Hyper-Local on Carrall Street

This post is a duplicate of a page in my Carrall Street Journal.

I started a blog named The Carrall Street Journal in March 2006, and it has been an on and off activity for me. My original ideas for it are listed below. They were a little bit out of scope, and I began to see it simply as a vehicle for my own personal expression of life here in Gastown/DTES. As it was a very personal hyper-local blog, a place-based personal log of my observations, I’ve just now integrated all the posts from the old Carrall Street Journal here into my personal blog.

March 2006, this is what I thought the Carrall Street Journal would be:

• The Carrall Street Journal documents people, events, development and transitions along Carrall Street.

• The Journal offers reflections on the physical and social developments as the greenway plans take hold and become a reality, and is open to any comments and community suggestions.

• Descriptions and profiles feature people, businesses, events and associations located on and near the street.

• The journal is volunteer-based and is an independent voice, with no particular affiliation.

• It doesn’t take any advertising, and isn’t commercial.

• Any member of the community can contribute to the discussion, as long as you have an email address to send from and to be contacted at.

City Strike Grinds On

This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.

Carrall Street has been kept relatively clean by volunteers, the United We Can folks, and as a result the whole place doesn’t look too bad, or seem too terribly unhealthy, despite the city strike.

However, the Carrall Street Greenway has been very affected by the strike, and no work has been done on the whole thing for much of the summer. Tall grass and weeds are growing in the square areas that had been left for tree planting on the one area that had been constructed so far. The whole schedule for this improvement has been suspended, and this could have serious repercussions in the timeline. Hopefully there will be a resolution to the strike soon.

Meanwhile, September brings new exhibitions in the galleries, ACCESS, ArtSpeak, InterUrban and Centre A.

The New York Times Style Magazine this Sunday featured the designer at Richard Kidd, and positive mention of Carrall Street’s Irish Heather and Hunt and Gather.

Now equinox is past, we will see earlier nights, and that also means colder nights for the homeless. People are seriously nested in under the awning on Cordova Street just west of the old Pig and Whistle, and also in any nook to be found in doorways of the old Ranier Hotel. That place has been increasingly covered in graffiti through the summer, with more coming along through the month of August and early September. Almost every brick in the doorway to the former chicken place has a tag of some kind.

That’s the September wrap-up for this street of high contrast!

Burnt Out Restaurant? Sure Fooled Me!

This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.

Driving on the new Greenway part of Carrall Street I was shocked to see a group of people milling around this old burnt out restaurant. How could it have flash burned so fast, and why hadn’t I even noticed it before? Well, the truth is this is a set for a movie, Lionsgate Films, The Eye. That’s why I hadn’t seen it before. It was purpose built in the Jack Chow Insurance parking area, and was removed as quickly as it appeared.

August Weekends: Events on Carrall

This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.

August weekends featured festivals and events on Carrall Street.

In early August the canopies covered the intersection of Carrall and Hastings for the Insite event at Pigeon Park, with bands headlined by the venerable DOA.

Then the next weekend was the Chinatown festival, and people were walking along carrying their clay pots on cardboard squares, or lining up to go to the gambling booths and kiosks. Spilling over from the regular Night Market set up, people walked through Sun Yat Sen Park and out the alley by the Garden entrance, into Carrall.

Then this past weekend in Gastown saw the Motorcycle Show and Shine. Weather cooperated as again the street was filled with parked motorcycles all on display.

And coming up we will see the annual Gastown Concours D’elegance, Saturday September 1st.

Motorcycles lined up on display along Carrall

Nude Cyclers Protest Ride on Carrall Street

This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.

Anti-Oil protesters rode through Carrall Street on Sunday to a shouting and cheering crowd. Hearing the commotion, I barely had time to get out my camera before they were gone. Quite a different atmosphere from the Tour de Gastown group of cyclists a short time ago!

Bus passengers, motorists and tourists on the street check out the cyclists in their peaceful protest ride.

What Next for the Boulder Hotel?

This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.

This afternoon Vancouver City Council will be addressing the situation of the Boulder Hotel development proposal, which has been in the works for some time now. Incorporating the old Pig and Whistle one-story building into an innovative residential/commercial project, the developers are looking for more support from the city to bring life back into this building that hasn’t seen use on its upper floors for over 28 years. From the street it doesn’t look abandoned, as there have always been restaurants on its main floor, notably the new Boneta has been making a bit of a splash. But two floors above the restaurant have been empty for all this time.

