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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
Cover Image for Vancouver's Gastown Talks: A Historical Tour

Vancouver's Gastown Talks: A Historical Tour

Nimi Langer, Monica Muller and Danny Laufer

971.133 V2237L

2005

Mary Lee Chan: Taking on City Hall

Susan Poizner

971.1004 L479p

2005

Survival, Strength, Sisterhood: Power Of Women in the Downtown Eastside

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

305.409711 S96z

2011

Digital Library Resources
Culture and History Subject Icon

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

Access:
Everywhere for everyone
Newspapers and Magazines Subject Icon

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.

Access:
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

Access:
Everywhere for everyone
Culture and History Subject Icon

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

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

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Everywhere for everyone
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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. 

Access:
Everywhere for everyone

Recommended Titles

Cover Image for Fighting for Space: How A Group of Drug Users Transformed One City's Struggle With Addiction

Fighting for Space: How A Group of Drug Users Transformed One City's Struggle With Addiction

Travis Lupick

362.29 L96f

2017

The story of the Portland Hotel Society, Vancouver Network of Drug Users and other social justioce organizations in the Downtown Eastside.

Cover Image for Hastings and Main: Stories from an Inner City Neighbourhood

Hastings and Main: Stories from an Inner City Neighbourhood

Laurel Kimbley, Jo-Ann Canning-Dew and Carnegie Community Centre Association

971.133 H357k

1987

An oral history of the Downtown Eastside.

Invisible Heroes: Aboriginal Stories from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

Victoria Rose Bull

c820.8 B93i

2015

A collection of stories from our ‘Invisible Heroes’, a group of community nominated Indigenous community members who are making daily positive contributions in many areas of neighbourhood life.

Cover Image for Monogatari: Tales of Powell Street (1920-1941)

Monogatari: Tales of Powell Street (1920-1941)

Beth Carter

971.133 C32m

2011

Catalogue for an exhibit about this centre of Japanese-Canadian business and culture.

Cover Image for Opening Doors in Vancouver's East End: Strathcona

Opening Doors in Vancouver's East End: Strathcona

Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter

971.133 O61m1

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

V6A: Writing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

John Asfour and Elee Kraljii Gardiner

c820.8 V11m

2012

A portrait of the community from 32 writers who live and work in the Downtown Eastside.

Cover Image for Vancouver's Old-time Scoundrels, Featuring Gassy Jack Deighton

Vancouver's Old-time Scoundrels, Featuring Gassy Jack Deighton

Jill Foran

971.133 D32f

2003

Biography of the innkeeper that gave Gastown its name.

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.