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Downtown Eastside / Strathcona

First Vancouver City Council Meeting after the fire - photograph by H. T. Devine
First Vancouver City Council Meeting after the fire - photograph by H. T. Devine (VPL # 508)

Related Guides

The Downtown Eastside and Strathcona are some of the first places in Vancouver settled by European, African, and Asian people. Many Indigenous people also live in this neighbourhood. Gastown, Chinatown, Japantown, Hogan's Alley and Victory Square are all areas within this neighbourhood.

Useful Websites

Provides access to research materials - including scholarly articles, community reports, and historical resources - about Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). Browse by topic or search for specific keywords, authors, subjects, and more.

The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) is a project of the board of the Carnegie Community Centre Association. CCAP works mostly on housing, income, and land use issues in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver.

Includes over 30 years of issues of the newsletter for Carnegie Community Centre.

City plan for development in the Downtown Eastside. 

City plan for the development of  the Northeast False Creek Plan including Hogan's Alley and part of Chinatown.

UBC thesis submitted by Michael Bruce that examines the community organizing in the late 60s and early 70s that stopped the demolition of the neighbourhood.

A multidimensional project to help commemorate and animate this historically Japanese area.

Laurel Kimbley conducted a series of interviews on audio recording in the late 1980s on the history of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

Images from the quilt that was created by the collaboration of family members, friends and community members over many years. Each panel honours the love, hopes and dreams for the women who have been murdered or gone missing from the DTES.

Includes historical Walking Tours of Japantown, Chinatown, Strathcona Markets, and Carrall Street.

A list of book titles set in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Recommended DVDs

Greg Masuda

Call Number
971.133 M42s
Publication Year
2012
Cover Image for Vancouver's Gastown Talks: A Historical Tour

Nimi Langer, Monica Muller and Danny Laufer

Call Number
971.133 V2237L
Publication Year
2005

Susan Poizner

Call Number
971.1004 L479p
Publication Year
2005

Alejandro Zuluaga, Harsha Walia and Downtown Eastside Power Of Women Group

Call Number
305.409711 S96z
Publication Year
2011

Digital Library Resources
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British Columbia city directories from 1860 to 1955. Directories include detailed historical information about British Columbian communities.

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Digitized newspaper archives covering The Province (1898 - present), The Vancouver Sun (1912 - present) and The Times Colonist (1884 - present).

Issues from most recent 3 months not available in this collection. See Canadian Newsstream for current issues.

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Everywhere for Vancouver residents
Newspapers and Magazines Subject Icon

Search and view community newspapers from around BC published between 1865 and 1994. This collection makes many of BC's earliest newspapers freely available in digital format

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Finding tool for historical information about BC in books, magazines and newspapers in the Vancouver Public Library collection.

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A selection of historical images of Vancouver and British Columbia from the 1880s to the 1980s.

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The Vancouver Public Library created This Vancouver to share the stories of Vancouverites and the history of Vancouver communities through images, audio clips, and videos. 

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Recommended Titles

Cover Image for Opening Doors in Vancouver's East End: Strathcona
Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter
Call Number
971.133 O61m1
Publication Year
2011
Originally published in 1977, this cult classic from the Vancouver underground was re-published in 2011 to mark the city's 125 year anniversary. Strathcona is a historic neighbourhood that encompasses history and culture like few others. On its streets you still find a medley of old Chinatown, Japantown and Little Italy.
Cover Image for V6A: Writing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
John Asfour and Elee Kraljii Gardiner
Call Number
c820.8 V11m
Publication Year
2012
A portrait of the community from 32 writers who live and work in the Downtown Eastside.

Contact Us

Northwest History Index

This card index in Special Collection provides access to the Northwest History Collection, a heritage collection covering the early history and exploration of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

The collection includes:

  • magazine and newspaper articles
  • pamphlets
  • books
  • chapters in books
  • many other resources

As of August 1998, no new material has been added to the Northwest History Index. It is continued by the British Columbia Index.