April | 2013 | EMW Inc.

There is a Fisherman’s Wharf in every coastal city, but Richmond’s Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf has a different atmosphere to it. Once you are there, it would seem like you have stepped through the passage of time and returned to the glorious 1900’s.

At the end of the seemingly timeless wooden dock, stands a sign – the only sign that etched down the prosperous history of this land. The sign was a marker that fractured the perception of time separating the modern cafés, seafood restaurants and the antiquated buildings behind it.

A hundred years ago, Steveston Village was one of the most productive fishery and cannery sites in Western Canada. Countless thriving canneries and shipyards, established there, pushed the local economy to the peak. To name one, the Imperial Cannery was most incredible. Announced as the largest cannery in the British Empire, it endured through the highs and lows and operated over a century, from 1893 to 1992.
As you read through the introductions and articles of their prideful history, you could almost see the workers and fishermen hustling and bustling through the village, carrying their catch of the day to the cannery. The imagery is so vivid, that it seems like their very breath were transposed into every atom of the ancient wharf.

But as the workers and fishermen slowly disappear, a fundamental truth is revealed, nothing lasts forever. Along with the demise of the fishing industry, the illustrious era turned into the very pages of history books.
Businesses of the new are now operating in these gray-haired buildings, ostensibly staking its claim. But the history and pride of the old will forever be intact.

As I have said, this was a journey through the fabric of space and time. As you start walking out the vicinity of Steveston Village, and the cries of the fish market below fades away, all you can see now are the cafés and restaurants, filled with people conversing about yesterday’s happenings. If you never stood still to read the sign and digest the splendor of antiquity, this place will mean nothing more to you than the next city’s wharf. But in fact, Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf, is a continuum of pride and glory, constructed by the workers and fishermen who silently walked away.

Written by Rico East

Edited by Mike West

Don’t ask me why my first post is about Vancouver’s Blood Alley, because even I don’t have the answer to that question. I only remember the first time I stepped into Gastown, there were two things that intrigued me, the first was obviously the famous steam clock that whistles every 15 minutes, and the second is the infamous Blood Alley.

According to the storytellers, in the 1900’s, Blood Alley used to be filled with butcher shops that rinsed out buckets of blood at the end of day, resulting in the inevitable blood in the street. And as if that was not enough, it was said that public executions were also held in the blood alley square. Pretty ghastly, eh?

But on the other side of the coin, some historians said that Bloody Alley is just an ordinary alley, and it’s real name is Trounce Alley, after Victoria’s Trounce Alley. The cause of all of these confusing and conflicting history? A mistake on a map published in the Vancouver World in 1896. Apparently, the author of the map named Water Street as Carrall and Carrall as Water St. Therefore, that mistake somehow got Gaoler’s Mews, which at that time was the location of a jail, and Blood Alley mixed up.

Which one do you want to believe?

Anyway, enough about the inconclusive stories about Blood Alley. Other than it’s conflicting history, Blood Alley is also a fence that separates two vastly different classes.

On one side of Blood Alley lies posh eateries like L’abattoir, Judas Goat Taberna, Salt Tasting Room, and also exclusive boutiques like Haven and Neighbour…

And on the other side of Blood Alley lies the poverty stricken Stanley New Fountain “Hotel”, it is obviously not a hotel built for the rich.

When you stand right in the middle of Blood Alley and you turn your head to look at one side of it, and then the other… it’s like looking at night and day.