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 | Vancouver Gastown Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 75 |  |
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Gastown is more of a landmark attraction than a shopping area. The Gastown area streets are covered with cobble stone. The main attraction of the area is a statue of "Gassy" Jack Deighton, a saloon owner who essentially made Gastown to the popular attraction it was because it was the nearest saloon to the sawmill closeby. Businesses grew around the saloon and the community of Gastown was formed. Also located in Gastown is the world's first steam clock. Every quarter of the hour and every hour, the steam clock will whistle a short note or tune. The architecture of the historic buildings and the atmosphere of the surroundings make it almost like you're stepping back in time. Souvenir shops are abound in Gastown. There are some nice restaurants around. The Spaghetti Factory is always busy, the Brothers is also quite busy with men dressed in shrouds is quite a sight. There are many other smaller restaurants and bars with Lamplighter Inn and the Pump among the few well known ones. Leaving downtown Vancouver, there are still a few shopping malls around that are worth a visit. City Square is a relatively small shopping mall located on 12th Avenue and Cambie Street. It was developed from two historic buildings. There is underground parking. If you shop at any of the stores at the mall, you can get a free half hour parking pass. The mall houses a Safeway, Fitness World exercise complex, an expensive Chinese restaurant named Kirin. One thing to note is that an episode of the X-Files was filmed at the mall. The first season episode called "Tooms" in which a liver-eating mutant Eugene Tooms hibernates under the escalator is the elevator of the City Square Mall. So, for X-files fans, this may be a stop worth going to. Leave a Comment Directions: North-east corner of downtown Vancouver, along Water Street in
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| | | | Gastown: Gastown | Tip Rating: | | | | |
I have a love-hate relationship with Gastown. I love it for its history, architecture and cool pubs. I hate it for its kitschy tourist trap shops, panhandlers that purposely target the unsuspecting tourists, and how Gastown's advertized as a high priority "must see" Vancouver neighbourhood, whereas, I beg to differ... Gastown is an area of Vancouver located in the north-eastern corner of downtown. It was here in 1867 that the townsite was founded, first called Gastown after "Gassy" Jack Deighton - the first man to open a salloon for the sawmill workers that worked here. Gastown wasn't much of anything except a sawmill. Then, it became the terminal of the CPR railroad which allowed Gastown to expand into the town of "Granville" and then finally into the City of Vancouver in 1886. Nowadays if you walk along Gastown's Water Street, you can still see some warehouses made of old brick (rare for Vancouver) which were built along the CPR railway. The sawmills are long gone, but you can see how this area once used to be a busy industrial waterfront to which the city grew from. Those railroad tracks are still in use today, but those warehouses have since been converted to trendy lofts, souvenir shops and art galleries. Generally, the buildings in Gastown are typically the oldest in the city. Unfortunately, Gastown is right next to the Downtown Eastside, and the area gets its fair share of panhandlers which is often unsettling for visitors. The shops here tend to be of the tacky souvenir shop kind and the restaurants don't really showcase the excellent cuisine scene of Vancouver. Most importantly, Gastown's shops close down around 6pm and the neighbourhood feels vacant afterwards. There are much more vibrant downtown neighbourhoods such as English Bay, Denman Street, Robson Street, and Yaletown, for evening strolls. If you only have one day in Vancouver, Gastown is worth an hour, but in my opinion there are better places to explore downtown if you have such little time. Leave a Comment Directions: North-east corner of downtown Vancouver, along Water Street. It technically starts at Richards and Water and goes all the way over to Columbia.
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| | | | Gastown: Where it all started... | Tip Rating:  | | | | |
Even though it now ranks as the third largest city in Canada, Vancouver is still fairly young. Its origins can be traced back to the area called "Gastown", Vancouver's most historic district. In 1867, "Gassy Jack" Deighton opened up a saloon near a lumber mill and just like that, a city was born! For a few decades, Gastown remained at the heart of the new city of Vancouver but when businesses started moving away to new areas, practically the entire district was left to fall into disrepair. In the 1960s, a group of citizens got together to save and restore Gastown, which has now become a very popular tourist attraction. Gastown is basically one street (Water Street) lined with historical brick and stone buildings dating back to the end of the 19th century (all of the town's wooden buildings were destroyed in the great fire of 1886). Most of them are now filled with restaurants and souvenir shops. Another big attraction seems to be the Gastown Steam Clock around which people gather to take pictures and hear it whistle every quarter hours (the clock was added in 1977 when the area was restored). But for me the most interesting thing to do in Gastown was to go on the free guided walking tour which runs every day at 2:00 pm, from June 15 to August 30 (tours start near the statue of Gassy Jack, at the corner of Water and Carrall St). The tour was 90 min long and our guide was very interesting, giving us plenty of information about the area's history and architecture, and he kept on with the tour even when rain started pouring down! One thing to keep in mind while visiting Gastown is that the rather infamous Downtown Eastside area begins not far from the corner of Water and Carrall St. Nothing to keep you from visiting Gastown, but you might not want to venture too far out up Carrall St. Leave a Comment Phone: 604-683-5650Directions: Downtown Vancouver, begins at the corner of Water and Richards St.Website: http://www.gastown.org/ Other Contact: info@gastown.org
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