Last night we settled into our our home in Yaletown. This neat section of Downtown Vancouver was formerly a heavy industrial area dominated by warehouses and rail yards. Since the Expo 86, it has been transformed into one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city. The marinas, parks, high rise apartment blocks, and converted heritage buildings constitute one of the most significant urban regeneration projects in North America.

Strolling the various streets, evidence of its previous life was everywhere.
We were intrigued by this stand alone building. Anywhere else in town, the Del Mar Inn (c. 1912) wouldn’t rate a second look. It is an ordinary vernacular building built during the boom years before the First World War as a residential hotel.  In the early 1980s, B.C. Hydro started buying up property in the block to provide space for their new head office. The one property that eluded Hydro’s real estate efforts was the Del Mar Inn. 

Purchased by George Riste in 1972, the Del Mar Inn has provided well managed, clean affordable rooms for downtown residents, and despite numerous efforts to purchase the property – George Riste told the Vancouver Sun that he must have been asked more than 100 times to sell – it continues to do so. A small, hand-painted sign over the entrance reads: “This property is not for sale and it has not been sold. Thank you. The Owner.” The 30-room hotel once was popular with passengers from the nearby bus depot, often recommended by Greyhound drivers. Today, it operates as a single-residency occupancy hotel for low-income individuals.
What is very evident here is the contrast between the old and the new. Just look at the Odd Fellows Hall. Less than a year after Vancouver was founded (April 6, 1886), the city’s first Odd Fellows lodge, was established. Odd Fellowship flourished and by 1922, there were 12 lodges in Vancouver. Many prominent members of Vancouver business became members and the Odd Fellows served as a social networking and support organization.
Hastings Urban Farm was a surprise to find behind chain link fence.
We enjoyed the history lessons displayed on buildings. This one made us learn even more. The Riot Act 1714 was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which authorized local authorities to declare any group of 12 or more people to be unlawfully assembled and to disperse or face punitive action. The act's long title was "An Act for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies, and for the more speedy and effectual punishing the rioters". Acts similar to the Riot Act passed into the laws of British colonies in Australia, Canada, and America, some of which remain today.
My goals is to discover as many murals as possible. This one was an interesting contrast.
Captain John “Gassy Jack” Deighton is a local legend and namesake for the area of downtown Vancouver known as Gastown. The Gassy Jack statue is one of the most photographed in Vancouver. Saloon proprietor Deighton headed toward the Burrard Inlet by canoe from New Westminster and saw a need that he could fulfill near the mill. In 1867 he told the workers in the harbor that they could have all the whiskey they could drink if they helped him build a saloon. Within 24 hours “The Globe” was up and running. Now all that remains is this cool photo op. I love it.

Everywhere, it seems, is something unique to see like this clock. Underneath the city, there runs a series of steam pipes connected to a generating plant. The system provides heat to most of the downtown core, and provides the steam for the whistles of the Gastown steam clock. Despite seeming like a remnant of the Victorian era and being located in the original townsite from which Vancouver grew in the 1870s, the Steam Clock is actually from a hundred years later. Surprisingly, it was built in 1977, by a horologist and a metalwork specialist. The clock is likely only the second steam clock ever constructed, the first having been built by an Englishman in 1859, to draw customers to his tavern.






No visit to any town is complete without a visit to the public library. This one was amazing.
Considered on of the largest Chinatowns in the world and one of Vancouver’s few cultural historic neighborhoods. The distinct character of buildings are preserved by a heritage designation with murals and window art telling the stories of early Chinese pioneers.
Between 1886-1920, the first wave of Chinese immigrants settled here. By 1890, the area was home to more than 1,000 Chinese residents.
We explored the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden (1986), the first Chinese or "scholars" garden built outside of China. The mandate of the garden is to “maintain and enhance the bridge of understanding between Chinese and western cultures, promote Chinese culture generally and be an integral part of the local community".



We concluded our day at the Yaletown Marina's Wine Bar. It was delightful to sit along the seawall and savor our first day in Canada.