.

Italian immigrants formed the first "Little Italy" in the Main Street area by 1910 and then the Commercial Drive area in the 1950s (where Italian businesses and residents are still plentiful)^[15]. An Italian Cultural Centre opened nearby in the 1970s.

While Greek immigrants mostly moved to Vancouver's West Side (e.g. Hellenic Cultural Community Centre on Arbutus Street) there was also strong communities in East Vancouver, particularly near Boundary Road (which divides Vancouver from the eastern municipality, Burnaby). In the 1960s, the number of Greek immigrants to Vancouver doubled in the 1960s, although this has declined steadily since the late 1960s.

Other visible European communities that have settled in East Vancouver include Polish (e.g. the Polish Veterans Association Meeting Hall on Kingsway, the Polish Hall on Fraser Street), German, Croatian (e.g. the Croatian Cultural Centre near Trout Lake), ...

[edit] Asian

A touch of Southeast Asia at the corner of Kingsway and Miller St

A Chinese community existed before Vancouver was incorporated (1886) and soon expanded eastward into today's Chinatown . Chinese immigration to the city grew significantly after 1947 when racial immigration exclusion laws were removed by the BC Government. Since the 1980s, many Chinese immigrants now choose to live outside of Chinatown, including elsewhere in East Vancouver (e.g. Victoria Drive area) and Richmond. Immigrants from Hong Kong began to move to the Vancouver area from the 1990s, concerned about the transfer of the territory from the UK to the Chinese. These immigrants were often wealthier than previous waves of Chinese immigrants and typically moved to non-Chinese communities in the West Side and elsewhere.

Chinese remains the dominant ethnicity in the City of Vancouver (about 33% of the city's students learn Chinese prior to learning English)^[16]. Greater Vancouver has North America’s highest percentage of residents of Chinese descent (16%) and of this, 80% are foreign-born^[17].

A wave of immigrants from South East Asian countries (e.g. Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia) has moved to East Vancouver since the 1970s. Although many of these immigrants have since relocated to City of Richmond as part of the "Asia West" movement. Kingsway Street in East Vancouver has many South East Asian businesses, such as Vietnamese restaurants, cafes and beauty shops. In 2003, about 5% of Vancouver's students learn Vietnamese as their first language ^[18].

Asian communities are served in East Vancouver by the Cantonese Families Mutual Sharing and Support Group on Commercial Drive,

The Asian community in East Vancouver is served by the Vietnamese Seniors Outreach Program at Commercial Drive,

[edit] South Asian

Since the 1990s, increasing numbers of Vancouver's South Asian residents have since relocated to other areas of the Greater Vancouver region, particularly Surrey and Abbotsford ^[19].

[edit] Hispanic

The Hispanic community in East Vancouver is served by the Canadian Latin American Cultural Society on Commercial Drive,

[edit] African

While the number of Africans is growing in Canada in general, those living in the Greater Vancouver area have a presence in East Vancouver. This includes the African Canadian Association of BC and the African-American Seniors Support Group, both on Commercial Drive. Also, large populations in some parts of Burnaby.

[edit] Key shopping areas

[edit] Kingsway

Multi-ethnic shopping on Kingsway in East Vancouver

Kingsway was built on an ancient aboriginal footpath and is the historic connector between the early cities of New Westminster and Vancouver (Kingsway was originally named the "Westminster Road").

Today, it is one of the longer streets in the Greater Vancouver area (connecting Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster). Its length and varied services make it difficult to characterize; common businesses include diverse ethnic restaurants/cafés, specialty grocery stores, and many others.

Key shopping areas along Kingsway in East Vancouver include SoMa (South Main), Cedar Cottage/Dickens (from Fraser to Knight Streets), and Collingwood.

[edit] Main Street

Main Street is known as Chinatown between East Hastings and East Georgia Streets. This area has many Chinese businesses, particularly restaurants, small pottery and furniture stores, financial establishments, clothing stores and others. These businesses also extend to the east and the wet of Main Street in this area. A popular Chinese New Year parade is held each year in this area.

Main Street is known as "SoMa", or South Main, between East 7th and East 19th Avenues. This area is known for a younger, hip demographic. Common businesses include cafés, grocery stores, pubs, vintage clothing stores, independent media stores. There are fewer recent immigrants in this area and it is also much more influenced by people in their 20s and 30s.

Mid-Main (between East 20th and East 30th Avenues) This area of Main Street is dominated by antique stores, restaurants, bars, cafés, clothing stores, bookstores, grocery stores, and independent video stores.

The South Asian District, or Punjabi Market is between E 48th to E 51st Avenue.

South-East Marine Drive, between E 65th Avenue and SE Marine Drive and south to E Kent Avenue, has industrial and highway oriented retail.

[edit] Fraser Street

Fraser Street has two main shopping areas; a multi-ethnic (Chinese, Vietnamese, Phillipino, Russian area) between East 24th and East 28th Avenues; and, between East 43rd and East 50th Avenues, one of Vancouver's several "Little Indias".

