HISTORY
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OUR HISTORY
The West End is one of Vancouver BC’s most historically rich and culturally significant neighbourhoods, shaped by Indigenous stewardship, early settlement, and generations of community life. Located in downtown Vancouver beside the Pacific Ocean, English Bay, and the world famous Stanley Park, the West End has long been a centre of gathering, recreation, and commerce.
From Coast Salish villages and early Hawaiian and European settlers to the growth of residential communities, entertainment districts, and local businesses, the history of the West End reflects the broader story of Vancouver itself. Today, this history continues to support local economic development and reinforces the West End as one of Vancouver’s most enduring neighbourhoods.
THE WEST END, A POPULAR DESTINATION WITH AROUND 45,000 RESIDENTS, ATTRACTS VISITORS WITH ITS NATURAL BEAUTY, OCEAN, BEACHES, AND RAINFORESTS.
1. THE WEST END BEFORE VANCOUVER WAS INCORPORATED AS A CITY
THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
For thousands of years, the Coast Salish peoples traveled the land and waterways now known as the West End. They gathered cedar roots, berries, and other medicinal materials and used the shores and waterways for clamming and salmon fishing. A few made their home in small Stanley Park villages; Whoi Whoi, now Lumberman’s Arch, and Chaythoos on the shores of Brockton Point.
FACT: Moving people out of Stanley Park began before the area became a park in 1886 and continued until the last person was removed in 1958.
In 1923, the Park Board erected four totem poles as the first step in the creation of a replica “Indian Village” to honor the Indigenous people of Northern Vancouver Island. The village was never built, but the totem poles are now the most popular attraction in Vancouver.
FACT: In 2007, the unveiling of Susan Point’s “Welcome Gates” was the first time the Musqueam Nation was represented at this site.
THE HAWAIIANS
From 1840 on, approximately 500 Hawaiian men moved to the Vancouver region to work in the fur trade and later the lumber mills. Some settled at Kanaka Ranch at Coal Harbour and others at Brockton Point.
In 2018 with the naming of West End lanes, two were named in honour of Hawaiian settlers Eihu and See-em-ia who was married to both Eihu and Squamish Chief Joe Nahanee.
THE EARLY EUROPEAN SETTLERS
Three Englishmen, known as the three greenhorns, Samuel Brighouse, William Hailstone, and John Morton bought 180-acre stakes of land in the West End for $550.75 each. In the 1880s, after several failed enterprises, they sold their land to the CPR. The greenhorns and the CPR logged the land to make way for one of Vancouver’s first residential areas.
2. The West End in the Newly Incorporated City of Vancouver
The West End got its name from one of Vancouver’s first schools, the “West End School” on Burrard Street.
The West End and Strathcona were Vancouver’s earliest residential neighbourhoods. Vancouver’s elite settled in the West End and the workers in Strathcona. Many of the richest railroad families lived along Georgia Street, called “Blue Blood Alley” for all its posh mansions.
In 1909 many of the wealthy began to move to the fashionable new CPR subdivision, “Shaughnessy Heights”. Some like sugar owner, B. T. Rogers remained in the West End until his death in 1918.
Fact: Plans are in place to return Roger’s home, Gabriola Mansion to residences.
Fact: Today only two of the West End’s original mansions remain, Abbott’s home at 720 Jervis and B.T Rogers home at 1501 Davie.
Growth in the West End
Between 1900 and 1914 the City of Vancouver grew from 27,000 to 115,000. The new street car system on Denman, Davie, Robson and Burrard played a major role in the growth of the West End. Both white and blue collar workers who could now easily get to work rapidly filled the new homes, apartment buildings and boarding houses that sprang up in the West End at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Between 1920 and 1960 many of the large homes were converted to apartment buildings, schools and private hospitals. From 1950 to1955 many smaller homes were demolished and replaced by approximately ninety three story walk up apartment buildings.
Fact: Walkups became known as dingbats because of their downmarket status and inexpensive rents.
Most of today’s high rises were built between 1956 when the city lifted the height limits and 1973 when they downzoned the West End. The West End was then an apartment district with approximately 80% renters very much like today.
There was minimal growth from 1973 until 2013 when the West End Plan allowed for laneway housing and towers in specific locations. Today’s mix of larger homes, three story walk ups, apartment buildings and condo buildings reflect various stages in the West End’s growth and make for an interesting, diverse neighbourhood.
The West End is home to two unique community led heritage preservation projects; Barclay Heritage Square and Mole Hill; both provide social housing and community amenity spaces. Other community led projects, traffic calming measures and an injunction prohibiting prostitution west of Granville added to the liveability of the neighbourhood.
Since the 1970s Davie Village has been the hub of the largest LGBTQ2 community in Western Canada. The Gay Village offers a selection of gay bars, nightclubs, restaurants, shops and services including QMunity a Queer Resource Centre. It is the centre of the celebration of Gay Pride in early August.
Fact: In 2012 the village received recognition from the Vancouver Heritage Foundation as a “Place That Matters”.
West End Businesses
In the early days commercial establishments were mainly corner stores, commercial space in low rise apartment buildings and stores on the front of houses.
1950s postwar immigration created a German influenced commercial area, Robsonstrasse on Upper Robson. That has disappeared and today Lower Robson with its many Korean restaurants has become known as “Little Korea”.
In the 70s and 80s Denman, Robson and Davie gradually converted from residential to commercial streets. A variety of retail stores, bars, restaurants, coffee shops and hotels now serve both visitors and the local population. The three streets are animated from early morning until late evening with people out enjoying all the amenities the West End has to offer. Coffee shops and bars have become favourite spots for locals to meet.
The 1908 building that currently houses the award winning “Celebrities Night Club” on Davie has been an entertainment spot throughout its long history. Many famous musicians including Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, the Retinal Circus and Led Zeppelin played here when it was called the Embassy.
Fact: Lesters (now Celebrities) was home to the first dance hall in Vancouver.
Fact: Sylvia Hotel opened the first cocktail bar in Vancouver, 1954-“tilting room “with a Medieval theme.
The three main business streets are now called villages. The West End Plan officially protects these villages by introducing height limits.
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3. Community Amenities: Hospitals, Schools, Churches & Community Centres
Hospitals
St Paul’s hospital on Burrard Street has served the population of the West End and the City of Vancouver since it first opened in 1894. The site has expanded over the years and today it provides many important medical services to the whole province. Plans are in place for St. Pauls to move to False Creek Flats. The building is up for sale and its future is uncertain.
Schools
The School board minutes at the time recorded a desire to reduce class size to a maximum of 50 students.
Fact: The School board minutes at the time recorded an attempt to reduce class size to a maximum of 50 students.
Fact: The Normal school (training for teachers) opened in Lord Roberts in March,1901 and accommodated 80 pupils from different parts of the Province.
Fact: The 1907 Lord Robert’s School is the oldest remaining school building in the West End.
Churches
One of the first provisions new comers made after settling the West End was to create religious services in rented buildings, basements, or in public schools such as Lord Roberts. As the West End population increased the temporary spaces were replaced with permanent church buildings.
*A high proportion of the early West End population was of British decent, directly from the British Isles or from established eastern Canadian families of British decent. These families were mainly protestant and the early West End churches reflected this: Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterians, Baptist and Congregationalist. It wasn’t until 1960 that the first Catholic church was established in the West End, Guardian Angel, on Broughton Street.
Some of the old churches have been demolished but thanks to the City of Vancouver’s transfer of density program, many of the West End’s historic churches have been restored and continue to provide gathering places and social services and concert spaces.
Community Gathering Places
Schools and churches have been important community gathering places since the early days of the West End.
The YMCA’s presence in Vancouver is as old as the city itself. The first YMCA opened in the West End on Burrard Street in 1941. It was described at the time as, “a dream come true for longtime YMCA staff and donors”. In 2010 a new building, Robert Lee YMCA was built on the site.
In 1942 Gordon Neighbourhood House, now on Broughton Street, opened at the corner of Jervis and Nelson. At that time Crofton House, a West End girl’s private school started by the Gordon sisters moved to Kerrisdale.
In 1978 the West End Community Centre and Library opened at its current location on Denman Street. Plans are currently underway to relocate these community services into a new building which will be shared with King George High School.
A wide variety of West End coffee shops have become favourite spots for locals to meet.
4. Centre of Entertainment and Tourism
English Bay
From the day the city pumped sand on the rocks in the 1890s to enlarge English Bay Beach, it has been one of Vancouver’s most popular destinations. Today people gather to watch the sunset, have a swim, attend an event, go kayaking or stroll on the seawall.
The City of Vancouver hired Joe Fortes as the first English Bay life guard. Joe taught many of Vancouver’s children to swim and is now memorialized with a statue in Alexandra Park and the Joe Fortes Library.
In the early days large crowds gathered to watch boating and swimming competitions.
People gathered on the English Bay Pier to watch sporting events and fireworks and danced to the music of live bands in the glassed in pavilion. This 1905 landmark was allowed to deteriorate and was demolished in1938. West End residents soundly rejected Park Board’s proposal to rebuild the pier to celebrate Vancouver’s centennial in 1986.
The aquarium in the English Bay bath house was a popular destination from 1939 until 1956 when it relocated to its current home in Stanley Park.
The 1960s Sea Festival and Bathtub Races and the current Polar Bear Swim and Celebration of Light continue to confirm English Bay’s role as a place for people to gather and celebrate.
Fact: The Polar Bear swim, started by Peter Pantages celebrates its 100th Anniversary in 2020.
Attractions
- The Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club at Denman and Barclay.
- A miniature golf course at the corner of Cardero and Georgia Street.
- A Horse Show Building at Georgia and Gilford which in addition to horse shows hosted concerts of up to 7,000 people, political rallies and later became an armoury.
- The Denman arena at Coal Harbour a 10,500 seat hockey arena and the first in Canada to have artificial ice
Fact: The Denman arena was home to the only Vancouver hockey team, the Vancouver Millionaires to win a Stanley Cup (1915)
The Vancouver lawn bowling club and tennis court still operate in Stanley Park.
The current Vancouver Rowing Club in Stanley Park dates back to 1886 and the current club house opened in 1911. Coal Harbour was the scene of many colourful rowing regattas.
Festivals, Parades & Cultural Spaces
Parades have long been a popular activity in the West End. This parade marching along Denman past the Bay Theatre was one of the many parades that has happened in the West End over the years.
Fact: The Gay Pride Parade is one of the largest celebrations on the Vancouver calendar. It started in 1981 in the Mole Hill area after Mayor Mike Harcourt declared August 1-7 Gay Unity Week
Theatres including the Bay Theatre and the theatre in the Roller Skating rink have come and gone and today there is a popular theatre, Pal Studio Theatre in the Bayshore complex.
Roedde House is a popular house museum at Barclay Heritage Square.
The neighbourhood that attracted the CPR bosses in Vancouver’s early days attracts large numbers of residents and tourists today. In 2015 The West End won the title of best neighbourhood in the Canadian Institute of Planners’ Great Places in Canada competition. The jury’s description is very apt, “Vancouver’s vibrant West End makes it easy, safe and inviting for residents to walk and bike to work, to access thriving local businesses and to explore Vancouver’s beaches, trails and Stanley Park”. The West End remains one of Vancouver’s prime tourist attractions.
