
Gastown, so named after one of its unofficial founders, “Gassy Jack” Deighton, occupies the western stretch of the Downtown Eastside. According to our read of the landscape, its the area between Columbia (east), Cambie/Homer (West), Hastings (North), and Water (South), save for the 300 block Carrall and the blocks of Hastings east of Abbott, which we classify as being part of the Downtown Eastside’s core. It has come a long way since its day as the Township of Granville and the great conflagration of 1886 (which burned most of it to the ground), ebbing and flowing over the decades as a hard-edged entertainment nexus where much of the rest of Vancouver feared to tread.
Over the last ten years, however, Gastown’s slice of the city’s zeitgeist was fattened by a large number of interesting, independent, and cocktail-forward eateries launched by a new generation of young restaurateurs. It also saw a new wave of higher end retail shops and fashionable boutiques open during this same time frame, not to mention the arrival of new lofts, condominiums, and the new Woodwards building. All of these new developments have transformed/gentrified the neighbourhood, some argue for the better and others for the worse. Doubtless it’s become something of an “it” destination, similar to Yaletown in the early 2000’s, which is to say it’s quite possibly cursed with a future full of stretched SUV limousines, shitty chain restaurants, and people who want to fight for no good reason at all.
History and angst aside, it’s no longer easy to get a table as a walk-in on a Friday night, so if you’re headed this way (and you really should), be sure to make at least the roughest of game plans.
Standard post-1886 fire brick red/brown; stained copper green barrel base of the Gassy Jack statue; soft, spherical yellow streetlights at night; Blood Alley beer piss; broken fake cobblestone grey; ubiquitous Corbel Commercial Real Estate “For Lease” sign blue; Juice Truck pink; Guinness brown; green summer leaves of Maple Tree Square; the new “W” sign atop the Woodwards development; Meat & Bread house mustard yellow; cigarette filter brown.

GOOD GRAFFITI AND WHEAT PASTE/STENCIL ART
FOOTBALL MIKE KEEPING THINGS IN ORDER
THE OLD FIREPLACES OF “THE NEW FRISCO HOTEL”
A RESTAURATEUR HAPPY HE NEVER JOINED THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION
ALEX “RHEK” USOW CREATING INTERESTING THINGS
AN ANCIENT, UNUSED BAR HIDDEN IN A HOTEL BASEMENT
DESIGN MASTERPIECES AT INFORM INTERIORS
THE STENCH OF STALE URINE AT THE EASTERN ENTRANCE OF BLOOD ALLEY
A PARADISE FOR SHOE FETISHISTS
SOME VERY PRETTY AXES
– The triangular Hotel Europe on Powell Street was Vancouver’s first reinforced concrete structure and the first fireproof hotel in Western Canada.
– In 1971, police arrested 79 people in Maple Tree Square after a protest against drug laws and raids escalated into a bloody brawl between protestors and armed police. This is known as the Gastown Riot.
– Blood Alley’s nomenclature is not so spooky: the alley is actually named Trounce Alley, and the connected “Blood Alley Square” was named by a city planner in the 1970s as part of a project to revitalize and draw attention to the area.
– In 1869, Vancouver’s first jail was built in the Township of Granville (informally known as Gastown). It consisted of two cells constructed of logs, and later was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1886.
– The Boulder Hotel at 1 West Cordova (the original Boneta location, RIP) was once the central point of the Granville Township in the 1890’s, and features stones mined from Queen Elizabeth Park.
– The massive 1972 street “renovation” of Gastown was noted as being the first time in North America that perfectly good roads were torn up to be rebuilt in the old style.
– The “historic” steam clock, an iconic Gastown landmark, was actually built in 1977 and features three electric motors.
– Chef/Restaurateur John Bishop got his start cooking in Gastown in the 1970’s.
– The NABOB Coffee Company was founded in Gastown in 1896, in what is now The Landing (home to the Steamworks Brewing Company).
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Board Of Trade Timo Weiland Camisol
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Cocktails at Wildebeest are always a fine idea
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Justin and his chicken
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Nuba for lunch (Najib's is on the way). @nubatown
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Shady Gastown Dealings...
