Vancouver's Other Side

Had an amazing day in Vancouver today. We arrived via cruise ship, disembarking in downtown Vancouver. The city was beautiful as we cruised into the harbor. We arrived at our hotel, and ran off to have coffee before going to our magnificent hotel room. Downtown Vancouver is trendy and chic. It reminded me of New York City. All of the famous designers have shops there, there are tons of great restaurants, and the people dress with a European style. I was surprised at the number of Chinese people on the streets, even though I had read that Vancouver’s largest ethnic minority was Chinese. After walking through the downtown area, we took the ferry over to Grandview Island. Great place. Lots of great ethnic food, fresh fruits and veggies, art, musicians, culture... Lots of funky dressing people… I felt like I was in Soho. I was definitely digging the fashion forward clothing. We grabbed lunch and headed out for our whale watching tour which was fabulous. During our tour we learned about marine mammals and birds, but we also learned about the University of British Columbia, Stanley Park, and the Museum of Anthropology. Vancouver also boasts Broadway style plays along with other rich cultural experiences.

BUT… Some of you know that I can never visit a city and just see what the powers that be want you to see. I always have to investigate the seediest parts of the city. So after an incredible Thai dinner with my wife. I put on my walking shoes and decided to head 2 miles east to Vancouver’s notorious East Hastings Avenue. Our hotel happened to be on West Hastings in the beautiful downtown waterfront area, so finding East Hastings was no big deal. Take a right outside the hotel doors and proceed. The first mile was typical of what I had seen all day. Lots of renovation and restoration. Nightclubs bustling with scantily clad young middle class kids, etc. THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN, it changed. I mean one corner was beautiful downtown, and the next corner was something completely different. The first signal of change I got was a cannabis shop. Is marijuana sale legal in Vancouver? I guess so, but I haven’t investigated it as of yet. The next sign was a series of seedy motels. The kind that either rent rooms by the hour, or house welfare families. Then all of the sudden there were hoards of people. There was a check cashing store, several run down bars, liquor stores, and convenience stores Homeless people everywhere. People covered in dirt and filth, walking around in circles in drug induced dazes, crackhead prostitutes with bodies like skeletons, people blurting out vulgarities and phrases that didn’t make sense, and hand to hand drug transactions. I saw a man sitting in a wheelchair shooting heroin right in front of a hotel in clear view. Then I saw a lady with 3 crack rocks (could have been crytal meth) on her knee as she readied the glass pipe to cook up the rocks. Next I walked through a haze of what I knew to be fumes from a crack pipe. I once watched a friend cook up and smoke crack in front of me, and you never forget that smell. I saw at least two more people shooting up on the sidewalk and countless others smoking crack up and down the sidewalk. This must have covered at least a mile of city streets on both sides of East Hastings. I saw a few police cars, but they seemed to be managing the chaos, not curtailing it. In all my time in New York, New Jersey, Philly, DC, and Baltimore, I have never seen anything like this. Homeless people lined the streets, people offered to sell me hot clothes, appliances, and sex, as one man stood on the corner feeding a huge pet rat. I never felt threatened though. I always feel a kind of kinship to disenfranchised people. They’re just people… People who need help.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna