The Fraserhood is the collection of East Vancouver blocks within the larger Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood. It’s bordered by East Broadway, 31st, Prince Albert, and St. George with its nexus sitting at the busy intersection of Fraser and Kingsway. For decades it’s been home to a working class community, and despite the especially Anglocentric nomenclature of its streets, its residents are chiefly a mix of Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Indian, and Polish. Only a third are native English speakers. The retail shops, restaurants, markets, and community hubs of its high streets are strikingly diverse, and what these lack in frills they more than make up for in character and authenticity. From Robson Park all the way south to Mountain View Cemetery, hours spent wandering the Fraserhood are always well spent.

Matchstick espresso crema; pastrami tri-colour at Mensch; Bee Kim Heng’s spicy beef jerky; bowl of cheezies at The Black Lodge; meatball sauce at Savio Volpe; coffee cups at Prado; Deandra’s sunny locks at Heartbreaker Salon; dark wood at Crowbar; glass of Les Hauts du Fief at Les Faux Bourgeois; guacamole at Sal y Limon; rainy day grass of Robson Park; snake mosaic tricolour at Los Cuervos; Red Stripe beer at Lion’s Den Cafe; long communal table at Bows x Arrows.

THE LEAFY SHADE OF TINY MCCAULEY PARK
EPIC VIEWS OF THE NORTH SHORE MOUNTAINS
CLASSES & WORKSHOPS AT COLLAGE COLLAGE
A ONE STOP PIZZA/MARIJUANA JOINT
THE ANNUAL PINOY FIESTA CELEBRATING FILIPINO CULTURE
SHOCKINGLY FEW CONDOMINIUMS (FOR VANCOUVER)
THE TUPPER NEIGHBOURHOOD GREENWAY
PEOPLE LEGALLY PURCHASING FIREARMS
ALL KINDS OF AWESOME AT THE TOAST COLLECTIVE
MONDAY NIGHT PICK-UP GAMES OF KICK BALL IN ROBSON PARK (SUMMER)

– Fraser Street was developed in 1875 as a wagon road to connect the farmlands of the Fraser River to the False Creek Trail (now known as Kingsway).

– In 1910 the local section of the North Arm Road was renamed Fraser Avenue after explorer Simon Fraser. Since 1948 it was known as Fraser Street.

– The area squared by East 12th Avenue, King Edward Avenue, Fraser Street, and Knight Streets is also known as Dickens, after the nearby Charles Dickens Elementary.

– In 1909 Fraser Street’s first streetcar line, the Victory Line, was installed, which brought commuters “downtown” near Victory Square.

– McAuley Park at the intersection of Kingsway and Fraser is named for Harvey and Theresa McAuley, winners of the Canadian Federal Volunteer Award in 2001.

– There are over 92,000 graves in Mountain View Cemetery, with many buried double-deep to extend capacity.

– In the early 1880s the only commercial building in the area was the Junction Inn, a roadhouse at the modern-day intersection of Fraser and Kingsway.

———————————————–