[edit] Commercial Drive

Commercial Drive (between Venebles to E 12th Avenue) is one of the most vibrant shopping areas of the Greater Vancouver region due to it strong multi-ethnic and activist identities. Culturally, this area is defined by the historic Italian and Portuguese communities, which developed a "Little Italy" here in the 1950s. Since that time, immigrants from Asia, the Caribbean, Middle East and elsewhere mix with a strong aboriginal community to form a dynamic neighbourhood. Many residents from elsewhere in the city come to this area for shopping (e.g. Italian cheeses), restaurants, bars, cafés and the arts.

The Commercial Drive area consistently ranks highly by city residents for many amenities, including "best neighbourhood", "best local microbrewery", "best place to eat meat", and "best potential hipster hangout"^[20].

Largely due to the activism and independent arts and culture scene of the area, the Hipster Handbook identifies Commercial Drive as the only area in the Greater Vancouver region as an "Indigenous Zone of the Hipster in the United States and Canada".^[21]

[edit] Victoria Drive

Victoria Drive, between East 36th and East 43rd Avenues, is a vibrant Chinese community with many restaurants, grocery stores and other services.

[edit] Housing, affordability and gentrification

In June 2006, the typical housing ("benchmark") price of a single-detached house in East Vancouver was $600,422. In March 2006, the benchmark price was $560,000 (a 24% increase over the previous year and a 90% increase over the previous five years)^[22]. Many home owners in East Vancouver rent out their basement suites to generate revenue (and increasingly, to assist with mortgage payments).

Increased housing prices are causing changes in East Vancouver neighbourhoods, such as fewer new immigrants moving to the area and decreasing affordability for artists^[23],seniors^[24], young families^[25] and others.

Resident-led volunteer project to create green spaces and improve a neighbourhood in East Vancouver

However, increased housing prices have also caused significant positive changes in East Vancouver, such as greater retention of existing residents (admittedly due to a lack of affordability in some other areas), increased densification ^[26] (increasing the number of affordable housing options (e.g. townhouses)), more residential investment, neighbourhood-led artistic projects ^[27], more community-pride events (e.g. neighbourhood clean-ups, block parties and community gardening), and greater tax base for new amenities^[28] (e.g. a new planned library and $2.7 million in street, lighting and sidewalk improvements at Kingsway and Knight Street).

Rising prices throughout the city have produced challenges for new social housing projects. This has caused conflict ^[29] where East Vancouver residents feel that social housing projects are disproportionately located in their communities versus areas in Vancouver's West Side, some of which have no social housing at all (Dunbar, Kerrisdale and Shaughnessy)^[30].

Other general Vancouver housing concerns include increasing rental rates^[31] due to the construction boom associated with the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and recent provincial economic growth.

[edit] Amenities and celebrations in East Vancouver

While the type of parks in East Vancouver is varied, one common element is the early morning tai chi practitioners. Other unique East Side park features include Trout Lake (the only lake in the city), the modern parkgrounds at Hastings Park, the large (38 ha.) and wild Everett Crowley Park, Kensington Park, where many wedding photographs are taken against the stunning backdrop of the city and North Shore Mountains, the bustling Refrew Community Park, the diverse Strathcona Park with its skatepark and climbing wall, and the multi-use Memorial Park, which is dedicated to soldiers who died in WW1 and today provides many spaces for sports teams and neighbours alike.

Parks in Vancouver (map search)

Community centres in Vancouver (map search)

[edit] Public celebrations in East Vancouver

Chinese New Year Parade at Main and Pender Streets (Late January or early February)
Baisakhi Day Parade and vegetarian temple feast, near Marine Drive and Fraser Street (mid-April).
Annual Cedar Cottage Mothers Day Traditional pow wow at Trout Lake Park (mid-May).
East Vancouver Farmers Market
Illuminares (Lantern Festival) at Trout Lake Park. (end of July, always on Saturday, starting at dusk).
Pacific National Exhibition (mid-August to Labour Day)
East Vancouver Culture Crawl
Vancouver Fringe Festival, centered on the Commercial Drive area (early September).
Mid-autumn Moon Festival at Dr. Sun Yat-sen Garden (late September or early October).
Parade of Lost Souls at Grandview Park (near Halloween).

[edit] Politics

Politically, East Vancouver has often supported left-wing political candidates^[32] although demographic changes since the 1990s (e.g. significantly increasing family income levels) may be causing voting patterns to become more diverse.

At the municipal level, East Vancouver is part of the "at large" political system and therefore is represented by all of Vancouver City Council. In the 2005 municipal election, the Non-Partisan Association became the controlling party at Vancouver's City Hall.

Provincially, East Vancouver includes the constituencies of Vancouver-Kensington, Vancouver-Kingsway, Vancouver-Hastings, Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and Vancouver-Fraserview. In the 2005 provincial election, all constituencies in East Vancouver were won by the New Democratic Party of British Columbia except Vancouver-Fraserview, which is represented by the BC Liberal Party.

Federally, East Vancouver includes the ridings of Vancouver East, Vancouver Kingsway and Vancouver South. In the 2006 federal election, Van. East was won the federal New Democratic Party, while the Liberal Party of Canada took both Van. Kingsway and Van. South. Shortly after the election, the Member of Parliament for Vancouver Kingsway (David Emerson) crossed the floor so that this riding is now represented by the Conservative Party of Canada.