Gastown

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Statue of "Gassy" Jack, Gastown.
Statue of "Gassy" Jack, Gastown.

Gastown is an area of Vancouver, British Columbia, located at the northeast end of Downtown in the Downtown Eastside [1] [2]. Its historical boundaries were the waterfront (now Water Street and the CPR tracks), Columbia Street, Hastings Street, and Cambie Street, which were the borders of the first townsite survey, the proper name and postal address of which was Granville, B.I. ("Burrard Inlet"). Today's official boundary does not include most of Hastings Street except for the Woodward's and Dominion Buildings.

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[edit] History

Gastown was Vancouver's first downtown core and is named after "Gassy" Jack Deighton, a British seaman, steamboat captain and barkeep who arrived in 1867 to open the area's first saloon. The town soon prospered as the site of a sawmill, seaport, and quickly became a general centre of trade and commerce on Burrard Inlet as well as a rough-and-rowdy resort for off-work loggers and fishermen as well as the crews and captains of the many sailing ships which came to Gastown or Moodyville, on the north side of the inlet (which was a dry town) to load logs and timber.

In 1886, the town was incorporated as the City of Vancouver. It fell victim to the "Great Vancouver Fire" that same year, losing all but two of its buildings. The area was completely rebuilt and continued to thrive, finding new life as the centre of the city's wholesale produce distribution until the Great Depression in the 1930s and, until the instigation of Prohibition, the centre of the city's drinking life (there were 300 licensed establishments the twelve-block area of the former Granville, B.I.) After the Depression Gastown was a largely-forgotten neighbourhood of the larger city and fell into decline and disrepair until the 1960s.

In the 1960s, citizens concerned with preserving Gastown's distinctive and historic architecture, which like the nearby Chinatown and Strathcona were scheduled to be demolished to build a major freeway into the city's downtown. A campaign led by businessmen and property owners as well as the counterculture and associated political protestors, some of them American draft dodgers, pressured the provincial government to declare the area a historical site in 1971, protecting its heritage buildings to this day.

Also in 1971, the Gastown Riots began when a marijuana 'smoke in' became violent when the Vancouver police intervened.

[edit] Today

Street scene, Gastown.
Street scene, Gastown.

Gastown is a mix of "hip" contemporary fashion and interior furnishing boutiques, tourist-oriented businesses (generally restricted to Water Street), restaurants, nightclubs, poverty and newly-upscale housing. In addition, there are law firms, architects and other professional offices, as well as computer and internet businesses, art galleries, music and art studios, and acting and film schools.

Gastown's most famous (though nowhere near oldest) landmark is its steam-powered clock, located on the corner of Cambie and Water Street. Long powered by electricity after its previous breakdown the steam mechanism has been completely restored with the financial support of local businesses. The steam used is low pressure district heating steam that powers a miniature steam engine in its base, in turn driving a chain lift. The chain lift moves steel balls upward, where they are unloaded and roll to a descending chain. The weight of the balls on the descending chain drives a conventional pendulum clock escapement, geared to the hands on the four faces. The steam also powers the clock's sound production as whistles are used instead of bells to produce the Westminster "chime" and to signal the time.

This restored steam clock entertains tourists
This restored steam clock entertains tourists

Gastown retains few vestiges of its 1970s role as "Haight-Ashbury North".[citation needed], with the area now mostly coffee shops, galleries, native art and import stores, restaurants and nightclubs. With the hippie and stoner types no longer frequenting this part of town, hipsters are now taking their place frequenting many establishments, and positioning this area to be the successor to Yaletown, with its large amount of high-priced condo stock.

Popular annual events that take place on the cobblestone streets of Gastown include the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the Tour de Gastown international bicycle race.

[edit] References

1. Map link from the City of Vancouver showing Gastown as one of five neighbourhoods in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

2. Map link showing Gastown as north of Downtown

[edit] External links

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[edit] Archival photos

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