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The Avalon Hotel, on the edge of Gastown
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Josh Pape, Mark Brand, James Iranzad | Gastown
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The Remedy from The Juice Truck
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Corner of Cambie and Hastings (Victory Square)
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Nelson The Seagull
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Lunch Plate at Nelson The Seagull
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Zach serves Chef Curtis a slice
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Gastown's Hotel Europe dominates Maple Street Square
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Chef Lee Cooper of L'Abattoir plating a halibut dish
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Paul Grunberg and Lee Cooper in the original Irish Heather space (before it was L'Abattoir)
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Strut strut pose strut strut | Vancouver Fashion
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Cauliflower Steak, Lentils, Cucumber & Mint Raita. @pourhouse #workinglunch
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The crew on the patio | Tacofino Gastown
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Tacofino Gastown | Blood Alley Entrance
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Katie and Shelley @ The Window
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Tacofino Commissary Feast
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On the roof of Inform Interiors
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The grass rooftop patio at Inform Interiors
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Save On Meats on Hastings Street
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Detail | IDS West Opening Party | Inform Interiors
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Long Table supper at the Irish Heather
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Container Gardening 101 at Old Faithful © Scout Magazine 2011
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Jean-Pierre at Old Faithful
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Gastown restaurateurs and staff show up to help The Pourhouse crew drop their bar in place
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There's always a little art downstairs
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Heel scale | Vancouver Fashion Week
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Gassy Jack Deighton statue in Maple Tree Square
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Neil Ingram pours a glass at Boneta (now closed)
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Opening day at Wildebeest on West Hastings
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Caleb Beyers show opening at th original location of Catalog Gallery
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Reader MS | Woodwards Gastown Vancouver BC 612pm
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Ham gam | Local chefs drool over the Fermin Jamon Iberico de Bellota in the Salt Cellar
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Hotel Gastown
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Looking south up Cambie from Cordova
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Detail inside East Van Roasters
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Opening day at Revolver in Gastown
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Opening day at Wildebeest
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Gastown Vancouver Fashion Week
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Pigeons taking off
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Fresh chocolate at East Van Roasters
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Looking east down Powell and Alexander from Gassy Jack Square
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Strappy shoes under rolled chinos at Catalog Gallery
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Peckinpah | Tyson Reimer and Ryan Murfitt
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Freshly roasted coffee at East Van Roaster
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Cooks taking a Blood Alley smoke break
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Construction at Wildebeest
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Construction at Wildebeest
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Gastown all a-glitter after the rain
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Joseph Sartor, Cord Jarvie, Frankie Harrington before the opening of Meat & Bread
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Underneath Salt Tasting Room in Blood Alley (Salt Cellar)
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Vancouver Fashion Week
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Jenni at the Frock Shoppe
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Josh Pape + Shaun Layton
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Ashley tries on a hat at Frock Shoppe
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Gastown alleyway
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The staff at the bar, tasting and debating before opening night
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A fizzy berry dessert at L'Abattoir
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From D.D. | Carrall & Cordova in Gastown | Vancouver, BC | 11:14pm
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Scott Hawthorn, co-owner of Judas Goat
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Staff discussing the food...
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Designer Craig Stanghetta | Revolver in Gastown
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Peckinpah | 2 Water Street (taken from the Chill Winston patio)
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On the pass during the first service at Gastown's L'Abattoir
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Josh Pape of Wildebeest, Shaun Layton of L’Abattoir, Ben de Champlain of Boneta,
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Looking up at the new Woodwards Building
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Nadia having a taste...
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Woodward’s Building, Gastown Vancouver 915am
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The Diamond | Mexican food and excellent cocktails | 6 Powell St. | Gastown
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October-in-Gastown
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Nu Gastown
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Gastown
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Gastown Vancouver Fashion week
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Revolver in Gastown
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Revolver in Gastown
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Hastings mural
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Opening night at L'Abattoir
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Shopping for Vans at Hitz
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Board Of Trade
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Mint Julep at The Diamond
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The original
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Josh Pape | Wildebeest
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Gastown Alley
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Salt Tasting Room | Vancouver, BC
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Salt Tasting Room | Vancouver, BC
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The Sardine Can | Proprietors Chris Stewart and Andrey Durbach
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The Sardine Can | Manchego and tomato toasts
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Bitter Tasting Room
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The lost ladies of last call, Saturday night in Gastown, desperate for a Skytrain in the rain
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Hotel Europe Interior
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Bitter Tasting Room
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Bitter Tasting Room
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Robert Chaplin and a pint at The Irish Heather
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Inside Lynn Steven | The original Bodega Hotel floor
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Inside Six Acres
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Peckinpah | Solid BBQ and deep-fried Mars bars | 2 Water Street | Gastown
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Nicli Antica Pizzeria
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Nicli Antica Pizzeria
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Frock Shoppe Maidens | From left to right: Sarah LaGreca Marla Reichert Liz Krebs Mary Jane Cox Jenni Lee Nelson Dori Abernethy
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Wing's Cafe
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Lynn Steven Window
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Salmagundi West | Gastown
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Salmagundi West | Gastown
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L'Abattoir | Glasfurd and Walker
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Community Vintage Frock Shoppe
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Frock Shoppe - Ashley tries on sequin dress
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Frock Shoppe dressing room
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Frock Shoppe opening
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Revolver in Gastown
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Gastown antiques
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Gastown Vancouver Fashion week 8
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Gastown Fashion Week
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L'Abattoir | Glasfurd and Walker
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