Hastings Street Vancouver, 1945

Hastings Street, 1945 from the Vancouver Archives.

Diana Sampson provides some wonderful images from the archives on the Facebook group Nostalgic/Sentimental Pictures of Vancouver. This photo of Hastings Street must have been taken after the end of World War Two as there is toilet paper streaming on the street. That was rationed during the war.

You can see the road striping showing where vehicles are to park,  the tram tracks and the granite insets abutting the street curb. There’s a few things  unusual in this photo.  The stationer’s sign projects directly across the city sidewalk. And the pedestrians are walking on the left side of the sidewalk instead of bearing to the usual right.