West Enders enjoying a small piece of paradise.
If we wound the clock back, they would have had a rather different view less than a century ago.
Here’s the southern West End waterfront in 1926:
Sunset Beach, where the current Aquatic Centre squats as a brutalist box next to the (not-yet-constructed) Burrard Bridge, is a sandy cliff. And further left are a few of the remaining houses which used to block off the Beach Avenue view. Notice the trees that surround the houses. Those are now the copses of trees along the Seaside Greenway, like the ones above.
Just on the other side the trees in the contemporary view is a treeless field that used to be the site of the Crystal Pool at the foot of Nicola.
It opened in 1928, demolished in 1974. It will likely have lasted longer than the current Aquatic Centre, which the Park Board would like to replace when funds (and agreement) are available. Another change in a landscape that has been changing ever since there was a City of Vancouver.