The project has been brought by the developers twice to the civic Gastown Heritage and Planning Committee for consultation and approval of plans, particularly for heritage facade considerations. It definitely is a pity that this building which had been in the original centre of Vancouver should have been left to languish for so many years. Archival photos show this building in its heyday surrounded by bustling crowds, active and well-used. As Gastown changes, this building is in a prime location for redevelopment. There have been many delays in this project going past the planning stage, due to its need for more city support – which for some has been a contentious issue. The result of closed-door meetings between city staff and committees and the developers will be brought to Council today.

On the corner of Carrall and Cordova both the Ranier Hotel and the Boulder Hotel buildings have been unused for some time. They face each other across the intersection at Cordova. The Ranier appears to be undergoing some minor changes, but the main floor, boarded up and inactive at this time, faces the new upscale Boneta restaurant at the Boulder Hotel. It is a picture of the rate of change and the current transformation of this area.

5 Reasons Why I’m Back

This blog reflects the nature of the street, and just like the street has many facets of history, evolution and devolution. For the past little while it has been as abandoned as the old Ranier Hotel on Carrall and Cordova. As soon as the last reincarnation of the Brickyard closed – that’s not exactly fair, it was a Whiskey bar (I now hear the Doors doing their version of Kurt Weill, singing Oh show me the way to the next whiskey bar…..) – as soon as it closed, the whole building was vacated completely. Graffiti came in a wide swath, and there were some folks camped out on the sidewalk. Lately I’ve heard a power machine making sounds and a radio playing inside. I saw a face in one of the abandoned hotel windows – something may be stirring.

And in reflection, I’m back, chronicling the street again. Here are 5 reasons why I’m back:

1. The new little Moroccan café at Maple Tree square is a ray of hope: mint tea!

2. A restaurant is open now in the Boulder Hotel building on the corner of Carrall and Cordova: Upscale and solid, Boneta just might make it past the curse that took down the One restaurant, and don’t even mention the Video Monster.

3. The first block of greenway paving and street work is finally done! It may have seemed to take months, and look like a flat je ne sais quoi, but it’s the start of the transformation of the street. I see the promise of the square spaces where the trees will be planted. Can’t wait for more traffic detours!

4. The Tour de Gastown is coming up this week: speaking of traffic detours. But it’s always exciting – they put out the hay bales, and then those guys speed around the corner of Carrall and Cordova at unbelievable angles, watched by the clusters of people.

5. It’s summer and the street looks great in the sunlight.

So there seems to be turnover and commitment to Carrall Street, and after a longish hiatus, I’m back with the Carrall Street Journal. Day after day it can seem like nothing is happening or nothing is changing. But when I look more closely, I can see that there have been many incremental shifts, changes worth documenting here in the journal, maybe while sipping some of that Moroccan mint tea.

Carrall and Hastings

Looking at Pigeon Park along the city right-of-way toward Tinseltown, with the old Merchant’s Bank building to the right, and the BC Electric building, which now houses Centre A gallery on the main floor at this key Carrall Street intersection.

Early spring on Carrall Street 

Behind the Pennsylvania Hotel

Construction and restoration are going on inside the Pennsylvania Hotel right now.

A worker in the alley behind the hotel

Just across from the action, one of the boxes for used needles blends in with graffiti now that it has been bent over. The city has placed these needle boxes throughout the alleys in the Downtown Eastside.

Needle box in laneway off Carrall, between Pender and Hastings

Sharing or Silos?

When it comes to events and public programs on Carrall Street, the diverse communities linked by the new greenway will have a bit of a challenge. Do they remain as they have been identified in the past, as discrete silos of interest, direction and identity, or is there a way to share these neighbourhood identities across the invisible borders? Gastown, DTES, Chinatown are the main players here, but the direction of development of the lands near the water on both ends of the street will also have an influence in identifying what this street will represent. At this point, the Chinatown association is already considering their potential use of the street to extend some of their normal community events out into Carrall Street, including the spring new year parade, and to some extent the Night Market. This is exciting to imagine, as it means that the greenway really will create a space in which these diverse groups have an opportunity to extend their community identity.

The Greenway on Carrall offers a potential for many more neighbourhood events and expressions, which will naturally draw from the other areas connected to the street. So, for example, if the planned multimedia installation (Centre A, Projections, Interurban) which would take place at the Carrall-Hastings intersection were to be at the same time as the light festival (parade, events at Sun Yat Sen Garden) there could be something new established through such a strong synergy.