When visiting Gastown Vancouver Canada, you can see where it all started. Historic Gastown is chalked full of hard luck stories, and tales of grandiose architecture.
Located along the waterfront to the east of Downtown Vancouver's business core is the modest birthplace of this grand city. Now a popular site for tourists seeking a lesson in Vancouver history, Gastown has risen from the mire to be honored as a worthy landmark.
In September of 1867, "Gassy" Jack Deighton, had plans to bring prosperity and good will to the southern shore of Burrard Inlet. After his former saloon in New Westminster fell into bankruptcy, Deighton took his last six dollars and navigated his canoe, complete with his wife, her mother and cousin, two chickens, a dog, some necessary furnishings and a crucial barrel of whisky, to the area just east of Hastings Mill. Knowing he needed to make money as quickly as possible he erected a shack and opened the doors of his new saloon all in the space of 24 hours. With the constant patronage of the nearby mill workers, "Gassy's town" soon took on the shortened colloquialism of "Gastown".
Soon other merchants began to follow in Deighton's footsteps and by 1873 the little slap-together saloon was abandoned for better digs across the street. Gassy Jack had incorporated a grand two-story hotel, complete with saloon, billiard room, guest rooms and a veranda overlooking the glorious Maple Tree Square.
The humble "boozing and brawling" town, surrounded on all sides by forest and water was beginning to emerge as a town of import. Later that year, Gastown boasted such establishments as a butcher shop, general store, school, three hotels and many more drinking establishments and brothels.
In May of 1875 Gassy Jack died, leaving a legacy of a city in the making. After an out-of-control land clearing fire leveled the city in 1886, Vancouver emerged from the ashes as a stronger, more determined city. In an outstanding effort, just three days after the fire, fifteen establishments, including a three story hotel, were opened and ready for business.
Sadly, the fire that destroyed so many buildings was not able to quench the reputation it carried of being a hard drinking, morally corrupt city. By 1900, a more Grandiose Vancouver was developing to the west and south, moving further and further away from Gastown, leaving it to keep company with the alcoholics and drug addict bums. In an effort to keep the elegant flavor, Angelo Colari built Hotel Europe at the cost of $125,000 in the center of Gastown's Maple Tree Square. The marble tiles, lavish staircases, brass handrails, and sky-lit basement restaurant made the new hotel appear to be a rose among thorns.
The Stock Market crash of 1929 sealed the fate of Gastown as a haven for lowlifes and addicts. The skid row, end of the tracks area of Vancouver housed many charity cases right on through the Great Depression and on into the late 1960's.
In 1969, a group of developers, merchants, restaurant owners, and historians formed the Community Arts Council and campaigned to have Jack Deighton's legacy restored to it's former yet brief splendor. Among the new additions were a six-foot copper statue of Gassy Jack, standing on his infamous keg of whisky, commissioned by an artist for $850. Ironically, in 1970, the head of the statue was decapitated by a vandal and later returned in exchange for a $50 reward.
One of the most successful business ventures was the founding of The Olde Spaghetti factory in 1970, an innovative pasta restaurant that featured a streetcar in the center of it. Decorated with historical newspaper mock-ups, silent movies and a weigh scale, The Olde Spaghetti Factory served up to 20,000 customers per week.
In a major bid to draw tourist's and locals alike, The Arts Council spent 1.3 million dollars on installing cobblestoned road surfaces, antique street decorations, landscaping and even taking the liberty of erecting a steam clock on the city sidewalk.
Modern day Gastown still boasts the Hotel Europe, The Olde Spaghetti Factory, the likeness of Gassy Jack and many of the oldest buildings in Vancouver, but it is so much more. Take a stroll down Water Street and you will come across art galleries, curiosity shops, antique stores, vintage clothing stores, native arts and craft shops, as well as novelties such as a vintage photo studio. Take a moment to pause and study the architecture and if you happen to feel a loose brick in a wall you may just discover a forgotten booze bottle hidden behind it. In the summertime, you can take an interesting guided walking tour, leaving Maple Tree Square several times a day. Or you can enjoy a drink, in true Gastown style in one of the many outdoor sidewalk café's. A five minute walk east of The CPR Station/Sea Bus terminal, Gastown awaits the curious and the historian who wish to get a glimpse of the rock that Vancouver was founded on, over 130 years ago.
