Jason Vanderhill, collector and historian extraordinaire, posted this newspaper clip on FB about the pending demise in 1946 of a section of “Skid Road” and the characters who were to be displaced. Hard to read in the image below, but this is how it begins:
“It appears, that in the interests of better town planning, certain experts have expressed the opinion that the entire block down in the old Skid-Road district bounded by Water, Carrall, Cordova, and Abbott streets must be razed to the ground in order to provide room for the parking of more motor vehicles.
“Should this be done, I suppose we must bow to the inevitable march of time and accept this harsh decree. However, the destruction of all these old landmarks, peopled by ghosts of the past, will wrench the very heartstrings of many old-timers.”
As it turned out, the block from Water to Abbott survived long enough to be re-imagined by Larry Killam and others in the late 1960s; the commercial and aesthetic potential of Gastown was a key element in the coalition of ideas that formed to fight the freeway in the early 1970s. The concession made to cars at the time was the big parkade, for Woodward’s, which took a chunk out of Water Street a block to the west – part of it became the “Historicum” [sic?] attraction and is now …. ?
The best claim-to-fame for the parkade is its appearance as a set in Jackie Chan’s classic “Rumble in the Bronx.”
Source is here: https://flic.kr/p/QPboTk
To help put recent things in perspective, this is a good example of the difference between the effects of the introduction of the automobile into the city’s infrastructure back then and the effects of the introduction of specific cycling infrastructure in the city’s infrastructure in recent years.
Nobody is tearing down buildings or bulldozing entire neighbourhoods to make room for bikes. Just a few parking spots here and there.
It’s interesting to see how the tone of the popular press ranged from disinterested to cheerleading over the oncoming onslaught of the automobile. Compare that to today when newspapers bemoan the most minor inconveniences to motorist entitlement as nothing short of Maoist-hatched campaigns of genocide. What I wouldn’t give to see The National Post or Toronto Sun matter-of-factly support the removal of the Gardiner Expressway ‘in the name of progress’.
Dynamite does have some uses that are good for the commons.
you mean storyeum don’t you? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyeum Not “Historicum”!
yes. Didn’t live here then and couldn’t remember the name.
We think Woodwards first built a parking garage in 1957, with the Water Street part extended in 1971 (see https://changingvancouver.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/water-street-parkade/) The current Henriquez designed version that added the basement for Storyeum is now used by the Vancouver Film School, and the thin veneer of office to give Water Street a more civilized façade was completed over a decade ago.
The added benefit of this parkade is that it allows other Gastown projects to proceed without providing any of the parking usually required; a payment in lieu is associated with some of the space in the parkade.
There was retail along the Water Street edge of the parkade when it opened in 1971. Woodward’s sold blue jeans and other hippie accoutrements there, if memory serves. Thanks for jogging my memory about Storyeum/Film School.
Yeah, there were “Welcome to Woodward’s” signs on Water St. with a corridor that lead through the parkade and eventually to the huge pedestrian overpass over Cordova Street.
As the downtown retail core was moving from Hastings St. up to Granville & Georgia, with Eaton’s moving from the former Spencer’s Department Store (now Harbour Centre) to the new Pacific Centre location across from The Bay, I suppose Woodward’s was trying to attract tourists from Gastown.
Eventually, we all know that Woodward’s location was destined to fail (and mid-90s efforts by Tri-Lea to build another downtown enclosed mall north of The Bay to Pender anchored by Woodward’s, were rejected by the City, so the parcels were sold off piecemeal).