Most of us are versed enough in all our tourist traps and at least partly familiar with the generic heritage attractions our city has to offer. For those who wish to explore beyond the archetypal “steam clock” experience, it’s worth remembering that Vancouver has plenty of awesome history kicking around where you’d least expect it. Take Chinatown for example; you’ve no doubt seen the skinny Sam Kee Building on Pender and Carrall, walked through the Sun Yat Sen Gardens (the free part, at least), and admired the new Rennie Gallery in the Wing Sang Building. With architectural facades and cultural traditions still maintained in this area, visitors often have difficulty acknowledging any unseen historic value. We see the remnants of early twentieth-century Chinese communities in the remaining buildings and almost everything is ostensibly intact. Thanks to recent community and city efforts to preserve Chinatown’s seminal legacy, visitors and locals alike can experience tangible artifacts of the last century. So what are you missing?

The alleys. Yeah, the dark, wet places you were warned against traveling through when you were a kid. Sure, they’re not the safest now that you’re grown, but they’re an untraditional opportunity to encounter a few more pieces of Vancouver’s history puzzle (it’s a fun game, I promise!). When speaking about Chinatown, Market Alley is one place that always seems to pop up, and it reveals as much about the history of Chinatown as it does the history of our entire city. Located behind the Wing Sang Building and spanning from Main to Carrall between Hastings and Pender, Market Alley is one of the many heritage-heavy sites you can visit without having your hand held by a tour guide (you may, however, be unpleasantly propositioned).

Until 1909, when the use of narcotics were outlawed in Canada, Market Alley was a hotspot for opium production, gambling, and the infamous Green Door Restaurant, where a secret knock on a secret – you got it – green door led patrons into an all-night party. Despite being painted over to hide its former identity, the green door remains (it’s red now) as a quiet reminder of the bustling community center it once anchored.  Market Alley also housed Chinatown’s blossoming commercial vendors and several storefronts. What’s more, it was a primary site of the 1907 race riots, where anti-Asian protesters severely damaged and destroyed many Chinese and Japanese-owned businesses in downtown Vancouver.

If you’re not feeling up to adventuring through the backstreets of the DTES, head a little further East towards the gates of Chinatown, where you’ll encounter Shanghai Alley and Canton Alley, home to designated heritage sites that feature tourist-friendly attributes of the area’s rich history and culture, including the West Han Dynasty Bell. They’re great, but doing a little exploring on your own is a lot more exciting. Sure, it might smell like urine, but that’s what makes history so FUN!