Gastown Vancouver

Gastown is a national historic site located in Vancouver, British Columbia, located at the northeast end of Downtown adjacent to the Downtown Eastside. Its historical boundaries were the waterfront (now Water Street and the CPR - Canadian Pacific Railway tracks), Columbia Street, Hastings Street, and Cambie Street, which were the borders of the 1870 townsite survey, the proper name and postal address of which was Granville, B.I. ("Burrard Inlet"). Today's official boundary does not include most of Hastings Street except for the Woodward's and Dominion Buildings.

Gastown was Vancouver's first downtown core and is named after "Gassy" Jack Deighton, a Geordie seaman, steamboat captain and barkeep who arrived in 1867 to open the area's first saloon. The town soon prospered as the site of a sawmill, seaport, and quickly became a general centre of trade and commerce on Burrard Inlet as well as a rough-and-rowdy resort for off-work loggers and fishermen as well as the crews and captains of the many sailing ships which came to Gastown or Moodyville, on the north side of the inlet (which was a dry town) to load logs and timber.

Gastown is one of the unique places to visit when in Vancouver, it is a section of the city where old architecture and new merge and where cobblestone streets can still be found. This is one of the most scenic walking districts at any time of the year and has buildings that date back into the 1800’s.

There are many restaurants that have menus of every type and some of Vancouver’s most select night spots. Gastown can be an event for the family or the couple to walk into the past for a few hours while they are visiting Vancouver.