Gastown

The birthplace of Vancouver, with cobblestone streets, Victorian red-brick buildings, and a steam clock that chimes every 15 minutes. Today it is an old-town district full of boutiques, galleries, and restaurants and bars.

Gastown is located northeast of downtown, around Water Street. In 1867, a saloon owner known as 'Gassy Jack' Deighton opened the first bar here. The settlement took his nickname and grew into the city of Vancouver. The Victorian and Edwardian brick buildings that were rebuilt after the great fire of 1886 are still standing, and the area was designated a historic district in 1971. The landmark attraction is the Steam Clock at the corner of Water and Cambie streets. Built in 1977 and powered by an underground steam system, it plays the Westminster chimes with a whistle every 15 minutes, and its steam blasts on the hour are the most spectacular. Nearby are the iron-shaped Europe Hotel building (1908–1910), Maple Tree Square (the Gassy Jack statue was removed in 2022, leaving only its base), Blood Alley, and the Gaoler's Mews courtyard. The district is now one of Vancouver's trendiest areas. It has Canadian design shops (Herschel, Fluevog shoes, Old Faithful home goods), independent galleries, Indigenous art stores (Inuit Gallery and Hill's Native Art), restaurants such as L'Abattoir, Water St. Cafe, and Meat & Bread, and the Alibi Room craft beer bar. The string lights along Water Street are most atmospheric at night. Entry is free, and you can see the whole area in about an hour on foot. It is often combined with Canada Place (the sail-shaped convention center and the FlyOver Canada 4D flight theater, about CAD 35) and the Harbour Centre observation tower (167 meters, about CAD 20) for a half-day downtown route. Getting there: it is a 3-minute walk from Waterfront Station on the SkyTrain. Note that the east side of Gastown borders East Hastings Street, the eastern edge of downtown and the Downtown Eastside (DTES), where homelessness and drug problems are serious. Keep an eye on your belongings if walking through during the day, and at night avoid walking east past Carrall Street. High heels are not practical on the cobblestones.

Gastown

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Places to eat nearby