The West End

1862 – 1890.

The Three Greenhorns.

To understand how the West End got its start, we need to begin with John Morton. He was a Scottish man from a family of pot makers living in England who decided to sail to Canada in 1862, along with his cousin Samuel Brighouse. Along the way, they met William Hailstone. Upon arriving in the Colony of the British of Columbia, they tried their hand at gold prospecting. When that didn’t work out, they regrouped in New Westminster. While there, John Morton passed a shop window one day where he saw a lump of coal for sale. Inquiring where it came from, the shopkeeper told John to ask an Indigenous man making his way down the road. Running to catch up with him, the man informed John the coal came from an area in what would later become Vancouver.

John then visited False Creek and an area on the peninsula facing Burrard Inlet. While there, he found coal and clay deposits, the latter of which were potentially useful in making bricks. Though he found neither collection of material worth mining, John did appreciate the breathtaking views and the land itself, as did Samuel and William. They each purchased 180 acres of the land, the maximum allowable amount at the time, for $550.75. This high purchase price earned them the name The Three Greenhorns and the land claim became known as The Brickmaker’s Claim. To stake their claim, they built a cabin near the current site of the Marine Building at 355 Burrard St.

Another group that made their way to the nearby Coal Harbour and West End at this time were Kanaka, Hawaiians recruited as indentured servants to work on a ranch in the area. The area in which they worked is now known as Devonian Harbour Park. Eihu Lane in Coal Harbour and See-em-ia Lane in the West End are named after some of these Kanaka.

The Three Greenhorns dubbed the area “New Liverpool” to attract others, but initial development was slow. The Greenhorns tried selling off lots, anticipating that one day the area would be a major city. Few people took up the offer.

By 1886, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) persuaded The Three Greenhorns to donate some land for the construction of tracks and a station. While the CPR did eventually arrive in 1887, the The Three Greenhorns had since gone their separate ways.

Also around this time, the City of Vancouver incorporated in 1886, and one of its first orders of business was to set aside the land at the tip of the Downtown peninsula as a park. This involved petitioning the British Government to obtain a lease to use the land, which was granted. The result was Stanley Park, named after Canada’s sixth governor general, Lord Stanley. The West End took its name near this time, too, from the West School on Burrard St.

1891 – 1939.

The West End begins.

By the 1890s, the West End had started to become popular with high-earning settlers, with the area around Georgia St. being dubbed “Blueblood Alley.” Victorian mansions popped up, and the West End as a whole became known for its stately homes and wealthy residents.

Later Shaughnessy became more popular with upper-crust Vancouverites, so the West End changed its form and became home for immigrants from many parts of the world.

Between 1900 and 1914, Vancouver’s population surged from 27,000 to 115,000. A new streetcar system running down Denman, Davie, Robson and Burrard brought workers from all walks of life to the West End, and they began to fill its houses and apartment buildings. Since Shaughnessy was siphoning off wealthier residents, many of these new arrivals converted former mansions into apartment buildings.

The area saw more low-rise apartments built in the 1920s and 1930s, especially as the aftermath of WWI and the Great Depression altered its demographics. By the eve of WWII, the West End was poised to see major change.

1940 – 1999.

The war, the high-rises and the gay village.

The Second World War saw the first roots of what would eventually lead to the West End’s Davie St. gay village. During the war, gay men seeking freedom and the anonymity of dense city living began to settle in the homes found in the area’s converted mansions or the increasing number of low-rise apartments. Meanwhile, the War itself acted as something of an economic engine.

By the end of the War, a rethink to Vancouver’s development approach came along. In 1956, the City lifted height limits in the West End, which allowed high-rise buildings to proliferate in the area. This zoning change is what gave the West End much of its current skyline. Notably, many of these developments are leaseholds and equity co-ops, not freehold condos (which would come later).

As the 1960s rolled in, high-rise construction was all the rage. The West End’s old houses and low-rises were replaced, and this influx of residents brought with it social changes. Robson St. became home to many German immigrants and businesses, earning it the moniker “Robsonstrasse.”

The West End’s queer community also began to mobilize more during this time. The 1969 decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada and the Stonewall Rebellion in the US sparked activism across the US and Canada. In 1971, the Gay Alliance Towards Equality staged a demonstration at the Vancouver courthouse.

The early 1970s also saw picnics and demonstrations by gay activists at Nelson Park with marches to Ceperely Park (near Second Beach) that took place at the end of July and early August. It is for this reason that Vancouver’s Pride Parade continues to occur in early August every year.

By this time, the skyline of the West End had changed drastically in just two decades. This led to pushback and complaints, and in 1973 the City downzoned the West End once again, introducing the spot-zoning process familiar to us today.

Vancouver Gay Pride Parade.

Early gay pride parade in Vancouver’s West End, with the Zodiacs Gay Motorcycle Club (since disbanded) visible in the foreground. (Photo courtesy of the BC Gay & Lesbian Archives)

In 1979, Qmunity was established and by 1980, Numbers had opened, making this Davie St.’s oldest still operating gay bar. In 1983, Jim Deva (after whom Jim Deva Plaza is named) and Bruce Smyth opened Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium in the West End. Still here today (although at a different location), it became notable for fighting a lawsuit initiated when border officials blocked the import of queer books, calling them “obscene”. Little Sisters was eventually victorious in 2000, with a Supreme Court of Canada decision that cemented the fact that officials would have to prove why something was “obscene” before they could seize it.

But this was also a dark chapter for the sex worker community in the West End. They had created a supportive structure by the 1970s and looked after each other, as seen in the documentary Hookers on Davie, but found themselves being increasingly looked down upon. As the 1980s approached, some West End residents – mostly consisting of cis, white gay men and women – formed the Concerned Residents of the West End (CROWE) and they secured a BC Supreme Court injunction that pushed the sex worker community further out. An effort to “clean up” Vancouver before the 1986 World Expo meant an even stricter clampdown on the sex worker community. Also part of this effort was the installation of various traffic calming measures throughout the area’s side streets, to prevent clients from cruising down these blocks while looking for sex workers.

By the 1990s, Davie St. and the West End took on a form familiar to us today. Gay bars still there today, including The Junction, known for serving food, drag and bingo, Numbers, notable for its packed dance floor and Celebrities (which predominantly caters to a heterosexual clientele today), served the community.

2000 – Today.

Securing the future.

In 2000, the Pumpjack opened on Davie St., catering to the bear and leather crowds, as did the Fountainhead Pub and in 2006, 1181 Lounge opened, showcasing a contemporary aesthetic and serving distinctive cocktails. Around this time, the Mole Hill community rallied around the few remaining older homes to turn them into 170 social housing suites in Vancouver’s largest collection of pre-First World War buildings.

The West End continues to be a hub for the city’s 2SLGBTQI+ community, and the new Qmunity headquarters is under construction at 981 Davie St. To be included in the Fuller-findlay Housing Co-Op building, this development is set to include 154 homes. Of these, 31 are to be operated by McLaren Housing Society for those living with HIV/AIDS, and 123 by the Community Land Trust, operating as the Fuller-findlay Housing Co-op.

Known today as Vancouver’s gaybourhood, the West End has seen people from many walks of life call the area home.